Q. Is any portion of the structure erected by Edward the Confessor remaining?
A. A crypt of early Norman work under the present edifice or buildings attached to it is supposed to have been part of the church constructed by that monarch.
Q. During what period of time did this style prevail?
A. From about A. D. 1065 to the close of the twelfth century.
Q. By what means are we to distinguish this style from the styles of a later period?
A. It is distinguished without difficulty by its semicircular arches, its massive piers, which are generally square or cylindrical, though sometimes multangular in form, and from numerous ornamental details and mouldings peculiar to the style.
Q. What part of the original building has generally been preserved in those churches that were built by the Normans, when all the rest has been demolished and rebuilt in a later style of architecture?
A. There appears to have been a prevalent custom, among those architects who succeeded the Normans, to preserve the doorways of those churches they rebuilt or altered; for many such doorways still remain in churches, the other portions of which were built at a much later period. Thus in the tower of Kenilworth Church, Warwickshire, is a Norman doorway of singular design, from the square band or ornamental facia which environs it. This is a relic of a more ancient edifice than the structure in which it now appears, and which is of the fourteenth century; and the external masonry of the doorway is not tied into the walls of more recent construction, but exhibits a break all round. The church of Stoneleigh, in the same county, contains in the north wall a fine Norman doorway, which has been left undisturbed, though the wall on each side of Norman construction, has been altered, not by demolition, but by the insertion, in the fourteenth century, of decorated windows in lieu of the original small Norman lights.
Q. Were the Norman doorways much ornamented?