These examples would appear at first sight to date back our transition as early as that of France; but this would scarcely be a fair conclusion, for, without doubt, many French examples of the same kind—mere Romanesque with the larger arches pointed—exist in France of an earlier date than that of Abbot Suger’s work. I will therefore pass over these merely incipient specimens.
The next class is the extremely refined Norman,
Fig. 61.—Galilee, Durham.
with or without pointed arches—such as the Galilee at Durham, where, though the date is clearly transitional, the ornaments are Norman of a delicate character, very different from Fountains and Kirkstall, and showing a later date. This was the work of the celebrated Bishop Pudsey, the great promoter of the transition in the north. He commenced in 1155 (as I
Fig. 62.—St. Mary’s Abbey, York. Vestibule of Chapter House. View from Cloister (restored).
believe) with his chapter-house—a purely Norman work—and closed with the erection of Darlington Church, nearly as purely Pointed;[24] his episcopate spreading over about forty years. Of this class the examples in the north of England are most numerous, but are so intermixed with decidedly Pointed work as somewhat to confuse the classification. It is common, in fact, to find a building nearly purely Pointed, but with doorways of this class; of which there is a notable, but not very early instance, at Jedburgh, where the doorways are perfect gems of refined Norman of the highest class and most artistic finish, while the interior of the church is purely Pointed.