| Fig. 232. Saxon Door Jamb. | Fig. 233.—Norman Door Jamb and Arch. |
The Anglo-Saxon doorway would, in all probability, be an arched opening straight through the wall, the door hanging against the inner face (Fig. [232]). It may or may not be relieved by a pilaster strip on either side, and an impost to crown the pier, leaving it still a very primitive and inartistic composition, with the door itself dealt with as if it had been forgotten and no provision made for it. We will suppose the Norman doorway to be of the same width and height with the Saxon one (Fig. [233]). Its reveal, to begin with, is reduced to perhaps one-fifth of the thickness of the wall, and the door itself placed at such a distance from the exterior as the architectural grade aimed at may dictate, and this distance is divided into so many orders or recesses (each some 8 or 10 inches in depth in a moderate doorway) as may be thought best. These arched rims or orders may be either left plain or may be moulded, or otherwise decorated at pleasure. The jambs of such a doorway may be treated in several different ways. The simplest is to make the jambs continuous with the arch, with or without the interposition of an impost. A second mode is to substitute a shaft or decorative column, for one or all of the orders, excepting, generally, that with which the door itself comes in contact. Add to this an outer or drip moulding to sever the arch from the wall face, and you have the elements of a really well-considered and artistic doorway. Internally, the remaining thickness of the wall is arched in another order (either square or sloping), which arch has to spring at a higher level to avoid the catching against it of the door while opening.
A doorway thus constructed may be clothed with what decorations you think good; and, if you are working in the Pointed style, the principle applies just as well as in Norman; indeed, we have here the principles of nearly all good doorways, whether Romanesque or Gothic ([Fig. 234]).
Fig. 234.
I have already described the application of the principle to an archway, which in its elementary form is merely the outer jamb of a doorway repeated on both sides of the wall. A shaft or demi-shaft may be substituted for the central order, or, if the wall be a little thicker, this shaft may be doubled; or, if thicker still, there may be two orders on either side of the wall besides the central one, or other obvious combinations may be made, rendering the archway, instead of a mere crude opening, an artistic composition, though trusting for its effect to a perfectly reasonable constructive system.
I will now suppose two such openings brought so closely together as to leave only a short space of wall between. We have then two such systems of recesses brought into close contact, making either a plain pier of comparatively sightly form, such as those at St. Alban’s; or, if shafted, we at once obtain the great feature of Gothic architecture, the clustered pier.