Fig. 248.—St. Stephen’s, Caen.
It is curious that, while the Abbot of St. Stephen’s, when made Metropolitan of all England, was content to copy his abbey church for his metropolitan cathedral, a plain monk of the same monastery, when made head of the first English abbey, should go so far beyond his former church in the scale of his new one.
A glance at the two plans will show the extent of the difference (Figs. 250, 251). While at St. Stephen’s the nave (including the façade) has nine bays, that of St. Alban’s has thirteen; while each transept of the former church had two bays and one apsidal chapel, those of the latter had each three bays and two chapels; and, while the choir at Caen had only two bays besides the apse, that at St. Alban’s had four.
Fig. 249.—Lincoln Cathedral.
The western façade, too, differed in that while that at Caen had towers which closed in the ends of the aisles, those at St. Alban’s projected wholly beyond their side walls; thus increasing the width of the front by double that of the aisles. The effect of all these changes upon the dimensions of the buildings was that, while St. Stephen’s was only 300 feet long, St. Alban’s was 465; that while the transept of the former measured 140 feet in length, that at St. Alban’s was 210 feet; and that the widths of the two western façades were respectively 88 feet and 155 feet.[25]
The design, though of the most rigid and almost gaunt simplicity, was admirably proportioned; and, when compared with Norman churches of more kindly material, seems like the block model rather than the finished structure. The cause of this was the use, almost to the entire exclusion of finer material, of the Roman tiles from Verulam. With these, not only a great part of the mass of the walls, but the pillars, arches, windows, string-courses, and other parts usually formed of stone, are almost exclusively constructed.
