The
nave is divided from the aisles by plain double-faced pointed arches, with
square edges, and hood mouldings over, which spring from massive
cylindrical piers with square bases and capitals; whilst the clerestory
windows above (for there is no triforium) are semicircular-headed. The
general features of early Norman character, the absence of decorative
mouldings, and the plain appearance this church exhibits throughout, are
such as perhaps to warrant the presumption that this church is the same
structure mentioned in the charter of confirmation granted to this abbey
by Stephen, A. D. 1138-9.
Q. What other noted specimens are there of this style?
[Illustration: Intersecting Window Arches, St. Cross Church, Winchester.]
A. The church of the Hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester, presents an
interesting combination of semicircular, intersecting, and pointed arches,
of cotemporaneous date, enriched with the zig-zag and other Norman
decorative mouldings, and is a structure, in appearance and detail, of
much later date than the church at Buildwas Abbey, though the same early
era has been assigned to each.
St. Joseph's Chapel, Glastonbury, now in ruins, supposed to have been
erected in the reigns of Henry the Second and Richard the First, is
perhaps the richest specimen now remaining of the Semi-Norman or
transition style, and is remarkable for the profusion of sculptured detail
and combination of round and intersecting arches.
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