A great many examples of Norman doorways still remain, even in churches which present no other features of this style, for it seems to have been a practice with the architects of later periods to preserve this portion of an old church, even when they rebuilt the entire structure in a later style ; many of them are certainly very rich and beautiful, and their preservation does credit to the taste and judgment of succeeding ages.
In this style, windows form but subordinate members of an edifice, and in the earlier examples are small and insig nificant, being little better than slits or narrow oblong aper tures, often not exceeding a few inches in breadth, and finished with a plain semicircular head ; the glass was inserted close to the external wall, and the sides of the aperture were splayed towards the interior, the circular heads being gene rally concentric on both sides of the wall ; the height of such windows was usually little more than twice their breadth, but occasionally they were much longer in proportion. In cathedral and the larger churches we sometimes find win dows of much greater dimensions. After a time, a slight degree of enrichment came to be added in the shape of zig zag and other mouldings round the arch ; and at a still later period, an important improvement was made by inserting nook-shafts in the jambs, similar to those in doorways ; but in this case they seldom exceeded two in number. that is to say, one on either side ; in Normandy, we have examples of a greater number, which add considerable inpo, titmice to the window, but we do not know of any such in this country. Such shafts were mostly slender, with plain caps and abacus, and in such examples the archivolt was either moulded or recessed, so as to form two soffits; the zig-zag moulding was very common in this position. Windows of this kind were usually larger than the earlier ones, though not always so ; they are also frequently protected by a hood-mould, and the same decoration is sometimes observed in the interior.
A window of still more advanced character is very often found in the upper stories of towers ; it consists of two lights with semicircular heads, separated b• a central shaft, and having a jamb-shaft on either side ; the two lights are enclosed under another larger semicircular arch, the spandrel of which, however, is very rarely, if ever, perforated ; the larger arch is surrounded by a hood-mould. These windows
bear a remarkable resemblance to those of the Byzantine and Lombardie styles, many of which exist in Italy. Some times, apertures for windows are pierced in a continuous ar cade, running along the church ; and in that case, the aper tures usually occur in regular order, the intermediate arcades being left blank.
Plain circular windows, of small dimensions, are sometimes seen in clerestories and other positions ; and in churches of a late date, are to he found occasionally in gable walls, larger windows of the same form, with small shafts radiating from the centre, connected at the circumference by small semi circular or trefoiled arches ; a fine example exists at Bar freston, Kent.
Of mouldings, such as are distinguished by their profile, the most usual combinations are composed of plain surfaces, or bands, chamfers, and quarter, half and three - quarter cylindrical mouldings, hut of ornamental bands of sculpture, which are employed as mouldings in this style, there are a great variety ; amongst the most common of which we may mention the following:— The zigzag is formed of a series of salient and re-entrant angles, recessed or otherwise carved on the surface of the stone, sometimes in a single line, but perhaps more frequently in two, three, or more lines, running parallel to each other, but sometimes we find them reversed. The name will pro bably give a better idea of the moulding than any definition ; it is also termed the chevron-mould. It is used more than any other enrichment, and is found in all situations.
Similar to this is the indented or trowel-point, which pre sents such an appearance as a stuccoed wall which has been indented with a trowel-point belbre setting, the point having been pressed further into the mass, than the wider portion of the blade.
The Leak-head, bird's-head, and eat's-head mouldings, are of a similar character, and consist of a series of grotesque heads, somewhat similar to those of the animals whose names they bear, each being furnished with a pointed beak ; they are set in close proximity to each other, n over one or more plain mouldings, with the beaks all pointing downwards.