NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. In the article OoTn lc Anemia:mem that form of Round-arched Gothic known as Norman or Angle Norman is spoken of as one of the local ruodillcations of that generic style which, apringing from the debase! Roman architecture, has received the name of Romanesque. Under the heading ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE, the general characteristics of the style will be described. Here we shall speak only of the variety which prevailed in this country from the middle of the 11th till hear the close of the 12th century, or from the date of the Conquest to the close of the reign of Henry II., 1189. It was preceded by the Anglo-Saxon, a style which differs from it in no essential particular, being in fact little more than a rude imitation of the architecture practised on that part of the Continent with which the Anglo-Saxon princes and priests were in most intimate communi cation : and the more important buildings at least were probably executed under the direction or with the assistance of Norman archi teeth. But as this style has received a specific name, and is usually treated as a distinct style, it will be more convenient to defer our notice of it to a separate heading. [SAXON ARCHITECTURE.] At the same time, as we said of the various styles of Pointed Gothic, it is important to bear in mind that none of the styles of English architecture are separated by sharply defined dividing lines. As each style of Pointed Gothic grew out of a preceding style, and became gradually absorbed in its successor, so did the Round-arched Anglo-Norman gradually emerge from the rude Anglo-Saxon, and, after a vigorous independent existence of a century's duration, quietly and by degrees make way for or become developed into the Early English, or First Pointed Gothic.
In considering Anglo-Norman architecture, it should be remembered that there are few buildings remaining which are in this style through out, though there are many which retain detached parts and features belonging to and some which mainly consist of it, more or less inter mixed however with what is of later date and different in style. A great deal of Norman work is to be met with in the older parts of several of our cathedrals, and also in many smaller churches, such as Barfreston in Kent ; New Shoreham, Sussex; Tilley, Oxfordshire ; Steetly, Derbyshire, &c., which, having remained comparatively tin touched, exhibit, although upon a limited scale, more of the Norman style and the peculiar mode of applying it than many larger edifices, notwithstanding that these latter occasionally present decorative features in this style which do not occur in buildings of a less pre tending character. The older parts of Canterbury, Durham, Winchester,
Gloucester, Peterborough, Ely, Norwich, Lincoln, and Oxford cathedrals are in this style. The nave and choir of Norwich in particular (founded in 1096), with the exception of pointed windows of later English character inserted in the upper part of the choir, are almost entirely Norman, of which they present a very fine example. Very little, however, remains to show the style of exterior composition employed by our Anglo-Norman architects in their larger edifices. The west fronts of Rochester and Lincoln cathedrals are almost the only parts that can be considered as specimens of Anglo-Norman architecture ; yet each of them has many interpolations of other styles. The lower part of the former is entirely Norman,and hese remarkably fine though not very spacious centre doorway ; but the large window over that entrance, in the Third Pointed or Perpendicular style, is so very pro minent a feature, as greatly to take away from the effect that would else be produced by the other parts. The front of Lincoln presents little more than a surface decorated by tiers of small columns and arches of the kind known as arcades [ARCADES], which form so charac teristic a feature of Norman architecture. These arcades are frequently carried in several tiers over each other to a considerable height, as in the tower at St. Edmunds, Bury, and the S.W. wing of Ely cathedral. Conliderable variety is given to them by occasionally doubling the columns and varying the capitals, and still more by causing the arches to intersect, thereby bringing into strong relief the form of the pointed arch ; though it is quite certain that this intersection did not, as some writers have suggested, give rise to the pointed arch, since it was in existence long before. [Alien.] Wherever a superior degree of deco ration was aimed at, the Anglo-Norman builders seem to have con tented themselves with covering what would else have been blank surfaces with these tiers of columns and arches. The two transept towers of Exeter Cathedral, the front of Castle-Acre Priory, and of St. Botolph's Priory, Colchester, present little snore; consequently, not withstanding the variety as to detail, there is a very great sameness as to general composition and design.