1000

PRACTICE OF ARCIIITECTUllE. Book

HI,
aiclies are pierced in each side wall, and tliere are flat pilasters at the angles. In tlie
gable, enclosed
witliin the arcading, are some circular openings, one of which is ciispcd
wit!) small foliations formed of brick. The moulded bricks in the main arch are of two
kinds only, one a large boltel, the other a large hollow, and these arranged alternately with
plain square-edged bricks, produce as much variety as is needful. The jamb of tlie door-
way is of plain bricks, l)uiltwith square recesses, in which detached stone shafts are placed.
The capitals
throughout are of stone, and carved with simple foliage. Perhaps no othtr
example is more completely all that it should be in the use of its materials. The exterior
is simple in all its details, yet sufficiently enriched by their skilful arrangement to be
thorou<Tiily effective; whilst in the interior, where more adornment was naturally required,
brick is frankly abandoned, and the ricnly moulded and sculptured ribs and archivolts are
all of stone, though I have no doubt the vaulting and walls are, as on the outside, of brick.
Tlie only tracery which can be properly executed in brick is in fact the simplest plate
tracery (and even this requires great skill and care in its execution), or that simple fringe
of cusj)ing round an opening which occurs m the porch, and which may be executed with
ease with a single pattern of moulded brick often repeated." Chvrcli Builder, 1863, p.
56.
We have somewhat altered the arched entrance as shown in Mr. Street's sketch, under-
standing that this porch has been lately restored in this manner.
Sect. XV] II.
TOWERS AND SPIKES.
Europe has been considered by J. H. Parker, Trnnsactionx of the Institute of British
Architects, to be indebted to Caen and its neiglibourhood for that very interesting feature,
the Gothic spire of stone. He has also traced its history from the low pyramid of Thaon
Church, Normandy, dating about
the end of the 1 1th century, shown
in
fig.
1210., whereof the stones are
left rough within and overhang one
another, while at the base a large
))ioce of timber was introduced as
if to bind the whole together
{Jig.
1211.),
which has now entirely de-
cayed. The apex has alsj decayed
or been removed. The spires of
Comorncs near Bayeux ;
Basly near
Caen, middle of 1 2th century
;
and
Rosel, are of the same character, and
are followed by those at Huppf-au
n ar Bayeux, wiiich is
considerably taller, but of about
the same d;ite
;
Vaucelles,
near Caen
;
St. Loup, near
Bayeux
;
St. Contest,
near Caen
;
and Bougy, which is
of a fine transitional
character, as is that at Doiivros
;
the
small square spires at the east end of St. Stephen's at
Caen
; and the elegant
lofty octagonal spire with square
pinnacles at Ducy.
which is a little earlier than the ele-
gant western spires of St. Stei)hen's at Caen. On that
building are altogether
eight spires, varying in date from
one of about the middle
of the 1 2th century cm a .stai.
turret ;
the two pairs of early Gothic work of the choir
;
to the light western spires
wliicli possess pinnacles of open
work at the angles and in the centre of each face; these
n. 1210. THAON. NoTiMANDT.
date ahout 12.30. The fine spire on St. Peter's Church, at
Caen, dates at the beginning of the I4th century, and is commonly
quoted as the perfection
ofa spire f/^s. 1212. 121:^.). It is octagonal, with openings
pierced in the flat sides.
That of St. Saviour's is later and not so good. Nearly ail the spires in this district have
the surface of the stone cut to imitate shingle.s, a clear
proof of their having iiad a timber
prototype. The spires at Bayeux
Cathedral were probably
being built at the same time
as those at St. Stephen's Church, which they resemble.
Sicqueville
Church has one of
nearly the same date.
Of' later date arc the spires at Bretteville,
Bernieres, and
Langrunc, coming up to the
middle of the i;ith century. They are all of elegant design, and light construction.
After
these are the unfinished spires of Norrey and Audrieu, closing the century.
Illustra-
tions of several of these buildings will be found in Britton's
Noiiuaiidy. Mr.
Fergnsson
considers that the spire took its origin from the gable termination seen m some early
foreign towers.