OF THE SEMI-NORMAN STYLE.

Q. What is the Semi-Norman style?

A. It is that style of transition which, without superseding the Norman style, prevailed more or less, in conjunction with it, during the latter part of the twelfth century, and probably even from an earlier period, and gradually led to the complete adoption, in the succeeding century, of the early pointed style in a pure state, and to the general disuse of the semicircular arch.

Q. By what is this style chiefly denoted?

A. By the intersection of semicircular arches, the frequent intermixture of the pointed arch in its incipient state with the semicircular arch, and the pointed arch with its accompaniments of features, mouldings, and ornamental accessories, exactly similar to those of the Norman style, both in its earlier and later gradations, and from which it appears to have differed only in the contour or form of the arch.

Q. Whence are we to derive the origin of the pointed arch?

A. Many conjectural opinions on this much-contested question have been entertained, yet it still remains to be satisfactorily elucidated. Some would derive it from the East and ascribe its introduction to the Crusaders; some maintain that it was suggested by the intersection of semicircular arches, which intersection we frequently find in ornamental arcades; others contend that it originated from the mode of quadripartite vaulting adopted by the Normans, the segmental groins of which, crossing diagonally, produce to appearance the pointed arch; whilst some imagine it may have been derived from that mystical figure of a pointed oval form, the Vesica Piscis76-*. But whatever its origin, it appears to have been imperceptibly brought into partial use towards the middle of the twelfth century.

Q. What are the characteristics of this style?

A. In large buildings massive cylindrical piers support pointed arches, above which we often find round-headed clerestory windows, as at Buildwas Abbey Church, Salop; or semicircular arches forming the triforium, as at Malmesbury Abbey Church, Wilts. Sometimes we meet with successive tiers of arcades, in which the pointed arch is surmounted both by intersecting and semicircular arches, as in a portion of the west front of Croyland Abbey Church, Lincolnshire, now in ruins. The ornamental details and mouldings of this style generally partake of late Norman character; and the zig-zag and semicylindrical mouldings on the faces of arches appear to predominate, though other Norman mouldings are common; but we also frequently meet with specimens in the Semi-Norman style in which extreme plainness prevails, and the character is of that nature as to induce us to ascribe such buildings to rather an early period. Single and double, and sometimes even triple-faced arches, with the edges left square, distinguish plain specimens of this style from the plain-pointed double-faced arches of the succeeding century, the edges of which are splayed or chamfered. In late instances of this, as of the cotemporaneous Norman style, we observe in the details a gradual tendency to merge into those of the style of the thirteenth century, when the pointed arch had attained maturity, and the peculiar features and decorative mouldings and sculptures of Norman character had fallen into isuse.Q. What specimen of this style is there of apparently early date?

A. The church, now in ruins, of Buildwas Abbey, Salop, founded A.D. 113579-*, is an early specimen of the Semi-Norman style, in which, with the incipient pointed arch, Norman features and details are blended. 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?

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. In the remains of Malmesbury Abbey Church a Norman triforium with semicircular arches is supported on pointed arches which are enriched with Norman mouldings, and spring from massive cylindrical Norman piers. The interior of Rothwell Church, Northamptonshire, has much of Semi-Norman character: the aisles are divided from the nave by four lofty, plain, and triple-faced pointed arches, with square edges, springing from square piers with attached semicylindrical shafts on each side, and banded round midway between the bases and capitals; and the latter, which are enriched with sculptured foliage, are surmounted by square abaci; the west doorway is also of Semi-Norman character, and pointed, and is set within a projecting mass of masonry resembling the shallow Norman buttress. The circular part of St. Sepulchre’s Church, Northampton, has early pointed arches, plain in design, springing from Norman cylindrical piers. In the circular part of the Temple Church, London, dedicated A.D. 1185, the piers consist of four clustered columns banded round midway between the bases and capitals, and approximating the Early English style of the thirteenth century; and these support pointed arches, over which and continued round the clerestory wall is an arcade of intersecting semicircular arches, and above these are round-headed windows.

Q. What particular specimen of the Semi-Norman style has been noticed by any cotemporaneous author, and the date of it clearly defined?

A. The eastern part of Canterbury Cathedral, consisting of Trinity Chapel and the circular adjunct called Becket’s Crown. The building of these commenced the year following the fire which occurred A.D. 1174, and was carried on without intermission for several successive years. Gervase, a monk of the cathedral, and an eyewitness of this re-edification, wrote a long and detailed description of the work in progress, and a comparison between that and the more ancient structure which was burnt; he does not, however, notice in any clear and precise terms the general adoption of the pointed arch and partial disuse of the round arch in the new building, from which we may perhaps infer they were at that period indifferently used, or rather that the pointed arch was gradually gaining the ascendancy83-*.Q. How long does the Semi or Mixed Norman style appear to have prevailed?

A. Though we can neither trace satisfactorily the exact period of its introduction, or even that of its final extinction, (for it appears to have merged gradually into the pure and unmixed pointed style of the thirteenth century,) we have perhaps no remains of this kind to which we can attribute an earlier date than that included between the years 1130 and 1140, unless we except the intersecting arches at St. Botulph’s, Priory Church, Colchester, which may be a few years earlier; and it appears to have prevailed, in conjunction or intermixed with the Norman style, from thence to the close of the twelfth century, and probably to a somewhat later period.

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