A history of ecclesiastical architecture in England

Front matter

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Preface

The author has endeavoured in this volume, to combine a general history of the greater English ecclesiastical architects of the middle ages, with an equally general view of their works, and of the characters which distinguish the buildings of their respective ages : and he hopes that the result of a plan thus loosely didactic, may be to excite some additional interest in the masters of a great art in its highest application, and a more vivid, as well as a more just perception of the merits of their works.

He is aware that his work is very far from what it ought to be. Incomplete it is necessarily ; it will probably be considered meagre : should it even be taken as a mere melange of ecclesiological notes, he will be satisfied with the estimate, if only it obtain the praise of being real as far as it goes.

That it may deserve this praise at least, the monkish historians, the only coeval sources of information, are left to speak for themselves on such subjects as miracles, doctrines, and counsels of perfection, when they are connected with church building. We neither do nor can think, believe, and feel with them ourselves, and we should deprecate nothing more seriously than a use of their works which should lead others to an indiscriminate reception of their facts, or of their theology. Still it must be remembered, that the opinions which they express, the feelings which they avow, even the stories which they relate, whether they be or be not real and true in themselves, or in our judgment, are clearly so in the philosophy of the history of art. It is not the truth of an opinion, or the view which we take of it ; but it is the view which he took of it, which influenced

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PREFACE.

Aylwin in the building of Ramsey Abbey. It is not our estimate of their character, or our way of expressing it, but it is their estimate, and their way of expressing it, which indicate the degree in which their contemporaries were influenced by such men as Wolstan, and John of Wisbeach.

It is impossible to write on such subjects without a moral tone, though direct moralizing may be avoided ; unless indeed one can divest oneself of the feeling that they have a moral, and this is a power which the author by no means covets. He feels that the moral here is a wholesome one. Every instance in which we are brought into connection with those to whom we owe our very existence as individuals, and as a nation, ought to make us feel our fellowship rather than our distance, and to teach us a proper estimate of ourselves and of our fathers. If there are many things which tend to lessen the influence even of our common Christianity in making us one with them, it will be useful to view them as engaged in a work, of which we inherit the advantages : and if we are superior, as we are and ought to be, to our remote ancestors, in many things, — in the arts of life, in habits of society, in soundness of objective faith ; and if we are quite as conscious of this as is consistent with charity and humility, it may be a wholesome exercise for us to pursue a study which will present them to us as unquestionably our superiors in one branch of the arts, and in one of the fruits of true religion.

CHAPTER I. The Anglo-Roman Period

PAGE

Preliminary Remarks. — Wooden Church at Glastonbury. — Proportions of this Church followed in Ireland.— King Lucius. — The Dioclesian Persecution. — The Martyrdom and Church of S. Alban. — Churches restored after the Persecution. — Influence of Roman Sway on British Ecclesiastical Art 1

CHAPTER II. The Mythical Period

Desertion of Britain by the Romans. — Destruction of Churches by the Barbarians. — Ambrosius Aurelianus restores Churches. — Use of Myths and Legends as affording materials for History. — Merlin and Vortigern. — Blood used in the foundation of Buildings. — Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. — Merlin and Ambrosius Aurelianus. — Stonehenge. — The triumph of Art over Strength. — King Arthur restores Churches. — The splendour of his Coronation 14

CHAPTER III. The Saxon Period

From the coming of Augustine to the birth of Dunstan,

Arrival of Augustine, and his Establishment at Canterbury. — He reconciles Heathen Temples, and founds a Monastery and the Cathedral Church. — Mission of Paulinus to Northumbria. — A Baptistery of Wood erected at York, and afterwards surrounded with a Stone Church. — Other Churches erected by Paulinus, especially at Campodonum, and Lincoln.— Columba and Iona. — Oswald and Lindisfarne ; Finan's Cathe-

X

CONTENTS.

dral there. — Cedd and Lastingham. — Cuthbert and Fame. — Mr. Petrie on the Origin and Uses of Round Towers in Ireland. — Other Monasteries and their Founders. — Benedict Biscop, and Wearmouth and Jarrow. — Of Building more Romano. — Wilfrid and Hexham, from Eddius, and Richard of Hexham 25

CHAPTER IV. The Saxon Period

From the Birth of Dunstan to Edward the Confessor.

Dunstan introduces the Benedictine Rule into England, and rebuilds Glastonbury with increased splendour. — Oswald, Bishop of Worcester. — Ramsey Abbey, and Worcester. — Adhelm, Founder of Malmsbury Abbey. — Miracles connected with the erection of Churches. — Restoration of Churches after Danish Invasion. — Croyland, Kirkdale 48

CHAPTER V. The Saxon Period

General Review of Ecclesiastical Architecture in the Saxon era : Brixworth, Greensted. — Circumstances which continued to affect Churches and their Structure in after ages. — Monachism. — The Division of England into Parishes : — The Introduction of Glass : — The use of Lead for Roofs : — Accumulation of Wealth in precious Vestments and Ornaments : — Church Music : — The Organ : — Bells : — Dials and Clocks : — The Bell-tower. — Burial in Churches 66

CHAPTER VI. The Norman Period

Introduction of the Norman Style. — Edward the Confessor and Westminster Abbey. — Harold and Waltham Abbey. — William the Conqueror and Battle Abbey. — Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester. — Wulstau, Bishop of Worcester. — Three Duads of Ecclesiastical Builders. — Robert and Hubert Losing : — Walkelyn and his brother Simeon : — Roger and his nephew Alexander. — The Freemasons 90

CHAPTER VII. The Norman Period

S. Alban's. — The use of Brick. — Tewkesbury, Peterborough, Bury S. Edmund's, S. Paul's, S. Cross, Romsey, Rydal, Fountains, Faversham, Castor, Durham, and Bolton. — Destruction of Churches. — Worcester, Chichester, York, Bath, Fountains. — Violence of the times. — Number of Churches. — Their general character. — Norman Decorations 120

CONTENTS.

xi

CHAPTER VIII. The Transition from Norman to Early English

PAGE

The Burning of Canterbury Cathedral. — The Restoration by William of Sens and William the Englishman. — The older and newer fabrics compared.— Introduction of the Pointed Arch and its results. — Influence of the Patron Saint on the fabric of the Church 155

CHAPTER IX. The Symbolism of Ecclesiastical Architecture

Necessity of treating the subject, — Early Instances of Symbolism. — Round Church at Fulda. — Dream of the Monk of Bury. — Authority of Durandus. — His Rationale. — Definition of Symbolism. — The Definition applied to various instances. — Saxon Symbolism. — Norman. — Subsequent Styles. — Symbolism still existing 170

CHAPTER X. The Round Churches in England

General History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. — S. Sepulchre's, Cambridge : — S. Sepulchre's, Northampton. — The Temple.—Little Maplested 190

CHAPTER XI. The Connection of Heraldry with Ecclesiastical Architecture

Synchronisms and parallel fate of Heraldry and Gothic Architecture. — Augmentations illustrated from several events. — Dates of Buildings determined by Heraldry. — Architectural charges, especially the Chevron.— Heraldic Decorations of Buildings. — Community of feeling between Heraldry and Christian Art : The Religious element in both . . 200

CHAPTER XII. The Early English Period

Great Exertions of Church Builders in the Thirteenth Century. — The Temple. — Fountains, Kirkstall, Buildwas, Winchester, S. Alban's, Glasgow, Beaulieu, York, Skelton, Ely, Durham, Rochester, Beverley, Ripon, Southwell. — Ely : Bishop Ridal, and the introduction of Western Transepts : — Eustachius and the Galilee : — Bishop Norwold and the Presbytery. — Wells: Bishop Jocelin. — Salisbury: Bishop Poore. — Old and New Sarum compared. — Nine Altars of Durham. — Extreme East Transepts. — Westminster Abbey. — Characteristics of Early English. — Destruction of Churches by violence : Rochester, Norwich 211 xii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIII. The Period of Geometric Tracery

PAGE

Confusion of arrangement in Ecclesiological Works. — Introduction of Tracery ; its first development in Geometric Forms, coetaneous with the Early English for a long time, and with the Decorated Style on its First Appearance. — Of Cusping and Tracery in general. — Of Panelling. — Results of the Introduction of Tracery. — Chapter- House of York. — Merton College Chapel. — Ripon Minster. — Exeter Cathedral. — Lincoln Cathedral. — Wells Lady Chapel and Chapter- House. — Temple-Balsall. — *' Architectural Parallels." — Tintern. — Guisborough. — Vale-Royal Abbey. — Queen Eleanor's Crosses 237

CHAPTER XIV. Sculpture and Carving, as Decorations of Ecclesiastical Architecture

General character of Norman Sculpture : The Fonts of East Meon, and of Lenton ; the Doorways of Rochester and of Malmsbury. — Early English Sculpture. — Doorway of Higham Ferrers. — Introduction of " alto relievo." — West front of Wells. — Effigies of Henry III. and of Queen Eleanor. — Monuments of Robert Vere, of Aymer de Valence, and of Edward II. — Lord Lindsay on the Sculpture of this Age. — Screen in Edward the Confessor's Chapel. — Effigies of Henry VII., and of Elizabeth his Queen. — Introduction of the Pagan Element. — All grace and all religious feeling lost in the Reign of Elizabeth. — Monument of Sir Christopher Hatton. — The Pagan Element again introduced, without any compensation, after the Revolution. — Tombs of Earl Stanhope, of General Fleming, and of Dr. Hales. — Comparison of the Monuments of General Wolfe, and of Aymer de Valence. — Sepulchral Crosses at Jervaulx, at Tickhill, and at Laughton-en-le-Morthen. — Other Carved Tombs. — Brasses. — John Bloxham, at Great Addington ; a Priest at Wensley ; the Parents of Archbishop Chichele. — Dean Eyre ; Robert Brannel ; John Selwyn. — Wood Carving. — Early Specimens ; most used in the Fifteenth Century. — Grinling Gibbons. — Stalls at Wensley, and at S.Nicholas, Lynn. — Grotesques 253

Chapter XV

Painting, Mosaic, and Glass Painting, as Decorations of Ecclesiastical Architecture.

Colour universally employed. — First recorded Introduction of Pictures. — Augustine, Benedict Biscop, Wilfrid. — S. Dunstan. — Skill of the Saxons in the Decorative Arts. — Instances of Early Norman Painting. — Oil Painting in the tenth century, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.— S. Stephen's, Westminster. — Ely Cathedral. — MS. account of

CONTENTS.

xiii

Abbot Islip's Funeral. — Lord Lindsay's estimate of the Mural Paintings of our Churches. — Subjects generally treated. — Two examples from Old S. Paul's. — Bishop Sherburn's Painting at Chichester. — The present usage of the Church of England. — Mosaic derived from Greece, through the Roman Empire to the Church. — Richard de Ware, Abbot of Westminster. — Prior Crowden's Chapel at Ely. — Difference of Treatment in Roman and English Mosaic. — Painted Glass. — Its Influence on Architectural Forms. — Early examples ; Canterbury, Winchester, York, Ludlow, S. Neot's, Peterborough, Dorchester, Tickhill, West Wickham. — Memorial Windows 278

CHAPTER XVI. The Decorated Period

Universal adoption of flowing and indirect lines. — Other Characteristics of the Decorated Style. — Exeter Cathedral. — York Minster. — Hull. — Hedon. — Patrington. — Carlisle. — Durham. — Boston. — Grantham. — Heckington. — Norbury. — Chesterfield. — Finedon.— Frequent poverty of execution. — Stanford. — Bridge Chapels. — Wakefield. — Chapel of S. William, York. — Wayside Chapel at Houghton-in-the-Dale. — Ely Cathedral. — Fall of the Tower, and foundation of the Octagon by Alan of Walsingham. — The constructive character, and the general effect of this work. — Bishop Hotham and the Presbytery. — The Lady Chapel, John of Wisbeach. — Sequel of the Life of Alan of Walsingham 313

Appendix. — Extract from . fabric roll of Ely Cathedral 339

CHAPTER XVII. The Perpendicular Period

Interest of Transition Period. — The Nave of Winchester ; Edington and Wykeham.— Gloucester, Norwich, Principles of Restoration ; Winchester, Canterbury, York, Gloucester, Crowland, Tickhill, Durham, Kirkstall. — Clerestories. — Towers and Spires ; Salisbury, Norwich, Coventry, Whittlesea, Rushden, Shrewsbury, Laughton-en-le-Morthen, Chester-le- Street, Louth, Newcastle, Fotheringay, Lowick, Boston, Howden, Derby, Evesham, Norwich, Gloucester, Glastonbury, Bristol, Taunton, North Petherton, Titchmarsh. — Uses of Towers : — Beacons and Landmarks ; Whittlesea, Raunds, the Lantern of Arden, Coventry, Dundry, York, Hadleigh. — Defence : — Melsonby, Middleham, Spennithorne, Bedale : Irthlingborough, Stanwick, Tenterden 341

Appendix. — Extracts from the account for building Louth Broach 360

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIII. The Perpendicular Period

page

Archbishop Chichele : Higham-Ferrers, the College and Bede-House ; S. Barnard's, Oxford ; the Lollard's Tower, Lambeth. — Bishop Skirlaw : Skirlaw Chapel ; the Tower of York ; the Tower and Chapter-House of Howden; Skirlaw's Burial and Tomb. — Sepulchral Chapels : Bishop Wainfleet : Cardinal Beaufort ; Bishops Alcock and West ; William Comynge and S. Mary Redcliff. — William Greville, and Campden Church. — Anthony Catesby and Isabella his Wife, and Whiston Church. — S. Michael's-le-Belfry, York. — Deterioration in Architectural Character.— The Tudor Style ; Chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster

Abbey 367

Appendix. — I. Contract for the building of the Dormitory at Durham 383

II. Agreement for the building of Catterick Church, Yorkshire 385

III. Document relating to the decorations of the Beauchamp chapel, in S. Mary's church, Warwick 386

IV. On the erection of Coventry Cross 391

CHAPTER XIX. The Post-Reformation Period

Deterioration in Ecclesiastical Art not to be referred to the Reformation. — Destruction and Spoliation of Churches. — The Curse upon Sacrilege. Materials of Churches used to much hurt and little gain. — Different spirit of Sacrilege at the Reformation, and at the Rebellion. — Puritan Destruction. — The Journal of Will Dowsing. — Desolation of Lichfield, of Scarborough, of Astley. — Restoration of Lichfield, of Stanton Harold. — The Fire of London. — Sir Christopher Wren, and the total extinction of Gothic Architecture 392

Appendix. — I. A contemporary narrative of the burning of S. Paul's steeple,

II. Sir Christopher Wren's account of the state of S. Paul's Cathedral, after the fire of London, 1666 410

III. Extracts from Sir Christopher Wren's letter on the state

of Westminster Abbey 413

A HISTORY

OF

ecclesiastical Architecture

IN ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I. The Anglo-Roman Period

Preliminary Remarks. — Wooden Church at Glastonbury. — Proportions of this Church followed tn Ireland. — King Lucius. — The Dioclesian Persecution. — The Martyrdom and Church of S. Alban. — Churches restored after the Persecution. — Influence of Roman Sway on British Ecclesiastical Art.

There is something very remarkable in the number and beauty of ecclesiastical edifices in this and other portions of western Christendom, possessing a character by which they are collected into one class, however different they may be in magnitude, or in details and accidental varieties of arrangement.

It is still more remarkable, that these structures, so numerous, and combining within themselves so many elements of beauty, are the work of less than five centuries,1 and those not the most competent, as we should judge a priori, to design and complete a series of works, at the same time great and beautiful, requiring a disciplined, as well as a bold conception, and for their completion great mechanical and scientific acquirements.

1 In Germany, however, with Nor- century before it had been embodied mandy and other parts of France, the in such churches as Durham and style now called Norman had attained Tewkesbury in England, some degree of perfection, at least a

B

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.

Until the twelfth century our forefathers were but slowly feeling their way towards the perfection of ecclesiastical architecture, and after the fifteenth there was not a single additional form or character of beauty added to the resources of the ecclesiastical architect. From this time a people comparatively civilized in other things, became so tasteless as to depreciate, so barbarous as to destroy the stately monuments of primeval art, or to strip them of all their loveliness ; and the sixteenth century left but the wreck of many of the most stately ecclesiastical fabrics, and those which remained mourned, and still mourn as a bride without her jewels. At length, indeed, we have become sensible of the beauties which our fathers despised, ravaged and destroyed. For a while we wondered at the mighty structures, and were impressed with a sort of vague feeling that it was beyond our physical and constructive powers to build the like. Now we pay a deeper and a truer homage, in confessing that there is something almost incommunicable, or which at least we cannot catch, in the soul which informs those lovely structures. We confess, though unwillingly, our inability to match them either in their vastness, or in their beauty : in their vastness, for want of devotion or of wealth 3 in their beauty, for want of refined taste, and principles of harmonious composition. Yet wherein are our resources inferior to those of our ancestors of the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries? In the wealth both of the individual and of the community we are greatly superior to them ; not only as wealth is counted in gold and silver, but as it represents the means of commanding elegance and splendour, and of executing vast national works. In general taste and refinement we are beyond all comparison their superiors. Our science and our applications of science to mechanical arts, would surprise the philosopher or the mechanician of the thirteenth century, as much as their advancement in architecture shames us : yet for so many hundred years our ancestors did always, what we, in about as many, have always failed to do. In short, and this is the great reproach, in everything else, even in every other application of architecture, — in our mansions, our palaces, our bridges, our public works, our courts and exchanges, our public streets, our docks, our piers, our beacons, — we surpass our forefathers ; but in our religious edifices we are far beneath them : and, as if by

THE ANGLO-ROMAN PERIOD.

a necessity against which we cannot struggle, we are kept beneath them. They dwelt in hovels, and worshipped in houses exceeding magnifical ; we dwell in cedar, and worship in meagre or dilapidated churches.

We must guard, however, at the outset against a notion that the decline of ecclesiastical architecture is to be traced to the Reformation. Many beautiful structures were indeed destroyed at the dissolution of the monasteries, but this was no part of the Reformation properly so called : it preceded, and did not follow the establishment of a reformed ritual ; and it was the work of a prince in all doctrinal matters as popish as any of his predecessors. Nor was Henry VIII. the first to devise or to execute this wholesale sacrilege. The alien priories had been already seized several times, and at last wholly confiscated by Henry V. (a.d. 1414.) Wolsey had dissolved and despoiled religious houses to found his own college, nine years before the dissolution of the lesser, and thirteen years before that of the greater monasteries. But it is still more to the purpose that both here and abroad the decline of ecclesiastical art, in all its branches, had preceded the Reformation : that architecture was debased, and partially paganized, all over the continent, as well as in England, before the quarrel of Henry VIII. with the Pope ; and of course long before the Reformation had taken any definite form. Moreover the downward course of ecclesiastical architecture has been at least as rapid in other countries as in our own. New churches have been as wretched, — old ones have been as injudiciously restored, and as recklessly and more universally destroyed; nay, wholesale sacrilege and the dissolution of religious houses have been practised without any connection with a change in doctrine. And, finally, the present revival of ecclesiastical art commenced in Protestant England, and among Anglo-Catholics; and we heartily hope that it may yet grow into a living proof, that we are not deserted by the spirit of our fathers, in all that is great and lovely.

The decline of our ecclesiastical architecture was rapid, and its extinction instantaneous : its growth had been slow and gradual, and its vigour of long continuance. It is true that the number of Saxon churches and monasteries was very great, and that in some cases they could boast a dignity and an appropriate-

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ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.

ness to the solemn use for which they were designed, beyond that of any other buildings of their time. Yet it must be confessed that there was scarcely a single edifice which could compare in grace of conception and beauty of detail, with those with which the Normans were familiar at their first coming into England. But it must be remembered that we ought not to compare the Saxon churches with the works of another age or another people, to which they may or may not have been immensurably superior or hopelessly inferior, but with the secular works of the same age and nation. It may fairly admit a doubt, however, how soon the greatest efforts were directed to religious works in England. Christianity came into the island with the Romans ; not, however, as a recognized part of a system, but in the person of a few dependants of the proconsular court, and a few soldiers in stipendiary legions. The new occupants of a conquered and barbarous island, were employed first in necessary military works, and next in the erection of theatres, halls, and basilicas : tokens of their luxury and authority, not of their piety. They erected here and there an altar to Venus or to Mercury ; but a temple perhaps worthy of the name nowhere. The Christians among them would scarcely aspire to the possession of more than a little oratory, like a lodge in the wilderness, betokening the low condition, and the uncertain tenure, of military colonists : and the few who came or remained as missionaries, would be as unable as the rest were unwilling, to erect costly temples, until their preaching had already produced its effect on whole tribes of the aboriginal inhabitants.

The history of those times, whether legendary or authentic, confirms the natural deduction. The first Christian temple in England, as all accounts agree, was that at Glastonbury ; and there is an equal consent in the tradition that it was of very humble materials, and of very rude construction. As this church in its progressive splendour often occurs in the history of Christian art, I will transcribe the account which William of Malmsbury gives of its erection. Having related how Joseph of Arimathea was appointed by Philip, at the persecution which followed the death of Stephen, to preach the gospel in this island, with eleven companions, he adds, —

" These holy missionaries coming into Britain in the year of

THE ANGLO-ROMAN PERIOD.

our Lord 63, and in the fifteenth of the Blessed Virgin's assumption, published the doctrine of Christ with great industry and courage. But the barbarous king and his subjects, beingsomewhat alarmed at so unusual an undertaking, and not relishing a persuasion so different from his own, refused to become a proselyte ; but in consideration of the length of their voyage, and being somewhat charmed with their unexceptionable behaviour, gave them a little spot of ground, surrounded with fens and bushes, to dwell in. This place was called Ynswitrin by the natives, and situated upon the confines of his dominions. Afterwards two other pagan kings being affected with their remarkable sanctity, gave each of them a certain proportion of ground, and, at their request, settled twelve hides of land on them, by instruments in writing, according to the custom of the country; from whence it is supposed the twelve hides, now part of the abbey's estate, had their denomination.

" The holy men being thus settled in this place, which was no better than a wilderness, were, in a short time, ordered by the Angel Gabriel, who appeared to them, to build a church in honour of the Blessed Virgin, in a place to which they were supernaturally directed; who, immediately pursuing their instructions from heaven, built a chapel, the walls of which were made of osiers twisted together. This small structure was finished in the one and thirtieth year after our Saviour's Passion, having little of ornament in the figure, but very remarkable for the Divine presence, and the beauty of holiness : and this being the first church in this island, the Son of God was pleased to grace it with a particular distinction, dedicating it Himself in honour of His mother."

Insignificant as this church must have been as a work of art, except with a very liberal allowance for the circumstances under which it was erected, it would yet be preserved with more care than many a finer structure, for the interest of the associations writh which it was crowded. Accordingly we find so long after as the eleventh century, the wooden church of Glastonbury still remaining. Canute's Charter of Glastonbury was written and published in the wooden church, in presence of King Canute, in the year of our Lord 1032. 1 This was nearly a hundred years

1 Companion to Glossary.

after Dunstan had erected a far more splendid edifice at Glastonbury, but he probably retained this as a portion of his work, and through all successive changes its exact size and position were held in remembrance. In the more modern church as it stood till the Reformation, there was affixed to a column a brass plate bearing an inscription, which recorded the history of the erection and consecration of the church, together with the addition of a chancel, on account of the greater number of brethren who worshipped there ; and though this addition was made, as the inscription bears, by Divine inspiration, yet so great reverence attached to the original proportions of the structure, that they were thus expressly recorded : " Lest the position or the size of the former church should be forgotten, on account of such additions, this column is erected, in a line drawn through the two eastern angles of the said church, towards the south, and dividing the before-mentioned chancel from it. And its length from the said line westward was sixty feet, and its breadth twenty-six feet, and the distance of the centre of this column from the middle point, between the said angles, forty-eight feet."1 These dimensions have an interest not at first sight apparent, and form a very curious connecting link between the ecclesiastical architecture of England and of Ireland. Among the memorable names connected with Glastonbury, was that of S. Patrick, the

1 The whole inscription is given by domino reuelante ac sanctorum nu-

Mr. Petrie from Sir Henry Spelman. mero in eadem crescente, quendam

It is as follows: "Anno post pas- cancellum in orientali parte huic eccle-

sionem domini xxxi° duodecim sancti sie adiecit et in honore beate virginis

ex quibus Joseph ab Arimathia primus consecrauit. Cuius altare inestimabili

nenti in sompnis apparuit et eum a dente. Et erat ejus longitudo ab ilia

quod ipse dominus ecclesiam ipsam latitudo uero ejus xxvi. pedum, dis-

episcopo digito perforavit, et sic per- medio inter predictos angulos xlviii.

THE ANGLO-ROMAN PERIOD.

Apostle of Ireland, who, according to the Glastonbury account, and some Irish legends, was buried in this church. Now it seems that sixty feet was the usual length even of the larger churches in Ireland, built under the direction of S. Patrick, and after his example for many centuries.1 Mr. Petrie, in his very valuable inquiry into the origin and uses of round towers of Ireland, suggests that the general adoption of this size originated either in reverence for this model, (i. e., the church of Glastonbury,) or for some similar one derived from the primitive Christians.2

From this year, 63, we have few or no accounts of the foundation of churches till the time of King Lucius ; but from the number attributed to him, whether truly or not, we may conclude that ecclesiastical buildings were considerably multiplied in his time. The conversion of Lucius took place in 176, and his death in 201. Within this interval, according to Geoffry of Monmouth, the greatest part of Britain was cleared of heathenism, the revenues of the pagan priests were transferred to Christian Bishops and Clergy, and many of the pagan temples cleansed of the relics of idolatry and false worship, were consecrated to the service of the true God. Britain was also divided at the same time into three provinces, formerly under the authority of heathen archnamens, and metropolitan churches were erected in London, York, and the city of Legions,3 which its old wall and buildings show to have been situated on the river Uske in Glamorganshire.4 Lucius himself largely increased the ecclesiastical revenues out of his royal patrimony, and built several churches.5 The following which are connected in after ages with

1 On the subject of the size of the ancient churches of Ireland, Mr. Petrie has collected a mass of very curious matter ; among the rest he gives the history of the foundation of the great church of S. Patrick, near Feltown, in Meath, which is thus related in the tripartite history, ascribed to S. Evan.

" In that very place where his residence was, (where he had received S. Patrick,) Conal laid the foundation of a church to God and S. Patrick, which was in length sixty of his feet ; (quod pedibus ejus LX pedum erat :) but he removed his habitation to another spot.

And then Patrick said to him, ' Whoever shall be so bold as to attempt anything against this church, his reign shall be neither happy nor long.' " — Petrie's Round Towers, p. 161. 3 See Petrie atpp.,161 and 193—196,

3 Carleon on Uske.

4 Geoffry of Monmouth, iv. 19, and v. l>