DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0124
66
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
Such was the foundation of the church ; and perhaps various kinds of foundation
calculated to confer security on the fabric, might be required for the adjoining
buildings of the abbey, according to the various soils which the architects had to
encounter, or the materials which were employed in the structure. From the
remains, however, of such foundations as have been discovered at various times
since the dissolution, it is probable that they were similar to those of the church;
and it is to this extraordinary labour that we are indebted for the preservation of a
pile of such large dimensions. Such care and skill were not, perhaps, always
exercised ; and it is to a neglect of them that we are to impute the failure in the
foundation of the churches of Kirton,* Surfleet, and Pinchbeck, in the same distric t,
and erected on a similar soil, which now seems to threaten the security of those
fabrics.
The labour and expense attending the foundation, and the difficulties of rearing
the superstructure, must necessarily have rendered any material deviation from the
original extent at a subsequent period, hazardous and expensive. We must, there-
fore, consider the dimensions of the present church as the dimensions of that of
Ethelbald, although we can form no idea of the superstructure of it. Mr. Essex,
indeed, conjectures, that the two remaining columns, with the arch which supported
the centre tower, and the two abutments of the west front, which still exist, formed
a portion of this original church ; and from these and other data drew " a plan and
section of the church built by Ethelbald, King of Mercia, anno 716; not to shew
the minute measures of its particular parts, but the general form of the plan, and its
gross measures."f So much conjecture must necessarily be exerted in any attempt
of this kind, that however great the authority of Mr. Essex on such a subject, we
should be cautious in receiving it. The form was a Latin cross, and the ground
plan which he has given accords with the ground plan of the present church. There
is no necessity to enter into any detail of the superstructure or architectural parts,
since Mr. Essex conceives Peterborough Cathedral to have been copied from it,
and for which church his section and description will equally serve, mutatis mutandis,
* The choir and transepts of this church were found to be in so dangerous a state, that they were recently
taken down. A new chancel and west tower were erected from the old materials, and the nave of the old church
which retained its perpendicular, forms the body of the present structure. These alterations were effected under
the direction of Richard Hay ward, Esq. master of the works to Lincoln Cathedral, and reflect much credit on his
judgment.
t Observations on Croyland Abbey, Bibl. Topogi. Britan. No. xi.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
Such was the foundation of the church ; and perhaps various kinds of foundation
calculated to confer security on the fabric, might be required for the adjoining
buildings of the abbey, according to the various soils which the architects had to
encounter, or the materials which were employed in the structure. From the
remains, however, of such foundations as have been discovered at various times
since the dissolution, it is probable that they were similar to those of the church;
and it is to this extraordinary labour that we are indebted for the preservation of a
pile of such large dimensions. Such care and skill were not, perhaps, always
exercised ; and it is to a neglect of them that we are to impute the failure in the
foundation of the churches of Kirton,* Surfleet, and Pinchbeck, in the same distric t,
and erected on a similar soil, which now seems to threaten the security of those
fabrics.
The labour and expense attending the foundation, and the difficulties of rearing
the superstructure, must necessarily have rendered any material deviation from the
original extent at a subsequent period, hazardous and expensive. We must, there-
fore, consider the dimensions of the present church as the dimensions of that of
Ethelbald, although we can form no idea of the superstructure of it. Mr. Essex,
indeed, conjectures, that the two remaining columns, with the arch which supported
the centre tower, and the two abutments of the west front, which still exist, formed
a portion of this original church ; and from these and other data drew " a plan and
section of the church built by Ethelbald, King of Mercia, anno 716; not to shew
the minute measures of its particular parts, but the general form of the plan, and its
gross measures."f So much conjecture must necessarily be exerted in any attempt
of this kind, that however great the authority of Mr. Essex on such a subject, we
should be cautious in receiving it. The form was a Latin cross, and the ground
plan which he has given accords with the ground plan of the present church. There
is no necessity to enter into any detail of the superstructure or architectural parts,
since Mr. Essex conceives Peterborough Cathedral to have been copied from it,
and for which church his section and description will equally serve, mutatis mutandis,
* The choir and transepts of this church were found to be in so dangerous a state, that they were recently
taken down. A new chancel and west tower were erected from the old materials, and the nave of the old church
which retained its perpendicular, forms the body of the present structure. These alterations were effected under
the direction of Richard Hay ward, Esq. master of the works to Lincoln Cathedral, and reflect much credit on his
judgment.
t Observations on Croyland Abbey, Bibl. Topogi. Britan. No. xi.