International studio (32.1907)

The Norman Chapel Buildings at Broad Campden

upon it, to scrupulously conserve the former while
adapting it to modern needs, and to bring the
latter into harmony with it without in any way
working to a period or falsifying history—the old
work is old and the new new.

The history of the old work, as far as it is
ascertainable, is as follows. An early Norman
church, possibly of the time of Harold, who held
the manor and from whom it passed to Hugh
Lupus, forms the nucleus of the building From
this it gets its local traditional name, “the Norman
Chapel.” Of this nucleus there remains the south
door. (See illustrations on pp. 290, 291), the
north or “ Devil’s Door,” an exceedingly interest-
ing chancel arch, and a large part of the masonry
in the lower part of the main wing. There is then
a curious, presumably fourteenth-century, doorway
(see right-hand illustration on p. 291 and left-
hand illustration on p. 295) in a
portion of the building that is of
later date, but the most interesting
in the whole is the superb four-
teenth-century. room (see p. 291)
which I have reconstructed as a
library, in the upper portion of
the original Norman church. It
is evident that there has been a
pre - reformation change from
ecclesiastical to domestic pur-
poses, for the chancel arch was
cut across horizontally by a four-
teenth-century floor, and some
traceried windows and a fireplace
were built into the nave of the
Norman church. I know of no
other case in England where an
early church has been thus beauti-
fully desecrated and turned to
secular use in pre - reformation
times. My own theory as to this,
which it would, however, take me
too long here to elaborate, is that
the whole population, priest and
people together, were wiped out
at the time of the Black Death,
and that some years later when
the fine new church at Chipping
Campden was built a mile or so
away and the Flemish wool mer-
chants settled there with newer
hopes and better prospects, the
old Norman church, which by
tradition is still called the
“ mother church ” of Campden,

290

became derelict and was converted to secular use.
Reference to the top drawing on p. 292 will show
the splendid construction of the fourteenth-century
ceiling. The screen at the end of the room prob-
ably represents the remains of a half-timber par-
tition, but as the whole of the upper part of that
end of the building had fallen it is impossible to
determine its exact purpose.

The drawing on p. 295 shows the curious stone
staircase which led up to the library. The oaken
banisters, and also the oaken door—which I have
studded with ebony and mother-of-pearl—leading
into what is now the dining-room, are new.

Two drawings, one on the bottom of p. 292 and
the other on the following page, show from different
points the dining-room, which is reached through
this door. Half of this room is old, but the
rest is completely new, for two of the walls