DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1457#0032
i REV. T. WART ON S
tion or a rude imitation of the genuine Gre-
cian or Roman manner. This has been named
I he Saxon style, being the national architec-
ture of our Saxon ancestors before the Con-
quest: for the Normans only extended its
proportions and enlarged its scale. But I sup-
pose at that time it was the common architec-
ture of all Europe. Of this style many spe-
cimens remain: the transept of Winchester
cathedral, built 1080; the two towers of
Exeter cathedral, 1112; Christ Church cathe-
dral, at Oxford, 1180; the nave of Glocester
cathedral, 1100; with many others. The
most complete monuments of it I can at pre-
sent recollect are, the church of St. Cross, near
Winchester, built by Henry de Blois, 1130;
and the abbey church at Rumsey, in Hamp-
shire : especially the latter, built by the same
princely benefactor. Another evidence of
this style is a circular series of zig-zag sculp-
ture applied as a facing to porticos and other
arches. The style which succeeded to this
uras not the absolute Gothic, or Gothic simply
so called, but a sort of Gothic Saxon, in
which the pure Saxon began to receive some
tincture of the Saracen fashion. In this the
massy rotund column became split into a clus-
ter of agglomerated pilasters, preserving a
base and capital as before; and the short
tion or a rude imitation of the genuine Gre-
cian or Roman manner. This has been named
I he Saxon style, being the national architec-
ture of our Saxon ancestors before the Con-
quest: for the Normans only extended its
proportions and enlarged its scale. But I sup-
pose at that time it was the common architec-
ture of all Europe. Of this style many spe-
cimens remain: the transept of Winchester
cathedral, built 1080; the two towers of
Exeter cathedral, 1112; Christ Church cathe-
dral, at Oxford, 1180; the nave of Glocester
cathedral, 1100; with many others. The
most complete monuments of it I can at pre-
sent recollect are, the church of St. Cross, near
Winchester, built by Henry de Blois, 1130;
and the abbey church at Rumsey, in Hamp-
shire : especially the latter, built by the same
princely benefactor. Another evidence of
this style is a circular series of zig-zag sculp-
ture applied as a facing to porticos and other
arches. The style which succeeded to this
uras not the absolute Gothic, or Gothic simply
so called, but a sort of Gothic Saxon, in
which the pure Saxon began to receive some
tincture of the Saracen fashion. In this the
massy rotund column became split into a clus-
ter of agglomerated pilasters, preserving a
base and capital as before; and the short