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_The Homeland Handbooks_--No. 55.
OUR HOMELAND CHURCHES AND HOW TO STUDY THEM.
by
SIDNEY HEATH
(Author of "Some Dorset Manor Houses," etc.)
Illustrated by the Author and Ethel M. Heath
And by Photographs.
Published under the General Editorship
of Prescott Row and Arthur Henry Anderson,
by the Homeland Association for the
Encouragement of Touring in Great Britain.
[Illustration: The Foundations of a Romano-British Church.
Uncovered at Silchester. _Photograph S. Victor White & Co._]
London:
The Homeland Association Ltd.,
22, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
First Edition.
1907.
EDITORIAL NOTE.
With a view to making future Editions of this Handbook as accurate and
comprehensive as possible, suggestions for its improvement are cordially
invited. If sent to THE EDITORS, The Homeland Association, Association
House, 22, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, E.C., they will be gratefully
acknowledged.
COPYRIGHT.
This Book as a whole, with its contents, both Literary and Pictorial, is
Copyrighted in Great Britain.
ADVERTISING.
LOCAL.--Terms for Advertising in future issues of this Handbook
will be forwarded on application to the General Manager of the
Homeland Association, at the above address.
GENERAL.--Contracts for the insertion of Advertisements through
the whole series of Homeland Handbooks, more than fifty volumes,
circulating through the country, can be arranged on application to
the General Manager.
_CONTENTS._
_Author's Preface_ 7
_Dedication_ 8
_Introduction_ 9
_I.--Early British Churches_ 19
_II.--Early Church Architecture_ 26
_III.--The Saxon and Norman Styles_ 31
_IV.--The Early English Style_ 47
_V.--The Decorated Style_ 57
_VI.--The Perpendicular Style_ 64
_VII.--The Renaissance and Later_ 74
_VIII.--Church Furniture and Ornaments_ 80
_IX.--Bells and Belfries_ 95
_X.--The Spire: Its Origin and Development_ 99
_XI.--Stained Glass_ 104
_XII.--Crypts_ 109
_XIII.--How to describe an Old Church_ 111
_Appendix--A Glossary of the Principal Terms
used in Ecclesiastical Architecture_ 115
_Bibliography_ 123
_Index_ 124
_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._
PLATES.
1 _Foundations of a Romano-British Church_ _Frontispiece_
2 _The Church of St. Margaret, Lynn_ 52
3 _A Fine Perpendicular Tower, St. Mary, Taunton_ 72
4 _Sedilia and Chantry, Luton_ 88
* * * * *
_The Various Forms of Arches_ 10
_Plan of a Typical Gothic Cruciform Parish Church, Luton_ 12
_Examples of Gothic Windows_ 15
_Examples of Buttresses_ 17
_A Rood Screen, with a Restoration of the Rood_ 20
_The Church of S. Martin, Canterbury_ 22
_Window Built with Roman Brick, Swanscombe_ 24
_A Reputed Saxon Doorway, Bishopstone_ 30
_Tower of Earls' Barton Church_ 33
_An Example of Norman Tower, Bishopstone_ 34
_A Norman Pier Arcade, Abbots Langley_ 36
_Examples of Norman Mouldings_ 37
_A Late Norman Parish Church, Castle Rising_ 38
_West Doorway, Rochester Cathedral_ 40
_Tympanum of Norman Doorway, Fordington St. George_ 41
_Examples of Norman Capitals_ 42
_A Curious Norman Capital, Seaford_ 43
_Norman and Early English Doorways, Dunstable Priory Church_ 45
_Windows, Showing the Origin of Tracery_ 47
_An Early English Arch, Rochester Cathedral_ 48
_Wall Arcading, Showing Junction of Norman and Early English
Masonry, Dunstable Priory Church_ 50
_An Early English Doorway, Huntingdon_ 51
_A Group of Thirteenth Century Lancet Windows, Ockham_ 53
_Salisbury Cathedral_ 55
_Examples of Early English Capitals and Ornament_ 56
_A Late Decorated Window in a Parish Church, East Sutton_ 59
_Examples of Decorated Ornament_ 61
_Examples of Perpendicular Ornament_ 64
_Early Perpendicular Parish Church, Yeovil_ 65
_A Fine Parish Church, Showing Rich Perpendicular Work,
Terrington St. Clement, Norfolk_ 67
_A Perpendicular Doorway, Merton College_ 68
_A Perpendicular Porch, King's Lynn_ 71
_An English Renaissance Church, S. Stephen, Walbrook_ 78
_A Typical Cornish Font_ 80
_The Sanctuary Knocker, Durham Cathedral_ 82
_The Baptistery in Luton Church_ 83
_An Example of a Leaden Font of the Late Norman Period_ 85
_A Reputed Saxon Font, Shaldon_ 86
_A Detached Holy-Water Stoup of Unusual Design_ 87
_A Typical Somerset Bench-End, Spaxton_ 89
_A Richly-Carved Pulpit and Canopy, Edlesborough_ 91
_Screen with Rood Loft, Kenton_ 93
_The Carved Oak Balustrade in Compton Church_ 94
_Bell Turret for Three Bells, Radipole_ 98
_The Best Example of a Saxon Spire or Pyramidal Roof, Sompting_ 100
_Leighton Buzzard Church, with Early English Tower and Spire_ 102
_A Parish Church with a Shingle Broach Spire, Edenbridge_ 105
_Interior Elevation of a Bay of a Church_ 114
_STYLES OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE._
The following periods of architectural style may be of use for the
purpose of reference, but it must be borne in mind that they are more or
less approximate, as each style merged by slow degrees into the next.
_Norman._--William I. to Stephen. 1066-1154.
_Transition Norman._--Henry II. 1154-1189.
_Early English Gothic._--Richard I. to Henry III. 1189-1272
_Decorated._--Edward I., II., III. 1272-1377.
_Perpendicular._--Richard II. to Henry VII. 1377-1485.
_Tudor._--Henry VIII. to Elizabeth. 1485-1600.
Mr. Edmund Sharpe gives seven periods of English architecture up to the
time of the Reformation, and dates them as follows:--
_ROMANESQUE._
I. _Saxon_ from ---- to 1066
II. _Norman_ " 1066 " 1145 79 years
III. _Transitional_ " 1145 " 1190 45 "
_GOTHIC._
IV. _Lancet_ from 1190 to 1245 55 years
V. _Geometrical_ " 1245 " 1315 70 "
VI. _Curvilinear_ " 1315 " 1360 45 "
VII. _Rectilinear_ " 1360 " 1550 190 "
PREFACE.
It is a truism that the history of building is the history of the
civilized world, for of all the arts practised by man, there is none
which conveys to us a clearer conception of the religion, history,
manners, customs, ideals and follies of past ages, than the art of
building. This applies in a special sense to cathedrals and churches,
which glorious relics reflect and perpetuate the noble aim, the delicate
thought, the refined and exquisite taste, the patient and painstaking
toil which have been expended upon them by the devout and earnest
craftsmen of the past.
There are very few of our ancient churches in village, town or city
which do not offer some feature of interest to the visitor, and in the
absence of anything more important, there is sure to be some door,
window, font, screen, or other detail which will amply repay him for the
small amount of time spent in seeing it.
The aim of the author of this little volume has been to indicate the
symbolism and meaning attaching to the various portions of our churches
and cathedrals, and to endeavour briefly to describe, in language as
simple as the subject will allow, the various styles of ecclesiastical
architecture with their distinctive characteristics in such a way as
will enable the reader to assign each portion and detail of a church to
its respective period with an approximate degree of accuracy.
He does not claim to be original, but endeavours to be useful and
interesting. The best authorities have been consulted and freely drawn
upon, but with the object in view of writing a book at once thus useful
and interesting, no attempt has been made to deal with the subject in a
strictly architectural, or a purely scientific manner.
Weymouth, 1906.
DEDICATION.
To all those who love old buildings--cathedrals, abbeys, and village
churches, which breathe the spirit of an age with which we have entirely
broken--and who would fain hand down to posterity, unmutilated, the
great building achievements of our forefathers, which we, with all our
science, wealth, and means of curtailing labour, can no more imitate
than we can reproduce the language of a Chaucer or a Shakespeare; this
book is respectfully dedicated.
S. H.
"_Firm was their faith, the ancient bands,
The wise of heart in wood and stone,
Who reared with stern and trusting hands
Those dark grey towers of days unknown;
They filled the aisles with many a thought,
They bade each nook some truth recall
The pillared arch its legend brought,
A doctrine came with roof and wall._"
--HAWKER OF MORWENSTOW.
OUR HOMELAND CHURCHES AND HOW TO STUDY THEM.
INTRODUCTION.
However much we may admire, considered purely as art, the Pagan temples
of the Greeks and Romans, we must confess that they are lacking in those
high ideals and those sustained and inspired motives which seem to
penetrate and permeate the buildings and churches of the Christian era.
Perfect as is Greek art within its somewhat narrow limits, it is,
nevertheless, cold, precise and lifeless. The Gothic buildings on the
contrary are pregnant with the very spirit of life.
Prompted by a deep and fervent faith in their religion, the Gothic
builders and sculptors unconsciously wove into the humblest of their
architectural enrichments some portion of their daily life and
personality. The slave-built temples of the Greeks offered no scope for
the exercise of individual expression--such, in fact, would have been
strongly resented--whereas the early Christian craftsman, revelling in
his freedom, seized every opportunity of expressing in his work his joy,
fear and hope of immortality.
This is made apparent in the study of an old church, whereof every
portion--door, window, bench-end, carving, gargoyle--has hidden about it
some suggestion of beautiful thought, or some distinct and appropriate
symbolism. The fact that symbolism underlies almost every such
indication of mediæval thought is made abundantly manifest in the study
of mediæval literature. Open any 12th century treatise on morals,
science or history, and you become aware of the fact at once. The
main-spring of this symbolism, of all Christian symbolism, turns on the
parabolic meaning in the scheme of Creation. The early writers were far
less concerned with recording the plain objective facts of history, than
in pursuing the allegory and the love of the marvellous, and showing
all those characteristics of what we now term an unscientific attitude
of mind.
[Illustration: The Various Forms of Arches.
Norman. Stilted. Horse Shoe.
Equilateral. Lancet. Drop.
Trefoil. Trefoil. Cinquefoil.
Ogee. Four Centered. Tudor.]
In its widest sense, symbolism means the expression of belief, and if we
would interpret history aright, we must grasp the fact that the key to
the character and disposition of peoples of all ages lies in the
knowledge of their beliefs; for out of the beliefs of one age most
surely grow the beliefs of its successors, and in no work of man's hand
are the beliefs held by various peoples in past ages more clearly
defined than in our cathedrals and churches, which noble buildings in
every civilized country indicate principles as well as facts, influences
as well as results; and while presenting the finest materials for
æsthetic study, are no less useful as indicating the psychological
peculiarities of those builders of old to whose condition they bear
witness.
In our grand specimens of ecclesiastical architecture, we may read the
world's later history, and to-day they breathe the sombre reverential
influence of a faith which sought to satisfy itself with the visible
symbolizing of those half-poetical, half-superstitious conceptions with
which the religion of the Middle Ages was so deeply imbued.
An early development of decorative symbolic art, known as Celtic, of
which we have examples on old Irish crosses, and particularly on
illuminated MSS. was wrought by the Christian monks of the 7th and 8th
centuries, but what is generally understood as Christian symbolic art
had its finest development about the 13th century. Gothic art is
essentially symbolic and in many instances, its individual forms have
specific significance. Thus the common equilateral triangle was used to
symbolize the Holy Trinity, as are the two entwined triangles. Other
symbols employed at this period setting forth the mystery of the Unity
of the Trinity, without beginning and without end, are three interlaced
circles, and a very curious one is that in which three faces are so
combined as to form an ornamental figure. Baptism under the immediate
sanction of the Divine Trinity was represented by three fishes placed
together in the form of a triangle. So numerous, indeed were such
Christian symbols after the 9th century that a mere enumeration of them
would occupy considerable space. Every trefoil symbolized the Holy
Trinity; every quatrefoil the four Evangelists; every cross the
Crucifixion, or the martyrdom of some saint; and in Gothic ornament and
decoration, we find the Chalice, the Crown of Thorns, the Dice, the Sop,
the Hammer and Nails, the Flagellum and other symbols of our Lord's
Passion.
[Illustration: Plan of a Typical Gothic Cruciform Parish Church.
(St. Mary, Luton, fully described in No. 47 of this Series).
_Drawn by Ed. Craven Lee._]
Although presenting the same characteristics in their external design,
our town and village churches are very various. The simplest form, and
the one most commonly found, is that of a nave and chancel, with a tower
at the west end; to which plan may be added aisles and transepts, the
latter often being wrongly called "cross-aisles." When the walls of the
nave above the arcade rise above those of the aisles and are pierced
with windows, the upper portion is called the clerestory, the meaning
of which word is not free from obscurity; it seems probable that it
indicates the clear story--the story which rises clear of the nave and
aisles. In large buildings, they are important both for utility and
beauty, but in small and early churches, they are of less importance.
It is a well-known fact that the chancel and nave of a church generally
stand east and west. This arrangement, called the orientation, is
symbolic of the teaching that to the east we are to look for assistance
and protection against the power of our enemy, and that as we pray we
may look for the day-spring, symbolized to us in the rising sun that
sheds light and warmth all over the earth.
The public entrance to a church is generally at the west end (the priest
usually had a door in the chancel for his own use). Through this door we
enter the house of prayer, for as in the east we see the emblem of the
Lord of Life and Light, so the west represents the seat of darkness and
of the powers of evil.
The earliest porches were those of the early Christian basilica churches;
they were long and arcaded and were called "narthex." In later times,
they assumed two forms, one the projecting erection, covering the
entrance and divided into three or more doorways, and the other a kind
of covered chamber open at the end and having small windows at the
sides. These latter are generally found on the north and south sides
of the nave. Formerly, when church government was more rigorous in
discipline than is now the case, the porch was the appointed place for
those who were under censure. Those also who were unbaptised, or who had
not yet received the sacrament of regeneration, were not allowed beyond
the porch, not quite excluded from the church and yet not permitted
to enter fully. The porch also served as a path of admission for all
Christians into the body of the church, so that they passed through the
assembly of penitents and catechumens, who were wont to ask the prayers
of the more highly privileged for their full restoration or admission to
the communion of the faithful.
With reference to our Lord's word, "I am the Door," we frequently find
the tympana of church doors, particularly those of Norman date, adorned
with representations of events from his life, but they often also depict
the monsters, dragons and devils, that formed so strong an article in
the faith of the early Christians.
A more detailed account of these tympana will be found in a following
chapter.
Passing through the porch we enter the nave, which word is derived from
the Latin _navis_, a ship. Its symbolic teaching is that of the Church
riding triumphantly and buoyantly on the troubled and dark waters of the
world. The first thing noticed on entering the nave is the font, which
was formerly placed outside the church, in a separate building called
the baptistery; a few of our churches have retained these little
buildings which now form part of the churches proper.
The reason in early days for placing the font outside the church was
that the Christian was not admitted into the nave until he had been
baptised and confirmed, the latter rite being administered immediately
after baptism.
From the western door there is a clear passage through the centre of
the nave, called the aisle, signifying the straight and narrow way from
the seat of darkness to immortal life. On each side of this aisle are
seats for the laity, with room for standing and kneeling. The nave was
usually divided from the chancel by an open screen of wood or stone,
signifying that although the Christian might have some insight into the
mysteries of the priest's office, at the same time these were to be
partly concealed from his view. The rood screen was so called from the
fact that the great Rood, or Crucifix, stood above it, not always on the
screen itself, but on a separate beam, to which was often attached a
rood loft or chamber. In early days, the lessons were read from the top
of the rood screen, and in many of our churches the stairways leading
thither have been retained.
[Illustration: Examples of Gothic Windows.
Early English. Decorated. Perpendicular.
See also page 59.]
In churches where the screen has vanished, the division of the nave
from the rest of the church is plainly marked by the chancel arch.
The chancel is emblematic of the Christian perfection, of the Church
triumphant in heaven.
In an old church, a piscina is nearly always found in the chancel, and
here, too, were the sedilia or seats for the officiating clergy, the
prior, sub-prior, and the deacon, the last-named occupying the lowest
seat.
Founders' tombs also nearly always occupy positions in the chancel, and
these tombs differ from all others in that they form an integral part
of the structure, and could not have been added after the church was
completed.
Another thing sometimes to be seen is the ambery, or aumbry, a small
cupboard let into the chancel wall, in which were kept the communion
vessels, the chalice, paten, etc.
The great object of interest, however, in the chancel, is the altar,
which Archbishop Laud directed should be enclosed by rails, so that
although the people may draw near, they cannot touch the holy table, but
must accept from the hands of the priest those gifts of which he is the
minister from God.
Altars are fully described in a following chapter, but we may here note
that the reredos, so universally found in our cathedrals, abbeys, and
in many of our churches, forms no part of the altar, and the Court of
Arches has decided that there are no altars in the Church of England,
but only communion tables.
Prominent among the external enrichments of our churches is the
gargoyle, a word derived from the French, "gargouille," which in its
turn comes from the Latin "gurgulio"--a water-spout. The earliest
gargoyles are merely orifices with a lip to shoot the water well away
from the fabric. The true gargoyle, however, was quickly evolved from
this primitive form, and consists of two parts, the lower one forming
the channel, the upper one being the cover. The full significance of the
skill displayed by the old masons in the rare opportunity the gargoyle
afforded them of representing the dragons, serpents, etc., in which
their fancy revelled, is made apparent when we view the futile attempts
of modern architects to introduce this feature in their churches, for
modern gargoyles are generally grotesque caricatures, and anything but
happy appendages to the buildings to which they are attached.
[Illustration: Examples of Buttresses.
_Norman_ _Decorated_
_Flying Buttress_
_Early English_ _Perpendicular_
_Drawn by E. M. Heath._]
The churchyard, so pleasing an adjunct to the House of God placed within
it, is frequently approached through a lych-gate, which word is derived
from the Saxon _lich_, a corpse. These gates in our country churchyards
are often very picturesque little structures, and under them the corpse
at a funeral awaited the officiating priest before being taken into the
church. The churchyard is commonly regarded as a mere dependency of the
church, and as having a history very inferior in interest to that of the
temple to which it is the court. The truth is that many of our churchyards
have an antiquity far greater than that of the churches, as many of them
constituted the open-air meeting-places of our Saxon forefathers long
before the erection of parish churches. In the common meeting-place a
cross was set up, either of wood or stone, to mark and hallow the spot,
and when a church was subsequently built it was usually in the immediate
vicinity of the cross, which accounts for the fact that many churchyard
crosses are of older date than the churches themselves.
Wells of water are often found in old churchyards, and as the
regulations of the Saxon church required immersion and not sprinkling,
it is possible that these were the Saxon fonts.
Such then is the necessarily brief attempt to describe the main lines on
which our old churches were planned, and the motives and ideals which
animated their builders, who, being impressed with the dignity and
mystery of the works of God, made their churches symbolical of the
portions of the Christian life; the porch signifying baptism, the nave
the life militant on earth, and the chancel the life eternal; while
every little ornament, piece of sculpture and enrichment was designed to
remind the worshippers of their faith, of its hopes, blessed promises
and rewards.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY BRITISH CHURCHES.
In dealing with the introduction of church architecture into our own
land, the task would be much simplified if one could state with
certainty when the first church was built on British soil. Some
historians assert that the Church of England as it is constituted to-day
dates no further back than the moment when S. Augustine and his
followers landed on the shores of Kent in the year 596, yet one is
probably justified in assuming that a church existed in these islands
for centuries previous to the arrival of the Roman missionaries.
Unfortunately we have no records to guide us as to the date of this
earlier settlement, and the name of the first Christian missionary to
heathen Britain has still to be discovered. "We see," says the quaint
old historian, Thomas Fuller, "the light of the word shined here, but
see not who kindled it." The first Christian building of which we have
any record was probably that erected at Glastonbury before the year 300,
but that this was the first Christian settlement cannot be alleged with
certainty.
There are many traditions concerning the introduction of Christianity
into Britain, some of which may probably have some bearing on the truth,
but the whole subject is involved in considerable obscurity. One of
these numerous traditions is to the effect that the British King
Caradoc, after being taken prisoner to Rome, was allowed to return, on
condition that several members of his family remained as hostages; and
whilst serving in this capacity, his mother, son, and daughter are
stated to have become converts to Christianity, the doctrines of which
faith they spread in their native land on their return thereto. Another
tradition is to the effect that S. Paul himself visited Britain and laid
the foundation of the Christian faith. We are also told by eminent
church historians that the father and grandfather of S. Patrick were
Christians, in which case S. Patrick himself would from a very early age
have been brought up in the tenets of their faith. He is said to have
been seized by pirates in the Clyde and taken to the north of Ireland,
and eventually to Gaul. He was subsequently restored to his friends,
whom he wished to convert to the Christian faith, and for this purpose
his father sent him to be taught in the schools of Tours, Auxerre and
Lerins. Eventually he was consecrated Bishop of the Irish and organized
an efficient ecclesiastical system in Ireland.
[Illustration: A Rood Screen with a Restoration of the Rood.
Kenn, Devon. _Photograph by Chapman._]
Before the coming of the Anglo-Saxons the church seems to have
established a firm hold on the people, who held tenaciously to their
possessions, both secular and religious, which were only wrested from
them after a severe struggle. Their enthusiastic love of Christianity
led them to make a heroic defence of the churches, rather than see them
fall into the hands of the heathen Anglo-Saxons. The historian Bede
tells us that all their buildings were destroyed, the priests' blood was
spilt upon the altars, prelates and people were slain with the sword,
and all the cities and churches were burnt to the ground. When all was
lost and there was no longer a church or home to defend, the Britons
retired to the country of their fellow-Christians, the secluded and
almost impenetrable hills and forests of the west. The Anglo-Saxon love
of gold was quickly recognised by the people of West Wales who saved
their property and bought the right of worshipping after the manner of
their fathers by the payment of an annual tribute to their conquerors.
[Side note: Church of S. Piran, Perranporth.]
So ruthlessly indeed did the Anglo-Saxons rase to the ground the early
churches, that, until a few years ago, but few traces of these early
buildings were thought to exist. An accidental discovery, however, in
the year 1835, brought to light an undoubted relic of an early British
church in the west, this being the remains of a little church which had
been until the date above mentioned completely buried in the sand
on the sea coast near Perranporth in Cornwall. They are thought by
ecclesiologists to be the remains of the original church erected to the
memory of S. Piran, a Cornish missionary and a friend of S. Patrick, who
was buried within its walls before the year 500 A.D. On removing the
sand, the accumulated deposit of centuries, the church was found to have
consisted of a nave and chancel containing a stone altar.
[Illustration: The Church of S. Martin, Canterbury.]
The building measured 29 feet in length, 16-1/3 feet in width and 19
feet from the floor to the roof, and probably shares with S. Mary's
Church in Dover Castle, and S. Martin's, Canterbury, the honour of being
one of the earliest links we possess with the ancient British Church. S.
Mary's, Dover, appears to have been built of Roman bricks and cement, a
combination which antiquaries consider is found only in those buildings
which were erected during the Roman occupation.
[Side note: S. Martin's Canterbury.]
S. Martin's Church, Canterbury has many claims to be considered one of
our most interesting churches, no less on account of its associations
than for its structural interest. The date of its building has been a
source of endless controversy, as it contains many features attributable
to either Roman or Saxon architecture. It is thought that it may
possibly have been used for worship by the Christian soldiers of the
Roman army. Be this as it may, it is established beyond doubt that it
was the oratory of Queen Bertha, the first English Christian queen, who
here worshipped, with her chaplain Liudhard, long before the advent of
S. Augustine, who himself in later times preached here; and within the
walls of this cradle of English Christianity, Ethelbert, King of Kent,
the husband of Queen Bertha was baptized. The Venerable Bede, writing
within a hundred years of the death of S. Augustine states that there
was in 597 A.D. in Canterbury, a church "dedicated to the honour of S.
Martin and built while the Romans still occupied Britain." On the
departure of the Romans it is probable that the church was still used by
a small band of Christian worshippers until the heathen Jutes overran
the Isle of Thanet in 449.
Little is known of the progress of Christianity on this island from that
date until the landing of S. Augustine in 597, and the first fruits of
his mission, as we have seen, was the conversion and baptism of King
Ethelbert. As one would naturally expect, the aspect of the structure
to-day, though suggestive of antiquity, is lacking in uniformity of
treatment. The brick courses in the nave are at irregular intervals,
varying from nine to twenty inches apart, the spaces being filled with
Kentish rag-stone and occasional blocks of chalk. The chancel extends
eighteen or twenty feet east of the arch and is composed of Roman
bricks, evenly laid and averaging four bricks to a foot.
[Illustration: An Ancient Window built with Roman Brickwork.
Swanscombe, Kent. _Photograph Mr. G. H. Smith._]
The chancel was lengthened at the beginning of the thirteenth century
and again at a more recent date, so that its architecture to-day is
of three distinct periods. Outside may be seen five flat pilaster
buttresses and one semi-circular one, a square-headed Roman doorway, a
Saxon doorway and two Early English porches; and there is also a nearly
circular panel on the south side of the nave, and a Norman squint at the
west end. There are many other features of interest which bear evidences
of a great antiquity, and the only question which is seriously disputed
is whether the earliest portion of the present nave was built about the
end of the Roman occupation of Britain or during the mission of S.
Augustine. The Rev. Charles F. Routledge, M.A., F.S.A., Hon. Canon of
Canterbury Cathedral, writes: "Whatever may finally be determined to be
the date of the church's foundation, it can never lose its unique
association with S. Augustine, King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha, nor its
undisputed claim to be the oldest existing church in England. From it
flowed the tiny spring of English Christianity, which has since widened
out into a mighty river, and penetrated the remotest parts of the
civilized and uncivilized world."
[Side note: Other Early Churches.]
Among other churches which show signs of having been built during the
Roman occupation are those of Reculver, Richborough and Lyminge, while
the foundations of an undoubted early church have been discovered in
the old Roman city of Silchester, in Hampshire. _See frontispiece._ The
old church at Reculver stood originally within the Roman castrum, the
fortress which guarded the northern mouth of the Wantsume, now a small
stream, but once an arm of the sea dividing the Isle of Thanet from the
mainland. The greater part of this church was pulled down in 1809, but
the western towers, known as "the sisters" were repaired by Trinity
House, as they constitute a useful landmark for mariners, being visible
at a great distance.
Reculver church was built about A.D. 670, and from the existing walls
and foundations it is clear that its plan was basilican. The church
is now a ruin, but some stone pillars which supported the arches are
preserved in the Cathedral Close at Canterbury.
As Reculver guarded the northern mouth of the watercourse, so
Richborough protected the south, and here traces of a chapel in the
form of a cross are plainly discernible amongst ruins known to be of
Roman workmanship. The old church at Lyminge in the same county is thus
described by Canon Jenkyns, in his "_History of Lyminge_":--"The Roman
foundations discoverable at the south-east angle of the chancel, together
with the remarkable half-arch that intervenes, marked the site of the
_aquilonalis porticus_--the title of basilica already given to it in the
seventh century establishes its claim to great antiquity."
We thus see that although remains of the actual buildings in which the
British Christians worshipped are few in number, yet enough are left us
to prove conclusively that there was a very active and zealous Christian
community established in these islands during at least the period
immediately preceding that in which Rome withdrew her legions from
Britain in order to defend Italy against the Goths, and abandoned our
island to the mercy of her foes.