e building, and the
treatment of its decorative features, window-tracery, sculpture, etc.,
belong to another and wider branch of architectural study, in which the
parish church pursues the same line of structural development as the
cathedral or monastic church, and the architectural forms of the
timber-roofed building follow the example set by the larger churches
with their roofs of stone. To this side of the question much attention
has been devoted, and of late years increasing emphasis has been laid on
the importance of the vaulted construction of our greater churches,
which is the very foundation of medieval architecture and the secret of
its progress through its various "styles." It is expected that the
reader of this book, in which a less familiar but none the less
important topic is handled, will already have some acquaintance with the
general progress of medieval architectural forms, with which the
development of the ground plan keeps pace.

Some historical and architectural questions, which arise out of the
consideration of the ground plan, and have an important bearing upon it,
are treated in another volume of this series, which is intended to be
complementary to the present one.

The writer is grateful to his wife, for the plans and sketches which she
has drawn for him, and for much help: to Mr C. C. Hodges and Mr J. P.
Gibson, for the permission to make use of their photographs; and to the
Rev. J. C. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A., and the Rev. R. M. Serjeantson, M.A.,
F.S.A., for their kindness in reading through the proofs and supplying
suggestions of the greatest value.

A. H. T.

GRETTON, NORTHANTS

_26 January 1911_

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH PLAN IN ENGLAND

SECTION PAGE

1. The basilican church plan 1

2. Problem of its derivation 2

3. Rival theories of its origin 3

4. The Roman basilica: old St Peter's 6

5. Basilicas at Ravenna 8

6. Tomb-churches and baptisteries 9

7. Centralised plans at Ravenna 10

8. Relative advantages of the basilican and t