ill intact. The chancel arch, though by no means broad, is
yet much wider than those at Escomb and Bradford-on-Avon; and its width
probably represents the normal width of a chancel arch of this period.

Sec. 19. An addition occurs in most of these late Saxon plans, which had a
great influence on the subsequent, and even on the contemporary,
development of the church plan. We have noted that at Rome and Ravenna
towers formed no part of the original basilican plan, but were added
later as _campanili_. In England it appears that the tower formed no
part of the plan until, at any rate, the epoch of the Danish wars.

Western bell-towers were very general by the beginning of the eleventh
century. In most of these towers, the ground floor forms an entrance
porch; but it does not follow that the western tower in England was
generated by the heightening of the western porch. The porches of
Brixworth and Monkwearmouth were probably not heightened until the
western tower had come into existence elsewhere. An origin for the
western tower has been sought in the fore-buildings which occur in some
of the early German churches, and contain separate upper chambers. It
may be that, derived from this source, the western tower superseded the
porch, and, where porches existed, they were adapted to the new
fashion.

Sec. 20. The towers of Earl's Barton, Barnack, and St Peter's at
Barton-on-Humber, are perhaps the most obviously interesting relics of
Saxon architecture which we possess. All are much larger in area than
the normal western tower of the later Saxon period. Earl's Barton is a
western tower, and its ground floor has probably always served as a
porch: the rest of the church, however, is a medieval building of
various periods. At Barnack, again, the complete plan of the Saxon
church has been lost. Here, however, the western tower was something
more than a porch. The doorway is not in the west, but in the south
wall; and in the west wall, inside the church, is a niche with a
triangular head, which was certainly neither doorway nor window, but a
seat. Whether this implies that the ground floor of the tower was used
for special religious functions, or for some purpose connected with the
common life of the parish, is not clear; but it shows, at any rate, that
there was some good reason for the unusually roomy planning of the
tower. We stand on firmer ground at Barton-on-Humber. Here, again, a
large medieval church exists to the east o