quently meet with specimens in the Semi-Norman style in which extreme
plainness prevails, and the character is of that nature as to induce us to
ascribe such buildings to rather an early period. Single and double, and
sometimes even triple-faced arches, with the edges left square,
distinguish plain specimens of this style from the plain-pointed
double-faced arches of the succeeding century, the edges of which are
splayed or chamfered. In late instances of this, as of the cotemporaneous
Norman style, we observe in the details a gradual tendency to merge into
those of the style of the thirteenth century, when the pointed arch had
attained maturity, and the peculiar features and decorative mouldings and
sculptures of Norman character had fallen into isuse.[TN-2]

Q. What specimen of this style is there of apparently early date?

[Illustration: Semi-Norman Arch, Abbey Church, Malmesbury.]

A. The church, now in ruins, of Buildwas Abbey, Salop, founded A. D.
1135[79-*], is an early specimen of the Semi-Norman style, in which, with
the incipient pointed arch, Norman features and details are blended. The
nave is divided from the aisles by plain double-faced pointed arches, with
square edges, and hood mouldings over, which spring from massive
cylindrical piers with square bases and capitals; whilst the clerestory
windows above (for there is no triforium) are semicircular-headed. The
general features of early Norman character, the absence of decorative
mouldings, and the plain appearance this church exhibits throughout, are
such as perhaps to warrant the presumption that this church is the same
structure mentioned in the charter of confirmation granted to this abbey
by Stephen, A. D. 1138-9.

Q. What other noted specimens are there of this style?

[Illustration: Intersecting Window Arches, St. Cross Church, Winchester.]

A. The church of the Hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester, presents an
interesting combination of semicircular, intersecting, and pointed arches,
of cotemporaneous date, enriched with the zig-zag and other Norman
decorative mouldings, and is a structure, in appearance and detail, of
much later date than the church at Buildwas Abbey, though the same early
era has been assigned to each.

St. Joseph's Chapel, Glastonbury, now in ruins, supposed to have been
erected in the reigns of Henry the Second and Richard the First, is
perhaps the richest specimen now remaining of the Semi-Norman or
transition style, a