vision of ancient France, it formed a part of what was
termed the _Election_ of Caen, and was included in the archdeaconry of
Bayeux, and the deanery of Fontenay. The revolution, introducing a new
arrangement, together with a new set of terms, has placed it in the
_arrondissement_ of Caen, and in the _canton_ of Tilly.

The church is a fine specimen of Norman architecture; remarkable as to
its plan, in having the choir of considerably greater width than the
nave. The portion east of the tower is composed of three distinct parts,
unequal in size, the central being the narrowest, as is strikingly the
case in the church at Great Yarmouth; but all of the same height, and
each of the lateral ones exactly equalling in its width the length of
the transept to which it is attached; and thus, also, the choir and
transepts, taken collectively, form nearly a square, except that, to the
end of the middle compartment, is attached a circular apsis, of an
unusually small size; and, seen from the inside of the church, this
disproportion becomes even more conspicuous: the great thickness of the
wall necessarily subtracting much from the space. It even strikes the
eye as being less than it really is, from being subdivided into a number
of small arches; which, with the vaulted roof, lighted by the extremely
narrow windows below, and the larger ones above, give this end of the
church a very peculiar appearance.

PLATE LVIII. AND LIX.

CHURCH OF BIEVILLE.

[Illustration: Plate 58. CHURCH OF BIEVILLE NEAR CAEN.
_From the North West._]

It is only when considered as a curious relic of ancient ecclesiastical
architecture, that the church of Bieville can lay claim to any attention
whatever. History, even in its lowest department, topography, is
altogether silent with regard both, to the building and the parish,
except so far as to record that the church was among the dependencies of
the royal abbey of St. Stephen, at Caen; though even in this character,
it does not appear till the middle of the fourteenth century, when it is
mentioned in one of the registers of the diocese of Bayeux. Its
situation is about four miles north of Caen.

Taken as a whole, the church of Bieville has probably no parallel in
Normandy or in England. The upper story of the tower alone is of a
subsequent aera, and _that_, the earliest style of pointed architecture:
all the rest of the structure is purely Norman, and of extreme
simplicity. The church of S