ast wall of the chancel
was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church
of St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of
Malmesbury, is a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little
church at Escombe, Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire,
recently rescued from being used as a farmstead.

After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that
year the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It
would be vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to
perish in the general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up
treasure by means of trade. Hence people's minds were unsettled, and the
churches left in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away,
they began to restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and
the late Saxon or early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great
church-builder, and Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after
the new fashion. Then came William the Conqueror with his Norman
builders, and soon nearly every village had its church, which was
constructed, according to William of Malmesbury, _novo aedificandi
genere_.

We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental
mouldings and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a
succession of receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of
Malmesbury Church has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These
arches are supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved.
Above the door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with
sculpture, representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the
Saviour in allusion to His saying, "I am the door," or the _Agnus Dei_,
or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.

[Illustration: SCULPTURED HEAD OF DOORWAY, FORDINGTON CHURCH, DORSETSHIRE]

Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several
still exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The
windows are usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on
the inside of the church. Three such windows placed together usually
give light over the altar. The walls of