< Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE. altogether without success, should such demolition be really intended. His Lordship's answer is most satisfactory. The Bishop says : — ' Mr. Minty's information is partly correct and partly not so. In April last it was pro- posed to remodel and improve the Catholic property in Norwich. In my instructions and directions to the architect, I specially stipulated that the old hall, vnth its valuable specimens of architecture, should be retained, and made very available, without any dilapidation. Since then other plans have been proposed, viz., to build on a new site. At all events these interesting architectural remains, with Avhich I am well acquainted, shall not be destroyed with my consent.' I should suppose this answer will be interesting to Mr. Minty and to the Committee, and perhaps you will have the goodness to let them know that the building is safe, and will, probably, be well and judiciously restored, if the design of attaching it to the proposed convent be acted upon." Mr. Way laid before the Committee a sketch of the sculptured tympanum of the south door of Ruardean church, Gloucestershire, to which his atten- tion had been called by Sir Samuel Meyrick, on account of the curious fea- tures of costume which it presents. It appears to have been sculptured in the earlier part of the twelfth centuiy, and is very similar to the contempo- rary work, of which a representation, communicated by the Rev. R. Freer, had been given in the Archseological Journal, vol. ii. p. 271. The figure St. George. Ruardean. ai)pears to represent St. George, his head protected by a head-piece of the form termed Phrygian, precisely similar to that wliicli appears in the monu- mental portraiture of Geoffrey Tlantagenet, who died A.D. 1149 5. He is represented as attired in a tunic, open at the side and fitting closely to the ^ See Stothard's Monum. Effigies. The as seen on the Great Seals of Stephen and fcueral form of the armour on the head, Henry II., is of this Phrygian fashion.

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