HISTORY OF ST. ALBANS ABBEY. 75

is thus accidentally thrown upon the vexed question of Saxon architecture is veiy remarkable, and we are greatly indebted to the Messrs. Buckler for their beautiful and accurate drawings of those parts of the work which are of gieat interest and importance in this point of view. " The interior of the bell-chamber, never havmg been covered with cement, exhibits most fully the construction of its walls ; the brick-work of which they consist is carried in regular courses through the deep reveals of all the openings to the exterior. The peculiar formation of the interior arches of the windows, and the various ornamental piercings on the sides, are not so easily described as represented with the pencil, and the view in the Ulterior, shewing these curious particulars of the Norman brick-work, and at the same time the ancient timber framing by which the spire was supported, may be deemed useful and interesting. " The staircase in the north-west angle of the tower ap})roached from the clerestory of the transept, and ascending to the summit, presents in one of its loop-windows a feature too remarkable to be overlooked. The arch is straight-lined, or gable-shaped, formed of bricks, as shewn in the preceding rigure. Others are corbelled in order to contract the space to suit the length of the bricks which cover the openings, and in some cases these lintel-bricks are laid diagonally." p. 129, 130. " Among the many curious jiarticulars presented to view in these interest- ing features of the interior, the dexterous application of mouldings in com- position, in order to unite the different portions of the masonry in an orna- mental manner, will not be regarded as the least remai'kable. The work has been so well performed, and has escaped with so little injury, that the material is not likely to be detected except upon close examination. " If some of the semicircular columns are Norman, which is highly pro- bable, the greater number of the circular and octagonal piUars, in addition to those distinguished by bands, are of more remote origin. They are so roughly formed, that they can scarcely be supposed to have occupied a prominent and dignified position until the present one was assigned to them in the Norman abbey. " Reference to the ace ompanying figures wiU be necessary in order to fonn a correct notion of these remarkable columns. They xindoxihtedhj claim a date anterior to the Conquest, with the architecture of which era they can have no title to kuidred. They surpass in multiplicity of bands almost every specimen hitherto observed of tlie peculiar class of building before referred to ; but their affinity to it seems certain, and on this account there can be little temerity in viewing these columns as remnants of the Saxon church which was superseded by the present structure." p. 133, 134. We must beg leave to dissent from this conclusion of the Messrs, Buckler; there are many examples of banded shafts in good Norman work, not of a late period; and we see no ground for the assumption that these shafts claim a date anterior to the Conquest. We consider the present work as affording indisputable evidence that the early Norman work in England was extremely rude, and that a large number of the buildings supposed to