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HISTORICAL NOTICES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF CHRISTIAN
ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.

First Class.-ANGLO-ROMAN SPECIMENS AT LEICESTER, BRIXWORTH, AND DOVER.-NO. I.

To the Editor of the British Magazine.

SIR,-The history of Christian edifices of the sacred fanes devoted to the worship of the only and true God, as contradistinguished from pagan temples appropriated to heathen ceremonies and rites, cannot fail to interest the feelings of the readers of the British Magazine. It is my intention, therefore, to devote a few pages occasionally to this subject; and it will be my object to render it at once attractive to the architectural antiquary, to the general reader, and to every lover of the fine arts. Having devoted many years to the study, not only in the examination of all published writings of our own country, but many of those of foreign nations; having visited, and carefully surveyed most of the ancient churches of England, and collected illustrations of those which are best calculated to define dates, styles, and peculiarities of architecture, I hope to render my papers at once amusing to the student in antiquities, and conclusive on many points of controverted archæology. Aided by engravings, the disposition and arangement of a whole church, with the forms of arches, buttresses, windows, doorways, and all its component members, will be defined and clearly discriminated. It is my intention to treat the subject chronologically, as best calculated to display the history of Christian architecture, and render it clear and familiar to those who are desirous of cultivating this branch of science; for I am prepared to shew that architectural antiquities is truly a science.

Carter, in his "Ancient Architecture of England during the British, Roman, Saxon, and Norman Eras,"-King, in the "Munimenta Antiqua,"-Britton, in his "Chronological History of Christian Architecture in England,"* and other authors, have laid their historical foundations on, or commenced their architectural histories with, accounts of, or allusions to, the Druidical or Celtic temples of the island, and instituted inquiries into the origin of Christianity with the first building of churches, &c. Respecting that remote period, and those subjects, all is vague and hypothetical-we seek in vain for authentic data, and the excited fancy, as in the cases of King and Carter, is too apt to wander, and

This volume contains an analysis of the theories of all preceding authors on the controverted subjects of " Saxon, Norman, and Gothic Architecture," the Origin of the Pointed Arch,-Origin and Establishment of Monachizing in England,Accounts of numerous Buildings,-Architects,-Fonts,--Monuments,-Screens,Pulpits,-Stone Crosses, &c.; also a Dictionary of Architectural Terms.

indulge in theories and speculations. On the present occasion, I will abstain from this practice, and confine myself wholly to facts, to dates, and to architectural history. Our first illustration and church will be that of ST. NICHOLAS, at LEICESTER, which will be followed by another of Brixworth, in Northamptonshire, and that by the church and pharos within the area of Dover Castle. These three examples will exemplify the architectural features and masonic peculiarities of edifices which are truly Romanic in materials, construction, and features, and which, if not positively raised by the Christianized Romans of this island between the first and fifth centuries, were doubtlessly designed and built by persons who were familiar with their architectural works. The bricks, the mortar, the arches, the mode of construction, and all the features correspond with works of undoubted Roman origin in this country, in parts of Italy, France, &c.

The accompanying prints shew the ground plan and the exterior and interior features of the Church of St. Nicholas, at Leicester. Although this edifice has been abridged of its "fair proportions," and cobbled up with various patches of additional works; yet the materials in the older walls, the arches under the tower, and some of those in the northern wall, (one of which is shewn in the plate, No. 4,) are very similar to a mass of walling, standing a few feet to the west of the church. One of the arches of this, commonly called the Jewry Wall, is delineated in the annexed plate, No. 5, to shew its exact similitude to the arch in the adjoining church. This fragment of a building (the Jewry Wall, also called the Holy Bones) is universally admitted to be Roman, and to have constituted part of an edifice raised and occupied by the Anglo-Romans during their residence at this, their station of Rata-Coritanorum. Whether it formed part of a temple, was a portion of a house, or belonged to the boundary wall, and was one of the entrances has not been decided.* It is composed of large bricks, stones, mortar, and rubble, put together, apparently without much skill or regard to symmetry.

It extends nearly 70 feet in length by about 18 in height, and in places is 10 feet in thickness. On the western side, where it is most perfect, and where it appears to have been faced with a coating of stucco, there are two arches; whilst, in the opposite side, there are five, one of which was evidently a niche, and two others merely blank arches, forming recesses.

* Britton, in his "History of Leicestershire," calls it a Roman Temple, dedicated to Janus; and Geoffry of Monmouth says there was a temple to that deity in Ratæ. The late Bishop of Cloyne, and the Rev. Thomas Leman, of Bath, who devoted many years in tracing the Roman roads and exploring other vestiges of that people in England, pronounce it to have been one of the entrance gateways to the station.

Carter ("Ancient Architecture," p. 7,) says that the south side (i.e. the east) "is of a black hue, warranting the tradition that it was part of the inside [of a pagan temple] where the sacrifices were performed; and as a further confirmation, bones of oxen are dug up on this spot."

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In the height of the wall there are eight courses, or layers of bricks, arranged horizontally and forming bonds. Some of the bricks measure 14 inches by 12, and 11⁄2 inches in thickness. The whole are remarkably sound and hard, as is the cement, or mortar, by which they are held together; and it is curious to observe, that, in the construction of the arches, the mortar is generally 2 inches thick, whilst the brick is only 1 and 11⁄2 inches. I have been thus particular in describing this fragment of a building, as calculated to illustrate and exemplify the architectural peculiarities of the church adjoining, and the other churches at Brixworth and at Dover. Accounts of them, with prints, will be given in

another communication,

Your's, &c.

J. B.

THOMAS A BECKET.- No. VI.

(Continued from p. 411.)

PREFACE TO ACT II.

WE have already seen the destitute condition of Becket towards the latter end of 1163. At the council of London all the English bishops had deserted him on the great question of church government; and from this time the King had endeavoured to fix their opposition by giving it a personal character. Under his sanction the Archbishop of York had insisted on bearing the cross in the province of Canterbury. The Bishop of London had refused to profess canonical subjection. Clarembald, Abbot elect of St. Augustin's, Canterbury, had withdrawn his monastery from archiepiscopal jurisdiction. When Becket insisted on his rights, these several parties had appealed to the Pope, and their respective claims were supported at Sens by the King's money and influence. The cardinals were gained over; the Pope was frightened; gloomy accounts arrived from John of Salisbury, from the Bishop of Poictiers, and from Becket's private messengers. The Abbot of Eleemosyna was sent to England to press on Becket the inexpediency of persisting in a fruitless opposition. At last, the Council of Clarendon was summoned, Jan. 5, 1164. And Becket's name appears first in the list of signatures which attest the acquiescence of the church in the King's claims. It is commonly asserted that, at the close of this council, Becket at once recovered his resolution, and imposed open penance on himself for his culpable weakness, This, however, was certainly not the case: as late as the 1st of March the Pope had under his consideration a request from the English clergy, to which Becket was a party, soliciting his assent to the Acts of Clarendon. It was between this and the end of the month that the change alluded to must have taken place in Becket's mind. By the 1st of April, it was known at Sens that he had suspended himself from all clerical functions; and on that day VOL. III.-May, 1833.

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