Architectural Antiquities of NormandyTurner, Dawson
History
Architectural Antiquities of Normandy
Turner, Dawson
Architecture -- France -- Normandy; Architecture, Norman
The church of Foullebec, a small village situated upon the Rille, nearly
opposite to St. Sanson, is a building of Norman times; but the only
portion of it particularly calculated to recommend it to attention, is
the arch figured in this plate. This arch exhibits two peculiarities,
which it would be difficult, if not impossible, to parallel in Normandy;
the ornamented shafts of the pillars, and the extraordinary width of the
southern capital, which is more than double that of the column below.
The same was also, in all probability, the case with the capital, now
destroyed, on the opposite side of the door-way; and as it is plain that
there never was a second pillar, either on the one side or the other,
the only satisfactory mode of accounting for this singularity, is upon
the supposition, that it was the original intention of the architect to
have placed such, but that circumstances occurred which induced him to
leave his design unfinished.--Ornamented shafts of columns, however
unfrequently found in Normandy, are far from being of very uncommon
occurrence in the specimens that are left of genuine Norman art in
Great-Britain. Mr. Carter, in his elaborate work upon ancient English
architecture, has collected a variety of similar enrichments in his
thirty-third plate; and some of them extremely beautiful. Several others
are to be found in the more splendid volumes of Mr. Britton.--The
sculpture upon the archivolt is also deserving of observation: upon one
of the central stones, is represented the bannered lamb; upon the other,
a figure, probably intended for a representation of our Savior entering
Jerusalem upon an ass. The heads on either side are of an unusual
character.
The church at Foullebec, as well in its nave as chancel, is externally
divided by plain Norman buttresses into a series of regular
compartments, each containing a single circular-headed window. In the
nave are four; in the chancel only two. The tower is square and low: it
is placed at the west end, which is only pierced for the door-way, and
is otherwise quite plain, except a buttress at each corner. Internally,
the only object to be noticed is an ancient cylindrical font; its sides
sculptured with semi-circular arches, and a narrow moulding round the
rim.
PLATE LXXXV. AND LXXXVI.
CASTLE AT TANCARVILLE.
[Illustration: Plate 85. CASTLE AT TANCARVILLE.]
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