in the style of both, reasonably be regarded as of nearly the same æra,--the time of the Norman conquest; and he goes on to add that, through these, the English antiquary may be enabled to fix the date to a specimen of ancient architecture in his own country, more splendid than either,--the church of Castle-Rising,[83] in Norfolk, whose west front is so much on the same plan, that it can scarcely have been erected at a very different period. The church of Léry (_see plate forty-four_) is built in the form of a cross, having in the centre a short square tower, to which has been attached, in modern times, a wretched wooden spire. This Mr. Cotman has very judiciously omitted, as adding nothing to the interest of the plate, and merely tending to deform what is otherwise seen in nearly the same state in which it left the hands of the original builders. The corbel-table, observable immediately under the top of the tower, and in some parts of the choir and transepts, exhibits the same description of monsters, as in the church of St. Paul at Rouen, of the Holy Trinity at Caen, and other Norman religious buildings.--Two peculiarities attending upon the exterior of the church are, that the east end is flat, and that the transepts are altogether without buttresses. [Illustration: Plate 45. CHURCH OF LÉRY, NEAR PONT-DE-L'ARCHE. _West Front._] [Illustration: Plate 46. CHURCH OF LÉRY, NEAR PONT-DE-L'ARCHE. _Interior._] In the interior (_plate forty-six_) it is impossible not to be struck with the extraordinary simplicity and solidity of the whole. The only aim of the architect appears to have been to erect an edifice that should last for ever. A double row of pillars and arches separates the nave into three parts of unequal width; and another arch, of greater span, divides it from the chancel. The arches are in every instance devoid of mouldings; the capitals are altogether without ornamental sculpture of any description; and the pillars are even unsupported by bases. Indeed, the pillars are nothing more than rounded piers; and they are not less remarkable for their proportions, than for their simplicity, their diameter being equal to full two-thirds of their height. Hence it is scarcely possible not to entertain the suspicion that the floor may have been raised; but there is nothing in the appearance of the church to justify such an idea. It is scarcely necessary to mention, that the figures of saints placed upon brackets against the spandrils of the arches, are all modern. Their execution is wretched; and its imperfection is rendered but the more apparent, by their having been painted in imitation of living nature. The string-course, which runs immediately above their heads, is placed in a very uncommon situation. It is composed of the nail-head ornament, in itself a sufficient proof of its antiquity; and also, as is observed by Mr. Cotman, of such rarity in Normandy, that he does not recollect to have met with another instance of it.