Bell's Cathedrals: The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: An Illustrated Account of its History and FabricRoutledge, C. F. (Charles Francis)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: An Illustrated Account of its History and Fabric
Routledge, C. F. (Charles Francis)
St. Martin's Church (Canterbury, England)
The style of the north and south walls of the nave is much the same as
that of the western wall; and behind the wood-work are considerable pieces
of pink plaster, remarkable both for its hardness and texture. About this
plaster we must say a few words, as it is, in our opinion, an important
piece of evidence. It is composed of carbonate of lime imperfectly
burned, of silicious sand, and pounded Roman brick, in almost equal
proportions. It is true that some examples of this plaster have been
occasionally found in Saxon, Norman, and even Early English buildings, but
they are feeble imitations, distinguishable by the greater preponderance
of sand, neither so bright nor crisp in section, more soft and pliable,
and of a dullish colour. Two pieces of plaster were put side by side,
one from St. Martin's and another from a Roman villa at Wingham, and to
an experienced eye the texture was identical, except that the latter
was rather thinner. And on our sending to such an undoubted expert as
Mr J. T. Irvine (who had previously expressed much scepticism as to the
Roman claims of St. Martin's, though he candidly confessed that he had
not seen our recent explorations) a specimen of this plaster, he wrote
in reply that, "both as regards texture of tile and lime mixture, and the
colour produced thereby in section, it certainly seem to accord with that
of _good Roman date_."
About the middle of the north wall of the nave is a doorway, 4 ft. 2
in. wide, with jambs of Caen stones of irregular size, some of them
showing marks of axe-tooling. The date of this doorway is uncertain. The
head is destroyed and the rubble filling-up irregular, but the general
appearance seems to favour the theory that it is Norman. On the east
side of the doorway is a =stoup= for Holy Water, certainly of great
antiquity. The shape is not regular, but it may be described roughly as
measuring 20 by 17 inches.
At the south-east corner is the celebrated Norman =piscina=, said to be one
of the earliest and most beautiful in England. The size of the actual
opening is 13 by 7-½ inches with additional 4 inches to the top of
the tympanum. Its jambs are of Caen stone, with the usual tool-marks. In
it are three curious holes, two above and one below, penetrating about
2 inches into the stone. What these holes were intended for has been
a great puzzle, but perhaps short poles were inserted in them which
supported an ornamental canopy. It is not impossible that the piscina
was originally placed somewhere nearer the east wall of the nave.
[Illustration: NORMAN PISCINA.
(From a Photograph by Miss M. Bruce.)]
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