George Edmund Street: Unpublished Notes and Reprinted PapersStreet, George Edmund
History
George Edmund Street: Unpublished Notes and Reprinted Papers
Street, George Edmund
Architecture, Gothic; Church architecture -- Europe; Europe -- Description and travel; Street, George Edmund, 1824-1881
Leaving Paris for Beauvais, the first station at which I stopped was
l’Isle Adam, from whence a walk of two or three miles by the banks
of the Oise brought me to the fine village church of Champagne. This
is very unlike an English village church in its general scheme, but
full of interest. In plan it consists of a groined nave and aisles,
of six bays, a central tower with a square chancel of one bay, and
transepts with apsidal projections from their eastern walls. The date
of the whole church (with the exception of the tower arches, which
must have been either rebuilt or very much altered in the fifteenth
century) is about the end of the twelfth century. It is now undergoing
repair at the joint expense of the Emperor and the commune, but this is
being done in so careless a manner that it is to be hoped it will not
proceed further than is absolutely necessary for the security of the
fabric. The western façade has a very singular doorway, the tympanum
of which is pierced with a window of six cusps, whilst the abacus of
the capitals is carried across the tympanum, and a square-headed door
pierced below. Above is a large wheel window of twelve lights. The
aisles are lighted with lancets, whilst the clerestory has a succession
of circular windows, which internally form part of the same composition
as the triforium, the lower part being an unpierced arcade. The chancel
is lighted at the east with a circular window enclosed within a pointed
arch and on either side with early geometrical windows of two lights.
The finest feature is the steeple, which rises in two stages above
the roofs. The belfry stage is excessively lofty and elegant in its
proportions, having two windows of two lights in each face divided by
a cluster of shafts, whilst other clusters of shafts at the angles of
the tower run up to a rich corbel-table and cornice, under the eaves of
the roof. The finish is a hipped saddle-back roof of steep pitch and
covered with slate.
Internally the most rare feature is a very light cusped stone arch of
flamboyant character, with pierced spandrils, which spans the western
arch of the tower, and no doubt originally carried the Rood. The
capitals in the nave are boldly carved, and carry the groining shafts,
which are clusters of three. At the west end of the north aisle, and
projecting beyond the façade of the church, is the ruin of a small
gabled chapel, the object of which I did not understand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account