It would be tedious to enter into any more minute account of the Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical remains, and the reader whose enquiries conduct him to the more elaborate works on the subject will be startled by the contrary opinions that he will surely encounter. In concluding these brief remarks on early buildings, we must again quote from Parker's work to which reference has already been made:-- "The class of buildings referred to as being considered to belong to this style contain some rather unusual features, and they require to be particularly described, both because they are in themselves remarkable, and because there is a probability that some of them may be Saxon." [Illustration: A Norman Pier Arcade. Abbots Langley, Herts. _Photograph Mr. A. W. Anderson._] The Norman style of church architecture with its varied forms of columns, moulded and recessed arches and vaulting, may be roughly stated to have been introduced into England at the time of the Conquest. The Saxon masons do not appear to have understood vaulting sufficiently well to have roofed over any large space with stone, and for this reason alone the Saxon form of building was bound to give way before the Norman, which of all the earlier styles was the most advanced in this respect. [Side note: Norman Architecture.] Generally speaking, Norman arches were semi-circular, but they were by no means universally so, for a form frequently found is one in which the spring of the arch does not take place from the abacus, or upper member of the capital, but at some distance above it and when it assumes this form it is called a "stilted" arch, suggested by some authorities to have been unintentional and the result of imperfect construction or planning. _See page 10._ [Illustration: Examples of Norman Mouldings. Chevron or Zig-zag. Star. Alternate Billet. Square Billet. Double Cone. Lozenge. Beak Head. Bird Head.] The main features in the ornamentation of this period are the sculptured bands worked round the arches, which, although generally called "mouldings," are more in the nature of decoration, and in some instances they appear to be additions carved on the originally unadorned surface of the masonry. [Side note: Ornament.]