ide on which it began. Numerous examples of a closely parallel kind,
fortified by documentary evidence, might be given.

[Illustration: Fig. 12. Plans of Grantham church: (1) probable
arrangement about 1190; (2) at beginning of 14th century.]

Sec. 51. The rebuilding of the south aisle, about 1313, at Newark, was the
prelude to an entire rebuilding of the church, which extended over many
years. The builders began by setting out their aisles as usual, and by
the middle of the fourteenth century the south aisle was finished, and
the lower courses of the north aisle and the new aisled chancel were
built. However, in 1349, the Black Death interrupted the work. The north
aisle and chancel were not completed, and the new arcades of nave and
chancel were not built until the fifteenth century. In this case there
were certainly older, and almost certainly narrower aisles. The
rebuilding included aisles on a larger scale, and new internal arcades
whose spacing corresponded to the spacing of the aisle walls. All
systematic rebuilding, in the full development of Gothic art, began with
the planning of the aisles. The naves of Cirencester and Northleach
churches, rebuilt at the end of the middle ages, are examples of this
method. The arcades at Cirencester are known to have been built about
1514-5; but the aisles were obviously completed first, and their
remodelling may have been begun in the second quarter of the fifteenth
century. At Northleach the nave was finished about 1458; and there seems
to have been a break of some years between the building of the aisles
and the destruction of the older church which, no doubt, lay within
them. But it did not always happen that the full intention of the
builders was carried out. One of the most splendid schemes which we
possess for the enlargement of a parish church was the great enterprise
begun at Grantham soon after the middle of the thirteenth century. An
aisleless Norman church had been enlarged at the end of the twelfth
century by the addition of aisles to the nave, the connexion being
formed by arcades of rounded arches springing from very elegant
clustered columns. Above the arcades were low clerestories, lighted by
round-headed windows. About 1230, the neighbouring church of Newark was
taken in hand by masons, who built a new west tower up to a certain
height, and, as an afterthought, planned aisles to engage the tower
completely. As we have seen, the building of the aisles at Newar