ate forms in England, viz. (1) the rare basilican
plan; (2) the "Kentish" plan of aisleless nave with apsidal chancel; (3)
the plan of aisleless nave with rectangular chancel. We also have seen
that the screen-wall is common to (1) and (2), while the single chancel
arch belongs to (3); and that side chapels and western porches are found
incidentally in (2) and (3). Now, the early date of Escomb, apart from
the evidence supplied by its masonry, can be suspected only by its
analogy to the plan of other churches of which the date is practically
certain. Two such churches remain in the same county of Durham. One is
at Monkwearmouth, now a part of Sunderland. Its nave and the lowest
stage of its western tower represent, and in great part actually are,
the nave and western porch of an early Saxon church, which is generally
identified with the church built here by Benedict Biscop for the
monastery which he founded in 672 A.D. The nave was originally
aisleless, long, narrow and lofty: the entrance porch had an upper story
finished with a gabled roof, and a vaulted ground-floor with entrances
on three sides. There was evidently a chancel arch, and probably the
chancel was rectangular. The material of the building was not Roman;
but, in the decoration applied to it, Roman work was imitated. Only a
few miles further north, Benedict founded, in 680 A.D., the sister
monastery of Jarrow. The long and narrow chancel of the present church
of St Paul was the body of a church somewhat similar to that of
Monkwearmouth. Stone-work which may represent the jambs of a broad
chancel arch can be traced in the east wall; but this cannot be stated
with positive certainty. The lower part of the tower, now between the
present chancel and nave, may represent an original western porch; but,
in its present state, it is of much later date than the work east of it,
and its site must have been broadened when the tower was first planned.
At Jarrow there is no Roman stone-work; but one type of Roman masonry
has been imitated by the builders in the walls of the chancel, and small
decorative shafts, turned in a lathe after the Roman fashion, such as
exist at Monkwearmouth, have been found in the building. The inscribed
stone, recording the dedication of the church, is preserved in the wall
above the western tower-arch: the date given is 23 April, 684 A.D. In
this inscription the building, though aisleless, is called a basilica.
The word was now probably used t