transferred, as it were, to a point near the centre of
the church, assumes the width of the nave, and is provided with
transeptal excrescences, to communicate with which its side walls are
pierced. Such excrescences are not necessary. At Stanton Lacy, in
Shropshire, there is only one. At Dunham Magna, in Norfolk, and other
places, such as Waith in Lincolnshire, there are, or were originally,
none at all. The construction of the "central" tower upon piers
connected by arches was beyond the skill of the ordinary Saxon builder;
and its natural consequence, the development of the full cruciform plan,
with transepts of the height and width of nave and chancel, was thus out
of his reach. We know, from contemporary evidence, that one important
abbey church, that of Ramsey, had a central tower which was built upon
piers and arches as early as 974 A.D.; and perhaps this was the case in
other large churches. But, even in the large church of Stow in
Lincolnshire, which is commonly taken on trust, without sufficient
historical evidence, as the cathedral church of the Saxon diocese of
Lindsey, although an advance in transeptal construction was made, the
main principle was imperfectly grasped. This church was made the home of
a community of clergy about the beginning of the reign of Edward the
Confessor, by Leofric, earl of Mercia, and his wife Godiva. It was
restored after the Conquest by Remi, the first Norman bishop of Lincoln.
The aisleless nave and chancel are Norman work of two periods: probably
the nave was rebuilt upon Saxon foundations. The transepts, however, of
considerable length and equal height with nave and chancel, were
retained from the pre-Conquest building. The tall jambs of the arches of
the central tower also remain on all four sides. The arches which they
bear are of early Norman character; and the present tower is a late
Gothic structure, the arches and piers of which are built up on the
inner side of the older masonry. But the Saxon tower space, including
the area of the arch-jambs, is rather wider than the arms of the cross
which project from it. The tower formed a separate building, with quoins
complete from the ground, and nave, chancel, and transepts, instead of
combining to support it, were mere excrescences from it, entered by
arches in its walls. Possibly the example of Barton-on-Humber may have
had to do with this treatment of the tower as a separate central
pavilion, which may have been deliberately pr