he chancel proper; while the western portion
supplied that space for a quire which was not provided in less elongated
plans. In by far the larger number of cases, the rectangular chancel had
a wooden roof. There is, however, a fair number of churches in which the
system of ribbed vaulting, as employed in larger buildings, was used.
Thus at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, there is a small square
chancel with a ribbed vault. At Warkworth, there is a long vaulted
chancel of two bays, built during the first quarter of the twelfth
century; and at Tickencote, Rutland, two bays are combined in one by the
use of sexpartite vaulting. In these cases the chancel arches are wide,
forming the western transverse arches of the vaulting: that at
Tickencote is of remarkable magnificence.

Sec. 32. There are certain cases in which the chancel was of the same width
as the nave, and no structural division existed between them. At Askham
Bryan and at the chapel of Copmanthorpe, near York, the plan, externally
and internally, is a plain undivided oblong. At Tansor, Northants, the
chancel was rebuilt about 1140, when the side walls were set back in a
line with those of the nave. In St Mary's in the Castle at Leicester,
the long and very narrow nave was, as may still be clearly seen,
continued eastward without a break into the long and narrow quire and
chancel. Here the eastern half was used, no doubt, by the college of
dean and canons, while the western half was the parish church. The
beautiful church of St Peter, Northampton, built towards the end of the
third quarter of the twelfth century, gives us a complete example of an
undivided plan, aisled throughout save in the eastern bay, which forms a
projecting chancel east of the aisles of the choir.

Sec. 33. Hitherto we have dealt merely with the rectangular chancel. But
there are also churches which end in an eastern apse. These are
comparatively few and exceptional. In Yorkshire, where the number of
Norman rectangular chancels is large, and buildings such as Adel exhibit
the aisleless church in its highest state of architectural development,
the number of apsidal chancels can be counted on the fingers of one
hand. In Sussex, where Caen stone was largely used, and we should expect
foreign influence to be noticeable, the proportion of apsidal chancels
is small. In Gloucestershire, the Cotswold district contains several
small Norman churches, which have been little altered: the rectangular