row of windows is of an aera posterior to the rest; and the great
arch in front has evidently changed its semi-circular form for a pointed
one. Its height is unusual and impressive. Both taken collectively and
in its parts, the church bears a strong resemblance to that nearly
coeval at St. Georges; like which, it is now appropriated to parochial
purposes, and is still of great size,[218] though the whole of the
portion originally parochial, and which extended one hundred and
twenty-four feet beyond what remains of the nave, has been recently
pulled down. The principal front of the building, which faced the north,
its position being north and south, has been consequently destroyed. The
style of the edifice is characterized by a noble and severe simplicity:
the capitals of the columns are, indeed, enriched with sculptured
foliage or animals, or occasionally with small heads placed in the
middle of a surface otherwise plain; but elsewhere the decorations are
very sparingly distributed. They are confined to the chevron and billet
mouldings; the latter the most ancient and most rare among the Norman
ornaments. Both the transepts are parted off, as at St. Georges, by
screens near the extremities: these screens at Cerisy are surmounted by
an elegant parapet of semi-circular arches, a singular and very
beautiful addition.

NOTES:

[218] The following are the dimensions of the church, according to Mr.
Cotman.

FEET.
Length of the nave 98
Ditto of choir 64
Ditto of transepts and intervening part of the nave 118
Width of nave 73
Ditto of transepts 31
Ditto of choir, without the side-chapels 28
Height of nave 70

Before the demolition of the western extremity, the nave was two hundred
and twenty-six feet long, and the total length of the building two
hundred and ninety feet.

PLATE XCVIII.

CHURCH AT OYESTRAHAM.

[Illustration: Plate 98. CHURCH OF OYESTRAHAM.
_West Front._]

Oyestraham, or, as it is more commonly written, Estreham, is a village
situated upon the left bank of the Orne, near its confluence with the
channel. Its name, derived from the Saxon,[219] seems to point it out as
a settlement made