CHAPTER V.

NORMAN PERIOD.

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTIC.

THE UNIVERSAL USE OF THE CIRCULAR ARCH IN EVERY PART OF ABUILDING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE PERIOD.

Exterior Compartment.

The walls of a Norman Building are usually strongand massive, and built of small stones. They have aplain Base-course, of little projection, and are generallyfinished above with a Corbel-table, consisting some-times of a series of small arches, on rude heads, andsometimes of a projecting horizontal table resting on aseries of rudely sculptured blocks. Upon this Corbel-table is a plain parapet and coping where these areleft, which is rarely the case.

The compartments are divided by a shallow Buttressor Pilaster Strip .

The Windows are low and broad, and have usuallya single shaft set in an angular recess, carrying a cubicalcapital and a single roll.

The String-courses, when not plain, have frequentlyindented ornaments of different kinds,—such as the billet,the saw-tooth, the star, and the chevron.

The Clere-story-windows, in the larger and richerbuildings, are usually placed in an arcade, consisting

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