[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE TOWER OF BABEL. (_From a Saxon MS._)]
Curious crypts of this date also exist under the Cathedral of Ripon, and at Hexham. The latter is particularly interesting, from its having been constructed of materials taken from the Roman road, which passes within a short distance of the place, and Roman inscribed slabs have been used in forming its roof.
In the Old English MSS. in the British Museum and the library of Salisbury Cathedral, and particularly in the paraphrase of Cædmon, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, buildings of stone are distinctly shown in the illuminations, and these buildings exhibit "the long and short work" and other distinctive features of existing remains. This, therefore, may be taken as conclusive evidence that these buildings are of English origin.
The characteristics of this style are as follow:--
TOWERS.--These are without buttresses, generally of the same dimensions from the foundation to the top, but sometimes diminishing by stages. They are usually built of rubble, the stones being very irregular in size, with quoins at the angles, which are formed of long stones set perpendicularly, and shorter ones laid horizontally alternately with them. This is termed "long and short work". They are sometimes divided into stages, and the surface is intersected by upright projecting ribs of stone, as if the builder had before him for a model a tower constructed of timber and plaster, and had endeavoured to imitate this in stone. The finest example which we have of this kind of ornament is the tower of Earl's Barton Church, Northamptonshire; other examples also occur at Barton-on-Humber, and at Barnack.
These towers seem always to have been coated with plaster between the ribs of stone, and this gives them a still more timber-like appearance.
[Illustration: TOWER OF SOMPTING CHURCH.]
Some towers have not this ornament, and are quite plain. The kind of masonry called "herringbone" is frequently used, and Roman bricks taken from the ruins of earlier buildings are of frequent occurrence.
The upper portion of these Saxon towers has been destroyed, and replaced by later parapets; so that it is not easy to say in what manner they terminated. But the very remarkable tower of Sompting, in Sussex, offers a valuable solution of the difficulty. In this tower each side terminates in an acutely pointed gable, from which the roof is carried up, and, meeting in a point, forms a sort of short square spire, such as we still see in some of the churches in Germany. All these towers are without staircases, the different storeys being only to be reached by ladders. The circular or newel stair turret seems not to have been introduced till the twelfth century.