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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012
In my last letter I endeavoured to give some account of the principal buildings in the ancient county of Poitou. The next place of any importance that I stopped at was Angoulême, which is on the direct road to Bordeaux; but, as I afterwards deviated from the direct route, and the church of Angoulême belongs to a very peculiar class, of which the type is the church of S. Front at Perigueux, I think it will be more convenient for me to begin with that church.
page 35 note a The beauty of the French ironwork has often been observed. Most Englishmen who have visited France at all have noticed the very rich doors of Notre Dame at Paris; and, though such rich work as this is not often met with anywhere, yet the generality of French churches or houses of the middle ages have ironwork worthy of attention. The singular variety and beauty of their nail-heads especially attract English eyes, as something to which we are not accustomed at home. The specimen here given from the church of S. Front, is a specimen of a form not uncommon in France.
page 36 note a The beautiful and accurate engravings with which M. Verneilh's work is illustrated render it quite unnecessary to give any engravings here of S. Front at Perigueux.
page 37 note a This extremely massive character may, however, frequently be observed in churches of the early part of the twelfth century, especially when rebuilt after a great fire or a fall of the tower, as at Winchester. The monks appear to have been determined that the church should not again be destroyed in the same manner, and it is often curious to observe the mass of materials they have piled together to make sure of this object.
page 38 note a Of this tomb an engraving is here given, with so much of the inscription as is of importance for our object, the remainder consisting only of a prayer for the soul of the departed. The ornaments of this dated example are very valuable for comparison with others. They agree with what we should expect to find in England at the same date, being of very late Norman, almost of Transitional, character.
page 43 note a These are very irregular, as represented in the annexed engraving.
page 45 note a The cornice and capitals represented in the annexed woodcut afford a good specimen of the foliage and mouldings usual in the Transition Norman work of this part of France. There is a junction in this work at this point, and the two capitals are not exactly of the same age, the one belonging to the work of the church, the other of the tower; but the difference of date is probably not many years, and they are made to harmonize remarkably well, though a difference in the mouldings, as well as the foliage, may be observed on close examination.