Romanesque England: Saint Lawrence in Castle Rising
Built during the mid–1100s by Norman lord William of Albini II, the church of Saint Lawrence in the village of Castle Rising is hailed in the UK as a grandiose gesture and a prowess of overflowing decorative Romanesque architecture. We connoisseurs of Continental Europe Romanesque will probably not be so enthused, as the decoration of this church is truly not extravagant by our own standards...
Nevertheless, looking at the western façade unmistakably makes me think about those churches in Saintonge, as there is an obvious likelihood, even though Saint Lawrence remains very restrained compared to those.
While the inside was almost entirely redone during Victorian times, and will therefore be much less interesting to us, the outside shows a very pleasant and harmonious church, distinctly English as it may be, and lacking, for example, in the quality of its apparel, even on that vaunted western façade.
The southern base of the triumphal arch looks a lot more stable than the other one I showed yesterday. The rare sculpted capitals show the same sort of half-successful attempts at intricate, Celtic-inspired abstract motifs.
Romanesque England: Saint Lawrence in Castle Rising
Built during the mid–1100s by Norman lord William of Albini II, the church of Saint Lawrence in the village of Castle Rising is hailed in the UK as a grandiose gesture and a prowess of overflowing decorative Romanesque architecture. We connoisseurs of Continental Europe Romanesque will probably not be so enthused, as the decoration of this church is truly not extravagant by our own standards...
Nevertheless, looking at the western façade unmistakably makes me think about those churches in Saintonge, as there is an obvious likelihood, even though Saint Lawrence remains very restrained compared to those.
While the inside was almost entirely redone during Victorian times, and will therefore be much less interesting to us, the outside shows a very pleasant and harmonious church, distinctly English as it may be, and lacking, for example, in the quality of its apparel, even on that vaunted western façade.
The southern base of the triumphal arch looks a lot more stable than the other one I showed yesterday. The rare sculpted capitals show the same sort of half-successful attempts at intricate, Celtic-inspired abstract motifs.