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figure-of-eight pattern, the same motif runs
throughout.
The design is fairly simple with crossed branches or sticks
in front of more foliage. Or could this be another version
of a bound vine? There is nothing similar on the west
portal at Rochester.
Fifth (innermost) order
The innermost archivolt with its stylised flat heads is
described by Musset as ‘original’. Stone calls them ‘flat
straps on a thin roll, the final geometric and devitalised
evolution of the beakheads’. Zarnecki disagrees and
suggests that, although there are many examples of
beakheads on Romanesque arches in England, these do
not include Patrixbourne. The resolution no doubt lies in
the definition used by each writer of ‘beakhead’ 58 The
style is certainly reminiscent of beakheads, albeit it in a
form that might be described today as ‘minimalist’.
Description of the supports and columns from the outer to the inner
columns
Flat with small sundials used to mark mass times.
Round with capital with foliage decoration unlike the
decoration on the upper part of the portal. The |
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easternmost capital has a small beast mask in its centre
licking two curls of foliage. This is a derivative of a
well-known type that can be traced back to the late
tenth century and which appears throughout
Romanesque Europe.59
Round, broader than 2 or 4 and without a capital.
Round
Flat
The bases of the columns are fairly standard with three
square bases and two columns on each except the one nearest
the door.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boase, T. S. R., 1953, English Art 1000-1216, Oxford,
p. 206.
Hasted, E., 1798, The History and Topographical Survey of the
County of Kent, Canterbury, p. 723.
Heales, A., 1898, The Records of Merton Priory, London.
Kahn, D., 1982, ‘Romanesque Sculpture in Kent’, unpublished
PhD thesis, London University, pp. 122, 142-6, 156-60, 30
1-2.
Livett, G. M., 1909, ‘Architectural Notes on Patrixbourne Church,
Archaeologia Cantiana, XXVIII, 307-9.
Musset, L., 1985, Angleterre romane, vol. 1, St Léger, pp. 2
18-19.
Newman, J., 1983, North East and East Kent, The Buildings of
England, N. Pevsner (Gen. ed.). |