Bk. VI. Ch. III. PAEISII CHURCHES. 181 certainly one of the most beautiful Gothic buildinos lu existence; for its size, perhaps the most beautiful. Considering that these three last-named chapels were being erected contemporaneously with St. Peter's at Rome, it is wonderful how little trace of classic feeling they betray ; and how completely not oidy Gothic details but true Gothic feeling still prevailed in this country almost up to the outbreak of the Reformation. Parish Churches. Were it possible in a work like this to attempt anything approaching an exhaustive enumeration of the various objects of interest produced during tlio Middle Ages, it would be impossible to escape a very long chapter on the parish churclies of England. They are not so magni- ficent as her cathedrals, nor so rich as her chapels ; but for beauty of detail and appropriateness of design they are unsurpassed by either, while on the Continent there is nothing to compare with them. The parochial system seems to liave been more firmly rooted m the affection of the people of this country than of any other. Especially in the 14th and 15th centuries the parishioners took great pride in their churches, and those then erected are consequently more nume- rous as well as more ornamental than at any other time. Strange to say, considering how common the circular form was in the countries from which our forefathers are said to have emigrated, it never took root in England. The round churches at Cambridge, Northampton, and London were cer- tainly sepulcliral, or erected in imitation of the church at .Jerusalem. The one known example of a village church with a circular nave is that at Little Maplestead, in Essex. It is of the pure German or Scandinavian type^ — a little St. Gereon, standing alone in this form in England ; but a curious modi- fication of it occurs in the eastern counties, in which this church is situated, which points very distinctly to the origin of a great deal of the architecture of that 6ii. Plan of Circular rni • -T i> 11 T -1 i»p n p Cliurch at Little country. I here are m JNoriolk and Surrolk some forty Maplestead. scale or fifty churches with i-ound western towers, which seem undoubtedly to be mere modifications of the western round nave of the Scandinavian churches. At page 11-5, Laderbro Church (Wood- cut No. 559j was pointed out as an example of a circular nave atten- uated into a steeple, and there are no doubt many others of the same class in Scandinavia. It was, however, in England, where rectangu- lar naves were common, that the compromise found in this country became fashionable. These Norfolk churclies with round towers may 1 Vide ante, p. .^3, and p. 99 et aeq.
