Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/291

CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 269 the description, but to convey to people at a distance some idea of the more interesting features of the building. The work has now proceeded to 136 pages, and contains descriptions of fifteen churches out of about three hundred and fifty which are contained in the archdeaconry. We have a right to expect on the part of the public that the work shall furnish some account of every church in the district ; but if the same scale were to be followed throughout, the work must extend to about three thousand pages ; this is obviously absurd, and we have no doubt that the Society is fully aware of it, and that for the future a very diffex-ent plan will be pursued. Taking Rickraan's admirable notices as a general guide and model, with here and there a more full account of some church of particular interest and importance, the work may still be brought within reasonable limits, and become one of standard character and permanent value. Notwithstanding the lengthiness of the descriptions of which we have complained, and the large letters in which the " Architectukal His- tory " is put forth in each case, we are surprised to find how very little historical information is really given. With such names on the committee of editors, we might reasonably expect some slight research, some notice of documents referred to, some account of the period when each church was built, and of the principal persons connected with it. The space which is wasted in mere description would have amply sufficed for all this ; the reputation of the committee led us to expect that something of the kind would at least be attemjited ; that we should have got a step or two beyond Bridges's History, and that the accounts of the most important churches would not be entrusted to the youngest members of the Society. Such a church as Irthlingborough, for instance, which is perhaps one of the most curious and interesting in England, should not have been committed to an inexperienced writer, who has slurred over the most remarkable fea- tures, and given a very confused and unsatisfactory account of the whole. Normau Impost of CtaaxiCul arrb. Bases in tbe ^iave. This church is built on Norman foundations, which may be still distinctly traced, the bases of the twelfth century remaining perfect under those of the fourteenth built upon them : the capital or impost of the Norman VOL. IV. N n