The dating found here is based on the work of John James, and is meant on this site to serve as a starting point. James' dating is derived from a system that uses his interpretation of the development of capitals over time as the basis for chronology, among other factors. His goal is to refine the dating to within years rather than decades. I have not fully embraced James' methodology, and will be developing this page from its current state to one which is admittedly more conservative. The relative expenditure values found in the Timeline are also based on James' work, and I believe these to be reasonably reliable. They are intended only to give a sense of the amount of work involved in each decade.

I have added the idea of the "project" as a way of separating work in buildings. In my mind, a "project" is a discrete section of work in a building that resulted from the one-time acquisition of funding. "Projects" are generally separated by at least a decade where no work was being done. It is my view that it would have been unwise to start a "project" that could not be finished and protected from the elements, and as such a "project" usually involved a wing or multiple wings of a building, from floor to roof. Rural churches, which could only secure small amounts of funding at irregular intervals, often were the result of many small projects, while the great churches, which benefitted from relatively consistent funding, may have involved only a few large projects.

50

136

135

60

1060s

1070s

1080s

1090s

1100s

1110s

1120s

1130s

1140s

1150s

1160s

1170s

1180s

1190s

1200s

1210s

1220s

1230s

1240s

1250s

In the lowest courses there are indications in the transept walls of an earlier building with a round apse and square transepts, probably half the height of the present choir with different coursing and stone type, and with some remaining capitals over window shafts.

The solid central block flanked by passages with dado arcades was added onto the apse; probably had a barrel vault built with the room under the tower.

Tower I

Tower II

Tower III

Nave aisles piers and west wall built separately from the external aisle walls

The choir was rebuilt in three campaigns utilising much of the earlier structure with bases that suggest there were to have been rib vaults only in the apse.

Choir to capitals and extended the rib vault construction throughout

Raised the height of the choir walls and vaults, especially in the transepts with en delit shafts to earlier window frames and capitals and oculiover the lancets of the terminal walls; all transverse arches were built wider than intended in the capitals so ribs had to be squashed into the tas-de-charge.

Nave clerestory walls were completed with the west wall and its triple windows.

The square windows in the nave inserted