The presence of this grouping of features is indicative of that
influence which Continental architecture had exercised upon English
art, and now that Norman government had been established that
influence became more directly French. But though so strongly affected
by this means, Anglo-Saxon character was always evident in work which
was a native expression of the thought and personality of those by
whom it was executed.

Thus we see that the plan which Ralph approved for the new church that
was to be built for him at Chichester was devised according to
accepted traditional arrangement. He adopted no new idea when he
decided what general form the cathedral should follow. The disposition
of the several parts differed in no wise from that which had been
followed during centuries before. The requirements of ritual had
decided long since what were those essential features of planning to
be insisted upon, for the pattern in germ was shown in the arrangement
of the Mosaic Tabernacle. In the earliest plans the same distribution
of parts was observed, though at a later date the transept was
introduced--an idea which no doubt had its origin in some practical
necessity, and was afterwards retained as being representative of an
ecclesiastical symbol.

Of the practical and artistic character of the architectural details
we shall see more in examining the exterior and the interior of the
church. These will lead us, of necessity, to deal more with
archaeology in its relation to the history of architecture rather than
of this particular church as a building used for ecclesiastical
purposes.