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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > What is the distance? A shortish distance uphill is something that you can > throw labour at - and still be cheaper than a longer distance overland. The > final carving could have been done at the bottom of the hill and the > finished stone transported up the hill. John James once showed me the vault of one of the curious chambers up at roof level between the chevet chapel roofs of Chartres Cathedral. It is formed of a single stone, a complex irregular octagon, with its sides rising to a central peak. It must be 10 or 12 feet across in either direction. At the time, I marvelled how they managed to get it up there and set it in place. I'm wondering now whether it was carved on site or at the quarry. Either way, it must have been a staggering task to transport it. James, by the way, made a quantitative study of church building in the Paris basin specifically relating it to the availability of quarries: 'An Investigation into the Uneven Distribution of Early Gothic Churches in the Paris Basin, 1140-1240', Art Bulletin, 66, no. 1 (Mar 1984), 15-46. Cheers, Jim Bugslag ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html