The one hundred and fifty years, from about 1050 to 1200, which will be briefly reviewed here was a period of intense architectural activity and change, from the pre-romanesque of Anglo-Saxon England, to the developed gothic styles of c. 1200. While the architecture of Normandy followed a relatively stable course through this period, that of Englandwas convulsed in 1066, one of the clearest signs we have of the profound cultural change brought about by the Conquest. While the conquering Normans imported a style developed in the duchy, they also brought England into the wider orbit of European architecture, and the architectures of England and Normandy followed surprisingly different courses from the late eleventh century onwards.

Romanesque, as with many post facto style labels, is resistant to convenient definition. The term is used to describe the predominant style of architecture in western Europe in the eleventh and first half of the twelfth centuries, which was characterised by clearly articulated spaces, well-cut masonry, and decorative schemes subordinated to the overall architectural conception. This was accompanied in some areas by a renewed interest in vaulting techniques and the adoption of a number of Roman architectural forms, for example Corinthian capitals. The style, such as it was, varied markedly in different regions of Europe, and in a fashion which did not always closely follow either contemporary political boundaries or modern ones. It also developed at an uneven pace across the continent, and while Normandy in 1066 appears to have been somewhere near the leading edge of developments in Europe, the picture in the Anglo-Saxon world is far more murky.

Discussion of late Anglo-Saxon architecture is made difficult by the destruction of most of the great churches, and the doubtful dating of many smaller monuments. Indeed, the methodology of periodisation has been the subject of lively scholarly debate; the question is not purely an academic one, either, as the direction, if any, taken by Anglo-Saxon architecture in the mid-eleventh century depends on the body of buildings which are taken to precede the Conquest. Much the most comprehensive coverage is provided by Harold and Joan Taylor's three volume Anglo-Saxon Architecture, which tends to be generous in is assessment of the number of buildings completed under the Anglo-Saxons, and credits them with developing features others prefer to see as imported from elsewhere.