12.12.10
Dear Miss Bell,
Mr Cruso has handed to me your notes on the Nubian churches and these I find of great interest for I have no such clear comparisons submitted before. Mr Somers Clarke communicated a report on the churches, of the Batn al Hagar to the Soc. Of Antiquaries which is published in the Proceedings of May 26, 1910 (Proc. S.A.L. 25 XXII. 217) and he there gives two typical plans of Nubian churches, (1) a basilican, the church near Debereh, (2) the smaller type, the North ch. at Serreh, (No.1 is very inaccurate!)
In the first he sees a European origin and No.2 he considers of later date.
It is very interesting to note the marked different in type between the Egyptian church and the Nubian. The dome over the Haikul seems to have been a sinte qua non in Cairo and the Natron Valley – but it does not occur in one example in Nubia though in one case the whole of the church is domed except the sanctuary over which there is a semi-dome.
This is the one near Abu Simbal.
Dr MacIver and I had imagined a Syrian origin for our churches and we had planned a flying visit to North Syria which unfortunately fell through.
I understand that the small domed churches have their counterpart in the tombchapels at El Khargeh, but these latter are purely tomb chapels – whereas our examples seem to be “parish churches”. 
I doubt the cruciform origin of the ch. at Figiranton, cf, Serreh, the Central Church.
The true arch is rarely used. The only case in which it attains any importance is in the dome church at Addendan. For this and other reasons I incline to a very late date for this building. He other examples occur at the central church at Serreh and the S. Domed Church at the same place.
Where an outer was put over either a true arch or a ‘skew’ one (voute en tranches of Choisy) the bricks were always laid flat and generally as headers.
I had noticed the oversailing for vaults in your photographs of Ukheidir. 
In a modern Nubian house I noted that such courses occurred on both sides of an inner wall in order to allow of an upper storey. It is difficult to explain my exact meaning in writing but a sketch may elucidate it.
I believe a similar arrangement occurs in the fortress at Faras. 
The arrangement of the apse with side chambers is  only varied slightly between the two cataracts. There are not more than half a dozen which have the connecting chamber behind the apse. South of this district the passage becomes far more common and in the Batn al Hagar there are few examples without it. 
The original of the Voute en Tranches is undoubtedly Egyptian – but it may have originated in  Mesopotamia as well and thus developed on parallel lines. In lower Nubia it was the customary roof for dwellings throughout the first five centuries of our Era as well as being the usual covering of tombs. I believe that it was used for the latter purpose as early as the fourth dynasty.
It was the mainstay of the Byzantine builders in Greece – who may have borrowed it from the Ionians. A very fine example is the large reservoir on the southwest side of the acropolis at Athens.
It is extremely kind to send such valuable information which will be of great assistance in the event of further expeditions. I fear that I get more fettered to London each year but the spirit of roaming is ever with me.
Believe me
Yours truly 
Geoffrey S. Mileham

To

Miss Gertrude Lowthian Bell.