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ABC 
 
 OF 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
ABC 
 
 OF 
 
 (Sotbic Brcbitecture, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER, O.B. 
 
 Hon. M.A. Oxon, F.S.A. Lond. ; 
 
 Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford ; 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE OXFORD ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORICAL 
 SOCIETY, AND OF THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGICAL 
 SOCIETY OF ROME ; MEMBRE DE LA SOCI^TE FRANCAISE 
 d’archeologie ; HONORARY member of the royal 
 INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS, ETC. 
 
 abirfc Button. 
 
 PARKER AND CO. 
 
 OXFORD, AND 6 SOUTHAMPTON-STREET, 
 STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 1882. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT TO FIRST EDITION. 
 
 T^HIS little work is intended to serve as a step- 
 ping-stone to larger and more expensive works 
 on the same subject, such as my “ Introduction 
 to the Study of Gothic Architecture,” my edition 
 of Rickman’s “ Gothic Architecture,” and the 
 “ Glossary of Architecture.” The same examples 
 are not used, except a few well-known histori- 
 cal instances. My object has been to make it 
 as simple and as easy as possible, so that a child 
 may understand it. Experience shews that a 
 child who has seen many examples, and has had 
 the peculiar features of each style explained, does 
 understand and remember them in a manner that 
 appears astonishing to older people, and accurate 
 representations of buildings of each period may be 
 equally well understood and remembered. The 
 knowledge thus acquired, simple and easy as it 
 seems, and as it really is, if proper attention is 
 
vi advertisement to first edition. 
 
 <nven to it, will be found useful in after life, not 
 in all parts of England only, but in all parts of 
 Europe also. The general characteristic features 
 of each period are the same, although the provin- 
 cial character sometimes seems to preponderate; 
 the character of each century , at all events, is the 
 same all over Europe, and may also be easily re- 
 membered, and as a matter of fact is never for- 
 gotten. 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER, C.B. 
 
 Oxford, 
 July , 1881. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction . . , . .1 
 
 The Early Norman Period, a.d. 1060 — 1090 . 10 
 
 The Norman Period, a.d. 1090 — 1160 . 31 
 
 Period of Transition, a.d. 1160 — 1195 . 71 
 
 The Early English Style, a.d. 1189 — 1272 
 
 (Richard I., John, Henry III.) . • 83 
 
 The Gradual Change from the Early English 
 
 Style to the Decorated, a.d. 1272 — 1300 126 
 
 The Decorated Style, a.d. 1300 — 1377 (Ed- 
 ward I., II., and III.) . . .131 
 
 The Gradual Change from Decorated to Per- 
 pendicular, c . a.d. 1360 — 1399 (Richard II. 
 and the latter part of Edward III.) . 175 
 
 The Perpendicular Style, a.d. 1377 — 1547 
 
 (Richard II. to Henry VIII.) . .186 
 
 On the Late, or Debased, Gothic Ruildings of 
 Oxford (from the Reign of Elizabeth to the 
 end of the Seventeenth Century) . .219 
 
A. B. C. 
 
 OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 RCHITECTURAL History can only be understood 
 
 by the eye, either by seeing the buildings them- 
 selves, with time to examine the construction and the 
 details of each period, or by accurate representations of 
 them arranged in chronological order. This is what 
 has been attempted in the present work; and when 
 so arranged, any one, however ignorant of the subject, 
 can see and understand the gradual progress and change 
 from one generation to another. What is thus under- 
 stood is also easily remembered; we can always re- 
 member what we have seen, much better than what 
 we have only heard or read about ; an accurate repre- 
 sentation of each object is better than many pages of 
 description, or of essays about it. The arrangement 
 made in this little work will enable any one to un- 
 derstand the general principles of what are called the 
 styles or periods of Gothic Architecture. Some persons 
 
 n 
 
2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 object to this name, which was undoubtedly given ori- 
 ginally in contempt by the admirers of the Palladian 
 style, but it has been so generally adopted all over 
 Europe for the last century or more, that it would 
 be in vain to attempt to change it ; it is a convenient 
 name, which everybody understands as a general term 
 for the different styles of medieval architecture. 
 Dr. E. A. Ereeman has ingeniously suggested that it is 
 the architecture of the Gothic nations who conquered 
 the Roman Empire, and one of which to be proud 
 rather than ashamed. 
 
 Strictly speaking, the Norman is one of the Roman- 
 esque styles, which succeeded to the old Roman ; but 
 the Gothic was so completely developed from the Nor- 
 man, that it is impossible to draw a line of distinction 
 between them ; it is also convenient to begin with the 
 Norman, because the earliest complete buildings that 
 we have in this country are of the Norman period, and 
 the designs of the Norman architects, at the end of the 
 eleventh century and the beginning of the twelfth, were 
 on so grand a scale, that many of our finest cathedrals 
 are built on the foundations of the church of that period, 
 and a great part of the walls are frequently found to 
 be really Norman in construction, although their ap- 
 pearance is so entirely altered that it is difficult at first 
 to realize this ; for instance, in the grand cathedral of 
 
INTBODUCTIOX. 
 
 3 
 
 ■Winchester, William of Wykeham did not rebuild it, 
 but so entirely altered the appearance, that it is now 
 properly considered as one of the earliest examples of 
 the English Perpendicular style of which he was the 
 inventor ; this style is entirely confined to England, it 
 is readily distinguished from any of the Continental 
 styles by the 'perpendicular lines in the tracery of the 
 windows, and in the panelling on the walls ; in all the 
 foreign styles these lines are flowing or flame-like, and 
 for that reason they are called Elamboyant ; a few 
 windows with tracery of that style are met with in 
 England, but they are quite exceptions. 
 
 Some persons who object to the name of Gothic, would 
 use the name of Pointed instead ; this name was pro- 
 posed by the Cambridge Camden Society about half-a- 
 century ago, but had never got into general use, and is 
 now seldom met with. I always objected to it, on the 
 ground that it misleads beginners in the study, who in- 
 variably consider every round-headed doorway as Nor- 
 man, and every square-headed window as Perpendicular, 
 which is very far from being the case. The form of the 
 arch is always dictated by convenience, and is in itself 
 no guide to the age or style of a building ; the only safe 
 guides are the moldings and details, and these require 
 some study, but are not at all difficult to understand or 
 remember, when a good series of examples are put be- 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 fore us, as I hope will be found by those who use this 
 little book. 
 
 I should mention that this is not at all intended to 
 supersede my “Introduction to the Study of Gothic 
 Architecture,” but rather to serve as a stepping-stone 
 to it, just as that leads people to want my edition of 
 Bickman’s work, with the historical additions that I 
 have made to it. 
 
 Bickman was the first to reduce chaos into order, and 
 to shew that the age of a building can be ascertained 
 by the construction and the details, on the principle of 
 comparison with well-known dated examples, and he 
 should always have the credit of being the first to es- 
 tablish this. His work was at first thought rather hard 
 reading, and this was natural, because he trusted too 
 much to words only; my “Glossary of Architecture” 
 was called “ Bickman made easy,” and this is true, 
 because, by means of the excellent and accurate wood- 
 cuts of Orlando Jewitt, I was able to explain all the 
 technical words which Bickman was obliged to use. 
 In the present work I have avoided the use of these as 
 much as possible, and have trusted to the eye in the 
 numerous examples given, rather than to any words to 
 explain them. The same persons who objected to the 
 name of Gothic, objected also to the name of Early 
 English for the earliest Gothic style in England; but 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 this was undoubtedly developed from the Norman, in 
 England, earlier than anywhere else. 
 
 The earliest pure and complete Gothic building in the 
 world is St. Hugh’s choir at Lincoln, which was built 
 between 1192 and 1200, St. Hugh himself having died 
 just before the consecration in the latter year. Of 
 this we have distinct evidence in the life of the good 
 bishop (who was called a saint) by his domestic chap- 
 lain, the original MS. of which is preserved in the 
 Bodleian Library, and it has only been published in 
 my time, at my suggestion — through Sir Duffus Hardy, 
 the assistant Keeper of the Rolls — by the Master of 
 the Rolls in the Government series of Chronicles. 
 The best - informed Erench antiquaries acknowledge 
 that they have nothing like it in Erance for thirty 
 years afterwards ; they thought it was copied from 
 Notre Dame at Bijon, to which there is considerable 
 resemblance, but that church was not consecrated till 
 1230, so that the Dijon architect might have copied 
 from the Lincoln one, but the Lincoln could not have 
 copied from Dijon. 
 
 In England this style is only a natural development 
 from the Norman, in which the transition had been 
 going on for half-a-century before. At the time of the 
 rebuilding of the choir at Canterbury, the change was 
 making rapid progress, the work of 'William the Eng- 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lishman there is considerably in advance of that of his 
 teacher, William of Sens, who began the rebuilding. 
 The eastern transepts and the Corona of Canterbury, 
 finished in 1184, approach very near to Gothic. 
 
 The small church of Clee at the mouth of the Humber, 
 of which the chancel and transepts and central tower 
 were rebuilding almost at that time, are still more 
 Gothic, and this work was consecrated by S. Hugh in 
 1192, as recorded by an inscription; this was the 
 very year in which he began rebuilding the choir at 
 Lincoln, which was finished, as we have said, in 1200. 
 Many of the churches of the rich Norman Abbeys in 
 the south of Yorkshire, and north of Lincolnshire, are 
 nearly as much advanced at the same period; and the 
 west end of the great abbey church at St. Alban’s, 
 begun by He Celia about a.d. 1200, is also pure 
 Gothic; of this, unfortunately, we have only a few 
 remains. 
 
 In this work I have purposely omitted the remains 
 of Homan villas, and of the churches between the Homan 
 and the Norman period, of which the remains are more 
 numerous than is generally supposed, especially the 
 substructures, or crypts as they are called, and there 
 are several churches of the eleventh century that do 
 not belong to th j Norman style. The Saxons appear 
 to have been more advanced in the fine arts such as 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 Sculpture than the Normans, but their churches were 
 on comparatively a small scale, and were generally 
 swept away by the Normans as not worth preserving : 
 every one of our cathedrals was rebuilt by the Normans, 
 and not always exactly on the same site, the old church 
 being sometimes kept for use whilst the new one was 
 building. Although these remains are of great inter- 
 est to the antiquary, they have nothing to do with 
 the history of Gothic architecture, which is certainly 
 developed from the Norman, and the change did not 
 begin till after the middle of the twelfth century, 
 or about a century after the introduction of this style 
 by Edward the Confessor: the remains of his abbey 
 at Westminster are clearly Norman, and quite distinct 
 from the Saxon character, but this style is called by 
 the French antiquaries Anglo-Norman, and this is 
 quite correct. Normandy was then a province of the 
 dominions of the King of England, and there are 
 scarcely any buildings in Normandy earlier than the 
 time of the Conquest. 
 
 The best-informed Norman antiquaries at the time 
 of the revival of the study of Architectural History, 
 between 1830 and 1840, made a series of excursions 
 to the sites of all the castles of the barons who came 
 over to England with William the Conqueror, in search 
 of some masonry of the first half of the eleventh cen- 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tury. To their surprise, they found no masonry at all 
 in any one of them ; there were magnificent earthworks 
 to all of them, clearly shewing that castles of that 
 period were of earthworks and wood only. This is 
 recorded in the Bulletin Monumental of the period, 
 and the substance of the observations is given in the 
 AB Cedaire of De Caumont a , who was their leader. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the Normans brought 
 this style with them “ ready cut and dried,” it began 
 in Normandy and in England simultaneously; the two 
 great abbey churches at Caen were both built after 
 the Conquest, and with English money, and they are 
 not at all in advance of similar buildings in England; 
 both had originally wooden roofs and ceilings only, the 
 stone vaults were not put on until a century after they 
 were built; we have no stone vaults over a space of 
 20 ft. wide before the middle of the twelfth century, 
 either in England or Normandy. It seemed necessary 
 to say a few words about Normandy, but for any fur- 
 ther information about architecture in France or in 
 other parts of Europe, I must refer the reader to my 
 “ Introduction,” in which I have given a good deal of 
 information on the subject from personal observation. 
 
 » AbScedaire , ou Rudiment D’Archeologie, par M. de Cau- 
 mont, fondateur des Congres Scientifiques de France , etc. 
 (Caen, 1850, 8vo.) 
 
IXTEODUCTIOX. 
 
 9 
 
 In the present work I have purposely made long 
 extracts from my “ Introduction,” on the general cha- 
 racter of each style, which are very often the words 
 of Rickman himself, because I could only have said 
 the same thing in other words, and this would rather 
 confuse students than assist them. I have selected 
 other examples, so that one should not be a repetition 
 of the other in the material point, the teaching by the 
 eye ; and in those examples where I saw that a few 
 words of description would he useful, they are added, 
 so that this work is complete in itself for beginners, 
 but those who wish to go on further with the subject 
 can do so step by step. The only real way of tho- 
 roughly understanding Architectural History, is to go 
 about and see the buildings themselves. 
 
THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 A.D. 1060—1090. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 HE Norman style was introduced into England in 
 
 the time of Edward the Confessor ; the king him- 
 self founded the great Abbey of Westminster, and 
 many of the buildings were begun in his time. Of 
 this church he had completed the choir and transepts, 
 which were sufficient for the performance of divine 
 service, and it was then consecrated, Dec. 28, 1065, 
 a few days only before his death. As soon as the 
 choir of a church was ready for Divine Service, it was 
 usual to consecrate it : the nave was called the vesti- 
 bule, and was not consecrated. The nave of West- 
 minster at that time was not built : it is probable that 
 a nave was built in the twelfth century, but of this 
 church we have no remains. The dormitory was in 
 all probability building at the same time, as the monks 
 or canons who had to perform the service in the church 
 must have required a place to sleep in. Of this dor- 
 mitory the walls and the vaulted substructure remain. 
 The refectory also was begun at the same period, and 
 we have the lower part of the walls, with the arcade 
 
THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD, 
 
 11 
 
 ■Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1060. 
 
 The Dark Cloister under the Dormitory, now the Schoolroom, 
 and Windows of the Dormitory. 
 
12 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAH PERIOD. 
 
 at the foot; the work is rude and clumsy Norman, 
 with wide-jointed masonry, and the capitals left plain, 
 to be painted or carved afterwards. 
 
 Soon after the Norman Conquest a great change took 
 place in the art of building in England. On con- 
 sulting the history of our cathedral churches, we find 
 that in almost every instance the church was rebuilt 
 from its foundations by the first Norman bishop, either 
 on the same site or on a new one; sometimes, as at 
 Norwich and Peterborough, the cathedral was removed 
 to a new town altogether, and built on a spot where 
 there was no church before ; in other cases, as at Win- 
 chester, the new church was built near the old one, 
 which was not pulled down until after the relics had 
 been translated with great pomp from the old church 
 to the new. In other instances, as at York and Can- 
 terbury, the new church was erected on the site of the 
 old one, which was pulled down piecemeal as the new 
 work progressed. These new churches were in all 
 cases on a much larger and more magnificent scale than 
 the old ; they were also constructed in a much better 
 manner, the Normans being far better masons than 
 the Saxons a . 
 
 a There is some doubt on this subject; the opinion here 
 stated is that generally received, hut recent observations seem 
 to shew that the Saxons were more advanced than the Normans 
 
14 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Notwithstanding this superiority of workmanship to 
 that which had preceded it, the early Norman masonry 
 is extremely rude 
 and had; the joints 
 between the stones 
 are often from one 
 inch to two or 
 three inches wide, 
 and filled with 
 mortar not always 
 of very good qua- 
 lity. In conse- Rubble Masonry, from Gundulph’s Tower, called 
 quence of this im- St. Leonard’s, at Mailing, Kent, A.D. 1070. 
 
 perfect construe- The earliest Norman Keep in existence * 
 tion, many of the towers fell down within a few years 
 after their erection. It is probable, however, that the 
 workmen employed on these structures were for the 
 most part Saxons, as the Normans must have been 
 too much employed otherwise during the reign of the 
 Conqueror to execute much masons’ work with their 
 own hands. Nor were the Norman monks established 
 in sufficient numbers to be able to superintend all the 
 
 at the time of the Conquest ; their work was more highly fin- 
 ished, had more ornament, and they used fine-jointed masonry, 
 while the Normans used wide-jointed, but the Norman build- 
 ings were more substantial, and on a larger scale; everywhere 
 the cathedrals were rebuilt after the Conquest. 
 
Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1066. 
 
 Arcade of the Refectory, now in a Canon’s garden. 
 
16 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 works which were going on at this period ; the cathe- 
 drals and large monasteries must have occupied nearly 
 all their attention. The ordinary parish churches which 
 required rebuilding must have been left to the Saxons 
 themselves, and were probably built in the same man- 
 ner as before, with such slight improvements as they 
 might have gleaned from the Norman works. 
 
 The Normans themselves were, however, but little 
 in advance of the English in the building art: the 
 style which we call Norman correctly for this country, 
 is called by the Erench archaeologists Anglo-Norman, 
 and with reason ; that style was developed as much in 
 England as in Normandy. 
 
 Gundolph, Bishop of Rochester, was the great ar- 
 chitect of the time of William the Conqueror. The 
 first building of his that we have remaining is the keep 
 of his castle at Mailing, in Kent, called St. Leonard’s 
 Tower, which was built about 1070. This is of ear- 
 lier character than any keep in Normandy. M. de 
 Caumont examined the sites of the castles of all the 
 barons who came over to England with William, and 
 he found no masonry of that period in any one of 
 them. Their castles had consisted of very fine earth- 
 works and wood only b . Soon after this time, Gun- 
 
 b This is recorded in the Bulletin Monumental of the period, 
 and in the Abtcedaire of M. de Caumont. 
 
THE EARLY NORMAN - PERIOD. 
 
 sum 
 
18 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Wide-jointed Masonry. Chapel in the White 
 Tower, London, A.D. 1081. 
 
 dulph built the keep of the castle in London called 
 the White Tower, 
 and the cathedral 
 of Rochester, of 
 which we have a 
 part of the crypt, 
 and some remains 
 of the wall of the 
 nave and north 
 transept. The 
 whole of this 
 work is extreme- 
 ly rude; the construction is usually rubble. When 
 of ashlar, the joints are very wide, and the capitals 
 of the shafts clumsy. 
 
 St. Alban’s Abbey Church, built in the time of Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror and Wi iliam Rufus, as distinctly 
 recorded by contemporary historians, partakes of the 
 Saxon character in many parts : we find baluster shafts 
 in abundance, quantities of Roman tiles, and other 
 features usually considered Saxon, but there is not the 
 slightest doubt that the church was built from the 
 foundations after 1077, when the work was commenced 
 by Abbot Paul of Caen. The materials of an older 
 church are used in it; they were probably brought 
 
THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 19 
 
 from old Yerulam, with the Homan flat bricks, which 
 are largely used in the construction. 
 
 We have a strong confirmation of this in the city 
 of Lincoln : the Conqueror having taken possession of 
 about a quarter of the old city to build a castle upon, 
 and Bishop Hemigius having purchased nearly another 
 quarter to build a cathedral and monastery, the Saxon 
 inhabitants were driven down the hill on which the 
 old city stands, and took possession of some swampy 
 land at the foot of the hill, which they drained, and 
 redeemed from the fens or marshes of which nearly all 
 the low country then consisted. On this new land 
 they built several churches. One of these, St. Peter’s 
 at Gowts (or at the Sluices), remains nearly entire, and 
 St. Mary le Wig-ford has retained the tower built at 
 this period. This is an important and interesting fact 
 in the history of architecture, as it confirms what was 
 before only a natural supposition, and it enables us to 
 fill up a gap : we appeared to have scarcely any parish 
 churches of the early Norman period, but it is now 
 evident that many of the long list of churches of the 
 Anglo-Saxon type belong to a period subsequent to 
 the Conquest. The tower of St. Michael’s Church, 
 Oxford, is one of those included by Hickman as of the 
 character supposed to be Saxon, but the imposts of 
 the window-arches are quite of Norman character, and 
 
20 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 it was built after the Conquest. The tower of Oxford 
 Castle was built by Robert D’Oyly in the time of 
 William Rufus, but it has much of the appearance 
 of the Saxon buildings, and the tower of St. Michael’s 
 Church is part of the work of his time. Round 
 towers built of rubble-stone are of several periods, 
 generally early, but in a mere rubble wall there is 
 nothing to go by as to the date ; they may be of any 
 period. 
 
 It is customary to date the introduction of the Nor- 
 man style into England from the Norman Conquest, 
 in 1066, although that important event had no imme- 
 diate effect on the style of Architecture, and perhaps 
 the remainder of the eleventh century may be consi- 
 dered as a period of transition, just as the last quarter 
 of each of the three following centuries was a period 
 of transition from one style to another ; and it may be 
 well to observe, that in all such periods, not only were 
 buildings of a mixed character erected, but some build- 
 ings were almost entirely in the old style, others alto- 
 gether in the new one : this has been called by Pro- 
 fessor Willis “ an overlapping of the styles,” and ge- 
 nerally lasts from twenty to thirty years. In treating 
 of the Norman period we must bear in mind that Nor- 
 mandy was then a province of the same kingdom, and 
 that the intercourse between Kent and Normandy was 
 
THE EARLY NORMAH PERIOD. 
 
 21 
 
 at least as frequent and as easy as between Yorkshire 
 and Devonshire; so that although there are certain 
 marked provincialisms, there is no real difference or 
 priority of style in one province over the other, after 
 the Norman power was fully established in England. 
 It is customary to poiat to the two great abbey churches 
 at Caen, founded and endowed by William and Matilda, 
 as models to be referred to, and as proving the great 
 advance of Normandy over England; but this is, in 
 a great degree, a mistake, arising from the common 
 error of confusing the date of the foundation of a mo- 
 nastery with that of the erection of the existing church : 
 a small part only of the church of St. Stephen at Caen 
 is of the time of the Conqueror, and a still smaller part 
 of that of the Holy Trinity, the present building of 
 which is considerably later than the other. In both 
 of these fine churches, the vaults, and the upper parts 
 of the structure, were built late in the twelfth cen- 
 tury ; they had originally wooden roofs only. 
 
 The most important buildings of the time of the Con- 
 queror and of William Rufus were the Norman castles 
 or keep-towers, but most of these were rebuilt in the 
 following century. The earliest Norman keep existing 
 is the one built immediately after the Conquest, by 
 Gundulph, at Mailing in Kent, miscalled St. Leonard’s 
 tower, as already mentioned [see page 17]. There are still 
 
22 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 some Norman keeps of this period remaining, as London ; 
 but Dover and Rochester in Kent, Newcastle in North- 
 umberland, Appleby and Carlisle in Cumberland, 
 Brougham in Westmoreland, Richmond and ConL- 
 borough in Yorkshire, Porchester in Hampshire, Guild- 
 ford in Surrey, Goodrich in Herefordshire, Norwich 
 and Castle Rising in Norfolk, Hedingham and Col- 
 chester in Essex, are later, and belong chiefly to the 
 twelfth century ; but most of them, if not all, were 
 founded at this early period. Rochester has been en- 
 tirely rebuilt on another site. Erom the uniformity 
 of plan — a massive square tower, with a square turret 
 at each angle of small projection, and a flat buttress 
 up the centre of each face — and the general plainness 
 of the work, it requires a careful examination of each 
 of these buildings to ascertain to which period it be- 
 longs. The only parts where any ornament is to be 
 found are usually the entrance-doorway and staircase, 
 and the chapel, and these are commonly rather late 
 Norman. There is frequently a solid wall in the mid- 
 dle, dividing the keep into two portions, with no com- 
 munication in the lower parts. The passages for com- 
 munication between one part of the building and 
 another are made in the thickness of the wall, the 
 central part having been divided by floors only, and 
 not vaulted, in the earlier examples. Groined stone 
 
THE EAKLY NOEMAH PEEIOD. 
 
 23 
 
 vaults, of rough stone, were introduced towards the 
 end of the eleventh century in castles as well as 
 churches ; hut rib- vaulting of cut stone not before the 
 twelfth. 
 
 The number of churches which were commenced in 
 the reign of the Conqueror and his successor was so 
 great, that it is impossible to notice them all : but few 
 of them were completed until after 1100; it was not, 
 indeed, until after 1080 that the country was suffi- 
 ciently settled for much building to be begun. 
 
 The chapel in the White Tower, London, is one of 
 the best and most perfect examples of this period ; its 
 character is massive and plain, though the work is 
 well executed. Its plan is oblong, consisting of a nave 
 with narrow aisles which stand on the thickness of 
 the walls : the walls have passages in them also in 
 the other parts ; the nave has plain barrel- vaults ; the 
 pillars are short and thick, and most of the capitals 
 are plain, but some have a little ornament carved upon 
 the abacus and capital, apparently some time after the 
 construction was completed, being within easy reach. 
 
 The nave and transepts of Ely were erected by Abbot 
 Simeon, brother of Bishop Walk elyn. Part of the west 
 front of Lincoln was built by Bishop Remi, or Remigius, 
 1085 — 1092 : the small portion which remains of this 
 work is a very valuable specimen of early Norman, the 
 
24 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 more so that the insertion of later and richer Norman 
 doorways by Bishop Alexander, about fifty years after- 
 wards, enables us to compare early and late Norman 
 work, while the jointing of the masonry leaves no 
 doubt of the fact that these doorways are insertions, 
 and therefore confirms the early date of the three lofty 
 arches under which they are inserted. A comparison 
 of the capitals and details of these two periods, thus 
 placed in juxtaposition, is extremely interesting. The 
 wide-jointing of the masonry and the shallowness of 
 the carving distinguish the old work from the new. 
 Several capitals of the later period are inserted in the 
 older work, as is shewn on careful examination by 
 the jointing of the masonry, and by the form of the 
 capitals themselves : the earlier capitals are short, and 
 have volutes at the angles, forming a sort of rude Ionic ; 
 the later capitals are more elongated, and have a sort 
 of rude Corinthian, or Composite foliage. 
 
 The crypt and transepts of Winchester Cathedral 
 are of this period, built by Bishop Walkelyn on a new 
 site. Early in the twelfth century occurred the fall 
 of the tower of this Cathedral, celebrated from the 
 peculiar circumstances with which it was accompanied, 
 which are thus described by William of Malmesbury, 
 who was living at the time: — “A few countrymen 
 conveyed the body [of the king, William Rufus], placed 
 
THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD, 
 
 25 
 
 Transept, Winchester Cathedral, A.D. 1079—1093. 
 
 Pier-arches. N.B. It may be noted that the pier-arches, triforimn, 
 
 Triforium, or Blind-story. and clerestory, are all nearly of equal height, which 
 Clear-story, or Clere-story. is frequent in Roman basilicas and in the Norman 
 style, but not afterwards. 
 
26 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN - PERIOD. 
 
 on a cart, to the cathedral of Winchester, the blood drip- 
 ping from it all the way. Here it was committed to the 
 ground within the tower , attended by many of the no- 
 bility, but lamented by few. The next year [1097] the 
 tower fell ; though I forbear to mention the different 
 opinions on this subject, lest I should seem to assent 
 too readily tc unsupported trifles; more especially that 
 the building might have fallen through imperfect con- 
 struction , even though he had never been buried there. ” 
 That this was really the case, the building itself affords 
 us abundant evidence, and proves that even the Nor- 
 mans at this period were still bad masons, and very 
 imperfectly acquainted with the principles of construc- 
 tion. The tower which was rebuilt soon after the fall 
 is still standing, and the enormous masses of masonry 
 which were piled together to support it, and prevent it 
 from falling again, shew such an amazing waste of 
 labour and material as clearly to prove that it was the 
 work of very unskilful builders. 
 
 This example is valuable to us also in another 
 respect : the two transepts were only partially injured 
 by the fall of the tower; the greater part of both 
 of them belongs to the original work; the junction 
 of the old work and the new can be distinctly traced; 
 and here we begin to find a difference of character 
 in the new work, and a mark by which we can rea- 
 
THE EARLY NORMAN - PERIOD, 
 
 27 
 
 Bay, "Winchester Cathedral, c. A.D. 1095. 
 
 The window is an insertion of the fourteenth century in the 
 Decorated style. 
 
28 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 LD. -U20. 
 
 Winchester Cathedral, Transept. 
 
 dily distinguish one from the other: the joints be- 
 tween the stones in the old work are wide, filled with 
 a great thickness 
 of mortar; in the 
 new work they are 
 comparatively fine, 
 often leaving room 
 for scarcely more 
 than to pass a 
 knife: the one is 
 called “ wide-joint- 
 ed masonry,” the 
 other “ fine-jointed 
 masonry,” and this is the best and safest distinction 
 between early and late Norman work; the rule is 
 almost of universal application. In confirmation of 
 this we may cite another passage from William of 
 Malmesbury, describing the work of his own time, and 
 what he had probably seen himself: — “He [Eoger, 
 Bishop of Salisbury] was a prelate of great mind, and 
 spared no expense towards completing his designs, 
 especially in buildings; which may be seen in other 
 places, but more particularly at Salisbury and at 
 Malmesbury, for there he erected extensive edifices 
 at vast cost, and with surpassing beauty, the courses of 
 stone being so correctly laid that the joint deceives the eye , 
 
THE EAELY NOEMAN PEEIOD, 
 
 29 
 
 >ON del O.OI2WIT1 SC 
 
 St. John’s Church, Chester. Winchester Cathedral, A.D. 1079— 1003. 
 
 One Bay of Choir, c. A.D. 1075—1095. 
 
30 
 
 THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 and leads it to imagine that the whole wall is composed 
 of a single block .” The buildings here alluded to were 
 erected between 1115 and 1139, this may then fairly 
 be considered as the turning-point between early and 
 late Norman work ; and here it will be convenient 
 to pause in our history, and describe the characteristic 
 features of early Norman work. 
 
 St. John’s Church at Chester, which was the seat of 
 the Bishop, or cathedral, until the time of Henry VIII., 
 was built A.D. 1075 — 1095, and is one of the finest 
 examples of the Early Norman style. (See p. 29.) 
 
 No clear line of distinction can be drawn between 
 the three periods into which the Norman style is na- 
 turally divided. They run into each other, and overlap 
 each other continually ; there is no broad line between 
 them: yet there is a very mat ked difference between 
 the early Norman of the original parts of Westminster 
 Abbey, shewn at pp. 11 and 13, of the time of Edward 
 the Confessor, and the lich doorways and windows of 
 Iffley, Cuddesdon, and Middleton Stoney, shewn at 
 pp. 45 and 49, which are of the time of Henry II., or 
 rather more than a century after those of Westminster 
 Abbey. 
 
THE NORM AH PERIOD, A.D. 1090—1150. 
 
 We have now arrived at the period of those rich 
 Nobman churches which may still be considered as 
 amongst the glories of our land. 
 
 It is very remarkable that so large a number of 
 buildings of the rich character which generally distin- 
 guishes this style should all have been built in about 
 half a century, from 1120 to 1170 or 1180; yet such is 
 clearly the case. The early Norman style has been 
 already described; the late or rich Norman is chiefly 
 characterized by the abundance of ornament and the 
 deep cutting, the absence of which is the chief charac- 
 teristic of the earlier period. 
 
 Before we proceed to describe it, a few of the build- 
 ings known to have been erected at this time may be 
 mentioned. 
 
 Peterborough Cathedral was begun from its foun- 
 dations in 1117 by John de Seez, who formed the plan 
 of the whole of it, which was rigidly carried out by his 
 successors, and it was consecrated in 1143; the work 
 is very good, but not very rich. The Norman tower 
 at Bury St. Edmund’s was commenced in the same year, 
 1117, and finished in 1130; the porch is an addition 
 
32 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 about half a century later. The nave of Norwich was 
 built between 1122 and 1145: the work is still very 
 plain, being in continuation of the previous work. 
 Castor Church, Northamptonshire, bears an inscription 
 recording its dedication in 1124: the tower is good, 
 rich Norman work; the ornaments are the hatched, 
 the square billet, and the scollop, all of very simple 
 character, shallow, and easily worked. Furness Abbey 
 was founded in 1127, but very little of the original 
 work remains. In Canterbury Cathedral, the work of 
 Prior Ernulf, under St. Anselm, was completed in 1130, 
 and part of Rochester, where Ernulf had become bishop, 
 in the same year ; so that we need not be surprised at 
 finding more ornament in these two cathedrals than is 
 quite consistent with the usual character of early Nor- 
 man work, and the same ornaments repeated in both 
 these churches. St. Martin’s priory at Dover was 
 founded in 1131 ; the refectory is still standing, and is 
 a good example of plain Norman work, neither very 
 early nor very late. 
 
 The small Norman church of Newhaven in Sussex 
 is unusually perfect, and gives a good general idea of 
 a parish church of the twelfth century. At first sight 
 it looks earlier .than it is; the bold projection of the 
 buttresses indicates a later period, early Norman but- 
 tresses arc very flat, the greater the projection the later 
 
GENERAL VIEW OF A NORMAN PALISH CHULCH. 33 
 
 Newhaven Church, Sussex, c. A.D. 1120. 
 
 The apse is usually an early feature; in this instance the projection of the 
 buttresses and the ornamental string round it shew it to he later. The side-window 
 s an insertion in the Early English style. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 they are, as a general rule. The spire is an early one, 
 though that is not likely to he Norman. The belfry- 
 windows in the tower, and the corbel-table under the 
 eaves of the roof, are early. The porch is evidently 
 a later addition. 
 
 At Iffley the tower is later ; the original choir was 
 square, with a flat east end, and another square bay 
 has been added eastward at a later period, more in the 
 Early English style. 
 
 The Augustinian priory of Dunstable, in Bedford- 
 shire, was also founded in 1131 ; the original parts of 
 the west front and of the nave are remarkably fine and 
 rich Norman work. 
 
 In the time of William Rufus the work begun by 
 the Norman bishops was carried on so vigorously, that, 
 before the close of this century, every one of the Saxon 
 cathedrals was undergoing the same process of destruc- 
 tion, to be rebuilt on a larger scale and in a better man- 
 ner. Some of the buildings which remain to us of the 
 work of this reign are the crypt of Worcester; the 
 crypt, the arches of the nave, and part of the transepts 
 of Gloucester; the choir and transepts of Durham; 
 the nave and transepts of Christchurch in Hampshire ; 
 the choir and transepts of Norwich. 
 
 The history of Canterbury Cathedral has been so 
 carefully preserved by contemporary records, and these 
 
THE NORMAH PERIOD. 
 
 35 
 
 have been so thoroughly investigated by Professor 
 Willis, and compared with the existing structure, that 
 we may almost put a date upon every stone of this 
 magnificent fabric; it is therefore our best and safest 
 guide in the study of the architecture of that period 
 in England. The work in the older part of the crypt 
 agrees exactly with that at Lincoln, and the other early 
 Norman works above mentioned. The crypt is, how- 
 ever, not part of Lanfranc’ s work, for it is remarkable 
 that his church was entirely pulled down and rebuilt 
 by his successor, St. Anselm, between 1096 and 1110, 
 under the direction of Priors Ernulf and Conrad. Even 
 in the time of Gervase, writing in 1170, he says, “ You 
 must know, however, good reader, that I never saw 
 the choir of Lanfranc, neither have I been able to meet 
 with any description of it: Eadmer indeed describes 
 the old church, which before the time of Lanfranc was 
 constructed after the Roman manner; he also men* 
 tions, but does not describe, the work of Lanfranc, 
 which succeeded this old church, and the choir of 
 Conrad, constructed in the time of St. Anselm.” From 
 this we may fairly conclude that the work of Lanfranc 
 was of very inferior character. It is now said by some, 
 that parts of the walls of the present crypt at the west 
 end belong to this early period, “ after the Roman 
 manner;” Willis considered this to be of the time 
 of Lanfranc. 
 
36 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 During the first fifteen or twenty years of the twelfth 
 century, and of the reign of Henry I., there was 
 no perceptible change of style; the numerous great 
 works which had been begun during the preceding 
 twenty years were carried on, and many of them 
 were completed. During this period we have the 
 dedications, — which shew that the work was sufficiently 
 forward for the choir to be used, — of Ely, Rochester, 
 Norwich, Canterbury, and some others. Several new 
 works were commenced also, as Tewkesbury Abbey, 
 St. Botolph’s, Colchester, St. Bartholomew’s, Smith- 
 field, the nave of Durham, the choir of Peterborough, 
 and Reading Abbey : but we do not find any difference 
 between the early parts of these and those which imme- 
 diately preceded them. There is no difference what- 
 ever between those built on the sites of the Saxon 
 cathedrals, and those which were now first erected on 
 entirely new sites. 
 
 We find in early Norman work that the chisel was 
 very little used; most of the ornaments are such as 
 could be readily worked with the axe, and whatever 
 sculpture there is appears to have been executed after- 
 wards, for it was a general practice to execute sculp- 
 ture after the stones were placed, as is evident in 
 the early work at Westminster : some of the capitals 
 in the crypt of Canterbury are only half finished to 
 
THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 37 
 
 this day, the work of carv- 
 ing having probably gone 
 on until it was stopped by 
 the great fire in 1174. If 
 the sculpture is early it is 
 very rude, and the work is 
 shallow. But shallowness of 
 carving depends partly on the 
 nature of the material to be 
 carved; from this cause build- 
 ings of a hard stone, such as 
 granite, often appear much 
 older than they really are. 
 Baptismal fonts especially are 
 frequently made of hard stone 
 or marble, which admit of 
 shallow sculpture; and rich 
 Norman work cut shallow 
 may be found as late as the 
 time of Henry II. 
 
 Although the roofs of the 
 aisles at Canterbury had been 
 vaulted, the choir itself had 
 a flat boarded ceiling, painted 
 like that still remaining at 
 Peterborough. The vault of 
 
 Crypt, Canterbury, A.D. 1110. 
 
 Norman capital, with carving 
 commenced and left unfinished. 
 
38 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 the choir of the cathedral of Sens, from whence 
 came William, the architect of the choir of Canter- 
 bury, is also an addition of later date. The same 
 change was made in many other churches of that 
 period. The builders of the early Norman period did 
 not venture to erect a vault over so large a space ; we 
 do not find any early vault over a space above twenty 
 feet wide, and few of so wide a span. Many of our 
 Norman cathedrals still have timber roofs over the 
 large spaces, and the aisles vaulted. In Normandy 
 vaults were more frequently used than in England, 
 even at this early period ; and this was still more the 
 case in subsequent times, for the fine open timber roofs 
 for which some parts of England are distinguished are 
 unknown in Normandy, where almost every village 
 church is vaulted over. 
 
 Here it may be well to mention, that down to the 
 early Norman period the eastern limb of a cruciform 
 church, or the chancel of a plain oblong plan, was 
 always short, rarely more than a single square, or at 
 the utmost two squares, in length, and was frequently 
 terminated by a round east end called an apse. Im- 
 mediately after this period the custom of lengthening 
 the eastern limb of the church became so general, that 
 the original dimensions have been almost lost sight of. 
 The history of nearly every one of our cathedrals gives 
 the same result : first, the choir was lengthened by the 
 
THE N0RMA.N PERIOD. 
 
 39 
 
 addition of a presby- 
 tery, and afterwards 
 still further by adding 
 a lady- chapel, which 
 did not come into fa- 
 shion until quite the 
 end of the twelfth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Gervase and William 
 of Malmesbury have 
 furnished us, as we 
 have seen, with a clue 
 by which to distin- 
 guish the work of the 
 early Norman period 
 from that of a later 
 age, namely, wide- 
 jointed masonry, and 
 shallow sculpture exe- 
 cuted chiefly with the 
 axe instead of the 
 chisel. The best and 
 safest test is the wide- 
 jointed masonry, where 
 it is found; but in 
 some cases the joints 
 
 Ground-plan of Cassington Church. 
 
40 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 can hardly bo said to be either wide or fine; they 
 are of a moderate width, and not of marked cha- 
 racter either way. 
 
 The arch is generally at first not recessed at all, 
 afterwards only once recessed, and the edges are either 
 square, or have a plain round molding cut upon them ; 
 the zigzag ornament is used, but not so, abundantly as 
 at a later period ; the dripstone is frequently orna- 
 mented with what is called the hatched molding ; the 
 billet is also used, hut sparingly, and perhaps not 
 before 1100; it is found in the early parts of Peter- 
 borough, but not in the later parts. The head of the 
 door is generally square with a round arch over it, and 
 the intermediate space under the arch, called the tym- 
 panum, is either left plain, or ornamented with shallow 
 sculpture of rude character, sometimes preserved from 
 an earlier building. 
 
 Kich Doorways form one of the most important 
 features of late Norman work. The examples given 
 from Cuddesdon and Middleton Stoney are good or- 
 dinary specimens, such as may be found in scores 
 of parish churches. They are generally round-headed, 
 very deeply recessed, and frequently have shafts in 
 the jambs. The tympanum is frequently filled with 
 rich sculpture, which becomes deeper and better exe- 
 cuted as the style advances. The moldings are 
 numerous, but not of much variety in section, con- 
 
Cuddesdon, Oxon, c. A.D 1160. Middleton Stoney, Oxon, c. A.D. 1160 
 
 NORMAN DCORFAYS. 
 
42 
 
 THE NOEMAN PEBIOD. 
 
 sisting chiefly of round and quarter-round members, 
 but all preserving a general square outline. These 
 moldings, however, as well as the jambs and shafts, 
 are frequently entirely overlaid with ornament, which, 
 though of a peculiar and somewhat rude character, pro- 
 duces great richness of effect; and few features of 
 churches are more generally admired than these rich 
 Norman doorways, which are very abundant in many 
 parts of the country, quite as much so as in Nor- 
 mandy itself. The examples in England are quite 
 as fine and as numerous in proportion as in Nor- 
 mandy ; and these doorways were so much admired 
 for their rich character, that they have often been 
 preserved when the church has been rebuilt, perhaps 
 several times. The doorways of Iffiey Church are 
 among the richest that we have anywhere ; not only 
 the very fine one at the west end, but the north and 
 south doors. 
 
 Nobman Windows are in general long and rather nar- 
 row round-headed openings, but sometimes of two lights 
 divided by a shaft, included under one arch, more espe- 
 cially in belfries ; in rich buildings they are frequently 
 ornamented in the same manner as the doorways, with 
 recessed arches, zig-zag and other moldings, as at 
 Iffiey, Oxfordshire, and sometimes with sculpture; 
 other examples have shafts in the jambs carrying the 
 
NOBMAN WINDOWS, 
 
 43 
 
44 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 arch-moldings, and others are quite plain. 
 Rising, Norfolk, is 
 a very rich late ex- 
 ample, with inter- 
 secting arcades on 
 each side, ornament- 
 ed chiefly with the 
 lozenge molding. 
 
 In Romsey Abbey, 
 
 Hampshire, Walt- 
 ham Abbey, Essex, 
 
 Christ Church Ca- 
 thedral, Oxford, and 
 very many other ex- 
 amples, the clere- 
 story window has 
 a smaller blind arch 
 each side of it, 
 
 At Castle 
 
 on 
 
 making a triple o- 
 
 St. John, Devizes, c. A.D. 1160. 
 
 pening within to a 
 single window ; and the shafts of this triple opening 
 are made to carry small shafts to the upper arches. 
 This is a common arrangement of Norman clerestory 
 windows : at St. Stephen’s, Caen, there is only one sub- 
 arch to each light instead of two, but this arises from 
 the arrangement of the sexpartite vaulting. 
 
NOEMAN WINDOWS. 45 
 
 The fine circular windows with wheel-like divisions 
 belong to this period : Barfreston, in Kent, is a good ex- 
 ample. St. James, 
 
 Bristol, is a singu- 
 lar one, the effect 
 of which is rich 
 and good. There 
 was frequently one 
 in the centre of 
 the west front, 
 which was called 
 the oculus, or eye 
 of the building. 
 
 These large round 
 windows are much 
 more common ou 
 
 the Continent than 
 
 . .. T St. James, Bristol, 
 
 m England. In 
 
 Italy there are many fine examples, as at Toscanella, 
 Perugia, and Assisi. The Prench also appear to have 
 always had a particular fondness for this kind of win- 
 dow, which in the later styles becomes the magnificent 
 rose-window, so often the glory of the French churches. 
 
 Norman windows are far less common than the door- 
 ways, having frequently been destroyed to make room 
 for those of later styles ; probably for the purpose of 
 introducing the painted glass of those periods, which 
 
4G 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 did not suit well with the early windows. Small 
 circular openings are 
 also a common feature, 
 as in the clerestory of 
 Southwell Minster. The 
 zigzag molding is fre- 
 quently used in the 
 arches of windows, as 
 at St. John’s, Devizes, 
 p. 44 ; occasionally, but 
 not so frequently, this 
 ornament is also carried 
 down the jambs, as at 
 Iffley. Windows of two 
 lights divided by a mul- 
 lion were not introduced 
 until after the Norman 
 period. The walls being 
 generally very thick, 
 the opening is small and narrow on the outside of the 
 wall, and is very widely splayed to admit more light 
 so that while the glass is less than a foot wide, the 
 opening of the splay on the inner side of the wall 
 is three feet wide. 
 
 , Oxon, c. A.D. 
 
NORMAN ARCHES. 
 
 47 
 
 The Arches are generally round-headed: in early 
 work they are plain and square-edged, with or without 
 a recess at the angle ; sometimes doubly recessed, and 
 still square-edged, as in the early work at "Westminster, 
 p. 11, the White Tower, London, and the transept 
 of Winchester, p. 27 ; sometimes molded, with plain 
 round moldings. In the later period they are more 
 richly molded than in the early part of the style : the 
 chancel-arch especially is very much enriched ; and 
 the western side, facing the spectator when looking 
 towards the altar, is generally much more orna- 
 mented than the eastern side. The chancel-arch at 
 Iffley is one of the richest and best examples : where 
 there is a central tower, as in that instance, both the 
 tower- arches across the church are usually ornamented 
 in the same manner; the side-arches, where there 
 are transepts, are frequently much plainer, and often 
 pointed. In the later part of the Norman style, with- 
 out any other change, they are still quite plain and 
 square-edged. In this manner the pointed arch occurs 
 quite as early as 1150, or even earlier; at a later 
 period they become much more common, and are gra- 
 dually developed into the Early English style, which 
 some call the “first pointed style;” but the pointed 
 arch alone does not make a change of style. 
 
48 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 The small Arcades which are frequently used as 
 decorations of the walls, and for sedilia, haye scarcely 
 any separate character; they are diminutives of the 
 larger arches, except that the shafts are smaller and 
 shorter in proportion : in rich work they are used both 
 inside and outside of the walls, and frequently on the 
 outside of the clerestory, as well as on the inside in 
 front of the blind-story, now called the triforium. 
 Intersecting arches occur in these arcades from a very 
 early period ; and Rickman observes, that whoever 
 constructed them, constructed pointed arches ; and he 
 adds, “It appears as if the round and pointed arches 
 were for nearly a century used indiscriminately, as 
 was most consonant to the necessities of the work, or 
 the builder’s ideas.” At Canterbury, an ornamental 
 arcade of intersecting arches occurs both on the inside 
 and outside of the wall in St. Anselm’s tower. 
 
 In the apse in the White Tower the arches are 
 stilted to accommodate them to their position. The 
 arches of the triforium are generally wide and low; 
 sometimes they are divided by two sub-arches. 
 
 The form of the arch was at all periods dictated 
 partly by convenience, and is not to be relied on as 
 a guide to the date or style ; but there was a prevail- 
 ing fashion, and that form was usually followed at 
 each period, unless there was some reason for changing 
 it, which is generally obvious if we look for it. To 
 
Triforium Arcade, Peterborough Cathedral, A.D. 1148. 
 
 This is the earliest example known of what is called Plate-tracery ; this was soon 
 followed by Bar-tracery in windows. 
 
 NORMAN ARCHES. 
 
50 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 judge of the age of any building we must look at the 
 general character of the work, and not seize upon 
 some particular feature to ground any rule upon. The 
 moldings are generally the safest guide, but even 
 these sometimes require to be qualified by comparison 
 with other parts. 
 
 The work is frequently quite as massive, and in 
 all other respects of as early character, with the 
 pointed arch as with the round one; they occur in 
 Malmesbury Abbey Church, apparently in the work of 
 Roger, bishop of Salisbury, a.d. 1115 — 1139, without 
 any other apparent difference of character from the rest 
 of the work. The pointed arch, taken by itself, is 
 therefore no proof of the change of style, nor even of 
 late work. 
 
 St. Cross Church, near Winchester, founded by 
 Henry de Blois in 1136, has pointed arches; and the 
 triforium has intersecting arcades, with the intervals 
 left open as windows. To these may be added, Foun- 
 tains Abbey, Yorkshire, founded in 1132: pointed 
 arches occur in the early part of the work, which is of 
 pure Norman character, and appears to have been built 
 before the fire in 1140; — and Kirkstall Abbey, built 
 between 1152 and 1182; here the work is of later 
 character, but still pure Norman. All these are pre- 
 vious to the period of transition, and have not transi- 
 tional moldings. 
 
NORMAN PIERS. 
 
 51 
 
 The Piers in the earlier period are either square 
 solid masses of masonry, or recessed at the angles, in 
 the same maimer as the arches, or they are plain round 
 massive pillars, with frequently only an impost of very 
 simple character, but often with capitals. The round 
 pillars are sometimes ornamented with a kind of fluting, 
 as in the crypt at Canterbury, sometimes with a rude 
 and shallow zig-zag pattern, as at Waltham Abbey, 
 Durham, and Lindisfarne. 
 
 In the later period the pillars are in general not 
 so massive as in the early part of the style, and are 
 frequently ornamented with small shafts; and these 
 as well as the pillars are sometimes banded, as at 
 St. Peter’s, Northampton. 
 
 The Capitals in early work are either plain cubical 
 masses with the lower angles rounded off, forming a 
 sort of rude cushion shape, as at Winchester, or they 
 have a sort of rude volute, apparently in imitation of 
 the Ionic, cut upon the angles; and in the centre of 
 each face a plain square block in the form of the Tau 
 cross is left projecting, as if to be afterwards carved: 
 this remarkable feature is found in the chapel of the 
 White Tower, London, in the early part of the crypt 
 at Canterbury, at St. Nicholas, Caen, and other early 
 work, but it has never been observed in late work. 
 
52 
 
 l’HE NORM AIT PERIOD. 
 
 The scolloped capital belongs to rather a later period 
 than the plain cushion or the rude Ionic, and does not 
 occur before the time of Henry I. ; as at Stourbridge, 
 Malmesbury, and Kirkstall. This form of capital was 
 perhaps the most common of all in the first half of the 
 twelfth century, and continued in use to the end of 
 the Norman style. 
 
 The capitals were frequently carved at a period sub- 
 sequent to their erection, as in the crypt at Canterbury 
 (p. 37), where some of the capitals are finished, others 
 half-finished, with two sides blank, and others not 
 carved at all. In the early work at Westminster 
 (p. 13), before mentioned, this is equally evident. At 
 Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, is the jamb of a 
 Norman doorway with the pattern for the sculptor 
 scratched upon it with the chisel, but never executed. 
 
 In later Norman work the capitals are frequently 
 ornamented with foliage, animals, groups of figures, &c., 
 in endless variety. The abacus throughout the style 
 is the most characteristic member, and will frequently 
 distinguish a Norman capital when other parts are 
 doubtful. Its section is a square with the lower part 
 chamfered off, either by a plain line or a slight curve • 
 but as the style advanced it had other moldings added, 
 and the whole are frequently so overlaid with ornament 
 that it is difficult to distinguish the section (or profile) 
 of its moldings. 
 
ITORMAN CAPITALS. 
 
54 
 
 THE W0KMA5 PK1U0D. 
 
 The Bases are at first very simple, consisting merely 
 of a quarter -round molding; then of two quarter- 
 rounds, or two and a chamfer ; or else of a round, or 
 a chamfer and a quarter-round : as the style advanced 
 they became more enriched, and the number of mem- 
 bers more numerous: the earlier examples resemble 
 the Tuscan, the later appear to be imitated from the 
 
 Canterbury Cathedral. stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire. 
 
 Attic base. They always follow the form of the shaft 
 or pillar, and stand upon a square pedestal or plinth ; 
 the angles of this square plinth being frequently filled 
 up with some ornament, called foot-ornaments, or base 
 ornaments : these increase in richness and boldness as 
 the style advances, and their use was continued for 
 some time in the subsequent style. 
 
NORMAN NICHES. 
 
 55 
 
 The Niches, or Tabernacles, are small shallow 
 recesses with round arches, frequently much enriched ; 
 they are chiefly placed over the doorways, and gene- 
 rally retain the fig- 
 ures which they were 
 constructed to re- 
 ceive. These figures 
 being executed in 
 low relief upon the 
 surface of the stone, 
 were less liable to 
 injury than the fig- 
 ures of the later 
 styles, which are 
 carved on separate 
 stones and inserted. 
 
 The most usual figure 
 is that of Christ, dis- 
 tinguished by the 
 cruciform nimbus. 
 
 At Dorchester we 
 . „ _ , . , , Niche with the Figure, Dorchester, Oxon. 
 
 have St. Peter with 
 
 the key, under a semicircular arch, resting on cushion- 
 capitals to twisted shafts, with molded bases. This 
 example is from the font. The sculpture is at first 
 very shallow, but becomes deeper as the style advances. 
 
56 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Tiie Moldings have been already mentioned in de- 
 scribing the doorways, where they are most abundantly 
 used ; they are, however, freely employed on all other 
 arches, whether the pier-arches, or over windows, wall 
 arcades, &c., and frequently also as horizontal strings 
 or tablets. One of the most usual and characteristic 
 Norman strings exactly resembles the abacus of the ca- 
 pital, or the impost of the pier, with a hollow chamfer 
 under it; another is merely chamfered off above and 
 below, forming 
 a semi -hexag- 
 onal projection. 
 
 Norman or- 
 naments are of 
 endless variety; 
 the most com- 
 mon is the Norman Chamfer, 
 
 chevron, or zig-zag, and this is used more and more 
 abundantly as 
 the work gets 
 later; it is found 
 at all periods, 
 even in Roman 
 
 work of the 
 . . . , , Chevron, or zig-zag, with Beads, 
 
 third century, 
 
 and probably earlier, but in all early work it is used 
 
NORMAN MOLDINGS. 
 
 57 
 
 sparingly, and the profusion with which it is used in 
 late work is one of the 
 
 The Star. 
 
 most ready marks by 
 which to distinguish that 
 the work is late. The 
 sunk star is a very favour- 
 ite ornament throughout 
 the style ; it occurs on the abacus of the capitals in 
 the chapel of the 
 White Tower, Lon- 
 don, and at Her- 
 ringfleet, Suffolk, 
 and it seems to 
 have been the fore- 
 runner of the tooth- 
 ornament. Thebil- The Billet, 
 
 let is used in the early part of Peterborough, but dis- 
 continued in the later work, and does not often occur 
 in late work. 
 
 It is some- 
 times square, 
 more frequent- 
 ly rounded, as 
 in this exam- 
 ple. The beak- " ^ BUlet and Lozeng0> 
 
 head, the cat’s-head, the small medallions with figures, 
 
58 
 
 THE NOBMAH PERIOD. 
 
 and the signs of the zodiac, all belong to the later 
 Norman period. In the later Norman moldings a mix- 
 ture of Byzantine character is seen on the ornaments, 
 as at Durham. 
 
 Sculptured 
 o rname nt 
 made great 
 progress dur- 
 ing the twelfth 
 century. We Abacus and String, 
 
 have seen by 
 
 the testimony of Gervase that the chisel was not used 
 in the “ glorious choir of Conrad ” at Canterbury, which 
 was built between 1096 and 1130, and an examination 
 of the old work proves the exactness of his state- 
 ment; all the sculptured ornament on the old work 
 is shallow, and such as could very well be executed 
 with the axe, which is not a bad tool in the hands 
 of a skilful workman, and is still commonly used in 
 many parts of England and France. On comparing 
 this early work at Canterbury with other early Nor- 
 man buildings, it is plain that they all had their 
 ornaments executed in the same manner: the chisel 
 is only required for deep-cutting and especially under- 
 cutting, and that we do not find on any buildings 
 of ascertained date before 1120. The chisel was used 
 
NORMAN MOLDINGS. 
 
 59 
 
 for carving in stone in Italy and the south of Prance 
 at an earlier period, but not in Normandy nor the 
 north of Prance much earlier than in England. After 
 this usage was introduced, the workmen seem to have 
 gloried in it, and revelled in it, and the profusion of 
 rich Norman sculptured ornament in the latter half 
 of the twelfth century is quite wonderful. 
 
 It has been observed, that in the sculpture of the 
 period of the late Norman style there is frequently 
 a certain mixture of the Byzantine Greek character, 
 brought home from the east by the Crusaders, who had 
 returned. This is also one of the characteristics of the 
 period of Transition. 
 
 MOLDINGS AND CAPITALS. 
 
 Brockworth, Gloucestershire. Capital, Stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire. 
 
60 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 The Corbel-tables are at first very plain, consisting 
 merely of square blocks at intervals, carrying the beam 
 on flat stones which sup- 
 port the roof, or with 
 small arcs between them, 
 or merely rude triangles, 
 like the Anglo - Saxon 
 arches ; and these are 
 sometimes continued in 
 late work, as at Iffley, 
 but in general, in late 
 work the corbels are 
 carved, and the small arcs more or less enriched. The 
 buttresses are usually flat and plain in early examples, 
 but have moldings on the angles in late examples. 
 
 Corbel-tables under the eaves of the roof are very 
 abundant in late Norman and Transitional work, and 
 are often proof that the walls are Norman, when this 
 is not otherwise evident, later windows having been 
 inserted. They are frequently square blocks of stone 
 only, as if intended to be carved subsequently, when 
 convenient, and this has never been done ; more 
 usually they are heads, or grotesque masks, as at 
 Eomsey. 
 
they may both be classed as Transitional. 
 
 THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
62 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 The earliest Norman Vaults are quite plain, and 
 of the barrel form, as in the chapel of the White Tower, 
 London. In the next stage they have flat transverse 
 arches only; they are then groined, but still without 
 ribs: these plain groined vaults without ribs, over 
 aisles or other narrow spaces, are often contempora- 
 neous with the barrel vaults, and generally belong to 
 the latter half of the eleventh century, or the begin- 
 ning of the twelfth, as at Sherborne Castle, built by 
 Eoger, bishop of Salisbury, a.d. 1115 — 1139; at a 
 later period ribs are introduced, at first square, then 
 plain half-rounds, then molded, as in Peterborough Ca- 
 thedral, a.d. 1117 — 1143, and they gradually change 
 their form until they almost imperceptibly assume the 
 character of Early English work. 
 
 The Norman architects did not venture to throw 
 a vault over a wide space until very near the end of 
 the style, and various contrivances were necessary for 
 vaulting over spaces of unequal width, such as stilted 
 arches, and horse-shoe arches, before the difficulty was 
 solved by the use of the pointed arch. The absence of 
 vaults over a wide space is a proof that the Norman 
 was not a continuation of Roman work, as is sometimes 
 assumed, but that there was always an interval of at 
 least a century in which there were no masons. 
 
NORMAN TT7BEETS. 
 
 63 
 
 Early Horman Turrets are very rarely to be met 
 with, but there are good examples at St. Alban’s ; 
 at a later period they are frequent as stair-turrets, 
 but have generally lost the original roof or capping; 
 sometimes, as at Iffley, 
 and Christchurch, Hamp- 
 shire, they die into the 
 tower below the corbel- 
 table ; in other instances, 
 as at Bishop’s Cleeve 
 and Bredon, they are 
 carried up above the 
 parapet and terminate 
 in pinnacles; they are 
 sometimes round and 
 sometimes square. 
 
 At St. Cross, Winches- 
 ter, there is a remarka- 
 ble example, something 
 between a turret and 
 a large square pinnacle, 
 rising from the top of 
 
 the side wall to the St. Cross, ’Winchester, 
 
 level of the front of the gables, and even above it. 
 
64 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Norman Central Towers are very low and massive, 
 seldom rising more than a square above the roof, some- 
 times not so much, the ridge of the original roof, as 
 shewn by the weather-table on the face of the tower, 
 being only just below the parapet. These towers were 
 intended to be, and without doubt originally were, 
 covered by low wooden pyramidal roofs, resembling in 
 appearance those which we find in some parts of Nor- 
 mandy of the same period, there executed in stone, on 
 account of the abundance of the material, the facility 
 with which it is worked, and the skill of the workmen. 
 
 "When the towers are not placed over the centre of 
 the church, but at the west end, it is remarkable that 
 the later Norman towers are more massive and not so 
 lofty as the early ones, as at Lincoln, Jarrow, &c., 
 already described. They are comparatively low and 
 heavy, sometimes diminishing by stages, and having 
 buttresses of little projection on the lower parts. The 
 belfry, or upper storey, has frequently been added 
 in late Norman times upon the earlier towers. The 
 belfry windows are generally double, and divided by 
 a shaft. Towers of the pre-Norman period are gene- 
 rally remarkably tall, as at Deerhurst, one of the best 
 dated examples. 
 
NORMAN ROUND TOWERS. 
 
 65 
 
 The Bound Towers which are so abundant in Nor- 
 folk and Suffolk are frequently of the Norman period ; 
 some may he earlier, and others 
 are certainly later ; they are often 
 so entirely devoid of all ornament 
 or character, that it is impossible 
 to say to what age they belong. 
 
 The towers themselves are com- 
 monly, but not always, built of 
 flint, sometimes of rough stone 
 rubble, and are built round to suit 
 the material, and to save the ex- 
 pense of the cut stone quoins for 
 the corners which are necessary 
 for square towers, and which 
 often may not have been easy to 
 procure in districts where build- 
 ing-stone has all to be imported. 
 
 The same cause accounts for the 
 frequent and long-continued use 
 in the same districts of flat bricks 
 tiles for turning the arches 
 
 or 
 
 Norman Round Tourer, 
 Norwich. 
 
 over the doors and windows, 
 which are either of Boman ma- 
 nufacture, or an imitation of the same form. Some 
 good authorities think that the Boman form of flat 
 bricks or tiles was long imitated in England. 
 
66 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 The Buttresses of this style were at first merely flat 
 projections wholly devoid of or- 
 nament, and these are sometimes 
 continued in late work; but in 
 general, in late work there is 
 a recess at the angle, in which 
 a small shaft is inserted ; the 
 strings are sometimes continued 
 round the buttresses and some- 
 times stop short at them, but in 
 the latter case the buttresses 
 have generally been added to 
 strengthen the wall after it was 
 erected, and are not part of the 
 original work. In late Norman 
 buildings the buttresses are some- 
 times square, and consequently 
 have a much greater projection 
 than the early flat buttresses. 
 
 These square buttresses also have 
 the moldings or shafts at the 
 angles that the flat buttresses 
 have not; an early Norman buttress never goes higher 
 than the ground-floor, even when it is against a tower ; 
 at an angle, a flat buttress is placed on each side, 
 nearly close to it. 
 
 Flat Norman Buttress. 
 
THE NORM AH PERIOD. 
 
 67 
 
 Norman Porches have in general very little projec- 
 tion, sometimes only a few inches, but the thickness of 
 the wall allows the doorways to be deeply recessed; 
 they are sometimes terminated by a gable, or pedi- 
 ment, as at St. Margaret- at- Cliffe, Kent, where the pro- 
 jection is so slight that it may be called either a door- 
 way with a pediment oyer it, or a shallow porch. More 
 frequently the projection ends in a plain set-off, in which 
 case the appearance is that of a doorway set in a broad 
 flat buttress. There are, however, a few porches which 
 have as great a projection as those of the succeeding 
 styles, and the sides of these are usually ornamented 
 with arcades : the outer archway is of the same cha- 
 racter as other doorways. At Sherborne and at 
 Southwell Minster there are good examples of these 
 porches. 
 
 Put the square east end is the usual characteristic 
 of the Anglo-Norman style ; the apse is compara- 
 tively a rare feature in England. In the diocese 
 of Laon in the north of France, the cathedral and 
 a large number of the churches have square east ends, 
 under the influence of an English bishop, who was 
 a leading man there in the early part of the twelfth 
 century. The small parish church of Cassington, 
 Oxon, has a Norman chancel with a Norman vault 
 also. At Iffley the original chancel was like that of 
 
68 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Cassington — one square bay , ano- 
 ther bay eastward of this is of the 
 Early English style ; both bays are 
 vaulted. At Cassington, the whole 
 of the walls of the church are 
 Norman, and the lower part of the 
 tower, but the belfry -storey and 
 the spire are of the Decorated style. 
 
 The thick abacus shews this corbel 
 
 to be of quite early Norman cha- Norman Corbel, 
 
 Cassington. 
 
 racter^ 
 
 The Eronts, particularly the west fronts of Norman 
 churches, are frequently of very fine composition, having 
 generally deeply-recessed doorways, windows, and ar- 
 cades, all covered with a profusion of ornament in the 
 later period, as at Iffley, and at Nun-Monkton, p. 73. 
 
 The Apse has been already mentioned as a cha- 
 racteristic of the Norman style. In England it is more 
 frequently used in early than in late work, and is found 
 at the east ends of the chancel and its aisles, and on the 
 east side of the transepts; being, in fact, the places 
 for altars, which were afterwards continued in the same 
 situations, but either merely under windows in a flat 
 wall, or under arched recesses which frequently remain 
 in the transept wall, and are sometimes erroneously de- 
 scribed as doorways. 
 
THE NORMAN PERIOD, 
 
 69 
 
 Cassington, Oson. 
 
 This is a small parish church, with a Norman chancel vaulted, remaining 
 perfect; the walls of the nave are also Norman. The spire is an addition, 
 in the Decorated style of the fourteenth century. (See the plan of this 
 church at p. 39.) 
 
70 
 
 PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 The custom which has been mentioned of length- 
 ening the churches eastwards, which commenced in 
 the latter half of the twelfth century, was carried on 
 vigorously in the thirteenth. 
 
 At Romsey there is an apse at the end of each of 
 the aisles, not in the large central part. 
 
 Interior of a Norman Apse, Romsey Abbey, Hants, c. A.D. 1160. 
 
PERIOD OF TRANSITION, A.D. 1160 — 1195. 71 
 
 We have seen that during the half-century which 
 intervened between 1125 and 1175 an immense nunK 
 her of churches were built or rebuilt in England, and 
 that the art of building consequently made rapid pro- 
 gress, the work becoming every year better executed, 
 more highly finished, and of lighter character, it being 
 one of the characteristics of a good workman not to 
 waste his material. In the early Norman period the 
 masonry was very bad, and, to make the work secure, 
 great masses of material were used ; but at the period 
 to which we have now arrived the masonry is as good 
 as at any subsequent period, and the workmen were 
 fast discovering the various modes of economizing their 
 material. This practice, in combination with other 
 causes, tended greatly to introduce the change of style, 
 and to facilitate its ready and rapid adoption, in the 
 generality of cases, when introduced. The custom of 
 vaulting over large spaces, which was now being com- 
 monly adopted, and the difficulty of vaulting over 
 spaces of unequal span, also without doubt contributed 
 largely to the use of the pointed arch. 
 
 The capitals of the period are also very character- 
 istic, and the gradual change may be clearly traced; 
 at first the abacus - molding is very wide, and fre- 
 quently only chamfered ; a little later it is molded 
 
72 
 
 PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 The church of Nun-Monk- 
 ton, in Yorkshire, is a very- 
 curious and fine example of 
 this great period of Transition; 
 the details are very boldly and 
 well executed. The rich door- 
 way by itself would be late 
 Norman, whereas the niches 
 on each side of it, and the 
 three lancet -windows in the 
 west front, are quite Early 
 English. The square but- 
 tresses at the angles are late 
 Norman, and the small square 
 tower on the point of the gable 
 has Norman corbel-tables. The 
 heads of the windows in the 
 tower are of the form some- 
 times called the shouldered- 
 arch. The capitals of the 
 window-shafts are a singular 
 mixture of the two styles; the 
 capital itself is well - molded 
 Early English, and there is a 
 hollow molding by the side of 
 the shaft, with the tooth-orna- 
 ment. 
 
 Capital of 'Window-shaft. 
 
 Base of Niche-shaft. 
 
 Nun-Monkton, Yorkshire. 
 
74 
 
 PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 In the work at Fountains Abbey already mentioned, 
 the aisles are vaulted, and the width of the aisle being 
 greater than the space between the pillars, it follows 
 that each compartment, or bay, of the vault was not 
 square, but oblong ; the greater length being across the 
 aisle, where we have the semicircular arch or arch-ribs 
 to carry the vault, the narrower space being from pillar 
 to pillar towards the choir : we have there the pointed 
 arch, and thus we have a succession of semicircular 
 arches down the length of the aisle, and a range of 
 pointed arches towards the choir : and the same on 
 each side. But although this may account for the use 
 of the pointed arch, it is still quite distinct from the 
 Gothic style ; we have it at Fountains in pure Norman 
 work half-a-century before we have the same arrange- 
 ment again at Canterbury, in the work of William of 
 Sens after the fire. Here, however, we have not only 
 the pointed arch, but it is accompanied by a general 
 change of style, — all the accessories are undergoing 
 a rapid change. The moldings, the ornaments, the 
 sculpture, and all other details are of a more highly 
 finished and a lighter style. The triforium-arcade of 
 Canterbury Cathedral is an excellent example, with 
 the arches pointed and recessed, abacus well-molded, 
 and foliage in the capitals. 
 
 Canterbury, as has been pointed out, is the earliest 
 
PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 75 
 
 Triforium Arcade, Canterbury Cathedral, A.D. 1178. 
 
 In this example the general arch is semicircular, while the two sub- 
 arches under it are pointed, recessed, and square-edged, resting on coupled 
 shafts with capitals of foliage, and molded bases on square plinths. 
 
76 
 
 PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 and the best-authenticated example of the change of 
 style in England which we possess, and it enables us 
 to fix a precise date to this great change ; it serves as 
 a type for very many others which were being carried 
 on simultaneously, or soon after. The contrast drawn 
 by Gervase between the old church and the new one 
 has been already quoted in describing the earlier Nor- 
 man work, and need not here be repeated. It will be 
 sufficient to say that the masonry and the sculpture in 
 the new work are both excellent, and that the peculiar 
 ornament known by the name of the ‘tooth -ornament ’ 
 occurs abundantly in the new work: the moldings, 
 especially of the bases, are almost of pure Early Eng- 
 lish character. 
 
 The hall of Oakham Castle, Rutlandshire, built by 
 "Walkelin de Eerrers, between 1165 and 1191, is an ex- 
 cellent specimen of transitional work. It retains a 
 great deal of the Norman character, but late and rich : 
 the capitals are very similar to some of those at Canter- 
 bury, a«nd more like French work than the usual Eng- 
 lish character ; the tooth-ornament is freely introduced ; 
 the windows are round-headed within and pointed with- 
 out, with good shafts in the j ambs, and the tooth-orna- 
 ment down each side of the shafts. 
 
 The triforium - arcade of St. Mary’s, Shrewsbury, 
 is also an excellent example; the arches are pointed, 
 
PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 77 
 
 but square-edged only, and in the spandrel between 
 the two lower arches is pierced with an open qua- 
 trefoil ; it is al- 
 so square -edged 
 only, while the 
 capitals have _ v : 
 good foliage and , '* ; 
 a square abacus 
 molded. 
 
 St. Erideswide 
 Church, now 
 Christ Church 
 Cathedral, Ox- 
 ford, is a fine 
 example of late 
 Norman and 
 transitional work 
 of early charac- 
 ter. It was con- 
 secrated in 1180, 
 and was proba- 
 bly building for 
 about twenty 
 
 years previously : the confirmation, by Pope Hadrian 
 IV. (Breakspeare, the only English Pope), of the 
 charters granting the Saxon monastery of St. Erides- 
 
 St. Mary’s, Shrewsbury, c. A.D. 1180. 
 
78 
 
 PERIOD OP TRANSITION. 
 
 ■wide to the Norman monks was not obtained until 
 1158, and it is not probable that they began to rebuild 
 their church until their property was secured. The 
 Prior at this period was Robert of Cricklade, called 
 Canutus, a man of considerable eminence, some of whose 
 writings were in existence in the time of Leland. 
 Under his superintendence the church was entirely 
 rebuilt from the foundations, and without doubt on j 
 a larger scale than before, as the Saxon church does Jj 
 not appear to have been destroyed until this period, j 
 The design of the present structure is very remarkable ; 
 the lofty arched recesses, which are carried up over the if 
 actual arches and the triforium, giving the idea of I 
 a subsequent work carried over the older work ; but an 
 examination of the construction shews that this is not 
 the case, that it was all built at one time, and that j 
 none of it is earlier than about 1160. In this church, 
 the central tower is not square, the nave and choir 
 being wider than the transepts, and consequently the 
 east and west arches are round-headed, while the 
 north and south are pointed: this would not in itself ' 
 be any proof of transition, but the whole character 
 of the work is late, though very rich and good, and 
 the clerestory windows of the nave are pointed with- 
 out any necessity for it, which is then a mark of 
 transition. 
 
PERIOD OF TRANSITION, 
 
 79 
 
80 
 
 PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 
 
 Precisely the same design occurs in a part of Hornsey 
 Abbey Church, Hampshire, and very similar ones may 
 be seen in other places : lofty arched recesses occur in 
 Dunstable Priory Church, Bedfordshire, where Perpen- 
 dicular windows have been inserted in the triforium, 
 but the original design was the same. 
 
 The same mixture of the features that usually belong 
 either to the Norman or to the Early English occur in 
 all the details of the moldings, as at Canterbury, where 
 we have the tooth-ornament of the Early English and 
 the chevron or zigzag of the Norman style curiously 
 mixed together. At Cuddesdon, again, in the molding 
 of the fine west doorway, the same mixture occurs ; the 
 dripstone is the Early English round molding; then 
 comes the chevron, standing out so boldly detached, 
 that it almost becomes the tooth- ornament ; and under 
 that, on a smaller scale, the actual tooth -ornament 
 occurs. The capital from St. Thomas’ Church, 'Win- 
 chester, is equally curious ; the abacus of a circular 
 capital is, in fact, square-edged, with a round molding 
 under it; and the foliage against the bell of the ca- 
 pital has the leaves curling over in the Early English 
 fashion. 
 
PERIOD OE TRANSITION, 
 
 81 
 
 Moldings, Canterbury Cathedral, A.D. 1167. 
 
 These are good examples of the mixture of the chevron or zigzag with the 
 tooth-ornament, not quite developed. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 TERIOD OF TRANSITION, 
 
 Examples of Domestic buildings of the houses of 
 the twelfth century, in the Norman style, are rare, 
 but we have still several remaining. At Lincoln there 
 are two ; one, on the hill, called the Jew's House, the 
 other, in the lower town, was the house of St. Mary’s 
 Guild ; and at Boothby Pagnel, in Lincolnshire, is a 
 manor-house of this style : at Southampton are ruins 
 of two houses, one called the King’s House, formerly 
 the custom-house, the other in a low part of the town, 
 attached to the remains of the town wall ; at Minster, 
 in the aisle of Thanet, and at the Priory of Christchurch, 
 in Hampshire, are houses which have belonged to mo- 
 nastic establishments; at 'Warnford, in the same coun- 
 ty, are the foundations of a hall of this period ; and in 
 Earnham Castle, also in Hampshire, part of the great 
 Norman hall remains, now converted into the servants’ 
 hall. At Appleton and Sutton Courtney, in Berkshire, 1 
 are remains of manor-houses of this period; at Canter- 
 bury there are considerable remains of the monastic 
 buildings of this century, among which is a fine ex- 
 ternal staircase with open arcades on each side ; at 
 Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, there are extensive re- 
 mains of the domestic buildings of pure Norman style ; 
 at Bury St. Edmund’s, Suffolk, the house called Moyses’ 
 Hall, now used as the Bridewell, was probably the 
 house of a wealthy Jew in the twelfth century. 
 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 Richard I. John. Henry III. a.d. 1189 — 1272. 
 
 The great rapidity with which a decided change in 
 the style and character of the work was taking place 
 at this period, would appear almost incredible if it 
 were not proved by so many instances, and especially 
 by the well-authenticated account of Canterbury. After 
 carefully noticing the great change which took place 
 there during the ten years that the work was in pro- 
 gress, as recorded by Gervase, an eye-witness, and 
 confirmed by Professor Willis, we shall not be much 
 surprised to find some examples of pure Gothic work 
 in the following ten years. 
 
 Canterbury was completed in 1184, and in 1185 St. 
 Hugh of Grenoble, also called St. Hugh of Burgundy, 
 was appointed bishop of Lincoln, and immediately 
 began to rebuild his cathedral. It is therefore plain 
 that this portion of the building was completed before 
 1200, and a careful examination enables us to distin- 
 guish clearly the work completed in the time of Bishop 
 Hugh, which comprises his choir and the eastern tran- 
 sept, with its chapels. The present vaults of St. Hugh’s 
 choir, and of both the transepts, were introduced subse- 
 quent to the fall of the tower, which occurred in 1240. 
 
84 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The architecture in the north of Lincolnshire, and 
 the south of Yorkshire, appears to have been a little 
 in advance of any other in Europe at that period. 
 St. Hugh’s choir at Lincoln is the earliest building 
 of the pure Gothic style, free from any mixture of 
 the Eomanesque, that has been hitherto found in Eu- 
 rope or in the world. The Oriental styles are not 
 Gothic, though they helped to lead to it. The French 
 Gothic has a strong mixture of the Eomanesque with 
 it down to a later period than the choir of Lincoln. 
 St. Hugh of Lincoln certainly did not bring the Gothic 
 style with him from his own country, Dauphiny, or 
 from the Grande Chartreuse where he was educated, 
 for nothing of the kind existed there at that period. 
 Grenoble (the place from which St. Hugh was brought 
 to England) and its neighbourhood was quite half-a- 
 century behind England in the character of its build- 
 ings, in the time of Henry II. of England and of Anjou, 
 in whose time this style was developed. 
 
 Nothing can well exceed the freedom, delicacy, and 
 beauty of this work ; the original arcade, of the time 
 of St. Hugh, is of the same free and beautiful style as 
 the additions of his successors. The foliage of the ca- 
 pitals is exquisitely beautiful, and though distinguished 
 technically by the name of stiff-leaf foliage, because 
 there are stiff stalks to the leaves, rising from the ring 
 
 
St. Hugh's Choir, South Aisle, Lincoln, A.D. 1195. 
 
 This is an unusually perfect example, with the original ornaments, 
 of the earliest building of pure Gothic, free from Romanesque or Norman, 
 
86 
 
 THE EABLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 of the capital, the leaves themselves curl over in the 
 most graceful manner, with a freedom and elegance 
 not exceeded at 
 any period. The 
 moldings are also 
 as bold and as 
 deep as possible, 
 and there is not 
 a vestige of Nor- 
 man character re- 
 maining in any 
 part of the work. 
 
 The crockets ar- 
 ranged vertically 
 one over the other 
 behind the de- 
 tached marble 
 shafts of the pil- 
 lars, are a re- 
 markable and not 
 
 a common fea- 
 
 j. -i • i „ „ Beverley Minster, Yorksliire. 
 
 ture, which seems 
 
 to have been in use for a few years only ; it occurs also 
 in the west front of Wells Cathedral, the work of 
 Bishop Jocelyn, a few years after this at Lincoln ; or 
 perhaps under him, of Hugh de Wells. 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE, 
 
 87 
 
 Possibly the double arcade at Beverley (page 86) 
 originated in 
 the same man- 
 ner as that at 
 Lincoln, in St. 
 
 Hugh’s choir, 
 from the ne- 
 cessity for 
 thickening the 
 wall to make 
 it carry a stone 
 vault, and at 
 the same time, 
 a reluctance to 
 hide the ar- 
 cade in the 
 original wall. 
 
 At Lincoln 
 they are clear- 
 ly of two pe- 
 riods, though 
 still in the 
 same style. At 
 Glasgow Ca- 
 thedral, which 
 has one of the 
 
 ^ / / '' ■ ■ '• \ 
 
 Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, c. A.D. 1230. 
 
 finest crypts in existence, the work was commenced 
 by Bishop Joceline in 1195. 
 
88 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The choir and transepts of Rochester Cathedral were 
 also building soon after this time, and are a very beau- 
 tiful and remarkable example of Early English. The 
 architect was William de Hoo, first sacristan, then 
 prior, and there is some reason to believe that he is 
 the same person as William the young Englishman, 
 who assisted William of Sens after his fall from the 
 scaffold at Canterbury, and completed the work there. 
 A young man at Canterbury in 1185, able to carry on 
 and complete such a work, may very well have become 
 the architect on his own account of the daughter 
 church of Rochester in 1201 — 1227, and there is great 
 resemblance in style between Rochester and the later 
 work at Canterbury. 
 
 The Doorways are generally pointed or trefoiled, 
 but sometimes round-headed, and in small doorways 
 frequently flat-headed, with the angles corbelled in the 
 form called the square-headed trefoil, or the shoul- 
 dered arch. This form of opening is frequently called 
 the Carnarvon arch, from its being so generally used 
 in that castle ; but it is often of earlier date, though 
 it also continued in use for a long period. The rather 
 happy name of the ‘ shouldered arch ’ was given to it ; 
 strictly speaking, it is not an arch at all, and the 
 shouldered lintel, or the corbelled lintel, would per- 
 haps be more correct. 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 89 
 
 The Dean’s Door in the Cloister, Westminster Ahhey, A.D. 1250. 
 
 A very rich and rather late example of this style. 
 
90 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The round-arched doorways may readily be distin- 
 guished by their moldings; they are commonly early 
 in the style, but by no means alwa) r s sc : segmental 
 arches also occur. Trefoil -arches are characteristic of 
 this style. 
 
 The Priest’s Door. Irchester, Northants. 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 91 
 
 The chapel of the Bishop’s Palace at Wells is alto- 
 gether a remarkable example of the latter part of this 
 style ; it was originally built by Bishop Jocelyn in the 
 early part of the thirteenth century, but much altered 
 and partly rebuilt towards the end of it. The west 
 doorway is a very remarkable one, the arch itself being 
 cinquefoiled, with a semicircular dripstone. 
 
 Vest Door and shallow Porch of the Ohapel of the Bishop’s Palace, Wells. 
 
92 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE, 
 
 The Porches are frequently shallow, as m the exam- 
 ple from Wells, p. 91, but there are many fine porches 
 of the usual projection ; these have sometimes very 
 lofty gables, as at Barnack, Northamptonshire. The 
 outer doorways are often much enriched with mold- 
 ings and shafts of great depth, and the walls are orna- 
 mented on the inside with arcades and tracery. 
 
 “ Early English Build- 
 ings are readily distin- 
 guished from those of the 
 Norman period by their 
 comparative lightness, their 
 long, narrow, lancet- 
 shaped, pointed windows, 
 their boldly projecting but- 
 tresses and pinnacles, and 
 the acute pitch of the roof. 
 Internally, we have pointed 
 arches supported on slender 
 and lofty pillars, which are 
 frequently formed of a num- 
 ber of shafts connected at 
 intervals by bands. One of 
 these shafts is frequently 
 carried up to the springing 
 
 Stanton Harcourt, East End, with 
 triple Chancel-window, c. A.D. 1250, 
 
 A good example of the east front 
 of a parish church of the earlier 
 part of this style. 
 
THE EABLY ENGLISH STYLE. 93 
 
 of the roof, where it ramifies in various directions to 
 form the ribs of the vaulting, which have now lost 
 the heaviness of the Norman period and are become 
 light and elegant. The whole character of the build- 
 ing is changed, and instead of the heavy masses and 
 horizontal lines of the Norman style, we have light 
 and graceful forms and vertical lines.” 
 
 The rapidity with which the change of style took 
 place has been pointed out, and the complete character 
 of the change, which was developed as fully in some of 
 the earliest buildings of the new style as in the latest. 
 New ideas and a new life seem to have been given to 
 architecture, and the builders appear to have revelled 
 in it even to exuberance and excess, and it was neces- 
 sary afterwards, in some degree, to soften down and 
 subdue it. At no period has “ the principle of verti- 
 cally” been so completely carried out as in the Early 
 English style, and even in some of the earliest exam- 
 ples of it. 
 
 The characteristic of lancet- windows applies only to 
 the early part of the style, from a.d. 1190 to about 
 a.d. 1220 or 1230, after that time circles in the head 
 of the windows of two or more lights came in, and the 
 circles became foliated by about a.d. 1230, and from 
 that time to 1260 or 1270, when the Decorated style 
 began to come into fashion. 
 
94 
 
 THE EAELY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The Windows in the earlier examples are plain, 
 lancet-shaped, and generally narrow, as at Stanwick 
 and Bakewell ; sometimes they are richly molded 
 within and without, but frequently have nothing but 
 a plain chamfer outside and a wide solay within. 
 
 South-east View of Cowley Church, Oxon. 
 
 Square-headed windows are not at all uncommon in 
 this style, more especially in houses ; they frequently 
 occur also in churches, as in the small church of 
 Cowley, near Oxford. Sometimes, when the central 
 
EARLY ENGLISH WINDOWS. 
 
 95 
 
 Stan-wick, Northants, c. A.D. 1220. 
 
 Bakewell, Derbyshire. 
 
 An unusually narrow lancet-window, with A good example of the hood-mold 
 ?ery wide splay, and coupled shafts in the over the inner arch (or scoinson- 
 
 nner arch. arch). 
 
96 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 opening is square-headed, there is an arch or a drip- 
 stone in the form of an arch over it, with the space 
 or tympanum filled up with ornament, as at Ring- 
 stead, Northants. But this arch over the square head 
 is frequently wanting, and these simple square-headed 
 windows of the thirteenth century, which are very 
 common, especially in castles, are often mistaken for 
 Perpendicular work of the fifteenth. 
 
 In the Early English style we have, in the later 
 examples, tracery in the heads of the windows, but it 
 is almost invariably in the form of circles, either plain 
 or foliated, and is constructed in a different manner 
 from genuine Decorated tracery. At first the windows 
 have merely openings pierced through the solid ma- 
 sonry of the head, the solid portions thus left gradu- 
 ally becoming smaller and the openings larger, until 
 the solid parts are reduced to nearly the same thickness 
 as the mullions ; but they are not molded, and do not 
 form continuations of the mullions until we arrive at 
 real Decorated tracery. This kind of tracery was 
 called by Professor Willis plate tracery; being, in 
 fact, a plate of stone pierced with holes : it is exten- 
 sively used in Early French work. The more usual 
 kind of tracery, as at Winchester and Romsey, is called 
 by Professor Willis bar tracery, to distinguish it from 
 the earlier kind. These terms are so expressive and 
 convenient that they are now generally adopted. 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 97 
 
 ■WINDOWS, 
 
 Romsey Abbey, c. A.D, 1250. St. John's, Winchester, c. A.D. 1260. 
 
 A very rich example, -with beau- 
 ful foliage on the inner arch, and 
 afts to that and to the mullions, 
 
 This belongs to the later division of the 
 style, with foliated circles in the tracery of 
 the window, and shafts to the inner arch. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The Arches are frequently, but not always, acutely 
 pointed, and in the more important buildings are gene- 
 rally richly molded, as in Westminster Abbey, either 
 with or without the tooth-ornament, as the arches at 
 York Minster. It has been already observed that the 
 form of the arch is never a safe guide to the date or 
 style of a building — it depended much more on con- 
 venience than anything else ; the moldings are the 
 most safe guide : for instance, the arches of the nave 
 of Westminster Abbey are of the same form as those of 
 the choir and transepts, yet they were built by Sir 
 Richard Whittington, (better known by the story of 
 his cat), in the fifteenth century, and their mold- 
 ings belong distinctly to that period. In plain parish 
 churches the arches are frequently without moldings, 
 merely recessed and chamfered; the only character 
 being in the capitals and bases, or perhaps in the hood- 
 molds, though these also are sometimes wanting. 
 
 Very acute arches are generally the earliest, but 
 this cannot be relied upon as a rule ; an Early Eng- 
 lish arch is sometimes very flat, being made within an 
 existing Norman one, which was semicircular, owing 
 to some change of plan, as in the Lady Chapel of 
 Oxford Cathedral; and similar examples are not un- 
 common, when the convenience of the construction 
 calls for flat arches. 
 
THE EABLY ENGLISH STYLE 
 
 99 
 
 Wall Arcade in Chapel of Choir, Westminster Ahhey, A.D. 1260, 
 
100 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The Pillars are of various forms — round or octa- 
 gonal in small and plain churches, and these not un- 
 frequently alternate ; in richer work they are usually 
 clustered; but the pillar most characteristic of the 
 style is the one with detached shafts, which are ge- 
 nerally of Purbeck marble, frequently very long and 
 slender, and only connected with the central shaft by 
 the capital and base, with or without one or two 
 bands at intervals. These bands are sometimes rings 
 of copper gilt, as in the choir of Worcester Cathedral, 
 and were sometimes necessary for holding together the 
 slender shafts of Purbeck marble. 
 
 Another peculiarity consists of the Foliage, which 
 differs considerably from the Norman : in the latter it 
 has more or less the appearance of being imitated from 
 that of the Classic orders, while in this it is entirely 
 original. Its essential form seems to be that of a 
 trefoil leaf, but this is varied in such a number of 
 ways that the greatest variety is produced. It is used 
 in cornices, the bosses of groining, the moldings of 
 windows and doorways, and various other places, but 
 particularly in capitals, to which it gives a peculiar 
 and distinctive character. The foliage of these ca- 
 pitals is technically called “ Stiff-leaf foliage,” but 
 this alludes only to the stiff stem or stalk of the leaf, 
 which rises from the ring of the capital; the foliage 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 101 
 
 itself is frequently as far removed from stiffness as any 
 can be, as for instance in the capitals of Lincoln. The 
 stiff stalk is, however, a ready mark to distinguish 
 the Early English capital from that of the succeed- 
 ing style. 
 
 Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1250. Beverley, Yorkslnre, c. A.D. 1260. 
 
 A beautiful example of the stiff-leaf 
 foliage curling over, and with a molded 
 abacus. 
 
 An unusually rich example, with pro- 
 fuse foliage ; also an abacus, with the 
 roll-molding. 
 
102 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 We must bear in mind, however, that foliage is by 
 no means an essential feature of the Early English 
 style; many of our finest buildings, such as West- 
 minster Abbey, have their capitals formed of a plain 
 bell reversed, with moldings round the abacus like 
 rings put upon it, and round the neck. 
 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 

 THE EAELY ENGLISH STYLE. 103 
 
 BASES. 
 
 Choir, Canterbury, A.D. 1178. Corona, Canterbury, A.D. 1184. 
 
104 
 
 THE EABLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The Bases generally consist of two rounds, the 
 lower one the largest, both frequently filleted, with 
 a deep hollow between placed horizontally, as at Can- 
 terbury; but in later examples this hollow is not 
 found, its place being filled up with another round 
 molding, as at Selby, p. 103. They frequently ap- 
 proach in contour to the Grecian attic base, and the 
 ogee is sometimes employed, as Rickman observed 
 with his usual accuracy. 
 
 The deeply-cut moldings in bases of this style will 
 frequently hold water, and this is sometimes called 
 one of the characteristics of the style; but it is not 
 a good one, because it is not easy to decide whether 
 a particular base will hold water or not. These bases 
 are frequently stilted, that is, the principal molding 
 is raised a foot or two from the floor, and the space 
 is sometimes plain; in some instances an additional 
 molding is introduced; again, in other instances some 
 foliage, or wavy-line molding, as in the choir at Can- 
 terbury, which is the earliest example of the style, 
 and chiefly transitional. This stilted part, or plinth, 
 is sometimes square; this is generally in the earlier 
 examples: in other cases it is polygonal, or round, 
 with an ornamental molding upon it, going round the 
 whole pier, in addition to the base -moldings of the 
 separate shafts of the cluster of four, five, or six, that 
 form the piers, as at Beverley, Canterbury, and Selby. 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 105 
 
 In pure Early English work, the upper member of 
 the capital, called the Abacus, is circular, and consists, 
 in the earlier examples, simply of two rounds, the 
 upper one the largest, with a hollow between them; 
 hut in later exam- 
 ples the moldings 
 are frequently in- 
 creased in num- 
 ber, and filleted. Abacus with round and hollow molding. 
 
 The general use of the circular abacus is peculiar to 
 England and Normandy ; even in the best early Erench 
 work, of the Royal Domain, the abacus is generally 
 square ; and as there can be no doubt that the round 
 abacus is more consistent with pure Gothic work, the 
 square one belonging more properly to the Classic 
 styles, this circumstance is a strong argument in favour 
 of the greater purity of English Gothic. Generally, 
 also, the moldings are much more numerous and much 
 richer in English work than in foreign work of the 
 same period, as has been said. 
 
 One of the chief characteristics of the Early English 
 style consists in the Moldings, which differ essentially 
 from these of the Norman; for while those consisted 
 chiefly of squares with round moldings on the angles, 
 or with the angles chamfered off, in the Early English 
 they are chiefly bold rounds, with equally bold and 
 
106 
 
 THE EAHLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 deeply cut hollows, which produce a strong effect of 
 light and shade. In many of the earlier examples 
 the square profile of the recessed Norman arch is re- 
 tained, and the moldings are cut chiefly on the angles ; 
 but as the style advances this squareness is lost, and 
 the moldings appear to be cut on a chamfer, or slop- 
 ing surface, as at Little Addington and Denford, North- 
 ants, and none of the plain square masonry remains, 
 the whole being worked up into rich suites of mold- 
 ings, separated only by deep hollows. In the later 
 examples a peculiar molding called the roll* mold- 
 ing, is used ; and it was still more used in the succeed- 
 ing, or Decorated style, and is often considered one of 
 the marks of that style. The fillet was now used 
 profusely on the rounds ; one, two, or sometimes three 
 fillets being cut on a single molding, as in the choir 
 of the Temple Church, London, thus giving a very 
 different though still beautiful character to them ; but 
 this always shews a tendency of transition to the 
 next style. 
 
 Throughout the Early English period there is an 
 ornament used in the hollow moldings which is as 
 
 * Sometimes called the scroll molding, but roll is the cor- 
 rect term, from the close resemblance to a roll of parchment 
 with the edge overlapping. 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 HOLDINGS. 
 
 107 
 
 Chancel-arch, Haseley, Oson. 
 
108 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 characteristic of this style as the zigzag is of the 
 Norman; this consists of a small pyramid, more or 
 less acute, cut into four leaves or petals meeting in 
 the point, but separate below, as in Chester Cathedral. 
 
 Chester Cathedral. 
 
 When very acute, and seen in profile, it may be ima- 
 gined to have somewhat the appearance of a row of 
 dog’s-teeth, and from this it has been called the “ dog- 
 tooth ornament,” or by some the shark’ s-tooth orna- 
 ment, more commonly the “tooth-ornament.” It is 
 used with the greatest profusion on arches, between 
 clustered shafts, on the architraves and jambs of doors, 
 windows, piscinas, and indeed in every place where 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 109 
 
 such ornament can be introduced. It is very charac- 
 teristic of this style, and begins quite at the com- 
 mencement of the style, as in St. Hugh’s work at 
 Lincoln; for though in the Norman we find an ap- 
 proach to it, in the Decorated various modifications of 
 it occur ; still the genuine tooth-ornament may be con- 
 sidered to belong exclusively to the Early English. 
 
 The natural use and the profusion of moldings in 
 the' English buildings of the thirteenth century is con- 
 sidered as one of the proofs of the English origin of 
 the Gothic style. The Erench imitated it rapidly, but 
 in a cheaper manner, and their buildings are, on the 
 whole, not quite equal to ours, that is, taking into 
 account both exterior and interior. The profuse suites 
 of moldings so common in English doorways and 
 arches, are almost unknown in France: some things 
 they developed more rapidly than we did, but in the 
 moldings they were behind us. 
 
 The Yatjlts are distinguished from the Norman by 
 their greater boldness, and from succeeding styles 
 by their greater simplicity, as at Salisbury. In the 
 earlier examples there are ribs on the angles of the 
 groins only; at a later period the vaulting becomes 
 more complicated, as at Westminster. There is a lon- 
 gitudinal rib, and a cross rib along the ridge of the 
 
110 
 
 THE EAJtLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 cross vaults, and frequently also an intermediate rib 
 on the surface of the vault. The bosses are rare at 
 first, more abundant afterwards : they are generally 
 well worked and enriched with foliage. 
 
 Early English vaults are sometimes of wood only, as 
 in York Minster, and at Warmington, Northampton- 
 shire, and the cloisters at Lincoln. A vault is, in fact, 
 a ceiling, having always an outer roof over it; and 
 there is no necessity for its being of stone, although 
 it is obviously better that it should usually be so, as 
 a security against fire, which was the chief motive for 
 the introduction of stone vaults. It generally is so; 
 the chapel of St. Blaise, or the old revestry, in West- 
 minster Abbey, is an excellent example little known. 
 The rather incorrect use of the word ‘roof’ by Mr. 
 Bickman, as applied to vaults, has led to some con- 
 fusion of ideas on this subject. 
 
 There is a marked distinction in the construction of 
 Gothic vaults in England and France. In England, 
 from the earliest period, each stone is cut to fit its 
 place, in France the stones are cut square or rather 
 oblong, as in the walls, and only wedged out by the 
 thickness of the mortar at the back in the joints. The 
 English system is far more scientific, but also far more 
 costly ; the French system is infinitely more economical 
 
THE EAELY ENGLISH STYLE- 
 
 Chapel of St. Blaise, Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1250. 
 
112 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 of labour, and consequently of expense. From this 
 cause stone vaults are far more common in France than 
 in England. From this cause also fan-tracery vaulting 
 is peculiar to England, and it begins, in principle, as 
 early as in the cloister of Lincoln, c. a.d. 1220, where 
 the vault is of wood, but the springings are of stone, 
 and cut to fit the ribs of the wooden vault. 
 
 The beautiful vaulted chambers in the Bishop’s 
 Palace at "Wells are part of the original work, begun 
 in the time of St. Hugh, and finished under his imme- 
 diate successor, Jocelyn. Grand chambers as these 
 now appear to us, they were originally cider-cellars 
 under the great hall, which was very lofty, and had 
 a wooden roof only, which still exists, though in 
 a very neglected state, and too much dilapidated by 
 alterations of various periods to be left visible. It 
 was concealed by a beautiful plaster-ceiling by Bishop 
 Bagot in 1850; the fine vaulted chambers of these 
 cellars [see p. 113] are now used as the dining-room of 
 the bishop’s family and their guest-chamber, and part 
 of them, separated by a wall, is the entrance-hall. 
 This latter feature is an original arrangement, not 
 a modern alteration, as some have supposed ; it served 
 as a passage to the bishop’s chapel from the other 
 part of the house, and from the offices also. 
 
Vaulted Chambers of the Bishop’s Palace, Wells, A.D. 1195—1210. 
 
 THE EAELY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 113 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 THE EARLY EXGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The ornaments so well known by the name of 
 Crockets were first introduced in this style. The name 
 is taken from the shep- 
 herd’s crook, adopted by 
 the bishops as emblema- 
 tical of their office. They 
 occur at Lincoln, in St. 
 
 Hugh’s work, the earliest 
 example of this style, and 
 are there used in the un- 
 usual position of being in 
 a vertical line between 
 the detached shafts. They 
 are found in the same 
 position also in the beau- 
 tiful work of the west 
 front of "Wells. After- 
 wards they were used en- 
 tirely on the outside of 
 pediments, or in similar 
 situations, projecting from the face of the work or the 
 outer surface of the molding, as in the very beautiful 
 tomb of Archbishop Walter Grey, in York Cathedral; 
 and they continued in use in the subsequent styles, 
 although their form and character gradually change 
 with the style. 
 
 Crockets, Tomb of Abp. Walter Grey, 
 York Cathedral, A.D. 1255. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH ORNAMENTS. 
 GABLE CROSSES. 
 
 115 
 
116 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE, 
 
 The Buttresses, instead of being, as in the last 
 style, mere strips of masonry slightly projecting from 
 the wall, have now a very bold projection, and gene- 
 rally diminish upwards by stages, terminating either 
 in a pedimental head, or gable, as at Wrington, 
 Northants, or in a plain sloping set-off, as in the 
 lower part of those at Higham Ferrars. The angles 
 are frequently broadly chamfered, and sometimes orna- 
 mented with shafts, either solid or detached. On 
 towers the buttresses are frequently carried up to the 
 second storey, as at Ravensthorpe, p. 123. 
 
 The pinnacles terminating the buttresses are at first 
 sometimes square, as at Bishop’s Cleevc, Gloucester- 
 shire, which is of transitional Norman character: they 
 are not very numerous in the Early English style, and 
 often consist merely of an octagonal shaft with a pyra- 
 midal capping; afterwards, particularly in large build- 
 ings, they are either round or octagonal, with shafts at 
 the angles, sometimes supporting small arches, and ter- 
 minating in a plain conical capping ending in a bunch 
 of foliage or other ornament as a finial as at Peter- 
 borough. 
 
 The Flying Buttress now becomes a prominent 
 feature in large buildings. It is often found in Nor- 
 man work, but concealed under the roof of the tri- 
 
118 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 forium, as at Durham, Winchester, and many other 
 fine Norman buildings ; but in this style it is carried 
 up higher, and is altogether external, spanning over 
 the roof of the aisle, and carrying the weight and 
 consequent thrust of the vault over the central space 
 obliquely down to the external buttresses, and so to 
 the ground, as in St. Hugh’s choir at Lincoln, before- 
 mentioned as the earliest example of this style. There 
 is a very fine example of a compound flying buttress 
 at Westminster Abbey, which supports the vaults of 
 the choir, the triforium, and the aisles, and carries 
 the thrust of the whole over the cloister to the ground. 
 But they did not become common until after this period. 
 There is a marked difference between the flying but- 
 tresses of English buildings and those of French work 
 of the same time; the English are far more elegant; 
 large French buildings often appear as if they were 
 surrounded by a scaffolding of stone. 
 
 The Fronts of Early English buildings before the 
 introduction of tracery, and consequently before the 
 use of large windows, have a very peculiar appearance, 
 very different from those of the preceding or succeeding 
 styles. In small churches a common arrangement is to 
 have either three lancet windows in the west front, as 
 at Stanton Ilarcourt, Oxon, p. 92, or two with a but- 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 119 
 
 tress between them at the west end, as at Elsfield, 
 Oxon; but in both cases there is frequently over 
 
 South-west View of Elsfield Church, Oxon. 
 
 them a quatrefoil or small circular window foliated, 
 or sunk panels of the same form, but not pierced 
 as windows. In large buildings there are frequently 
 two or three tiers of lancet windows, and a rich 
 circular window in the gable above. 
 
120 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 Early English Towers are in general more lofty 
 than the Norman, and are readily distinguished by 
 their buttresses, which have a greater projection. In 
 the earlier examples an arcade is frequently carried 
 round the upper storey, some of the arches of which 
 are pierced for windows, as at Middleton Stoney, 
 Oxon: but in later buildings the windows are more 
 often double, and are frequently very fine compositions, 
 as at Ravensthorpe, Northants. The tower generally 
 terminates in a Spire, which in some districts, espe- 
 cially in Northamptonshire, does not rise from within 
 a parapet, but is of the form usually called a broach 
 spire, of which there are several varieties. In other 
 districts the towers are terminated by original para- 
 pets ; these probably had wooden spires rising within 
 the parapet, which occasionally but rarely remain, and 
 are a good feature, as at Ilton, Somerset. Pinnacles 
 are sometimes inserted at the angles, and produce 
 a very good effect* 
 
 The spire is generally a very fine feature of an Early 
 English church ; some great architects have gone so 
 far as to say that a tower is never complete without 
 one, hut that is going too far. There may have been 
 wooden spires on such towers as those of Middleton 
 Stoney and Ravensthorpe, but we have no evidence of 
 it ; there are no syuinches to carry a spire. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH TOWERS. 
 
 121 
 
 'Iiddleton Stoney, Oxon, c. A.D. 1240. Ravenstliorpe, Northants, c. A.D. 1280. 
 
122 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The East End is almost invariably square in Early 
 English work, as at Cowley, Oxon, p. 94, although 
 we have a few examples of the apsidal termination, 
 generally a half-octagon, or half-hexagon, as in "West- 
 minster Abbey, and several other large churches. In 
 the small parish churches this form is very rare * an 
 example occurs at Tidmarsh, near Pangbourne, Berks, 
 an elegant little structure, the roof of which has been 
 carefully restored. 
 
 The Corbel-Tables sometimes consist, as in the ear- 
 lier period, merely of blocks supporting a straight, pro- 
 jecting course of stone which carries the front of the 
 
 Corbel-table, Beverley Minster. 
 
 parapet; but more commonly, especially as the style 
 advanced, small trefoil arches are introduced between 
 the corbels, and these become more enriched and less 
 bold, until, in the succeeding style, this feature is 
 altogether merged in the cornice moldings. 
 
 In the latter part of this style great liberty was al- 
 lowed to the carvers, and much ingenuity displayed in 
 
THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 123 
 
 the variety of ornament that was introduced ; although 
 always conventional. For instance, in the description 
 of ornament which goes by the general name of “ tooth- 
 ornament,” for want of a better, there is a singular 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 Varieties of the Tooth-ornament, Binham Priory, Norfolk. 
 
 variety ; even in the church of Binham alone, there are 
 three varieties of what is called the tooth- ornament, not 
 bearing much resemblance to each other, though all ele- 
 gant. One has the knobs on the foliage (2) characteristic 
 of the early part of the style, another is entirely without 
 them, and approaches very closely to the Decorated (3). 
 
124 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 The general appearance of Early English buildings 
 is magnificent and rich, rather from the number of 
 parts than from the details. In those buildings where 
 very long windows are used there is a grandeur arising 
 from the height of the divisions ; in the smaller build- 
 ings there is much simplicity of appearance, hut the 
 work all appears well designed and carefully executed. 
 It was usual to build the west front immediately 
 after the choir, and leave the nave to be filled in 
 afterwards. 
 
 Salisbury Cathedral is usually considered as the type 
 of the Early English style, from the circumstance of 
 its being less mixed than any other building of the 
 same importance. It was commenced in 1220 on a new 
 site, by Bishop Richard Poore, who died in 1237, and 
 was buried in the choir, which was therefore completed 
 at that time. The church was finished by Bishop Giles 
 de Bridport, and consecrated in 1258. 
 
 The chapter-house at Christ Church, Oxford, the 
 choir of 'Worcester Cathedral, a considerable part of 
 Fountains Abbey, the choir of Rochester, the south 
 transept of York, the presbytery of Ely, the nine altars 
 of Durham at the east end, and the same part of Foun- 
 tains Abbey, the choir of the Temple Church, London, 
 and the nave of Lincoln, are well-known examples of 
 this period, the first half of the thirteenth century. 
 
THE EAELY ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 125 
 
 In the year 1245, King Henry the Third, “being 
 mindful of the devotion which he had towards St. Ed- 
 ward the Confessor, ordered the church of St. Peter 
 at Westminster to be enlarged, and the eastern part of 
 the walls, with the tower and transepts, being pulled 
 down, he began to rebuild them in a more elegant style, 
 having first collected at his own charges the most sub- 
 tle artificers, both English and foreign.” These portions 
 of the church are the choir and apse ; the work is of the 
 richest character, but still pure Early English. 
 
 The north transept of York Minster was built be- 
 tween 1250 and 1260, by John the Roman, treasurer 
 of the church, who afterwards became Archbishop of 
 York. The records of this cathedral clearly prove that 
 it was the regular practice of the chapter to keep a gang 
 of workmen in their pay as part of the establishment ; 
 the number varied from twenty to fifty, and the same 
 families were usually continued generation after gene- 
 ration : to their continued labour, always doing some- 
 thing every year, we are indebted for the whole of that 
 glorious fabric. This practice was by no means peculiar 
 to York, but appears to have been the usual custom. 
 
 This completes an outline of the Architectural his- 
 tory of the principal known buildings of the Early 
 English style. 
 
THE GRADUAL CHANGE EROM THE EARLY 
 ENGLISH STYLE TO THE DECORATED, 
 A.D. 1272—1300. 
 
 The change from the Early English to the Deco- 
 rated style was so very gradual, that it is impossible 
 to draw any line where one style ceases and the other 
 begins. The time of Edward I. was that of the change ? 
 and some of our most beautiful examples belong to 
 that period. 
 
 In the early Decorated the sculpture of the human 
 figure is remarkable for the ease and chasteness of the 
 attitudes, and the free and graceful, though at the same 
 time rich, folds of the drapery. Eew figures can sur- 
 pass in simplicity and beauty the effigy of Queen Elea- 
 nor in Westminster Abbey, and those on the crosses 
 erected to her memory are almost equally fine, espe- 
 cially those on the Northampton cross; those at Walt- 
 ham have been mutilated and restored. They were 
 all executed between 1291 and 1294, as appears by the 
 builders’ accounts, which are still extant. The cross at 
 Geddington is perhaps the most perfect of those which 
 remain. This is not mentioned in the executors’ ac- 
 counts, but probably only because that part of the 
 accounts has been lost; it is as plainly a memorial 
 cross to Queen Eleanor as either of the others. 
 
CHANGE FROM EARLY ENGLISH TO DECORATED. 127 
 
 
 Eleanor Cross, Geddington, A.D. 1295. 
 
 Beverley, c. A.D. 1300. 
 
128 CHANGE FROM EARLY ENGLISH TO DECORATED. 
 
 The three arches of the sedilia and the small ore 
 of the piscina at Harleston, Northants, may also be 
 considered as transitional; the trefoil arch used under 
 the pointed one, if taken by itself, would be Early 
 English, and the moldings are deeply undercut, which 
 is another mark of that style. On the other hand, the 
 form of the moldings is that of a roll of parchment, 
 and this form is more usually of the Decorated style. 
 
 The transepts of Westminster Abbey are recorded 
 to have been built in his time, and they contain some 
 of the most beautiful work that can be found any- . 
 where; the capital next, with its natural foliage stand- 
 ing out quite free on the bell of the capital, would be 
 considered as belonging to the Decorated style ; but the 
 deep undercutting of the abacus would rather belong to 
 the Early English, and the roll-molding may be either 
 Early English or Decorated. Some of the capitals are 
 molded only, without foliage, and some of these have 
 the abacus octagonal, which is more usual in French 
 than in English work. 
 
 Some have proposed to divide the Decorated style j 
 into two — the geometrical and the flowing; but here ! 
 the distinction is not sufficiently broad to constitute two 
 distinct styles, although, as sub-divisions, these terms 
 were used by Rickman himself, and are useful. Rut 
 these two divisions are so frequently contemporaneous, 
 
 
CHANGE EBOM EA.BLY ENGLISH TO DECOB ATED. 
 
 129 
 
 
 Sedilia and Piscina, Harleston Clmrch.', Northants, c. A.D. 1230. 
 
 K 
 
130 CHANGE FROM EARLY ENGLISH TO DECORATED. 
 
 and run into each other so continually, that it is almost 
 impossible to separate them in practice : the windows 
 may indeed be distinguished, though even in these we 
 often find windows with geometrical tracery and others 
 with flowing tracery in the same building, with the 
 same moldings and details; and no distinction can he 
 drawn in doorways and buttresses. It is better, there- 
 fore, to continue to use the received divisions of styles, 
 and the received names for them. There is no broad 
 line of distinction and of division in medieval build- 
 ings, it was one continual progress or decline; the 
 divisions are arbitrary, but very convenient in practice. 
 
 The beautiful crosses erected by Edward I. at all 
 the places where the body of Queen Eleanor had rested 
 on its way from Grantham, Lincolnshire, where she died, 
 to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried, all be- 
 long to this time of change, but are usually reckoned as 
 early examples of the Decorated style. The accounts 
 for preserving these are for the most part among the 
 Public Records, but Geddington is not included, pro- 
 bably only because that account had been lost or mis- 
 laid in the Record Office, which was long much neg- 
 lected ; so much so, that for many years the valuable 
 records were kept in the stables of Carlton House, the 
 residence of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. 
 
THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 Edward I., II., and HI. A.D. 1300—1377. 
 
 Chancel, Stanton St. John, Oxon, c. A.D. 1320. 
 
 ■I ! etoir of this church is an excellent example of the Decorated style, especially the 
 east window. It is merely a parish church, not monastic. 
 
 il 
 
132 
 
 THE DECOKATED STYLE. 
 
 The name of the Edwardian style is sometimes 
 given to this second Gothic style, which Bickman 
 justly called Decohated. The name of Edwardian 
 implies the reigns of the three Edwards, and is con- 
 venient for England, hut does not apply anywhere 
 else, which is the objection to its general use. 
 
 The Poeches are sometimes shallow; others have 
 a very bold projection, as at Kidlington; sometimes 
 with windows or open arcades at the sides, and, 
 though rarely, with a room over: there are also 
 many fine timber porches of this style, distinguished 
 by the moldings and barge - boards, as at Aldham, 
 Essex. These wooden porches are common in some * 
 districts, as in Herefordshire, and rare in others. 
 There are good examples at Binfield and Long Wit- 
 tenham, Berkshire, although that is not one of the 
 districts in which they are commonly met with. 
 
 There is frequently a niche over the outer doors, or 
 door into the church from the porch ; this was for the 
 patron-saint. Occasionally, but rarely, there are remains 
 of a wooden gallery in that position, supposed to have 
 been for the choir- boys to stand when part of the mar- 
 riage-ceremony was performed in the porch. There is 
 frequently a staircase at the corner of the porch next 
 the church, to ascend to the room over. 
 
DECOBATED POECHES, 
 
 133 
 
 Kidlington, Oxon, c. A.D. 1350. 
 
 TMs porch is a good typical example of the outer doorway with the ball- 
 iower ornament in the hollow molding, and the niche over it for the figure of 
 he patron-saint. 
 
 
134 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The Doorways of this style are frequently large, 
 and very richly sculptured, and have a rich canopy 
 over them, with crockets and finials, as at Crick, 
 Horthants ; hut in 
 small churches 
 they are as fre- 
 quently plain, and 
 have merely a 
 dripstone over 
 them, the roll- 
 molding often ter- 
 minated by two 
 small heads, which 
 
 are generally a 
 
 king and a bi- 
 shop; this is the 
 case also with the 
 windows. It is 
 often not easy to 
 distinguish the 
 plain doorways 
 of this style from 
 those of the pre- 
 ceding one, but in 
 general they are 
 not so deeply re- 
 
 Crick, Northants, c. A.D. 1320. 
 
DECOEATED DOOEWAYS. 
 
 135 
 
 cessed. A few doorways of this style are double. 
 When there are shafts in the jambs they are worked 
 on the same stones, and not inserted as separate shafts 
 of stone or marble, as in the Early English, and as 
 at Dorchester, Oxon. 
 
 The wooden doors are 
 sometimes ornament- 
 ed with panelling of a 
 better description than 
 that which is common 
 in the next style; 
 they were originally 
 painted in colours like 
 the interior of the 
 churches, and often 
 have ornamental iron- 
 work upon them; 
 even the nail-heads 
 are made ornamental. 
 
 This is also the case 
 in the Early English 
 style, and it is frequently not easy to distinguish one 
 from the other, there being very little difference be- 
 tween them. In ordinary parish churches the old 
 wooden door, with the original iron- work upon it, is 
 often preserved longer than any other ornament. 
 
 Dorchester, Oxon, c. AD. 1320. 
 
136 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The Decorated Style is distinguished by its large 
 windows divided by mullions, and the tracery either 
 in flowing lines, or forming circles, trefoils, and other 
 geometrical figures, as 
 at Dorchester, and not 
 running perpendicu- 
 larly ; its ornaments 
 are numerous and 
 very delicately carved, 
 more strictly faithful 
 to nature and more es- 
 sentially parts of the 
 structure than in any 
 other style. In small 
 country churches, 
 however, there are 
 perhaps more very 
 plain churches of this 
 style than of any 
 other; still the win- 
 dows have the essen- 
 tial decoration of tra- 
 cery. The ornament 
 is also part of the con- 
 struction, a point in which it differs from the other styles; 
 a Decorated cusp cannot be inserted in the tracery. 
 
 
 East Window, North. Aisle, Dorchester, 
 Oxon, c. A.D. 1300. 
 
DECOKATED WINDOWS. 
 
 137 
 
 There is a very fine window, with reticulated tracery 
 and richly molded, in the south walk of the cloisters 
 at Westminster. No rule whatever is followed in the 
 
 Cloisters, Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1360. 
 
 form of the arch over windows in this style ; some are 
 very obtuse, others very acute, and the ogee arch is not 
 uncommon. (See p. 141.) 
 
138 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE, 
 
 Decorated tracery is usually divided into three 
 general classes — geometrical, flowing, and flamboyant ; 
 the variety is so great, that many sub-divisions may 
 be made, but they were all used simultaneously for 
 a considerable period. 
 
 The earliest Decorated windows have geometrical 
 tracery; Exeter Cathedral is, perhaps, on the whole, 
 the best typical example of the early part of this 
 style. The fabric rolls are preserved, and it is now 
 evident that the existing windows are, for the most 
 part, of the time of Bishop Quivil, from 1279 to 1291. 
 The windows all have geometrical patterns, and some 
 of these are identical with those of Merton College 
 Chapel, Oxford, The chancel of Haseley Church, 
 Oxon, is a good example of the early Decorated style 
 of Edward I. One of the windows in the cloisters of 
 Westminster Abbey, p. 137, and the aisles of the choir 
 of Dorchester Abbey Church, Oxon, p. 136, are also 
 excellent examples. 
 
 The buildings of the time of Edward the First have 
 geometrical tracery in the windows. In Merton Col- 
 lege Chapel the side windows still retain the original 
 painted glass, with the kneeling figure of the donor 
 several times repeated, with the inscription “ Magister 
 Henricus de Mannesfeld,” recorded by Wood as of 
 a.d. 1283. 
 
DECORATED WINDOWS. 
 
 139 
 
 Many windows of this style, especially in the time 
 of Edward I., have the rear- arch ornamented with 
 cusps, with a hollow space over the head of the window 
 in the thickness of the wall, between the rear arch and 
 the outer arch. 
 
 Windows with flowing tracery, as at Great Milton, 
 and in the church of 
 the Austin Eriars; 
 also those with reti- 
 culated, or net-like 
 forms, are in gene- 
 ral somewhat later 
 than the geometrical 
 patterns ; at least, 
 they do not seem 
 to have been intro- 
 duced quite so early; 
 but they are very 
 frequently contem- 
 poraneous, and both 
 classes may often be 
 found side by side 
 in the same build- 
 ing, evidently erect- 
 ed at the same time. 
 
 mmnmjjfjfff 
 
 Great Milton, Oxon, c. A.D. 1350. 
 
 An early instance of this occurs at Stoke Golding, in 
 
140 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 Leicestershire, built between 1275 and 1290, as ap- 
 pears by an inscription still remaining: the windows 
 have mostly geometrical tracery, but several have 
 flowing. The same mixture occurs at Selby Abbey, 
 and St. Mary’s, Beverley. In some instances windows 
 with geometrical 
 tracery have the 
 moldings and the 
 mullions covered 
 with the ball- 
 flower ornament 
 in great profu- 
 sion, even to 
 excess: these 
 examples occur 
 chiefly in Here- 
 fordshire, as at 
 Leominster; and 
 in Gloucester- 
 shire, as in the 
 south aisle of 
 the nave of the 
 Cathedral at 
 Gloucester : they 
 
 are for the most , , _ . T . 
 
 The Augustunan or Austin Friars, London, 
 part, if not en- c. A.D. 1350. 
 
 tirely, of the time of Edward II. 
 
DECORATED WINDOWS. 
 
 141 
 
 Finedon, and High am Ferrars, Northants, are good 
 examples of the ogee form of arch, and the manner in 
 
 which the tracery is made to harmonise with the arch 
 is very pleasing to the eye, and not very common. 
 
142 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 What is called the net-like character of tracery, from 
 its general resemblance to a fisherman’s net, is very 
 characteristic of this style at its best period, about the 
 middle of the fourteenth century, of which there is 
 a very fine example in the west window of the Fran- 
 ciscan Friary at Reading, p. 143, of which the remains 
 are valuable, although a great deal of it was destroyed 
 in the Georgian era, from the neglect that was usual at 
 that period. It has been carefully restored in the time 
 of Queen Victoria, at the expense of a gentleman of 
 Reading, and is now used as a chapel- of- ease for the 
 large parish in which it is situated. The roof now 
 used at St. Mary’s Church in Reading is said to have 
 originally belonged to this chapel. One of the side 
 windows, with a segmental head of the same period, is 
 also a very good example of the style. This kind 
 of tracery is the most usual characteristic of this 
 style, and begins in the time of Edward II. There 
 are good examples of this period in the south aisles of 
 the churches of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Aldate’s 
 Oxford. 
 
 The inner arch, or rear-arch, is frequently of a dif- 
 ferent shape and proportion to the outer one: there 
 is also sometimes a series of open cusps hanging from 
 it, called hanging foliation. 
 
DECORATED WINDOWS. 
 
 143 
 
 West Window, Franciscan Friary, Reading, c. A.D, 1350. 
 
144 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 It is more common in some parts of the country 
 than in others : this feature seems to have taken the 
 place of the inner plane of 
 decoration, with tracery and 
 shafts, of the Early English 
 6tyle, and it disappears alto- 
 gether in the succeeding 
 style. There is a good ex- 
 ample of this inner arch in 
 Broughton Church, Oxford- 
 shire. This foliated inner 
 arch is not a very common 
 feature. 
 
 Square - headed windows 
 are very common in this 
 style in many parts of the 
 country, especially in Lei- 
 cestershire and in Oxford- 
 shire, as at Ardley. Win- 
 dows with a flat segmental 
 arch are also frequently 
 used in this style, and the 
 dripstone, or projecting 
 molding over the window to throw off the wet, is some- 
 times omitted, as at Stonesfield, which has also an 
 elegant detached shaft in the interior. 
 
 JcniT r 
 
 Ardley, Oxon. 
 
DECORATED WINDOWS. 
 
 145 
 
 Stonesfield, Oxon, North Window, c. A.D. 1320. 
 Interior and Exterior. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 Windows in towers are usually different from those 
 in other parts of the church. In the upper storey, 
 where the bells are, there is no glass ; in some parts of 
 the country there is pierced stonework for keeping out 
 the birds, but more usually they are of wood only. 
 These are called sound-holes. 
 
 The storey under this, where the ringers stand, is also 
 commonly called the belfry, and the windows of this 
 storey are also peculiar, sometimes richly ornamented 
 as at Irthlingborough, — where it is part of the work 
 of Pyal, the founder of the college in that parish, 
 a.d. 1388. 
 
 Clere-storey windows of this style are often small, 
 and either circular with quatrefoil cusps, or trefoils 
 or quatrefoils; or the spherical triangle with cusps, 
 which forms an elegant window. The clever manner 
 in which these windows are splayed within, and es- 
 pecially below, to throw down the light, should be 
 noticed. 
 
 In some parts of the country, as in Oxfordshire, 
 small clere-storey windows of the Decorated style, as at 
 Great Milton and Garsington, are not uncommon, but 
 more usually the churches have been rebuilt in the 
 Perpendicular style, along with the roof, when the 
 church has been raised. 
 
DECORATED WINDOWS OF CLERE-STOREIS, 
 
 147 
 
 Interior.- 
 
 Exterior. 
 
 Great Milton, Oxon, c. A.D. 1320. 
 
 Garsington, Oxon, e. A.D. 1350. 
 
148 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 Circular -windows are also a fine feature of this 
 style, chiefly used at the ends of the transepts in 
 large churches, or at the west end in small ones. 
 A rare instance of an east window of this form occurs 
 at West well, Oxon, and a fine one on the side of 
 a transept at Cheltenham. 
 
 Flamboyant tracery, and the forms approaching to 
 it, generally indicate a late date. We have no instance 
 of real Flamboyant work in this country, although 
 forms of tracery approaching to it are not uncommon ; 
 the moldings are never of the true Flamboyant cha- 
 racter, which is quite distinct both from the Decorated 
 and the Perpendicular ; it coincided in time with the 
 latter, and therefore does not properly belong to our 
 present subject. 
 
 The arch is sometimes cinquefoiled, and ornamented 
 with crockets and bunches of foliage for finials, and 
 with pinnacles also, as in Beverley Minster, where this 
 arch is that of a canopy over a tomb, between two tall 
 piers of a lofty arch. The ogee arch is frequently used 
 in small arcades and in the heads of windows. The drip- 
 stones or hoodmolds are generally supported by heads, 
 and are frequently enriched with crockets and finials. 
 The most important are naturally those between the 
 nave and aisles; those of the triforium, if there is one, 
 as at Beverley, are not so tall, and are commonly di- 
 vided into two in the same space as the one below. 
 
©ECO BATED A&CHES, 
 
 149 
 
 Beverley, Yorkshire, c. A.D. 1350. 
 
150 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The Arches do not differ very materially in general 
 effect from the Early 
 English, but are distin- 
 guished by the mold- 
 ings and capitals as be- 
 fore described. 
 
 The Arcades which 
 ornament the walls in 
 rich buildings, and those 
 over the sedilia, are very 
 characteristic features 
 of the style. In some 
 instances the sedilia, or 
 seats for the officiating 
 clergy by the side of 
 the altar, have pro- 
 jecting canopies over 
 them, forming perfect 
 tabernacles, as if for 
 images ; more common- 
 ly they have canopies 
 on the same plane with 
 the seats. 
 
 Beverley Minster, Yorkshire- 
 
DECORATED PILLARS. 
 
 151 
 
 The Pillars have no longer detached shafts, and the 
 capitals are ornamented with 
 foliage of a different character 
 from that which preceded it, 
 as has been mentioned. Occa- 
 sionally, though not very fre- 
 quently, the base of the pillar 
 is stilted upon a lofty plinth, 
 
 'as at Haseby, Northants. In 
 a few instances, even in genu- 
 ine work of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, this is done in a parish 
 church merely for convenience, 
 to raise the base above the level 
 of the backs of the seats. This 
 is an exceptional example, but 
 is convenient as shewing begin 
 ners all the parts belonging to 
 a pillar, the arch-molding rest- 
 ing upon the capital, and the 
 pillar itself consisting of a clus- 
 ter of shafts, with separate 
 molded capitals and bases to 
 the shafts that are united in 
 one pillar, and the base resting 
 upon a pediment. 
 
 Arch- 
 
 moldings 
 
 =T Capital 
 
 Pedestal 
 
 Uaseby, Northants. 
 
152 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 In ordinary parish churches the pillars and arches 
 are frequently as plain as in the Early English, and 
 there is no very perceptible difference at first sight. 
 In richer churches the pillars are clustered and the 
 arches richly molded, and often 
 have the hood-molding over them. 
 
 The pillar is usually much more 
 lofty than the one at Naseby (p. 
 
 151), and has in general a capi- 
 tal, or several smaller capitals, 
 to the shafts that are united ; 
 there is not always any pediment, 
 though there sometimes is, as at 
 Frome, Somerset. More usually 
 there is what is called a stilted base 
 only. The example here given from 
 Exeter Cathedral is an extremely 
 good one of a clustered pillar, with 
 molded capitals and stilted base. 
 
 When there is foliage on the ca- 
 pital, it is usually longer, as in 
 York Minster; but in this style, 
 notwithstanding its name, the capi- 
 tals are more frequently of moldings 
 only, though the foliage obviously Bj^Tcathedral, 
 gives much more decoration. c. a.d. 1300. 
 
DECORATED CAPITALS. 
 
 153 
 
 In the richer examples of this style, the Capitals 
 are ornamented with beautiful foliage, each leaf being 
 accurately copied from nature, as well as the best 
 modern artist could do it. These were arranged so 
 as to encircle the pillar, sometimes by means of a stalk 
 forming a branch, as at Beverley (1). In other in- 
 stances each leaf is separate, arranged round the bell 
 of the capital, but by no means flat, and having almost 
 
 Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, c. A.D, 1320. 
 
 as good an effect as when ranged upon stalks, as at 
 Beverley (2). A large pier is sometimes a cluster 
 
154 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 of six shafts, each with its separate capital, some of 
 which have foliage under a molded abacus, as at Bever- 
 ley (3), others a series of moldings only. More fre- 
 quently a pier consists of four shafts only, with a series 
 of moldings for the capital, the upper or abacus being 
 usually the roll-molding. Sometimes the hollows are 
 rather deep, though not so deep as in the Early Eng- 
 lish, as at Beverley and Stanwick. In other instances 
 there is no hollow, hut the molding stands out clear 
 from the bell of the capital, with a ring at the foot 
 of it, as at Irthlingborough. 
 
 The Bases are usually molded only, and stand upon 
 a plinth, the height of which varies very much; it 
 frequently happens that a new pavement of a church 
 has raised the level several inches, which must, of 
 course, be taken from the height of the base. 
 
 In small country churches, the pillars or piers are 
 simply round or octagonal, and the arches that rest 
 upon them are sometimes molded and sometimes not ; 
 but in richer churches the piers consist of a number of 
 shafts clustered together, which add much to the effect. 
 It frequently happens that four shafts are arranged 
 diamond-wise, with a small hollow between them, as 
 at Irthlingborough. There is sometimes a fillet on 
 the shaft, or the shaft is pear-shaped; both of these 
 occur in the same pillar at Beverley. 
 
DECORATED CAPITALS. 
 
 155 
 
 Capital and Base, Beverley, Yorkshire, c. A.D. 1320. 
 
156 
 
 THE DECORATED STTLE. 
 
 Sometimes there is a fillet on the edge, as at Beverley 
 Minster (3) ; in other instances the edge is brought to 
 a point, as in the same example. These clustered pillars 
 add very much to the effect of the building ; but this is 
 not always noticed until they are drawn, and a section 
 of them is shewn, and then the skill of the medieval 
 architect has justice done to it. The moldings are 
 chiefly shewn on the arches. 
 
 The Moldings of this style differ from the Early 
 English chiefly in having the rounds and hollows not 
 so deeply cut, and more generally filleted: the roll- 
 molding, and the quarter round, are very much used ; 
 the abacus of the capital is in general a roll or filleted 
 round, and the base is formed of round moldings with- 
 out the deep hollow : as the style advances, the mold- 
 ings become, generally, more shallow and feeble. The 
 roll-molding is perhaps the most cha- 
 racteristic of the style, though it is \ 
 
 used occasionally in Early English 
 work also. A bold quarter-round is 11 
 frequently used on arches without Tlie roll-molding, 
 any other ; the plain chamfer is used in all styles, but 
 in Decorated work it is frequently sunk so as to leave 
 a small square edge at each angle, thus varying the 
 light and shade, and giving a precision to the angles of 
 
DECOEATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 157 
 
158 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 the chamfer which has a very good effect, as at Dorches- 
 ter, p. 157. In late examples this is varied by a gentle 
 swelling in the middle, forming a kind of shallow ogee 
 molding, as at Kidlington. The ornamental sculptures 
 in the hollow moldings are numerous, hut there are two 
 which require more particular notice ; they are nearly 
 as characteristic of the Decorated style as the zig-zag 
 is of the Norman, or the tooth-ornament of the Early 
 Englisho The first is the ball-flower, which is a glo- 
 bular flower half opened, and shewing, within, a small 
 round ball. It is used with the utmost profusion in 
 the moldings of windows, door- 
 ways, canopies, cornices, arches, 
 
 &c., as at Raunds, Kidlington, 
 and Dorchester (p. 157), gene- 
 rally with good effect, but some- 
 times in such excess as almost 
 to destroy the effect of the 
 moldings ; but at the same time The hall-flower, 
 it gives great richness to the 
 
 general effect of the windows. The ball-flowers are 
 sometimes placed at intervals, and connected by a stem 
 with or without foliage. 
 
 The other ornament is the four-leaved flower. This 
 has a raised centre, and four petals cut in high relief ; 
 it is frequently much varied, but may be distinguished 
 
DECOBATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 159 
 
 by its being cut distinctly into four petals, and by its 
 boldness: it is sometimes used 
 abundantly, though not quite 
 so profusely as the ball-flower. 
 
 In some instances the centre 
 is sunk instead of being raised. 
 
 The battlement as an orna- 
 mental feature in the interior Tlie four ' leaYed flow - 
 of buildings is frequently used in this style, although 
 it is more common in the Perpendicular. Decorated 
 battlements may generally be distinguished by the 
 horizontal molding being cut off at each opening, and 
 not continued vertically down the sides of it, as is usual 
 in the later styles ; and this applies to the actual bat- 
 tlement on the parapet, as well as to the merely orna- 
 mental battlement in the interior. It occurs on the 
 top of a screen, or of a piscina or other niche; also 
 on the transom, and sometimes on the sill of a window ; 
 in all which situations it is more common and more 
 conspicuous in the Perpendicular style. 
 
 The use of the battlement as an ornament in the 
 interior of a building, often on the edge of the sill of 
 a window, is a singular caprice, but very common in 
 English buildings; it is one of the English features 
 that is much quizzed by the French architectural an- 
 tiquaries. 
 
160 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The foliage in this style is more faithfully copied 
 from nature than in any other: the vine-leaf, the 
 maple, and the oak with the acorn, are the most usual. 
 The surface of the wall is often covered with flat foli- 
 age, arranged in small squares called diaper- work, 
 which is believed to have originated in an imitation 
 of the rich hangings then in general use, and which 
 bore the same name. These diaper patterns were ori- 
 ginally coloured in imitation of the silks from which 
 they were copied, and which at an early period came 
 from the East, though they were afterwards imitated 
 by the European manufacturers in Belgium and France, 
 particularly at Ypres and Rheims. This kind of orna- 
 ment was used in the Early English style, as in the 
 choir of Westminster Abbey, but it more commonly 
 belongs to the Decorated style. The colouring of the 
 ornaments to make them more effective was far more 
 common in mediaeval Gothic work than is generally 
 supposed, because it has been so universally white- 
 washed over, either by the Puritans, or during the bad 
 taste of the Georgian era. This colouring frequently 
 comes to light during modern restorations, when the 
 whitewash is scraped off, and sometimes good pictures 
 of scriptural subjects have been whitewashed over in 
 the same ignorant manner. 
 
DECORATED DIAPER- WORE!. 
 
 161 
 
162 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The Buttresses in this style have great variety of 
 forms and of degrees of richness. Sometimes they are 
 quite plain, or merely have the angles chamfered off, 
 and terminated by a slope, ei- 
 ther under the cornice, as at 
 Irthlingborough, or independ- 
 ent of it, as at Stanton St. 
 
 John, Oxon. In other instances 
 the buttress terminates in a pe- 
 diment or gablet, as at Baunds, 
 either with or without crockets 
 and a finial, according to the 
 richness of the building. Over 
 each buttress there is frequently 
 a gurgoyle, or ornamental wa- 
 ter-spout. They usually have 
 pediments, and are frequently 
 enriched on the face with niches 
 for figures (which sometimes, but 
 rarely, are left), and canopies, and 
 often terminate in pinnacles, as Bttttr!SS ^ s,antott 
 
 at Gadsby, Leicestershire. In 
 
 large buildings there are fine arch-huttresses spanning 
 over the aisles, as at Howden. There are sometimes 
 also groups of pinnacles round the base of the spire 
 in this style, which have a very rich effect, as at 
 St. Mary’s, Oxford. 
 
DECORATED BUTTRESSES. 
 
 163 
 
 IrtMingborougii, Northants, 
 0. A.D, 1220. 
 
 Baunds, Uorthants, 
 A.D. 1250. 
 
164 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 These groups of pinnacles are among the most orna- 
 mental features of the style ; 
 those at the east end of How- 
 den are among the most cele- 
 brated. The buttresses of this 
 style are almost invariably di- 
 vided into stages with a set-off 
 between each, and sometimes 
 have a succession of niches with 
 crocheted canopies over them. 
 
 Our eyes are so much accus- 
 tomed to empty niches in this 
 country that they do not of- 
 fend us, hut an empty niche 
 is in fact an unmeaning thing, 
 a niche was originally intended 
 to contain an image, and the 
 canopy over it was to protect 
 the head of the image. 
 
 The flat surfaces in niches Howden, YortaMre.c.AD.^O. 
 
 and monuments, on screens, and in other situations, are 
 covered with delicately-carved patterns, called diaper- 
 work, representing foliage and flowers ; among which 
 are introduced birds and insects, and sometimes dogs or 
 other animals, all executed with much care and accuracy, 
 and proving that the artists of that time drew largely 
 from nature, the fountain-head of all perfection in art. 
 
DECORATED SEDILIA. 
 
 165 
 
 Sedilia, Chesterton, Oxon, c. 1320. 
 
 The sedilia, or seats for the officiating ministers on 
 the east side of the altar, are frequently the most orna- 
 mental feature in the choir of a parish church; as 
 at Chesterton, Oxon, in which they are very elegant, 
 with light shafts and the ball- flower molding. These, 
 with the piscinas, are frequently the only ornamental 
 features in a country church, which is in other respects 
 quite plain ; the name Decorated is sometimes objected 
 to on this ground, but the name has special reference to 
 
166 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE, 
 
 the window-tracery, which in the Decorated is a neces- 
 sary part of the construction; this is not the case in 
 the Early English style. 
 
 The Piscinas, or water- drains, and niches, or taber- 
 nacles for images, are often very rich, with canopies 
 and open tracery. These objects commonly shew the 
 chief beauties of this style; they are always on the 
 south side of the altar, the locker or ambry for keep- 
 ing the chalice, &c., is usually on the north side. The 
 pediment, or straight- sided canopy, is much used in 
 this style over doors, sedilia, piscinas, and monuments. 
 
 The Groined Roofs, or Yatjlts, are distinguished 
 from those of the preceding style chiefly by an addi- 
 tional number of ribs, and by the natural foliage on the 
 bosses. Many floe examples of these remain, as in the 
 Cathedral of Exeter, and at York in the chapter- ho use; 
 at Norwich in the cloisters; at Chester b the vault is 
 of wood, with stone springers. There are a few instances 
 of stone roofs of this style over narrow spaces of very 
 high pitch, supported by open-work, as if in imitation 
 of wood-work, as on the vestry of Willingham, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, and the porch of Middleton Cheney, Ox- 
 fordshire. 
 
 *» The wooden groined vaults of Chester Cathedral were 
 carefully restored in 1871-72, with excellent effect, and in 
 very good taste. 
 
DECORATED PISCINAS. 167 
 
 I Lmhry, or Locker, with, tlie Door, 
 
 I Rushden. Northants. c. A.D. 1350. Piscina, Taekley, Oxon. 
 
168 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 Timber Roofs of this period are comparatively scarce, 
 although they are more common than is usually sup- 
 posed ; hut it is lamentable to observe how fast they 
 are disappearing: that of the hall of the abbey of 
 Great Malvern, the finest example that existed in this 
 country, or probably in any other, was wantonly de- 
 stroyed : it was a wooden ceiling, with an outer roof. 
 
 Bradenstoke Priory, or Clack Abbey, near Chippen- 
 ham, in Wiltshire, is, or was, a fine example. The 
 timber roofs of churches of this style are not generally 
 so fine as those of halls. There are, however, many 
 very good specimens of Decorated roofs remaining in 
 churches, as at Adderbury, Oxfordshire, Raunds, North- 
 amptonshire, and several others in that neighbourhood. 
 
 It should be observed that what are called open 
 timber roofs are, very frequently, inner roofs or ceil- 
 ings for ornament only, with a plain substantial outer 
 roof over them, as at Sparsholt, Berkshire. These in- 
 ner roofs or wooden ceilings, are sometimes of precisely 
 the same form as stone vaults, which are, in fact, 
 ceilings of another kind. The wooden vaults of War- 
 mington and the cloisters of Lincoln have been already 
 mentioned ; those of the nave of York Minster and 
 Winchester Cathedral are also of wood only. At Kid- 
 dington, Oxfordshire, is a good example of a Decorated 
 timber-roof of an ordinary parish church. At Kid- 
 
DECOEATED EOOES. 
 
 169 
 
 lington, in the same county, there is also a Decorated 
 timber- roof to the south aisle of the nave. 
 
 Ceilings are very useful and often necessary, and the 
 proper thing to be considered is how best to make 
 
 Kiddington, Oxon, c. A.D. 1350. 
 
 them ornamental also, as they were formerly. The 
 Puritan fashion of plain whitewashed plaster ceilings 
 caused a natural prejudice against ceilings altogether, 
 which has been carried too far. These were intro- 
 
170 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 duced in the seventeenth century, and continued dur- 
 ing the ignorant and apathetic eighteenth, and first 
 half of the nineteenth. In some instances these flat 
 plaster ceilings entirely concealed the upper part of 
 fine Decorated windows ; this was notably the case in 
 the fine church of Haseley, Oxfordshire; the plaster 
 ceiling had there been introduced in the time of George 
 the Third. This church was the first to be restored 
 by the Oxford Architectural Society, and the first 
 in which open-seats were restored in the diocese of 
 Oxford. 
 
 The open timber-roofs of the Yictorian Gothic archi- 
 tects, whether in what are miscalled restorations or in 
 new churches, have quite a distinct character of their 
 own, a general imitation of the time of Edward the 
 Eirst or Second ; but no one with eyes in his head can 
 mistake these for old work, although in some of the 
 real restorations the work is so well done that inex- 
 perienced eyes are frequently deceived. In roofs and 
 painted glass this is never the case; the English 
 painted glass of the Decorated style is generally very 
 good, with grey backgrounds, and bands of figures in 
 colour, which are thus well seen; in modern glass, 
 bright colours are put in the backgrounds, and destroy 
 the effect of the figures. The roofs are also generally 
 a bad imitation of the old work. 
 
DECORATED TOWERS. 
 
 171 
 
 The Towers of the Decorated style are usually 
 placed at the west 
 end, and follow very 
 much the same ge- 
 neral appearance as 
 in the Early Eng- 
 lish, hut of course 
 with the doorways, 
 and windows, and 
 other features cha- 
 racteristic of the 
 style. The cornice 
 is also generally 
 richer, with a pan- 
 elled battlement, 
 and with gurgoyles 
 projecting from it 
 at the corners, and 
 pinnacles at the an- 
 gles, as at Moulton, 
 
 Northants, where 
 the lower part of the pinnacles only remain. Some- 
 times there appears to have been a wooden spire, hut 
 this is by no means always the case. 
 
 Moulton, Horthants. 
 
172 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The Spires of the Decorated style differ but slightly 
 from those of the Early English, excepting that there 
 are generally more of the spire-lights, small windows 
 at the bases and on the sides of the spire, as at Wollas- 
 ton and Ringstead, Northants. 
 
 Wollaston, Northants, c. A.D. 1310. 
 
 Ringstead, Northants, c. A.D.135C 
 
DECORATED FRONTS. 
 
 173 
 
 The East Front of a church of this style most com- 
 monly consists of one large window at the end of the 
 choir, flanked by tall buttresses, and a smaller one at 
 the end of each aisle ; the west front usually has the 
 same arrangement, with the addition of a doorway, or 
 doorways, under the central window, but there are fre- 
 quently two narrow windows, with a buttress between 
 them carrying a hell- cot, in small country churches of 
 this style. The east ends of Carlisle and Selby, and the 
 west end of Howden, are among the finest examples. 
 On the Continent the large rose- window is almost always 
 a principal feature of the west front ; with us it is com- 
 paratively rare, and more often found in the transept 
 ends than at the west end. The south fronts of Howden 
 and Selby are also fine examples of the arrangement of 
 the side of a large building of this style, with large win- 
 dows both to the aisle and the clere- storey, separated by 
 buttresses with pinnacles. The interior of the choir at 
 Selby is one of the finest examples of the general effect 
 of a Decorated interior, and on a smaller scale the choirs 
 of Hull, and of Dorchester, Oxfordshire, are good ex- 
 amples. Lichfield Cathedral has the great advantage 
 of having its three spires perfect, and on this account 
 perhaps gives us the best idea of the effect intended to 
 be produced by the exterior of a perfect church of this 
 style: there can be no doubt that the same arrange- 
 ment was contemplated in many other instances. 
 
174 
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 The lantern of Ely and the nave of York must not 
 be omitted in this mention of some of the leading ex- 
 amples of the Decorated style, the general character of 
 which is thus ably summed up by Mr. Rickman : — 
 
 “ The General Appearance of Decorated buildings 
 is at once simple and magnificent; simple from the 
 small number of parts, and magnificent from the size 
 of the windows, and the easy flow of the lines of tra- 
 cery. In the interior of large buildings we find great 
 breadth, and an enlargement of the clere-story win- 
 dows, with a corresponding diminution of the trifo- 
 rium, which is now rather a part of the clere-storey 
 opening than a distinct member of the division. The 
 roofing, from the increased richness of the groining, 
 becomes an object of more attention. On the whole, 
 the nave of York, from the uncommon grandeur and 
 simplicity of the design, is certainly the finest exam- 
 ple; ornament is nowhere spared, yet there is a sim- 
 plicity which is peculiarly pleasing.” 
 
THE GRADUAL CHANGE FROM DECORATED 
 TO PERPENDICULAR. 
 
 RlCHAED II. AXD THE LATTEE PAET 01 EDWAKD III. 
 
 Feom c . 1360 to 1399 . 
 
 Hayixo now traced the gradual development of 
 Gothic architecture, from the rudest Romanesque to 
 its perfection in the Decorated style, it only remains 
 to trace its decline, which, though not equally gradual, 
 was much more so than is commonly supposed. Up 
 to the time of its perfection the progress appears to 
 have been nearly simultaneous throughout the northern 
 part of Europe, with some exceptions ; but during the 
 period of its decline, chiefly the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, it assumed a different form in each country, 
 so distinct one from the other as to require a different 
 name, and to be fairly considered as a distinct style. 
 To call the Perpendicular style of England by the same 
 name as the Flamboyant style of France, Germany, 
 and the Low Countries, can only cause needless con- 
 fusion; and the received names for these styles are so 
 expressive of their general character that it would not 
 be easy to improve upon them. 
 
176 CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 
 
 The gradual change from the Decorated to the Per- 
 pendicular style has been less generally noticed than 
 the earlier transitions ; but though less apparent at first 
 sight, it may be as clearly traced, and examples of it 
 are almost equally numerous : they occur in most parts 
 of the country, though more common in some districts 
 than in others, especially in Norfolk. 
 
 Professor Willis has demonstrated that this change 
 began to shew itself, in the choir and transepts of 
 Gloucester Cathedral, before the middle of the four- 
 teenth century. The panelling and the window tra- 
 cery have so much the appearance of the Perpendicular 
 style that they have been commonly supposed to have 
 been rebuilt or altered at a late period ; but the vault- 
 ing and the moldings are pure Decorated, and the 
 painted glass of the fourteenth century is evidently 
 made for the places which it occupies in the heads of 
 the windows with Perpendicular tracery : it must there- 
 fore be considered as the earliest known example of 
 this great change of style. In this work of alteration 
 the walls and arches of the Norman church were not 
 rebuilt, but cased with panelling over the inner sur- 
 face, so as to give the effect of the latter style to the 
 interior. This was just the same process as was after- 
 wards followed at Winchester by William of Wykeham, 
 in changing the Norman to the Perpendicular style in 
 
CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 177 
 
 appearance without any actual rebuilding. The work 
 was begun as early as 1337, and carried on for a num- 
 ber of years. The funds were procured by offerings at 
 the tomb of King Edward II., who, as is well known, 
 was buried in this church, the body having been re- 
 moved from Berkeley Castle for that purpose by the 
 Abbot Thokey. It has been ascertained by Archdeacon 
 Freeman, at Exeter, by a careful comparison of the 
 building with the fabric rolls, that the greater part of 
 that fine Cathedral was also altered from the Norman 
 to the Decorated style without rebuilding. 
 
 The Dean’s Cloister of Windsor with the buildings 
 surrounding it was built between 1350 and 1356, as 
 appears by the builder’s accounts still extant in the 
 Public Becord Office. The style is Perpendicular, but 
 with Decorated moldings, or at least a mixture of them. 
 The vault of the porch under the iErary or treasury, 
 and the doorway to it, are among the richest pieces of 
 work of this period. It was originally the porch of 
 the chapter-house of the Order of the Garter. 
 
 Sir G. G. Scott, in his ‘‘Gleanings from Westmin- 
 ster Abbey,” has also shewn that part of the cloisters, 
 and some other work recorded to have been built by 
 Abbot Litlington, 1362 — 1386, are in a style of trans- 
 ition, belonging rather to the Perpendicular than the 
 Decorated. 
 
 N 
 
178 CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR, 
 
 The substructure of all the canonical residences run- 
 ning southward from 
 the Deanery, (itself the 
 Abbot’s house of old,) 
 displays a range of 
 vaulting of simple and 
 elegant character, with 
 here and there a win- 
 dow of the period still 
 remaining to testify 
 that the whole was 
 completed, before the 
 tasteless alterations of 
 subsequent centuries 
 destroyed the work- 
 manship which they 
 were as unable to ap- 
 preciate as to imitate. 
 
 Two archways still re- 
 main, in the length of 
 
 this substructure, con- Window of the Hall of the Abbot’s Honsc, 
 
 ’ , now the Scholars’ Hall, Westminster, 
 
 necting Great Dean s a.d. 1376— 1386. 
 
 Yard with the courts to the eastward of it. They are 
 
 of the style to which their known date would assign 
 
 them; though perhaps a close consideration of their 
 
 details (such as the cavetto and double ogee moldings) 
 
CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 1 79 
 
 would lead to the conclusion that those characteris- 
 tics, hitherto assigned to the fifteenth century, are 
 here found in one of the earliest examples of their 
 application. 
 
 The whole of Abbot Litlington’s work is in a style 
 of transition between the Decorated and Perpendicular 
 period ; it is almost impossible to say to which of these 
 received styles the moldings and details can be referred. 
 As the divisions of the styles of Gothic Architecture 
 are entirely arbitrary, arranged for general conveni- 
 ence, and for the use of beginners in the study, it is 
 perfectly natural that this sort of mixture should 
 take place for a certain period between each of the 
 great changes. The latter part of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury was the period when the Perpendicular style 
 was coming into general use, but was not fully estab- 
 lished: as the distinction is less marked than in the 
 similar period between each of the other styles, it has 
 been commonly overlooked, but the same overlapping 
 of styles occurs at this period as in the similar transi- 
 tion between the others. This is more marked and 
 prominent between the Norman and the Early English 
 styles, and therefore that is commonly called the period 
 of transition ; but a similar period exists equally be- 
 tween each, a gradual change was always going on. 
 
 One of the earliest authenticated examples of this 
 
180 CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR, 
 
 Part of tlie Vaulting of the Cloisters over the Lavatory, 
 Abbot Litlington’s Work, 
 
 ■Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1376—1386. 
 
CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 181 
 
 transition is the church of Edington, Wiltshire, built 
 by William de Edington, Bishop of Winchester: the 
 first stone was laid in 1352, and the church was dedi- 
 cated in 1361. It is a fine cruciform church, all of 
 uniform character, and that character is neither Deco- 
 rated nor Perpendicular, but a very remarkable mix- 
 ture of the two styles throughout. The tracery of the 
 windows looks at first sight like Decorated, but on 
 looking more closely the introduction of Perpendicular 
 features is very evident. The west doorway has the 
 segmental arch common in Decorated work ; over this 
 is the usual square label of the Perpendicular, and 
 under the arch is Perpendicular panelling over the 
 heads of the two doors: the same curious mixture 
 is observable in the moldings, and in all the details. 
 This example is the more valuable from the circum- 
 stance that it was Bishop Edington who commenced 
 the alteration of Winchester Cathedral into the Per- 
 pendicular style; he died in 1366, and the work was 
 continued by William of Wykeham, who mentions in 
 his will that Edington had finished the west end, 
 with two windows on the north side and one on the 
 south : the change in the character of the work is 
 very distinctly marked. Bishop Edington’s work at 
 Winchester was executed at a later period than that 
 at Edington, and, as might be expected, the new 
 
182 CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 
 
 idea is more fully developed; but on a comparison 
 between the west window of Winchester and the east 
 window of Edington, it will at once be seen that the 
 principle of construction is the same ; there is a central 
 division carried up to the head of the window, and 
 sub-arches springing from it on each side : it may be 
 observed that whenever this arrangement of the sub- 
 arches occurs in Decorated work, it is a sign that the 
 work is late in the style. Before the death of Bishop 
 Edington the great principles of the Perpendicular 
 style were fully established. These chiefly consist of 
 the Perpendicular lines through the head of the win- 
 dow, and in covering the surface of the wall with 
 panelling of the same kind. These features are as 
 distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent 
 building, or as they well could be. 
 
 The next great work of Wykeham was New College 
 Chapel, Oxford, certainly one of the earliest, perhaps 
 the first, building erected from the foundations entirely 
 in the Perpendicular style ; and a finer specimen of the 
 style does not exist. The first stone was laid in 1380, 
 and it was dedicated in 1386. Winchester College, built 
 immediately after New College, is of precisely the same 
 character with it, as might have been expected : they are 
 both excellent specimens for the study of the Perpendi- 
 cular style* Another very remarkable and valuable ex- 
 
CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR, 183 
 
 ample of the transition from Decorated to Perpendicular 
 is the choir of York Minster, commenced by Archbishop 
 John de Thoresby in 1361, and completed in 1408 ; the 
 general appearance of this magnificent work is Perpen- 
 dicular, hut there is great mixture in all the details. 
 The chancel of, St. Mary’s Church at Warwick, rebuilt 
 by Thomas Peauchamp, second Earl of Warwick, be- 
 tween 1370 and 1391, 
 has more of the Per- 
 pendicular, being co- 
 vered with panelling 
 like Winchester, but r 
 the moldings are quite 
 of mixed character. 
 
 King’s Sutton Church, 
 
 N orthamptonsh ire, 
 deserves notice as a 
 specimen of this tran- 
 sition. In some in- 
 stances, as atCharlton- 
 on-Otmoor, the per- 
 pendicular line of the 
 molding is carried on 
 straight through the 
 
 , East Window, Charlton-on-Otmoor, 
 
 tracery to the arch. Oxon, c. 1380. 
 
 flowing lines of the 
 
184 CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 
 
 The nave and western transepts of Canterbury Cathe- 
 dral were rebuilt between 1378 and 1411, but the Per- 
 pendicular style was then so fully established that there 
 are scarcely any signs of transition. Chipping-Camden 
 Church, Gloucestershire, was rebuilt by William Gre- 
 ville, a rich wool- stapler, who is buried in the chancel 
 with his wife, and there is a fine brass to their memory ; 
 he died in 1401. This church is almost entirely of 
 transitional character. The glorious chapter-house of 
 Howden, and Gisburne Priory Church, in Yorkshire, 
 are of this period, and very fine examples of early 
 Perpendicular work. The roof and the casing of the 
 walls of Westminster Hall belong also to the close of 
 this century, 1397-99. The gatehouse of Thornton 
 Abbey, Lincolnshire, is another splendid example of 
 this transition. The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral 
 are decided Perpendicular in the fan-tracery of the 
 vaults, but are partly of earlier date and character. 
 
 Houses and castles of the time of Richard II. are 
 rather numerous and fine, and have frequently such 
 a mixture of the Decorated and Perpendicular styles 
 that it is difficult to say to which they belong. This 
 is the case with a part of Warwick Castle, of Donning- 
 ton Castle, Berkshire, Wardour Castle, Wiltshire, and 
 Wressel Castle, Yorkshire; and Bolton Castle, in the 
 more northern part of Yorkshire, is another fine ex- 
 
CHANGE FROM DECORATED TO PERPENDICULAR. 185 
 
 ample, and remarkably perfect. It is a very lofty and 
 fine building, rather a fortified house than a castle in- 
 tended for military purposes ; there are two courts, and 
 all the towers are perfect, or nearly so. It belongs to 
 the time of Richard II. Dartington Hall, Devonshire, 
 near Totnes, is another remarkable example of this 
 period and character ; it is a manor-house not fortified, 
 with extensive farm -buildings attached to it. All the 
 original windows are of four lights, with arches of the 
 form called the shouldered- arch, which has been adopted 
 in the modern Gothic front of Balliol College, Oxford. 
 The original parts of the Vicar’s Close at Wells are of 
 the same character and period; the remains of the 
 Vicar’s Close at Lincoln are in part also of this cha- 
 racter, one house is earlier, more decidedly Edwardian, 
 and remarkably perfect. Host of these buildings are 
 well known and have often been described, but are 
 sometimes said to belong to the one style and some- 
 times to the other, this important transitional period 
 having been very commonly overlooked. 
 
 The chancel of the fine church at Warwick is an 
 excellent example of this change; it has sometimes 
 been described as of the earlier style, and by other 
 writers as of the later. The chapel on the south side 
 of it, with the celebrated tomb of the Earl of Warwick, 
 is an addition, and belongs to the later style. 
 
THE PEHPEEDICHLAR STYLE. 
 
 Richaed II. to Henet VIII. A.D. 1377 — 1547. 
 
 Having thus taken a rapid historical survey of the 
 introduction of the Perpendicular style, it should be 
 mentioned that this style is exclusively English, it is 
 never found on the Continent, and it has the advantage 
 of being more economical in execution than the earlier 
 styles. It remains to describe its characteristic features. 
 The broad distinction of the Perpendicular style lies in 
 the form of the tracery in the head of the windows ; and 
 in fully developed examples the distinction is sufficiently 
 obvious. "We have no longer the head of the window 
 filled with the gracefully flowing lines of the Decorated 
 tracery, but their place is supplied by the rigid lines 
 of the mullions, which are carried through to the archi- 
 trave moldings, the spaces between being frequently 
 divided and subdivided by similar Perpendicular lines ; 
 so that Perpendicularity is so clearly the characteristic 
 of these windows, that no other word could have been 
 found which would at once so well express the predo- 
 minating feature. The same character prevails through- 
 
THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE, 
 
 187 
 
 Fotheringhay, Northants, A.D. 1435. 
 
 A remarkable example of a Perpendicular church, the contract for build- 
 ing -which has been preserved, and was published by Mr. Hartshorne for 
 the Oxford Architectural Society in 1841. 
 
188 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 out the buildings of this period : the whole surface of a 
 building, including its buttresses, parapets, basements, 
 and every part of the flat surface, is frequently covered 
 with panelling, in which the Perpendicular line clearly 
 predominates; and to such an excess is this carried 
 that the windows frequently appear to be only open- 
 ings in the panel- work. This is equally apparent at 
 the beginning, in the interior of the west end of Win- 
 chester Cathedral, and in the exterior of the Divinity 
 School, Oxford, near the end of this style. The towers 
 of Boston in Lincolnshire, and Evesham in Worces- 
 tershire, are also fine examples of exterior panelling. 
 Panelling, indeed, now forms an important feature 
 of the style; for though it was used in the earlier 
 styles, it was not to the same extent, and was of very 
 different character, the plain surfaces in those styles 
 being relieved chiefly by diaper- work. 
 
 In the earlier or transitional examples we find, as 
 has been mentioned, a mixture of the two styles. The 
 general form of the tracery is frequently Decorated, 
 but the lines of the mullions are carried through them, 
 and perpendicular lines in various ways introduced. 
 A very common form of transition is the changing of 
 the flowing lines of a two-light Decorated window into 
 a straight-sided figure by the introduction of perpen- 
 dicular lines from the points of the sub-arches, as at 
 
THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 189 
 
 Haseley, Oxfordshire. Sometimes we have Decorated 
 moldings, with Perpendicular tracery, hut frequently 
 the features of both styles are intimately blended, and 
 produce a very good effect. 
 
 This peculiarly English style is found far more con- 
 venient for domestic buildings than the earlier styles. 
 There are a large number of palaces and houses of this 
 style remaining, such as nearly all the colleges of Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge ; it can also be very well executed 
 in brickwork. Some of the finest mediaeval houses that 
 we have remaining are of brick, and the tall brick 
 chimneys of this style are both ornamental and conve- 
 nient; they are usually built in the outer wall, and 
 carried up above the level of the roof, and for this rea- 
 son the fires made under such chimneys never smoke. 
 Modern builders have greatly neglected this precau- 
 tion, and the wind blowing over a high-pitched roof 
 naturally descends on the other side, and carries the 
 smoke down the chimney, instead of letting it float 
 away freely with the wind, 
 
 No one who has seen the fine brick buildings of the 
 time of Henry the Seventh can despise them. Eton 
 College is almost entirely built of brick, excepting the 
 chapel, which is faced with stone. In many districts 
 the difference of expense between brick and stone is 
 enormous. The old Homans were quite aware of this, 
 
190 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 and used brick far more than modern builders are 
 willing to do, even for their imperial palaces and 
 magnificent aqueducts. 
 
 The arches of this style are not usually so acute as 
 in the earlier periods, and in the latter part of the 
 style become very flat, but in the earlier portion they 
 are similar to the previous style, as in the compart- 
 ment of Fotheringhay. In this instance there is also 
 a deep hollow molding, which looks at first sight 
 like Decorated, and beginners in the study are fre- 
 quently misled by this feature, but it is often con- 
 tinued for the first half of the Perpendicular period. 
 The arch of the clere-storey window over the former 
 is comparatively flat. The name of clere-storey is 
 usually continued even when there is no triforium, or 
 blind-storey, as it is called by William of Worcester, 
 writing in the fifteenth century. The French have 
 adopted the English name of clear -storey , with the old 
 spelling [as clerestorie] : it is therefore more expedient 
 to observe it, but for beginners it may perhaps be 
 necessary to explain that clere is the old spelling of 
 ‘ clear/ The different forms of the two arches of the 
 windows of the aisle and of the clere-storey in this 
 dated example, prove that the form of the arch is 
 never a safe guide to the date of a building; to fix 
 a date, various details have often to be considered. 
 
THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 191 
 
 Compartment of Fotheringhay Cliurcli, A.D. 1435. 
 
192 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 It is not always easy to distinguish at first sight the 
 arch over a tomb of early Perpendicular from one in 
 the Decorated style, as at Waterperry, Oxon. Here 
 
 Waterperry, Oxon. 
 
 Arch over a tomb of a knight in plate armour, of the fifteenth century. 
 
PERPENDICULAR COLUMNS. 
 
 193 
 
 the battlement on the top of the wall at the hack, and 
 the plate-armour of the knight, and the crockets on the 
 ogee arch, are more like the Decorated style. 
 
 The capitals and bases of columns in this style can 
 generally he distinguished by the shallowness of the 
 moldings, sometimes panelling is introduced; one of 
 
 Lady-chapel, Winchester, c. A.D. 1460. 
 
 i this kind, with the base stilted and molded, is in the 
 Lady-chapel at Winchester. Foliage, if used, is gene- 
 rally shallow, and not so good as in the Decorated. 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 The columns themselves are frequently so much like 
 those of the Decorated style, especially in plain parish 
 churches, that they can hardly be distinguished ex- 
 cepting by the moldings on the capitals and bases, if 
 there are any, but there are no bases in many instances. 
 
 Pier, Fotheringliay, A.D. 1435. 
 
 At Fotheringhay, which is a particularly valuable ex- 
 ample as having a given date for all parts of it, the 
 columns pillars, or piers, for they are called by all 
 three names, have a great resemblance to the Deco- 
 rated style. 
 
PERPENDICULAR WINDOWS. 
 
 195 
 
 The Windows of New College and the ante-chapel 
 of Merton College, Oxford, 
 afford perhaps as fine exam- 
 ples as are to be found of 
 early and perfect Perpen- 
 dicular. They are both what 
 is called sub-arcuated, hut 
 in New College the window 
 is of four lights, and the 
 sub-arches rise from the cen- 
 tre mullion ; while in Mer- 
 ton, which is of three lights, 
 the mullions are carried up 
 to the architrave, and the 
 side lights only are sub-ar- 
 cuated. Poth these forms 
 are very frequent. In many 
 later examples these sub- 
 arches are entirely disused, 
 and all the mullions are car- 
 ried through the trans 
 
 this is the case at New Col- shewing Perpendicular tracery> 
 
 Ipo'p • Vmf if waq nffpvwnrria with sub-arches and a transom, the 
 
 iege, out it was atterwaras heads of the lights cinquefoiled ’ (five 
 
 William of Wykeham, New College, 
 Oxford, A.D. 1386. 
 
 used to excess, so as greatly foiled), 
 to injure the effect of the windows. 
 
 In the later examples the arches of the windows are 
 
196 
 
 THE PEEPENDICTJLAH STYLE. 
 
 much lower than they were in the earlier period, and 
 the four-centred arch, which began now to be exten- 
 sively used, was gradually depressed, until all beauty 
 of proportion was lost, the arches being little more 
 than two straight lines rounded at the angle of junc- 
 tion with the jambs. These late windows had fre- 
 
 quently great width in proportion to their height, 
 as at Haseley, and were placed so near together, 
 
PERPENDICULAR WINDOWS. 
 
 197 
 
 that the strength of the building entirely depended 
 on the buttresses. 
 
 A little later in the style, one of the best examples 
 that is anywhere to be found is the Presbytery at 
 
 Presbytery, Tort, c. A.D. 1460. 
 
 York, in which the windows are very large and di- 
 vided into five lights ; in the central division the mul- 
 lions are carried straight through the arch, and two 
 horizontal transoms are introduced, which is a very 
 
198 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 unusual arrangement; there are also transoms across 
 the side lights on each side, and there are two of them. 
 
 These windows having all been originally filled with 
 painted glass, we have’rarely an opportunity of judging 
 of the proper effect of them ; the glare of light which we 
 now complain of having been caused by the destruction 
 of that material, which was intended to soften and par- 
 tially to exclude it. The church of Fairford, in Glou- 
 cestershire, affords a rare instance of the painted glass 
 having been preserved in all the windows, and the effect 
 is solemn and calm — very far from glaring ; and it is re- 
 markable that they impede the light so little that a book 
 may be read in any part of the church, which is seldom 
 the case with modern painted glass. The clere-storeys 
 also are frequently almost a sheet of glass merely divided 
 by lighter or heavier mullions, thus offering a complete 
 contrast to the small and distant openings so frequently 
 found in Early English and Decorated work. Square- 
 headed, segmental, and other flat-arched windows, are 
 frequent in this style. In rich churches there is some- 
 times a double plane of tracery, the one glazed, the 
 other not. In the choir of York the inner one is 
 glazed. The east window of the nave of Chipping- 
 Norton Church, Oxfordshire, over the chancel-arch, is 
 a fine specimen of this kind of window : in this instance 
 the outer plane is glazed. 
 
PERPENDICULAR DOORWAYS. 
 
 199 
 
 The Doorways are frequently very rich, but have 
 generally one prevailing form, which is a depressed 
 arch within a square frame, and over this a label. 
 
 Fine examples of panelled wooden doors of this 
 style are also met with occasionally, as in the church 
 of S. Crux, at York, The priest’s door, on the south 
 
200 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 side of the chancel, is often an insertion of a later 
 period than the building, and is of this style, although 
 the walls may be Early English or Decorated. 
 
 The label - molding is fre- 
 quently filled with foliage, and 
 the space round the arch pan- 
 elled; the jambs ornamented 
 with shafts, and the spandrels 
 filled with shields and foliage. 
 
 It has been mentioned that 
 the old wooden door, with the 
 original iron-work, frequently 
 remains ; a good instance of 
 this occurs at Beckley Church, Oxon, which has the 
 usual square-head and dripstone over it, with the drip- 
 stone terminations which are heads, probably, of the 
 donors. This door is protected by a porch, and in the 
 comer next the door is the niche for a stoup of holy- 
 water, with which the people sprinkled themselves as 
 they went into the church. This place for the stoup 
 is frequently found just inside the door, instead of 
 outside. The iron- work of this style is not so good as 
 that of the Early English or Decorated, but still it is 
 often very good, and is frequently preserved; it has 
 the advantage of not requiring a porch to protect it, 
 but was originally painted or gilt in some instances. 
 
 Dripstone termination, 
 RusMen, Northants. 
 
PERPENDICULAR DOORWAYS. 
 
 201 
 
 The west doorway of the church of Fotheringhay is 
 a very good example of this style, with the well- 
 molded square head over it, the molded arch with 
 shafts in the jambs and shields, and foliated circles 
 in the spandrels. 
 
 West Doorway, Fotheringliay, A.D. 1435. 
 
202 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 The Towers in this style are frequently extremely 
 rich and elaborately ornamented, having four or five 
 storeys of large windows with rich canopies, pinnacles, 
 and tabernacles; double buttresses at the angles, and 
 rich deep open parapets, with pinnacles and crocheted 
 turrets at the corners, having small flying or hanging 
 pinnacles attached. These very gorgeous towers are 
 chiefly found in Somersetshire, as at Wrington, Taun- 
 ton, Brislington, Dundry, &c. There are, however, few 
 which, for beauty of proportion and chasteness of com- 
 position, can rival that of Magdalen College, Oxford. 
 In that example the lower storeys are extremely plain, 
 all the ornament being reserved for the belfry- windows, 
 the parapet, and pinnacles; by this judicious arrange- 
 ment the eye takes in the whole subject at once, thus 
 giving to it a solemnity and a repose which are not at- 
 tained by the more gorgeous specimens before referred 
 to. This tower was originally intended to stand alone, 
 as a campanile, or belfry-tower ; the buildings which 
 have been erected on two sides of it are of a subse- 
 quent period. At the time it was building, Wolsey, 
 afterwards the celebrated Cardinal and Prime Minister 
 of Henry Till., was a Bellow of this College, and held 
 the office of Bursar ; tradition gives him the credit of 
 the design, there is no better authority for this, but it 
 is probably true he was a great builder. 
 
PERPENDICULAR TOWERS, 
 
 203 
 
204 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 The light and elegant style of vaulting known as fan- 
 tracery 8 , which is peculiar to this style, with its delicate 
 pendants and lace-like ornaments, harmonizes finely with 
 the elaborate ornament of the tabernacle-work below. 
 
 The Porches are in general very fine, and highly 
 enriched with panel-work, buttresses, and pinnacles; 
 open parapets, windows, and tabernacles with figures, 
 flanking the window or the outer arch, and in the 
 interior sometimes a richly-groined vault. Yery fine 
 examples of these porches are found in Norfolk, Somer- 
 setshire, Devonshire, and Dorsetshire. 
 
 There are frequently very good porches of this style 
 of a more ordinary kind in the parish churches, with 
 a stone vault, as at the west end of Woodstock, Oxon. 
 This church had been partly rebuilt in the Georgian era, 
 in the style of that period, on the side next the street; 
 but at the back and at the end, where it is out of sight, 
 
 » It should be noticed that fan-tracery vaulting is peculiarly 
 English, the principle of it began with the earliest English 
 Gothic style, as in the cloisters of Lincoln Cathedral, each stone 
 of the vaulting being cut to fit its place. In France this is 
 never done, each block of stone is oblong, as in those for the 
 walls, and is only made to curve over in a vault by the mortar 
 between the joints. This had the effect of making vaulting 
 much cheaper to construct, and therefore much more abundant 
 in France than in England, but it is always less scientific and 
 often less beautiful; good French architects, with the late 
 M. Viollet-le-Duc, much admired the English vaulting. 
 
PEEPENDICTTLAE OEXAMENT. 
 
 205 
 
 the old work has been preserved in the complete resto- 
 ration of this church in the time of Queen Victoria. 
 
 West Porch, Woodstock, Oxon, c. AD. 1500. 
 
 In later examples we find ornament used to such an 
 excess as completely to overpower the usual character- 
 istic features of the building ; no large space is left on 
 which the eye can rest, but every portion is occupied 
 with panelling or other ornament. 
 
 An example of this may be seen in the exterior of 
 Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, which has more the ap- 
 pearance of a piece of wood -carving than of a building 
 of stone ; but in the interior of the same building this 
 very richness has a wonderfully fine effect. 
 
206 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 The Moldings of this style differ much from the 
 preceding ones. They are in general more shallow ; 
 that is, they have more breadth and less depth than 
 the earlier ones. Those in most use are a wide and 
 shallow molding, used in the jambs of windows and 
 doorw r ays, as in Haseley, No. 1 ; a shallow ogee; a 
 round, or boutell ; a fillet, a kind of hollow quarter- 
 round, and a double ogee, as in Haseley, No. 2. The \ 
 wide molding of cornices is sometimes filled up at inter- 
 vals with large paterae, which replace the four-leaved 
 flower and the ball-flower of the Decorated style ; or 
 with heads, grotesque figures, or animals and foliage. 
 These are frequently inferior both in conception and 
 execution, to the earlier styles. 
 
 There is an ornament which was introduced in this 
 style, and which is 
 very characteristic. 
 
 This is called the 
 u Tudor - flower,” 
 not because it was 
 introduced in the 
 time of the Tu- 
 dors, hut because 
 it was so much 
 used at that period, 
 dification of the fit 
 
 Tudor Flower, Henry tlie Seventh's Chapel. 
 
 It generally consists of some mo- 
 r-de-lis, alternately with a small 
 
PERPENDICULAR MOLDINGS. 
 
 207 
 
 Haseley, Oxon, c. A.D. 1480. 
 
208 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 trefoil or ball, and is much used as a crest for screens, 
 on fonts, niches, capitals, and in almost all places 
 where such ornament can be used. 
 
 The foliage of this style is frequently very beauti- 
 fully executed, almost as faithful to nature as in the 
 Decorated style, in which the fidelity to nature is 
 one of the characteristic features. In Devonshire the 
 foliage of the capitals is peculiar, often resembling 
 a wreath of flowers twisted round the top of the 
 pillar; and this may probably have been the idea of 
 the sculptors, as the custom of decorating churches 
 with flowers at certain seasons is a very ancient one ; 
 it is probable also that the sculpture was originally 
 coloured after nature. There is comparatively a square- 
 ness about the Perpendicular foliage which takes from 
 the freshness and beauty which distinguished that of 
 the Decorated style. Indeed, the use of square and 
 angular forms is one of the characteristics of the style ; 
 we have square panels, square foliage, square crockets 
 and finials, square forms in the windows, — caused by 
 the introduction of so many transoms, — and an ap- 
 proach to squareness in the depressed and low pitch 
 of the roofs in late examples. 
 
PEBPENDICTJLAE, MOLDINGS. 
 
 209 
 
 It is frequently said that it is not easy to distinguish 
 the moldings of the Perpendicular style from those of 
 the earlier styles, but this is in general because people 
 
 Doorway, FottLeringhay, Northants, A.D. 1435. 
 
 do not pay attention to them. The moldings of Fother- 
 inghay are particularly good, and they have a positive 
 date, yet if these are compared with either of the 
 earlier styles the difference is very evident. The hol- 
 lows are more shallow, the projection not so bold, and 
 these are the usual characteristics. 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 The Buttresses of this style do not differ materially 
 from those of the Decorated, but the triangular heads 
 to the different stages are less frequently used; the 
 set-offs are more frequently plain slopes only. The 
 projection of buttresses of this style is usually greater 
 than in any of the previous styles, especially in those 
 that have to support towers, when there are com- 
 monly three stages, sometimes more, and they are 
 often placed diagonally at the corners, or there are 
 two, one on either side of the corner. Sometimes 
 a buttress of this style is very thin, and has two 
 diagonal faces; there is frequently a niche on the face 
 of the buttress, either for an image, which seldom 
 remains, or for a shield of arms only, and this more 
 often remains. Sometimes there is a half-arch through 
 the lower part of the buttress, as at Gloucester, and 
 this is quite distinct from the flying buttress, the ob- 
 ject of which usually is to support the wall of the 
 clere-storey, by carrying the pressure across the roof 
 of the aisle on to the outer wall, and on these pin- 
 nacles are placed over each buttress, the direct out- 
 ward weight of the pinnacle serving to counteract the 
 side pressure, as at Fotheringhay. 
 
PERPENDICULAR BUTTRESSES. 
 
 211 
 
 Fotlieringliay, Horthants, A.D. 1435. 
 
 In this excellent example it will at once be seen 
 that the upper end of each of the arch-bnttresses must 
 catch the lower end of the timbers of the roof, and so 
 conveys the pressure to the outer wall, where again 
 the weight of the vertical pinnacle helps to counteract 
 the side pressure of the arch-buttress. There is also 
 a massive part of the buttress against the lower wall. 
 
212 
 
 THE PEKPENDICTJLAE STYXE. 
 
 Empty niches for images 
 are very abundant in this 
 style, but it is rare to find 
 the figure left in the niches 
 that were made for it ; they 
 do occur occasionally, and 
 are sometimes almost as 
 good as those of the pre- 
 ceding style. There is a 
 very good one in the 
 tower of S. Mary Magdalen 
 Church, Oxford, which is 
 believed to have been 
 brought from the ruins of 
 Osney Abbey, as that 
 tower is of the time of 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 The figure of the patron 
 saint over the outer door 
 of the porch of a parish 
 church has frequently been 
 preserved ; occasionally 
 the figures in the niches 
 remain. 
 
 S. Mary Magdalen, Oxford, 
 c. A.D. 1500. 
 
 a churchyard cross still 
 
PEBPENDICULAB COBBELS. 
 
 213 
 
 The frequent use of figures, simply as corbels between 
 the windows of the 
 clere-storey to carry 
 the roof, is a good 
 characteristic of the 
 late Perpendicular 
 style ; they are gene- 
 rally of the time of 
 Henry the Seventh 
 or Eighth, as at Rush- 
 den, North ants. The 
 figure used is gene- 
 rally that of an an- 
 gel, and each angel 
 is sometimes repre- 
 sented as carrying 
 a different musical 
 instrument, so as to 
 make up a heavenly 
 choir. In this in- 
 stance the instru- 
 ment carried is one 
 sometimes called a 
 mouth-organ, or shep- 
 herd’s pipes. 
 
 Corbel s EusMen, e. A.D. 1500. 
 
214 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 The splendid Open Timber Roofs, as at St. Stephen’s 
 Church, Norwich, which are the glory of the eastern 
 counties, belong almost entirely to this style ; the 
 screens and lofts across the chancel-arch, and often 
 across the aisles also, and the richly carved bench-ends 
 for which the West of England is so justly celebrated, 
 also belong to it ; in fact, nearly the whole of the me- 
 dieval woodwork which we have remaining is of this 
 style, and this material appears to be peculiarly adapted 
 for it. It may reasonably be doubted whether the 
 modern attempts to revive the woodwork of the Nor- 
 man and Early English styles are not altogether a 
 mistake. Nothing can well exceed the richness and 
 beauty of the Perpendicular woodwork, and it is easy 
 to imagine that a church of the twelfth or thirteenth 
 century has been newly furnished in the fifteenth or 
 sixteenth. We have, however, some very beautiful 
 examples of Decorated woodwork in screens, and stalls 
 with their canopies, as at Winchester; there are also 
 a few wooden tombs of that period. 
 
 In Norfolk there are several fine examples remain- 
 ing of galleries and screens, commonly called roodlofts, 
 being used at the west end of the church also, under 
 the tower, and across the tower-arch; and this in 
 churches where the roodloft, properly so called, still 
 remains across the chancel-arch, so that there is a 
 
PEEPENDICTJXAE. OPEN - TIMBEK EOOFS, 
 
 215 
 
216 
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 quasi-roodloft at each end of the nave. There is no 
 doubt that this custom prevailed in many other coun- 
 ties also, but the western loft has generally been 
 destroyed in consequence of the barbarous custom of 
 blocking up the tower-arch, which is often the finest 
 feature in the church. The roodloft-galleries seem 
 to have been used for choristers to stand upon; the 
 lessons were also read from them. They are sometimes 
 very large, extending over the eastern bay of the nave 
 and occasionally over the western bay of the chancel also, 
 as may be seen by the remains of the staircases for them. 
 
 The Eedcliffe Church, Bristol, the west front and 
 south porch of Gloucester Cathedral, and part of the 
 choir of St. Alban’s Abbey Church, with the tomb 
 of Abbot Wheathampstead, are also of this period, and 
 good specimens of the style. Within the next twenty 
 years we have a crowd of examples, which it is not 
 necessary to enumerate. 
 
 But a few more specimens of the later period of this 
 style can hardly be passed over, such as St. George’s 
 Chapel, Windsor, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, 
 and Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, Westminster; and 
 of the very latest before the change of style, Bath 
 Abbey Church, the Savoy Chapel, in the Strand, 
 London, with its very beautiful panelled ceiling, and 
 Whiston Church, Horthants. 
 
THE GRADUAL DECAY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 217 
 
 Gothic Architecture is usually considered to have 
 come to an end in England in the time of Henry Till. 
 This is only partially true , it lingered on in many dis- 
 tricts for another century ; this was especially the case 
 in Oxford, and I have much pleasure in republishing 
 an excellent memoir on this subject by the late Mr. 
 Orlando Jewitt, read at the meeting of the Royal Archae- 
 ological Institute at Oxford, in 1850. It has never 
 been much circulated, and has been quite forgotten, 
 hut the facts speak for themselves, and are clearly 
 stated by Mr. Jewitt, and proved by his admirable 
 woodcuts of these buildings. He was a thorough 
 artist, and an enthusiastic lover of the subject of 
 Gothic Architecture. His woodcuts differ from any 
 others in this respect, they are not made from drawings, 
 but are drawn on the wood by himself from the objects, 
 and then handed to his brother, Henry Jewitt, to be 
 engraved ; the latter long had the reputation of “ being 
 able to cut the finest line of any one in the trade,” 
 and in wood-engraving, where the lines have to be left 
 standing to be printed, and the other parts to become 
 white surface, cut away, the finest lines necessarily 
 produce the finest woodcuts. 
 
 Some people talk of the Elizabethan and Jacobean 
 style, but this is really no style at all, any more than 
 what is foolishly called “ the Queen Anne style.” All 
 
218 
 
 JACOBEAN GOTHIC. 
 
 of these are jumbles of various styles, they are neither 
 Gothic, nor Grecian, nor Roman, nor Italian, but can 
 only be called with truth a mongrel mixture of styles, 
 to which various names are given for convenience. The 
 idea that they are cheaper on this account is entirely 
 a delusion ; the same amount of space to be covered, and 
 the same extent of walls and of ornament, will cost the 
 same whatever the style may be ; that is a matter of 
 taste only, about which it is needless to dispute ; if any 
 people are so blind as to prefer this mongrel work to 
 a genuine style there is no help for it, they must ex- 
 pose themselves to the ridicule of the next generation. 
 
 The Gothic Architecture of Oxford, even as late as 
 the seventeenth century, was not in this mongrel style, 
 it was as good as the generality of modem Gothic of 
 the Victorian school. The fan-tracery vault over the 
 staircase of the hall of Christ Church, for instance, 
 carried on a central pillar, as in a mediaeval chapter- 
 house, is thoroughly good Gothic, although the only 
 record that we have of it is that it was built by “one 
 Smith, an artificer from London, ** in the time of 
 Charles the Second. In the county of Somerset also 
 there are some excellent examples of very late Gothic, 
 and in some other districts ; the English people were 
 not willing to give up their preference for this their 
 own national style to any other. 
 
ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, GOTHIC 
 BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. 
 
 From the Reign of Elizabeth to the end of the 
 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 Gothic Architecture seems to have attained its 
 ultimate perfection in the fourteenth century, at which 
 period everything belonging to it was conceived and 
 executed in a free and bold spirit, all the forms were 
 graceful and natural, and all the details of foliage and 
 other sculptures were copied from living types, with 
 a skill and truth of drawing which has never been 
 surpassed. Conventional forms were in a great mea- 
 sure abandoned, and it seems to have been rightly and 
 truly considered that the fittest monuments for the 
 House of God were faithful copies of His works ; and 
 so long as this principle continued to be acted on, so 
 long did Gothic Architecture remain pure. But in 
 the succeeding century, under the later Henries and 
 Edwards, a gradual decline took place : everything 
 was molded to suit a preconceived idea, the foliage 
 lost its freshness, and was molded into something of 
 a rectangular form; the arches were depressed, the 
 windows lowered, the flowing curves of the tracery 
 
220 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 converted into straight lines, panelling profusely used, 
 and the square form everywhere introduced; until at 
 length the prevalence of the horizontal line led easily 
 and naturally to the renaissance of the classic styles, 
 though in an impure and much degraded form. The 
 mixture of the two styles first appears in the time of 
 Henry VII., — a period in which (though remarkable 
 for the beauty and delicacy of its details) the grand 
 conceptions of form and proportion of the previous 
 century seem to have been lost. Heaviness or clum- 
 siness of form, combined with exquisite beauty of de- 
 tail, are the characteristics of this era. 
 
 In the time of Henry VIII. the details became 
 debased, and there was a great mixture of Italian 
 work, but still the Gothic ideas predominated, and 
 there are some good examples of this date remaining, 
 of which the Hall of Christ Church may be adduced 
 as a proof. 
 
 In the reign of Elizabeth the mixture of the two 
 styles was more complete ; and though the details 
 were frequently incongruous, there resulted from the 
 union a style which, when applied to domestic build- 
 ings, was highly picturesque, and occasionally pro- 
 duced great richness of effect a . 
 
 a A curious example of Elizabethan work occurs at Sunning- 
 well Church, within a few miles of Oxford, where there is 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. 
 
 221 
 
 In the succeeding period the decline still continued ; 
 feature after feature was lost, until at length all was 
 swallowed up by its rival. That feature, however, 
 which was always the most important and most cha- 
 racteristic of Gothic architecture, and on which at all 
 periods the distinctions of the styles chiefly depended, 
 namely, the window, was the last to depart ; for when 
 . every other trace of the style was lost, we find the 
 windows still retaining either their Gothic form or 
 their Gothic tracery, and thus evincing the lingering 
 love which was still felt for the ancient forms. 
 
 During all this period of decline, however, frequent 
 attempts were made to stay its progress, and in no 
 place more successfully than in Oxford, as the number 
 of buildings of this period will testify. To point out 
 the peculiarities, and to give the most remarkable 
 points of the history of these buildings, will be the 
 subject of the present paper, the historical facts of 
 which are taken chiefly from Dr. Ingram’s “ Memorials 
 of Oxford,” and from Anthony a Wood. 
 
 The first building of this period which claims atten- 
 tion is the Bodleian Library, and in order to under- 
 
 a singular polygonal porch at the west end, being a mixture 
 of Ionic columns and Gothic windows. There is also some 
 good woodwork of the same period. The church was chiefly 
 rebuilt by Bishop Jewel. 
 
 
222 
 
 ON THE LATE, OE DEBASED, 
 
 stand the history of this, it will he necessary to go 
 a little farther back. It seems that various donations 
 of books had been made by different individuals in the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but that no proper 
 depository had been provided for them, and that they : 
 remained either locked up in chests or chained to desks j 
 in the old Congregation-house, and in the various cha- 
 pels of St. Mary’s Church, until a room or “solar” 
 having been built for them by Bishop Cobham in 1320, 
 over the old Congregation -house b , they were, after va- I 
 rious disputes, removed there in 1409. It seems, too, 
 that the University had at this time fallen into great ! i 
 irregularity, and suffered great inconvenience from the j 
 want of public authorised schools; the various pro- 
 fessors using for that purpose apartments in private 
 houses in various parts of the city. 
 
 This led to the erection of a building for that purpose 
 in 1439; and about the same time the University re- 
 solved to erect a separate School for Divinity on a large 
 scale, in a central situation near the other schools. Libe- 
 ral contributions having been made by various persons, 
 and especially by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, son 
 of Henry IV., they were enabled, about the year 1480, 
 not only to complete the Divinity School as it now 
 
 b By a curious coincidence, the old Congregation-house, on 
 the north side of the chancel of St. Mary’s Church, has been 
 converted into the “Chapel for the Unattached Students." 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OP OXFORD. 
 
 223 
 
 East Window, Bodleian Library, A.D. 1610, inserted in the older panelling. 
 
224 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 stands, but to build the room over it for a library; and 
 from tbe circumstance of the Duke being the principal 
 donor, both in his lifetime and at his death, and of his 
 bequeathing a number of valuable manuscripts, he is 
 styled the founder, and the Library was called by his 
 name. Into this Library the books from St. Mary’s 
 were removed®. 
 
 The Divinity School yet remains in much the same 
 state as when built, except that a doorway was made 
 by Sir Christopher Wren, under one of the windows 
 on the north side for the convenience of processions to 
 the Theatre, and that at the east end the doorway has 
 been altered externally. On examination, it will be 
 found that the outer moldings have been cut down 
 even with the wall ; and from the marks on the wall, 
 it seems probable that there was a groined porch pro- 
 jecting in this direction, and that this was removed to 
 make way for the covered walk, or Proscholium, when 
 the Bodleian Library was built. 
 
 After the Deformation, the schools appear for some 
 years to have been almost deserted and in ruins, until, 
 
 c The workmen employed were the same as were employed 
 at Eton and Windsor, under the direction of William of Wayn- 
 fleet, and were called away from Oxford under a royal mandate, 
 but were restored again in consequence of a petition from the 
 University. 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. 
 
 225 
 
 in tlie reign of Eli- 
 zabeth, in the year 
 1597, Sir Thomas 
 Bodley, a gentleman 
 of a Devonshire fa- 
 mily, who had been 
 educated in the Uni- 
 versity, (and who 
 had afterwards tra- 
 velled through most 
 parts of Europe, and 
 been employed by 
 Queen Elizabeth in 
 many important mat- 
 ters,) resolved, as he 
 tells us himself, to 
 11 set up his staff at 
 the Library-door at 
 Oxford/’ and restore 
 the place to the use 
 of students. He com- 
 menced the same 
 year the restoration of Duke Humphrey’s Library, 
 which he repaired and refitted, and to which he 
 added a new roof; and afterwards, in 1610, com- 
 menced building the Library which now bears his 
 Q. 
 
 , Proseholhm of the Divinity School, 
 
226 
 
 OK THE LATE, OR DEBASED) 
 
 name, but which he did not live to see finished®. 
 This new building he placed at the east end of, and 
 transversely to, the Divinity School, the north-east and 
 south-east buttresses being built into the new wall, 
 and leaving in front of the east door the Proscholium 
 or covered walk already mentioned, popularly known as 
 the “ Pig-market.” Of this Wood says, “In which 
 Ambulachrum do stand such that are candidates for, 
 or sue after, their graces to the Regents sitting in the 
 Congregation House adjoining.” The reason of this 
 being, that any requisite questions might be put to 
 them previous to granting the degrees, — a practice 
 which was discontinued when the system of public 
 examinations was introduced f . It was necessary, 
 
 e The architect employed was Thomas Holt of York, who 
 was likewise employed over several of the other buildings in 
 Oxford at the same period. He died in 1624, and was buried 
 in Holywell Churchyard. The builders were first, J. Acroid, 
 who died in 1613 ; and afterwards J. Bentley, who built like- 
 wise the new buildings of Merton, and M. Bentley, who died 
 in 1618. 
 
 f From this arose the popular, but erroneous belief that the 
 candidates were compelled to walk an hour in the Pig-market, 
 in order to allow the tradesmen to whom they were indebted 
 to recognise them, and obtain payment of their debts, it being 
 a rule that no candidate against whom an action for debt is 
 pending in the University court, can receive a degree. But 
 though the belief was not correct, it was until a comparatively 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFOED. 
 
 227 
 
 therefore, in making the new building, to retain this 
 space, and the present groined room was formed accord- 
 ingly. It is lighted by a window at each end, one of 
 which is not, nor has ever been intended to be, glazed. 
 
 Bosses, Proscholium of the Divinity School. 
 
 It has a vaulted ceiling, with bosses at the intersections, 
 the alternate ones being shields, with the arms of the 
 founder &. Some of the bosses are of good design and 
 execution, but others are of late character. The gene- 
 
 recent period the custom for tradesmen to attend at those 
 times for the purpose mentioned. 
 
 s Quarterly, 1 and 4, Argent five martlets saltier-wise sable ; 
 on a chief azure, three ducal coronets, Or ; a crescent for dif- 
 ference. — Bodley. 2 and 8, Argent, two bars wavy, between 
 three billets sable. — Sore. 
 
228 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 ral effect is good, but the details, particularly the 
 moldings, are of very debased character. 
 
 The buttresses of the Divinity School are panelled the 
 greater part of their height, and one of these, as has been 
 mentioned before, is built in, and forms part of Bodley’s 
 new wall, so that the panelling is visible on both sides ; 
 but on the east end it is carried forward on the face of 
 the wall , as far as the point from which the porch seems 
 to have projected ; and it is tolerably evident, from the 
 remains of the shafts which have been cut away, and 
 from other marks on the wall, that this porch must have 
 been groined. It seems to have been the wish of Bodley 
 to have his new building to agree in character with 
 the old, and he therefore had the whole of his building 
 panelled in the same manner as the Divinity School. 
 This forms the west side of the Schools’ Quadrangle b , 
 and is different in character from the rest of the build- 
 ings. The width of the quadrangle of the schools is 
 greater than the length of the front of the Bodleian, 
 and therefore a few feet had to be added at each end 
 of Bodley’s work. This may be seen inside these stair- 
 
 h The two staircases were added afterwards, but were pa- 
 nelled to match the rest of the work. On the north end this 
 panelling seems to have been subsequently cut away, so that 
 nothing but the small arches remain attached to the under 
 side of the strings. In Williams’s Oxonia Depicta it is shewn 
 completely panelled. 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD, 
 
 229 
 
 Staircase and Doorways of the Bodleian Library and Picture Gallery. 
 
 Skewing the junction of Bodley’s work with the older panelling. 
 
230 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 cases, particularly between the entrances to the Bod- 
 leian and the Picture Gallery, where the old work is 
 panelled, and has a corbel-table the same as the rest 
 of the front, but the new work is plain. The upper 
 storey of this building joins Duke Humphrey’s Li- 
 brary, and is lighted by a large window at each end, 
 and another opposite the old library. This window 
 is a curious combination of mullions, transoms, and 
 tracery of different forms. The rest of the windows 
 are small. 
 
 Sir Thomas Bodley, shortly before his death, had 
 conceived and matured the plan of a new building for 
 the Public Schools of the University, and everything 
 was settled for carrying the plan into execution ; but 
 he did not live to see it commenced. He died at his 
 house in London in 1613, his body was brought to 
 Oxford, and buried in Merton College Chapel on the 
 29th of March in that year; and the day after 
 the funeral the first stone of the new Schools was 
 laid, the building of which occupied the next six 
 years. 
 
 This building, which, with the Bodleian Library for 
 its west side, forms a complete quadrangle, is plain, 
 poor, and heavy in its general appearance, and little 
 skill has been displayed in giving either variety of 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD, 
 
 231 
 
232 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 outline or of light and shade. This plainness is still 
 further increased by the removal of the transoms with 
 which the windows were originally furnished, and 
 which are still retained in those in the tower. The 
 Gateway-tower on the east side, which afforded an 
 opportunity for this, is not distinguished by any pro- 
 jection from the flat wall, but merely rises above the 
 parapet on the same plane. The oriel, too, over the 
 doorway, which might have given effect, is tame and 
 poor. The whole mass is square, without buttresses 
 or any other projection to relieve it. In the inner 
 front of the Tower, however, more pains have been 
 taken; the five storeys into which it is divided are 
 each ornamented with columns of one of the five 
 classic orders, the plinths, friezes, and the shafts, for 
 a third of their length, being covered with the peculiar 
 Arabesque of the period, intermixed with the national 
 emblems, &c. In the fourth storey is a figure of 
 James I., and the whole is surmounted with a parapet 
 of open scroll-work enclosing the royal arms. These 
 figures were originally gilt. Taken altogether, this 
 composition is a favourable specimen of the style of 
 that time, though it does not harmonise with the 
 Gothic turret and pinnacle which rise above it. The 
 archway is groined, and is a curious example, the 
 bosses being all more or less of Elizabethan design. 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD, 
 
 233 
 
 The wooden door is panelled, the panels being filled 
 with the arms of the various colleges as late as Wad- 
 ham, that being then newly-erected. 
 
 Central Boss, Gate-way of tlie Schools. 
 
234 
 
 ON THE LATE, OE DEBASED, 
 
 Anthony k Wood’s description of this gateway is so good 
 in its way, and harmonises so completely with his subject, that 
 it is here given complete : — 
 
 “ But between the geometry and metaphysic, and astronomy 
 and logic schools, is the chief entrance from Cat Street into 
 this new fabric ; having over it an eminent and stately tower, 
 wherein are contained, beside the vault or entrance, four 
 rooms ; the first is the mathematical library for the use of the 
 Savilian professors; the second is part of the gallery; the 
 third, the muniments and registers of the University; and 
 the fourth, which is the uppermost, doth serve for astronomy 
 uses. On the outside of the said tower, next to the area, or 
 quadrangle, is beheld the rise of five stories of pillars (equal to 
 every storey of the tower), viz., of Thuscan, Doric, Ionic, 
 Corinthian, and Composite work Between the upper storey 
 of pillars saving one is the effigies of King James I. cut very 
 curiously in stone, sitting on a throne, and giving with his 
 right hand a book to the picture or emblem of Fame, with this 
 inscription on the cover : 
 
 “hjec habeo quje scripsi. 
 
 “With his left hand he reacheth out another book to our 
 mother, the University of Oxford, represented in effigie, kneel- 
 ing to the King, with this inscription on the cover also : 
 
 “H.ZEC HABEO QU.E DEDI. 
 
 “On the verge of the canopy over the throne, and the 
 King’s head, which is also most admirably cut in stone, is 
 his motto : 
 
 “Beati pacifici. 
 
 “ Over that also are emblems of Justice, Peace and Plenty, 
 and underneath all, this inscription in golden letters : 
 “Regnante D. Jacobo Regum Doctissimo 
 
 MuNIFICENTISSIMO, OPTIMO, HiE MUSIS 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. 
 
 235 
 
 ExTRUCTiE MOLES, CONGESTA BIBLIOTHECA, 
 
 Et QU.ECUNQUE ADHUC DEERANT AD SPLENDOREM 
 
 Academic eeliciter tentata, 
 
 CoEPTA ABSOLUTA. SOLI DEO GLORIA. 
 
 “ All which Pictures and Emblems were at first with great 
 cost and splendour double gilt ; hut when K. James came from 
 Woodstock to see this quadrangular pile, commanded them 
 (being so glorious and splendid that none, especially when the 
 sun shines, could behold them) to he whited over, and adorned 
 with ordinary colours, which hath since so continued.” — 
 Vol. iii. p. 793. 
 
 An addition was made at the west end of the Di- 
 vinity School, 1634 to 1640, the lower part of which 
 is the Convocation House, and the upper part an ad- 
 dition to the library for containing the books of the 
 learned Selden, and is called by his name. 
 
 The next building in order of time is Wadham 
 College, which was commenced in 1610, and finished 
 in 1613, the year in which the Schools were com- 
 menced. It was founded by Sir Nicholas and Dame 
 Dorothy Wadham, (whose effigies appear over the door- 
 way of the hall,) but was not begun until after the 
 death of Sir Nicholas in 1609. The building was com- 
 menced in 1610, and the whole of the quadrangle, the 
 hall and chapel, were completed in 1613. 
 
 The general character of the buildings of the quad- 
 rangle is the same as that of the Schools, having 
 a tower-gateway, and oriel-window in the same situ- 
 
236 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 ation; but the hall and ante-chapel are of somewhat 
 different character, having debased tracery in the win- 
 dows formed of scroll-work, and of which the large 
 window of the hall is a very curious example. But 
 the most singular part is the chapel, which is totally 
 different in style from the rest of the buildings; the 
 windows have good Perpendicular tracery and mold- 
 ings, though of rather late character, and there is 
 little to distinguish it from a pure Perpendicular 
 building, except the upper moldings of the buttresses. 
 In the east window, however, there is a singularity 
 in the subordination of the tracery, which would not 
 have occurred in the best period of Perpendicular. 
 The two mullions of the centre light are carried 
 through the head and on each side in the sub-arches. 
 The other two mullions are not carried through, but 
 another rises from the second and fourth lights, cut- 
 ting through the sub-arches ; and by this means the 
 primary tracery, not being equally distributed over 
 the space, produces an awkward effect, though the 
 window has evidently, but not skilfully, been copied 
 from those of New College. The side- windows are of 
 three lights with transoms, and are good in all their 
 details ; and there are in the interior two lofty arches, 
 which divide the ante-chapel from the transept, and 
 which are of the same character, and are also an imi- 
 tation of those in New College. The rest of the ante- 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFOED. 
 
 237 
 
238 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 chapel corresponds with the hall, so that it produces 
 one uniform front towards the quadrangle. The cha- 
 racter of this part is totally different to that of the 
 chapel; and the contrast of the two (shewn in the 
 woodcut on p. 239), is very striking. The tracery of 
 the one is good Perpendicular, hut that of the other 
 is of a kind unknown to Gothic. It is composed of 
 scroll-work in elliptic forms, and with a kind of flat 
 bosses at the intersections. The moldings, too, are 
 totally different, one not differing much from the usual 
 section of a Perpendicular window, and the other non- 
 descript, as will be seen from the sections. 
 
 Sections of Windows of the Chapel and Ante-Chapel, Wadham College, 
 A.D. 1610-13. 
 
 These striking differences have naturally induced 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OP OXFOED. 
 
 239 
 
 Windows of the Chapel and Ante-chapel, Wadham College, A.D. 1610-13. 
 
240 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 a belief that the chapel was either a prior erection, or 
 that the old materials of the Augustine convent, on the 
 site of which the college was built, had been used up 
 again ; but by the investigations of the Rev. J. Griffith, 
 whose valuable paper on the subject gives the accounts 
 referred to, it is clearly shewn that the building of the 
 two parts was carried on simultaneously. The foundress 
 seems to have had a proper idea that a building used 
 for Divine service should have a different character 
 from those which were intended for domestic uses, and 
 therefore, as the regular masons at that period could 
 not have been much used to church-work, and as it is 
 shewn by the accounts 1 that the masons employed 
 were brought to Oxford from a distance, it seems 
 
 1 In these accounts, (for an opportunity of examining which 
 I am indebted to the Kev. J. Griffith, Sub-Warden [now, in 1881, 
 the Warden]), the masons who worked the stone for building 
 are called Free masons, or Freestone Masons (which is probably 
 the true meaning of the term), while the rest are merely called 
 “labourers.” The cost of each window, with the name of the 
 workman, is put down separately, the price of a chapel window 
 being 61., while those of the hall were SI. 18s. each. It is curi- 
 ous, too, to find that the three statues over the entrance to the 
 hall and chapel were cut by one of the free masons (William 
 Blackshaw) employed on the other parts of the building. For 
 each statue he was paid the sum of SI. 
 
 The following prices and terms also appear, and are curious 
 and interesting, [but great allowance must be made for the 
 change in the value of money ; it is probable that each shilling 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. 
 
 241 
 
 probable that she brought, from her own county of 
 Somerset, workmen who had been used to this kind 
 of work. The churches of Somersetshire are mostly of 
 rich and late Perpendicular character, and it is pro- 
 bable that the style might continue later there than in 
 other places. It would, therefore, be a curious subject 
 to inquire if any churches were built so late as that on 
 which these masons might have been employed. The 
 Hall of Wadham has an open timber roof, which is 
 curious, as shewing how, while the Gothic form was 
 retained, the details were altered to suit the taste of 
 the times. The large window is a remarkable example 
 of Jacobean tracery. The entrance under the principal 
 gateway is groined, with fan- vaulting, having in the 
 centre the arms of the founder and foundress impaled. 
 
 of the time of James I. was equivalent to at least ten shillings 
 in the time of Queen Victoria] : — 
 
 Lodgement, 4 d. per foot. 
 
 Window table, 4 d. per foot. 
 
 Grass table, 4 d. per foot. 
 
 Window lights, 3s. 4 d. each. 
 
 Pillar stone, at 16dL per foot. 
 
 Cornish, 2 d. per foot. 
 
 Gorgel table 
 Gargill 
 Gurgul 
 Gurgoll 
 
 Tun stone, or tun stuff 
 Tounel stones, or tunnel stones j 
 R 
 
 at 4 d. per foot. 
 
 ) stones for chimney shafts, 
 &c. 
 
242 
 
 ON THE LATE, OE DEBASED, 
 
 The buildings of this period in Oxford are very 
 numerous; indeed there are few colleges which have 
 not some additions of this time; but it will not be 
 necessary to do much more than enumerate the most 
 favourable examples, with their dates. 
 
 The inner quadrangle of Merton College is stated to 
 have been built by J. Bentley, one of the builders of 
 the Schools, and the gateway into the gardens is an 
 evident imitation of that of the Schools. It has four 
 of the orders, and the spaces between are filled with 
 Gothic panelling, but the effect is poor and flat. The 
 external front of this part, which faces Merton, is, 
 however, a very good composition, and embowered as 
 it is with trees, has quite the character of one of the 
 fine old mansions of the Elizabethan or Jacobean 
 period. 
 
 The Hall of Trinity College, built in 1618 to 1620, 
 has good Perpendicular windows. 
 
 Jesus College Chapel, built in 1621, and the east 
 window of the chapel, which was added in 1636, are 
 much better than might have been expected at the 
 period, but there is no subordination of tracery, which 
 all springs from the same fillet. 
 
 The Chapel of Exeter College, built in 1 624 [since 
 rebuilt], was a better specimen than the last. The 
 tracery of the windows seems to have been copied from 
 
244 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 New College, and the subordination is preserved. The 
 door, however, is completely of Jacobean character. 
 
 The second quadrangle of St. John’s, which was 
 built by Archbishop Laud between 1631 and 1636, is 
 remarkable, and different from anything else in Oxford. 
 It is by Inigo Jones, and the effect of the garden 
 front is highly picturesque, and the combination of 
 the Gothic forms with Elizabethan details skilfully 
 managed. This mixture of styles, though it will not 
 bear examination in detail, produces in the mass an 
 effect highly pleasing; and harmonising so well as it 
 does with the foliage by which it is surrounded, it 
 seems well suited for the purpose for which it is here 
 employed. The quadrangle is on two sides supported 
 on Doric columns and arches, the spandrels of which 
 are filled with heads, and with emblems of the sciences 
 and of the moral virtues. 
 
 The Hall and Chapel of St. Mary Hall were built 
 between the years 1632 and 1644. The arrangement 
 is curious and unusual, the hall occupying the lower 
 storey, and the chapel the upper. The windows of the 
 hall are square-headed, but those of the chapel on the 
 north and south sides are round-headed, with inter- 
 secting tracery. The filling-up of the heads of the 
 lights is singular. The tracery, which assumes some- 
 thing of a Elamboyant form, springs from the chamfer 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD, 
 
 245 
 
246 
 
 OX THE LATE, OE DEBASED, 
 
 in the manner of a cusp, and its fillets do not touch in 
 the middle. The east window is pointed, and of five 
 lights, with a mixture of intersecting and Perpendi- 
 cular tracery, the whole exhibiting a good example of 
 that commingling of preceding styles which is so fre- 
 quently found in late Gothic structures. 
 
 The Chapel of Lincoln 
 College was built in 1631, 
 and is one of the best ex- 
 amples of the period; the 
 subordination of the tracery 
 is preserved, and the mold, 
 ings are good, except one 
 peculiarity, which seems to 
 belong to this period, as it 
 is found likewise at Oriel 
 and other places. This is, — 
 
 the fillet is left broad, and Section of Window, 
 
 Lincoln College Chapel, A.D. 1631. 
 
 is grooved down the centre * , Grooved Fillet, 
 
 with a rather deep channel. 
 
 This has the effect of dividing the fillet into two lines, 
 and produces a clumsy appearance. 
 
 Oriel College was built about 1620, but the Hall 
 and Chapel were begun in 1637, and finished in 1642. 
 The character of the building is poor and clumsy. The 
 tracery is of very late character, and it has the grooved 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. 
 
 247 
 
 East Window, St. Mary Hall, A.D. 1644. 
 
 In this instance the form of the arch of the window, the character of the 
 moldings, and the arrangement of the tracery, are better than was usual 
 at that late period. 
 
248 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 fillet above mentioned. The entrance to the chapel is 
 under a bay-window, which has an open parapet of 
 scroll-work. 
 
 The windows of the Hall and Chapel of University 
 College, which were built about 1640, are much like 
 those of Oriel. The east window of the chapel is par- 
 ticularly bad. Both colleges are built with fractable 
 gablets. 
 
 In the Chapel of Brasenose College, which was built 
 between 1656 and 1666, all traces of Gothic, except 
 the windows and roof, seem to have vanished. The 
 exterior is Corinthian, with pointed windows inserted 
 between the pilasters. The tracery is of rather early 
 form, and the whole is a very incongruous mixture. 
 In the east and west windows even the tracery is 
 altered, and the oval form introduced, so that this may 
 be taken as one of the last and most curious examples 
 of the decline of Gothic before its extinction. The 
 roof of the chapel, which is a kind of hammer-beam 
 with fan-vaulting above, was brought from the chapel 
 of St. Mary’s College, which formerly stood in the 
 Com Market, and which was founded by Henry VI. 
 in 1435. This kind of vaulting seems to have retained 
 its hold longer than any other feature of the Gothic 
 styles, unless it be the windows. It is extensively 
 used in Oxford under gateways and other small spaces, 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD, 
 
 249 
 
 Side Window, St. Mary Hall, A.D. 1640. 
 
 In this example the debased character usual at that period comes out 
 more distinctly than in the previous example, the arch of the window has 
 entirely lost any point, and the tracery is very confused and irregular. 
 
250 
 
 OX THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 as at Wadham, University, St.John’s, &c., but the 
 finest specimen of it is the beautiful staircase to the 
 Hall of Christ Church; and it is remarkable to find 
 that it was erected so late as 1640 ; but it is stated by 
 Peshall to have been built by Dean Fell, “by the help 
 
 of Smith, an artificer of London.” Who Smith 
 
 of London may have been, or whether he executed any 
 other works beside this, does not seem to have been 
 ascertained ; but certainly this work alone, executed at 
 a time when Gothic Architecture everywhere else was 
 sunk in utter debasement, ought to rescue his name 
 from oblivion. Its chief fault is a want of boldness 
 in the ribs, but this flatness was a fault of the time, 
 which he did not overcome. 
 
 It has been generally considered that the whole 
 of the work outside of the Hall was of this date, 
 but it will be evident on examination that the two 
 open doorways opposite the Hall-door, as well as the 
 arches and doorways under the landing, are of Wol- 
 sey’s time; all the details and the boldness of the 
 work shew them to belong to his building. The parts, 
 therefore, which Smith executed were the central 
 pillar, and the vaulting which it supports, the steps, 
 and parapets. This part, it seems, was left unfinished 
 by Wolsey. The steps were not completed, and it was 
 not roofed. It is, therefore, possible, as this design 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD . 
 
 251 
 
 harmonises so well with the rest of the building, that 
 the original drawings might have been preserved, and 
 the present staircase built from them; but whoever 
 was the designer, it stands as one of the most beautiful 
 things in Oxford, and one which no visitor should omit 
 seeing. 
 
 The buildings hitherto described or mentioned are 
 all in Oxford, but there is another in its immediate 
 neighbourhood which is worth notice; this is Water 
 Eaton, a house which appears to have been built in the 
 beginning of James I.’s reign, and to have been the 
 residence of Lord Lovelace. It is now a farm-house, 
 but remains in a perfect and almost unaltered state. 
 The house has transomed windows and a projecting 
 porch, ornamented with pillars and pilasters. It has 
 a large court-yard, with a detached building for offices 
 on each side of the gateway in front. On the north 
 side of the court-yard is the chapel, having a yard on 
 the south side. It is this building which is remark- 
 able, as it remains almost in the same state as when 
 built, the screen, pulpit, and open seats being the same 
 as when first put in, and the building, though late, has 
 scarcely any mixture of the later style. 
 
 The plan consists of a nave and chancel, divided by 
 a chancel-arch and screen, and having diagonal but- 
 tresses at all the angles. There are no windows on the 
 
 
252 
 
 ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, 
 
 north side, but on the south the nave has two, and the 
 chancel one ; and there are an east and west window, 
 and a door on the south side. The doorway is pointed 
 under a square label. The arches of the windows are 
 much depressed, but slightly pointed; the lights are 
 ioliated and carried up to the head without tracery. 
 
 The construction of this roof is very good, and quite of the genuine 
 mediaeval or Gothic character, better than many roofs of the Victorian era. 
 
 The east window has five lights, and the others three 
 lights each. The moldings are of late character, but 
 not debased ; the bell-cot and cross are modern. 
 
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFOED. 
 
 253 
 
 The interior is very plain ; the chancel- arch is semi- 
 circular, without moldings, but has a screen closed with 
 doors; this is in the taste of the times, and is formed 
 of semicircular arches, supported by small pillars, the 
 whole carved with Elizabethan ornaments. The pulpit 
 is a good specimen of this same style. The standards 
 of the open seats are, as is usual at this period, rude, 
 clumsy, and massive, the poppies being in imitation 
 of the more ancient fleur-de-lis. The roof is a copy 
 of an early form, and consists of principals, collar and 
 curved braces, very plain and simple, but producing 
 a good effect. 
 
 This building is interesting from shewing that here, 
 as at Wadham College before mentioned, though the 
 house was built in the revived manner, it was still 
 thought necessary to keep the chapel in the old style, 
 that being considered even then as exclusively eccle- 
 siastical. 
 
 In the foregoing remarks, though very imperfectly 
 executed, it has been intended to shew by the build- 
 ings of Oxford, not only the gradual decline of Gothic 
 Architecture, but also the attempts, more or less suc- 
 cessful, which were made from time to time to stay 
 its progress. It was, however, for a time doomed to 
 perish, and no efforts could save it. In the buildings 
 of the period following that which has here been 
 
254 OK DEBASED GOTHIC BUILDINGS, &C. 
 
 spoken of, it is either wholly laid aside, or the only 
 remains of it are to be found in the accidental inser- 
 tion, as it were, of a traceried window or a pointed 
 door, as if to shew that some faint recollections of the 
 once- honoured forms still lingered in the minds of 
 the architects, and caused them involuntarily to record 
 their respect for it. 
 
 It would be an interesting investigation to trace the 
 gradual awakening of the style from the deep slumber 
 into which it had fallen, and to trace its gradual 
 unfolding, step by step, until we have at lengih 
 a more glorious renaissance of the Gothic styles than 
 we ever had of the Classic; and in this history no 
 mean place would be assigned to the Architectural 
 Society of Oxford. 
 
LATE GOTHIC BUILDINGS IN OXFOED. 
 
 255 
 
 The following list will form an useful appendix to 
 the foregoing account of buildings in Oxford : — 
 
 Late Gothic Buildings in Oxford, from the Beign of 
 Elizabeth to the End of the Seventeenth Century. 
 
 Eliz. 1571. 
 
 1596. 
 
 1597. 
 
 1600. 
 
 1602. 
 
 Jas. I. 1610. 
 
 1610. 
 
 1610. 
 
 1612. 
 
 1613. 
 1613. 
 1617. 
 1620. 
 1621. 
 1624. 
 Ch.I. 1626. 
 1628. 
 
 The old buildings of Jesus College commenced. 
 
 Library, St. John’s College, built. 
 
 Sir Thomas Bodley commenced the repairs of 
 Duke Humphrey’s Library, and added the 
 new roof. 
 
 Front of St. Alban Hall built. 
 
 Nov. 8. Duke Humphrey’s Library publicly 
 re-opened after the repairs. 
 
 July 16. First stone of the Bodleian Library 
 and Proscholium laid. 
 
 Great or main quadrangle of Merton built. 
 
 July 31. First stone of Wadham College laid. 
 
 West side of the lesser quadrangle of Lincoln 
 College built. 
 
 March 30. First stone of the Schools laid. 
 
 April 20. Wadham College opened. 
 
 Hall of Jesus College built. 
 
 Hall of Trinity College finished. 
 
 May 28. Chapel of Jesus College consecrated. 
 
 Chapel of Exeter College built. 
 
 Library of Jesus College built. 
 
 Front of the house in St. Aldate’s, known as 
 “Bishop King’s House,” built. 
 
256 
 
 LATE GOTHIC BUILDINGS EN OXFORD. 
 
 1631. July 26. First stone of the Garden front and 
 lesser quadrangle of St. John’s College laid. 
 1631. Sept. 15. Chapel of Lincoln College consecrated. 
 
 1634. West side of University College built. 
 
 1635. West side of St. Edmund Hall built. 
 
 1635. June 19. Front of University College com- 
 menced. 
 
 1637. Oriel College quadrangle and hall built. 
 
 1639. Chapel of University commenced ; finished in 
 
 1665. 
 
 1639-40. St. Mary Hall Chapel and Hall built. 
 
 1640. Staircase of Christ Church Hall built. 
 
 1640. Hall of University College commenced ; finished 
 in 1657. 
 
 1642. June or July. Oriel College Chapel consecrated. 
 1656. June 26. Chapel of Brasenose College, first 
 stone laid ; finished in 1666. 
 
 1663. Library of Brasenose College opened. 
 
 1665. March 30. Chapel of University College con- 
 
 secrated. 
 
 1666. Nov. 17. Chapel of Brasenose College conse- 
 
 crated. 
 
 1669. Library of University College opened. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 Abacus*, Norman, 58; Early 
 English*, 105. 
 
 Addington, Little, Early Eng- 
 lish molding*, 107» 
 
 A3rary, Windsor, over porch of 
 chapter-house, 177. 
 
 Alban’s, St., Abbey, Saxon cha- 
 racter of the early part, 18. 
 
 Aldham, Essex, porch, 132. 
 
 Angel Corbel*, Bushden, 213. 
 
 Anglo-Norman style, 16. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon type, 19. 
 
 Appleton, manor-house, 82. 
 
 Apse*, Norman, 33. 
 
 Arcade of Triforium*, Peter- 
 borough, earliest example of 
 plate-tracery, 49. 
 
 Arches, Norman, round-headed, 
 47 ; form of arch dictated by 
 convenience, 48 ; round or 
 pointed, ib. ; form of — never 
 a safe guide to date, 98. 
 
 Ardley, Oxon, square-headed 
 window*, 144. 
 
 Bakewell, lancet- window*, 95. 
 
 Ball-flower*, decorated orna- 
 ment, 158. 
 
 Bases, Decorated, usually molded 
 only, 154. 
 
 Beverley Minster, arcade*, 86 ; 
 arch*, 87. 
 
 Beverley Minster, Early English 
 capital*, 101 — 103 ; corbel- 
 table*, 122 ; Decorated niche, 
 127 ; arches*, 150 ; capitals, 
 153 ; molded cap and base*, 
 155. 
 
 St. Mary’s, windows, 140 ; 
 
 arch*, cinquef oiled, 149. 
 
 Binfield, Berks, porch, 132. 
 
 Binham Priory, Norfolk, tooth- 
 ornaments*, 123. 
 
 Bishop’s Cleeve, pinnacles, 116. 
 
 Blind- storey, now called trifo- 
 rium, 48. 
 
 Bodleian Library, east win- 
 dow*, 223. 
 
 Bolton Castle, Yorkshire, 184. 
 
 Boothby Pagnel, manor-house, 
 82. 
 
 Bosses in the Proscholium*, 
 Oxford, 227. 
 
 Boston, Lincolnshire, perpen- 
 dicular tower, 188. 
 
 Bristol, St. James, Norman win- 
 dow*, 45. 
 
 Brockworth, Norman capitals*, 
 59. 
 
 Broughton, Oxon, foliated in- 
 ner arch, 144. 
 
 Bucknell, Oxon, belfry win- 
 dow*, 43. 
 
 Signify woodcuts. 
 S 
 
258 
 
 ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 Bury St. Edmund’s, Norman 
 tower, 31. — Moyses’ Hall, 82. 
 
 Buttress*, Norman, 66. — Early 
 English*, 117. — Decorated*, 
 163. — Perpendicular, flying*, 
 211 . 
 
 Caen, abbey churches, 21. — 
 St. Stephen’s, Norman clere- 
 storey windows, 44. 
 
 Canterbury, work of Ernulf,32 ; 
 records, 34; Norman capi- 
 tal*, crypt, 37 ; arcade of in- 
 tersecting arches*, 48; Nor- 
 man capitals*, 53; Norman 
 base*, 54; triforium arcade*, 
 75; and moldings*, transi- 
 tional, 81; monastic build- 
 ings, 82 ; Early English bases 
 of choir*, 103; Decorated dia- 
 per-work, 161 ; transepts, 184. 
 
 Capitals*, Norman, 53. — Early. 
 English, 101. — Decorated, 
 153. — Perpendicular, 193. 
 
 Carnarvon arch, 88. 
 
 Cassington, Oxon, ground - 
 plan*, 39 ; Norman chancel 
 and vault, 67 ; tower and 
 spire*, 69 ; corbel*, 61. 
 
 Castle Ashby, Northants, 52. 
 
 Castor Church, Northants, rich 
 Norman, 32. 
 
 Ceilings, Decorated, 169. 
 
 Change from Early English to 
 Decorated, 126. 
 
 from Decorated to Per- 
 pendicular, 175. 
 
 Charlton-on-Otmoor, east win- 
 dow*, 183. 
 
 Cheltenham, circular window 
 at, 148. 
 
 Chester, St. John’s, bay of 
 choir*, 29 ; Cathedral, tooth- 
 ornament, 108. 
 
 Chesterton, Oxon, Decorated 
 sedilia, 165. 
 
 Chipping- Camden Church, 184. 
 
 Christchurch, Hants, nave and 
 transepts, 34 ; Priory, 82. 
 
 Clack Abbey, timber roof, 168. 
 
 Clere-storey, windows of, 147 ; 
 the French for clear -storey , 
 Decorated, 190 ; 
 Perpendicular, 198. 
 
 Colchester , St. Botolph’ sChurch , 
 36. 
 
 Colleges of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, chiefly Perpendicular, 
 189. 
 
 Colouring of ornaments, com- 
 mon in mediaeval Gothic, 
 160. 
 
 Corbel- tables, Norman, 60; 
 Early English, 122. 
 
 Cowley Church*, Oxon, Early 
 English, 94. 
 
 Cranford St. John, gable cross*, 
 115. 
 
 Crick, Northants, Decorated 
 doorway*, 134. 
 
 Crockets*, York Cathedral, 114. 
 
 Crosses on gables, 115. 
 
 . of Queen Eleanor, 130. 
 
 at Geddington, 131. 
 
 Cuddesdon, Oxon, Norman door- 
 way*, 41; dripstone, 80; 
 moldings, 81. 
 
 Cusp*, Raunds, 115. 
 
 Dartford, doorway*, 13. 
 
 Dartington Hall, Devon, 115. 
 
 Debased Gothic of Oxford, 219. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 259 
 
 Decorated buildings, general 
 appearance, 174. 
 
 Decorated style, geometrical 
 and flowing, as sub-divisions, 
 128,131; windows, geometri- 
 cal, 138; tracery, ib. ; diaper- 
 work*, 161 ; buttresses*, 162 ; 
 piscinas*, 167 ; towers*, 171 ; 
 fronts, 173. 
 
 Deerhurst, tower at, 64. 
 
 Domestic buildings of twelfth 
 century, rare, 82. 
 
 Donnington Castle, Berks, 
 184. 
 
 Doorways, Perpendicular, 199. 
 
 Dorchester*, Oxon, 65; Deco- 
 rated doorway * , 135; win- 
 dow*, 136; ball-flower*, 157. 
 
 Dover, St. Martin’s priory, 1131, 
 — refectory, 32. 
 
 Dripstone*, Perpendicular ter- 
 mination of, 200. 
 
 Dundry, Bristol, tower*, 203. 
 
 Dunstable priory, Bedfordshire, 
 Norman, 34. 
 
 Durham, choir and transepts, 
 William II., 34 ; nave, Henry 
 I., 36 ; flying buttresses, 118 ; 
 nine altars, Early English, 
 124. 
 
 Early English Style, 83; door- 
 ways, 88 ; porches, 92 ; win- 
 dows*, 94; arches, 98; pillars, 
 clustered, detached shafts, 
 100 ; foliage, differs from 
 Norman, ib.; in capitals it 
 gives a peculiar and distinc- 
 tive character, ib. ; capitals*, 
 101 ; bases*, 103 ; abacus*, 
 105; moldings, ib. 
 
 Early English, vaults have ribs, 
 109; sometimes of wood, as in 
 York Minster, Warmington, 
 and cloisters, Lincoln, 110; 
 crockets*, 114; gable crosses*, 
 115 ; buttresses have very 
 bold projection*, 116; fronts, 
 118; towers*, 120; corbel- 
 tables*, 122 ; tooth - orna- 
 ment*, 123; type, 124. 
 
 Edington Church, Wilts, change 
 from Decorated to Perpendi- 
 cular, 181. 
 
 Edwardian style, second Gothic 
 or Decorated, 132. 
 
 Eleanor, Queen, crosses, 130. 
 
 at Geddington, De- 
 corated niches*, 127. 
 
 Elizabethan mixture of styles, 
 
 220 . 
 
 Elsfield Church*, Oxon, 119. 
 
 Ely, presbytery, Early English, 
 124 ; lantern, Decorated, 174. 
 
 Enford, Wilts, Decorated pis- 
 cina*, 167. 
 
 Eton College, built of brick, 
 189. 
 
 Evesham, Worcestershire, Per- 
 pendicular tower, 188. 
 
 Exeter Cathedral, windows, 138 ; 
 pillar*, 152; altered from 
 Norman to Decorated, 177. 
 
 Fairford, Gloucestershire, paint- 
 ed glass, 198. 
 
 Ean-tracery vaulting, peculi- 
 arly English, 204. 
 
 Farnham Castle, Norman hall, 
 
 82 . 
 
 Finedon, Decorated window*, 
 
 141. 
 
260 
 
 ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 Flamboyant tracery indicates 
 late date, 148. 
 
 Foliage, Decorated, faithfully 
 copied from nature, 160 ; 
 Perpendicular, comparatively 
 square, 208. 
 
 Fotheringhay*, Northants, Per- 
 pendicular church, a dated 
 example, 1485, 187 ; com- 
 partment* of, 191; pier*, 
 194 ; west doorway*, 201 ; 
 moldings of doorway*, 209 ; 
 flying buttresses*, 211. 
 
 Fountains Abbey has pointed 
 arches of pure Norman cha- 
 racter, 50; domestic build- 
 ings, Norman, 82 ; Early 
 English style in parts, 124. 
 
 Four-leaved flower, Decorated, 
 159. 
 
 French Gothic has a mixture 
 of Komanesque, 84. 
 
 Furness Abbey, 32. 
 
 Garsington, Oxon, Norman 
 clere- storey*, 147. 
 
 Geddington Cross, Northants, 
 130; Decorated diaper*, 161. 
 
 Gisbourne Church, Yorkshire, 
 early Perpendicular, 184. 
 
 Glasgow Cathedral, fine Early 
 English crypt, 87. 
 
 Gloucester Cathedral, Norman 
 crypt, 34 ; ball-flower, 140 ; 
 cloisters, 184. 
 
 Gothic, late, or Jacobean, 218. 
 
 Grafton Underwood, Norman 
 capitals*, 53. 
 
 Great Milton, Decorated win- 
 dow*, 139 ; clere-storey win- 
 dow*, 147. 
 
 Groined roofs, or vaults, Deco- 
 rated, 166. 
 
 Groining of gateway* of the 
 Schools at Oxford, 231. 
 
 Gundulph, great architect, temp. 
 William the Conquerer, 16. 
 
 ’s Tower or keep, at 
 
 Mailing, Kent, 17 ; rubble 
 masonry of*, a.d.1070, 14. 
 
 Handborough, Oxon, window*, 
 43. 
 
 Haseley, Oxon, Early English 
 moldings*, 107 ; early Deco- 
 rated style, 138 ; Perpendi- 
 cular window*, 196; mold- 
 ings*, 207. 
 
 Harleston, Northants, Early 
 English sedilia*, 129. 
 
 Henry I. , no change of style in 
 this reign, 36. 
 
 VIII., mixture of Italian 
 
 introduced, 220. 
 
 Higham Ferrars, Early Eng- 
 lish buttresses*, 117; Deco- 
 rated window*, 141. 
 
 Howden, Decorated . pinnacle, 
 164 ; chapter-house, 184. 
 
 Hugh of Grenoble, Bishop of 
 Lincoln, did not bring Go- 
 thic style from Dauphiny, 
 or Grande Chartreuse, or 
 Grenoble, 84 ; his choir in 
 Lincoln Cathedral, 83. 
 
 Iffley, original choir, square, 
 34 — 67 ; Norman window*, 
 46 ; chancel-arch, 47. 
 
 Ilton, Somerset, wooden spire, 
 
 120 . 
 
 Intersecting arches, 48. 
 
 Irchester, priest’s door, 90. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 261 
 
 Irthlingborough, Northants, De- 
 corated capital*, 155 ; but- 
 tress*, 163. 
 
 Jacobean Gothic, 218. 
 
 Haddington, Oxon, Decorated 
 ceiling*, 169. 
 
 Kidlington, Oxon, Decorated 
 porch*, 133; moldings, 157. 
 
 Kirkstall Abbey, Norman, 50. 
 
 Lancet- windows in first part of 
 Early,English style, 93. 
 
 Laon diocese, churches have 
 square east ends, 67. 
 
 Leominster, — ball - flower in 
 profusion, 140. 
 
 Lincoln, Norman doorways at, 
 24; late Norman work at, 
 ib. ; Jew’s House, 82 ; St. 
 Mary’s Guild, ib. ; fall of tower 
 in a.d. 1240, 83 ; St. Hugh’s 
 •choir, earliest building of 
 pure Gothic, 84 ; arcade*, 85 ; 
 flying buttresses, 118 ; nave, 
 Early English, 124 ; Vicar’s 
 Close, time of change from 
 Early Eng. to Decorated, 185. 
 
 London, masonry in Tower of, 
 18 ; Temple Church, choir, 
 124 ; Austin Eriars, Deco- 
 rated window*, 140. 
 
 Long Wittenham, porch, 132. 
 
 Mailing, earliest Norman keep, 
 16. 
 
 Malmesbury Abbey, 50. 
 
 Margaret -at-Clifle , St., Kent, 
 shallow porch, 67. 
 
 Masonry, Norman, early, 14 ; 
 rubble*, from Gundulph’s 
 Tower, ib.; wide- jointed*, 18; 
 Winchester, transept*, 28. 
 
 Middleton Stoney, doorway, 41. 
 
 Milton, Great, Decorated, 139. 
 
 Minster, in Thanet, transi- 
 tional, 82. 
 
 Moldings, the chamfer* , 56 ; the 
 chevron, or zig-zag, with 
 beads*, 56; billetand lozenge*, 
 57; star*, ib. ; billet*, ib. ; 
 the most safe guide, 98 ; pro- 
 fusion in Early English build- 
 ings, 109 ; Decorated, 159 ; 
 Perpendicular, 207. 
 
 Moulton, Northants, tower*, 171. 
 
 Naseby, Northants, pillar*, 151. 
 
 Newhaven*, Sussex, Norman, 32. 
 
 Norman period, early, 10 ; Nor- 
 mans better masons than 
 Saxons (?), 12; but little in 
 advance of English, 16 ; Nor- 
 man castles or keep-towers, 
 21 ; the Norman period, 31 ; 
 rich churches, ib. ; early but- 
 tresses very flat, 32 ; in early 
 sculpture chisel little used, 
 36 ; in early period' eastern 
 limb always short, terminated 
 by round east end called an 
 apse, 38 ; cathedrals have 
 timber roofs over large spaces, 
 the aisles vaulted, ib.; arch, 
 40; rich doorways*, tympa- 
 num , ib . ; windows , 42 ; small 
 arcades, decorations of walls 
 and for sedilia*, 49 ; pointed 
 arches no proof of change of 
 style, 50 ; capitals*, 51 ; scol- 
 loped capitals, 52 ; abacus the 
 most characteristic member, 
 ib. ; bases*, 54 ; niches, or ta- 
 bernacles *,55; moldings*, 56. 
 
262 
 
 ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 Norman corbels*, 60 ; vaults, the 
 earliest are quite plain, and of 
 the barrel form, 62 ; turrets, 
 early, 63 ; central towers low 
 and massive, 64 ; later towers 
 are more massive and not so 
 lofty as earlier ones, ib.; round 
 tower*, Norwich, 65; buttress*, 
 flat, 66 ; porches, 67 ; corbel*, 
 Cassington, 68 ; west fronts, 
 ib. ; apse*, Romsey, Hants, 70. 
 
 Normandy, vaults more fre- 
 quent than in England, 38. 
 
 Northampton, St. Peter’s, band- 
 ed-shafts, 51. 
 
 Northleigh, Oxon, early Nor- 
 man (?) or Saxon (?) belfry 
 window*, 43. 
 
 Norwich Cathedral removed to 
 present site, 12 ; nave, 32 ; 
 choir and transepts, William 
 II., 34; St. Stephen’s, Nor- 
 wich, open timber roof*, 215. 
 
 Nun-Monkton, Yorkshire, tran- 
 sitional capital and base*, 
 72 ; west front*, 73. 
 
 Ogee arch, used in small ar- 
 cades, 148. 
 
 Open timber roofs, 214. 
 
 Oriental styles not Gothic, 84. 
 
 Overlapping of the styles, 20. 
 
 Oxford — Norman, tower of St. 
 Michael’s Church, 19 ; castle, 
 tower built by Robert D’Oyly, 
 20; Cathedral, clere- storey 
 window, 44, 77.— -Early Eng- 
 lish, chapter -house, 124. — 
 Decorated, St. Mary Magda- 
 lene Church, south aisle, 142 ; 
 niche, 212 ; St. Aldate’s, 142. 
 
 Oxford — Old Congregation - 
 house, 222. — Perpendicular, 
 New College Chapel, 182; Di- 
 vinity School, 188 ; New Col- 
 lege, window*, 195 ; Magdalen 
 College, tower*, 203; Christ 
 Church, fan-tracery vault at, 
 218 ; hall of, 220 ; Divinity 
 School, 224 ; Proscholium, 
 ib. ; imposts of, 225 ; bosses 
 of, 227 ; Bodleian,staircase*, 
 229 ; Schools, central boss of 
 gateway*, 233 ; Wadham Col- 
 lege ,235; ante-chapel, arches* 
 of, 237 ; windows of chapel, 
 239 ; sections of the same, 
 238; Convocation House, 235; 
 Jesus Chapel, east window, 
 243 ; Exeter, entrance to old 
 chapel*, 245; St.John’s, se- 
 cond quadrangle, 244 ; Lin- 
 coln, section of window*, 
 246 ; Oriel, hall, ib. ; St. Mary 
 Hall, east window, 247 ; side 
 window, 249 ; late Gothic 
 buildings, list of, 255. 
 
 Panelling, an important feature 
 of Perpendicular style, 188. 
 
 Perpendicular style, 186 — 
 218; exclusively English, and 
 economical in execution , 186 ; 
 doorways, 199 ; towers in 
 Somersetshire, at Wrington, 
 Taunton, Brislington,Dundry, 
 &c. , 203 ; porches very fine, in 
 Norfolk, Somersetshire, De- 
 vonshire, and Dorsetshire, 
 205; moldings*, 207 ; Tudor- 
 flower*, 206 ; foliage beauti- 
 fully executed, 208. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 263 
 
 Perpendicular — buttresses *, 
 210 ; open timber roof, 214. 
 
 Peterborough Cathedral, a.d. 
 1117 — 1143, begun by John 
 de Seez, 31 ; choir, a.d. 1117, 
 temp. Henry I., 36; arcade*, 
 49. 
 
 Piers, Norman, square or re- 
 cessed at angles, or plain 
 round massive, 51. 
 
 Pinnacles, Early English, ter- 
 minate buttresses, 116. 
 
 Piscinas*, or water- drains, 
 1.67. 
 
 Porches, Decorated, at Kidling- 
 ton*, 132; Perpendicular, at 
 Woodstock, 205. 
 
 Baunds, Decorated moldings*, 
 157 ; buttress*, 163. 
 
 Eavensthorpe, tower*, 121. 
 
 Beading Abbey, temp. Henry I., 
 36; St. Mary’s, roof of, 142; 
 Eranciscan Eriary, Decorated 
 window*, 143. 
 
 Bemigius’ Cathedral at Lincoln, 
 19. 
 
 Benaissance of classic styles, 
 
 220 . 
 
 Eingstead, Northants, dripstone 
 over lancet-window, 96 ; De- 
 corated spire, 172. 
 
 Bochester, choir and transepts, 
 88 ; choir, 124. 
 
 Boll-molding*, Decorated, 156. 
 
 Bomsey Abbey, Norman clere- 
 storey window*, 44; corbel- 
 tables*, transitional, 61 ; 
 tooth-ornament*, 79 ; period 
 of transition, 80 ; Early Eng- 
 lish window*, 97. 
 
 Bushden, Decorated piscina*, 
 167 ; locker*, ib. 
 
 Salisbury Cathedral, the type 
 of Early English, 124. 
 
 Saxons more advanced than 
 Normans in construction (?), 
 12 . 
 
 Sculpture in late Norman style 
 has frequently a mixture of 
 Byzantine Greek in the pe- 
 riod of Transition, 59. 
 
 Sculptured ornament in Nor- 
 man work is shallow, and 
 could be executed with the 
 axe, 58. 
 
 Sedilia*, Early English, Harles- 
 ton, 129 ; Decorated, Chester- 
 ton, Oxon, 165. 
 
 Selby, base*, 103; Decorated 
 window, 140. 
 
 Sens Cathedral, choir of, 38. 
 
 Sherborne Castle, built by Bp. 
 Boger, 62 ; vaults at, ib. ; 
 Norman porch, 67. 
 
 Shrewsbury, St. Mary’s, trifo- 
 rium arcade*, 77. 
 
 Smithfield, St. Bartholomew’s, 
 temp. Henry I., 36. 
 
 Southampton, King’s House, 
 82. 
 
 Southwell Minster, clerestorey, 
 zigzag molding, 46 ; Norman 
 porch, 67. 
 
 Spire, a fine feature of Early 
 English, 120. 
 
 Square east end characteristic 
 of Anglo-Norman style, apse 
 comparatively rare, 67. 
 
 Stanton Harcourt*, east end, 
 92. 
 
264 
 
 ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 Stanton St. John, Oxon, Deco- 
 rated chancel*, 131 ; but- 
 tress*, 162. 
 
 Stan wick, lancet- window*, 95 ; 
 Decorated capital*, 155. 
 
 Stiff-leaf foliage, 100. 
 
 Stoke Orchard, Norman base*, 
 54 ; Norman capital*, 59. 
 
 Stonesfield, Oxon*, Decorated 
 window, 145. 
 
 Sunningwell, Oxford, Eliza- 
 bethan porch, 220. 
 
 Sutton Courtney, Manor-house, 
 miscalled the abbey, 82. 
 
 Tackley, Oxon, piscina*, 167. 
 
 Tewkesbury Abbey, Henry I. ,36. 
 
 Thornton, Lincolnshire, gate- 
 house, 184. 
 
 Tidmarsh, Berks, east end, 122. 
 
 Timber roofs, Decorated, 168. 
 
 Tooth-ornament*, Chester, 108; 
 Binham Priory, 123. 
 
 Towers, pre-Norman period, re- 
 markably tall, 64. 
 
 generally terminate in 
 
 a spire, as Newhaven, 33 ; in 
 some districts Early English 
 spires are of the form called a 
 broach, 120 ; in others, where 
 terminated by parapets, some- 
 times had wooden spires, ib. ; 
 Decorated, 171 ; with spires, 
 172; Perpendicular, 203, 
 
 Transitional period, 71. 
 
 Triforium arches generally wide 
 and low, sometimes divided, 
 48 ; called blind- storey by 
 William of Worcester, 190. 
 
 Tudor-flower*, Henry the Se- 
 venth’s Chapel, 206. 
 
 Vaulting of fan r tracery peculiar 
 to England in principle, as 
 in cloister of Lincoln, 112. 
 
 Vaults, Gothic, a marked dis- 
 tinction in construction in 
 England and France, 110. 
 
 Waltham Abbey, clere-storey, 44. 
 
 Wardour Castle, Wilts, 184. 
 
 Warkton, gable-cross*, 148. 
 
 Warnford Hall, 82. 
 
 Warwick, Castle, 184 ; chancel 
 of church change from Deco- 
 rated to Perpendicular, 185. 
 
 Water Eaton, Oxon, house, 
 James I., 251; roof of cha- 
 pel*, 252. 
 
 Waterperry, arch over tomb*, 
 192. 
 
 Wells, west door of chapel of 
 Bishop’s Palace* , 91 ; vaulted 
 chambers*, 112, 113 ; Vicar’s 
 Close, 185. 
 
 Westminster Abbey, early Nor- 
 man — dark cloister* and win- 
 dows*, 11 ; piers*, 13 ; arcade 
 of refectory*, 15 ; rich Nor- 
 man moldings*, 79. — Early 
 English, the Dean’s door*, 
 89 ; arcade wall*, 99 ; ca- 
 pitals*, 101, 102 ; chapel of 
 St. Blaise, 111 ; very fine 
 flying buttress, 118; church 
 rebuilt in 1245, 125 ; tran- 
 septs, 128. — Decorated win- 
 dow*, 137 ; window of Abbot 
 Litlington’s hall*, 178; vault- 
 ing of his work*, 179; tran- 
 sition between Decorated and 
 Perpendicular, ib. ; hall, roof, 
 a.d. 1397—99, 184. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 265 
 
 Westwell, Oxon, circular win- 
 dow, 148. 
 
 William Rufus, every one of the 
 Saxon cathedrals rebuilt in 
 his time, or previously, 34. 
 
 Winchester, Norman church 
 built near old one, 12 ; crypt 
 and transepts by Bishop 
 Walkelyn, 24; transept*, a.d. 
 1079 — 1093, 25 ; tower rebuilt 
 after' fall, 26; bay*, c. a.d. 
 1095, 27; pier*, a.d. 1079— 
 1093, 29 ; flying buttress, 118 ; 
 wooden roof at, 168 ; Eding- 
 ton commenced the change 
 into Perpendicular before a.d. 
 1366, continued by Wyke- 
 ham, 181 ; Lady-chapel, ca- 
 pital and base stilted and 
 molded*, 193 ; — college, built 
 after New College, 182 ; — St. 
 Cross, a remarkable example 
 of a Norman turret*, 63 ; — St. 
 Thomas’ Church, moldings*, 
 80, 81;— St.John’s Church, 
 window*, 97. 
 
 Windsor, Dean’s cloister, 177. 
 
 Wittenham, Long, Berks, 
 wooden porch, 132. 
 
 Wollaston, Northants, Deco- 
 rated spire*, 172. 
 
 Wooden porches, as at Binfield 
 and Long Wittenham, Berks, 
 132. 
 
 Woodford, Norman capital*, 53. 
 
 Woodstock, Oxon, Perpendicu- 
 cular porch*, 205. 
 
 Worcester Cathedral, crypt, 
 William II., 34 ; choir, Early 
 English, 124. 
 
 Wressell Castle, Yorkshire, 184. 
 
 Wrington, Early English but- 
 tresses*, 117. 
 
 York, south transept of Mins- 
 ter, 1250—1260, 124 ; north 
 transept, Early English, 125 ; 
 Nave has wooden vaults, 168 ; 
 Decorated, 174 ; presbytery, 
 Perpendicular windowin, 197 ; 
 — St. Crux, panelled wooden 
 door, 199. 
 
 |)rinhb bg barker anb £a., Croftm |larb, #rf orb. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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