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A 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, 
 MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C. 
 
A MANUAL 
 
 OP 
 
 GOTHIC MOLDINGS 
 
 WITH 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOE COPYING THEM AND FOE 
 DETERMINING THEIE DATES. 
 
 fllrtsirateii bj upbatbs of Si* "*juni)rta (Jumylts. 
 By F. A. PALEY, MA., 
 
 AUTHOR OP "A MANUAL OP GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, " ETC. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS, 
 
 By W. M. FAWCETT, M.A., 
 
 JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; ARCHITECT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 M.DCCC.LXV. 
 
rH£ GETTY Cfe*T£* 
 UBRARY 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE— THIKD EDITION. 
 
 A Third Edition of the Manual of Gothic Moldings having 
 been called for, the present Editor, at the request of Mr. Paley, 
 has undertaken to prepare it for the Press. Though it is 
 always difficult for one person to carry out satisfactorily the 
 work of another, the Author was of opinion that the revision of 
 a professional man would secure accuracy, and give the work 
 that practical character which he wished it to have. 
 
 The additions and alterations that have been made, have 
 chiefly been done by way of further explanation where anything 
 might not previously have seemed clear to a student ; at the 
 same time, the Editor has been careful to keep the book within 
 its present limits, lest he should change its whole character 
 from an elementary treatise to one of an entirely different class. 
 
 A considerable number of woodcuts have also been inserted 
 by way of additional illustration, and, as far as practicable, the 
 localities of the examples in the plates have been indexed ; but, 
 as these were taken from the Author's note-books when the 
 work was first published, many of them cannot now be ascer- 
 tained with certainty. 
 
 The Author has employed the terms " Early English," 
 " Decorated," and " Perpendicular " throughout, and these are 
 so thoroughly engrafted into the work, and are, besides, so 
 generally understood, that the Editor felt it would have been 
 undesirable to attempt any alteration. But the student should 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 remember that the object to be attained in nomenclature is to 
 define clearly the date and locality at which certain kinds of 
 work prevailed. Now the two latter of these terms do not fulfil 
 this condition, and therefore, in using them, the student must 
 be careful that he knows the dates to which they refer. Several 
 new terms have been proposed, but those here employed have 
 become so generally adopted that no others have succeeded in 
 displacing them. Mr. Fergusson has proposed the adoption 
 of Edwardian and Plantagenet in a manner analogous to Tudor, 
 Elizabethan, &c, already in common use ; also such terms as 
 "early thirteenth century," "late fourteenth," &c, are fre- 
 quently employed, and have the advantage of being very 
 precise. 
 
 An accurate knowledge of Moldings is indispensable to any 
 one professing even an amateur's acquaintance with architecture ; 
 but he who attempts to practise as an architect (however freely 
 he may use his knowledge) must study them thoroughly, not 
 merely by reading a work like this (though that may be of great 
 assistance), but by actually going about observing and measuring 
 them himself; for very little can be learnt without measuring, 
 as scale has a very important effect on the character of Mold- 
 ings. 
 
 There is, perhaps, hardly an old Church existing without 
 something worth sketching in it ; and often, in Moldings, 
 charming little variations may be found, which at first sight 
 would hardly be suspected. The Editor, therefore, feels that he 
 cannot do better than advise those who wish to attain a true 
 knowledge of the- science of Gothic Moldings, not merely to 
 read about them, but to sketch them carefully, and to measure 
 them accurately. 
 
 Cambridge, 1st December, 1864. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION 1'AGE 
 
 I. — Introductory . . . . . . 1 
 
 II. — The General Principles of Formation . . ,10 
 
 III. — Of Copying Moldings . . . . . .24 
 
 IV. — Of Early Moldings in general . . . .30 
 V. — Of Early English Moldings . . . .35 
 
 VI. — Of Decorated Moldings . . . . ,44 
 
 VII. — Of Perpendicular Moldings . . . . .57 
 
 VIII. — Of the Plans of Gothic Columns . . . .64 
 
 IX.— Of Capitals . . . . ' . . 69 
 
 X.— Of Bases . . . . . . .81 
 
 XI. — Of Hood-Moldings and String-courses . . .80 
 Descriptions of Plates. 
 
A MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 No person can have devoted much time and pains to the in- 
 vestigation of Christian architecture, as it was practised in this 
 country during the Middle Ages, without feeling the importance 
 of acquiring an accurate knowledge of Moldings.* That certain 
 conventional forms or details were in use at certain periods, and 
 were uniformly adopted in the constructive decoration of all 
 edifices, ecclesiastical and secular, throughout the length and 
 breadth of the land, with varieties rather of combination or dis- 
 position than of the component members, is an undoubted 
 fact, well known to and admitted by all who have paid any 
 attention to the subject. But whence these forms arose, 
 whether from a natural process of gradual development, or from 
 some real or pretended secret of freemasonry, or, lastly, from 
 mere accident or caprice, are curious questions, which, so far as 
 the author is aware, have never yet been made the subjects of 
 much investigation. Again, how far the same forms were arbi- 
 trary or obligatory in ancient freemasonwork, how far they 
 emanated from some particular source, and were dispensed by 
 authority through the country, or were assumed by some 
 tacit agreement on the part of the masons themselves, are 
 
 * This, the ancient orthography of the word, has been adopted after 
 Professor Willis. 
 
 B 
 
k 3 
 
 MANUAL OP GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 equally interesting speculations, though, perhaps, equally diffi- 
 cult to determine. However this may have been, it is quite 
 certain that a strict intercourse must have been kept up between 
 the members of this body of artisans, or almost every ancient 
 church would exhibit new and strange varieties in the details of 
 its moldings. When the difficulty which then existed of con- 
 stant and speedy communication between distant parts of the 
 country is considered, this general resemblance and uniformity, 
 not only indeed in moldings, but in all the parts and features of 
 Church architecture, must appear still more surprising. There 
 is in all these enough of licence and variety to give scope for 
 occasional localisms, and to make it probable that each architect 
 worked, to a certain extent, independently, and yet there is such 
 resemblance and decided adherence to rule, as to make it evident 
 that some system must have been observed both in designing 
 and executing them. 
 
 Or can this acknowledged uniformity be referred to no more 
 recondite cause than fashion ? Can it be said, that as the same 
 kind of hat, or coat, or other article of dress, is seen in London 
 which is found in common use at York, with varieties, indeed, 
 and a considerable degree of caprice in adorning or diversifying 
 them ; and that, as all these things are exclusively in the hands 
 of certain bodies, as hatters and tailors, and no one ever dreams 
 of employing others than these in providing them ; so there was 
 at once a fashion and a monopoly in architecture ; and a solecism 
 in moldings would have seemed to the ancient churchmen as 
 striking and offensive a fault as a solecism in dress is now con- 
 sidered ? Perhaps this is the most rational and probable view ; 
 but then it is one so very different from modern architectural 
 practice, in which every professor is at liberty to design just as 
 he pleases, and even when he pretends to imitate, is apt very 
 freely to indulge his own pleasure, and even to ridicule the re- 
 straints of strict rule, that it certainly does appear strange and 
 unaccountable. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 3 
 
 However, all these questions are quite foreign to the object 
 of the present work. They are all the province of the antiquary 
 rather than the architect, and as such it is out of place to say 
 anything more about them, especially as the writer is incom- 
 petent to give any solution of the difficulty which they involve. 
 But this may reasonably be observed, that it is to be regretted 
 that so little has yet been done in reducing to a science this 
 interesting and practically important department of Gothic 
 architecture. Probably a fancied uncertainty and obscurity of 
 the study, or a want of sufficient data, or ignorance of the exact 
 periods at which buildings were erected, and the apparent ano- 
 malies and inconsistencies which seem often to occur, have 
 all tended to deter even the most competent from writing a 
 complete treatise on the subject. To these may be added the 
 tediousness of making any considerable collection of drawings 
 and sections of moldings, the delay and difficulty of copying 
 them with minute accuracy, and the amount of observation and 
 research necessary for attaining a knowledge of their history 
 and true theory. These are causes at once sufficient to render 
 a first attempt imperfect, and to induce the reader to pardon any 
 errors or deficiencies which he may notice in the course of the 
 present work. 
 
 It may possibly be said, Why should such profitless pains be 
 taken in investigating these dull and insignificant minutiae : 
 why should they not be copied in our new churches without 
 writing books about them, and so turning an amusing pursuit 
 into a hard lesson, by imposing on beginners so much to learn ? 
 The answer is, that moldings are of the greatest possible im- 
 portance : so much so, that they have rightly been called " the 
 very grammar of the art." They- are by far the most certain, 
 and very frequently the only guides in determining the dates of 
 buildings, or of architectural members ; they are just as essen- 
 tial to a knowledge of architecture, as a map is to the study of 
 geography. In practice, too, they are of the first importance. 
 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 No one has any claim to the name of architect who thinks the 
 science of moldings beneath his notice. 
 
 It must be confessed, that some years ago, on the first revival 
 of the true principles of Gothic architecture, very serious, and 
 indeed surprising mistakes were frequently committed, even by 
 architects of repute, in the details of their moldings. There 
 was but little discrimination of styles, and a general poverty of 
 appearance prevailed, especially in the working of capitals and 
 bases. In structures of that period even of considerable pre- 
 tension it was but too common to find the most wretched and 
 meagre imitations of ancient examples, the spirit and character 
 of which were completely lost or perverted by some violation of 
 leading principles.* It is gratifying to find such rapid improve- 
 ment and so much increased attention on the part of our present 
 architects, who are fully sensible of the great importance of cor- 
 rect moldings to the effect, as well as to the distinctive character 
 of their designs. 
 
 A work on moldings may have any one of the three following 
 ends in view. It may either contain a great collection of the 
 best examples, accurately reduced to a scale, or accompanied by 
 measurements, so as to form a magazine of reference, and thus 
 supply the wants of practical men, who may often be unable to 
 procure in their immediate neighbourhood any available models ; 
 or, secondly, it may profess to be a complete and elaborate ex- 
 position of the theory of moldings, dealing with principles 
 rather than with bare facts, and taking a comprehensive view of 
 the whole subject through the medium of the Classic and Ko- 
 manesque varieties ; or, lastly, it may be an elementary treatise, 
 intended only to convey plain and easy information on the most 
 ordinary forms, and on the differences observable in each style. 
 
 * As an instance, the molding of the rich and costly archway in the 
 centre of the cloister to the new buildings of St. John's College, Cambridge, 
 is partly Early English and partly debased Perpendicular; apparently an 
 original composition of the late Mr. Hickman's. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 The first could perhaps be satisfactorily accomplished only by a 
 professional man, who might be supposed to know the wants of 
 architects and the best method of supplying them. The second 
 would require not only very considerable acuteness and ingenuity, 
 but the observation and collections of many years. The last 
 alone seems capable of being tolerably well treated by an ama- 
 teur, who has himself seen the want of some work on the sub- 
 ject, and been thrown entirely upon his own resources in examin- 
 ing and investigating it. 
 
 Such then is the aim and object of the present work, of which 
 the method of treatment is simple and practical as far as pos- 
 sible. It is obvious that the number of examples given might 
 be absolutely unlimited, and that to attempt a complete illus- 
 tration would require many hundreds of engravings, and a 
 judicious selection out of thousands of drawings. Such exten- 
 sive resources the author does not profess to possess ; nor can 
 he even assert that every one of the examples he has given, 
 from a collection of a few hundreds of full-sized sections, and 
 about as many drawings, made at different times and places by 
 the eye alone, is of that perfect and minute accuracy which 
 might have been obtained by a laborious reduction of full- sized 
 outlines to one and the same scale. The object being to explain 
 details and formations, and to point out differences, rather than 
 to furnish models for modern imitation, this extreme faithful- 
 ness of delineation, though of course highly desirable, is unne- 
 cessary, and was in the present case quite impracticable. For 
 the same reason the measurements are only occasionally added.* 
 The specimens engraved are mostly those of ordinary occurrence, 
 rather than examples of rare exceptions to the general practice 
 of the ancient architects. 
 
 Viewed as an inductive science, the study of Gothic moldings 
 is as curious and interesting in itself as it is important in its 
 
 * Most of the woodcuts, and the examples in the last five plates, have 
 been reduced from actual measurements. 
 
6 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 results. Any one who engages actively in it will be amply 
 repaid, if only by the enlarged views he will acquire of the 
 ancient principles of effect, arrangement, and composition. The 
 curves, the shadows, and the blending forms, are really in 
 themselves extremely beautiful, and will soon become the fa- 
 vourites of a familiar eye : though, viewed without understand- 
 ing, they may seem only an unmeaning cluster of hollows, nooks, 
 and shapeless excrescences. Many persons are not aware that 
 every group can be analysed with perfect ease and certainty ; 
 that every member is cut by rule, and arranged by certain 
 laws of combination. But such is surely the case ; and a know- 
 ledge of the fact should convince the student of the reasonable- 
 ness of the study. Let him only enter upon it, and he will 
 be rewarded for his pains. The only necessary conditions are, 
 a tolerable idea of delineation, and a general interest in Church 
 architecture. Possessed of these simple qualifications, he will 
 be led on by his subject from step to step, almost imperceptibly, 
 ever observing and adding to his store of facts and examples, 
 and tracing out to his own satisfaction the forms and processes 
 through which he conceives moldings to have passed in the 
 various stages of their development. He will learn to pro- 
 nounce with confidence the date of the merest fragment of 
 sculptured stone. A broken piece of a capital, a string-course, 
 or a door-jamb, dug up on the reputed site of an ancient build- 
 ing, will tell him of what style and date the fabric was, of 
 which so insignificant a remnant alone remains.* He will ever 
 
 * The Messrs. Brandon have pointed out the interesting fact, that al- 
 though earlier styles were occasionally imitated in completing or altering 
 buildings at a later period, the moldings of the respective eras were always 
 most faithfully preserved. " The assimilating process never extended to 
 the moldings. To however great an extent the earlier portion of an edifice 
 may have been subsequently copied, these important members were always 
 worked in strict conformity with the ordinary system prevalent at the 
 time of their construction." — Analysis of Gothic Architecture, p. 10, In- 
 troduction. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 and anon meet with some new and singular conformation, per- 
 haps overturning his previously formed theories, — • perhaps 
 clearly reducible to and confirmatory of them. He will look at 
 every ancient building, however dilapidated or defaced, with a 
 more searching eye, — for he will be sure to find in its very de- 
 molition peculiar facilities for research. He will regard every 
 shattered arch with a new attention. He will find the same 
 satisfaction in examining it (a melancholy satisfaction perhaps, 
 yet a like feeling of keen interest) which a botanist finds in a 
 rare plant, a herald in an ancient escutcheon, or a geologist in 
 an undescribed fossil. 
 
 The learner must be duly apprised that the best work on 
 Gothic moldings which could possibly be written will do no 
 more than set him in the right way to obtain a knowledge of 
 the subject by his own research. A few examples in the page 
 of a book are as nothing, if he does not apply in practice that 
 which he has learned from them. The look of a molding is 
 so very different in section, projected in a reduced size on paper, 
 from its appearance in perspective reality, that the same form 
 seen in the one may not even be recognised in the other. It is 
 here, therefore, once for all explained how the engravings are to 
 be understood. 
 
 Supposing a molded archway were to be taken down, and any 
 one of the voussoirs or arch-stones placed upon a large square 
 sheet of paper, in such a manner that the wall-line, or part of 
 the stone which lies in the plane of the outer wall, should be 
 parallel with the end of the paper nearest to you, and the soffit 
 or inner surface, at right angles with it, parallel to one side ; 
 and then a pencil were to be carried along the wall-line first, and 
 afterwards in and out of each cavity and round each projection, 
 and so up a portion of the soffit-plane ; the outline thus obtained 
 reduced to a small size (say a scale of half an inch to a foot), 
 and shaded on the part which represents the flat side or bed of 
 the stone, would form a diagram exactly similar to our illustra- 
 
8 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 tions. Again, if a string-course were to be sawn across, or a 
 capital or base down the middle, and a piece of paper inserted 
 in the crevice, and marked off by the sharp edge of the mold- 
 ing, this would in the same way represent the 
 shaded sections of these details. The usual 
 popular way of engraving Gothic moldings is to 
 give a perspective sketch of a stone or slice cut 
 out of the arch, showing at once the flat end 
 
 or upper face, and the molded side, and shading- 
 Decorated door-jamb, 
 
 Maxey, Northampton. the cavities an( j projections, as in the woodcut 
 and PL. V. fig. 5. But this, though its general appearance is 
 certainly much more like the reality, does not give so clear 
 a view of the forms of the separate members. The method 
 adopted by architects is uniformly that which has been followed 
 in the plates illustrating the present work. Each example is, 
 in fact, the same as the templet or mold, a thin plate of zinc, 
 tin, or wood, which is used by workmen in marking out the 
 stones previously to cutting them out. The shaded portion of 
 PL. XII. fig. 15, is a good illustration of a templet. 
 
 But the student must not only observe ; he must copy mold- 
 ings in order to understand them. Without the latter, his 
 knowledge will never be practically perfect. How to do this, 
 will shortly be shown, by explaining some of the various 
 methods which have been practised. It must be understood, at 
 the outset, that though certain lines, planes, and measurements 
 may be drawn in all cases to assist the process, and ensure 
 general fidelity, they are somewhat difficult to copy accurately by 
 the eye, because the exact curves, which are not always geome- 
 tric, can scarcely be caught without considerable practice. And 
 if the true form is not attained by the first stroke, the endea- 
 vours to improve it will seldom be very successful. Perhaps the 
 student's first attempts will be altogether futile ; but it is sur- 
 prising how well and how readily a practised hand can copy in 
 a few minutes a most complex group. A small note-book should 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 be kept exclusively for copying moldings by the eye, the 
 measurements and name of place being duly registered with 
 each example.* 
 
 For the medieval nomenclature of moldings, the learned and 
 useful work lately published by Professor Willis, and already 
 alluded to,t supplies an authentic source of information. In 
 this treatise, some of the ancient names of moldings have been 
 recovered ; and it is to be hoped they will be revived, especially 
 in the present dearth of terms. 
 
 A few expressions used in the present work it will be neces- 
 sary clearly to define before entering upon the subject. 
 
 Any architectural member is said to be molded, when the 
 edge or surface of it presents continuous lines of alternate 
 projections and recesses. 
 
 A drawing which represents these lines as they appear to 
 the eye placed exactly opposite to them, is called the elevation 
 of a molding, as in PL. I. fig. 8 ; PL. X. figs. 1 to 5, 22, 24, 40. 
 
 A drawing which represents the outline of these projections 
 and recesses, is called the section or profile of a molding, 
 being the appearance it would present if cut through by a plane 
 at right angles to its bearing. Thus, PL. I. fig. 10, if cut 
 across a b, would present the appearance of fig. 5. 
 
 A mold, or molding (the former is the ancient term), com- 
 monly signifies the entire series which ornaments a jamb or 
 arch ; but it is here generally used in the sense of a particular 
 part or member of such series. 
 
 Members are said to be grouped, when placed in combi- 
 nation, as we generally find them ; but 
 
 * Nothing is better adapted for a pedestrian tourist than a block sketch- 
 ing book, in the pocket of which a small " T square," for ruling parallel 
 and rectangular fines, should be kept. These are to be obtained with the 
 leaves fixed on one side, so that they form a book when complete, and the 
 objection to having a number of loose sheets is obviated. 
 
 •f The Architectural Nomenclature of the Middle Ages, being Part IX. 
 of the Transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. 
 
10 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 A group is a bunch of moldings or separate members, stand- 
 ing prominent or isolated, either on a shaft or between two 
 deep hollows. 
 
 An arch of two or more orders, is one which is recessed by 
 so many successive planes or retiring sub-arches, each placed 
 behind and beneath the next before it, reckoning from the 
 outer wall-line. Thus, PL. I. fig. 5, is the section across 
 an arch of "two orders," and fig. 7 is of "three hollow-cham- 
 fered orders." 
 
 As it is necessary for every student in this science, first to 
 understand the general principles of formation, and, secondly, 
 to be able to draw or "take" moldings, either full-sized or 
 reduced to a scale, with tolerable precision, these preliminary 
 points will be explained as simply and briefly as possible, be- 
 fore entering upon the consideration of the combinations and 
 more minute varieties of detail. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 
 
 It seems certain that all the forms of Gothic Moldings are the 
 peculiar and genuine offspring of Christian architecture, or at 
 least are very partially and indirectly borrowed from the Classic 
 styles ; although, as might be expected, some coincidences of 
 form exist between them. There are some who contend that 
 Gothic moldings are derived, mediately indeed, yet very de- 
 cidedly, from Koman ; a supposition hardly probable in itself, 
 when we observe that in the Norman style (in England at 
 least), which was most closely connected with the Classic, the 
 forms of the moldings which we call Gothic are merely 
 nascent, and entirely undeveloped ; and one which appears 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 
 
 11 
 
 scarcely tenable, from the consideration that the medieval 
 architects of this country* could have known little of Italian 
 architecture, and if they had, we cannot suppose they would 
 have cared to copy in its details what they altogether repudiated 
 in its kind. But the convincing argument is this : that in 
 Gothic molding all the links in the process of formation are 
 connected and complete, from the first and rudest origin to 
 the most elaborate development ; and the steps are so natural, 
 the transitions so easy, that any two styles working indepen- 
 dently of each other from the same beginnings and elemental 
 forms, could hardly fail of arriving at least at some of the same 
 results. Again, if at this or that period a new member was 
 introduced, and, as it were, a new letter added to the alphabet, 
 why should it not be attributed to invention, rather than sought 
 for in the resemblance which an Italian molding may happen 
 to bear to it ? However, the discussion of this question is 
 rather for those who have to do with the theory of moldings, 
 as the determination of it does not in the least affect the facts 
 of which this work treats. 
 
 From the time of the formation of the first Christian Basilica 
 to the middle of the twelfth century, there is such a general 
 resemblance in the character of the work as to have caused it to 
 be classed under the one title of Romanesque. About that 
 time it must be remembered that the whole of Western Europe 
 was engaged in the first Crusade, and though it can hardly 
 be said that the early Gothic forms are mere copies of Classic or 
 Eastern ones, the effect of travel would naturally be to ac- 
 
 * It is true that the Freemasons were an ecclesiastical body under the 
 Pope, and not confined to this or any other particular country in Europe. 
 It is also true that the intercourse with Rome was always frequent, from 
 the time of St. Augustine downwards. Still it is impossible to trace in 
 pure Gothic buildings the least symptom of Italianizing either in com- 
 position or details. This view the writer is happy to be able to confirm 
 by the coincident opinion of the authors of the Analysis of Gothic Archi- 
 tecture, page 48. 
 
12 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 custom the mind to see beauty in an entirely different class 
 of forms, and to enlarge its capacity of designing according to 
 the requirements it met with. 
 
 That the whole tone of architecture was then altered is an 
 undoubted fact, and some leading features were then introduced 
 for the first time. Also in matters of mere detail, we find 
 new forms, some of which may be traced to foreign sources : 
 the Early English base is allowed by all to have been bor- 
 rowed from the Attic ; and it will hereafter clearly be demon- 
 strated that such was the case. And it is undeniable that 
 several forms and combinations of the ogee curve are nearly 
 identical in Classic and in Gothic buildings. Still, if every 
 Gothic form can be shown to be an improvement or modification 
 of a preceding one, it must be concluded that the whole series is 
 the offspring of one and the same progressive art. 
 
 In their use also Gothic moldings differ as widely as possible 
 from Classic. The former are repeated to almost any extent, so 
 as entirely to occupy the large recessed spaces in jambs and 
 arches. They are repeated too in groups, each group being 
 composed of the same members, or nearly so, especially in the 
 earlier styles. The latter are few in number, and very limited in 
 their application. The combinations of the one are in a great 
 measure arbitrary, though the forms themselves are fixed ; in 
 the latter both are absolutely defined. The former run princi- 
 pally in vertical lines, the latter in horizontal. In Gothic archi- 
 tecture, horizontal moldings occur in water-tables and string- 
 courses, and in capitals and bases, in which positions they 
 invariably form subordinate lines, so as to contrast and display 
 the predominant principles of a vertical ascending sweep, and 
 may so far perhaps be regarded as lingering vestiges of the 
 Classic usage — evidences of the victory of Christian over Pagan 
 art. For it is needless to remind the reader that Gothic 
 owes its origin, though not its development, to the Basilican, 
 that is, to Koman architecture. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 
 
 13 
 
 An intelligent and thoughtful writer in the English Review * 
 has the following remarks on the differences between Grecian 
 and Gothic moldings: "Where the Grecian delighted in broad 
 level surfaces, catching the light in masses, or in projecting 
 curves on which it dies away by degrees into shadow, the 
 Gothic roughened and encrusted them with carving. And thus 
 in general we measure, or, if the expression may be used, we 
 read and peruse, a Grecian molding by its lights, and the Gothic 
 by its shadows." Again : "Of the differences between the two 
 classes of molding, some may be detected by a superficial view. 
 For instance, the Grecian delights in convex lines, the Gothic 
 in concave ; the Grecian in broad lights, the Gothic in narrow. 
 The Grecian throws out projections to catch the eye ; the Gothic 
 endeavours to bury it in deep recesses. The Grecian leads it 
 gently along in sweeping, unbroken undulations ; the Gothic 
 fractures its lines, and combines them in angles and curves. 
 The lights and shadows of the Grecian melt and slide in- 
 sensibly into each other; those of the Gothic are planted to- 
 gether in strong and bold contrast In the purest 
 
 Grecian buildings, vertical moldings are rare. Horizontal 
 moldings form the leading lines ; and it is by these, even in 
 later and degenerated specimens, that the vertical moldings 
 are regulated. In the Gothic, vertical moldings are most 
 frequent; and they overrule and determine those which are 
 horizontal. And Grecian moldings are simple and easily di- 
 visible into parts ; Gothic are entangled in labyrinths, and 
 perplexed with innumerable intricacies." 
 
 The notion of ascending moldings is coeval with the intro- 
 duction of the arch, and may indeed be traced to a still earlier 
 period in the sides of doorways and similar positions. When 
 the Komans broke up, by means of the arch, the continuous 
 horizontal entablature of the Grecians, the cornice moldings 
 were carried around it, and fell on each side in vertical lines into 
 * For December, 1844. 
 
14 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 the horizontal, thereby producing the same result as in Gothic, 
 though with a different effect ; in the one case, horizontal lines 
 continuing to predominate, in the other, being subdued and 
 rendered secondary and subordinate to the vertical prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 Gothic architecture revelled in the use of moldings, not only 
 what are usually called ornamental moldings, such as the dog- 
 tooth, the ball-flower, &c, but also the plain continuous lines of 
 light and shadow ; though they are in effect identical, since 
 the former are nothing but serrated ridges,* more or less 
 rounded and modified from the first process. Every door, 
 window, monial,t every edge, vertical or horizontal, every band, 
 string, groin-rib, roof, label, arch, and jamb, whether of wood 
 or stone, internal or external, was generally molded. Of course 
 the effect produced by so free and extended a use of them was 
 magnificent in the extreme. Construction gained thereby a 
 rich perspective, a depth of shade, an attempering of bare pro- 
 minent outlines, a fine tone, which arrested the eye, and made 
 it dwell on certain parts of higher pretension and more ex- 
 quisite elaboration than others. And yet moldings are merely 
 the ornamental adjuncts, not the essentials, of architecture. 
 Some buildings of the best periods were quite devoid of mold- 
 ings ; whence it is evident that they are not necessary even to 
 a perfect design. Boldness and simplicity produce effects, 
 different indeed in their kind, yet not less solemn and striking 
 than richness of detail. But the power of moldings was 
 appreciated to the full by the ancient architects, and it is quite 
 evident that they delighted in their extensive use. It was their 
 ambition to work them wherever they could possibly find means 
 and opportunity. Hence it is that such a vast quantity every- 
 
 * This may occasionally be seen, when the molding was left for some 
 reason or accident partially uncut. It is probable that they were generally 
 worked out after the completion of a building. 
 
 f The medieval term for what we now call muttion. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 15 
 
 where remains, that no ordinary pains are requisite in examining 
 any considerable moiety of them for the purposes of investigating 
 their principles. If the uniformity in their use had not been 
 very strict and close, it had indeed been a hopeless task ever 
 to master the subject ; indeed, if there had not been a system 
 of molding, there would have been nothing to investigate. But 
 so little did the medieval masons depart from the fixed conven- 
 tional forms, that a capital, a base, or an arch-mold is often 
 found of perfectly the same profile in an abbey or a cathedral, 
 and in a village church at the other end of the kingdom ; so 
 that we might almost suspect that the very same working- 
 drawing had been used for both. And this, when it is con- 
 sidered, must appear a very wonderful fact. 
 
 Although the examples given here are in nearly every case 
 from stonework, the student would do well to notice those in 
 other materials, such as wood, iron, &c, for though the same 
 forms will be found at the same date as in stonework, they 
 are on a more delicate 
 scale, according to the 
 fineness of the material ; 
 thus, in the annexed ex- I 
 ample s, the monial from 
 the screen at Burgh le 
 Marsh, Lincolnshire, is 
 only half the size of the 
 
 . /> t-» i i • Woodwork. Burgh. Stonework, Bottisham . 
 
 stone one irom Botti- 
 
 sham, near Cambridge, but has more members in it. 
 
 The reader will perhaps be tired of this preliminary chapter, 
 and will be anxious to enter upon the subject at once. And at 
 this point it may be well to proceed, beginning with very early 
 buildings, and endeavouring to discover the origin of the practice, 
 and then gradually trace the progress of development until the 
 forms have all been analysed and classified according to their 
 respective dates. 
 
16 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 On examining the plan of a Saxon window or door-way, 
 perhaps nothing more will be found than a rude square-edged 
 aperture in a plain wall, as in PL. I. fig. 1. This may often 
 be met with, even considerably later, in small and rude country 
 churches, especially in belfry-arches. It may, however, be 
 relieved and expanded by splaying it on one or both sides, that 
 is, by sloping or chamfering off the edges, as in fig. 2. So in 
 an ordinary Early English lancet window, the long narrow 
 opening has a very wide splay inside and a very small one on 
 the outside, fig. 3. But in arching over the upper part of such 
 an aperture as fig. 1, made in a thick wall of loose rubble 
 masonry, it was not uncommon to add, for the sake at once of 
 ornament and security, a sub-arch, or under-rib, like the groin- 
 rib of a vault, constructed of fine-jointed ashlar, as fig. 4. This 
 sub-arch rested either on a pillar at each side, or a projecting 
 impost,* or it was carried continuously down to the ground, that 
 is, without any interruption or change of shape. Now in this 
 rude arrangement, which is observable in many continental 
 Eomanesque churches, and may probably be connected in its 
 origin with the overlapping stone courses or fasciae in Classic 
 architraves, we shall find the germs of a usage which ever 
 afterwards prevailed, with some improvements of form and 
 detail, but no alteration of principle. In the abbey church of 
 St. Alban's, the nave and transept-arches are constructed of two 
 rectangular sub-ribs, or soffit-pilasters, which are continued 
 from the ground with the intervention of a mere band or string- 
 course at the impost. The same is observable in several of the 
 Transition arches at Buildwas Abbey.f 
 
 By chamfering off each arris, or square edge, of this aper- 
 ture, which now becomes recessed, or of two orders or retiring 
 members, the plan is at once obtained which was most con- 
 
 * In Transition arches, the inner order, or sub-arch, is often corbelled off 
 at the impost, the jambs being left square, with a small shaft at the angles, 
 f Potter's Monastic Remains, PL. III. and IV. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 
 
 17 
 
 stantly used, especially in pier-arches, without the least change 
 of form, for centuries afterwards (PL. I. fig. 5). Of course, 
 there may be two or more sub-arches, if the wall be very thick ; 
 each one retiring behind the other. And the chamfer may be 
 hollow, or fluted, as in fig. 7, which is common in Early 
 English and Decorated arches. This is the case in the chancel- 
 arch at Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge, and was much in 
 vogue from about 1260 to 1320. 
 
 In practice, however, when worked on a small scale, the sub- 
 arch was no longer a separate constructive 
 formation, but was cut out of a single stone 
 together with the first or outer order of 
 moldings. The accompanying diagram re- 
 presents a voussoir or arch- stone of an 
 ordinary Decorated nave-arch. 
 
 It is quite evident that the above was the origin of the com- 
 monly occurring arch of two plain chamfered orders. Were 
 any proof wanting, we might refer to cases where only one side 
 is chamfered and the other left square, as at Horningsea, near 
 Cambridge, circa 1190 (PL. I. fig. 9), or to the peculiar 
 termination represented in elevation in PL. I. fig. 10, and 
 PL. XXL fig. 3, which is common in Early English arches, as at 
 Waterbeach, near Cambridge, or to the springing of a three- 
 quarter edge-roll from a square archivolt immediately above the 
 capital, as in PL. I. fig. 8, which is a Transition Norman arch 
 at Little Casterton, Kutland. Fig. 10 may conveniently be 
 called the broach stop* It is the way of changing the square 
 into the chamfered edge without abruptness, or of blending the 
 one into the other. 
 
 But there was another method of taking off sharp edges, 
 which was introduced perhaps even earlier than the other, and 
 exercised a much more direct influence in the formation of 
 
 * The broaches of an octagonal spire are the semi-pyramidal projections 
 connecting the four oblique faces with the angles of the square tower. 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 moldings. This was by rounding the edge instead of cutting 
 it away. Hence arose the cylindrical roll or bowtell, which 
 was afterwards made more or less nearly a circle by cutting out 
 a small angular channel on each side. PL. I. fig. 6, is one side 
 or face of an arch-mold at Little Casterton, showing this 
 method, which is given more at large in fig. 21. This seems 
 soon to have suggested the contrast of light and shade, formed 
 by hollows alternating with (relatively) projecting members. 
 
 Fig. 11 is the section of a Norman pier-arch at Friesland, 
 Lincolnshire. In this the square edge is worked into a shallow 
 triple roll. 
 
 Fig. 12 is an Early English pier-arch at Skirbeck, near Bos- 
 ton. Here the bowtell is formed by rounding the edge as 
 before, and cutting a deep three-quarter hollow on each side. 
 Thus the bowtell becomes attached only by a narrow neck, as 
 was very usual in this style. 
 
 Fig. 13 is from Great Grimsby, and fig. 14 from Clee, both 
 in Lincolnshire. In the latter church a Dedication inscription 
 still remains,* bearing the date 1192 ; and the other is of very 
 nearly the same period. Both these are good examples of the 
 same principle ; and arch-molds of this kind are of constant 
 occurrence in the Norman and Transition styles. The pier- 
 arches in the nave of Peterborough Cathedral are molded pre- 
 cisely in the same manner. 
 
 These bold early moldings are generally called " edge-rolls," 
 because they occur at the external angles of the receding orders, 
 and are not yet extended on each side. They are commonly 
 single, as PL. XXI. fig. 2, an arch from Seaton church, Rut- 
 land ; but occasionally double, as fig. 1 of the same plate, the 
 belfry arch of Morcot church, in the same county. From this 
 latter arrangement is derived the double roll and fillet which 
 forms the central member of PL. XVIII. fig. 8, an arch-mold 
 from the choir of Ripon Minster. 
 
 * Facsimile given in Hickman's Gothic Architecture, Sixth Edition, p. 234. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 19 
 
 In considering the origin of the cylindrical roll or bowtell, 
 the first element of moldings, the influence of jamb- shafts, must 
 be taken into account. In Norman doorways, every nook 
 formed by the receding under-ribs, already described, is 
 occupied by a detached column. PL. L fig. 15, is from Adel 
 Church,* Yorkshire, and illustrates this arrangement. Now 
 this column seems at first to have borne a square-edged 
 member or sub-arch, which projected above the impost 
 exactly where the jamb receded below it, and which was after- 
 wards, in some cases, rounded off so as to correspond in 
 form and size with the column itself. This may very 
 clearly be seen in an Early Norman doorway at Hauxton, 
 near Cambridge. Hence, by omitting altogether the impost or 
 capital, the idea of continuous moldings is obtained. This 
 subject, however, will be spoken of more fully in treating of 
 capitals and shafts generally. 
 
 Another form, which occurs frequently in the Transition 
 Norman and Early English periods, is the pointed bowtell, 
 resembling, and coeval with, the introduction of the pointed 
 arch. Its formation may be seen in PL. I. fig. 16, which is the 
 plan of a late Norman arch in St. Mary's Church, Ely. This 
 member arose from a desire to decorate the 
 angles of recessed arches, without either 
 cutting away or rounding off the square 
 edge, as in the annexed example from 
 Croxden Abbey, Staffordshire. Hence its 
 occurrence in Early Gothic may be expected, 
 and in truth it is very frequently found in the Transition period, 
 though not in the pure Norman. Yet something closely re- 
 sembling this member often occurs in Norman work, between 
 two cylindrical bowtells, as at A, fig. 13. Fig. 17 is a triple 
 respond or half-pier, of very singular form, at Clee ; and 
 
 * See " Churches of Yorkshire," Part VII., from which this example is 
 borrowed. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 fig. 19 shows its use in an Early English arch at St. Benet's, 
 Lincoln. In this case the under-edge is withdrawn at the 
 point, which seems the origin of what is called the scroll- 
 molding, hereafter to be explained. Fig. 24 shows this form 
 more at large. 
 
 The pointed shaft, the plan of which may be described as 
 a spherical triangle engaged at the base, is of constant occur- 
 rence in Early English work, and is generally a mark of its 
 early date. The clustered columns at Byland and Whitby 
 Abbeys (the former circa 1190) exhibit the pointed shaft alter- 
 nating with the circular. The western porch at Ely is flanked 
 by clustered columns of pointed shafts. Undoubtedly this form 
 existed earlier than, and afterwards led to, the filleted shaft and 
 bowtell, which are so well known by the name of the "roll-and- 
 fillet." As a general rule it may be stated that a shaft may 
 take almost any form to suit the primary molding which it 
 sustains on its capital, on the principle of continuous moldings 
 already alluded to. 
 
 PL. I. figs. 12 and 23 show the cylindrical and the pointed 
 bowtells with the addition of a small fillet at one side. Fig. 22 
 is a groin-rib from Kobertsbridge Abbey, where both sides are 
 thus filleted. Fig. 18 is a groin-rib from Tintern Abbey, 
 where the fillet is at the end or central point. And fig. 25 
 is an Early English arch at Little Casterton, where there are 
 three fillets. Of all these varieties more will be said hereafter. 
 
 PL. II. fig. 1, is a pier-arch of very Early English date, at 
 Middle Kasen. Fig. 2 is a doorway at Ludborough, fig. 3 the 
 chancel arch at Langtoft, and fig. 5 the jamb of the archway of 
 the south porch at Great Grimsby, all in Lincolnshire. The 
 first three exhibit the use of the pointed bowtell. PL. XVIII. 
 fig. 4, is the jamb of a lancet window at the east end of 
 Bivaulx Abbey. This is one of the commonest moldings at the 
 angles of Early English window-jambs. 
 
 The student will already have perceived, from the manner 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP FORMATION. 
 
 21 
 
 adopted here of drawing the sections, first, that all these mold- 
 ings are formed out of the solid block solely by removing edges 
 and sinking hollows, and must never be regarded as excres- 
 cences on a plane surface ; secondly, and in consequence, that 
 the groups lie in the planes of the uncut blocks, the outermost 
 edge of each member touching the rectangular or chamfered 
 surface, that is, not being cut away so as to fall below or short 
 of it. The original planes, or uncut square surfaces, are re- 
 presented in our engravings by dotted lines. These two facts 
 must be regarded as fundamental canons in the arrangement of 
 moldings. 
 
 There are three planes in which moldings will be found to 
 lie ; one parallel with the outer wall, which we shall designate 
 the wall-plane ; one at right angles to it, or parallel with the 
 soffit, which may be called the soffit-plane ; and the third, the 
 plane formed by chamfering an edge, which was generally (not 
 invariably) done at an angle of about forty -five degrees or the 
 chamfer-plane. In PL. II. fig. 10, a is the chamfer-plane, b 
 the soffit-plane, c the wall-plane. It is clear that by sinking 
 hollows in any one of these surfaces, a group of moldings 
 would be developed. 
 
 In considering any series of moldings previously to copying 
 them, the first point is to lay down on paper the various planes, 
 that is, to ascertain the plan of the arch, or other feature, be- 
 fore the moldings were cut. When this is done by accurate 
 measurement, the rest of the process becomes comparatively 
 easy, and the most complex and extensive combination, which 
 it appears at first sight impossible to copy with anything like 
 accuracy, may be readily disentangled, analysed, and sketched 
 with precision. Without attending to these facts, all attempts 
 to do so will be futile. 
 
 It may be alleged, as a general rule,* that Early English 
 
 * " In the Anglo -Norman style the jamb-molds were almost always 
 worked in the wall and soffit planes ; and this continued to be the general 
 
22 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 moldings lie on the planes rectangular; that Decorated, ac- 
 cording to their kind, fall either on these, or on the chamfer- 
 plane alone ; and that Perpendicular moldings almost always 
 lie on the last. If some members seem to fall short of one 
 plane, they will generally be found referable to some other; 
 and if they fall on the segment of a circle, which is much more 
 rarely the case, as in PL. II. fig. 15, a pier-arch at All Saints', 
 Stamford, the inclination must be determined by bending a 
 ruler or piece of lead across them. It is, however, by no 
 means uncommon to meet with moldings of all the styles in 
 which some of the members are withdrawn considerably below 
 the plane of the others. It is obvious that this is the most 
 expensive kind of molding, because more has to be cut away 
 from the solid block. The arrangement of moldings on the 
 original block-planes was less and less rigidly adhered to as the 
 styles progressed, and in the latest, or Third-pointed, it was 
 frequently entirely lost. PL. III. figs. 2 and 3, are instances 
 of Early English moldings not falling upon the regular planes. 
 
 PL. II. fig. 11, is an example of a molding from Over, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, truly copied according to the above rules. Fig. 12 
 is the distorted and inaccurate form it would probably assume 
 if an unpractised and untaught draughtsman were to attempt 
 to copy it by the eye. 
 
 PL. II. fig. 7, is an Early English molding from the interior 
 of the chancel door, Cherry Hinton. Fig. 8 is a pier-arch, and 
 fig. 6 the northern doorway of the same church. Fig. 19 is a 
 very fine molding from the inner door of the south porch. 
 
 arrangement throughout the Early English Gothic period, although we 
 occasionally find the jamb molded on the chamfer-plane. During the 
 earlier portion of the Decorated Gothic period, the wall and soffit planes 
 still continued to be most generally used, but then in tolerably frequent 
 connection with the chamfer-plane, which at this time was in most cases 
 worked exactly at an angle of 45° ; and as the style advanced towards the 
 era of decided architectural debasement, the moldings shared in the 
 prevailing desire to produce a meretricious effect, without any reference 
 to correctness of composition." — Brandon's Analysis, p. 50. 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION. 
 
 23 
 
 (The semicircle round the central group represents the capital 
 of the jamb-shaft.) Fig. 9 is a doorway, and fig. 13 a window- 
 jamb, both from Over. These are Early Decorated. Fig. 14 
 is a doorway at Madingley, and fig. 16 one at Trumpington, 
 near Cambridge. These are both pure Decorated. Fig. 18 is 
 a magnificent arch-mold from the doorway of St. Clement's 
 church, Cambridge, showing the capitals of the two jamb- 
 shafts. This is not an easy example to copy by the eye, for 
 the central member in each group does not extend to the angle, 
 but falls on the line of the chamfer. The observation of this 
 circumstance immediately removes the principal difficulty. 
 
 This section illustrates a very common peculiarity of its 
 style, which may be called the triplicity of moldings. Whe- 
 ther constructive or symbolical, or (as a writer in the English 
 Review, already quoted, imagines) suggested by philosophical 
 principles of effect, we need not now consider, though sym- 
 bolism may have had its influence, since the architects of the 
 period greatly affected representations of the mystic number 
 three. This molding consists of three distinct groups, each 
 group having three members. Occasionally each member has 
 three fillets, so that there is a triple triplicity in the entire 
 composition. It is clear, however, that if an archway has two 
 sub-arches, or consists of three orders, the angle of each will 
 naturally form a group of three rolls with a hollow on each 
 side, as in fig. 5. Early English and Decorated moldings 
 very often consist of three groups. Too much stress has fre- 
 quently been laid on the theory of architectural symbolism, and 
 we only mention it as an opinion entertained by some. 
 
24 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 OF COPYING MOLDINGS. 
 
 There are several ways of doing this. The best and simplest 
 of all is by inserting the paper in a loose joint, or by applying 
 a large sheet of paper where a stone has been removed, and 
 left the edges sufficiently clear and sharp to trace their outlines 
 by pressure against them, or by a pencil. These methods, 
 however, are but seldom available, except in ruined buildings, 
 and here great care should be taken not to damage or destroy 
 any portion of the little that is left. But many fragments of 
 monials, groin-ribs, voussoirs, and other molded stones, may be 
 found in every old abbey; and these may readily be placed 
 upon sheets of paper for the purpose of tracing their outlines. 
 By these means alone a large collection of very valuable 
 specimens may be made. 
 
 Another way is by the use of the leaden tape. A thin 
 flexible riband of this metal, about a yard in length, may be 
 rolled into a coil so as to be easily portable. By being mani- 
 pulated and impressed upon the moldings to be copied, and 
 thence carefully removed, and laid upon a sheet of paper, it re- 
 tains the exact shape it has received, and may be traced off with 
 a pencil. In this process, however, which requires both pains 
 and practice to ensure tolerable accuracy, there are many difficul- 
 ties to overcome. First, it is clear, that if the molding extends 
 over a considerable space, the tape, by its extreme pliability 
 and great weight, is almost unavoidably bent in transferring 
 it to the paper, which must be spread flat on the ground, or 
 some level surface nearest at hand. If this should happen, the 
 true bearings of the members, that is, their relative position to 
 each other, are confused or altogether lost, and the copy is in- 
 
COPYING MOLDINGS. 
 
 25 
 
 correct and worthless. Secondly, where the molding is much 
 undercut, or contains deep and wide hollows with a narrow 
 neck, the lead, when fitted into them cannot be withdrawn. In 
 the first instance, it is better to copy only eight or ten inches of 
 the molding at once ; or the planes in which the members re- 
 spectively lie (that is, a full- sized plan by measurement of the 
 block jamb or arch) may be first marked out on the paper, and 
 the tape adjusted to them ; in the second case, it is advisable 
 to carry the tape merely over the necks of the hollows, and 
 subsequently to determine their breadth and width by inserting 
 a measure into them. As Early English moldings are often 
 mutilated, from being so far undercut that portions of the 
 projecting members have fallen or been broken off, the lead 
 may frequently be manipulated into a part which is entire, and 
 afterwards drawn upwards or downwards till it finds exit at a 
 broken place. In all cases, dirt, moss, and whitewash must 
 first be scraped clear away from the part to be copied, or the 
 sharp and rounded edges, the depth of the hollows, &c, can- 
 not truly be ascertained. 
 
 In using the tape, the rough draught of the pencil must 
 invariably be corrected by close comparison with the original, 
 and every separate member should be tested as to size, pro- 
 jection, bearing, and curvature, by the aid of the measure. A 
 pair of compasses with the ends bent inward is very useful in 
 obtaining the breadth of the members ; and if furnished with 
 a segmental scale-bar, or slide affixed to one leg and passing 
 through the other, the width of the neck of each undercut 
 bowtell may be exactly marked. Sharp edges and angular 
 hollows cannot be closely copied with the leaden tape, so that 
 these especially must be supplied by the eye ; on the whole, 
 though the tape has in some cases been successfully used, it 
 is so clumsy that it can hardly be recommended to the student. 
 
 There is a process similar in its nature and results to the use 
 of the leaden tape, which is very successful where the moldings 
 
26 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 are not too much undercut. This is technically called squeezing, 
 and is practised by applying wet clay, plaster, or a composition 
 purposely prepared of wax and some other ingredients, to the 
 part to be copied, the form of which is thus readily and accu- 
 rately obtained, though the convex and concave surfaces are of 
 course reversed. By pouring plaster of Paris into the matrix 
 thus formed, the original molding is exactly copied. But in the 
 case of undercutting, the difficulty is here insurmountable, and 
 the whole operation is tedious, clumsy, and only fit to be applied 
 when a model is necessary. 
 
 A beautiful and ingenious instrument has been invented by 
 Professor Willis, and called by him the Cymagraph, by which 
 moldings may be copied with the most perfect accuracy, and of 
 the full size. It is described and illustrated in the Engineers' 
 and Architects' Journal, No. 58. It can be successfully used 
 with a very little practice ; and the most extensive and complex 
 moldings can be taken by its aid. The only disadvantages are, 
 that the instrument, though by no means large, is an inconve- 
 nient appendage to the equipment of a pedestrian, and that only 
 about a foot's width of a molding can be taken at once ; so that 
 a number of separate pieces of paper must be pinned together 
 on the spot, and that with great accuracy, or the planes and 
 bearings will be incorrect. 
 
 Another instrument of great elegance, and about the same 
 size, has (since the first edition of this work) been brought to a 
 considerable degree of practical utility, though not perhaps fully 
 to perfection, by Mr. Henry Bashforth, a Fellow of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge. This very clever contrivance possesses the 
 remarkable advantage of copying moldings on the spot, reduced 
 to any scale which may be desired ; and by reversing the process, 
 the reduced copy may afterwards be enlarged to its original or 
 any other size. In smaller and simpler moldings, as in ordinary 
 door and window jambs, bases, and capitals, and the like, this 
 machine answers perfectly, with one and the same application, as 
 
COPYING MOLDINGS. 
 
 27 
 
 the author of the present work can attest, from having used it in 
 company with the inventor ; but for very extensive and deeply 
 undercut groups, it is generally necessary to take a portion at a 
 time, as in the case of Professor Willis's cymagraph. 
 
 Geometric methods, both of copying and reducing moldings, 
 are fallible ; for the members and curves were very often drawn 
 libera manu* especially in earlier work ; so that very consider- 
 able deviations from geometric precision must be expected in ob- 
 serving ancient examples. 
 
 Another, and for ordinary purposes much the best and simplest 
 way, is to copy by the eye alone, on a reduced scale, adding the 
 measurements of each face, as in PL. I. fig. 12. If the 'parti- 
 cular measurements of each member are required, they should be 
 given in respect of a horizontal and a vertical plane, as in PL. II. 
 figs. 20, 21, 22. This is rather a troublesome process, and is 
 apt to produce a complex diagram. Generally, it is enough to 
 give the whole breadth or width of a series of moldings, which 
 is simple and easy when they lie in one plane, as in PL. III. 
 fig. 1, an Early English doorway at Louth. The depth to which 
 hollows are sunk from the surface of any plane may readily be 
 added, as PL. VIII. fig. 3. 
 
 By adding the measurements of all the parts, any inaccuracy 
 of proportion resulting from a hasty sketch will readily be recti- 
 fied, should the molding be adopted in practical architecture. 
 For example, in PL. XVII. fig. 3, it is obvious that the double 
 groove or hollow chamfer in the centre cuts off a less portion of 
 the projecting angle than the diagram represents ; for the line 
 marked 3f inches is nearly as long as that marked 7. In this, 
 as in other cases, the measurement serves to correct the drawing. 
 
 For the sake of neatness, in copying moldings, it is well to 
 
 * If not so designed by the master, they certainly were often so cut by 
 the mason. Mr. Potter, in giving the full-sized sections of mouldings from 
 Tintern Abbey, has drawn them for the most part with the compasses, and 
 in this case no doubt correctly. 
 
28 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 adopt uniformly the plan, already pointed out, of drawing the 
 outer wall-line parallel with the bottom of the page, and the 
 soffit parallel to the side. The same side of a doorway or a 
 capital should be taken in all cases where it is possible, to avoid 
 the natural awkwardness of presenting to view the position of 
 moldings drawn promiscuously right or left. 
 
 The practice of copying moldings by the eye alone, is of the 
 greatest importance in acquiring a sound acquaintance with the 
 subject. It is indeed, as before stated, indispensable. The eye 
 becomes perfectly familiar with every kind and variety by fre- 
 quently contemplating new examples and collections previously 
 made ; and thus a great degree of accuracy is in time attained, 
 and a perfect copy of the ordinary and plainer moldings, with 
 their measurements, may be made in two or three minutes. In 
 this way also moldings which are quite out of reach may be 
 sketched very tolerably at the distance of many feet, if the planes 
 in which they lie be carefully attended to. 
 
 Though the student should always carry his sketch-book and 
 pencil with him, he must be careful not to neglect to get full- 
 sized details whenever he has the opportunity, as they will tend 
 very much to correct the eye for sketching, and frequently show 
 important deviations from geometric forms which are liable to be 
 overlooked at first sight. 
 
 These two points, the planes in which moldings lie, and the 
 relative proportions of the parts, must be invariably observed, and 
 the practised eye will seize the outline almost instinctively, with a 
 very close approximation to truth. It may be remarked, that in 
 the example given by Professor Willis, in his " Architectural No- 
 menclature," from the Journal of William of Worcester, the plane 
 is marked by a line, as in the illustrations of the present work. 
 
 In copying the moldings of capitals, measure the depth from 
 the top of the abacus to the under side of the astragal, or neck ; 
 and the projection of the abacus over the shaft. Both these are 
 easily taken by dropping a small plummet (a string with a 
 
COPYING MOLDINGS. 
 
 29 
 
 bullet is best) from the outer edge of 
 the abacus, and applying the foot rule 
 and triangle. 
 
 It has been observed that edges are 
 frequently chamfered at an angle of 
 forty-five degrees. But as this is by 
 no means invariably the case, it is 
 advisable in every instance to put it to 
 the test. There are several simple and 
 effective means of doing this. One is 
 by bending the measure at its joint 
 (PL. II. fig. 15), by which the angle can be accurately trans- 
 ferred to the paper, however small the copy may be : the only 
 difficulty is in the hinge of the rule, which will prevent it being 
 placed close against the wall. Another by the use of a triangle 
 of wood or brass, with angles of forty-five degrees, by applying 
 the hypotenuse of which to the chamfer the two sides will be 
 respectively parallel to the wall-plane and the soffit-plane, if the 
 chamfer is at an angle of forty- five, but not otherwise. See PL. 
 V. fig. 12. The best plan, however, is to measure along the wall 
 and soffit planes, which may generally be done very easily by 
 placing the rule against one plane and sighting the end of it to 
 a line with the other, as in diagram, 
 where the rule is placed against one 
 plane, the end just meeting the other, 
 and thus either the dimension a b or 
 b c may be obtained ; and the enclosed 
 angle being a right angle, the direction of the chamfer is obtained. 
 
 Full- sized moldings are reduced by the use of the well-known 
 instrument called the Pentagraph. All other methods require 
 both time and care. Every member may be reduced sepa- 
 rately by means of the compass and scale ; or circles may be drawn, 
 inclosing certain portions of the copy, and repeated of the pro- 
 portionate size in the same positions on the reduced drawing. 
 
30 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 OF EARLY MOLDINGS IN GENERAL. 
 
 Having thus far explained the general principles and the 
 methods of drawing moldings in section, the theory of the 
 first formations of moldings must now be considered more 
 fully. 
 
 The first and rudest attempts at molding which are found in 
 this country, are the rough and coarsely chiselled members, 
 generally semi-cylindrical, which occur in the Ante-Norman 
 chancel-arch at Wittering, Northamptonshire, PL. III. fig. 10, 
 the balustre shafts in the tower of St. Benet's, Cambridge, and 
 other churches of that date, to which must be added the very 
 curious and antique attempt at a molded architrave on the 
 impost of the belfry-arch at Barnack. This last example, an 
 exact parallel to which occurs in a doorway* of the Romanesque 
 palace of Theodoric at Ravenna, and, indeed, the very nature of 
 the case, would lead us to conclude that the earliest element 
 arose out of a desire to relieve, by coarse irregular channeling, 
 a plain flat surface. And a square-edged rib easily became a 
 semi-cylindrical bowtell, by first chamfering, and then removing 
 indefinitely the remaining angles. Thus, for instance, Norman 
 string-courses often consist of a square projecting fillet, with 
 the angles chamfered off, so as to form a semi-hexagonal 
 projection. St. Sepulchre's church, Cambridge, affords, both 
 in its groin-ribs and pier-arches, an excellent illustration of 
 the first idea of forming rounds by removing edges, and of 
 setting off the parts thus rounded, by sinking a small channel 
 or furrow on each side a little below the surface. Thus, then, a 
 square-edged arch, with its sub-arch or soffit-rib, was either 
 
 * Engraved in Mr. Gaily Knight's " Italian Architecture," Part I. 
 
EARLY MOLDINGS IN GENERAL. 
 
 31 
 
 worked into rounds at each angle, PL. IV. fig. 1, or into pointed 
 rolls, as fig. 2, which is an arch at Keymerston, Norfolk, 
 circa 1200 ; or some edges were chamfered, others worked into 
 rolls, and the suh-arch cut away into a hroad semi-cylindrical 
 rib, as in fig. 4, which represents a semi-Norman arch at 
 Barholme, Lincolnshire, and PL. XXI. fig. 1. PL. IV. figs. 7 
 and 8, are groin-ribs of common profile in Norman work ; 
 the one from Glastonbury, circa 1200 ; the other from Peter- 
 borough, Early Norman : both clearly and satisfactorily exhibit- 
 ing the formation of the roll-molding or bowtell. 
 
 The deep rounded hollow (as contrasted with the mere 
 notch), by which the contrast of light and shade was obtained, 
 was an after-thought, which was not developed till the Early 
 English period, when it was carried to an extravagant excess, 
 so that roll-moldings were extensively undercut or attached 
 only by a small neck of stone ; thus having the effect of a 
 series of detached arches or ribs, rising in succession above and 
 behind each other, each independent and unconnected, the 
 eye being unable to penetrate to the depth of the dark hollow. 
 PL. IV. fig. 5, is a very Early English pier-arch, at Barnack, in 
 which the first appearance of the deep hollows may be traced.* 
 
 It might appear probable that the true 
 origin of the deep three-quarter circular 
 hollow must be looked for in the wish to 
 form a cutting inwards, at the point of the 
 interior angle, corresponding to the bowtell 
 at the edge or point of the exterior rectangle 
 of the sub-arches, as in diagram and PL. VI. fig. 10, and 
 PL. VII. fig. 7. From these two points both the hollows and 
 the bowtells may have been extended each way, till no space 
 was left unoccupied, and thus a great width was covered 
 
 * An excellent example of a similar kind is engraved in p. 85 of Pro- 
 fessor Willis's " Canterbury," where the contrast between the Norman edge- 
 mold and Transition bowtell with side hollows is well shown. 
 
32 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 with minute members, alternately dark and light, hollow and 
 prominent. Still, this inner hollow at the angle is not very 
 observable in the earliest arches, but is rather characteristic 
 of the work of the first two Edwards, so that this view is hardly 
 correct. 
 
 The roll-molding being once established, it became natural 
 to multiply it as an ornamental feature to an unlimited extent ; 
 and to prevent sameness of effect many modifications in the 
 forms of the projecting members were introduced, as well as 
 considerable variety in the size and depth of the alternating 
 hollows. Now, multiplication naturally implies reduction in 
 size ; so that, in place of two or three heavy round moldings 
 placed at the angles only, and without hollows of any great 
 depth, we find a whole series of minute and skilfully diversified 
 members, designed not on any exact geometric principle, but 
 regulated by taste, effect, and no doubt, to a certain extent, 
 by caprice. We may suppose the architect to have drawn on a 
 board or a stone, with a free hand, the outline to be followed 
 in working out the hollows ; and PL. IV. fig. 3, represents 
 such a stone, with the profile scratched or marked on its surface. 
 The templet, being applied to every stone to be worked, afforded 
 exactly the same shape for each, so that the pieces, when put 
 together, coincided with perfect accuracy. 
 
 Deeply recessed archways consist of several courses of molded 
 stones, each order, or sub-arch, having its own independent con- 
 struction, and each joint being overlapped by the stone next 
 to the back of it. When the moldings are meagre, the arch 
 generally consists of a single row of voussoirs. In taking a 
 molding of the former kind, it is well to mark the joints of 
 the different courses. 
 
 The grouping and multiplying of members was greatly facili- 
 tated in its development by the Gothic principle of distributing- 
 weights and thrusts under a number of different supports. 
 Thus each group of arch-moldings in an Early English doorway 
 
EARLY MOLDINGS IN GENERAL. 
 
 33 
 
 is borne by a detached jamb-shaft below the impost. In 
 later times, the shafts were engaged in the wall, and at the 
 latest period the roll-moldings were often continuous, but with 
 small pseudo-capitals and bases attached after the manner of 
 real columns. 
 
 The Norman architects never got much beyond the plain 
 cylindrical edge-roll and shallow hollow, similar to the annexed 
 example from Coton. They paid so much atten- 
 tion to surface sculpture and shallow ornamental 
 work in the flat faces of their arches, that the 
 notion of alternate hollows and projections does 
 not appear to have been fully comprehended 
 by them, or, if so, was found to be incompatible with the 
 enrichment by shallow superficial detail. It was reserved for 
 the period of Transition to effect this. 
 
 The invention of the pointed bowtell, contemporaneously with 
 the general use of the pointed arch, opened the way to a great 
 number of new forms, all more or less referable to this common 
 origin, and all used with the most refined taste in varying 
 the members of complex Early English groupings. The first 
 and by far the most important of these is the roll-and-fillet, 
 PL. II. fig. 4, and PL. I. fig. 20, a doorway in the precinct 
 of Lincoln Cathedral. The introduction of this new feature 
 may be said to have wrought a complete revolution in the 
 system of molding. It is the key-note of almost all the subse- 
 quent formations. It may be defined to be a flat bead set rib- 
 wise on the surface of a roll-molding, at first with a square 
 under-edge, as PL. I. fig. 18, afterwards, and most commonly, 
 with a slope or ogee curvature, as in PL. II. fig. 17, a groin-rib 
 from Tintern Abbey. It is not certain at what precise period, 
 or from what cause, the fillet was first added to the cylindrical 
 bowtell. It was itself a common enough feature down from 
 Classic times, and in Norman work was used in the abaci of 
 capitals, in strings, and in other places. A certain analogy 
 
 I) 
 
34 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 may be traced in the annexed examples ; and that from Selby 
 
 is simply the ordinary roll-and- 
 fillet used as a string. An ex- 
 ample of a single side fillet to 
 the roll is figured PL. I. fig. 12. 
 
 This appears to be an accidental 
 
 e. , -I .-1 m 
 
 face of the wall. Forms of this kind have probably first 
 suggested the use of fillets with the roll. Or it may be 
 that the idea of a surface-line having been suggested by the 
 
 (PL. IV. fig. 9), or was throated or widened, so as to produce a 
 more prominent effect. As, however, it will be found in the 
 earliest examples that this fillet frequently falls in a line 
 with the chamfer-plane, as in PL. II. figs. 9, 15, 19, and 
 in fig. 6, the north doorway at Cherry Hinton, it may possibly 
 have been left as a standing portion of the uncut surface ; a 
 view which is certainly borne out by the general analogy of 
 molding. The position of diagonal projection is undoubtedly 
 the ordinary one throughout the Early English period; and 
 the fillet is not often found coincident with either of the other 
 planes, as in fig. 8, a pier-arch from Cherry Hinton, till towards 
 the end of the thirteenth century. Still, examples are not 
 wanting in much earlier molding; so that it is not intended 
 to insist on this theory of its origin. 
 
 One fact is worthy of notice in the use of the roll-and-fillet ; 
 that it commonly occurs in alternation with the pointed bowtell ; 
 whence it would appear to be merely a variety of the latter, 
 introduced for the sake of contrasting and diversifying the mem- 
 bers of a group. For example, PL. II. fig. 5, has in the central 
 group a filleted roll between two pointed ones. So also fig. 8 ; 
 and the juxtaposition of these • two forms may be noticed in 
 many other instances. 
 
 Another plausible account of the origin of the roll-and-fillet 
 
 pointed bowtell, the fine feather edge was either cut off 
 
EARLY ENGLISH MOLDINGS. 
 
 35 
 
 may be offered. Its occurrence in early groin-ribs cannot have 
 escaped the notice of the observer. Perhaps, indeed, the earliest 
 instances of its use may be traced to the obvious propriety of 
 forming sharp and hard edge-lines instead of mere round mem- 
 bers in positions in which, from their distance, the eye would 
 otherwise have an ill-defined and imperfect outline. Again, in 
 miteri?ig, or joining rolls at right angles, as well as in making 
 them die into or spring out of plane surfaces, the addition of 
 the fillet presents important advantages in neatness of con- 
 struction. 
 
 But all these are mere conjectures. The author has devoted 
 considerable pains and attention to the discovery of the true 
 origin of this very important feature, but without satisfying 
 himself with any of the theories given above, though the first 
 seems the most probable. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 OF EARLY ENGLISH MOLDINGS. 
 
 FROM THE ACCESSION OF RICHARD I. TO DEATH OF HENRY III. 
 A.D. 1189 TO 1272. 
 
 The characteristics of the moldings of this style may be de- 
 fined as deep undercut hollows between prominent members, 
 which comprise a great variety of pointed and filleted bowtells, 
 clustered, isolated, and repeated at certain intervals; a great 
 depth or extent of molded surfaces ; and the general arrange- 
 ment in rectangular faces, as shown in PL. II. fig. 5. The 
 hollows are seldom true circles ; and, like the projecting parts, 
 they assume a great number of capricious forms. PL. III. figs. 2 
 
 d 2 
 
36 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 and 3, would alone be quite sufficient to convey to the eye an 
 
 Early English moldings may be said to comprise the following 
 members : — 
 
 1. The plain bowtell or edge-roll. 
 
 2. The pointed bowtell. 
 
 3. The roll-and-fillet. 
 
 4. The scroll-molding (rare). 
 
 5. Angular forms, consisting of chamfered ridges and inter- 
 vening projections, of irregular character. 
 
 The other forms chiefly consist of modifications of the roll- 
 and-fillet, which are so capricious as almost to defy any attempt 
 to assign them distinct names and formations. It will be right, 
 therefore, briefly to point out some of the most commonly 
 occurring varieties, leaving a more particular investigation to 
 the student's own exertions. 
 
 The roll-and-triple-fillet (PL. I. fig. 25 ; PL. IV. fig. 3, a.) is 
 much used in the more advanced buildings of the style, and 
 was the favourite form during the reigns of the first two Ed- 
 wards. The ordinary roll-and-fillet projecting from a ridge 
 (PL. VI. fig. 5 ; PL. VII. fig. 12), each side of which is undercut 
 by a deep hollow, naturally produces, and therefore probably 
 suggested, this compound molding. It will be observed in PL. V. 
 figs. 5, 6, 9; PL. VII. figs. 7, 8; PL. II. figs. 18 and 19. 
 A plain bowtell or roll very often stands forward upon a short 
 
 idea of the general method. The 
 first is the belfry- arch at Plymouth, 
 the second the pier- arches in the 
 choir of Ely Cathedral. Both were 
 taken with the cymagraph, and are 
 reduced to a scale of half an inch 
 to a foot. 
 
 Early English Arch, Ripon Cathedral. 
 
 The annexed section will also serve 
 as an illustration of the ordinary 
 forms of Early English moldings. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH MOLDINGS. 
 
 37 
 
 Doorway, Fountains Abbey. 
 
 Ripon Cathedral. 
 
 ridge or neck in Transition moldings, the 
 edges being sharp on each side, in conse- 
 quence of a slight hollow immediately below. 
 This is of frequent occurrence even in semi- 
 circular arches, and may be found in door- 
 ways of that kind in many of our abbeys, 
 as at Fountains. It is illustrated in p. 90 
 of Professor Willis's Canterbury (fig. 37, pier-arches of the 
 choir). Sometimes only one side has a fillet attached (PL. I. 
 figs. 12, 23). Sometimes there are two fil- 
 lets, one at the top, the other on the side, 
 as in the cut from Ripon, and PL. V. 
 fig. 3, and PL. XVIII. fig. 1. PL. II. 
 figs. 11 and 13, are varieties of very fre- 
 quent occurrence. PL. IV. fig. 12, is a 
 form often found in labels, as fig. 13, both 
 from Lincoln Minster ; the latter also illustrates the fillet as 
 it were depressed into the roll. Fig. 11 is the chancel door- 
 way at Ludborough, Lincolnshire, which shows some other 
 varieties; in fact, the combination of the roll-and-fillet having 
 been once suggested, they seem to have been used together 
 with the utmost licence. Fig. 15 is a groin-rib from Furness 
 Abbey. PL. III. figs. 4 and 7 are groin-ribs from Roberts- 
 bridge Abbey; 5 and 6 are fragments from Tintern and St. 
 Mary's Abbey, York. Fig. 9 is the arch-mold of a double 
 piscina with its capital from Histon, near Cambridge. 
 
 The members in PL. IV. fig. 11 fall wholly on the chamfer- 
 plane, as in PL. III. fig. 1, which is seldom the case in this style. 
 Three pointed rolls placed together, somewhat in the form of a 
 fleur-de-lis,* form a combination of very frequent occurrence. 
 
 * There is sometimes so close a resemblance to the head of a fleur-de-lis 
 in this complex molding, that it is difficult to disconnect the idea of the 
 one from the other. An example is given, full size, in PL. XIII. of 
 Potter's Monastic Remains, Tintern Abbey, — a work, we may here observe, 
 which is quite invaluable in showing the curves and geometric formations 
 
38 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 It may often be found between the detached shafts of large 
 doorways, as at Peterborough and Ely, and indeed in any posi- 
 tion, with many minor varieties of shape. PL. IV. fig. 21, 
 and PL. II. fig. 5, are examples. In some cases it closely 
 approaches the character of the roll-and-triple-fillet, as PL. V. 
 fig. 6, the beautiful Decorated window-jamb at Northborough, 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 In Decorated work the fillet became extremely broad, PL. IV. 
 fig. 19, often as much as three, or even four inches. In this 
 case it may be said to lose its original character, especially in 
 clustered piers, where it very often occurs, as in those to the 
 east of the octagon at Ely. But in Early English it is almost 
 always a narrow edge-line. If set square on the roll, it is 
 generally a sign of early work. See the outline diagrams in 
 PL. IV. The depressed and elongated forms on each side of 
 fig. 11 are principally found in later buildings, the first in 
 Decorated, the latter in Perpendicular. 
 
 It has been before stated that a great degree of licence is 
 observable in the forms of Early English roll-and-fillet mold- 
 ings, in respect of size, shape, and composition, and that geo- 
 metric accuracy was avoided in a rather remarkable manner; 
 the irregular shape, and the freely undulating curve, having 
 been commonly preferred. Almost every conceivable modifica- 
 tion of the plain roll, peaked, depressed, elliptical, grooved at 
 the end, might be found and catalogued by a careful observer. 
 
 An important form, generally considered distinctive of De- 
 corated, but not very uncommon in advanced Early English 
 work,* is the scroll-molding ; so called from its resemblance to 
 
 of early moldings, and which every lover of Gothic architecture ought to 
 possess. It contains an immense numher of moldings of the finest era 
 and the richest design. 
 
 * It occurs, for example, in the moldings of the very elaborate triplet 
 at the east end of Castle Rising Church, PL. XVIII. fig. 6, engraved in 
 PL VIII. of Mr. Bowman's account of that church in his Specimens of 
 Ecclesiastical Architecture. The presence of the scroll-molding in any 
 
EARLY ENGLISH MOLDINGS. 
 
 39 
 
 a roll of thick paper, the outer edge of which overlaps upon the 
 side exposed to view. It may be described as a cylinder, the 
 under half of which is withdrawn, or shifted a little behind the 
 upper. It is almost universally used in the abacus and neck of 
 Decorated capitals, and very often in strings and base-moldings. 
 
 It is certain that this form was known and in use even in the 
 pure lancet architecture of 1200-1240. PL. I. fig. 19, from St. 
 Benet's, Lincoln, is a proof of this. It also occurs, perhaps in 
 an accidental or undeveloped form, in PL. II. fig. 3. It is 
 represented in PL. IV., fig. 14, an Early Decorated doorway at 
 Yaxley, Hunts, and in figs. 11 and 16, — the latter an arcade in 
 Lincoln Minster. Here is seen the unusual combination of 
 the scroll-molding and the side-fillet. PL. VII. fig. 5, is a 
 fragment from Kivaulx Abbey. Fig. 7, the rich and beauti- 
 fully moulded doorway at Northborough, circa a.d. 1270, 
 exhibits the scroll form on the interior order. 
 
 Antiquaries are not agreed as to the origin of this molding. 
 It may perhaps be regarded as a roll-and-fillet with one side left 
 uncut, either because it was removed from sight, as in capitals, 
 or afforded a more effective drip in strings and weatherings, 
 where it most constantly occurs. The shadowed edge-line was 
 presented by the scroll-molding as well as by the roll-and-fillet ; 
 and the principles of effect which suggested both forms are 
 
 probably identical. But it is more probable that it was derived 
 from the pointed bowtell. It may be traced from one form to 
 
 elaborate group marks its approach towards the Geometric age. See 
 
 PL. XVII. fig. G, which, together with the contiguous sections, figs. 4 and 
 
 9, represent the jambs of the immense Early Decorated and Geometric 
 windows in the south aisle of Grantham Church. 
 
40 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 the other through such gradual changes, as to leave but little 
 doubt on the subject. 
 
 The earliest pointed bowtell was simply the new form of the 
 
 pointed arch used as a 
 
 molding (as at Roche and 
 Byland), but this was soon 
 modified by having a slight 
 sinking close to the edge, 
 
 Barnwell, CamTDrid|e. 
 
 Ely. 
 
 so as to make it a little sharper, as in these examples from 
 Barnwell and Ely. This form has been called the keel molding, 
 from its likeness to the section of a ship showing the form of 
 the keel. When worked in with more deeply cut moldings, it 
 stood more isolated, with a long neck ; and, probably from the 
 combination of the two forms, we find it oc- 
 casionally turning the edge to one side, as in 
 PL. XVIII. figs. 1 and 10, from which we 
 immediately obtain the form in fig. 6, which 
 is a regular scroll-molding ; and in this case 
 it will be observed that it pairs off with a pointed bowtell. 
 The annexed examples, also, from St. Mary's Abbey, York, 
 
 and Tintern Abbey, show 
 how closely allied the two 
 forms are; and those in 
 the choir arches of Ri- 
 vaulx Abbey are an early 
 example, in a position in 
 which the pointed bowtell 
 might naturally be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 Though the under edge of the scroll-molding is usually 
 rounded, it is frequently to be found cut square where sharpness 
 of shadow was desired ; but this can hardly be considered as a 
 criterion of date, as it is to be found both in early work, as at 
 Warmington, Northants, and down to the middle of the four- 
 
 St. Mary's, York. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH MOLDINGS. 
 
 41 
 
 teentli century, as at Els- 
 worth, near Cambridge. 
 The scroll-edge is some- 
 times, though rarely, in- 
 verted, so that the with- 
 drawn surface is placed 
 uppermost, as in some of 
 the bases at Tintern Abbey 
 (PL. XIV. fig. 33). 
 
 Warmington, 
 North ants. 
 
 St. Michael's. 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Elsworth, 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Two rolls-and-fillets conjoined at their bases, so that their 
 respective fillets are at right angles to each other, constitute the 
 double-ogee, or double-ressant, as it was anciently called,* — 
 one of the commonest moldings of the Decorated and Per- 
 pendicular styles. It is rare in Early English, and apparently 
 the result of accident rather than intention when it does occur, 
 as in PL. IV. fig. 12. PL. VII. fig. 1, is the west doorway of 
 Llandaff Cathedral, of pure Early English detail. The capitals 
 which bear the two moldings in question are marked in outline. 
 PL. IV. fig. 6, is a Decorated molding of sufficiently common 
 occurrence (as in the belfry archway at Trumpington), where the 
 shafts which carry the capitals are set together so as to form the 
 double ogee. And the same may be constantly observed in the 
 common arrangement of Early English and Decorated piers, 
 PL. V. figs. 14 and 15. See also PL. II. fig. 17. 
 
 Early English arch-moldings are so easy to distinguish from 
 all others, that it is not necessary either to say more in expla- 
 nation of their peculiarities, or to give a great number of 
 examples. They are by far the most difficult of all to copy 
 with exactness, from the irregular and capricious forms of the 
 curves and undercuttings ; and their great extent, often many 
 feet across, renders it an extremely tedious process to draw any 
 
 * Professor Willis says this molding is sometimes called a brace, from 
 its resemblance to a printer's bracket (History of Winchester 
 
 Cathedral, p. 60, Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, 1845.) 
 
42 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 of the rich and complex examples on a reduced scale. The 
 numerous deep and dark hollows constitute the most character- 
 istic difference between the moldings of this and those of the 
 succeeding style, in which most of the forms already enumerated 
 will be found to recur. But the extravagant display of deep 
 cavernous undercutting is lost in Decorated moldings. We 
 there find a hollow of three-quarters of a circle, accurately 
 formed with the compasses, in the angle of every receding sub- 
 arch, as in PL. VI. fig. 2, the west doorway at Hingham, 
 Norfolk; fig. 11, the inner doorway of the south porch at 
 Deopham ; fig. 12, the same from Benington, Lincolnshire ; and 
 PL. XVII. fig. 3, from Bottisham, Cambridgeshire. And these 
 hollows must be particularly observed as the real division of the 
 orders of moldings ivhen they all lie on the chamfer-plane. 
 The Decorated hollows are usually of larger size than the Early 
 English ; and there is this general difference in their use, that 
 in the Decorated they divide groups, in the Early English indi- 
 vidual members. 
 
 The exquisite skill, taste, and patient labour invariably evinced 
 in the working of Early English moldings, are truly admirable. 
 The ingenuity that was never at a loss in any difficulty of finish 
 or constructive irregularity, and the minuteness with which even 
 the most concealed and darkened parts were executed, are cir- 
 cumstances of much interest, if contrasted with the hasty and 
 economical practice of the present day. The deepest hollows 
 are all as cleanly and perfectly cut as the most prominent and 
 conspicuous details ; and in the village church as much so as in 
 the most glorious cathedral. An Early English doorway is 
 often a wonderful piece of art, however little it may attract the 
 attention of ordinary observers. It is most pleasing to notice 
 the long trails of dog-tooth lurking in the dark furrow of a 
 label or chancelled recess ; to see the end of some inconvenient 
 member got rid of by throwing a flower across the point where 
 it suddenly stops or dies into the wall ; to admire the efflorescent 
 
EARLY ENGLISH MOLDINGS. 
 
 43 
 
 boss and the foliaged capital intruding their luxuriance upon 
 the moldings and hollows, as if they had overgrown their 
 original and proper limits. How beautifully, too, the knots of 
 pierced and hanging leaves extend like some petrified garland 
 or bower of filigree-work round the arch, dividing the plainer 
 moldings into groups, and almost imparting life and vegetation 
 to the very stones ! There are abundance of doorways of this 
 style which exhibit the most delightful varieties in their forms 
 and groupings ; always, yet never, the same. Some examples 
 occur at Bolton and Furness Abbeys, whose arch-moldings 
 extend five or six feet in width. The west fronts of several of 
 our cathedrals have Early English doorways of amazing mag- 
 nificence. The entrance doorway of the Chapter House at 
 Lichfield is a very fine example of the molding of this style. 
 But almost every cathedral and every ruined abbey will supply 
 good specimens, so that it would be useless to multiply illustra- 
 tions. Plate XVIII. fig. 3, is a doorway in the cloisters at Peter- 
 borough ; fig. 2, a doorway immediately opposite, in the south 
 aisle of the nave, both on a scale of half an inch to one foot. 
 Fig. 5 is a ruined doorway at Kivaulx Abbey. Fig. 6 is from 
 the east window of Castle Rising Church ; * fig. 7, from Beau- 
 lieu Abbey, f the southern triplet of the Refectory ; fig. 8, an 
 arch-mold from the choir of Ripon Minster ; fig. 9 is borrowed 
 from Brandon's Analysis of Gothic Architecture. 
 
 These latter examples (6, 7, 10) show the method of insert- 
 ing the tooth ornament in, or rather across, hollows. Many of 
 the more elaborate groups of Early English moldings contain 
 several successive trails of this decoration, often of different 
 sizes, shape, and planes of projection. In the very beautiful 
 west doorway at Binham Priory, Norfolk, a curious variety of 
 the dog-tooth is set in hollows of such depth, that the eye cannot 
 fathom the point of attachment. 
 
 * This and fig. 10 from the same, are taken from Mr. Bowman's illustra- 
 tions of that church, PL. VIII. 
 f From Weale's Quarterly Papers, Vol. II. PL. II. 
 
44 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 OF DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 DURING THE REIGNS OF THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS, 1272-1377. 
 
 The student will bear in mind that the details of Decorated 
 moldings are in great measure identical with those of the pre- 
 ceding style, with the addition of some new members, and 
 several important modifications of grouping. And the latter 
 will be found to produce an entirely different effect, though in 
 description the distinction may appear very trifling. The eye 
 must be familiarized to the profile and general appearance of 
 moldings of different dates, so that, without dismembering, and, 
 as it were, analysing the group, or examining the separate details, 
 it may discern at a glance the style to which any example belongs. 
 And this may be done with a considerable degree of certainty by 
 practice and attention ; though it can hardly be asserted that all 
 the differences of style admit of being reduced to unvarying and 
 infallible rules. Sometimes moldings are met with of much 
 earlier or later date than we should have expected from other 
 characteristic marks in the building ; and there are not a few 
 instances in which, without the aid of such marks, it would be 
 impossible to say whether a molding is of the fourteenth or the 
 fifteenth century. In fact, this science does not appear capable 
 of more than general treatment ; though there is quite enough 
 of uniform system to enable us to apprehend the broad distinc- 
 tive principles which obtained in the different periods. 
 
 Generally, then, much greater geometrical precision may be 
 observed in drawing both the hollows and the projecting mem- 
 bers than prevailed in the preceding style. Segments of circles, 
 both concave and convex, were much used, and there was a soft- 
 ness of blending, a delicacy and gentleness of grouping, an 
 
DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 45 
 
 9D 
 
 Decorated roll-arid -fillet. 
 
 avoidance of strong and violent contrasts of light and shade, 
 which imparted a more pleasing, though much less striking, 
 effect. 
 
 Early English arch-moldings have sometimes a monotonous 
 effect, which is but imperfectly remedied by the free use of 
 quaint, irregular, and fanciful members. The reason is, first, 
 that frequently the numerous members do not vary materially 
 in size, and secondly, that each stands between two deep hollows, 
 so that the entire group looks like a mere alternation of dark 
 and light, repeated with little change several times over. Now 
 the composition of Decorated moldings is essentially different. 
 For not only do the members vary in size, 
 but also in kind ; the deep hollows are prin- 
 cipally confined to the inner angles, and 
 there is no extravagant isolation of small 
 and unimportant parts. The roll-and-fillet 
 is formed with as little undercutting as pos- 
 sible, as in PL. XVII. figs. 2, 3, 9, 10 : in fact, only just enough 
 is hollowed away at the sides to develope the outline. 
 
 In the Geometric-Decorated age (that is, in the reign of the 
 first two Edwards), the moldings of arches and jambs differ very 
 slightly from those of pure Early English ; so slightly, indeed, 
 that they cannot alone be taken as decisive of this or that date. 
 It was not until the Flowing-Decorated era (that is, during the 
 reign of Edward III.), that these moldings took the charac- 
 teristic turn which brought about the surrender of the roll-and- 
 fillet, and its many varieties, for the ogees, bowtells, and wide 
 shallow casements of the Perpendicular period. 
 
 Eich Decorated moldings are of rather rare occurrence. A 
 great many of the finest buildings in this style scarcely afford 
 as good examples of molding as small and humble churches of 
 the Early English age. Very often plain chamfers are used in 
 all the windows, doorways, and pier-arches ; while minor parts, 
 such as bases, capitals, sedilia, sepulchral recesses, and the like, 
 
46 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 have fine and elaborate details. It is in this kind of work that 
 we must look for the best moldings in the Decorated style. In 
 arches, doorways, and windows, the plain chamfer of two orders 
 (PL. I. fig. 5) is perhaps most commonly found. Windows 
 especially are often singularly meagre in their moldings, how- 
 ever rich their tracery may be. The monials stand near the 
 outer surface of the wall, and separated from or recessed behind 
 it only by a single order with a plain or hollow chamfer, as PL. 
 VII. figs. 20 and 21. Frequently, indeed, the tracery of good 
 Decorated windows stands quite flush with the wall, so that the 
 jamb-moldings are, as it were, entirely omitted.* And again, 
 the monials and tracery often consist of merely chamfered planes, 
 without any edge-lines to relieve them ; and so, PL. VII. fig. 20, 
 the east window at Trumpington. Fig. 19, a window at Hing- 
 ham, Norfolk, is one degree richer than this, two orders being 
 introduced in the monial, though of equally plain character. 
 
 There appear to be three distinct kinds to which Decorated 
 moldings may generally be referred ; though there are many ex- 
 amples which it might be difficult to assign to any one of them. 
 These are : — 
 
 1. The plain or hollow 
 chamfer of two or more orders, 
 which, properly speaking, is 
 only the step preparatory to 
 molding, and stopping short 
 of that ulterior process. 
 
 2. Roll - and - fillet 
 moldings, with hol- 
 lows between each 
 member, nearly re- 
 sembling, in princi- 
 ple and arrangement, 
 
 * In the churches of Norfolk and Suffolk this is the rule, and not the 
 exception, from the scarcity of stone in those parts. 
 
DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 47 
 
 the Early English method, as in diagrams PL. V. fig. 12 — a 
 doorway at Attleborough, Norfolk, and PL. XYII. figs. 4, 6, 8. 
 
 3. A succession of double ogees, divided by 
 hollows of three-quarters of a circle, as PL. VI. 
 figs. 9, 11, 12, 14. PL. II. fig. 16, is similar 
 in kind, and both of these are exceedingly 
 common moldings in this style. It is not 
 unusual to find these two varieties combined, as in PL. VII. 
 fig. c — the belfry-arch at Deopham, Norfolk. And as they 
 rarely occupy any other position than the chamfer-plane, it 
 seems proper to regard them as virtually the plain chamfered 
 edges of class 1, slightly relieved from their flat and naked 
 form. Their distinctive peculiarity consists in the repetition 
 of the same members in each order, though, as we have 
 observed, other varieties of the chamfer are sometimes inter- 
 mixed. Thus PL. VI. fig. 11, might be described in words 
 thus : — "A double-ogee order between two hollow chamfer 
 orders, divided by three-quarter hollows ; all lying in the 
 chamfer-plane of 45° ; total width across, twenty-three 
 inches." 
 
 The plain or hollow chamfer is extremely common in all 
 jambs and archways (especially if they be continuous, or have 
 no imposts or jamb- shafts), in the Early Decorated style. The 
 inner angle which divides the orders (and which has been called 
 the re-entering angle), is either left solid, or cut into a deep 
 three-quarter hollow. Of this latter arrangement, which produces 
 a very bold and good effect, it might be difficult to name a better 
 example than the west doorway of St. Mary's, Ely. Here the 
 chamfers are hollow, or quarter-circles. In such cases there are 
 often trails of ball-flowers, quatrefoil paterae, roses, or other 
 ornamental leaf- work disposed at regular intervals, and repeated 
 in rows in two or more of the chamfers. See PL. VI. fig. 2 ; 
 PL. VII. fig. 10. 
 
 The second kind is generally, but not always, early in the 
 style ; and it is perhaps the most perfect and beautiful of all. 
 
48 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 The members in this case usually fall in squares (that is, on 
 the wall-planes and soffit-planes in succession), as in the west 
 doorway at Trumpington Church, PL. VII. fig. 3. PL. XVII. 
 fig. 3, is from the south porch of Bottisham Church, near Cam- 
 bridge. Fig. 5 is from a doorway at Lang- 
 llJI ham, Kutland, of the Geometric age. Fig. 8 
 
 is from the beautiful Decorated archway of 
 the south porch, at Over, Cambridgeshire. 
 Fig. 10 is a window iamb, from Grantham 
 
 "Window-jamb, Over. " 
 
 Church. Sometimes moldings of this class 
 are combined with those of the third, as PL. V. fig. 11, the 
 priest's door, at Hingham, Norfolk ; PL. XVII. fig. 7, a door- 
 way at Burfield, Suffolk; PL. XX. fig. 17, the chancel door at 
 Willingham, near Cambridge ; and PL. V. fig. 1, a monument at 
 Boston. PL. VII. figs. 7, 8, 12, are all of this second kind. 
 
 There is, however, a perceptible difference in the shape of the 
 Early English and the Decorated roll-and-fillet. In the later 
 style the fillet is broader, not set square on the roll, 
 and the neck is wider from the hollows between the 
 single members, being less deeply undercut. The 
 capricious and irregular forms of the earlier style are 
 no longer found ; the roll-and-triple-fillet, arranged 
 upon rectangular lines, is generally one member of 
 the group, and the gently bulging ogee curvature 
 predominates throughout. In many instances the roll-and-fillet 
 forms a member of very large size, as PL. XX. fig. 15, a monu- 
 ment in the choir of Bolton Abbey. 
 
 While moldings of the second kind are generally borne by 
 jamb-shafts, as in the Early English style (though now engaged 
 in, and not detached from, the wall), those of the first and third 
 are almost always continuous,* except in pier-arches, where they 
 constantly occur, in which case they are stopped by the capitals. 
 
 * In doorways the moldings borne by the jamb-shafts always lie on the 
 rectangular planes, those which are continuous on the chamfer planes. — 
 Analysis of Gothic Architecture, p. 68. 
 
 Decorated 
 filleted rolls 
 
DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 49 
 
 Thus, PL. VII. fig. 4, is a pier-arch at Trumpington ; PL. VI. 
 fig. 3, one at Hingham. Sometimes a series of four or five of 
 these together, as PL. VI. fig. 12, gives a very deep and rich 
 effect to a doorway. It is not uncommon to find one member of 
 a double ogee considerably larger than the other, or those of one 
 order of different size from the others. It must be particularly 
 observed that in the third class of Decorated moldings the 
 fillets on each side of the three-quarter hollows (i. e. the un- 
 touched portions of the rectangular nook) almost invariably 
 stand at right angles with each other, the principle of which is 
 shown at PL. V. fig. 3, the west doorway at Attleborough, 
 Norfolk. Exceptions, such as PL. VII. fig. a, are seldom 
 found in ancient, but very often in modern moldings. We may 
 further observe on PL. V. fig. 3, that if the sides of the re- 
 entering angle are equal, the chamfer-plane is the diagonal of a 
 square, that is, it forms an angle of 45°. So, in PL. VII. fig. 2, 
 the angle of the chamfer-plane is ascertained by measuring the 
 two sides of the central nook. Sometimes the group appears to 
 have been designed on the principle of a series of squares, as 
 seen in PL. XVII. fig. 3. 
 
 Moldings are either simple or compound. A simple molding 
 is a plain single form, complete in itself, as a bowtell or three- 
 quarter round. A compound molding is either composed of two 
 or more distinct parts, as a roll-and-fillet, a double ogee ; or in- 
 volves a profile of reflex or double curvature. This is properly 
 the character of the ogee itself, which is formed by a segmental 
 inward curve conjoined continuously with a similar outward 
 curve. Of the same kind is a very important and universal 
 Decorated form, which may be called the compound ogee, or the 
 wave-molding, from its gently undulating outline.* It is re- 
 presented in PL. VII. figs, c, 9, 17, 18, 19, and elsewhere. It 
 is composed of two ogee curvatures, forming a central bulge or 
 
 * Professor "Willis calls this the swelled chamfer. Inigo Jones applied 
 the term wave to the ogee. See Architectural Nomenclature, § 10. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 Edge roll. 
 
 Triply filleted roll. 
 
 Half roll and 
 fillet. 
 
 entasis, sometimes projecting forward beyond the edges, but 
 usually in the same plane with them. Scarcely any method of 
 molding is so common in, or so characteristic of, this style, and 
 especially of the Floiving, or later Decorated, to which era its 
 use was principally confined. It frequently occurs with a hollow 
 between, as PL. VII. fig. 17. The formation of this detail may 
 
 be traced either to the 
 ordinary edge roll being 
 simply somewhat less 
 undercut, or to the half 
 of a triply filleted roll 
 PL. IV. fig. 10, the other half being considered as undeveloped, or 
 merged in the block ; or to the insertion of a quarter- shaft into 
 a rectangular nook, the edges at the points of junction being 
 rounded instead of sharp and abrupt. The latter is not impro- 
 bable on the analogy of the earlier and later 
 (that is, the square and rounded) forms of the 
 roll-and-fillet. Indeed, the form shown in the 
 _ accompanying outline is sometimes found. It 
 occurs in the sedilia at Elsworth Church, near 
 Cambridge, and is represented in the " Guide 
 to the Neighbourhood of Oxford," p. 333, from Garsington 
 Church ; and in PL. XXIV. of Potter's " Buildwas Abbey" 
 (Early English). There are several modifications of it : the 
 
 edges are either sharp, 
 as PL. VII. fig. 17, or 
 there is a small width 
 of the chamfer-plane 
 
 Varieties of wave-molding left uncut on each side, 
 
 as PL. V. fig. 11 ; PL. XX. fig. 1, a doorway from Landbeach 
 Church, Cambridgeshire. In this case, the concaves are some- 
 times slightly undercut. The former is most common in Deco- 
 rated, the latter in Perpendicular. It is so much more common 
 in Decorated work, that its occurrence may, in default of other 
 
 The wave-molding. 
 
DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 51 
 
 proofs, be taken as a presumptive evidence of the style. It is 
 also wider and shallower in early than in late work ; that is, 
 the side hollows are less deep, and the central entasis less 
 bulging.* Sometimes, indeed, the wavy line is so faint as to 
 be scarcely different from the plain chamfer, as PL. VII. fig. a. 
 And sometimes we find nothing more than a flat surface 
 sunk between two raised edges. See PL. VII. fig. b, and 
 the lowest order of fig. 8. This may be termed the sunken 
 chamfer. It is not of very common occurrence ; a very good 
 specimen is engraved in the " Oxford Guide," p. 281, from 
 Headington Church. 
 
 Another variety is shown in PL. VII. figs. 13, 16, 23, and 
 PL. XX. fig. 2, a window-jamb from Quy Church, near Cam- 
 bridge. This appears to have arisen from cutting down to an 
 angle, instead of scooping out in an ogee curve, one end of 
 the member. It is generally a mark of Transition to Perpen- 
 dicular. 
 
 A rare form is exhibited in PL. V. fig. 16. It may be called 
 a double wave-molding. By cutting the central hollow down to 
 an angle (as shown in the shaded part), a double ogee would be 
 the result. This molding occurs in the Decorated belfry-arch at 
 Stretham, Isle of Ely, and in the east window of the south 
 aisle at Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, PL. XIX. fig. 3. 
 
 A plain bowtell, or a roll-and-fillet, between two wave-mold- 
 ings, is found in Decorated work. PL. XVII. fig. 2, is from 
 the north porch of Bottisham Church, Cambridgeshire; fig. 1, 
 from the outer archway of the south porch (fig. 3 being the 
 inner) of the same church. In fig. 2, the rolls-and-fillets fall 
 within, or short of, the rectangular plane, because they would 
 otherwise have been too large. 
 
 * The formation is shown in PL. XIX. figs. 1 and 2. It will be seen 
 that the early form involves the equilateral, the later the obtuse triangle. 
 It is clear from PL. XIX. fig. 5, that this form was not unknown in Early 
 English architecture. It also occurs, in the form approximating to the 
 outline diagram in p. 50, in an archway at Croxden Abbey, circa 1240. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 The ogee molding is a form so extensively used, and so diffi- 
 cult to explain fully in its origin and varied relations, that 
 it is almost impossible to do more than point out its gene- 
 ral and leading characteristics. In respect of its origin, the 
 ogee curve is so prevalent in the Classic styles, that it might 
 easily be supposed it was thence imported into . the Gothic, 
 were there not abundant opportunities of self- development pre- 
 sented by the varieties of the roll-and-fillet. It is believed 
 that the ogee scarcely, if ever, occurs in Norman architecture, 
 in England at least, whatever may be the case in the 
 Romanesque edifices in other countries. Its occasional ap- 
 pearance in the Early English style, has been already men- 
 tioned, where, however, it is very sparingly used. It should 
 be especially noted that whenever the ogee occurs in Decorated 
 moldings, it always suggests to the mind the idea 
 of one side of a roll-and-fillet ; the convex portion 
 being much larger than the concave. In its most 
 ordinary position in a window-jamb, it actually cor- 
 responds to a perfect roll-and-fillet in the monial, as PL. VII. 
 figs. 9, 10, 11 ; and here it must, of course, be regarded lite- 
 rally as half of that member. Since, however, the 
 quirked ogee (see PL. XVI. fig. 2), so common in 
 Classic edifices, is identical in form with this part of a 
 monial (fig. 3), it seems extremely difficult to decide 
 how far the form was introduced from this or that suggestion. 
 But in this latter case, the earliest forms would be found of 
 Classic character with the large concave portion, whereas we 
 can actually trace its gradual formation from the roll-and- 
 fillet, having at first the roll the predominant portion, and 
 the hollow gradually gaining in importance in later work; 
 so that it would not perhaps be saying too much to vindi- 
 cate for Gothic architecture the self- development of the ogee, 
 rather than refer it to an imitation of uncongenial Classic 
 details. 
 
DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 58 
 
 The following, therefore, are the principal forms found in 
 Decorated moldings : — 
 
 1. The roll-and-fillet. 
 
 2. Koll-and-triple-fillet. 
 
 3. Ogee. 
 
 4. Double ogee, or double ressant. 
 
 5. Scroll-molding, or ressant lorymer. 
 
 6. Wave-molding, or swelled chamfer. 
 
 7. Plain or hollow chamfer. 
 
 8. Sunken chamfer PL. VII. fig. b. 
 
 It is difficult to give a name to the form shown in PL. VII. 
 fig. 16, and perhaps it is not of sufficiently frequent occurrence 
 to render a particular term desirable. 
 
 Other minor varieties might be added of forms which are 
 principally found in Decorated work. Sometimes a semicircle 
 sunk in the chamfer-plane is found, as PL. VI. fig. 6, a doorway 
 at Deopham, Norfolk ; PL. VII. fig. 14, a fragment from Kivaulx 
 Abbey ; and PL. VI. fig. 13, a very fine archway at Harding- 
 ham, Norfolk ; and PL. V. fig. 14, a window at Hingham. So 
 also PL. V. fig. 2. This detail is the most usual in Transition 
 to Perpendicular, circa 1360-80. 
 
 The bowtell, or three-quarter round, is used, but rather spar- 
 ingly, in Decorated work ; it was extremely common in Perpen- 
 dicular. PL. VII. fig. 18, is a doorway of Transition date, at 
 Swanton Morley, Norfolk, in which the bowtell occupying the 
 centre forms an engaged shaft. When this is the case, the 
 fillet is seldom wanting, except in very advanced work. But 
 the plain roll appears in PL. V. figs. 1, 3, 5, all of which are 
 late in the style.* Sometimes the bowtell is seen in juxta- 
 position with the sunken semicircle, as in PL. V. figs. 1, 4, 5. 
 
 In PL. VII. fig. 6, a window at Fen Stanton, a small tongue- 
 
 * All the examples in PL. V. are late Decorated. The occurrence of 
 the small three- quarter round, as in figs. 1, 3, 4. 5, is a sure indication of 
 approach to Perpendicular. 
 
54 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 shaped member projects from the inner side of the principal 
 roll-and-fillet. This should be noticed as a very characteristic 
 detail of Decorated moldings of the second class, to which this 
 example belongs. See also PL. XVII. fig 5. A combination 
 extremely common in labels and capitals is shown in PL. XVI. 
 fig. 48. This occurs also in jambs and arches, as PL. II. fig. 14. 
 
 PL. V. fig. 9, and PL. VI. figs. 14, 15, show the method of 
 principal and secondary monials. The moldings are of course 
 coincident in every part of the tracery and monials, and in the 
 corresponding parts or planes of the jamb ; so that, for short- 
 ness' sake, architects generally draw double monials, as in these 
 examples, merged into one another. Thus the outer edge 
 represents the actual profile of the jamb, which, as being iden- 
 tical in detail, may of course be also taken to represent one 
 side of the monials. In drawing the section of a window-jamb, 
 the monial-members may be represented by lines across, 
 parallel with the wall-plane. PL. V. fig. 9, is the inner jamb 
 of the east window at Heckington ; PL. VI. fig. 14, the same 
 part of a window in the chancel at Boston ; PL. VI. fig. 15, is 
 from Stoke Golding, Leicestershire. 
 
 When a window has primary and secondary monials, it is 
 obvious that they carry distinct planes or orders of moldings. 
 Yet these orders are not always of the same nature as those we 
 have before described as such, namely, the group of members 
 constituting the separate sub-arches ; for the face of the smaller 
 monial often falls within or behind that of the larger only by a 
 single retiring step, or member of a group. Thus, in PL. VI. 
 fig. 14, both the monials combined carry (properly speaking) 
 the same order, but different members of it. 
 
 The plane in which the outer moldings of the jamb lie is 
 seldom coincident, as in the last example, with that on which 
 the monial members are arranged, for this would in most cases 
 give too great thickness to the monials themselves, the slope 
 or inclination of which must of course be the same on both 
 
DECORATED MOLDINGS. 
 
 55 
 
 sides of each aperture or light. The difference of inclination 
 is sometimes very slight, but this point must be carefully 
 attended to in copying moldings. See PL. VIII. fig. 5 ; 
 PL. XX. fig. 8. 
 
 In Decorated windows, the face of the monials is generally a 
 flat edge or fillet ; but in some early examples, a roll-molding is 
 carried all round, and is furnished with small bases resting on 
 the cill. This roll-tracery is very common in Perpendicular 
 windows ; and sometimes, as at the west end of King's College 
 Chapel, it has small stilted bases in the jamb. 
 
 Many Decorated windows have shafts in the jambs and 
 monials both internally and externally. This produces a very 
 fine effect, especially when the primary monials carry a triple, 
 the secondary a single shaft. In these cases the moldings of 
 the tracery follow the common law of pier-arches and shafted 
 doorways, that is, they are different in section above the capi- 
 tals. Ordinary windows, on the other hand, follow the princi- 
 ple of continuous archways. 
 
 The interior arch, or rear-rib, of Early English and 
 Geometric windows is generally borne by a shaft,* except in 
 very plain and inexpensive buildings. Shafts, in fact, form a 
 very essential part in the composition of the more elaborate 
 windows in these styles. The aisles and clerestory in the nave 
 of St. Alban's Abbey, and the south choir-aisle of St. Mary's 
 Church, Stafford, afford most beautiful instances of shafted 
 window-jambs. 
 
 The labels or hood-moldings of the date of Edward I. and 
 II. are often undercut by a three-quarter circle, sunk in the 
 surface of the wall, as in PL. VI. figs. 1 and 10, doorways at 
 Little Ellingham, Norfolk; fig. 8, the north doorway at Hing- 
 ham ; and fig. 13, at Hardingham. This latter example is un- 
 usually bold and deep. It measures three feet across from the 
 
 * Called anciently, the rear-shaft. Willis's Architectural Nomenclature, 
 p. 57. 
 
56 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 outer face of the label to the soffit, and the effect is remarkably 
 fine. Fig. 5 is the interior of a window-jamb at Sleaford. Fig. 7 
 from a monument at Boston, the soffit at a. Fig. 4 is the 
 molding of the pier-arches in the same church, of unusual and 
 decidedly early character, though of rather late Decorated date. 
 
 PLu V. fig. 2 is a doorway at Great Ellingham. It closely 
 resembles PL. VI. fig. 6. Fig. 4 is the inner doorway of the 
 south porch at Boston. There is a close resemblance in the 
 composition of this and of fig. 1, a monument in the same 
 church, betraying the hand of the same artist. This resemblance 
 should always be attended to, not only in the same church, but 
 in the neighbouring edifices, because a strong presumption of 
 coeval date is thence to be derived. And monuments especially 
 were so often inserted subsequently, that it is very important 
 to compare their moldings with other parts of the same church. 
 The character of these two examples is rather late ; and they 
 are wiry and poor in their effect, from being cut away too deeply 
 and widely from the block surface. 
 
 PL. V* fig. 5 is from a fine Decorated tomb at Ewerby 
 Church, Lincolnshire ; a noble structure, which almost rivals 
 its immediate neighbour, the celebrated St. Andrew's, Hecking- 
 ton. This molding is a good and effective composition* It is 
 shown in perspective, to illustrate the difference in appearance 
 which exists between the same molding exhibited in section 
 and in elevation. The roll-and- triple -fillet produces a fine 
 effect in moldings of this style. Its edge-lines are sharp and 
 delicate, and the profile beautifully relieved by the deep side- 
 hollows with which it is necessarily connected. 
 
 PL. V. fig. 7 is the interior of a window-jamb at Bennington, 
 Lincolnshire, and fig. 10 the exterior of the same. Fig. 8 
 is the interior of a window-jamb at Heckington. Fig. 13 is one 
 side of the belfry-arch at West Keal, Lincolnshire.* 
 
 PL. VII. fig. 8 is the outer archway of the west entrance to 
 * This example is badly copied, and must not be depended upon. 
 
PERPENDICULAR MOLDINGS. 
 
 57 
 
 the precinct, Peterborough ; an effective Decorated group. Fig. 9 
 is a very common plan of a Decorated window. It is taken 
 from Yaxley, Hunts. Fig. 10 is from Clipsham, Rutland — a 
 window which is elegantly enriched by a trail of ball-flowers in 
 the hollow chamfer of the outer order. Fig. 12 is a Decorated 
 window from the chancel at Over ; fig. 11, from Horbling, 
 Lincolnshire. This also is a very common form in Decorated 
 windows. Fig. 13 is from the outer porch doorway at North- 
 borough. Fig. 15, a groin-rib from Rivaulx Abbey ; fig. 16, a 
 doorway from West Keal ; fig. 21 is a window from the fine 
 Decorated chancel at Keddington, or Ketton, Suffolk. Fig. 22, 
 the molding at the angle of a piscina, Thurlby, Lincolnshire. 
 Fig. 23, the south doorway at Langtoft, near Market Deeping. 
 
 PL. XX. fig. 4 is an archway in the cloisters at Peterborough, 
 with double jamb- shafts. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 of perpendicular moldings, 
 from the accession of richard ii. to death of henry viii.* 
 a.d. 1377 to 1546. 
 
 In the moldings of this style a debasing influence will at 
 once be perceived in the comparatively meagre save-trouble 
 method of working them. Large and coarse members, with 
 little of minute and delicate detail, wide and shallow hollows, 
 occupying spaces which, in early work, would have been filled 
 with groups of separate moldings ; hard wiry edges in place 
 of rounded and softened forms, and general shallowness of 
 
 * This might fairly be divided by the student into Perpendicular and 
 Tudor, commencing the latter with the reign of Henry VII., 1485. 
 
58 
 
 MANUAL OP GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 cutting, are all conspicuous characteristics. Add to these, 
 that their general arrangement on the chamfer-plane, which 
 is a marked feature of the Perpendicular period, gives a 
 flatness which is unpleasing to the eye in comparison with the 
 rectangularly recessed grouping of the two preceding styles. 
 At the same time, there is such a mass of really high art 
 in the work of this period, that the student must be careful 
 not to slur it over, in indulging any predilection he may have 
 formed for earlier work. The moldings of this style frequently 
 die into a basement composed of the simple uncut chamfer- 
 
 loped from it. Three peculiarities are so common in Perpen- 
 dicular moldings, that their absence almost forms the exception 
 to general usage. These are : — ■ 
 
 1. A wide shallow casement, or hollow, usually occupying the 
 centre of the group, and equal to about one-third of the width ; 
 
 2. The constant use of bowtells, or beads, of three-quarters of 
 a circle, resembling small shafts, and often used as such ; 
 
 3. The frequency of the double ogee, and some varieties of it 
 peculiar to the period. 
 
 The casement alluded to may undoubtedly be regarded as an 
 elongation or extension of the Decorated three-quarter hollow, 
 by which width is gained at the sacrifice of depth. Accordingly, 
 it is generally a mark of early Perpendicular work when the 
 casement is deep and narrow, of late when wide and shallow, 
 and of debased when it is, as it were, so stretched as to become 
 almost or quite a flat surface, sunken but little below the 
 chamfer-plane, or external line of the group. The latter result 
 
 Fireplace, Vicar's Close, Wells. 
 
 plane, in which case 
 the outer edges of each 
 molding, of course, 
 coincide with it, since 
 it is only by cutting 
 channels that the 
 moldings are deve- 
 
PERPENDICULAR MOLDINGS. 
 
 59 
 
 may be observed in the windows of St. Botolph's Church, and in 
 those of the older portions of St. John's College, Cambridge. 
 
 Of many forms which the casement assumes, the most frequent 
 are those represented in PL. IX. figs. 11, 16, and PL. VIII. 
 figs. 4, 10, 13. It is very common to find one or both ends 
 of the hollow returned in a kind of quasi-bowtell, as seen in 
 PL. VIII. figs. 2 and 15, and PL. XX. fig. 3, a window in the 
 chancel of Grantham Church. Frequently, however, perhaps 
 generally, the ends are sharp and angular, as PL. IX. fig. 14, 
 PL. XX. fig. 14, the arch-mold of the nave of Lancaster Church, 
 or PL. VIII. fig. 3. The three-quarter hollow also occurs in this 
 style, and sometimes, as in PL. IX. fig. 2, in the same group 
 with the great casement or central hollow. 
 
 The bowtell will be observed in some form or other in almost 
 every example given in PL. VIII. and IX. ; and if the student 
 compares the three plates of Decorated moldings, he will per- 
 ceive the importance of assigning this feature as a peculiarity of 
 the Perpendicular. In PL. XX. fig. 6, from Rivaulx Abbey, 
 a small double bowtell forms the central member. Fig. 10, the 
 western doorway at Newton Church, near Cambridge ; figs. 11 
 and 12, both from Bolton Abbey; fig. 13, from a small 
 doorway in the choir of Grantham Church ; and fig. 5, a door- 
 way in Kipon Minster, — all contain examples of the cylindrical 
 bowtell. It is often formed from a plane by sinking a channel 
 on each side, as in PL. VIII. figs. 1, 3, 6. Occasionally it 
 stands like an excrescence on the surface of a plane, as fig. 5 ; 
 but this is a departure from the usual practice, as well as from 
 the true principle of moldings. 
 
 The double ogee is much more common in Perpendicular than 
 in Decorated moldings. There is some difference, too, in the 
 form which it assumes in the later style. For whereas the 
 Decorated ogee, as before stated, always represents the profile 
 of the half of a roll-and-fillet, the Perpendicular appears rather 
 to be composed of a semicircular hollow continued in a bowtell, 
 
60 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 forming a section more like the letter S — see PL. XVI. figs. 4 
 and 5. However, the earlier form, fig. 5, is extremely common 
 
 Hi, %gL the double ogee. Other varieties, peculiar to 
 
 a bowtell forming one side of the great casement, PL. IX. 
 figs. 1, 8, 10, 16, 17 ; and the combination exhibited in fig. 15, 
 where the depth of the hollow is generally conclusive. All these 
 may be considered as distinctive criteria of the style. 
 
 The form represented in outline in the preceding woodcut is 
 found in all the styles. It occurs in Early English work, with 
 the roll or bowtell plain and not filleted, in a doorway at Foun- 
 tains Abbey. The shape, however, of the ogee curve and the 
 breadth of the fillet will be found to follow the rules laid down. 
 
 The double ogee is sometimes of large and clumsy size in 
 Perpendicular arch-moldings. In Decorated, it is usually rather 
 small, and is principally confined to the outer members of door- 
 ways and windows. A roll-and-fillet between two ogees is pro- 
 perly a late Decorated combination, as in PL. II. fig. 14 ; 
 PL. VII. fig. 3. In PL. VIII. fig. 16, the inner doorway of the 
 south porch at Great Shelford, near Cambridge, it is of the 
 Transition period, that is, before 1400. 
 
 The form of the roll-and-fillet, prevalent in this style, in 
 which, however, it was not extensively used,f is that between 
 PL. IV. figs. 10 and 11. The debased form of the bowtell mold, 
 
 * This is one of the commonest and most decisive combinations in Per- 
 pendicular moldings, as PL. XX. figs. 10 and 14; PL. IX. fig. 3. 
 
 f The absence of the roll-and-fillet, except in a very corrupted form, is, 
 in fact, one of the most remarkable features in the moldings of the late 
 Gothic. When it does occur, it usually springs from the capital of a small 
 bowtell. 
 
 in Perpendicular moldings, and especially in 
 
 Perpendicular members. 
 
 the style, are the double ogee with a bowtell 
 in the centre, PL. IX. fig. b ; an ogee 
 combined with a quarter-circle,* fig. c ; an 
 ogee with a small bead or fillet at the base, 
 as PL. VIII. figs. 7, 9 ; an ogee with 
 
PERPENDICULAR MOLDINGS. 
 
 61 
 
 PL. VIII. fig. 21, is also peculiar to the style; it is much 
 used in basement moldings and capitals. Some- 
 
 diagrams the upper figure represents the Early ilf 
 English ; the other two, varieties of the Per- 
 
 A half roll-and-fillet frequently occurs, as in 
 PL. XX, fig. 7, a window-jamb from the south aisle of the 
 nave at Kipon Cathedral ; fig. 9, a doorway from Bolton Abbey. 
 The pointed bowtell is very rare in this style ; it is shown in 
 fig. 3, and it occurs in the aisle windows at the west end of 
 St. John's Church, Stamford. 
 
 Window-moldings are usually extremely meagre, though the 
 tracery is generally set deeper in the wall than in the preceding 
 style, and, consequently, a larger space is available for the pur- 
 pose. But the great casement, or hollow, encroaches so much 
 upon the group that little room is left for more than a double 
 ogee on the outside of it, and the monial-members on the inside 
 — by which term those moldings of the jamb are meant which 
 coincide with the monials. PL. VIII. fig. 12, represents the 
 almost universal plan of Perpendicular windows. Sometimes, 
 however, especially in earlier examples, we find the double ogee 
 externally, comprising the first order, and the monial-members 
 occupying the next, without any casement in the angle. 
 PL. IX. figs. 12 and 18, are taken from different churches, and 
 illustrate the remarkable uniformity which prevailed in the use 
 of moldings. 
 
 Having pointed out these facts (which deserved to be regis- 
 tered as essential and characteristic differences), little remains 
 to be said on this part of the subject. Eich and good Perpendi- 
 cular moldings are not very common, most examples consisting 
 
 pendicular roll-and-fillet. 
 
62 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 but of three or four very ordinary members, which offer nothing 
 either novel or interesting to the view ; while in the two pre- 
 ceding styles there is ever something singular, or beautiful, or 
 ingenious, in the treatment of the moldings, to arrest our atten- 
 tion and add to our store of knowledge. But Perpendicular 
 work is by no means to be despised, for many points may be 
 found, such as the jamb-shafts in deeply recessed doorways, 
 which form groups of considerable delicacy. 
 
 PL. VIII. fig. 1, is from the west doorway at Umngton, near 
 Stamford ; early in the style. Fig. 2, is the same, from the 
 isolated tower at Dereham, Norfolk. Fig. 3 the same, from 
 Sahara Toney ; fig. 4 from Fishtoft, Lincolnshire. Fig. 5 is 
 from the east window at Leverton, in the same county ; fig. 6 
 from Partney ; fig. 7 from Louth, both doorways ; fig. 8 from 
 Stewton, a window-jamb ; fig. 9 from an oriel window in Lin- 
 coln ; fig. 12 from the south Choir Chapel, Lincoln Cathedral ; 
 fig. 10 the east window at Chesterton, near Cambridge ; fig. 13 
 an arch in St. Sepulchre's Church ; fig. 14 from a niche at Great 
 Gransden, near St. Neots ; fig. 15 the east window at Stapleford, 
 near Cambridge ; fig. 16 from Great Shelford ; fig. 17 a pier- 
 arch from Holy Trinity, Colchester ; fig. 18 the same from Long 
 Melford, Suffolk ; fig. 19 a doorway at St. Martin's, Stamford ; 
 fig. 20 the pier-arches of the same church ; fig. 21 from Louth. 
 
 PL. IX. fig. 1, is from the east window of St. Martin's, 
 Stamford ; fig. 2 the west doorway of the same ; fig. 3 the 
 same from St. John's Church, Stamford ; fig. 4 from the Bede 
 House in that town ; fig. 5 is from a pier-arch in the noble 
 church of All Saints ; fig. 6 the west doorway, and fig. 7 a 
 window, from Histon, near Cambridge ; fig. 8 is from the 
 chancel door at Skirlaugh, Yorkshire ; * fig. 9 the north door- 
 way at Harlton, near Cambridge ; fig. 10 the south doorway, 
 
 * The two moldings, figs. 8 and 10, are borrowed from the " Churches of 
 Yorkshire," and figs. 11 and 16, from Messrs. Brandon's excellent work, the 
 " Analysis of Gothic Architecture." 
 
PERPENDICULAR MOLDINGS. 
 
 68 
 
 Skirlaugh ; fig. 11 from Basingstoke, Hampshire ; fig. 12 a 
 window of common form ; fig. 13 the belfry-arch at Hasling- 
 field ; fig. 14 the south doorway at Grantchester ; fig. 15 a 
 molding of constant occurrence ; fig. 16 from St. Albans ; 
 fig. 17 a doorway, and fig. 18 a window, from Eyhall, Kutland. 
 The former has large sculptured paterae in the central casement. 
 
 It will be observed that the distinction of the orders is often 
 completely lost in this style, while it is seldom undefinable in 
 Decorated moldings. It also appears from the examples given, 
 that in many cases the chamfer-plane is either more or less than 
 an angle of 45°; and that occasionally, as PL. VIII. fig. 11, 
 two parallel planes are taken for the basis of the arrangement. 
 
 The casement is sometimes so extravagantly hollowed as to 
 give the appearance, and probably the actual effect, of weakening 
 the jamb. This is a great fault, and always produces a very 
 unsatisfactory result to the eye, which desiderates the idea of 
 perfect and substantial support.* An instance may be noticed 
 in the west window of Grantchester Church. 
 
 One principle of composition may sometimes be traced in 
 moldings, especially in late ones. This is the custom of ending 
 with a repetition of the 
 same members which 
 commenced the group, 
 the centre being occu- 
 pied by a different one. 
 This may be illustrated 
 by PL. IX. figs. 3, 6, 8, 
 or by the annexed cut. 
 
 Students of the pre- 
 sent subject will find a 
 very valuable series of 
 illustrations of base, 
 capital, and arch-molds of the three styles in pp. 76, 77, of 
 * Willis's Architecture of the Middle Ages, p. 15. 
 
64 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 Professor Willis's Architectural History of Winchester Cathe- 
 dral, published by the Archaeological Institute, and in many 
 other accounts of cathedrals by the same author. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 OF THE PLANS OF GOTHIC COLUMNS.* 
 
 This subject falls properly under the head of Moldings, since 
 the forms of piers or columns more or less partake of the details 
 of the arch-moldings. But it is one of such extensive scope 
 that only a few general rules can here be given for distinguishing 
 the styles. And of these the bases and capitals will generally 
 afford the surest indications. 
 
 A few sections have been given for the purpose in PL. III. 
 
 The general plan of the columns which support the nave or 
 other principal arches, is either square, circular, octagonal, 
 diamond- shaped, or parallelogramic ; and these forms are 
 either simple or complex. 
 
 Simple, when composed of one plain member, that is, not 
 involving a number of aggregate parts ; 
 
 Complex, when consisting of a core surrounded by smaller 
 shafts, detached or engaged. 
 
 The earliest form of column is the circular, as is proved by 
 those in the ancient chapel in the White Tower, London (pro- 
 bably the earliest piece of Norman architecture in England) ; 
 also at Waltham Abbey (which, whether Harold's Church or 
 not, is undoubtedly early) most of the columns are circular; 
 and at Norwich Cathedral, St. Sepulchre's Church, Cambridge, 
 and many other places, examples may be found. Polygonal 
 
 * The medieval terms for columns, capitals, and shafts, were respectively 
 jnllars, chapiters, and verges. The plinth, or footing of the columns, was 
 the patin. See Professor Willis's Architectural Nomenclature, pp. 39-41. 
 
PLANS OF GOTHIC COLUMNS. 
 
 65 
 
 Norman piers, of vast size and strength, support the eastern 
 transept walls at Peterborough Cathedral. And these simple forms 
 continued in common use throughout the Transitional, Early 
 English, and Decorated periods in ordinary parochial churches, 
 where they are sometimes disposed alternately, or in opposite 
 rows. But a very common arrangement is that of the square 
 plan, or forms derived from it ; thus it was sometimes cut with 
 angular recesses, like the arch and sub-arch, and these recesses 
 were soon filled with small shafts. With circular columns the 
 vaulting shafts were commonly stopped above the capitals by a 
 corbel, but they were frequently brought down to the ground 
 with the rectangular plan, where the flat face of the pier was 
 continuous with that of the wall ; and the member also carrying 
 the sub-arch was often made into a semicircular form. Thus 
 we obtain, though in a heavy and simple form, a regular clus- 
 tered shaft, which, during the Early English period, was brought 
 to a wonderful degree of lightness and elegance. 
 
 These complex Early English piers are often extremely beau- 
 tiful ; more so, perhaps, than those of any other style. They 
 are so varied in arrangement that it would be impossible in this 
 place to do more than notice their general characteristics, which 
 consist principally in the number of smaller isolated shafts 
 clinging to a central column, to which they are at intervals 
 attached, in reality as well as in appearance, by molded bands 
 or fillets. These shafts are generally of native marble,* or of 
 some other kind of stone than the central pillar. The clustered 
 capitals and bases are often worked out in one large piece. 
 
 A circular column, surrounded by four, six, or eight smaller 
 
 * It is a curious fact that the medieval English architects appear never 
 to have used any foreign marbles, in construction at least. The Purbeck 
 limestone, composed of comminuted freshwater shells (whence it is called 
 lumachella marble), being part of the Wealden formation, and taking a fine 
 polish, though liable to disintegrate, was much used in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, but much more sparingly afterwards, except for tombs and the beds of 
 sepulchral brasses. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 detached shafts, is a beautiful and common device. Examples 
 are very common ; the choir-aisles at Ely, the Lady Chapel of 
 Fountains Abbey (PL. XIX. fig. 8), and many parts of West- 
 minster Abbey, have this kind of compound pillar. In some 
 cases the column is made up of several shafts, generally four, 
 placed close together, without any central core, as in the round 
 nave of the Temple Church. In this case there is always a 
 midway band or bonding- stone, worked into annular fillets to 
 the shafts. The shafts are not always separately applied, though 
 usually so in the pure lancet style. PL. III. fig. 11, is an 
 instance of attached shafts so deeply undercut that they have 
 the appearance of complete isolation. It forms an exquisitely 
 graceful feature in the Chapter House of Furness Abbey. The 
 lower part of a similar one, rather later in date, still stands 
 in the vestibule of St. Mary's Abbey, York ; and there is a very 
 good example at Exton, Rutland. PL. III. fig. 8, is from All 
 Saints, Stamford ; fig. 13 from Ruskington, Lincolnshire ; and 
 fig. 12 from St. Peter Gowt's, at Lincoln. Fig. 17 is from 
 Skelton, near York ; and this is a very common form of Early 
 English and Decorated piers, with some varieties, as fig. 16 and 
 
 in PL. V. figs. 15, 17. PL. XIX. 
 fig. 5, is a beautiful example of the 
 former style, from Stretton Church, 
 Rutland. Fig. 6 is from Grantham 
 Church. The annexed is from Rus- 
 kington Church, Lincolnshire, and 
 is reduced from the section given in 
 Mr. Bowman's illustrations of that 
 church. Half of a roll-and-fillet set 
 on each side of a square, the corners of which project, and are 
 sometimes worked into smaller pointed beads, is of constant 
 occurrence. The square being set to the cardinal points, the 
 addition of the shafts changes the outline to the diamond form. 
 The fillets running up the face of each shaft usually pass over 
 
 RuskinAton. 
 
PLANS OF GOTHIC COLUMNS. 
 
 67 
 
 or round the astragal, and die into the bell of the capital, as in 
 PL. X. fig. 40. 
 
 Towards the Geometric era, that is, after 1240, the shafts (or 
 verges, as they were anciently called) began to be generally 
 engaged, or attached to the central mass.* This will be seen in 
 the choir of the Temple Church, erected at the above period. 
 The construction, therefore, is entirely different, the whole 
 diametric section being worked out of one block, for the sake 
 of greater strength. Decorated piers always have their shafts 
 engaged, so that a clustered column is in reality formed by 
 channelling the surfaces of the mass in lines and hollows of 
 graceful lights and shadows. PL. III. figs. 14 and 16, are 
 among the commonest forms ; but the richness and extent of 
 the great piers in cathedrals and abbeys it would require a 
 volume to set forth. Fig. 14 is from Utterby, Lincolnshire, 
 and is remarkable for the hollow faces, which are seldom found 
 but in small shafts in Perpendicular work. 
 
 Perpendicular piers are generally of oblong or parallelo- 
 gramic plan, the longitudinal direction extending from north 
 to south. On the east and west sides 
 half-shafts are attached, which bear the 
 innermost order, or soffit-moldings, of 
 the arch ; the rest, including the great 
 casement or hollow, being usually con- 
 tinuous, without the interruption of any 
 impost. Very good examples exist at 
 Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, where vault- 
 ing-shafts are also added on the northern 
 and southern faces. PL. III. fig. 15, 
 
 Grantham. 
 
 is from Attleborough, Norfolk, of late 
 
 Decorated date. PL. III. fig. 18, from St. John's, Stamford, 
 
 1 
 
 * Shafts ceased to stand detached or banded into clusters, and became 
 instead firmly compacted into a mass ; the bands, no longer of any use, 
 real or apparent, being suppressed. — Brandon's Analysis, p. 2. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 a plain but good illustration of this almost universal method. 
 PL. XIX. fig. 4, from Saffron Walden, Essex. The principle 
 which led to this form was the desire to obtain 
 width in the direction of the thickness of the 
 wall, combined with the least possible bulk, and 
 the greatest span between the columns. In this 
 they followed the plan of window monials ; in 
 fact, in some late churches, as at Swavesey, near 
 Cambridge, they become nothing more nor less 
 than exaggerated monials with shafts attached to 
 carry the sub -arch. 
 Another form, however, occurs not unfrequently in Perpendi- 
 cular columns, which is shown in PL. III. figs. 19 and 20, 
 the first from St. Martin's, the second from St. Mary's, 
 Stamford. In these the ground-plan is a square, and each face 
 (as in fig. 19), or each angle (as fig. 20), if set diamond- wise, 
 carries an engaged shaft. In the first case, the angles are 
 chamfered away ; in the second, a hollow is sunk in the 
 face between the shafts. This is usually of later date than 
 the parallelogramic plan. Still, examples are not wanting of 
 early Perpendicular character, as in Long Ashton Church, 
 Somersetshire,* built about, or rather before, 1400. The nave 
 columns in this church consist of a square, with a three- 
 quarter circular shaft engaged in each 
 face, the angles being cut away into the 
 wave-molding, which runs continuously 
 round the arches. PL. XIX. fig. 7, re- 
 presents a column of good Decorated date 
 in the crypt at Grantham, in which the 
 same principle of formation is exhibited. 
 
 The parallelogramic plan is some- 
 times found in Decorated columns, but 
 
 Wood Ditton Church. 
 
 * Engraved in Bowman's Specimens of Ecclesiastical Architecture, 
 PL. IV. 
 
OF CAPITALS. 
 
 69 
 
 not until the close of the style. The marginal woodcut 
 represents such a column from Wood Ditton Church, near 
 Newmarket. An instance is given in " The Oxford Architec- 
 tural Guide," p. 139, from Ensham Church, c. 1400. 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 OF CAPITALS. 
 
 The moldings of capitals and bases form not the least in- 
 teresting, extensive, and important part of the study. And they 
 have the peculiar advantage of being more definitely marked, 
 in the various periods of architecture, than any other kind 
 of moldings. It is by no means impossible, even for an 
 experienced eye, to mistake the details of a Decorated for 
 those of a Perpendicular archway ; but no one moderately 
 acquainted with the subject could hesitate in pronouncing the 
 style of a capital or base, provided it possessed any character 
 at all. 
 
 To go very rapidly through the history of a column, we may 
 suppose that an upright post planted in the earth was found to 
 sink, or decline from the perpendicular, by a great superincum- 
 bent pressure. This failure suggested the necessity of a plinth, 
 or broad footing of masonry, on which it might stand firm, 
 erect, and immovable. This arrangement we may often observe 
 in the construction of wooden sheds or rustic homesteads of 
 rude timber-work. Again, a great square stone would natu- 
 rally be placed upon the top of the pillar or post, as the bed or 
 cushion to receive the superstructure, whether arch or entab- 
 lature. It was from such an origin that the highly elaborated 
 Gothic base and capital arose. 
 
 Examples fully as rude as this do actually exist in English 
 
70 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 ecclesiastical architecture, so that we have positive fact to 
 guide us instead of mere theory. The Ante-Norman belfry- 
 arches at Barnack and St. Mary Bishophill Junior, York, 
 with a great many others of probably much later date, have 
 square pillars on each side, resting upon and surmounted by 
 rude and clumsy blocks of stone. 
 
 In the Norman period, when the shaft was round, the 
 highest and lowest members only, respectively called the 
 abacus and the plinth (anciently the patin) were square, the 
 parts immediately below the one and above the other being 
 rounded off to suit the shape of the shaft. How this was 
 
 Cushion Capital. Transition Norman Capitals, Bolton Abbey. 
 
 done in Norman capitals is shown in PL. X. fig. 2, and it is 
 seen in the ordinary form of what has been called the cushion 
 capital. The lingering reluctance to get rid of the square 
 plinth, in the tongue-shaped leaves or other grotesques 
 which are often seen to issue from the circular moldings of 
 Transition-Norman bases, and extend to the otherwise vacant 
 and superfluous angles of the plinth, is worthy of observation. 
 It was felt that these angles were not necessary ; but the 
 mediaeval builders preferred to decorate what as yet they did 
 not wish to cut away. Even in the advanced Early English 
 columns in Westminster Abbey, instances of floriated bases 
 may be observed. 
 
 But the simple square was sure to undergo some changes, 
 and this took place first in capitals. In the more elaborate 
 Classic styles, the sides were cut out, or curved inwards — a 
 feature sometimes seen in Perpendicular octagonal capitals ; 
 
OF CAPITALS. 
 
 71 
 
 but this method of relieving and lightening the massive impost 
 does not seem to have occurred to the Romanesque builders. 
 They either cut off or cut out the 
 corners, as soon as the pier-arch, by 
 becoming recessed or involving a sub- 
 arch (PL. I. fig. 4), left a portion of 
 the bearing surface unemployed and 
 superfluous. That is, rectangular 
 nooks were cut in the angles of the 
 square abacus, corresponding to the 
 graduation of the sub-arch, as in the 
 accompanying cut, and examples may also be seen in Potter's 
 Illustrations of Buildwas Abbey, pi. 6. From the former 
 process came the octagonal form ; and either by removing 
 angles indefinitely, or, more probably, by adopting the shape 
 of the shaft, we obtain the circular capital and base of the 
 first and second Gothic periods. But capitals became octagonal 
 before plinths ; and similarly octagonal plinths were retained 
 long after circular capitals had become universal. 
 
 Gothic capitals may be divided into two kinds, molded and 
 floriated. The upper member, or abacus, is common to both, 
 and is the relic of the rude impost which first surmounted the 
 stone post, from which it was transferred, through the medium 
 of the Classic to the Christian styles. This seems, in fact, to 
 be the primary and essential, and, as it were, practical member, 
 the others being only decorative adjuncts. The lowest member, 
 called the neck or astragal, is also common to both kinds ; but 
 in floriated capitals foliage covers the intermediate space, which 
 is otherwise occupied by the overhanging and undercut member 
 called the bell, with its accompanying moldings. In the Transi- 
 tion-Norman and Early English, the foliage, as is well known, 
 is arranged vertically ; in the Decorated it twines horizontally, 
 or rather transversely, round the capital. In Perpendicular, 
 floriated capitals are rare ; more frequently small leaves, or 
 
72 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 paterce, are set like studs at intervals round the shaft ahove the 
 neck, as in Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge. But the vine 
 and the strawberry leaf is sometimes seen, very differently 
 worked, however, from the deep overhanging foliage of the 
 earlier styles, being only a shallow kind of surface ornament. 
 
 The dog-tooth, the nail-head, the ball-flower, and other orna- 
 mental moldings, sometimes occur in capitals, and in later 
 work the Tudor flower, or crestings of minute battlements 
 (occasionally floriated), are also frequently found. Even angels' 
 heads with spread wings are sometimes found, as in the belfry- 
 arch of Great Shelford, near Cambridge, and in the choir of 
 Wingfleld Church, Suffolk. Occasionally (in Norman work 
 commonly) some subject is grotesquely sculptured below the 
 abacus. Of this there is a very curious example at West Keal, 
 Lincolnshire.* Or a subject is intermixed with the foliage, as 
 in some very interesting Early English capitals in the south 
 transept and the north porch of Wells Cathedral. 
 
 But of floriated or sculptured work it is not at present our 
 province to speak. It is enough to observe that the origin of 
 foliage is probably Classical, since in the Komanesque we find 
 the style of it, as used in capitals, very closely approaching the 
 Corinthian acanthus, or the Ionic volute ; for example, the 
 Transitional Norman capitals at the east end of Canterbury 
 Cathedral, and not unfrequently in parochial churches (as at 
 Barnack), seem clearly to be Classical in general features, 
 and almost so in their details. Others, however, will have it 
 that the origin of the foliated capitals is rather from the East. 
 There can be little doubt that the influence of both prevailed in 
 the introduction of foliage into Gothic capitals, from whence it 
 was subsequently transferred to other parts of buildings. 
 
 * On one of the capitals (which are Decorated) a fox is carrying off a 
 goose, while a chained ape is laying hold of it behind. The Decorated 
 capitals in Oakham Church exhibit the same design, among others. This 
 kind of capital may be called Pictorial, as the author has suggested in the 
 Manual of Gothic Architecture, p. 110. 
 
OF CAPITALS. 
 
 73 
 
 The use of capitals, in pure Gothic architecture, to speak 
 constructively, is to receive the clusters of arch-molds which are 
 stopped hy it at the summit of the column, and not continued 
 down to the ground. For, when the arch-molds are not wholly 
 identical with those of the jamh or column, they must either die 
 away at the spring (in which case they are called discontinuous) 
 or be abruptly stopped by a projecting impost. In many cases 
 the moldings are partly continuous and partly stopped by the 
 capitals ; certain groups being borne by shafts,* while the inter- 
 vening hollows are continued to the ground, forming at the 
 same time deep lines of division between the groups of arch- 
 molds above and the separate jamb-shafts below. This is 
 particularly the case in Perpendicular piers and arches, as 
 described in Section VII. Here the soffit or innermost mold- 
 ings, are borne by a shaft, the outer being continuous ; while 
 in Early English doorways the soffit is generally continuous, 
 the others carried by shafts, as in PL. II. figs. 18 and 19. 
 Again, in Norman and Early English, the shafts stand isolated ; 
 in the latter so far that the hand, or even the arm, may be 
 passed round them. In Decorated, they are engaged, fewer in 
 number, less prominent, less important in the apparent work of 
 support. And in Perpendicular they become entirely subordi- 
 nate, and merely decorative, as may be observed in the porches 
 and doorways of King's College Chapel. Hence, by an ulterior 
 debasement, mere bowtells, as we before remarked, are furnished 
 with quasi-capitals and bases. In some cases a member of the 
 same projection and diameter as the bowtell is continued above 
 this quasi-capital (if the term be allowable), but slightly varied 
 in form and profile. 
 
 The moldings of pier-arches became entirely continuous only 
 in very late work ; and the reason is, that the idea of a capital 
 
 * By what is called decorative, i.e. apparent construction. The moldings 
 would in reality remain in their places as well without as with the bearing 
 shafts. — Willis's Architecture, Chap. II. 
 
74 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 or impost is essential to that of an isolated column ; while in 
 the jamhs of doorways and entrance arches, the shafts them- 
 selves, and therefore the impost, may be omitted or added at 
 will, as a mere matter of decoration. 
 
 A good Gothic capital is a feature of remarkable beauty. 
 Take for example, those of the piers in the nave of Trumping- 
 ton Church, Cambridge, and Hingham, Norfolk, PL. XII. 
 figs. 11 and 15, or the woodcuts on pages 76, 77. Small in pro- 
 jection, complex and graceful in their members, yet judiciously 
 subordinate to both arch and pier, they seem to bind into one 
 the bundles of shafts which form the column, while, by their 
 reversed or horizontal outlines, they intercept and at the same 
 time form a satisfactory termination to the vertical lines above 
 and below. 
 
 Gothic capitals consist of three parts ; the abacus, the bell, 
 and the neck. And these parts are distinctly visible in block 
 capitals, or those in which the members have not been worked 
 out. Such may occasionally be met with in village churches. 
 
 PL. X. fig. 1, shows the two uppermost members in their 
 rudest state. Fig. 3 is from Laceby, Lincolnshire ; fig. 4 from 
 Middle Kasen, and fig. 5 from Walesby, both in the same 
 county. Here a is the abacus, b the bell, c the neck. It will 
 be observed that Gothic capitals may generally be reduced to 
 this outline, as fig. 16, from Great Abington, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 The most certain evidence of date is furnished by the mold- 
 ings of the abacus. The earlier forms of the abacus had the 
 
 Coton. St. Sep. Cant. Cath. Blatberwick, Byland. Heacham, Wadenhoe, 
 
 Cambridge. Crypt. Northants. Norfolk. Northants, 
 
 upper edge always left square, and the under edge rather plainly 
 chamfered or cut into a flat ovolo ; at first the fillet was large in 
 
OF CAPITALS. 
 
 75 
 
 proportion, and gave a heavy appearance, but the lower edge- 
 mold gradually became more important, and was frequently cut 
 into a hollow chamfer and sometimes quirked and finished also 
 with a bead, as at Heacham, Norfolk. By this means a light 
 abacus was obtained, which held its ground far into the Early 
 English style, as may be seen at the Kefectory, Eivaulx, &c. 
 
 But then they began to cut away the upper edge, the projec- 
 tion was made greater, and the under side was cut or hollowed 
 out, so that it seems to overhang the bell just as the bell does 
 the shaft, and with the same profile, consisting of the half of a 
 roll-and-fillet. The Decorated abacus has the scroll-molding, 
 with a cylindrical roll of rather less size below it. PL. X. 
 figs. 38 and 39, represent these peculiarities, and an examina- 
 tion of the sections of capitals of both styles will show how 
 rarely this distinctive mark is wanting. In Early English 
 capitals the abacus is sometimes quite plain, as fig. 17, from 
 Thurlby, and fig. 8, from Frieston, Lincolnshire. In the reign 
 of Edward I. a peculiar molding occurs, something between the 
 two, which may be called an undercut scroll-molding. This is 
 seen in fig. 9, from Stickney, and fig. 12, from Lincoln Cathe- 
 dral, and it may be considered a characteristic of transition 
 from Early English to Decorated. 
 
 The moldings of the bell are generally kept within the limits 
 shown in fig. 5, but in very minute work exceptions are some- 
 times found ; for instance, at Temple Balsal, Warwickshire, the 
 capitals* to the small shafts on the monials of some of the 
 windows, have the bell projecting quite beyond the abacus. 
 Where foliage is introduced it often projected a long way even 
 in large capitals, and a molding seems to have been allowed the 
 same license when the scale was small. Small capitals and bases 
 appear frequently to have been turned in lathes, and this might 
 account for treating a molding like foliage where the effect of 
 foliage was desired. In Early English capitals the bell has 
 sometimes a double set of moldings, which gives a very hand- 
 
 * Figured in Bowman and Crowther's Churches of the Middle Ages. 
 
76 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 some effect. This is seen in PL. X. figs. 19, 28, from Tintern, 
 fig. 22, from Furness, and fig. 24, from Bolton. 
 
 Capitals occur in their greatest perfection in shafts. The 
 larger piers, of octagonal or circular form, are seldom so ela- 
 borate or so decidedly marked. In these the abacus is the only 
 member which affords any sure indication of date. 
 
 The distinguishing feature of Decorated capitals has been 
 stated to be the scroll-molding of the abacus, and in perhaps 
 
 ninety-nine out of every hundred 
 examples the rule holds good. 
 Yet some capitals presenting the 
 same feature are said to be of 
 Early English date. It is believed 
 that the Early English abacus 
 scarcely ever occurs in pure De- 
 corated work. 
 
 The bell is seldom so prominent or so deeply undercut in this 
 as in the preceding style. As a general rule, the projection 
 (i.e. the relative diameter to that of the shaft) became gradually 
 less, both in capitals and bases, as the styles advanced. The 
 above cut furnishes an exception to the rule. Thus, in Perpen- 
 dicular work, when the shafts became, as it were, mere parts 
 of the entire groups of moldings, both these features became 
 minute and subordinate. Decorated capitals preserve the happy 
 medium between the clumsiness of constructive members, and 
 the inutility of mere ornaments. In this their remarkable 
 beauty really consists, in that they occupy the truest and most 
 consistent position as architectural parts of the whole. With 
 respect to their details, the moldings of the bell present the 
 principal varieties ; but these are generally some modification or 
 corruption of the roll-and-fillet. Very often the under 
 part of the bell is composed of an entire roll-and-fillet, 
 as in PL. XII. figs. 3, 8, and PL. XI. figs. 12, 20. 
 It is still more frequently formed by the compound 
 member shown in the cut, and in PL. XL fig. 4. 
 
OF CAPITALS. 
 
 77 
 
 Out of forty-three examples of Decorated capitals given in 
 PL. XI. and XII. ten of them have the bell thus formed, 
 and others present some slight variety of it. It is seen in 
 elevation in PL. XII. fig. 15, the beautiful capital of the nave- 
 piers at Hingham. 
 
 Decorated capitals seldom have double moldings to the bell, 
 at least much less frequently than in the Early English style. 
 Three examples are given, PL. XI. fig. 2, from Yaxley, Hunts, 
 very early in the style, as appears by the abacus, PL. XII. 
 fig. 9, and the annexed cut, from Harringworth, Northants. 
 
 The neck, or astragal, forms an important detail in deter- 
 mining the dates of capitals. In 
 the Early English it is usually 
 a heavy and bold annular mold- 
 ing, of a stilted or oval shape, or 
 rather more than half a circle, 
 as PL. X. fig. 11. Either this 
 or the semi-hexagon (fig. 15) is 
 the prevailing form. The De- 
 corated neck is almost always 
 
 Harringworth. 
 
 the scroll-molding ; but both the 
 
 Early English forms, with many others, will be found to occur. 
 The capitals of both styles are often so nearly identical in 
 general character and principles of formation, that a practised 
 eye may now and then be deceived in their date. And it is 
 here important to remark, that though the vast majority of 
 capitals in all English buildings will be found to fall in with the 
 rules laid down in this work, anomalies do occur which present 
 difficulties in any attempt to classify them ; and the same is 
 true of bases. 
 
 Perpendicular capitals present very marked features, which 
 are seldom liable to be mistaken. The moldings are large, 
 angular, meagre, and few. Neither abacus nor bell is clearly 
 defined — a fact similar to that already stated with regard to 
 the arch-moldings of this style, that the distinction of orders is 
 
78 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 Coton, Camb- 
 
 generally lost. The abacus, in short, no longer appears as a 
 separable member, and the bell either wholly vanishes or is 
 very imperfectly developed. The upper part of the abacus is 
 usually sloped off to a sharp edge, like the chamfer of an 
 angle ; the section of the molding below resembles 
 the letter S, being an ogee formed by a bold concave 
 returning into a prominent convex (as at Coton) ; 
 and, above all, the capital is nearly always 
 octagonal, while that of the preceding styles is 
 commonly round. The shaft, however, is circular 
 in Perpendicular work; while octagonal capitals 
 only occur in the other styles in the case of large 
 single columns of the same shape, if we except a few cases of 
 Early English arcading shafts with octagonal capitals, as in the 
 transepts at Histon, near Cambridge, the west front of Peter- 
 borough Cathedral, and in the choir-aisle of Fountains Abbey. 
 
 The same principle which induced the later architects to 
 prefer sharp edges and abrupt lines in their moldings to the 
 
 soft and blending Decorated forms, 
 made them revert to the octagonal 
 capital to the rejection of the circu- 
 lar. The base, however, is generally 
 circular in its upper members, and 
 octagonal below, as in PL. XV. figs. 1 
 and 2. 
 
 Perpendicular capitals are often 
 embattled, as PL. XII. figs. 16, 22, 
 26, 29, an arrangement which is rare in the preceding style. 
 The astragal, or neck, is either a plain round or a kind of 
 debased scroll-molding with the upper edge cham- 
 fered, as in the abacus. Another form, resembling 
 a coarse keel-mold, common to both members, is 
 that shown in PL. VIII. fig. 21, which occurs 
 in the abacus of PL. XIII. fig. 8, and the neck 
 of fig. 15. 
 
 anc aster Church. 
 
OF CAPITALS. 
 
 79 
 
 The bell with its overhanging and undercut moldings having 
 vanished, the projection of the capital is produced by a meagre 
 slope, as figs. 3 and 5. Sometimes, however, but not very often, 
 the bell remains. Its form seems capricious, and reducible to 
 no certain rule, though the profile is often much the same as in 
 Decorated work. Perhaps greater license was taken in general 
 in designing the moldings of this style than in any other. 
 
 The section of the Perpendicular abacus is a mere corruption 
 of the Decorated scroll-molding. Thus in PL. XIII. figs. 7, 
 10, and 12, we see nearly the same form as in the Decorated ; 
 and by omitting the under roll, as in figs. 20, 21, we obtain the 
 ordinary profile of fig. 15. This debasement of the scroll-mold- 
 ing is separately shown in PL. IV. fig. 22. 
 
 It will not be necessary to occupy much space in stating the 
 places from which our numerous sections of capitals and bases 
 are taken. A few only of the most remarkable shall be thus 
 specified. PL. X. figs. 7, 8, are from Frieston, Lincolnshire. 
 Here the bell is of rather unusual form, perhaps more so in 
 this than in the next style, as in PL. XL figs. 9, 11, 15, 16, 17. 
 PL. X. fig. 9, is a noble capital from Stickney, Lincolnshire, 
 late in the style, as appears from the undercut scroll-abacus. 
 Fig. 10 is from the same place. Of the same date and character 
 are 12 and 13 ; the former from Lincoln Cathedral, the latter 
 from Kuskington. Fig. 18 is from the Chapter House of Furness 
 Abbey, and has the double bell ; fig. 19 from Tintern Abbey, 
 very rich and fine in its profile.* Fig. 22 is shown in eleva- 
 tion, by studying which, those who are unacquainted with the 
 details of the styles may form a correct idea of the leading 
 characteristics of the capitals of this period. It is from Fur- 
 ness Abbey. Figs. 23, 24, 26, are from Bolton Abbey. 
 Fig. 28 is from Tintern, rather late, and remarkable in its pro- 
 file. Fig. 29 is from Arreton, Isle of Wight. Fig. 30 from 
 
 * The student is again referred to Potter's illustrations of this abbey 
 for many beautiful capitals and bases, drawn on a large scale. 
 
80 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 Saffron Walden, of much larger size than usual. Fig. 37 is 
 from Bolton Abbey, with the nail-head in the hollow above the 
 bell. Fig. 40 is the elevation of the most ordinary form in 
 shafts and clustered piers. 
 
 PL. XI. figs. 1 and 2, are from Yaxley; fig. 4 is a fine 
 capital of very unusual size and depth, in a chapel used as the 
 vestry in the church at Boston. Fig. 3 is from Fletton, Hunts ; 
 figs. 6, 7, from Leverton ; fig. 9 from Sibsey ; fig. 10 from 
 Stickford ; fig. 11 from Partney — all in Lincolnshire. Fig. 12 
 is from Legburn, in the same county, of large size (15 inches 
 in depth) ; fig. 13 from Waltham. Figs. 15, 16, 17, are all 
 from Lincolnshire, and' almost identical. This is the form of 
 the pier-capitals at Heckington. Fig. 18 is from Aswardby, 
 Lincolnshire, depth one foot ; fig. 22 is from Abington, Cam- 
 bridgeshire. 
 
 The sections of Decorated capitals in PL. XII. are mostly 
 ^gfL from churches in the neighbourhood of Cambridge. 
 
 PL. XII. fig. 16, is from Careby, Lincolnshire. This has a 
 battlement above, and the double ogee below, the abacus. A 
 similar feature is the wave-molding, in the same position, in the 
 Decorated capitals of the nave columns at Dunchurch, Warwick- 
 shire. 
 
 PL. XII. fig. 19, is from Uffington, near Stamford. This and 
 the next illustrate the methods of obtaining the plane of the 
 moldings, which in this style should be attended to. Figs. 22, 
 23, 24, are from St. Martin's, figs. 26 and 27 from St. John's, 
 fig. 28 from St. George's, and fig. 29 from the Bede House, all 
 in Stamford. 
 
 Fig. 14 is not uncommon in Transition to Perpen- 
 dicular ; it occurs at Maxey, Northamptonshire, 
 and at Louth (see PL. XL fig. 28). Fig. 13 is 
 from a fine monument at Little Shelford, near 
 Cambridge. The rest of the sections in this plate 
 are Perpendicular. 
 
 Wffiingham, 
 Cambridge. 
 
OP BASES. 
 
 81 
 
 PL. XIII. fig. 1, is from Long Melford, Suffolk; fig. 4 from 
 Louth ; figs. 8, 9, 12, from Colchester ; fig. 14 from Harston, 
 near Cambridge ; fig. 13 from Fen Ditton ; fig. 17 from Mat- 
 tishall, Norfolk. Here the abacus is octagonal, the bell and 
 neck circular. Fig. 18 is from Elsworth Hall,* Norfolk ; fig. 1G 
 from Dry Drayton, near Cambridge ; fig. 19 from Sahara 
 Toney. 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 OF BASES. 
 
 The earliest examples of bases must be looked for in the rude 
 monolith blocks which support the pillars or pilasters in the 
 Ante-Norman churches, such as at Wittering, near Stamford, 
 and others already mentioned. These are often mere shapeless 
 lumps, laid down as they were raised from the quarry, and con- 
 sisting only of the single member thus presented to view. 
 Norman architecture first adopted a more regular method in 
 constructing the footing of a column, and from that arrange- 
 ment those of the subsequent styles are readily deduced. The 
 Classic pillar was evidently the prototype of all these. 
 
 Bases consist, in early work, of at least two distinct mem- 
 bers — the 'plinth, or lower step, of solid masonry, generally 
 square in early work, but octagonal in later ; and the base- 
 moldings, a series of annular rolls, slopes, or hollows, taking 
 the form of the column, and forming an ornamental junction 
 between the shaft and its essential constructive member, the 
 plinth. In Decorated and Perpendicular columns, the plinth is 
 usually divided into heights, stages, or tables, by gradually 
 
 * An interesting specimen, very little known, of a moated mansion of 
 the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 spreading courses, each separated from the next by a plain or 
 molded chamfer. 
 
 Of Norman bases it is not necessary to treat at length. The 
 varieties of form are not numerous ; and as they do not involve 
 complex moldings, like the after styles, it will be sufficient to 
 direct the attention of the student to the upper members, in 
 which the character of a base may be said principally to consist. 
 In shafts, the base often resembles the capital inverted; in 
 some instances, the one might be substituted for the other with 
 scarcely any perceptible change of appearance. Often a bold 
 annular roll, quirked on the under side (as seen in PL. XIV. 
 figs. 3, 7), divides the shaft from the plinth. PL. XXI. fig. 9, 
 is from Fountains Abbey. Fig. 10 is a little later, from the 
 Chapter House of the same place. A very common form is 
 shown in PL. XIV. fig. 8, from the nave of Peterborough 
 Cathedral. This occurs in St. Sepulchre's, Cambridge, where 
 the present bases were cut from a very small piece, only a 
 few inches wide, which alone remained in the eight massive 
 columns of the circular part. 
 
 The moldings of the earliest Norman bases are frequently 
 " little better than scratches upon the surface,"* and generally 
 
 consist of two reverse curves, 
 a concave above and a con- 
 vex below. Nothing ap- 
 proaching to developed iso- 
 lated members and distinct 
 
 Kt. Bepuicnre, jneiinsjey uu., di. maiy b, — 
 
 Cambridge. Yorkshire. Huntingdon. 
 
 gradations was known in 
 the early part of the twelfth century. 
 
 A little before the Transition period, a modification (often 
 with very trifling departure from the Classic) of the Attic base 
 was introduced, from which the Early English is directly derived. 
 The Attic base is given in PL. XIV. figs. 1 and 2. It consists 
 of two rounds, with an intervening hollow separated from them 
 
 * Willis's Canterbury, p. 76. 
 
OF BASES. 
 
 83 
 
 by fillets. If we compare this form with some of the early 
 Italian- Gothic bases, figs. 3, 4,* and with one from Canterbury 
 Cathedral f (date about 1180), fig. 5, we shall find them rather 
 identical with than similar to the Classic. The uppermost 
 fillet, or first member at the lower extremity of the shaft, was, 
 however, omitted in most if not in all cases ; and the form in 
 fig. 7, from Peterborough Cathedral, was very much in vogue. I 
 This example leads us at once to the ordinary Early English 
 base (fig. 12), the chief peculiarity of which consists in the 
 intermediate hollow being cut downivards rather than sideways, 
 and extended from half to three-quarters of a circle, so that 
 it is capable of containing water, which may often be observed 
 standing in exterior bases. The filleted rolls on each side, 
 above and below the hollow, are naturally formed by cutting off 
 the feather edges seen in fig. 3. A valuable example of the 
 Transition base is fig. 6, taken from the great central piers of 
 Byland Abbey, shortly after some extensive excavations had 
 revealed a great part of the ground-plan and lower portions of 
 the columns of that once splendid church. Here we most 
 distinctly recognize the peculiar feature of the Attic base, the 
 side-hollow of fig, 1 — the lateral semicircle in place of the 
 descending three-quarter circle. It must be particularly remem- 
 bered that this water-holding base is contemporary with the 
 first dawn of the Transition style, and may commonly be met 
 with in pointed Norman work, i. e. as early as 1160 or 1170. 
 It is found in the Transition work of William of Sens at 
 Canterbury.§ 
 
 There are two kinds of Early English bases. The first, and 
 * From Willis's Architecture of the Middle Ages. 
 
 f Canterbury Cathedral has a very French character in the work of 
 William of Sens, and this is more like Classic work than English archi- 
 tecture generally. 
 
 t The bases of the pointed Norman columns' in the nave of Buildwas 
 Abbey are nearly identical with this. — See Potter, PL. X. 
 § Willis's Canterbury, p. 76. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 by far the most common, is the form given in PL. XIV. fig. 12 ; 
 the other seems to be derived either from omitting the hollow 
 altogether, as in figs. 10, 11, and thus bringing the rolls into 
 contact, or from supplying its place by another similar roll, as 
 fig. 15, or even by an interposed square edge, or plinthiform mem- 
 ber, as fig. 9, the bases of the choir columns in Bivaulx Abbey. 
 Generally, this intermediate roll is rather smaller, and often a 
 little depressed inwardly, as fig. 16, from Ely. This base 
 occurs almost invariably in Westminster Abbey. It is seldom 
 found except in the more advanced or florid period of the Early 
 English, when geometric windows of two or more lights ha^ 
 begun to supersede the single lancet. Hence was at once de- 
 rived the ordinary Decorated base, figs. 33, 34, 35. 
 
 In very rich Early English bases there are often double 
 hollows between filleted rolls — after the analogy of the double 
 row of moldings to the bell in capitals. And below these, at 
 some distance, occur other series of very bold annular rolls, 
 
 single, double, or even triple. 
 PL. XIV. fig. 18, is the base of a 
 great pier in Lincoln Cathedral. 
 Fig. 26, from the beautiful Galilee 
 at Ely, where the bases are worked 
 out of hard Purbeck marble, and 
 have all been elaborately polished. 
 Fig. 27 is from Skelton, near 
 York. 
 
 PL. XXI. fig. 4, is an example, 
 of the most ordinary form, from 
 the revestry or chapter-room at Kipon Cathedral. Fig. 7 is from 
 York Cathedral. 
 
 Sometimes the fillet is omitted in the upper roll, as PL. XIV. 
 fig. 25. In fig. 20, the hollow again approaches that of the 
 Attic base. Fig. 18, from Lincoln Cathedral, is a fine piece of 
 detail, of great richness and considerable spread. Fig. 30, from 
 
OF BASES. 
 
 85 
 
 Furness Abbey, is remarkable for the omission of the hollow in 
 the upper member. The examples given in elevation, figs. 28 
 and 29, the former from Tintern, the latter from Furness 
 Abbey, will convey a correct idea of the general appearance.* 
 The spread of the base generally equals that of the capital, or 
 nearly so. 
 
 There is something extremely elegant in the form of this, the 
 more usual kind of Early English base ; and it is, moreover, 
 surprising to notice the uniformity which everywhere prevails 
 both in it and the capital of this period. The plainer form 
 (figs. 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 21) may possibly have gradually super- 
 seded the more elaborate, either from the difficult and complex 
 work of the latter, or because the hollow was externally apt to be 
 filled up with standing water, moss, or earth, and internally with 
 dust and dirt, as it will almost invariably be found to be. 
 Probably the desire of forming a better weathering had much 
 influence in the change. 
 
 In Early English bases it is also to be remarked that the 
 large spreading roll, which forms the lower of the two members 
 between which the deep hollow is placed, is worked out of the 
 block, with which it usually stands flush, or in the same plane, 
 by a quirk or angular nook. This is almost invariable ; and it 
 is mentioned particularly with reference to Decorated bases, 
 where a marked difference in this part is observable. Here we 
 usually find either the scroll-molding (fig. 35, from Coton, near 
 •Cambridge) or a flat under-edge, as fig. 42, from the nave-piers 
 at Trumpington ; or the part of the base below it cut away, so 
 that it overhangs clear, as fig. 40, the base of the beautiful central 
 column in the Chapter House at Wells ; fig. 39, from the door- 
 way in the same place ; fig. 37, from St. Mary's Abbey, York. 
 Fig. 45, from Fishtoft, Lincolnshire. This is generally a mark 
 of late or florid Early English, when found in work of the 
 
 * The engraving is slightly incorrect, from the shaft not standing true in 
 the centre. 
 
 ■ 
 
86 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 thirteenth century, as PL. XXI. fig. 5, an elegant base from the 
 library of York Cathedral. 
 
 One of the commonest Decorated bases is that shown in 
 PL. XIV. fig. 35 ; the number of rolls being generally three, 
 but often only two, as fig. 34. In fig. 39 there are four ; but the 
 uppermost is of lead, by which the shaft is fastened. Not a few 
 modifications of this form occur; but they are seldom very 
 complex. Fig. 43 is from the nave-pillars at Bottisham, near 
 Cambridge ; fig. 38 is from the arcade in the Lady Chapel at 
 Ely, worked in Purbeck marble. Here the lower member is the 
 roll-and-fillet, which is not uncommon. It is partially developed 
 in fig. 41, from Over and Histon ; an example which retains a 
 singular trace in its upper member of the side hollow of the 
 Attic base. PL. XV. fig. 3, is of unusual profile ; it is from 
 the chancel at Over, Transition to Perpendicular. PL. XIV. 
 fig. 33, is from the nave-piers at Tintern — already noticed as a 
 specimen of the inverted scroll-molding. Fig. 44 is from Boston. 
 This form is not unusual late in the style. 
 
 Decorated bases are often stilted, or raised above the floor, 
 with the plinth formed by graduated stages or tables, as before 
 described. This principle was carried to an extravagant excess 
 in the next style ; in some instances, as those under the western 
 tower at Ely, the uppermost member stands six or even eight 
 feet from the ground. The lower part of Decorated bases is 
 sometimes octagonal, or polygonal, as in the columns which 
 support the octagon at Ely; and sometimes these faces are 
 fluted or hollow-chamfered. In the Decorated columns sup- 
 porting the vault of the Lady Chapel at Wells, the base- 
 moldings are raised a considerable height from the floor. In 
 the choir at the Temple Church (1240), the principle of stilting 
 the bases may be seen, the plinth being very large and high, 
 and the moldings approximating to the Decorated profile. 
 
 Instead of the three half-rounds which ordinarily constitute 
 the Decorated base, one member, generally the second, but 
 
OF BASES. 
 
 87 
 
 often the first, is sometimes, as it were, scooped out in the 
 middle, in what might be called the inverted wave-molding, so as 
 to form an ogee curvature. This is seen in PL. XIV. figs. 36 
 (from the Lady Chapel, Ely), 40, and 42. Hence the bell- 
 shaped base of the next style (PL. XV. figs. 1 and 2) was 
 immediately derived. Compare PL. XXI. fig. 6, a Decorated 
 base from the nave of York Cathedral, with fig. 8, a Perpen- 
 dicular base from Ripon Cathedral. The sharp under edge 
 of the second member in the former example is a peculiar 
 feature, decisive of Decorated work. 
 
 So similar, however, are the two forms, that some pure Deco- 
 rated bases may occasionally be found which would have been 
 equally correct in a Perpendicular column. This ogee curve 
 seems to be derived from the several rolls which we have 
 seen were used in the bases, being a natural variation to avoid 
 repetition. It does not appear to occur in early, or geometric 
 Decorated. 
 
 But few examples of Decorated bases have been given, 
 because any important varieties from the forms described are 
 not of sufficiently frequent occurrence to render it necessary to 
 illustrate them. They are very chaste and elegant in profile ; 
 often standing but a little above the floor-line, especially in 
 shafts, and thus of modest and unpretending contour. They 
 are for the most part of decided character ; and where any diffi- 
 culty occurs in determining their date, an inspection of the 
 capital, according to the rules already laid down, will readily 
 remove it. 
 
 The bases of Perpendicular columns are various ; but rather 
 in degrees of richness and the number of graduations than in 
 difference of form in the principal members. The prevailing 
 characteristic is a large bell- shaped spread in the upper part, 
 often resting on a cushion-like member, and forming with it the 
 contour of a double ogee in section. PL. XV. figs. 1 and 2, 
 are from Crosby Hall, and give a correct representation of the 
 
88 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 most ordinary kind. It will be particularly observed that the 
 lower part is almost invariably octagonal, the upper being 
 
 generally round, though sometimes, as 
 the capital always is, octagonal. From 
 the great size and height of the best 
 examples they are not so easily engraved 
 in a small space : PL. XV., however, 
 contains enough specimens to guide 
 the student under ordinary circum- 
 stances. Fig. 5 is from Louth ; 
 fig. 13 from All Saints', Stamford ; 
 fig. 17 from Haslingfield ; fig. 18 
 from Holy Trinity, Colchester ; fig. 20 
 from St. Edward's, Cambridge ; fig. 21 
 from Herne, Kent. 
 Almost every Perpendicular base has either one or more 
 stages, sloping off by a hollow lodgement or chamfer, as figs. 15, 
 16, 17 ; or by a second bell-shaped slope, as figs. 5, 6, 14. The 
 ancient name for the lower member was the grownd-table * 
 (especially when applied to mural basement moldings). All 
 Perpendicular bases have an annular roll, resembling the neck 
 of capitals, for the uppermost member. This is often the 
 debased roll- and- fillet shown in PL. VIII. fig. 21, asinPL t XV. 
 fig. 15, or the debased scroll-molding, as in PL. XV. fig. 18. 
 This feature is almost invariable, and is not found in the 
 same isolated form in any other style. 
 
 It is singular that edge lines occur less in Perpendicular 
 than in any other bases, almost every point being carefully 
 rounded off. There is a peculiar nakedness in the straight 
 unbroken line of the lower, or ground-table, rising, as it does, 
 abruptly from the floor to the height of two feet and more, 
 - as in the interior of King's College Chapel ; but the bell is 
 of remarkably graceful form, and perhaps few will prefer the 
 * See Willis's Architectural Nomenclature, § 39. 
 
HOOD-MOLDINGS AND STRING-COURSES, 
 
 89 
 
 contour of PL. XIV. fig. 29 or 32, to that of PL. XV. figs. 1 
 and 2. 
 
 Fig. 4 is from the Lady Chapel, Peterborough; fig. 6 from 
 Carbrook ; fig. 7 from Saham ; fig. 8 from Dereham ; fig. 9 
 from Norwich Cathedral ; fig. 10 from Mattishall ; fig. 11 
 from Swanton Morley, — all in Norfolk; figs. 12, 15, from 
 Colchester; fig. 14 from St. John's, Stamford; fig. 16 from 
 St. Alban's ; fig. 22 from Saffron Walden. 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 OF HOOD-MOLDINGS AND STRING-COURSES. 
 
 This is by no means an unimportant branch of the study of 
 Gothic Moldings, the varieties and peculiar characteristics of 
 the styles being as well defined in such details as in any 
 hitherto described. Of the immense diversity of forms only 
 some of the most ordinary can be enumerated; for capricious 
 irregularities constantly occur, which, as they seem reducible to 
 no certain rule, hardly claim a place in laying down the prin- 
 ciples of a system. Yet, though the form may be arbitrary, the 
 character is generally maintained, 
 
 PL. XVI. contains a series of moldings of this sort (for 
 hood-moldings and string-courses must be classed together, 
 being in fact very often identical, or the one continued from the 
 other), divided into three parts, illustrating the three styles. 
 
 It has been before observed that string-courses may be 
 regarded as the successors of the horizontal lines by which 
 Classical is principally distinguished from Gothic architecture ; 
 and the importance of them will be felt when it is remembered 
 that all masonry is made up of successive layers, so that they 
 
90 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 form a most genuine piece of decorative construction, and are 
 almost essential to the feeling of repose. They consist of 
 projecting ledges of stone, carried below windows, both within 
 and without ; round buttresses and other angular projections ; 
 and in cornices, parapets, tower- stages, and other parts of 
 edifices, used as dividing lines to set off one particular portion 
 as distinct from another. Though subordinate, and seemingly 
 insignificant, details, they are of the greatest possible import- 
 ance in imparting a character to a building. Sometimes, 
 breaking playfully from the horizontal, they rise in graduated 
 and rectangular heights. Sometimes carried over a doorway or 
 round an arch ; now dying into the wall ; now, as it were, 
 passing into some interrupting projection, and, nothing baffled 
 by it, reappearing on the other side ; now starting aloof into a 
 window-label, and playing the most fantastic tricks before again 
 descending ; a string-course at once relieves naked masonry, 
 and binds into a whole the seemingly detached portions of a 
 rambling and irregular construction. In most cases, especially 
 in windows, it forms a real drip or weathering, and of course 
 adapts its upper surface especially to this end. Hood-moldings, 
 when used internally, cannot be said to have any real use ; but 
 they form a decorative finish of too important a kind to be 
 neglected with impunity. 
 
 Norman string-courses are generally of heavy and massive 
 profile — full of edges or hard chamfered surfaces. In most 
 cases they are adorned with some sculptured decoration of the 
 style, as the billet, the chevron, the hatched or serrated 
 molding, and the like. The plain half-hexagon, or square 
 bead with chamfered angles, is one of the commonest forms. 
 Two or three only are given in PL. XYI. as specimens of the 
 kind, viz. figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9. The latter is from the chancel- 
 arch at St. Giles's, Cambridge, erected before the year 1100. 
 The semi-hexagon, grooved or worked on the middle of the outer 
 face similar to that in fig. 8, is frequently found. Not less than 
 
HOOD-MOLDINGS AND STRING-COURSES. 91 
 
 eleven of this form, with varieties scarcely perceptible and 
 merely accidental, are given in PL. XIX. of Potter's work 
 on Buildwas Ahhey. The upper edge is often left square, 
 instead of being weathered off ; and the wide but shallow form 
 presents an appearance suiting well with the massive character 
 of the work and the low relief decoration, though not relieved 
 by the dark shadows caused by undercutting the lower 
 surface. 
 
 The commonest Early English strings are those given in 
 PL. XVI. figs. 13, 15, 18, 22, 25. Figs. 
 10 and 12 may also very often be found. 
 They follow the same changes as the abaci 
 of capitals of which several successive 
 forms are given on page 74. The rounding 
 of the upper edge began in this style, bufr 
 the undercutting is the most striking charac^" 
 teristic of this, as of all other moldings of the style. Fig. 11 
 is from Furness Abbey ; fig. 17 from Tintern ; fig. 19 from 
 Kivaulx ; fig. 21 from Byland. The latter is curious from its 
 late form (see fig. 71), though the date is about 1200. The 
 same remark applies to fig. 20, from Furness, in which even 
 the characteristic Perpendicular ogee of fig. 4 occurs. Fig. 23 is 
 from Lincoln Minster. It is peculiarly elegant, and of frequent 
 occurrence. Fig. 24 is from All Saints', Stamford. Fig. 25 
 has the scroll-molding; fig. 26 the roll-and-fillet complete. 
 Both are equally common in Decorated work. Fig. 28 gene- 
 rally marks the time of Edwards I. and II. 
 
 The most frequent Decorated form is 
 perhaps figs. 35 or 48. Figs. 44, 49, 53, are 
 also very common. The scroll-molding with 
 a half-round next below it, the same as in 
 the abacus of capitals of this period, is very 
 characteristic, as fig. 36. Fig. 41 is gene- 
 rally found in Transition to Perpendicular. 
 
 Decorated. 
 
92 
 
 MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOLDINGS. 
 
 Transition Strings. 
 
 Fig. 43 is from the vestibule of the Chapter House at Wells, 
 early in the style, Fig. 50 is from Over, near Cambridge ; 
 fig. 45 from Bottisham. 
 
 The rounded form of the upper side, or weathering, is 
 characteristic of the first two styles ; the angular or chamfered 
 of the last— although this peculiarity is also very common in 
 late Decorated buildings. In this respect also string-courses 
 follow the principle of the abacus of capi- 
 tals* PL. XVI. figs. 52 and 55, may 
 therefore be pronounced late in the style. 
 Undercuttings, it has already been re- 
 marked, occur principally in the time of 
 Edwards I. and II., as figs. 32, 44, 51. 
 Perpendicular strings and hood-moldings 
 are generally marked by the sloping plane of the upper surface, 
 as PL. XVL figs. 60, 61. The details of the parts underneath 
 are so varied as to render it almost impossible to give any- 
 thing like a complete account of them ; 
 yet, numerous as they are, they will gene- 
 rally be found to recur with tolerable 
 uniformity. Usually there is a small 
 bowtell in the lowest part, as in figs. 57, 
 59, 62, 64, 68, 71, and others, more or 
 perpendicular strings. i egs dearly developed. This is rather a 
 characteristic mark of the style. PL. XX. fig. 16, from 
 Grantham Church, is another example. Fig. 18 is a string- 
 course from the same place. Perhaps the most ordinary forms 
 are PL. XVL, figs. 61, 68, 71. The double ogee, as fig. 60, 
 and the combination of the ogee with the under fillet, already 
 described, as in figs. 56, 77, often occur. Fig. 78 exhibits 
 the peculiar Perpendicular form already pointed out. A 
 semicircle sunk in the under side of half a square projecting 
 
 * Early English strings are often continued from the abaci of capitals, 
 which perhaps accounts for this fact. 
 
HOOD-MOLDINGS AND STRING-COURSES. 93 
 
 diagonally, as in fig*. 66, is also a common variety. Embattled 
 string-courses occur now and then in this style, as in the 
 cornice of the aisles at Cromer Church, Norfolk. 
 
 In copying string-courses, it is better to draw the parts of 
 the wall above and below perpendicularly on the paper, not 
 only for a guide to show the direction of inclination or pro- 
 jection, which, without this, is left quite indefinite, but also 
 because the wall often recedes above the string, or even over- 
 hangs, as fig. 56. The angles of the chamfers can best be 
 attained by bending a piece of lead across them. Sometimes a 
 foot-rule may be bent against the wall and the under part, as 
 fig. 67, and thus the exact angle can readily be transferred to 
 paper. 
 
 Much more might, and indeed ought, to be said on the 
 subject of moldings, were it the intention of the writer to 
 attempt anything like a complete essay. For example, there 
 yet remain wholly unnoticed several important cases of the 
 application of moldings in Gothic architecture. Basements, 
 weatherings of buttresses, cappings of parapets and battle- 
 ments, plans of monials, groin-ribs, timbers of roofs, and 
 other wood-work, besides the many and interesting varieties 
 of ornamental or floriated moldings, are all well deserving of 
 the closest attention. But a great book is a great evil, as a 
 philosopher of old has declared ; and it has been the wish of the 
 author rather to win the attention of the reader, by pointing 
 out the way to copy and observe, than to deter him by the 
 uninviting form of a grave and heavy book. Quite enough 
 has been said, it is conceived, to illustrate the really essential 
 principles of the science. And no one need feel any difficulty 
 or perplexity in recognizing the details of the styles, who will 
 take the trouble to apply the rules laid down in this little 
 work. 
 
PLATE I. 
 
 1. Plain Saxon Window (Diagram). 
 
 2. Example of Chamfer. 
 
 3. Example of Thirteenth Century chamfered Window. 
 
 4. Diagram of Sub-arch. 
 
 5. Do. do. chamfered. 
 
 6. Little Casterton — Arch Mold. 
 
 7. Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire — Chancel Arch. 
 
 8. Little Casterton — transition Norman Arch. 
 
 9. Horningsea, Cambridgeshire — c. 1190. 
 
 10. Waterbeach, do. Broach Stop. 
 
 11. Friesland, Lincolnshire — Norman Pier Arch. 
 
 12. Skirbeck, do. Early English Pier Arch. 
 
 13. Great Grimsby. 
 
 14. Clee, Lincolnshire. 
 
 15. Adel, near Leeds. 
 
 16. St. Mary's, Ely. 
 
 17. Clee, Lincolnshire — Respond. 
 
 18. Tintern Abbey— Groin Rib. 
 
 19. St. Benet's, Lincoln. 
 
 20. Lincoln Cathedral — Doorway in Precincts. 
 
 21. Fig. 6 enlarged. 
 
 22. Robertsbridge Abbey — Groin Rib. 
 
 23. Diagram of Pointed and Side Filleted Bowtell. 
 
 24. Fig. 19 enlarged. 
 
 25. Little Casterton, Rutland. 
 
Plate I. 
 
 London Published by John Van Voorst, Paternoster How, i< l i.).> 
 
PLATE II. 
 
 1. Middle Rasen — Early English Pier Arch. 
 
 2. Ludborough, Lincolnshire — Doorway. 
 
 3. Langtoft. do. Chancel Arch. 
 
 5. Great Grimsby, do. South Porch, Jamb. 
 
 0. Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire — North Door. 
 
 7. Do. do. Chancel Door, Interior. 
 
 8. Do. do. Pier Arch. 
 
 9. Over, do. Doorway. 
 
 10. Diagram of Planes — a Chamfer Plane. 
 
 b Soffit Plane, 
 c Wall Plane. 
 
 11. Over, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 13. Do. do. Window Jamb. 
 
 14. Madingley, do. do. 
 
 15. Stamford, All Saints' — Pier Arch. 
 
 16. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire — Doorwa}^. 
 
 17. Tintern Abbey — Groin Rib. 
 
 18. Cambridge, St. Clement's — South Doorway. 
 
 19. Cherry Hinton— Inner Door, South Porch. 
 
Plate EL 
 
 London; Published hy John Van \ bors t, Paternoster Row. 1845 . 
 
PLATE Til. 
 
 1. Louth — Early English Doorway. 
 
 2. Plymouth — Belfry Arch. 
 
 3. Ely Cathedral— Pier Arches, Choir. 
 
 4. Robertsbridge Abbey — Groin Rib. 
 
 5. Tintern Abbey — Fragment. 
 
 G. St. Mary's Abbey, York— Fragment. 
 
 7. Robertsbridge Abbey — Groin Rib. 
 
 8. All Saints', Stamford. 
 
 9. Histon, Cambridgeshire— Arch over Piscina and Capital. 
 
 10. Wittering, Northants— Chancel Arch. 
 
 11. Furness Abbey — Chapter House. 
 
 12. St. Peter Gowts, Lincoln. 
 
 13. Ruskington, Lincolnshire. 
 
 14. Utterby, do. 
 
 15. Attleborough, Norfolk. 
 
 16. Common form of Decorated Pier. 
 
 17. Skelton, near York. 
 
 18. St. John's, Stamford. 
 
 19. St. Martin's, do. 
 
 20. St. Mary's, do. 
 
.Hate HI. 
 
 London: Publiste cLhv J olrn Tan Voorst, Patern osier How, i8/|5 . 
 
PLATE IV. 
 
 1. Diagram of Roll Molding. 
 
 2. Reymerston, Norfolk. 
 
 3. Diagram of first sketch of Mold. 
 
 4. Barholme — semi-Norman Arch. 
 
 5. Barnack — Early English Arch. 
 0. Trumpington — Belfry Arch. 
 
 7. Glastonbury — c. 1200— Groin Rib. 
 
 8. Peterborough Cathedral — Groin Rib. 
 
 9. Diagram of possible first formation of Fillet. 
 
 10. Diagram of common form, Roll and Triple Fillet. 
 
 11. Ludborough, Lincolnshire — Chancel Doorway. 
 
 1 Lincoln Cathedral. 
 
 14. Yaxley, Hunts — Doorway. 
 
 15. Furness Abbey — Groin Rib. 
 
 16. Lincoln Cathedral — Arcade. 
 
 17. Diagram of Roll and Fillet. 
 
 18. Do. do. 
 
 19. Do. Broad Fillet. 
 
 20. Do. Scroll Molding. 
 
 21. Do. Fleur-de-lis Molding. 
 
 22. Do. variety of Scroll Molding. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH. 
 
 Plate W. 
 
 J.H.Z6%aL.r , sc. 
 
 London: PuHislied "by- JoTmVazi Voorst Paternoster Pvow.1845. 
 
PLATE V. 
 
 1. Boston — Monument. 
 
 2. Great Ellingham — Doorway. 
 
 3. Attleborough, Norfolk — West Doorway. 
 
 4. Boston — Inner Doorway, South Porch. 
 
 5. Ewerby — Monument. 
 
 6. Northborough, Northants — Window Jamb. 
 
 7. Benington, Lincolnshire — Interior of Window Jamb. 
 
 8. Heckington, do. Interior of Window Jamb. 
 
 9. Do. do. Inner Jamb, East Window. 
 
 10. Benington, do. Exterior Jamb of Window. 
 
 11. Hingham, Norfolk — Chancel Doorway. 
 
 12. Attleborough — Doorway. 
 
 13. West Keal, Lincolnshire — Belfry Arch. 
 
 14. Hingham — Window. 
 
 15 Variety of Decorated Pier. 
 
 16. Streatham, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 17. Variety of Decorated Pier, 
 
DECORATED 
 
 Plate V.- 
 
 J..S LelTeuJC, sc . 
 
 L oncLan: Exiblislie cLW John. Van. Voor s t , Patemo s ter R aw, 1846 .' 
 
PLATE VI. 
 
 1. Little Ellingham, Norfolk — Doorway. 
 
 2. Hingliam, Norfolk — West Door. 
 
 3. Do. do. Pier Arch. 
 
 4. Boston — Pier Arch. 
 
 5. Sleaford — Window Jamb. 
 
 6. Deopham — Doorway. 
 
 7. Boston — Monument in Church (a, Soffit). 
 
 8. Hingliam — North Doorway. 
 
 9. Do. Double Ogee and Hollow. 
 
 10. Little Ellingham, Norfolk — Doorway. 
 
 11. Deopham— Inner Doorway, South Porch. 
 
 12. Benington, Lincolnshire — South Porch. 
 
 13. Hardingham, Norfolk — Archway. 
 
 14. Boston — East Window, Double Ogee and Hollow. 
 
 15. Stoke Golding, Leicestershire. 
 
DECORATED. Plate VI. 
 
 J~.If.Le Ifezuc. so. 
 
 London-. PubuslieiTDY JolmVau. Voorst, Pat ernoster Row, 1845 . 
 
PLATE VII. 
 
 1. Llandaff Cathedral — West Doorway. 
 
 2. Diagram, Double Chamfer. 
 
 3. Trumpington — West Doorway. 
 
 4. Do. Pier Arch. 
 
 5. Rivaulx — Fragment. 
 
 6. Fen Stanton, Hunts — Window. 
 
 7. Northborough, Northants — Doorway. 
 
 8. Peterborough — Outer Archway, west entrance to precincts. 
 
 9. Yaxley, Hunts — Window. 
 
 10. Clipsham, Rutland. 
 
 11. Horbling, Lincolnshire. 
 
 12. Over, Cambridgshire — Window in Chancel. 
 
 13. Northborough — Outer Porch Doorway. 
 
 14. Rivaulx, Yorkshire —Fragment. 
 
 15. Do. do. Groin Rib. 
 10. West Keal — Doorway. 
 
 17. Wave Molds and Hollow. 
 
 18. S wanton Morley, Norfolk. 
 
 19. Hingham, do. Window. 
 
 20. Trumpington — East Window. 
 
 21. Keddington (or Ketton), Suffolk — Chancel Window. 
 
 22. Thurlby, Lincolnshire — Piscina. 
 
 23. Langtoft, Lincolnshire — South Doorway. 
 
 a Shallow Wave Mold. 
 
 b Sunken Chamfer. 
 
 c Deopham — Belfry Arch. 
 
DECORATED 
 
 Plate VTL. 
 
 J.H.Le Jfeiui:, sc . 
 
 London: Published by JolmVanVoorstPaternoster Rou^, 1846 . 
 
PLATE VIII. 
 
 1. Uffington, near Stamford — West Doorway. 
 
 2. Dereham, Norfolk — West Doorway in isolated Tower. 
 
 3. Saham Toney, do.— -West Doorway. 
 
 4. Fishtoft, Lincolnshire. 
 
 9. Lincoln — Oriel Window. 
 10. Chesterton, Cambridgeshire — East Window. 
 
 12. Lincoln Cathedral — South Choir Chapel. 
 
 13. St. Sepulchre's, Cambridge — Arch. 
 
 14. Great Gransden, near St. Neots, Hunts — Niche. 
 
 15. Stapleford, Cambridgeshire — East Window. 
 
 16. Great Shelford, do. Inner Doorway, South Porch. 
 
 17. Holy Trinity, Colchester — Pier Arch. 
 
 18. Long Melford, Suffolk— Pier Arch. 
 
 19. St. Martins, Stamford — Doorway. 
 
 20. Do. do. Pier Arch. 
 
 21. Louth. 
 
 5. Leverton 
 
 6. Partney, 
 
 7. Louth, 
 
 8. Stewton, 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 East Window. 
 Doorway. 
 Doorway. 
 Window Jamb. 
 
Ltmdrm: Published. W Jolin Van Voorst, Paternoster Row, 1845 . 
 
PLATE IX. 
 
 1. St. Martins, Stamford— East Window. 
 
 7. Histon, Cambridgeshire — Window. 
 
 8. Skirlaugh, Yorkshire — Chancel Doorway. 
 
 9. Harlton, Cambridgeshire — North Doorway. 
 
 10. Skirlaugh, Yorkshire — South Doorway. 
 
 11. Basingstoke, Hampshire. 
 
 12. Diagram of Window Jamb of common form. 
 
 13. Hashngfield, Cambridgeshire — Belfry Arch. 
 
 14. Grantchester, do. South Doorway. 
 
 15. Molding of constant occurrence. 
 
 16. St. Alban's. 
 
 17. Ryhall, Rutland — Doorway. 
 
 18. Do. do. Window. 
 
 2. Do. 
 
 3. St. John's, 
 
 4. Bede House, 
 
 5. All Saints', 
 
 6. Do. 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 West Doorway. 
 West Doorway. 
 
 Pier Arch. 
 West Doorway. 
 
\ 
 
PERPENDICULAR 
 
 Flate IX. 
 
 J.H.Zelfeuac sc. 
 
 London : Publislie A hy Jo Tin Van. Vb or s t, Paterno ster R ow. 1848 . 
 
PLATE X, 
 
 1. Diagram of rudimentary Capital. 
 
 3. Laceby, Lincolnshire. 
 
 4. Middle Rasen, do. 
 
 12. Lincoln Cathedral. 
 
 13. Ruskington. 
 
 16. Great Abington, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 17. Thurlby, Lincolnshire. 
 
 18. Furness Abbey, Chapter House. 
 
 19. Tintern Abbey. 
 
 22. Furness Abbey. 
 
 23. Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire. 
 
 24. Do. do. 
 26. Do. do. 
 
 28. Tintern Abbey. 
 
 29. Arreton. Isle of Wight. 
 
 30. Saffron Walden, Essex. 
 
 37. Bolton Abbey. 
 
 38. Early English Abacus. 
 
 39. Decorated Abacus. 
 
 40. Early English Capital, 
 
 5. Walesby, 
 
 7. Frieston, 
 
 8. Do. 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 9. Stickney, 
 10. Do. 
 
EARLY ENGLISH CAPITALS. 
 
 Plate X. 
 
 XoudonPuHishecLW Join Van VborstPatemoster Row. 184.5. 
 
PLATE XI. 
 
 1. Yaxley, Hunts. 
 
 2. Do. do. 
 
 3. Fletton, Hunts. 
 
 4. Boston, Lincolnshire — Chapel used as Vestry. 
 (5. Leverton, do. 
 
 7. Do. do. 
 0. Sibsey, do. 
 
 10. Stickford, do. 
 
 11. Partney, do. 
 
 12. Legburn, do. 
 
 13. Waltham, do. 
 18. Aswardby, do. 
 
 22. Abington, Cambridgeshire. 
 28. Louth. 
 
DECORATED CAPITALS 
 
 Plate XL 
 
 London.- Publi snoil by Jolm"Vaii"VborstPatemoster Row 1845 . 
 
PLATE X1T. 
 
 11. Trampington, Cambridgeshire — Capital of Nave Pier. 
 
 14. Maxey, Northamptonshire. 
 
 15. Hingham, Norfolk — Nave Piers. 
 
 16. Careby, Lincolnshire. 
 19. Uffington, do. 
 
 22. \ 
 
 23. > St. Martin's, Stamford. 
 
 13. Little Shelford, 
 
 do. 
 
 Monument. 
 
 St. John's, 
 
 do. 
 
 28. St. George's, do. 
 
 29. Bede House, do. 
 
Plate XE, 
 
 •J.ILZe ITeujr. sc. 
 
 Ionian; Published by JolmVanVoorst. Paternoster Rok 1840 
 
PLATE 
 
 XIII. 
 
 1. Long Melford, Suffolk. 
 4. Louth, Lincolnshire. 
 
 8. "| 
 
 9. > Colchester. 
 
 12. ) 
 
 13. Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 14. Harston, do. 
 
 16. Dry Drayton, do. 
 
 17. Mattishall, Norfolk 
 
 18. Elsworth Hall, do. 
 
 19. Saham Toney, do. 
 
PERPENDICULAR CAPITALS 
 
 Plate Xm. 
 
 I 
 
 J.H.Le JCeuj? sc. 
 
 London: Poblisnedbj- John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row, 1.845 - 
 
PLATE XIV. 
 
 Attic Base. 
 
 X. 
 2. 
 
 3. ) Italian Gothic Bases, from Willis's Archi- 
 
 4. ) tecture of the Middle Ages. 
 
 5. Canterbury Cathedral. 
 
 6. Byland Abbey — Central Piers. 
 
 7. Peterborough Cathedral. 
 
 8. Do. do. 
 
 9. Rivaulx Abbey — Choir Columns. 
 
 16. Ely Cathedral. 
 
 17. Lincoln Cathedral — Base of Great Piers. 
 
 18. Do. do. 
 20. Furness Abbey. 
 
 26. Ely Cathedral— Galilee. 
 
 27. Skelton, near York. 
 
 28. Tintern Abbey. 
 
 29. Furness Abbey. 
 
 30. Do. do. 
 
 83. Tintern Abbey — Nave Piers. 
 
 35. Coton, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 86. Ely Cathedral— Lady Chapel. 
 
 37. St. Mary's Abbey, York. 
 
 38. Ely Cathedral— Lady Chapel. 
 
 39. Wells Cathedral — Doorway. 
 
 40. Do. do. Central Column, Chapter House. 
 
 41. Over and Histon, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 42. Trumpington— Nave Pier. 
 
 43. Bottisham, Cambridgeshire — Nave Piers. 
 
 44. Boston, Lincolnshire. 
 
 45. Fishtoft. do. 
 
Plate XIV. 
 
 London: PubHsaecL"bj JoTmVaiiVbor st.Paternoster Row: 1845 . 
 
PLATE XV. 
 
 1. Crosby Hall. 
 
 2. Do. do. 
 
 3. Over, Cambridgeshire — Chancel. 
 
 4. Peterborough Cathedral — Lady Chapel. 
 
 5. Louth. 
 
 6. Carbrook, Norfolk. 
 
 7. Saham, do. 
 
 8. Dereham, do. 
 
 9. Norwich Cathedral. 
 
 10. Mattishall, Norfolk. 
 
 11. Swanton Morley, do 
 
 12. Colchester. 
 
 13. All Saints', Stamford. 
 
 14. St. John's, do. 
 
 15. Colchester. 
 
 16. St. Alban's Abbey. 
 
 17. Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 18. Holy Trinity, Colchester. 
 
 20. St. Edward's, Cambridge. 
 
 21. Heme, Kent. 
 
 22. Saffron Walden, Essex. 
 
Plate XV". 
 
 J.H. £v Ifeujc. sc . 
 
 London: Published "by- JoTmVanVoorst.Paternoster Rxwi845 . 
 
PLATE XVI. 
 
 Examples of Strings, Hood Molds, &c, from various sources. 
 
STRINGS AND LABELS. 
 
 London: Pu"blish«l"bj Sebn VanVborst.Faternoster R0W..1845 . 
 
PLATE XVII. 
 
 1. Bottisham, Cambridgeshire — South Porch. 
 
 2. Do. do. North Porch. 
 
 3. Do. do. South Porch, Inner Doorwaj^. 
 
 4. Grantham, Lincolnshire — South Aisle Window. 
 
 5. Langham, Rutland — Doorway. 
 
 6. Grantham, Lincolnshire — South Aisle Window. 
 
 8. Over, Cambridgeshire — South Porch. 
 
 9. Grantham — South Aisle Window. 
 10. Grantham — Window Jamb. 
 
r 
 
Plate IXVTL 
 
PLATE XVIII. 
 
 1. Rivaulx Abbey. 
 
 2. Peterborough Cathedral — Doorway opposite South Aisle 
 
 of Nave : half-inch scale. 
 
 3. Do. do. Doorway in Cloister: lnalf- inch scale. 
 
 4. Rivaulx Abbey — Window Jamb. 
 
 5. Do. do. Ruined Doorway. 
 
 6. Castle Rising, Norfolk — East Window. 
 
 7. Beaulieu Abbey — South Transept Refectory. 
 
 8. Ripon Cathedral — Choir. 
 3 0. Castle Rising, Norfolk. 
 
xvm. 
 
 T. TurrhbulL sc 
 
 London Published. ~bj John Van A^oorst, Paternoster Row, i.84/7 . 
 
PLATE XIX. 
 
 1. } Diagrams showing the formation of the Wave 
 2. 5 Molding. 
 
 3. Bottisham, Cambridgeshire — East Window, South Aisle. 
 
 4. Saffron Walden, Essex. 
 
 5. Stretton, Rutland. 
 
 6. Grantham, Lincolnshire. 
 
 7. Do. do. Crypt. 
 
 8. Fountains Abbey— Lady Chapel. 
 
Plate XIX. 
 
 T-TunibzilL so. 
 
 London.: Published "by Jonn VanTVborst, Paternoster Row. 1847 . 
 
PLATE XX. 
 
 1. Landbeach, Cambridgeshire — Doorway. 
 
 2. Quy, clo, Window. 
 
 8. Grantham — Chancel Window. 
 
 4. Peterborough Cathedral — Archway in Cloister. 
 
 5. Ripon Cathedral. 
 0. Rivaulx Abbey. 
 
 7. Ripon Cathedral — Window Jamb, South Aisle. 
 
 9. Bolton Abbey — Doorway. 
 
 10. Newton, near Cambridge — West Doorway. 
 
 11. Bolton Abbey. 
 
 12. Do. do. 
 
 13. Grantham — Choir Doorway. 
 
 14. Lancaster — Arch Mold of Nave. 
 
 15. Bolton Abbey — Monument. 
 
 16. Grantham. 
 
 17. Willingham, Cambridgeshire — Chancel Door. 
 
 18. Grantham. 
 
Plate 2X. 
 
 T.Ticmhsdl so. 
 
 "London: PuMisTied "by Join "Van "Voorst, Paternoster Row, 1847- 
 
PLATE XXL 
 
 1. Morcot, Rutland. 
 
 2. Seaton, do. 
 
 4. Ripon Cathedral — Revestry or Chapter Room. 
 
 5. York Cathedral — Library. 
 
 6. Do. do. Nave. 
 
 7. Do. do. 
 
 8. Ripon Cathedral. 
 
 9. Fountains Abbey. 
 
 10. Do. do. Chapter House. 
 
Plate XXL. 
 
 T.TurribuZL so. 
 
 IancLon: Published, "by John Tan Voorst, Paternoster Raw, 1847 
 
ORIGINAL WORKS ON ARCHITECTURE 
 
 PUBLISHED BY MR. VAN" VOORST. 
 
 A MANUAL OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 By F. A. PALEY, M.A. 
 With a full account of Monumental Brasses and Ecclesiastical Costume. 
 Foolscap 8vo, with 70 Illustrations, 6s. 6d. 
 
 BAPTISMAL FONTS. 
 
 A Series of 125 Engravings, examples of the different Periods, accompanied with 
 Descriptions ; and 
 
 With an Introductory Essay by MR. PALEY. 
 
 In 8vo, price £1 Is. cloth. 
 
 A TREATISE ON 
 
 THE EISE AND PROGRESS OF DECORATED 
 WINDOW TRACERY IN ENGLAND. 
 
 By EDMUND SHARPE, M.A., Architect. 
 8vo, Illustrated with 97 Woodcuts and Six Engravings on Steel, 10s. 6d. 
 
 A SERIES OF 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WINDOW TEACEEY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DECORATED STYLE OF ECCLESIASTICAL AECHITECTUEE. 
 
 Edited, with Descriptions, by MR. SHARPE. 
 60 Engravings on Steel, 8vo, £1 Is. 
 
 In preparation, 
 
 NOTES ON THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY 
 OF ELY CATHEDRAL. 
 
 By the Rev. D. J. STEWART, M.A., Minor Canon. 
 
INSTRUMENT! ECCLESIASTICA : 
 
 A SERIES OF SEVENTY-TWO WORKING DESIGNS 
 FOR THE FURNITURE, FITTINGS, AND DECORATIONS OF CHURCHES 
 AND THEIR PRECINCTS. 
 
 Edited by the Ecclesiological, late Cambridge Camden Society. 
 
 CONTENTS OF THE FIRST SERIES. 
 
 Part I. — An Oak Grave Cross — An Oak 
 Lettern— Two Floor Crosses — Three Designs 
 for Oak Alms Chests — Headstones — Ground 
 Plan of the Chancel of the Church of St. Mary 
 the Virgin, Cobham, Kent. 
 
 Part II. — Coped Gravestones — Iron Hinges 
 — An Alphabet — Credence Tables — Ground 
 Plan of Nave of Cobham Church — Cobham 
 College, Cobham. 
 
 Part III. — Font Covers — Door Handles — 
 Coped Tomb — Floor Crosses — Litany Desks — 
 Flowered Quarries. 
 
 Part IV. — Font Covers — Oak Lettern — 
 Ironwork (2 plates) — Design for a Litany Desk 
 — Oak Lettern. 
 
 Part V— Sedilia — Eagle Lettern— Church- 
 vard Cross— Headstones — Ironwork — Church 
 Grate. 
 
 Part VI. — Parclose — Bier — Coffin Lids — 
 Lich Gate (2 plates) — Font Cover. 
 
 Part VTL— Diapers — Pulpit (2 plates) — 
 Flowered Quarries — Quarries. 
 
 Part VIII. — Stalls — Font and Cover — 
 Gable Crosses (2 plates) — Moveable Benches- 
 Door Plates, &c. 
 
 Part IX.— Wooden Porch— Church Chests 
 (3 plates) — Book Covers — Wooden Sedilia. 
 
 Part X. — Chalices and Patens— Cruets or 
 Flagons— Altar Candlesticks— Offertory Basin 
 — Altar Cross — A Crown, or Corona Lucis. 
 
 Part XI. — Altar Candlesticks — Altar Cover- 
 ings — Funeral Pall — Church Chairs — Stone 
 Lich Gate (2 plates). 
 
 Part XII. — Triptych — Water Buckets, and 
 a Baptismal Cruet — Organ Case — Churchyard 
 Gate — Standard Lights — Kneeling Rail and 
 Altar Desk. 
 
 THE SECOND SERIES CONTAINS 
 
 Part I. — Cemetery Chapel: Ground Plan; and 
 West Elevation— East Elevation ; and General 
 Plan of Cemetery — South Elevation — Trans 
 verse Sections of the Nave and of the Chancel 
 — Plan of Lich House, Gateway Tower, and 
 Porter's Lodge; with Alternative East Eleva- 
 tions of the Lich House — Lich House and 
 Gateway Tower : South Elevation. 
 
 Part II. — Lich House and Gateway (2 plates) 
 — Elevations and Plans of Two Low Chancel- 
 Screens; the First of Wood, with Wooden 
 Doors ; the other of Stone, with Metal Gates — 
 Section, Plan, and Elevations of Simple Seats, 
 Subsellaj and Desks (not returned) for a Small 
 Chancel — Moveable Metal Desks for Occasional 
 Offices — Weathercock and Cross, and Metal 
 Gable Cross. 
 
 Part III — Pulpit and Details— Ridge Tiles 
 — Organ Case — Locks and Keys — A Coffin — 
 A Grave Rail. 
 
 Part IV. — Wooden Church : Ground Plan 
 — South Elevation — West Elevation — East 
 Elevation — Longitudinal Section — Two Trans- 
 verse Sections. 
 
 Part V. — Wooden Church : Transverse Sec- 
 tion, looking West — Perspective View, from 
 
 the South-west — Details (2 plates) — Iron Let- 
 tern — Alternative Designs of Tracery. 
 
 Part VI. — Altar Plate — Moveable Pulpit 
 Desk and Corona — Verges and Pastoral Staff — 
 Litany Desks — Wooden Letterns. 
 
 Part VII. — Timber Belfries (2 plates) — 
 Timber Belfries and Grave Crosses — Altai- 
 Plate (2 plates) — Corona? and Cross. 
 
 Part VIII.— Chapel School : Ground Plan- 
 East and West Elevations — South Elevation — 
 Longitudinal Section — Transverse Sections — 
 A Paten. 
 
 Part IX — Schoolroom and Master's House 
 (4 plates) -Schoolrooms (2 plates). 
 
 Part X. — A Hearse — Designs for Coffin Or- 
 naments — Coped Tombs, and Head and Foot 
 Stones — Cemetery Crosses — Gas Standards — 
 An Alphabet. 
 
 Part XI. — Press for Vestments, &c. — 
 Wooden Sedilia— Village Hospital (2 plates) — 
 Ancient Metal Work — Iron Screen. 
 
 Part XII. — Iron Church: Ground Plan — 
 Longitudinal Section — West Elevation — 
 Transverse Section — Details — Interior Per- 
 spective View. 
 
 Complete in 24 Parts at 2s. 6d. each, or in 2 Vols ito, bound, £1 lis. Qd. each. 
 
 JOHN VAN VOORST, 1, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
9o '6\3DD&~X 
 
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY