PLATE VII

Plates VI and VII

THE term “decorated” is applied to the work of this period because of the superfluity of its ornaments. Almost every feature was enriched with carved ornament. The predominating form is the curvilinear line, the ogee or ogival (Plate VI., Fig. 2), Hogarth’s “line of beauty and grace,” which occurs in the lines of tracery, the shape of arches, sections of mouldings, and of foliated ornament.

The Geometrical period, 1245-1315, is the overlapping of Early English and Decorated. The term Geometrical is applied on account of the window tracery, which is made up of circles and triangles more or less elaborate. The change from Geometrical to Curvilinear or flowing tracery is demonstrated in Plate VII., Figs. 1, 2; Plate VII., Fig. 2, being a slight alteration of Plate VII., Fig. 1.

Plate VII., Fig. 5, reticulated—net-like—is a common example produced in the same manner as Plate VII., Fig. 2, and is adaptable to all shapes of windows. Many elaborate and beautiful designs were produced on these principles by extension of such elements as in Plate VII., Fig. 3.

Plate VII., Fig. 4, is a common type of window; an extension of the simple two-light window (Plate V., Fig. 9), frequently enriched with cusps and ball-flower (Plate VI., Fig. 3) in the hollows of the mullions.

In Plate VII., Fig. 10, the buttresses are decorated with niches for statuary. A flying-buttress is shown (F.B.), carrying the thrust of the stone-vaulted roof of the nave over the external roof of the aisle into the main buttress, whose weight and consequent stability are increased by the heavy pinnacle. The smaller buttress (C.) resists the thrust of the window arches. Norwich Cathedral displays an interesting array of flying-buttresses.

Plate VI., Fig. 6, shows a tower and spire at the crossing of nave and transepts. The base of the spire and its broaches (Plate V., Fig. 7) are concealed by a parapet wall, with battlements protecting a footway round the spire, which could be used as a place of observation. Mouldings in the Geometrical period attained the greatest refinement. Many can be favourably compared with those of the best Greek periods.

Arches continued to be built in square orders (Plate III., Figs. 6 and 8), and consisted of round mouldings, generally separated by deep hollows and fillets (Plate VII., Fig. 7).

In mouldings of the Curvilinear period (Plate VII., Fig. 8) the ogee superseded the round, and the hollows were shallower. Towards the end of the period the square orders ceased, and the planes of the orders were at about 45° with the vertical (Plate VII., Fig. 9; compare with Plate VIII., Fig. 12).

The wave-moulding (Plate VII., Fig. 9) and the scroll-moulding (Plate VII., Figs. 9, 12, and 13), supposed to resemble a parchment scroll, are conspicuous in the Curvilinear. The general character of the ornament is indicated on Plate VII., in most of which the ogee line is apparent.

The ball-flower (Plate VI., Fig. 3) is a distinctive feature of the Decorated period superseding the tooth ornament of the Lancet (Plate V., Fig. 12). It was applied to hollow mouldings of arches and tracery of windows, vaulting, and spires.

Capitals were moulded as in the section (Plate VII., Fig. 13), or carved, as Plate VI., Fig. 4, generally in imitation of natural foliage, varying from a bold conventionalism (Plate VI., Fig. 5) to a close imitation of nature, as Plate VI., Fig. 1 (a.a.). Animal forms and small human figures were occasionally introduced. Figure sculpture reached its highest degree of excellence in this period.

Construction was further advanced, but in design the climax had been attained in the Geometrical period, and a very gradual decline set in, as shown in excessive ornamentation and literal imitation of natural forms in stonework, which is unsuitable for such delicate treatment on account of its fragility.

The increasing wealth of the nation during this period is indicated by the grandeur of the buildings and the redundancy of ornament.

PLATE VIII

PLATE IX

Plates VIII and IX

A comparison of Plate VII., Fig. 5, net tracery, with Plate IX., Fig. 5, rectilinear, will explain how the latter was developed from the former by extending the sides of the meshes of the net by straight lines into the summit of the window. But as the term perpendicular is only a relative one, not necessarily meaning vertical, the term rectilinear was substituted, being descriptive of the general character of the whole design in mass and detail. In this work, however, the term “perpendicular” is preferred as the one most generally known. Windows became so large, chiefly for the display of stained glass, as to reduce the wall spaces between them to little more than piers, and transoms (horizontal mullions) had to be introduced to strengthen the vertical mullions. [See Plate IX., Figs, 1 and 2 (a.b.), belfry windows in these examples.]

Loftiness is a special trait of the Perpendicular period. Walls were carried to a greater height than previously. The external roof was frequently covered with lead, and inclined at an angle easy to walk upon. The roof-timbers were supported by ornamental principals exposed to view from the interior, or there was a stone-vaulted internal roof of rich design, the increased thrusts upon the walls being counteracted by larger buttresses.

Tall towers were built, such as those of York Minster, Gloucester, Worcester, and the churches of Boston (Lincolnshire), Wrexham, Taunton, and many others of magnificence. Plate IX., Figs. 1 and 3, give varieties of smaller parish church towers. In these the Tudor arch and square-headed window are shown. Spires are not so common as in the preceding periods. Buttresses were placed diagonally at all corners, scientifically the best position (Plate IX., Figs, 1 and 2).

In large churches external wall surfaces were enriched with panelling, covering in some cases the whole from ground to summit, and combined with open tracery in the battlements. In the interior the same kind of decoration prevailed, and in some cases the window tracery was carried below the glass down to the floor as panelling.

Plate IX., Figs. 4A and 4B, gives the comparative shape of battlements.

Arch-mouldings (Plate VIII., Fig. 12) generally included the large hollow also common in the window jambs. The plane of the arch-mouldings was inclined to the vertical 45° (Plate VIII., Fig. 12). The usual dripstone (d.s.) and some of their corbels are shown in Plate VIII., Figs. 1 and 3. Piers (Plate VIII., Fig. 11) were of the simple form shown with columns at the angles, single, or in groups, as Plate VIII., Fig. 13, the general contour of the pier being a rhombus or lozenge in plan.

The ogee arch with crockets and finial was continued from the Decorated period.

The Tudor or four-centred arch (Plate IX., Figs. 1 and 6) belongs to the late Perpendicular period.

Plate VIII., Fig. 4, shows a common form of Tudor door-head with the label or square dripstone and carved spandril (a triangular space). Columns were circular, with octagonal bases and capitals, the latter moulded or carved with oak-leaf foliage or conventional ornament, resembling that in Plate VIII., Fig. 9. Corbels with shields (Plate VIII., Fig. 9), armorial bearings, and the Tudor rose (Plate VIII., Fig. 2), frequently occur.

Many Perpendicular churches are rich in ornamental woodwork: choir stalls with lifting seats (misereres), under which are grotesque carvings; poppy-heads (Fr. poupée, a doll), the bench-end ornaments which sometimes carried a small carved figure among foliage; panelled screens crowned with brattishing (Plate VIII., Fig. 5), and other ornaments. The term brattishing is also applied to the open tracery of some battlements of the Perpendicular period.

The Perpendicular is the longest of the English Gothic periods. In it Gothic construction attained its climax; ornamentation declined from a refined realism to coarse conventionalism, coinciding with the decline of spiritual life in the Church. Cathedrals and churches increased in all dimensions, and everything showed the tendency towards the renaissance of classic art which was flourishing on the Continent. Classic mouldings were imitated, and carved ornament of pure Italian design was applied to decorate Gothic forms—notable instances being the tomb of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey, and the Salisbury Chantry in Christchurch Priory near Bournemouth. Both were the work of Torregiano, a contemporary of Michael Angelo.

The English people clung to their Gothic style for a century after the same had almost disappeared from the Continent, and in the Elizabethan period, 1558-1603, classic details, including the five orders, were completely incorporated into Gothic design. The pointed arch disappeared; the Roman semicircle took its place. Brickwork superseded masonry, roof construction was concealed, and all kinds of shams were introduced. Then came a period of close imitation of Greek and Roman temples, until the Gothic revival under its pioneer, A. W. Pugin (b. 1812, d. 1852), whose literary works are very instructive and interesting reading. The present-day (1922) tendency is towards a revival of Byzantine architecture.

PLATE X

Plate X

ENGLISH GOTHIC ROOFS

NEXT in importance to the construction of substantial walls comes the necessity of weather-proof and storm-proof roofs, such as should preserve the stability of the walls, or their disintegration would be hastened by that which should be their protection.

The nature of the covering and the action of weather are the principal factors affecting their design and construction. The rigours of the English climate require a covering to be such as to prevent the penetration of rain, and their support to be strong enough to resist the pressure of snow and the hurricane. The high-pitched roof (of steep inclination) is common to all periods of English Gothic. The average Norman roof was pitched about 45°, its apex being about a right angle composed agreeably with the semicircular arches in the gables. The higher-pitched roofs came simultaneously with the introduction of the pointed arch, sometimes at a pitch of 60°, ultimately declining to about 20° or less in the late Perpendicular period. The outer covering is generally of boards overlaid with tiles or sheet-lead, the latter being imperative in the low-pitched roofs. The whole of the covering is carried by common rafters or spars rising from the walls to the apex of the roof.

Plate X., Figs. 1 and 2, show two ordinary principals or trusses. These are in no sense Gothic, but are here given to more clearly explain the principles of roof construction. The common rafters (c.r.) bearing the covering are of light timber, tending to bend under the weight; to prevent this purlins (P.), stout beams, are placed at suitable intervals, and these are carried at their ends by the roof trusses. The tie-beam (t.b) is the chief beam of the truss. The principal rafters (p.r.) are framed into it and into the heads of the King and Queen posts. In the Queen-post-truss the collar unites the Queen posts; struts and cross-braces complete the structure. In a properly constructed roof-truss all the stresses are neutralised in the truss itself, and the whole framework rests as a dead weight upon the walls without any lateral thrust to force them out of the vertical. The King-post-truss is suitable to roofs up to 30 feet span, the Queen-post-truss to 40 feet.

Open timber roofs have their construction visible from the interior. Plate X., Fig. 8, shows a crude Queen-post-truss in an old Worcestershire church, in which the tie-beam has been chosen from a bent log so as to prevent its bending under the roof load. In the trusses (Plate X., Figs. 1, 2) the King and Queen posts act like the keystones of an arch, so that by bolting or strapping up with ironwork at points s.s. these posts are put into a state of tension, the tie-beam (t.b.) is pulled up to a camber, or curve, and is also in tension. In the crude Queen-post-truss (Plate X., Fig. 8) these conditions are reversed, for the tie-beam supports the Queen posts. In Plate X., Figs. 1 and 2, all the spaces in these trusses are triangular, a fact which ensures stability where the parts are of proper strength and properly united. Plate X., Fig. 4, is a trussed rafter roof requiring no purlins nor principal—each common rafter is a truss. This kind of roof is suitable only to small spans; its weakest part is from a. to b.

In the roof-truss, or principal, the Gothic architects objected to the tie-beam as an obstruction to the sense of loftiness, so desirable in the church interior, and therefore invented the hammer-beam principal (Plate X., Fig. 7), which resembles a Queen-post-truss, having a collar and King post. The hammer-beams (h.b.) are substitutes for the tie-beam.

In this principal the space between the collar and the apex of the roof is satisfactorily trussed, but from the collar downwards the Queen posts (Q.p.) and wall posts (w.p.) with their braces (b.) become mere brackets supporting the small King-post-truss above, bringing its load as low as possible on to the walls, so that their weight of masonry and buttresses may effectually resist the lateral thrust of the roof upon them.

Plate X., Fig. 5, shows a collar principal with curved braces. The tendency of all roof principals is to spread at the walls; this has been met by modern church-builders by introducing an iron tie-rod in place of a tie-beam, thus forming a triangle, the only form of absolute stability, for the whole of the principal, as indicated by the dotted line connecting the hammer-beams in Plate X., Fig. 7.

Plate X., Fig. 6, shows a low-pitched Perpendicular roof with principals and half-principal. The common rafters are concealed by a panelled ceiling, the panels being formed by principal rafters and purlins. The arched trusses bring part of the thrust low down on to the walls, which are strengthened by heavy buttresses on the outside. The half-principal is placed over a window arch.

Plate X., Fig. 3, shows a low-pitched roof and ceiling supported by a tie-beam only, strengthened at its bearings by wall posts and braces.

PLATE XI

PLATE XII

Plates XI and XII

STONE-VAULTED roofs became necessary in church building early in the Norman period for security against fire. They were made after the Roman manner, semicircular, with similar vaults intersecting at right angles. The lines of their intersections are the groins. When two intersecting vaults are of equal semicircles, each groin is a semi-ellipse. This groin is the weakest part of the vault; in order to strengthen it the Normans built an arch called the groin rib, underneath the groin, to support it. Difficulties were met in forming intersecting vaults of unequal span, clumsy contrivances were resorted to, until, in the Transition period, 1145-1190, the introduction of the pointed arch solved the problem, and led the way to the development of Gothic vaulting. The Roman and Norman vaults were built upon temporary centering. A centre is a timber frame made like a roof-truss shaped to the form of the arch; a series of centres were placed at convenient distances apart and covered with strong boarding upon which the vault was built. After the masonry was completely set, the temporary centering was removed, leaving the vault to carry itself.

As the system of vaulting developed, cross ribs and wall ribs (Plate XI., Fig. 3) were added, and much of the temporary centering was dispensed with; ornamental arrangements were designed by introducing more ribs, and the web—the covering surface of masonry—was reduced to small panels in the Decorated and Perpendicular periods. In the Tudor period, 1485-1558, the web became the principal part, the ribs being mere mouldings worked upon its surface in the form of fan-vaulting, a simple example of which can be studied in the south porch of Chester Cathedral, and the most elaborate in the roof of the Chapel of Henry VII., Westminster Abbey.

A bay of a cathedral is one of the spaces into which its length is divided by the supports of the roof as piers, arches, or principals. The bays of the aisles are usually square—those of the nave, choir, or transepts rectangular on account of their greater width.

Vertically each of the bays of the nave, etc., is divided into three stories (Plate XI., Fig. 2), the groundstory rising from the floor; the triforium, or blindstory, having no windows, is over the aisles, and the clerestory over the triforium. The prefix clere—bright—indicates the brilliancy of its light.

In the Norman period these three divisions were nearly equal in height. In the succeeding periods the groundstory attained about half of the total height of the bay, the clerestory was extended downwards, and the triforium reduced, until, in the Perpendicular period, it entirely disappeared.

Plate XI., Figs. 3 and 4, show a few square bays of Gothic vaulting in skeleton diagrams with the forms of plan indicated by dotted lines upon their base-planes. All the lines represent ribs.

Plate XI., Figs. 2 and 3, show quadripartite vaulting—i.e., having four compartments in one bay. This is the simplest form of Gothic vault, and belongs chiefly to the Early English period. The ribs ah, bh, ci, di are wall ribs; bg, cg, ag, dg, are cross ribs; ae, ce, be, de, are the diagonal ribs. The ridge-ribs eg and h, e, i, are horizontal, and intersect the summits of the cross ribs and diagonals. At every intersection there is generally a carved keystone or boss.

In the vaulting of a nave the breadth across is about twice the breadth of the aisles, so that the nave bays are not square, but rectangular.

Plate XI., Fig. 4, and Plate XII., Fig. 2, show lierne-vaulting, having lierne-ribs, the short ribs joining and supporting all the ascending ribs as h, k, l, m, g.

Plate XII., Figs. 2 and 3, are lierne vaults. That shown in Fig. 3 is under the belfry of a church tower at Coventry, with circular opening for hoisting the bells.

The detail at B shows the method of collecting the three ribs into one at the springers in the corners A, B, C, D, by small arches in the tracery of ribs.

Plate XII., Fig. 1, shows fan-vaulting having no ribs. The lines shown indicate mouldings on the masonry imitating ribs. The structure is built up of slabs of stone, accurately joined together forming concave half-cones, their vertices being the springers of the vault. The dotted lines show some of the jointing; the other lines represent the imitation ribs. The crown of the vault is the flat surface gh, gi, generally richly ornamented.

INDEX

A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W.

Abacus, Pl. III., Fig. 1
Arcade (Norman), Pl. III., Fig. 7

Ball-Flower, Pl. VI., Fig. 3
Band, Pl. V., Figs. 10, 11
Base, Pl. III., Figs. 1, 5
Battlements, Pl. IX., Figs. 4A, 4B
Bay, Pl. XI., Fig. 2
Belfry Windows, Pl. IX., Figs. 1, 2
Boss, Pl. XII., Figs. 2, 3
Braces, Pl. X., Figs. 2, 7
Brattishing, Pl. VIII., Fig. 5
Broach-Spire, Pl. V., Fig. 7
Buttress, Pl. V., Fig. 9; Pl. VII., Fig. 10
Buttress (Diagonal), Pl. IX., Figs. 1, 2
Byzantine, Pl. I., Figs. 3 to 16
Byzantium, p. 17

Camber, Pl. X., Figs. 1, 2, p. 67
Catacombs, Pl. I., Fig. 1
Cathedral, p. 29
Centering, p. 75
Chamfer-Cusp, Pl. V., Fig. 5
Chevron, Pl. I., Fig. 4; Pl. III., Fig. 6
Chrism, Pl. I., Figs. 15, 16
Clerestory, Pl. XI., Fig. 2
Collar, Pl. X., Figs. 2, 5, 7, 8
Conventional, p. 44
Corbel Blocks, Pl. II., Fig. 3
Corbel-Table, Pl. III., Fig. 4
Crocket, Pl. V., Figs, 1, 2; Pl. VII., Figs. 10, 11, 14
Crypt, Pl. I., Fig. 2
Cushion Capital, Pl. III., Figs. 2, 8, 9
Cusp, Pl. V., Fig. 5
Cylindrical Shafts, Pl. III., Fig. 2

Detached Shafts, Pl. III., Fig. 8
Dripstone, Pl. III., Figs. 6, 8

Engaged Shafts, Pl. III., Fig. 8

Fan-Vaulting, Pl. XII., Fig. 1
Finial, Pl. V., Fig. 2; Pl. VII., Figs. 6, 10, 11; Pl. VIII., Fig. 6
Fish Symbol, Pl. I., Fig. 11
Flowing Tracery, Pl. VII., Figs. 2, 3
Flying-Buttress, Pl. VII., Fig. 10
Font (Norman), Pl. III., Fig. 7

Geometrical Tracery, Pl. V., Fig. 5; Pl. VII., Fig. 1
Gothic Arch, Pl. IV., Fig. 2; Pl. V., Figs. 4, 5
Groin, Pl. XI., Figs. 3, 4, p. 75
Groundstory, Pl. XI., Fig. 2

Hammer-Beam, Pl. X., Fig. 7
Hood-Moulding, Pl. III., Figs. 6, 8

I.H.S., Pl. I., Fig. 3A

Jamb-Shaft, Pl. III., Fig. 8

Labarum, Pl. I., Figs. 15, 16
Label, Pl. VIII., Fig. 4
Lancet Windows, Pl. V., Fig. 4
Lierne-Vaulting, Pl. XI., Fig. 4; Pl. XII., Figs. 2, 3
Long-and-Short Work, Pl. II.

Mullion, Pl. IX., Figs. 1, 3, 5, 6

Nave, Pl. XI., Fig. 1

Ogee or Ogival, Pl. VI., Fig. 2
Open Timber Roof, Pl. X., Figs. 3 to 8, p. 67
Orders of Arches, Pl. III., Figs. 6, 8

Parapet, Pl. VI., Fig. 6; Pl. IX., Figs. 1 to 4
Pier, Plate III., Fig. 1
Pinnacle, Pl. VI., Fig. 6; Pl. VII., Fig. 10; Pl. IX., Figs. 1, 2, 3
Pitch of Roof, Pl. X.
Pointed Arch, pp. 37, 38
Principal and Principal Rafter, Pl. X., all Figs.
Purlin, Pl. X., Figs. 1, 2

Quadripartite Vaulting, Pl. XI., Fig. 3
Quatrefoil, Pl. I., Figs. 9, 10
Queen Post, Pl. X., Figs. 2, 7, 8
Quoin, Pl. II., Figs. 6 to 9

Rafters, Common, Pl. X., Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8
Respond, Pl. III., Fig. 3; Pl. XI., Fig. 2, p. 31
Reticulated Tracery, Pl. VII., Fig. 5

Sacred Monogram, Pl. I., Fig. 3A
Scallop Capital, Pl. III., Fig. 6
Scroll-Moulding, Pl. VII., Figs. 12, 13
Shaft, Pl. III., Fig. 2, p. 31
Sill, Pl. II., Fig. 3
Soffit-Cusp, Pl. V., Fig. 5
Spandril, Pl. VIII., Fig. 4, p. 60
Springer, Pl. XII., Fig. 3, detail
Spur, Pl. III., Fig. 5
Square and Circle, Pl. III., p. 30
Squinch Arches, p. 43
Stiff-Leaf, Pl. V., Fig. 8
String Courses and Dripstones, Pl. IV., Fig. 4; Pl. V., Fig. 6; Pl. VII., Fig. 12; Pl. VIII., Fig. 8
Strut, Pl. X., Figs. 1, 2, 7
Studs, Pl. II., Fig. 3
Symbols, Pl. I.

Tie-Beam, Pl. X., Figs, 1, 2, 3, 8
Tooth Ornament, Pl. V., Fig. 12
Tracery Development, Pl. V., Figs. 4, 5; Pl. VII., Figs. 1 to 5
Transitional, Pl. IV.
Transom, Pl. IX., Figs. 1, 2, p. 58
Trefoil, Pl. I., Fig. 7
Triforium, Pl. XI., Fig. 2
Triquetra, Pl. I., Fig. 8; Pl. III., Fig. 9
Truss, Pl. X.
Tudor Arch, Pl. VIII., Fig. 4; Pl. IX., Fig. 6
Tudor Flower, Pl. VIII., Fig. 2

Vaulting Ribs, Pl. XII., Figs. 2, 3; Pl. XI., Figs. 3, 4
Vesica Piscis, Pl. I., Fig. 5

Wall Post, Pl. X., Figs. 3, 7, p. 68
Wave—Moulding, Pl. VII., Fig. 9
Web (Vaulting), Pl. XI., Figs. 3, 4, p. 76

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