Early English Towers are in general more lofty than the Norman, and are readily distinguished by their buttresses, which have a greater projection. In the earlier examples an arcade is frequently carried round the upper storey, some of the arches of which are pierced for windows, as at Middleton Stoney, Oxon: but in later buildings the windows are more often double, and are frequently very fine compositions, as at Ravensthorpe, Northants. The tower generally terminates in a Spire, which in some districts, especially in Northamptonshire, does not rise from within a parapet, but is of the form usually called a broach spire, of which there are several varieties. In other districts the towers are terminated by original parapets; these probably had wooden spires rising within the parapet, which occasionally but rarely remain, and are a good feature, as at Ilton, Somerset. Pinnacles are sometimes inserted at the angles, and produce a very good effect.

The spire is generally a very fine feature of an Early English church; some great architects have gone so far as to say that a tower is never complete without one, but that is going too far. There may have been wooden spires on such towers as those of Middleton Stoney and Ravensthorpe, but we have no evidence of it; there are no squinches to carry a spire.

The East End is almost invariably square in Early English work, as at Cowley, Oxon, p. 94, although we have a few examples of the apsidal termination, generally a half-octagon, or half-hexagon, as in Westminster Abbey, and several other large churches. In the small parish churches this form is very rare: an example occurs at Tidmarsh, near Pangbourne, Berks, an elegant little structure, the roof of which has been carefully restored.

The Corbel-Tables sometimes consist, as in the earlier period, merely of blocks supporting a straight, projecting course of stone which carries the front of the parapet; but more commonly, especially as the style advanced, small trefoil arches are introduced between the corbels, and these become more enriched and less bold, until, in the succeeding style, this feature is altogether merged in the cornice moldings.

In the latter part of this style great liberty was allowed to the carvers, and much ingenuity displayed in

the variety of ornament that was introduced; although always conventional. For instance, in the description of ornament which goes by the general name of “tooth-ornament,” for want of a better, there is a singular variety; even in the church of Binham alone, there are three varieties of what is called the tooth-ornament, not bearing much resemblance to each other, though all elegant. One has the knobs on the foliage (2) characteristic of the early part of the style, another is entirely without them, and approaches very closely to the Decorated (3).

The general appearance of Early English buildings is magnificent and rich, rather from the number of parts than from the details. In those buildings where very long windows are used there is a grandeur arising from the height of the divisions; in the smaller buildings there is much simplicity of appearance, but the work all appears well designed and carefully executed. It was usual to build the west front immediately after the choir, and leave the nave to be filled in afterwards.

Salisbury Cathedral is usually considered as THE TYPE of the Early English style, from the circumstance of its being less mixed than any other building of the same importance. It was commenced in 1220 on a new site, by Bishop Richard Poore, who died in 1237, and was buried in the choir, which was therefore completed at that time. The church was finished by Bishop Giles de Bridport, and consecrated in 1258.

The chapter-house at Christ Church, Oxford, the choir of Worcester Cathedral, a considerable part of Fountains Abbey, the choir of Rochester, the south transept of York, the presbytery of Ely, the nine altars of Durham at the east end, and the same part of Fountains Abbey, the choir of the Temple Church, London, and the nave of Lincoln, are well-known examples of this period, the first half of the thirteenth century.

In the year 1245, King Henry the Third, “being mindful of the devotion which he had towards St. Edward the Confessor, ordered the church of St. Peter at Westminster to be enlarged, and the eastern part of the walls, with the tower and transepts, being pulled down, he began to rebuild them in a more elegant style, having first collected at his own charges the most subtle artificers, both English and foreign.” These portions of the church are the choir and apse; the work is of the richest character, but still pure Early English.

The north transept of York Minster was built between 1250 and 1260, by John the Roman, treasurer of the church, who afterwards became Archbishop of York. The records of this cathedral clearly prove that it was the regular practice of the chapter to keep a gang of workmen in their pay as part of the establishment; the number varied from twenty to fifty, and the same families were usually continued generation after generation: to their continued labour, always doing something every year, we are indebted for the whole of that glorious fabric. This practice was by no means peculiar to York, but appears to have been the usual custom.

This completes an outline of the Architectural history of the principal known buildings of the Early English style.

THE GRADUAL CHANGE FROM THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE TO THE DECORATED.

In the early Decorated the sculpture of the human figure is remarkable for the ease and chasteness of the attitudes, and the free and graceful, though at the same time rich, folds of the drapery. Few figures can surpass in simplicity and beauty the effigy of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey, and those on the crosses erected to her memory are almost equally fine, especially those on the Northampton cross; those at Waltham have been mutilated and restored. They were all executed between 1291 and 1294, as appears by the builders’ accounts, which are still extant. The cross at Geddington is perhaps the most perfect of those which remain. This is not mentioned in the executors’ accounts, but probably only because that part of the accounts has been lost; it is as plainly a memorial cross to Queen Eleanor as either of the others.

The three arches of the sedilia and the small one of the piscina at Harleston, Northants, may also be considered as transitional; the trefoil arch used under the pointed one, if taken by itself, would be Early English, and the moldings are deeply undercut, which is another mark of that style. On the other hand, the form of the moldings is that of a roll of parchment, and this form is more usually of the Decorated style.

The transepts of Westminster Abbey are recorded to have been built in his time, and they contain some of the most beautiful work that can be found anywhere; the capital next, with its natural foliage standing out quite free on the bell of the capital, would be considered as belonging to the Decorated style; but the deep undercutting of the abacus would rather belong to the Early English, and the roll-molding may be either Early English or Decorated. Some of the capitals are molded only, without foliage, and some of these have the abacus octagonal, which is more usual in French than in English work.

Some have proposed to divide the Decorated style into two—the geometrical and the flowing; but here the distinction is not sufficiently broad to constitute two distinct styles, although, as sub-divisions, these terms were used by Rickman himself, and are useful. But these two divisions are so frequently contemporaneous,

and run into each other so continually, that it is almost impossible to separate them in practice: the windows may indeed be distinguished, though even in these we often find windows with geometrical tracery and others with flowing tracery in the same building, with the same moldings and details; and no distinction can be drawn in doorways and buttresses. It is better, therefore, to continue to use the received divisions of styles, and the received names for them. There is no broad line of distinction and of division in medieval buildings, it was one continual progress or decline; the divisions are arbitrary, but very convenient in practice.

The beautiful crosses erected by Edward I. at all the places where the body of Queen Eleanor had rested on its way from Grantham, Lincolnshire, where she died, to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried, all belong to this time of change, but are usually reckoned as early examples of the Decorated style. The accounts for preserving these are for the most part among the Public Records, but Geddington is not included, probably only because that account had been lost or mislaid in the Record Office, which was long much neglected; so much so, that for many years the valuable records were kept in the stables of Carlton House, the residence of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Edward I., II., and III. A.D. 1272-1377.

The name of the Edwardian style is sometimes given to this second Gothic style, which Rickman justly called Decorated. The name of Edwardian implies the reigns of the three Edwards, and is convenient for England, but does not apply anywhere else, which is the objection to its general use.

The Porches are sometimes shallow; others have a very bold projection, as at Kidlington; sometimes with windows or open arcades at the sides, and, though rarely, with a room over: there are also many fine timber porches of this style, distinguished by the moldings and barge-boards, as at Aldham, Essex. These wooden porches are common in some districts, as in Herefordshire, and rare in others. There are good examples at Binfield and Long Wittenham, Berkshire, although that is not one of the districts in which they are commonly met with.

There is frequently a niche over the outer doors, or door into the church from the porch; this was for the patron-saint. Occasionally, but rarely, there are remains of a wooden gallery in that position, supposed to have been for the choir-boys to stand when part of the marriage-ceremony was performed in the porch. There is frequently a staircase at the corner of the porch next the church, to ascend to the room over.

The Doorways of this style are frequently large, and very richly sculptured, and have a rich canopy over them, with crockets and finials, as at Crick, Northants; but in small churches they are as frequently plain, and have merely a dripstone over them, the roll-molding often terminated by two small heads, which are generally a king and a bishop; this is the case also with the windows. It is often not easy to distinguish the plain doorways of this style from those of the preceding one, but in general they are not so deeply

recessed. A few doorways of this style are double. When there are shafts in the jambs they are worked on the same stones, and not inserted as separate shafts of stone or marble, as in the Early English, and as at Dorchester, Oxon. The wooden doors are sometimes ornamented with panelling of a better description than that which is common in the next style; they were originally painted in colours like the interior of the churches, and often have ornamental iron-work upon them; even the nail-heads are made ornamental. This is also the case in the Early English style, and it is frequently not easy to distinguish one from the other, there being very little difference between them. In ordinary parish churches the old wooden door, with the original iron-work upon it, is often preserved longer than any other ornament.

The Decorated Style is distinguished by its large windows divided by mullions, and the tracery either in flowing lines, or forming circles, trefoils, and other geometrical figures, as at Dorchester, and not running perpendicularly; its ornaments are numerous and very delicately carved, more strictly faithful to nature and more essentially parts of the structure than in any other style. In small country churches, however, there are perhaps more very plain churches of this style than of any other; still the windows have the essential decoration of tracery. The ornament is also part of the construction, a point in which it differs from the other styles; a Decorated cusp cannot be inserted in the tracery.

There is a very fine window, with reticulated tracery and richly molded, in the south walk of the cloisters at Westminster. No rule whatever is followed in the form of the arch over windows in this style; some are very obtuse, others very acute, and the ogee arch is not uncommon. (See p. 141.)

Decorated tracery is usually divided into three general classes—geometrical, flowing, and flamboyant; the variety is so great, that many sub-divisions may be made, but they were all used simultaneously for a considerable period.

The earliest Decorated windows have geometrical tracery; Exeter Cathedral is, perhaps, on the whole, the best typical example of the early part of this style. The fabric rolls are preserved, and it is now evident that the existing windows are, for the most part, of the time of Bishop Quivil, from 1279 to 1291. The windows all have geometrical patterns, and some of these are identical with those of Merton College Chapel, Oxford. The chancel of Haseley Church, Oxon, is a good example of the early Decorated style of Edward I. One of the windows in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, p. 137, and the aisles of the choir of Dorchester Abbey Church, Oxon, p. 136, are also excellent examples.

The buildings of the time of Edward the First have geometrical tracery in the windows. In Merton College Chapel the side windows still retain the original painted glass, with the kneeling figure of the donor several times repeated, with the inscription “Magister Henricus de Mannesfeld,” recorded by Wood as of A.D. 1283.

Many windows of this style, especially in the time of Edward I., have the rear-arch ornamented with cusps, with a hollow space over the head of the window in the thickness of the wall, between the rear arch and the outer arch.

Windows with flowing tracery, as at Great Milton, and in the church of the Austin Friars; also those with reticulated, or net-like forms, are in general somewhat later than the geometrical patterns; at least, they do not seem to have been introduced quite so early; but they are very frequently contemporaneous, and both classes may often be found side by side in the same building, evidently erected at the same time. An early instance of this occurs at Stoke Golding, in

Leicestershire, built between 1275 and 1290, as appears by an inscription still remaining: the windows have mostly geometrical tracery, but several have flowing. The same mixture occurs at Selby Abbey, and St. Mary’s, Beverley. In some instances windows with geometrical tracery have the moldings and the mullions covered with the ball-flower ornament in great profusion, even to excess: these examples occur chiefly in Herefordshire, as at Leominster; and in Gloucestershire, as in the south aisle of the nave of the Cathedral at Gloucester: they are for the most part, if not entirely, of the time of Edward II.

Finedon, and Higham Ferrars, Northants, are good examples of the ogee form of arch, and the manner in which the tracery is made to harmonise with the arch is very pleasing to the eye, and not very common.

What is called the net-like character of tracery, from its general resemblance to a fisherman’s net, is very characteristic of this style at its best period, about the middle of the fourteenth century, of which there is a very fine example in the west window of the Franciscan Friary at Reading, p. 143, of which the remains are valuable, although a great deal of it was destroyed in the Georgian era, from the neglect that was usual at that period. It has been carefully restored in the time of Queen Victoria, at the expense of a gentleman of Reading, and is now used as a chapel-of-ease for the large parish in which it is situated. The roof now used at St. Mary’s Church in Reading is said to have originally belonged to this chapel. One of the side windows, with a segmental head of the same period, is also a very good example of the style. This kind of tracery is the most usual characteristic of this style, and begins in the time of Edward II. There are good examples of this period in the south aisles of the churches of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Aldate’s, Oxford.

The inner arch, or rear-arch, is frequently of a different shape and proportion to the outer one: there is also sometimes a series of open cusps hanging from it, called hanging foliation.

It is more common in some parts of the country than in others: this feature seems to have taken the place of the inner plane of decoration, with tracery and shafts, of the Early English style, and it disappears altogether in the succeeding style. There is a good example of this inner arch in Broughton Church, Oxfordshire. This foliated inner arch is not a very common feature.

Square-headed windows are very common in this style in many parts of the country, especially in Leicestershire and in Oxfordshire, as at Ardley. Windows with a flat segmental arch are also frequently used in this style, and the dripstone, or projecting molding over the window to throw off the wet, is sometimes omitted, as at Stonesfield, which has also an elegant detached shaft in the interior.

Windows in towers are usually different from those in other parts of the church. In the upper storey, where the bells are, there is no glass; in some parts of the country there is pierced stonework for keeping out the birds, but more usually they are of wood only. These are called sound-holes.

The storey under this, where the ringers stand, is also commonly called the belfry, and the windows of this storey are also peculiar, sometimes richly ornamented as at Irthlingborough,—where it is part of the work of Pyal, the founder of the college in that parish, A.D. 1388.

Clere-storey windows of this style are often small, and either circular with quatrefoil cusps, or trefoils or quatrefoils; or the spherical triangle with cusps, which forms an elegant window. The clever manner in which these windows are splayed within, and especially below, to throw down the light, should be noticed.

In some parts of the country, as in Oxfordshire, small clere-storey windows of the Decorated style, as at Great Milton and Garsington, are not uncommon, but more usually the churches have been rebuilt in the Perpendicular style, along with the roof, when the church has been raised.

Circular windows are also a fine feature of this style, chiefly used at the ends of the transepts in large churches, or at the west end in small ones. A rare instance of an east window of this form occurs at Westwell, Oxon, and a fine one on the side of a transept at Cheltenham.

Flamboyant tracery, and the forms approaching to it, generally indicate a late date. We have no instance of real Flamboyant work in this country, although forms of tracery approaching to it are not uncommon; the moldings are never of the true Flamboyant character, which is quite distinct both from the Decorated and the Perpendicular; it coincided in time with the latter, and therefore does not properly belong to our present subject.

The arch is sometimes cinquefoiled, and ornamented with crockets and bunches of foliage for finials, and with pinnacles also, as in Beverley Minster, where this arch is that of a canopy over a tomb, between two tall piers of a lofty arch. The ogee arch is frequently used in small arcades and in the heads of windows. The drip-stones or hoodmolds are generally supported by heads, and are frequently enriched with crockets and finials. The most important are naturally those between the nave and aisles; those of the triforium, if there is one, as at Beverley, are not so tall, and are commonly divided into two in the same space as the one below.

The Arches do not differ very materially in general effect from the Early English, but are distinguished by the moldings and capitals as before described.

The Arcades which ornament the walls in rich buildings, and those over the sedilia, are very characteristic features of the style. In some instances the sedilia, or seats for the officiating clergy by the side of the altar, have projecting canopies over them, forming perfect tabernacles, as if for images; more commonly they have canopies on the same plane with the seats.

The Pillars have no longer detached shafts, and the capitals are ornamented with foliage of a different character from that which preceded it, as has been mentioned. Occasionally, though not very frequently, the base of the pillar is stilted upon a lofty plinth, as at Naseby, Northants. In a few instances, even in genuine work of the fourteenth century, this is done in a parish church merely for convenience, to raise the base above the level of the backs of the seats. This is an exceptional example, but is convenient as shewing beginners all the parts belonging to a pillar, the arch-molding resting upon the capital, and the pillar itself consisting of a cluster of shafts, with separate molded capitals and bases to the shafts that are united in one pillar, and the base resting upon a pediment.

In ordinary parish churches the pillars and arches are frequently as plain as in the Early English, and there is no very perceptible difference at first sight. In richer churches the pillars are clustered and the arches richly molded, and often have the hood-molding over them.

The pillar is usually much more lofty than the one at Naseby (p. 151), and has in general a capital, or several smaller capitals, to the shafts that are united; there is not always any pediment, though there sometimes is, as at Frome, Somerset. More usually there is what is called a stilted base only. The example here given from Exeter Cathedral is an extremely good one of a clustered pillar, with molded capitals and stilted base. When there is foliage on the capital, it is usually longer, as in York Minster; but in this style, notwithstanding its name, the capitals are more frequently of moldings only, though the foliage obviously gives much more decoration.

In the richer examples of this style, the Capitals are ornamented with beautiful foliage, each leaf being accurately copied from nature, as well as the best modern artist could do it. These were arranged so as to encircle the pillar, sometimes by means of a stalk forming a branch, as at Beverley (1). In other instances each leaf is separate, arranged round the bell of the capital, but by no means flat, and having almost as good an effect as when ranged upon stalks, as at Beverley (2). A large pier is sometimes a cluster of six shafts, each with its separate capital, some of which have foliage under a molded abacus, as at Beverley (3), others a series of moldings only. More frequently a pier consists of four shafts only, with a series of moldings for the capital, the upper or abacus being usually the roll-molding. Sometimes the hollows are rather deep, though not so deep as in the Early English, as at Beverley and Stanwick. In other instances there is no hollow, but the molding stands out clear from the bell of the capital, with a ring at the foot of it, as at Irthlingborough.

The Bases are usually molded only, and stand upon a plinth, the height of which varies very much; it frequently happens that a new pavement of a church has raised the level several inches, which must, of course, be taken from the height of the base.

In small country churches, the pillars or piers are simply round or octagonal, and the arches that rest upon them are sometimes molded and sometimes not; but in richer churches the piers consist of a number of shafts clustered together, which add much to the effect. It frequently happens that four shafts are arranged diamond-wise, with a small hollow between them, as at Irthlingborough. There is sometimes a fillet on the shaft, or the shaft is pear-shaped; both of these occur in the same pillar at Beverley.

Sometimes there is a fillet on the edge, as at Beverley Minster (3); in other instances the edge is brought to a point, as in the same example. These clustered pillars add very much to the effect of the building; but this is not always noticed until they are drawn, and a section of them is shewn, and then the skill of the medieval architect has justice done to it. The moldings are chiefly shewn on the arches.

The Moldings of this style differ from the Early English chiefly in having the rounds and hollows not so deeply cut, and more generally filleted: the roll-molding, and the quarter round, are very much used; the abacus of the capital is in general a roll or filleted round, and the base is formed of round moldings without the deep hollow: as the style advances, the moldings become, generally, more shallow and feeble. The roll-molding is perhaps the most characteristic of the style, though it is used occasionally in Early English work also. A bold quarter-round is frequently used on arches without any other; the plain chamfer is used in all styles, but in Decorated work it is frequently sunk so as to leave a small square edge at each angle, thus varying the light and shade, and giving a precision to the angles of

the chamfer which has a very good effect, as at Dorchester, p. 157. In late examples this is varied by a gentle swelling in the middle, forming a kind of shallow ogee molding, as at Kidlington. The ornamental sculptures in the hollow moldings are numerous, but there are two which require more particular notice; they are nearly as characteristic of the Decorated style as the zig-zag is of the Norman, or the tooth-ornament of the Early English. The first is the ball-flower, which is a globular flower half opened, and shewing, within, a small round ball. It is used with the utmost profusion in the moldings of windows, doorways, canopies, cornices, arches, &c., as at Raunds, Kidlington, and Dorchester (p. 157), generally with good effect, but sometimes in such excess as almost to destroy the effect of the moldings; but at the same time it gives great richness to the general effect of the windows. The ball-flowers are sometimes placed at intervals, and connected by a stem with or without foliage.

The other ornament is the four-leaved flower. This has a raised centre, and four petals cut in high relief; it is frequently much varied, but may be distinguished by its being cut distinctly into four petals, and by its boldness: it is sometimes used abundantly, though not quite so profusely as the ball-flower. In some instances the centre is sunk instead of being raised.

The battlement as an ornamental feature in the interior of buildings is frequently used in this style, although it is more common in the Perpendicular. Decorated battlements may generally be distinguished by the horizontal molding being cut off at each opening, and not continued vertically down the sides of it, as is usual in the later styles; and this applies to the actual battlement on the parapet, as well as to the merely ornamental battlement in the interior. It occurs on the top of a screen, or of a piscina or other niche; also on the transom, and sometimes on the sill of a window; in all which situations it is more common and more conspicuous in the Perpendicular style.

The use of the battlement as an ornament in the interior of a building, often on the edge of the sill of a window, is a singular caprice, but very common in English buildings; it is one of the English features that is much quizzed by the French architectural antiquaries.

The foliage in this style is more faithfully copied from nature than in any other: the vine-leaf, the maple, and the oak with the acorn, are the most usual. The surface of the wall is often covered with flat foliage, arranged in small squares called diaper-work, which is believed to have originated in an imitation of the rich hangings then in general use, and which bore the same name. These diaper patterns were originally coloured in imitation of the silks from which they were copied, and which at an early period came from the East, though they were afterwards imitated by the European manufacturers in Belgium and France, particularly at Ypres and Rheims. This kind of ornament was used in the Early English style, as in the choir of Westminster Abbey, but it more commonly belongs to the Decorated style. The colouring of the ornaments to make them more effective was far more common in mediæval Gothic work than is generally supposed, because it has been so universally whitewashed over, either by the Puritans, or during the bad taste of the Georgian era. This colouring frequently comes to light during modern restorations, when the whitewash is scraped off, and sometimes good pictures of scriptural subjects have been whitewashed over in the same ignorant manner.

The Buttresses in this style have great variety of forms and of degrees of richness. Sometimes they are quite plain, or merely have the angles chamfered off, and terminated by a slope, either under the cornice, as at Irthlingborough, or independent of it, as at Stanton St. John, Oxon. In other instances the buttress terminates in a pediment or gablet, as at Raunds, either with or without crockets and a finial, according to the richness of the building. Over each buttress there is frequently a gurgoyle, or ornamental water-spout. They usually have pediments, and are frequently enriched on the face with niches for figures (which sometimes, but rarely, are left), and canopies, and often terminate in pinnacles, as at Gadsby, Leicestershire. In large buildings there are fine arch-buttresses spanning over the aisles, as at Howden. There are sometimes also groups of pinnacles round the base of the spire in this style, which have a very rich effect, as at St. Mary’s, Oxford.

These groups of pinnacles are among the most ornamental features of the style; those at the east end of Howden are among the most celebrated. The buttresses of this style are almost invariably divided into stages with a set-off between each, and sometimes have a succession of niches with crocketed canopies over them. Our eyes are so much accustomed to empty niches in this country that they do not offend us, but an empty niche is in fact an unmeaning thing, a niche was originally intended to contain an image, and the canopy over it was to protect the head of the image.