ENGLISH GOTHIC

ARCHITECTURE
Map of Europe
ARCHITECTURAL
CHARACTER
INTRODUCTION

English Gothic is the name of the architectural style

that flourished in England from 1180 until about 1520.

As with the Gothic architecture of other parts of Europe,

English Gothic is defined by its
POINTED ARCHES
VAULTED ROOFS
BUTTRESSES
LARGE WINDOWS
SPIRES
INTRODUCTION

The earliest large-scale applications of Gothic

architecture in England are at Canterbury Cathedral and
Westminster Abbey. Many features of Gothic
architecture had evolved naturally from Romanesque
architecture (often known in England as Norman
architecture).
 Gothic architecture in England lasted
from 1180 to 1520 and is commonly
divided into:

EARLY ENGLISH (c. 1180 –

1275)

DECORATED (c. 1275 –

1380)

PERPENDICULAR (c. 1380 –

1520)
EARLY ENGLISH
The most
significant and
characteristic
development of
the Early
English period
was the pointed
arch known as
the LANCET.
Pointed arches were
used almost
universally, not only
in arches of wide
span such as those of
the nave arcade, but
also for doorways and
lancet windows. The
arched windows are
usually narrow by
comparison to their
height and are
without tracery.
For this reason Early English Gothic is
sometimes known as the "Lancet" or "First
Pointed" style.
Instead of being
massive, solid pillars,
the columns were often
composed of clusters of
slender, detached shafts
surrounding a central
pillar, or pier, to which
they are attached by
CIRCULAR MOULDED
SHAFT-RINGS.
Characteristic of Early
Gothic in England is
the great depth given
to the hollows of the
mouldings with
alternating fillets and
rolls, by the
decoration of the
hollows with the dog-
tooth ornament and
by the circular abaci
of the capitals.
Through the employment of the pointed arch, walls too
could become less massive and window openings could
be larger and grouped more closely together, so architects
could achieve a more open, airy and graceful building.
The high walls and
vaulted stone roofs
were often supported
by flying buttresses:
half arches which
transmit the outward
thrust of the
superstructure to
supports or buttresses,
often visible on the
exterior of the
building.
The arches
of
decorative
wall
arcades and
galleries
are
sometimes
cusped.
Circles with trefoils, quatrefoils, etc., are introduced
into the tracery of galleries and large rose windows in
the transept or nave, as at Lincoln Cathedral (1220).
The conventional foliage decorating the
capitals is of great beauty and variety, and
extends to spandrels, roof bosses, etc.
DECORATED GOTHIC
Decorated architecture is characterized by its
window tracery. Elaborate windows are
subdivided by closely-spaced parallel mullions
(vertical bars of stone), usually up to the level
at which the arched top of the window begins.
The mullions then branch out and cross,
intersecting to fill the top part of the window
with a mesh of elaborate patterns called
tracery, typically including trefoils and
quatrefoils.
The style was geometrical at first and flowing
in the later period, owing to the omission of
the circles in the window tracery. This flowing
or flamboyant tracery was introduced in the
first quarter of the 14th century and lasted
about fifty years. This evolution of decorated
tracery is often used to subdivide the period
into an earlier "Geometric" and later
"Curvilinear" period.
Interiors of this
period often
feature tall
columns (often
more slender and
elegant than in
previous periods)
which may
support
elaborately
vaulted roofs.
 Arches are
generally
equilateral, and
the mouldings
bolder than in the
Early English
Period, with less
depth in the
hollows and with
the fillet (a
narrow flat band)
largely used.
The ballflower and a four-leaved flower motif
take the place of the earlier dog tooth. The foliage
in the capitals is less conventional than in Early
English and more flowing, and the diaper patterns
in walls are more varied.
PERPENDICULAR
The Perpendicular Gothic period is the
third historical division of English
Gothic architecture, and is so-called
because it is characterized by an
emphasis on vertical lines; it is also
known as International Gothic, the
Rectilinear style, or Late Gothic.
This perpendicular linearity is particularly
obvious in the design of windows, which
became very large, sometimes of immense
size, with slimmer stone mullions than in
earlier periods, allowing greater scope for
stained glass craftsmen.
The mullions of the windows are carried
vertically up into the arch moulding of the
windows, and the upper portion is
subdivided by additional mullions
(supermullions) and transoms, forming
rectangular compartments, decorated inside.
Buttresses and wall surfaces are likewise
divided up into vertical panels.
Another major
development of
this period was
fan vaulting.
Doorways are frequently enclosed
within a square head over the arch
mouldings, the spandrels being filled
with quatrefoils or tracery.
 Pointed
arches were
still used
throughout
the period,
but ogee
and four-
centred
Tudor
arches were
also
introduced.
 Some of the finest
features of this period
are the magnificent
timber roofs; hammer
beam roofs, such as
those of Westminster
Hall(1395), Christ
Church Hall, Oxford,
and Crosby Hall,
appeared for the first
time.
In some parts of Europe, there were many tall
straight trees that were good for making very
large roofs. But in England, by the 1400s, the
long straight trees were running out. Many of the
trees were used for building ships. The architects
had to think of a new way to make a wide roof
from short pieces of timber. That is how they
invented the hammer beam roof which is one of
the beautiful features seen in many old English
churches.
 NAIL HEAD
ORNAMENTS
USED:
CABLE A. NAIL HEAD
B. CABLE
C. CHEVRON
D. DOG TOOTH
DOG TOOTH E. BEAK HEAD
CHEVRON
F. BALL FLOWER
G. DOUBLE CONE
H. TABLET FLOWER
I. EMBATTLED
J. BILLET

BEAK HEAD
 ORNAMENTS
USED:
A. NAIL HEAD
B. CABLE
DOUBLE CONE C. CHEVRON
D. DOG TOOTH
E. BEAK HEAD
F. BALL FLOWER
G. DOUBLE CONE
H. TABLET FLOWER
BALLFLOWER I. EMBATTLED
J. BILLET

EMBATTLED BILLET
ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES:

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE
EARLY ENGLISH
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
Canterbury Cathedral was rebuilt in a Gothic
style after the Norman church, begun in 1070,
was devastated by fire in 1174. Leading master
masons of England and France were summoned
to give their advice about rebuilding the ruined
site, and William of Sens was selected to direct
the work. He convinced the monks to demolish
the remaining sections of the choir because the
fire’s heat has damaged the stone beyond repair,
but he confidently retained the fine Norman
crypt and aisle walls.
Between 1175 and 1184 the choir was built to a
Gothic design based on the Cathedral of Sens
during this time, William was severely injured in
a fall from the scaffolding, and he returned to
France in 1179, leaving his assistant, William
the Englishman, to complete the work.
The choir at Canterbury was designed to house
England’s most popular shrine, that of St.
Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury and
advisor to King Henry II, who in 1170 was
murdered in the cathedral by four of Henry’s
knights.
Pilgrims from all over Europe soon flocked to
Canterbury to partake of the miracles performed
at the tomb of St. Thomas, and the monks,
enriched by pilgrim offerings, needed suitable
accommodation both for the steady stream of
visitors and their own services.
CHOIR
NAVE
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
Salisbury Cathedral presents the rare example of an
English Gothic cathedral built almost entirely in a
homogenous style, Early English. It was begun in 1220
on an entirely new site, the cathedral and town having
been relocated from Old Sarum to be near more reliable
water sources. Construction of the majority of the
church progressed with remarkable rapidity and was
completed by 1258, leaving only the soaring crossing
tower and spire to be built from 1334 to 1380.
Salisbury incorporates features from monastic plans,
including the double transepts of Cluny III and the
square east end of the Cirstercians, in a long angular
building that is unmistakably English.
On the interior,
quadripartite vaults rise
from three-storey nave
elevations, yet the
continuous vertical line
exploited by the French
has been replaced by a
horizontal emphasis
created by a
stringcourse under the
triforium and another
under the clerestory
windows.
Even the ribs of the vaults do not extend down the wall
but spring instead from wall corbels at the base of the
clerestory. Surfaces are articulated by shafts and trim in
black Purbeck marble but takes a highly polished finish.
 The exterior
receives the same
horizontal emphasis
as the interior.
Flying buttresses do
not have a strong
vertical character,
and the walls are
coursed in
horizontal bands
that extend across
the west front.
With all this
horizontality, the
404-foot tower
and spire provide
the necessary
vertical
counterpoint, and
their great weight
has noticeably
deflected the piers
at the crossing.
The cloisters are fine examples of early Decorated
tracery, and off the east range one finds a lovely
octagonal chapter house.
Salisbury, like many English cathedrals, was both an
abbey and a cathedral. Accommodation was
accordingly needed for the brothers to meet daily to
hear a chapter from the Rule of St. Benedict read and
elaborated; hence the polygonal chapter house.
NAVE
DECORATED
LINCOLN CATHEDRAL
At Lincoln Cathedral, a more complicated building
history has resulted in a splendid combination of
English Gothic periods. The Norman church, damaged
by an earthquake in 1185, survives today only in the
lower portion of the west front. Rebuilding work,
started in 1192, continued harmoniously through 1280.
Lincoln offers several novel architectural features.
Most obvious on the interior are the varied vaulting
systems, including the tierceron vaults of the nave
which link with an ornamented ridge rib.
The “crazy
vaults” of the
choir are an
assymetrical
experiment
showing an
original and
free
interpretation
of established
Gothic
conventions
Throughout the cathedral, but above all in the Angel
Choir, there is a wealth of elaborate trim in the form of
Purbeck marble shafts, stiff-leaf capitals, and the
sculpted angels that give the retrochoir its name. The
Angel Choir clerestories and east-end window have
tracery of the Decorated period.
East window
On the west
front, a broad
screen wall
extends from the
Norman work to
increase the
apparent width
of the façade,
obscuring the
bases of the west
front towers,
which define the
actual width of
the church.
TRANSEPT
ELY CATHEDRAL
Ely Cathedral illustrates another aspect of medieval
architecture in England, large-scale construction in
timber. The collapse of Ely’s Norman crossing tower in
1322 provoked the most extraordinary construction. The
church foundations were judged insufficient to support a
masonry reconstruction, so the tower was replaced by a
lantern in wood, the design of which also increased the
light and usable space at the crossing
He used eight giant oak posts – sixty-three feet
long, forty inches thick, and thirty-two inches
wide – for the vertical members of the octagonal
tower, which has a diameter of 69 feet. These
are supported on hammerbeams tied to the
masonry crossing piers. The octagon itself is set
at 22.5 degrees to the axis of the nave, providing
a spatial contrast at the crossing.
Viewed from below, most of the vaulting of the octagon
wood is made to look like stone; the actual structural
members are visible only if one climbs into the lantern via
the access stair.
 Ely’s exceptional
crossing tower is not the
only example of
English monumental
timber construction. A
number of late medieval
hammerbeam roofs
survive, the grandest
being at Westminster
Hall in London. The
Hall itself dates back to
the early 1100’s when it
was constructed as an
aisled hall for royal
banquets.
Hammerbeam construction is actually a series of
successive short cantilevers that enable builders to roof a
span wider than the length of available timbers. The
craftsmanship behind the hammerbeam roofs, with their
interlocking pegged joints and elegantly carved finials
and angels, is a testimonial to the technical skills and
artistry of medieval carpenters.
PERPENDICULAR
KING’S COLLEGE
As an example of Late Gothic masonry
construction in England, the chapel at
King’s College, Cambridge, deserves
attention for its exceptional fan vaults
designed by John Wastell. Begun in
1446 with donations by Henry VI an
completed by 1515 with contributions
from Henry VIII, the chapel was
designed for use in an era when the
sermon had become an important aspect
of worship services, so it was built with
a simpler plan and smaller area to reduce
reverberation so that speech could be
better understood.
King’s College Chapel is basically
rectangular in plan, with Perpendicular
tracery in the large windows and majestic
fan vaults overhead. The ornate organ loft
atop the choir screen divides the space into
two parts, one for townspeople and the
other for students.
BATH ABBEY
ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES:

SECULAR ARCHITECTURE
CASTLES
Three defensive principles affected the
design of the great enclosure:

First, by means of battered walls and

spurs, where possible, with ditches and
water defences, attackers were kept
away from the base of the curtain.
Second, maximum command of the
intervening walls was secured by the
generous projection of the mural towers
and the construction of overhanging
crenellations.
Third, it was desirable that each tower
and sector of wall should be individually
defensible. A tower would be accessible
by stairs having doors at each level to
isolate one or more floors or section of
rampart.
RAGLAN CASTLE
In Raglan Castle, the old
defenses consisted of a
moated tower linked to a
curtain wall enclosure. In the
16th century, new apartments
were made, windows
enlarged, a new decorative
gatehouse built, and the moat
spanned by a two-storey
bridge.
MANOR HOUSES
A manor house or fortified manor
house is a country house, which has
historically formed the administrative
centre of a manor, the lowest unit of
territorial organization in the feudal
system in Europe.
In general terms, the manor house was
the dwelling house, of a feudal lord of a
manor, which he occupied only on
occasional visits if he held many
manors. As such it was the place in
which sessions of his manor court, were
held.
Although not typically built with strong
fortifications as castles were, many
manor-houses were partly fortified: they
were enclosed within walls or ditches that
often included the farm buildings as well.
Arranged for defence against robbers and
thieves, it was often surrounded by a
moat with a drawbridge, and equipped
with small gatehouses and watchtowers;
but was not provided with a keep or with
large towers or lofty curtain walls so as to
withstand a siege.
The primary
feature of the
manor-house was
its great hall, to
which subsidiary
apartments were
added as the
lessening of feudal
warfare permitted
more peaceful
domestic life.
HAMPTON COURT
PALACE
Hampton Court Palace
is a royal palace in the
London Borough of
Richmond upon Thames in
south west London; it has
not been lived in by the
British royal family since
the 18th century. It was
originally built for Cardinal
Wolsey, a favourite of King
Henry VIII, circa 1514; in
1529, as Wolsey fell from
favour, the palace was
passed to the King, who
enlarged it.
COLLEGES, SCHOOLS and
ALMHOUSES
 ALMSHOUSES

 Almshouses are charitable housing provided to

enable people (typically elderly people who can no
longer work to earn enough to pay rent) to live in
a particular community. They are often targeted at
the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms
of previous employment, or their widows, and are
generally maintained by a charity or the trustees
of a bequest.

 Almshouses were established from the 10th

century in Britain, to provide a place of residence
for poor, old and distressed folk.
DORSET SHERBORNE ALMSHOUSES
ALMSHOUSE AT WOBURN, BEDFORDSHIRE
COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS

In medieval times, colleges were founded so

that their students would pray for the souls
of the founders. For that reason they were
often associated with chapels or abbeys. A
change in the colleges’ focus occurred in
1536 with the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
King Henry VIII ordered the university to
disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop
teaching “scholastic philosophy”. In
response, colleges changed their curricula
away from canon law and towards the
classics, the Bible, and mathematics.
Colleges were similar in equipment to
monastic establishments, and were
based on the plan of a medieval house,
with hall and rooms grouped round a
quadrangle.

The normal arrangements would include

a chapel, a communal dining hall, a
library and living apartments arranged
in set of large and small rooms, entered
from staircases. Entrance was usually
through a gatehouse, giving security to
the project.
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY
KING’S COLLEGE
LESSER DOMESTIC
ARCHITECTURE
In the towns, there were merchants
and craftsmen who immediately
assumed the character of a class
outside the prevailing hierarchy, that
is, they were men with money but
without social status.

As domestic life became more private,

and specialized activities required
special accommodation, there was a
growing need for many smaller rooms.
Great halls used for domestic purposes
were made of timber. The nature of
this material recommends that the
structure be of post-and-lintel type.
But medieval timber work had its
counterparts to the arches of the
masons. These were crucks, pairs of
curved timbers used as primary
supports for the walls and roofs of
houses and barns.
ARCHITECTURAL TERMS:
ARCHIVOLT – the mouldings
on the face of an arch, and
following its contour.

BALLFLOWER MOTIF - an
ornamented ball sculpture
surmounted in the petals of a
flower featured, most often,
repetitively within the hollow of
moldings.
BAR TRACERY - tracery
which is composed of thin stone
elements rather than thick ones.
The glass rather than the stone
dominates when bar tracery is
used. It gives a more delicate,
web-like effect.

BOSS – a projecting ornament

at the intersection of the ribs of
ceilings, whether vaulted or flat.
CROCKET – a projection
block or spur of stone carved
with foliage to decorate the
raking lines formed by angles
of spires and canopies.

CRUCK – pairs of timber,

arched together and based near
the ground, erected to form
principals for the support of
the roof and walls of timber-
framed houses.
CUSPED ARCHES – a
curved, triangular-shaped
projection from the inner
curve of an arch or circle.
DIAPER MOTIF - is a
device employed in
Gothic architecture
for decorating the
plain surface of a
wall. It is a pattern of
leaves and flowers,
and sometimes it is
worked into squares
or lozenges.
DOGTOOTH ORNAMENT
- an ornamental motif
consisting of a
square, four-leafed
figure, the center of
which projects in a
point.
FAN VAULT - is a form
of vault used in the
Perpendicular Gothic
style, in which the
ribs are all of the
same curve and
spaced equidistantly,
in a manner
resembling a fan.
FLAMBOYANT -
tracery in which
the bars of
stonework form
long wavy
divisions like
flames.
FOUR-CENTERED
TUDOR ARCH - a low,
wide arch, was a common
architectural element in the
Tudor period in England. It
is a flattened pointed arch
usually drawn from four
centers, the four-centred
arch, which was a defining
feature. The arch has a low
elliptical shape.
FLYING BUTTRESS –
a characteristic feature
of Gothic construction,
in which the lateral
thrusts of a roof or vault
are taken up by a
straight bar of masonry,
usually sloping, carried
on an arch, and a solid
pier or buttress sufficient
to receive the thrust.
HAMMERBEAM ROOF–
English medieval timber
roof system used when a
long span was needed. Not
a true truss, the
construction is similar to
corbeled masonry in that
each set of beams steps
upward (and inward) by
resting on the ones below
by means of curved braces
and struts.
LANCET WINDOW – a
narrow window with sharp
pointed arches. Starting
with Amiens, lancets were
often subdivided into two
and topped by a smaller
rose window. Prior to this,
lancets were typically
surmounted by an oculus
or round opening.
LIERNE RIBS - is an architectural
term for a tertiary rib spanning
between two other ribs, instead of
from a springer, or to the central
boss. The type of vault that utilizes
liernes is called a lierne vault or
stellar vault (named after the star
shape generated by connecting
liernes).
MULLION - structural
element which divides
adjacent window units, also
known in the commercial
door industry as a piece of
hardware that divides the
opening of a pair of doors

OGEE – a moulding made

up of a convex and concave
curve. Also, an arch of
similar shape.
PLATE TRACERY –
tracery which appears to
have been cut out of a
plate of stone, with
special reference to the
shape of the lights.

QUATREFOIL - means
"four leaves", and
applies to general four-
lobed shapes in various
contexts
RETROCHOIR - a
church area behind
the choir space or
behind the main altar
RIBBED VAULT - a
vault in which the ribs
support, or seem to
support, the web of the
vault

ROLL-AND-FILLET
MOULDING - a
molding of nearly
circular cross section
with a narrow band or
fillet on its face.
STRINGCOURSE - A
horizontal band of
masonry, generally
narrower than other
courses and sometimes
projecting, extending
across the facade of a
structure and in some
instances encircling
pillars or engaged
columns. Also known
as belt course.
SUPERMULLIONS –
additional mullions in
the upper portion of
windows
TIERCERON VAULT -
has additional ribs
(tiercerons, from tierce,
third) springing from
wall shaft or pier at the
corner of each bay to
the ridge ribs along the
apexes of the vault.
TRACERY- the
ornamental pattern
work in stone; filling
the upper part of a
Gothic window.
TRANSOM - is the
term given to a
transverse beam or bar
in a frame, or to the
crosspiece separating a
door or the like from a
window or fanlight
above it
TREFOIL ARCH- an
ornamental shape that
has three foils or lobes