English Gothic Architecture
English Gothic Architecture
English Gothic Architecture
ARCHITECTURE
Map of Europe
ARCHITECTURAL
CHARACTER
INTRODUCTION
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:
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.
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