1&45 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE BY T. FRANCIS BUMPUS AUTHOR OF "THE CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND," ETC. With One Hundred and Forty-thret Illustrations NEW YORK DODD MEAD & CO. 1914 Urba.i H40 ~- CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH ..... I II. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH AND THE FORM THEREOF, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE MIDDLE OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY ..... 24 III. THE ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL STYLES, 1080-1190 ... ... 51 IV. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 1190-1260 ..... 107 V. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE Continued . .156 VI. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued . . 205 VII. THE DECORATED STYLE 1276-1350 . . . 249 VIII. THE DECORATED STYLE Continued . . . 282 IX. THE DECORATED STYLE continued . 301 GLOSSARY . ..... 341 INDEX ......... 353 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Those marked * are from drawings by MR G. H. R. WATSON. Portrait of the Author Frontispiece Carlisle Cathedral, the East Window . . Facing page 4 Tower of St Patroclus, Soe'st, Westphalia . ,, 14 Fa$ade of Monza Cathedral (Italian Gothic of the Fourteenth Century in Brick and Marble) . ,, 18 Cathedral of Torcello (Italian Romanesque of the Beginning of the Eleventh Century) . ,,24 Rome, Basilica of Sta Maria Maggiore . ,,32 Rome, Basilica of San Clemen te ... ,, 34 Ravenna, Nave of Sant Apollinare Nuovo (Sixth Century) ,, 36 Octagon of the Dom, Aix-la-Chapelle (A.D. 796- 804) 42 Apse of Sta Maria Maggiore, Bergamo (Roman- esque Style of Lombardy) .... ,, 51 Norwich Cathedral, the Nave (Anglo-Norman Style) . 54 Peterborough Cathedral, the Choir (Anglo- Norman Style) ,, 58 Chapel of St John in the Tower of London (Anglo-Norman Style) ,, 6a Spanish Romanesque Capitals at Tarragona . ,, 64 The Nave, Tournai Cathedral (Romanesque of Belgium) ,,68 Crypt at Gollingen (Romanesque of Saxony) . ,, 68 *Details of the Anglo-Norman and Transition Periods ,, 70 Oxford Cathedral, the Choir (late Anglo- Norman) ....... ,,72 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS St Michael's, Hildesheim Facing page 74 San Michele, Lucca (Examples of German and Italian Romanesque) ,,74 Abbey Church at Gernrode (Saxon Roman- esque of the Tenth Century) ... ,, 76 Nave of Angers Cathedral ,, 78 South Transept of Soissons Cathedral (Tran- sitional Style of France) .... ,, 78 Sens Cathedral, the Nave (Transitional Style of France, c. 1150) ,, 80 Canterbury Cathedral, North Aisle of Choir (Transitional Style of England, 1174-80) . ,, 82 Sta Maria Maggiore, Toscanella ... ,,84 San Paolo a Ripa, Pisa (Examples of the later Romanesque of Italy) ,, 84 N6tre-Dame, Clermont Ferrand (Romanesque of Auvergne) ,,88 Western Porch of Autun Cathedral (Romanesque of Burgundy) 88 Abbey Church of Laach (Rhenish Romanesque) ,, 90 Nave of the Church at Boppart (Rhenish Style of the Thirteenth Century) .... ,, 92 Cistercian Church at Soro, Denmark (c.ii6o) . ,, 96 The Retro-choir, Chichester Cathedral . ,, 96 Ripon Cathedral (showing Western Tower-arch of the Transition Period) .... ,, 98 The Crypt, San Zeno, Verona (North Italian Romanesque, c. 1140) ,, 100 The Temple Church, London (Circular Portion, 1184; Choir, 1240) ,, 104 Upper Part of the Facade of Ferrara Cathedral (Italian Gothic of the Thirteenth Century) . ,, 107 * Thirteenth Century Gothic Details ... ,,112 Wells Cathedral, the Nave looking East (Early English Style) ,,114 Rochester Cathedral, the Choir looking East (Early English Style) ,, 116 Choir of St Victor at Xanten (German Gothic of the Thirteenth Century) .... 118 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Nave of Tarragona Cathedral (Spanish Gothic of the Thirteenth Century) .... Facing page 118 Westminster Abbey, the Choir looking West . ,, 120 Ground-plan of the Apse of Westminster Abbey . ,, 120 Ground-plan of the Apse of Rheims Cathedral . ,,120 Chichester Cathedral from the North-east . . 124 St David's Cathedral from the South-east (show- ing English Mode of Choir Extension) . ,, 124 Church of St Omer (Northern French Gothic of the Thirteenth Century) . . . . ,, 128 Magdeburg Cathedral (German Gothic of the Thirteenth Century) ..... ,, 132 Canterbury Cathedral, the Choir looking West, Eastern Transept in the Foreground . . ,, 136 Ground-plans of English Cathedral Choirs . .,, 140 Southwell Cathedral (the Square-ended Early English Choir) 142 St Hilaire, Poitiers, the Apse .... 144 St Maurice, Vienne ,, 144 Apse of the Cathedral at Clermont Ferrand . ,, 146 Nave of the Cathedral at Bruges ... ,, 146 South-east View of the Minster at Bonn (Rhenish Romanesque) ,, 148 St Gereon's, Cologne (Rhenish Style of the Thirteenth Century) 148 St Elizabeth's at Marburg (1235-1283) . . 150 The Dom at Minden (Church with Nave and Aisles of the same height, Germany, latter part of Thirteenth Century) ... ,, 152 Basilica of Sta Agnese, Rome .... 154 Ground-plans of the Churches at Conques, Xanten and Sant Andrea Vercelli ... ,, 154 Worcester Cathedral, the Choir looking West . ,, 162 The Chapel, Lambeth Palace (Lancet Windows in Groups) ....... ,, 166 Southwell Cathedral, the Choir looking East . ,, 170 Western Portal of Sta Anastasia, Verona (Gothic of North Italy) ,,172 IX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Western Portal of the Church of Our Lady at Treves Facing page 174 Northern Portal of the Cathedral at Chalons- cur-Marne ,, 174 Early English Tower and Spire, Oxford Cathe- dral ,,178 St Matthias, Stoke Newington (Modern Ex- ample of the Saddle-back or Gabled Tower) ,, 180 Sutton St Mary, Lincolnshire (Early English Tower with Metal Spire) .... ,, 182 Bernieres. Normandy (Early Thirteenth-century Tower and Spire) . . . . . . ,, 182 Polebrook Church, Northamptonshire (Early English Tower and Spire) ... ,, 184 Salisbury Cathedral, the Tower and Spire from the Cloisters ,, 184 Wells Cathedral from the South-east . ,, 186 The Nave, Lucca Cathedral .... ,, 190 The Lady Chapel, St Etienne, Auxerre (Italian and French Gothic of the Thirteenth Century) ,, 190 St Martin Ypres, North Side of the Choir (c. 1220) ,, 194 Lincoln Cathedral from the South-east . ,, 205 Westminster Abbey, the Chapter-house . ,,210 Salisbury Cathedral, the Nave looking East . ,,210 Ely Cathedral, the Presbytery .... ,,214 St Mary, Stamford (Early English Tower and Decorated Spire) ...... ,, 232 Heckington Church, Lincolnshire ... ,, 238 Darlington Church, Durham (Early English) . ,, 244 Strasburg Cathedral, View across the Nave (German Gothic of the latter part of the Thirteenth Century) ,, 249 Columns of the Decorated Period, Dorchester Abbey . ,, 254 Columns of the Decorated Period, St Editha, Tarn worth ....... ,, 256 The Nave Arcade, St Alban's, Holborn . . ,, 258 Fourteenth-century English Arcades, St As^ph's Cathedral ,, 260 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fourteenth-century French Arcades, Troyes Cathedral Facing page 260 Ripon Cathedral, the East Window ... ,, 264 Exeter Cathedral, Studies of Window Tracery 266 Modern Tower and Spire of the Decorated Period, St Giles, Camberwell (Sir Gilbert Scott, Architect) ,, 268 Tower of St Mary-over-the-Water, Miinster (Westphalian Gothic of the Fourteenth Century) ,, 270 * Details of the Decorated Period ... ,, 272 Reredos, St John's, Torquay (G. E. Street, Architect, 1864) ,, 274 Modern Tower and Spire of the Decorated Period, Highnam, Gloucester (Henry Woodyer, Architect, 1849) .... ,, 280 North-east View of Merton College Chapel, Oxford (Engraved by Le Keux from a Drawing by Mackenzie) .... ,, 282 Exeter Cathedral, the Choir looking East . ,, 290 Lichfield Cathedral, the Nave .... 292 Choir of Hereford Cathedral .... ,, 301 Choir of Bristol Cathedral (from a Drawing by Wild, 1830) ,, 301 St Stephen's Crypt, Westminster ... ,, 306 Anwick Church, Lincolnshire .... ,, 308 Hawton Church, Nottinghamshire ... ,, 308 Holy Trinity, Kensington (Modern Example of the Late Decorated Style) . . . . ,, 312 St Agnes, Kennington Park (Modern Example of the Late Decorated Style) . . . ,, 318 Jesse Window, All Saints, Margaret Street . ,, 324 Sta Caterina, Pisa ...... ,, 330 Tarragona Cathedral (Italian and Spanish Gothic of the Fourteenth Century) . 330 Canterbury Cathedral from the North . ,, 332 Gloucester Cathedral from the South-west . ,, 334 Dorchester Abbey, the East End before Restora- tion (from Britton's " Architectural Anti- quities ") ... 336 xi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Ottery St Mary Church from the South-East Facing page 338 Vaulted Apse, St Peter's, Vauxhall (J. L. Pearson, Architect, 1864) .... ,, 341 Geometrical Decorated Window, SS. Peter and Paul, Wantage ..... ,, * Details of the Perpendicular Period . . ,, Chester Cathedral, before its Restoration (from Drawing's by Whymper, 1840) . . ,, 348 Canterbury Cathedral, the Nave looking West ,, 348 The Reredos, All Souls' College Chapel, Oxford ,, 350 Xll A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY SKETCH ARCHITECTURE has been called " The Mother of the Arts," and as men must be housed as a matter of primary necessity, she can at least claim precedence in regard of time. While painting can depict existing or imaginary effects, architecture can create them. A picture or a statue, however famous, occupies but a small space, whereas architecture has grandeur, proportions, and associations as handmaids at her call. If painting can give variety and contrast of form and colour, so can architecture ; if sculpture claims an ideal refinement and an exquisite balance of parts as its own, architecture is able to assimilate all these charms, and to offer them a home, and the casket may sometimes be more delightful than the jewels the shrine than its enclosed treasures. I A A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Architecture is progressive, and must keep pace with the development of the wants, faculties, and sentiments of mankind. The Decorative Arts arise from, and should properly be attendant upon archi- tecture. Antiquarianism and ecclesiology are among the phases of architectural stud}'. The former is a mere branch of secular learning ; the latter devotes its energies to the reverent serving and adorning of churches in the best and fittest manner possible. Decoration embraces all the arts of design. It is the office of architecture to illustrate the forces by which construction is maintained ; and as a master of fine arts it presses into its service all others which can aid towards that, its one great central purpose. These forces are as a stream of life in the dull blocks through which they flow. Architecture gives form and feature to them as things of vitality which we can then fix upon and delight in ; and thus a building clothed in the elements of its own life rises into being, a creature of living art, a thing of beauty. With the theory of architecture thus understood, the ancillary arts of sculpture, wall painting, stained glass, tapestry and so forth cluster around it with all their music of form and colours. It is thus that the arts of design step in. Th'fir business is to interpret all that, to give it emphasis, to spread a sense of ease, happiness, and completeness everywhere. Then comes colour to add riches and plenty to what the other arts have begun, rind to perfect those evidences of life and thought and movement which they draw out. Such, we may conceive to be the true theory of 2 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH architectural decoration. It applies to colouring as much as to form. It gives a key to all that the artist has to do. All is then based on principle. We might invent safely, because these, our creations, would not be things of whim and conceit, but of reason. The treatment of sacred subjects upon the walls and in the windows of churches demands the most careful thought. The highest art is unsatisfactory when it is not in perfect relation to the place it fills. A painting or a stained-glass window may be beautiful, but its pleasure is marred by some latent circumstance that circumstance is that its conditions have not been fulfilled. For instance, it is the painter's object to get rid of surface, to realise open space. It is the architect's object to maintain surface, and to realise solidity. Here is an antagonism perfect and com- plete. The reconciliation, however, may be perfect, and the result admirable, if only the painter would realise the conditions under which he is placed. Wall painting places his work under different conditions to that of a picture, and every principle of it is changed. It may be argued that the painter's art gains by it, that it magnifies his office, it evidences its power to be admirable under conditions even the most adverse to itself. The greatest triumph in art is the fulfilment of its conditions. Wall and glass painting must therefore be recognised as distinct phases of art, and each admirable under its own conditions. If our age is one of revival, it is also, without doubt, one of great earnestness. With religion to inspire 3 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE the arts, and the arts to lend their aid to the expression of religion, we may learn to love things of beauty, and still " keep ourselves from idols," and bless God Who has clothed all things with beauty, it may be for His own pleasure, but certainly for our happiness. The beauties of architecture are referable to the beauties of utility, of regularity, of delicacy, and of association. Why is the east window of Carlisle Cathedral beautiful ? Let us endeavour to follow what passes in the mind in looking at this celebrated piece of architecture. It is, in the first place, Gothic, and there is an association in favour of Gothic architecture ; we have heard it is beautiful, and are prepared to admire it. The stonework is very light, and therefore does not obstruct the passage of the sun's rays, nor does it give us the idea of labour uselessly employed, but on the contrary the idea of delicacy, which has already been stated to be a cause of beauty. It is full of regular figures neatly cut, which it is not easy to make of stone. The whole is a regular figure, and bears a just proportion to the size of the building. As to the different orders of architecture, it is quite impossible to assent to the observations of those who would con- tend that their proportions are absolutely beautiful, that Nature has made these proportions originally a cause of that feeling, independent of any utility to which those proportions may be subservient, and of any association with which they may be connected. The common sense of the matter seems to be this : We see a pillar, we conceive it as erected to support something. We know the nature of stone and its O 4 o THE KAST WINDOW, CARUSI.F ( A HI 1'DK AT. To face p. 4. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH strength. If the proportions are so managed that we conceive the thing to be supported will fall, it gives us the idea of weakness and frailty, which is un- pleasant ; if they are such as to indicate a much greater degree of strength than is wanted, then we are equally displeased. Between these two extremes all propor- tions are naturally of equal beauty. The study of church architecture may be approached from so many sides, and possesses so many and varied sources of attraction, that we cannot wonder that persons of the greatest possible varieties of tastes and temperaments should be found at the present day to take a more or less lively interest in it. The wonder rather is that any age should be found indifferent to a subject which appeals in so many ways alike to our highest faculties and aspirations, and to our most ordinary moods and everyday habit of thought. No one in whom there lingers any feeling of association with the past of delight in what is beautiful of awe at what is lofty and sublime, or of reverence for that which enshrines and shadows forth holy things can really be indifferent to the charms of ecclesiastical architecture, and to call attention to any part of this wide subject is to open a book which all must read with delight, or take a pleasure in hearing read by others. The history of church architecture, whether English or Continental, is so closely allied with the progress of civilisation and the general history of the several countries which compose the map of Europe that it is impossible to understand the one without some knowledge of the other. 5 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Every country develops by degrees its own litera- ture, art, and architecture, and when a country has developed its own characteristics there is no necessity of seeking further foreign traits. English archi- tecture was the result of climate, material, and race the combination of Celtic, Norman, and Saxon elements ; its development has been continuous, and every successive age has given us something new. In our own country the history of Gothic archi- tecture begins, for all reasonable purposes, with the coining of the Normans, and ends with the Reform- ation. During this period of about five hundred years it passed through a certain career of continual movement. It never rested. So it is with all human enterprises that are worth anything ; they never rest. There is nothing peculiar in this respect about architecture. Not only so, but in different localities the " mode " came to be carried out with considerable variety. Under special influences also, as for instance those of the rival religious organisations, there arose, of necessity, certain corresponding schools of art. Then, as now, no doubt every designer considered that, to do a thing well, he must do it himself; and it was almost impossible to find anyone so devoid of self- confidence as to fail to take occasion to improve upon the work of everybody else. As the natural conse- quence, the authentic Gothic of England is a thing of infinite variety. A superficial examination of the remains, however, was enough to satisfy the very earliest of our modern students of the old method that the succession of steps, INTRODUCTORY SKETCH however indistinguishable individually, by which the style had passed from the forms of the Normans to those of the Tudors, followed a certain undeviating course which corresponded exactly with the progress of time, and which, as a matter of development, both of form and detail, first began with the semicircular arch and its characteristic accompaniments, then forsook this almost suddenly for a pointed arch of the acutest pitch, with other features of the same character, and upon this basis advanced systematically in the direction of depressing the arch more and more its accompaniments changing to correspond until at last the style died out with the latest and feeblest of all possible, " four centred ' curves, associated with the flattest and feeblest of treatment generally. There are obviously two ways of endeavouring to accomplish a nomenclature here ; we may go either by dates or by forms, for the progress of the times and the progress of the style went in such close corres- pondence that either would answer the purpose. Accordingly, the principles of nomenclature that is, of classification which were one after another tried, were such as the following. As regards the period of time in question, the term Mediaeval as a name for the style at large was acceptable enough. As regards artistic character, the term Pointed was adopted excluding of course the Norman. The designation Gothic was at first a mere hasty phrase, although it has outlasted the special popu- larity of both the others. The name of Christian was duly advanced as in particular honour of the 7 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE style, and by no means inappropriately so; but this at least came to nothing. For a characteristic dis- crimination of the successive phases of the mode, we had first such classifications as these : the round- arched, the early pointed, the middle pointed, and the late pointed; otherwise the first, second, and third pointed; and again, the Norman, the Early English or Lancet, the Decorated, and the Perpendicular. It was, on the other hand, maintained that the best scheme would be that which troubled itself least about fashionable characteristics of taste, and depended most upon such a thing as the indisputable progress of time, or, for the sake of a certain emphasis, upon the order of Kings making use of their majesties by way of milestones. So we came to hear of eleventh- century work, twclftli, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, and of such subdivisions as late twelfth or early fourteenth ; a way of treating the case which undoubtedly offers certain important advantages ; for it admits of being applied to other national develop- ments as so many harmonious parts of the whole European style. It can also be used for other arts as well as architecture, considered as kindred systems in full correspondence with it ; besides that desig- nation by date need not be confined to the works of the Middle Ages, but may be employed to give a tangible idea to such useful phrases as ninth and tenth-century work, sixteenth, seventeenth, and so on ; and to connect these terms with any particular country, or any particular sphere of art, as dis- tinguished from one another. As regards also classi- fication by the reigns of Sovereigns, most people have 8 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH heard so much of the style of this and that Edward * or Henry as to be able to understand the allusion pretty well ; although the chief feeling awakened has sometimes been one of wonder with regard to the memory for dates which the speakers in that manner must either possess of themselves or suppose to be possessed of others. In the ensuing pages the terms " Norman," " Transitional," " Early English," " Decorated," and " Perpendicular," will be used to designate the several periods of English architecture. These terms were first made use of in the early part of the last century, when the true principles of ecclesi- astical architecture began to be revived after having lain dormant for nearly two centuries and a half, by such writers on the subject as John Rickman, John Henry Parker, Professor Willis, Dr Whewell, G. Ayclyffe Poole, and others, all of whom were active in sowing the seeds of that great ' ' Gothic Revival ' ' of which we have reaped such abundant fruits. This nomenclature is a very expressive one, far more so than that adopted by the Ecclesiological Society which was founded at Cambridge in 1839. This Society which did much good, assigned the term ' Romanesque ' ' to the round-arched style which pre- vailed, roughly speaking, from the reign of the Conqueror to that of Henry II. ; and First, Second, * I may take the opportunity of observing that the characteristic of the " Edwardian period " of architecture is tracery : Geometrical under Edward I. ; reticulated or net-like under Edward II. ; flowing under Edward III., gradually changing into the perpendicular or vertical lines under Richard II. In the time of Edward III. the earlier forma of tracery were used aloti with the later. 9 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and Third Pointed to the succeeding ones, each of which was developed from the other so imperceptibly that it is impossible to fix any precise date for the termination of one or the commencement of another. On the Continent, to a certain extent, the change of style was parallel with that of England. The terms Romanesque, Early Pointed, Middle Pointed, and Flamboyant will therefore be appropriately used when occasion serves in speaking of the architecture of our foreign neighbours. To circumscribe the limits of the student of ecclesi- astical Gothic is an invidious, not to say impossible task, so much depending upon individual tastes and proclivities, or upon that particular epoch of the art which he intends to take for his study. To the student of the round-arched style as brought to perfection in this country during the twelfth cen- tury, the vast cathedrals of Ely, Peterborough, and Norwich will make a special appeal ; the exquisite early thirteenth-century Gothic of the minsters and ruined abbeys of Yorkshire affords subjects of inex- haustible delight ; the steepled fens of Lincolnshire may be the destination of some ; of others the more varied districts of those counties through which the Nene and the O.use pursue their sinuous courses- districts where the architecture of every epoch is of the very best kind, and where every town and almost every village is endowed with a church of moderate proportions, remarkable either for skilful grouping of parts, excellence of detail, or as presenting some archi- tectural problem worthy of solution. The vast, lantern-like fifteenth-century churches of Norfolk and 10 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH Suffolk ; the towers of Somersetshire ; the red sandstone churches of Shropshire and Cheshire; each county should be indeed a school for each is a school where those who run may read, and where volumes of ancient art lie open for all inquirers. There they may learn that the same perfection of design is to be found in the simplicity of the village steeple in the Wealds of Kent and Sussex, as in the soaring spire of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, or Northamptonshire ; in the sturdy battlemented towers of Herts, Bedford, and Kent, as in the aspiring grandeur of the Yorkshire Hedon and Howden, or the Somersetshire Wrington and Taunton ; in the flint walls of East Anglia, as in the hewn stone of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire that consistency of proportion has stunted the pillars of the simple nave, and roofed it with massive beams, while it has lifted the shafts of the cathedral to a prodigious height and vaulted the vast space with stone that architectural skill consists in embodying and expressing the struc- ture required, and not in disguising it by borrowed features. The farm-house, the baronial hall, the royal castle may be each perfect of its kind ; the student should visit village and town, hamlet and city ; he should be a minute observer of the animal and vegetable creation, of the grand effects of Nature, for ideal scenery has great effect upon church architecture. It requires no professional eye to appreciate the marvellous beauty with which the architects of the Middle Ages adapted the particular cathedral or church to the particular locality seashore, river- ii A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE side, mountain-top, hill-slope, wooded dell, and where not else. Take a home instance. Within thirty miles of London there are three, having a certain connection with each other, all in the same county, Surrey, which two of them at least are curious examples of the way in which a gentle hill, gentle that is for any country but England, may be capped with a chapel, so exactly suiting (if we may judge from the remains) the contour of the hill, and the general character of the surrounding scenery. These are the chapels of St Anne, St Martha, and St Catherine. St Martha, the only one which is perfect and in use, is that which crowns the hill of its own name, to the right of the Reigate and Reading line. St Catherine's, a very singular ruin of the fourteenth century, is in the outskirts of Guildford ; St Anne's a name so well known from its hill having been Fox's country- seat has disappeared. Now let us take a foreign instance the once cathedral church of St Bertrand de Coniminges, a noble example of the same position. It crowns a solitary conical mountain, one of the detached van- guard of the Pyrenees. Height is its distinguishing feature ; a western tower of very noble Romanesque ; a nave without aisles begun in 1304 and finished half a century later; a choir with eleven chapels, partly Gothic, partly Renaissance, finished on Christmas Eve, 1535. The want of aisles, sadly felt in the interior, gives an imposing appearance of greater height. Its situation is most magnificent. There it stands, isolated in the foreground, the whole central 12 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH line of the Pyrenees behind it ; in the furthest distance Maladetta, monarch of the central Pyrenees culmin- ating in the Pic de Nethou. Nearer, the Venasque chain dark with their pines a noble contrast to the stainless snow of Maladetta ; from the Aran line, that talks in Catalan to the Gours Blanc, that looks down on Pau, and nearest and lowest, glowing in the loveliest of green tints, the mountain pastures of the Val de la Freche and that de Picu. Projected, as it were, on some bright spot of the latter, is the dark, towering mass of St Bertrand de Comminges. A few words may be said here about local colouring. When on a tour some years ago among the great red brick churches of Denmark and the Baltic Provinces, I was walking one evening in late summer from Odensee to Middelfart on the Island of Fynen. As the sun was setting I reached the brow of, for Den- mark, a very steep and high hill; and then, looking to the south-west, and catching the churches which cluster there as thickly as in Leicestershire, that rich deep tint which six or seven centuries impart to brick drawn out to its full in the red rays of the setting sun , I thought I had never seen a more charming ecclesi- astical landscape. And a curious proof from the opposite side of the question was this. A few days after I was at Cologne. I know no view I admire more in its way than that of the city as seen from Deutz, on the opposite bank of the Rhine, with the great apsidal choir of the cathedral well-nigh concealed in a forest of flying buttresses, and the towers and spires of St Cunibert's, St Martin's and other churches rising above the densely packed house-tops. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE I reached Cologne late at night ; the first thing on waking in the morning I went to the window to feast with the view once again. I could not imagine what made the whole scene so tame and colourless and insipid ; but then I remembered that for a month before I had been among churches that possessed the richest and deepest of external colour. Turn to France. Take a map of that country divided, not into its modern Departments, but into its ancient Provinces Normandy, Brittany, Cham- pagne, French Flanders, the lie de France, Burgundy, Auvergne, Provence, Languedoc, Gascony, Guienne, Poitou, Anjou. Each of these provinces is the home of a distinct architectural style whether round arched or pointed Gothic with striking peculiarities. Cross the frontier into Germany, and a totally different school presents itself in that fine series of cathedrals and churches along the course of the Rhine Neuss, Cologne, Bonn, Mayence, Speyer, Worms, etc., with their picturesque grouping of towers, transepts, and apses. Then leaving this district and going in a north- easterly direction the student will find a series of towns full of local peculiarities quite .unlike those of the Rhine. Minister, for instance with its unclere- storied churches of great height, externally without distinction between the naves and the aisles, and terminating in apses of three or five sides lighted by immensely tall windows ; or Soest, where the beautiful Church of St Mary in the Meadows affords one of the best evidences of what Germans could do in their palmiest days; and where the Dom, or Church of TOWER OF ST. I'ATROt I.l'S, SOKST, \\FSTriIAI.IA. To face p. 1 4. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH St Patroclus shows us an example of Romanesque of the most grand kind in its remarkable western steeple which is gabled on each side and crowned with an octagonal spire of copper. In towns like these, and Paderborn, Lemgo, Herford, Osnabriick, Minden and Hildesheim, a rich store of architectural matter will be found ; and then venturing still farther north-east we are confronted at Brandenburg, Ratzeburg, Havel- berg, Liibeck, Prenzlau, Tangermiinde, Wismar, Danzig, etc., with abundant examples of the German mode of building in brick, developed in a group of great churches quite unlike any others in Germany, and most interesting in every point of view. Then again there are those curious churches at Brunswick and Halberstadt, Magdeburg and Burg whose west fronts, rising far above the roofs, and con- trived apparently solely for the sake of obtaining space for the display of immense window traceries, are so completely local and so thoroughly, one may say, an invention. Here too we see the churches almost invariably with gabled aisles sometimes as at Herford, Lemgo and Minden, so gabled at the sides that one doubts which is the side and which the end, and sometimes filled with tracery and panelling of extreme beauty. Then again at Halberstadt, Erfurt, Naumburg, Miihl- hausen and other towns of Saxony some of the most excellent work in all Germany of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may be seen. And travelling farther south, to where Nuremberg and Rothenburg transport us in almost all externals to the sixteenth century, or where Ratisbon to the thirteenth, we find 15 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE ourselves again in the neighbourhood of brick churches, at Landshut and Munich; and lastly, Frei- burg im Breisgau presents us with one of the very best of German churches, eclipsed though it undoubt- edly is by the unequalled (in Germany) nave of the thoroughly German cathedral of Strasburg. Much there is to be learnt in all these churches- inferior though they may be to their English and French compeers in the skill displayed in their ground-planning, and in the combined boldness and delicacy of their detail not only in architectural matters, but even much more in ecclesiological, for with the exception of Spain nowhere in Europe can the furniture of the Middle Ages be better or more extensively studied than in Germany. Turn to the north of Italy and we find the proto- types of the Rhine churches in Lombardy Pavia, Bergamo, Piacenza, Cremona, Modena and Sant Ambrogio at Milan the region where, after the fall :>f the Empire, sacred architecture first acquired a complete and intelligently organised style, partaking both of the Roman and the Byzantine, whilst in certain features differing from both the style which, in fact, continued dominant in the West from the fifth to the eleventh century, co-extensively with the Latin Church. Then for a lighter and more refined handling of the Romanesque we may turn to the Tuscan cathedrals and churches in Pisa and Lucca, in Pistoja and Prato, where we may see the concentration of artistic beauties and elaborate decoration in natural polychromy in their marble fa9ades, in which the patriotism as well as piety of those who raised them 16 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH appears. At Orvieto and Siena, at Assisi and Arezzo; at Verona and Venice we see the Gothic of the thir- teenth century worked out with an allied delicacy and boldness by men of strenuous power, who could make brick and marble follow their bidding, and use them without vulgarity. These north Italian cathedrals are like vases filled with the memories of the Past and the gems of Genius foci in which are concen- trated the thoughts and energies of ages ; the successive schools of art, from naive simplicity to developed excellence ; the spirit of the Middle Ages and that of the Italian Renaissance all fused together, with a result in effect that baffles criticism. Whence comes all this variety ? from whim, love of novelty, the trafficking spirit of composition ? The reason is the same as that which caused the difference between Hamlet and Macbeth, Lear and Othello, the Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost. Men of mind were at work whose genius was not exhausted by a single effort ; uniting great originality with great patience and enduring labour, and a thorough systematic education in their art. The endless variety of Romanesque and pointed archi- tecture is not only seen in the difference of building from building, but in rich profusion in the different parts of the same edifice. Nor is it only in cathedrals and greaf churches, but even the smallest and humblest especially in England have also their share. The reason of this is that machinery was not yet invented. The endless forms were all to be cut honestly in stone, and the workman relieved his labour by varying it according to his fancy. This brought out the creative 17 B A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE faculty of the soul, gave lightness and strength to the arm, and stamped a living character on the result, which no tame copying can ever reach. We are told that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard glories such as those that shall hereafter be revealed to us. We must allow, therefore, that it would hardly be a reasonable way of preparing ourselves for the appreciation of such to shut our eyes and close our ears to the lesser, but by no means small, glories with which even now we are liberally surrounded. Among these glories are our cathedrals and churches. Through Christendom a nation's churches are tokens and monuments of a nation's faith ; and no nation has such churches as England. One who had visited churches throughout Europe, and knew more of the churches of England and of Europe than any man in this country, used to say that England had a greater number of noble parish churches than all the rest of Europe together. This surely speaks the faith of our fathers. This surely is the monument of a nation's life. There was a time when their decay was a witness against us, yet their restoration testifies that life is not extinct in us, that with all the struggles, changes, rises and falls of our religious history, still the life of God is in the Church, and still the Church's life is in the land. If our parochial churches are unrivalled, our cathedral churches will well bear comparison with the grandest in Europe. Considering, indeed, the small area of England, and until the last century its small population, it may be said that our cathedrals iS INTRODUCTORY SKETCH are proportionately nobler and more numerous than those of any single nation in the world. And a cathedral is a great historical mom ment of the piety, and the liberality, and the civilisation, and the art skill of a nation. Our cathedrals may not have all the grandeur of size, height, and length, or that unity of style which belongs to Amiens and Chartres, to Rheims and to Bourges ; but the chaste richness of their detail, the picturesque grouping of their several parts, their miscellaneous assemblages of architectural styles, from the introduction of the pointed arch under the Plantagenets, to its decline under the Tudors, invest them with an individuality that somehow is lacking in their more grandiose Continental sisters. For as far as I can read English art, I find it every- where distinguished by love of, and carefulness of detail ; secondly, by general reserve and sobriety of spirit ; thirdly by a tendency to perceptible harmony of parts. Let us for a moment contrast English and French work. Contrast is an easy way of realising character. English art ever excels in detail ; but French art, while it excels in noble massing and com- plex outline, exhibits a certain poverty and meanness of detail, beyond a given point of excellence. To take one great factor of design, mouldings; the Frenchman's mouldings never can satisfy the English- man who has drunk deep from the waters of his native land. To one who knows the Yorkshire abbeys, Tin- tern, Winchester, Gloucester, Malvern, Norfolk, and Suffolk, and that queen of English counties, Somerset, with its vast wealth of stately fifteenth-century A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCH1TECTURB churches, the Frenchman's mouldings seem either underdone or overdone in thought. His strong mouldings seem coarse and cumbrous; his graceful mouldings attenuated and over-refined; his playful mouldings tricky and fantastic. English mouldings are just as eloquent of national character, and it is impossible to exaggerate the importance given to this province of design in all English art. English love of detail, and English love of harmony, and English sobriety, come out clearly in our mould- ings. We see that the soul of the workman is in his sectional lines, which are trenchant, sprightly, or grave, according to the temper of the man. A bit of good Early English, Decorated, or Perpendicular moulding will please the eye and gratify the mind. And while we revel in the fine curvature, we may read through the steadfast lines the mental travail which produced them ; and whether the qualities of the work tell of grace, or force, or ingenuity, we are somehow made to feel that, behind and beyond all that is expressed, there remains the weight of a noble character which has a large capital of solid thought and being still in reserve. But if the English excel in detail they are not daring, aspiring builders like the French. They set gravely to work and finish all that the}- begin, because they have measured aims and a natural compass, and they do not attempt the unattainable. So it conies to pass that we have no unfinished buildings as the French and Italians have, and so it is that all our buildings whether cathedrals, or parish churches, or houses are of homely compass, and their effects 20 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH calm, and in no wise strained. In our richest late work, where there is much sculpture, great com- plexity of surface enrichment, and a multitude of ascending lines, there is still a perceptible air of control. However much the architect may try to dominate our spirit by the range of his lines, we feel that it is by a strong volume of harmony and a clear accentuation of parts, that he fascinates and holds us. All his aims are set in the direction of harmony rather than of contrast at the harmony of associated lines and associated parts, rather than at the capricious self-assertiveness and struggle for predominance of each several part. To some, the architecture of a country, a province, or even a single town, tells a story of religious and political history, of alien invasion, of foreign influence, of the character of the builders. To others it is a mere record of technicalities, the text for a cold dissertation on relative values and pro- portions ; they find lectures in stone but no sermons, a commentary on art, not on human endeavour and aspiration. The cathedrals and churches of England are wonderful palimpsests written on, not twice, but half a dozen times ; the writing beneath is sometimes half obliterated, sometimes obscured, but more often it is still as vivid as that which has been super- imposed. He would be a courageous man who would endeavour to assess their respective values. Each of them includes features which are unmatched. Although one of them (St Paul's) is a departure from what might almost be called the natural style of an English 21 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE cathedral, it is better as it is than if it had been a seventeenth-century improvement on its predecessor. It must have been the English mediaeval cathedrals and not those of any other country Cardinal Newman had in his mind when he said : " For myself, cer- tainly I think that that which, whatever be its origin, is called Gothic, is endowed with a profound and a commanding beauty such as no other style possesses with which we are acquainted, and which probably the Church will not see surpassed till it attain to the Celestial City." These words were written by a man who, at the time, was engaged in carrying out the behests of the Pope, and who felt peculiar affection for Roman buildings. But the Renaissance, although adopted for the foremost of churches, was not so satisfactory to the old logician as English mediaeval work, for, as he said : " No other architecture, now used for sacred purposes, seems to be the growth of an idea, whereas the Gothic style is as harmonious and as intellectual as it is graceful." It is, however, unnecessary to have recourse to either literary or artistic authorities concerning the value of English cathedrals. They are their own exponents, and their power has been exercised not only on colonials, but on foreigners. As to the individuality of English cathedrals much might be said. One might be forgiven for confusing the apse of Mantes with that of St Leu d'Esserent; the choir of Clermont Ferrand with that of Limoges, the exterior of Sens with that of Troves or Auxerre. But Ely with its octagon, Peterborough's west front, Exeter's 22 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH transeptal towers, Salisbury's central spire, Lich- fi eld's trinity of spires, are things which stamp themselves on the memory with the force of striking individuality. Another point to be remarked upon is the completed effect of English cathedrals and churches compared with so many foreign ones, which rarely reach the ambitious climax intended. After a chaos and disorder of a thousand years in which the civilisation of the old world had been rent and shattered, there arose the new system of a child spirit the child civilisation of the Middle Ages. Between 1190 and 1250 in that thirteenth century which two historians of such diverse views as Frederick Harrison and Bishop Creighton unite in proclaiming the greatest century the world has ever seen the miracle was accomplished, and in all Northern Europe these solemn and splendid Gothic buildings were reared, " frozen dreams " of men who dreamt nobly, though with something of the exuber- ance and fantasy of the dreams of childhood. Which buildings future ages have been able to deface, but never to improve; so that now the Abbey Church of Westminster that great French thought expressed in excellent English, or Notre Dame on the island which has seen so many miracles, or cathedrals embedded like those of Bristol or Rouen, or Cologne or Magdeburg, in the new world of business and manufacture, still silently challenge an age full of complacency and discontent, with the ideals of a vanished past. 23 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH AND THE FORM THEREOF, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE MIDDLE OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY IN the Old Testament there is no record of any temple dedicated to the service of the Almighty before the age of Solomon. The Jewish branch of the Semitic race during the patriarchal age was nomadic, each tribe being really one large family, the head of which offered sacrifices for the rest, and altars were erected wherever in the course of their wanderings thev found pasture and water for their flocks and herds ; and when Israel went down into Egypt and sojourned there, it was not until they had been brought out into the wilderness that the tabernacle and its services were first ordained, according to the pattern shown to Moses upon the Mount, and so it remained until the time of David, who, as he sat in his house of cedar, first conceived the idea of building that temple which Solomon, his son (1015 B.C.) afterwards carried out. In the sixth chapter of the second book of Chronicles the account is given of the solemn dedication of that temple, and in that magnificent prayer of consecration 24 CATIIKDRAI. OK K >R(I- I.I.O. (Italian Romanf>quo of th< j t)r>ginning of ilv- \ : .\> \'-nlh Ci'ntury.l To face p. 24. THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH there recorded do we find shadowed forth the use of the Church when the old law was to be replaced by the new, how deep and significant is the meaning we now attach to his words. Of the form and appearance of that temple, although its dimensions and ornaments are so minutely detailed, nothing is known of a certainty. It might have borrowed forms from Egypt the vast propyles, the outer courts and chambers surrounding the inner enclosure and cell, point rather to Thebes or Karnac; or it might have copied Assyrian or Chaldean forms, which is the most probable. So utterly had it been given over to destruction, that at the commencement of our era nothing remained. The Temple at Jerusalem in which our Lord taught daily was of a far different character. Greatly enriched and beautified with superb additions by Herod, it was but the shadow of what it once was, and sentence had even gone forth against that, that not one stone was to be left upon another. Although after our blessed Lord's Ascension the holy Apostles were still to be found proclaiming the Gospel among its colonnades and porticoes, and although they still frequented and expounded the law in those smaller assemblies known to this day by the name of synagogues, yet it was on that ' upper chamber ' at Jerusalem that their thoughts were centred, as every detail of that memorable Paschal Supper, and the Divine ordinance which followed it, became indelibly fixed in their hearts, as the thought of how the bread was broken, and the cup taken and blessed, and those mysterious words uttered, so soon 25 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE to become, by the sacrifice on Calvary, of such deep and significant meaning; it is to that upper chamber where all this had taken place, that in turn our thoughts should be directed as the first visible Church of the New Testament. Follow the history of that infant Church. Again and again do we find reference to an upper chamber. When the cloud had hidden their Lord from them on the top of the Mount of Olives, it was to the upper chamber they first directed their steps, in the first chapter of the Acts (verse 13), and again in chapter xx. 7, 8., where it is said : " the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread," it ' was in an upper chamber, and there were many lights." Such were the first surroundings and the first type of the fabric of the Church, a place not to meet in for the purpose of expounding the law, or of simply hearing the word preached ; it was a place where the first Eucharist had been offered, and which was to be continued daily by those who followed the Apostolic doctrine. It is hardly necessary to advert to the form or decoration of such a chamber ; we do not require antiquarian knowledge to tell us that it was the ' ' guest- chamber," and therefore the best. Holy Scripture tells us that. And this type, which had its origin in Jerusalem, spread with the knowledge of the Gospel throughout Syria, and into all lands. In Rome itself, where the Apostles St Peter and St Paul laboured, we have this room alluded to in the Epistles ; it is there called " the Church which is in the house of Priscilla and Aquilla." Now this phrase, the " Church which 26 THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH is in the house of " means something more than that body of Christians meeting under the roof of some wealthy convert to Christianity ; it probably means the oratory or room in which the Divine mysteries were celebrated. But at this period persecution after persecution sweeps over the infant Church, and these little assemblies of the faithful are dispersed. So searching and rigorous are these persecutions that above ground it is no longer possible to meet with safety ; and in the gloomy and tortuous recesses of the Catacombs, in fear and trembling are gathered the remnants of Christ's flock, ostensibly to pay the last duties to those bodies of the holy saints and martyrs whose life-blood had been shed to grace the triumph of an imperial master and to gratify that craving and that lust for blood without which the sports of the arena were tame and spiritless to the Roman people. This hiding-place among the tombs and galleries of the Catacombs becomes the second type assumed by the Christian Church. The tomb of the saint becomes the altar, and the vision of St John the Divine is realised on earth. " I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held : and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true " (Rev. vi. 9, 10). Of this danger incurred by the Christians in thus meeting we find several instances, as witness that noble reply of Justin Martyr to the Prefect Rusticus, who inquired of him, " Where did the Christians assemble? ' " Where they wish and where they can ; do you think we always assemble at the same 27" A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE place? The God of the Christians is not confined within an enclosure, but He is invisible, and fills heaven and earth." We find these underground sanctuaries in the very infancy of the Christian Church decorated with frescoes. The execution may be rough, and the drawing of the figure imperfect, yet there they are unmistakably Christian, and con- temporary with others in the same Catacombs of Pagan origin. It is evident, therefore, that notwithstanding the persecutions which had compelled the congregation of the faithful to flee to these dark recesses, the tradition of the " upper chamber " was still preserved, and they tried, as far as their scanty means would permit, to make His sanctuary glorious. As the traditional ornamentation of the upper chamber had been impressed upon those used by the early Christians in the Catacombs, so in time did these underground vaults exercise an influence upon religious architecture, when Christianity was able to emerge from them into the full blaze of sunshine. Hence the origin of those vaulted crypts so often to be found here and on the Continent. In Rome, churches were built exactly over these spots which contained the tombs of the Holy Martyrs. San Martino arose over the subterranean chapel where the body of Pope St Sylvester reposed. Santa Prassede, San Lorenzo, Santa Croce, San Sebastiano, San Paolo fuori le mura,* and last, but not least, the huge basilica of St Peter's, were all raised over * St Paul's, outside the walls. 28 THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH the tombs of the several saints to whom thoj are dedicated. In these first centuries of the Christian era, when the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church, there were intervals of repose, but the last great effort of Pagan malice, the persecution under Diocletian, was the most severe and extensive of all, for it even reached these shores, and St Alban, Britain's protomartyr, became its first-fruits. During these intervals Christianity was reviled, as may be inferred from the writings of Juvenal, Pliny, Apuleius, and Tacitus, this last calling it a detestable superstition, but the underground sanctuaries had been exchanged for more commodious buildings above ground, prob- ably the houses of the most wealthy, such as the house of Clemens, of the Gens Flavii, an old con- sular family, known now as St Clement, the third successor to St Peter in the See of Rome, on the site of which now stands the very ancient church of San Clemente, and partly under which have been dis- covered the remains of a still earlier, probably the original. The house of Pudens, where St Paul lodged on the two occasions he was in Rome, before he lived in his own hired house, is now the Church of Sta Pudentiana, the daughter of Pudens, incorporated in the present portions of the original house ; therefore that Apostolic saying, " the church which is in the house of," as before alluded to, was no empty phrase. It is not likely, or probable, that any building erected by the Christians for the purpose of specially celebrating the Divine mysteries would have survived 29 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE the persecution under Diocletian. That they did possess churches we know, because in the account given of the martyrdom of St Laurence, reference is made to the prefect visiting the church, expecting to see there the vessels of gold and silver in which he had been informed they offered libations, and also the golden candlesticks in which they burnt their tapers ; and when Galerius persuaded Diocletian to issue his infamous mandate at Nicomedia, the very first thing done by the praetorian guards was to pull down the church erected by the Christians, and to destroy every copy of the Scriptures. Having thus arrived at a turning-point in Rome, let us look back at Jerusalem. Prophecy had been fulfilled not one stone of that temple had been left upon another; Vespasian and Titus, the instruments of Divine wrath, had utterly destroyed it ; and those few of the inhabitants who had escaped from the general massacre had been dispersed into all lands. The account given by Josephus of those last days of Jerusalem is a very fearful one. Eusebius tells us that the Christians in Jerusalem had received a Divine intimation to leave the city and retire to Pella, a small town on the other side of the Jordan. But the cities of Asia Minor and Greece, Antioch, Laodicea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and others, all possessed Christian churches, although nothing before the commencement of the fourth century can now be actually identified. It was the accession of Con- stantine to the imperial throne which changed the face, as it were, of the world, and is the turning- point in its history, to whose reign we must look 30 THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH for those first manifestations of Christian architecture. Marvellous as were the productions of ancient times in this art, as exemplified in their temples, yet Christianity would have nothing to do with them ; and even when Christianity became universal, the temples of the heathen were not used for their worship. St Paul had stood and preached in the Areopagus ; he had seen the most beautiful temple of the old world, the outcome of the refined intellectuality of the Greeks, the Parthenon or Temple of Pallas Athene, in all its pride of position and magic sculpture of Pentelic marble ; he had wandered through the sacred groves of Athens, the violet-crowned, wholly given to idolatry, and had preached from that text inscribed on one of the numerous altars, " To The Unknown God." At Ephesus for the space of three months he must have passed daily the porticoes of the Temple of Artemis, with its sumptuous sculptured columns, Diana of the Ephesians, the great Temple of Aphro- dite at Corinth ; and finally he had seen Rome in her magnificence, the baths and temples and triumphal arches, amphitheatres, and the Golden House of Nero, which even now, in their ruined grandeur, strike us with awe and admiration. The holy Apostles and their successors had seen all these glories of the old world, and had turned from them as things offered to idols, and would have none of them. It has been reserved for us and for our times to revive in a Christian church the portico of a Temple of Bacchus, to add to its sides the caryatides of a Temple to Erectheus, and to crown it with the Temple of the Winds or Wingless Victory, 3* A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and to decorate the exteriors of others with the skulls of oxen.* Constantine removed the seat of Government from Rome, as if that city was too deeply stained with heathenism and its hideous memories, and founded at Byzantium a new Rome known as Constantinople : and it is there and to Asia Minor that we must look for those buildings that are purely indigenous to Christianity, than to Rome, where buildings would be necessarily adapted rather than originated. We are now, then, brought face to face with these two types of architecture, at their first point of divergence as distinct as are the two great branches of the Church Catholic, the East and the West, who adopted and developed these types ; and it is to the latter we must look for the types adopted for our architecture in England, although the East exerted no small influence on our Liturgy, and can be traced even in our architecture. As they were contemporary, it matters little which we first consider ; but as, perhaps, the Western exercised the most influence, we will take that first. Now, among the many sumptuous buildings of ancient Rome, there is one particular class which offered to the early Christian Church certain advan- tages of plan and arrangement suitable to its wants, and which was also free from the pollution of heathen rites. This class of building was called a basilica; the origin of the word was Greek, but why it was applied to these buildings no satisfactory reason can * St Pancras', Huston Road, London. 32 THE FABRIC OF THE CHURCH be found. It was generally used in connection with another Greek word Stoa. There were several of these in Rome (two in the Forum) and were used as law-courts and places for transacting general business ; the most simple form was that of a long parallelogram , with one or two rows of 'columns on either side, and a semicircular recess, sometimes only at one end, sometimes at both. This was the form adopted by the Western Church in preference to any other, as it lent itself more easily to its requirements. It is supposed that the name " basilica ' was adopted from the Greeks at Athens, whose second archon was styled apxw 8a. K"tn in- ^U.K t\ ! "t I -i >m'>:ir-\orm.m -lylf. I To face p. .-,S. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL the rough walling now being universally ashlared that is, covered with a casing of wrought stone blocks. The larger churches are generally adorned with three towers, sometimes more, and are surmounted by high pyramidal roofs covered with lead. The round church-towers are almost confined to the old limits of East Anglia. There are two in Berkshire (Great Shefford and Welford *) two in Sussex (Southease and Piddinghoe) one in Surrey, two in Cambridgeshire (Snailwell and Waterless), and seven in Essex (South Ockendon, Great Leighs, Bromfield, Bardfield, Saling, Lamarsh, and Pentlow), whilst in Norfolk there are one hundred and twenty-five, and in Suffolk forty. Much anti- quarian energy and research have been expended on them ; and it was long the fashion to assign a Danish origin to them, as the work of builders from the time of Sweyne to that of Harthacnut. But such towers are not found in Denmark ; nor do they occur in those parts of Northumbria which were most largely colonised by Danes. Moreover, their workman- ship is by no means so rude or simple as has been asserted ; and in some instances their upper portions display elaborate ornament, unquestionably of Norman character. The truth seems to be that while the greater number are of Norman date, a few may be earlier, and more later; and that, constructed of flint * The upper stage of this tower is octagonal, and an Early English addition. It is crowned with a graceful spire of the same period, having a gabled window of two lights, at the bas of each side, a somewhat umisual arrangement. Other of these round towers have had octagonal stories added in later times ; that of Poringland Church near Norwich is an example. 59 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE (as they are almost without exception) they are built round to suit the material, and to save the expense of stone quoins for the corners, which are necessary for square towers, and which often may not have been easy to procure in districts where building stone has all to be imported. The same cause accounts for the frequent and long- continued use in the same districts of flat bricks or tiles for turning the arches over the doors and win- dows, which are either of Roman manufacture, or an imitation of the same form. These round towers may all have been built by one class (or lodge) of workmen, and the period assigned for their erection between noo and 1150. They are all of the same material and shape, and, with one exception (St Mary's, Wortham Everard, Suffolk, which is larger than the others) all are of the same dimensions. They are without staircases, like the Irish round towers, and like them, unquestionably served as belfries. In many instances the ancient church has been replaced by a more modern structure, while the tower remains. None of these towers are lofty. They rise to about sixty feet, with a diameter of about six- teen feet, much of which is generally taken up by the thickness of the walls. It may be added that the finest and most noticeable round towers are in Suffolk. Those of Little Saxliam and Herringfleet, especially, have very rich Norman work in their upper stories. In some instances (as at Poringland, near Norwich) an octagonal story of Perpendicular character has been engrafted upon the round portion. The external doorways now become of several 60 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL orders, each differently and highly enriched. Figure sculpture of a rude and archaic character, interspersed with gryphons and dragons and rude foliage, now adorns the capitals ; and, lastly, two very characteristic enrichments, the chevron or zigzag, and the billet. The walls are always of an enormous thickness, and the buttresses are of only a very slight projection. In the small parish churches, the chancel arch, which is often very narrow, has sometimes two smaller arches on either side, and following a primi- tive tradition, the chancels are generally square-ended. This square end is .undoubtedly an ancient British custom, perhaps one of those traditionary rules derived from the Eastern Church before Roman colonists or missionaries introduced the apse, and in the low chancel arch and the two side ones, as at Barfreston, near Canterbury, there may be just a faint reminiscence of the iconostasis and its triple doors.* Kilpeck, Moccas and a few other churches in Here- fordshire have this peculiarity of plan ; a square chancel, and a second arch opening into an apsidal recess, resembling the " pras-Conquest " churches of Brixworth and South Elmham. In the great churches at Caen built by Duke William and his consort, * A small or even medium-sized Anglo-Norman church is very rarely vaulted throughout, the nave having a timber roof, but the chancel almost invariably a groined one. Admirable examples of small groined chancels are : Hemel Hempstead Church, Herts; Iffley, Oxon; Stowe, Lincolnshire; St John Devizes, Wilts; Ticken- cote, Rutlandshire; Compton, Surrey; St Peter's, in the East, Oxford ; Castle Rising", Norfolk ; Elksto.ic and Rudford, Gloucester- shire; Stewkley and Upton, Bucks. 61 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Matilda, called respectively the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames, we might have had a good opportunity of comparing these buildings with the work at Winchester, St Albans, and Rochester; but these Normandy examples have unfortunately undergone some very material changes since their first erection, and recent researches now prove that very little remains of the originals the twelfth century having remodelled them, and the thirteenth having, in the case of the Abbaye aux Hommes, replaced the Romanesque choir with one of the most elegant examples of the first pointed or lancet style. The addition of the vaulting also has entirely changed their appearance, for the original roofs were of timber. In the Chapel of St John in the White Tower we find a very early and very pure specimen of Norman architecture, and again in the dormitory of West- minster Abbey, some Early Norman work, the latter being very similar to the transepts at Winchester. Although it was in the mediaeval buildings of England and France that the variety of ornamentation, which is based upon forms of vegetation, was most extensively employed (if it did not then reach its highest development), it has been in use in the East far back in the earliest ages. In the Old Testament there is record of the priests' robes "and the furniture of the Temple being adorned with figures which, more or less, resembled the flowers and fruits of Palestine, and in the Assyrian bas-reliefs and other sculpture we actually possess examples of this orna- mentation. It was no doubt but sparingly employed by the Greeks, but (as in the necking of the columns of 62 CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN IN Till-; TOUKK ()| LONDON. (Anglo-Norman >t >!'-) Tt> face p. (12. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL the Erectheum) it became in their hands most refined in character, and like other Greek work, continues to have influence. One of the strangest things in the history of art is the immortality of certain forms of ornament, simple enough in themselves, but still surviving more important works, and this is seen especially in following the growth of architectural foliage. For instance, the anthemion and other ornaments, often found on Greek pottery, and which probably were derived from Egypt or Assyria, were adopted as soon as they were seen by the Normans, and imitated in several of their capitals. But of all forms of Greek foliage, not one has had so wide an influence as the acanthus, although its invention does not date beyond the declining days of Greek art. It will, no doubt, be ever regarded as a triumph of conventionalism, although it has been so successfully treated that it is impossible to say with precision to what species the leaves belong ; while some investi- gators, like Sir William Chambers, have maintained that they are of a different order, and that the leaves around the Roman capitals are of the olive rather than the acanthus. " The inferior style," said Sir Joshua Reynolds, " alone marks the variety of stuffs a painter in the grand style does not debase his concep- tions with discriminations of drapery ; with him the clothing is neither woollen, linen, stuff, nor velvet- it is drapery and nothing more." In a similar spirit the classic and many modern designers have worked. With them it little matters how many of the essential characteristics of plant-form 63 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE are crushed out so long as the result is supposed to be " ornament." There are two types of acanthus foliage ; one with sharp and spiky lobes, which was adopted by the Greeks, and which was as much like the thistle or sea-holly as the acanthus spinosus ; and the other the round, flowing, soft-lobed and less beautiful leaf of the Romans, which may be supposed to follow the acanthus mollis. This is the more universal in use of the two. Both these types have had an effect on subsequent work in other styles the Byzantine following the Greek, and the Romanesque following the Roman leaf ; and as time went on classic forms of foliage were engrafted upon the mediaeval, and often in the earlier stages both the Byzantine and Romanesque influences can be distinctly and separ- ately traced. But in England there was a style of ornamen- tation employed in Christian churches long before either Byzantine or other foliage could have been introduced. It is probable that the Anglo-Saxon churches were adorned with ornaments of the same type as that of which examples survive in the Irish crosses and illuminated manuscripts, consisting of a maze of lines, bands, serpents, and other figures interlaced in a very intricate, but still a regulated manner. This, no doubt, was a beautiful style. It had, to judge from the best examples, many of the recognised principles of ornamental design, but with the rise of mediaeval art it passed awav never to be revived ; for, strange to say, Celtic ornament is almost the only type from which modern designers will 64 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL not accept inspiration. This interlaced ornament was also supreme in Norway, the figures and other parts having a rude breadth that distinguishes them from Irish work, hut there is an absence of the delicacy of form and completeness and unity of design which characterises the latter. In a good Irish example it seems almost inevitable that the design should take one form and no other, but an Early Norman or Scandinavian carving too often looks as if it had been made up of fragments of ornament, and as long as he closely filled a certain space the work- man had no other care. The contests of dragons, serpents, and other chimeras are inseparable from both, but the Norman dragon differs in vigour as much from the Celtic, as the Lombard griffin does from the Roman. In the Irish crosses foliated forms are rare, but in the Early Anglo-Norman work we find the interlaced ornament adapted to a conventional render- ing of leaves. It is generally accepted that the improvement in the Norman architecture of England was due to the increased intercourse with the east and the south of Europe, and one of the ways it exhibited itself was in the introduction of foliage which eventually dispossessed the peculiar ornament of Norman work, and if architecture is worth anything as history, we can see in this the softening and refining of the rough, northern mind. But it is difficult to trace in all cases how certain forms of ornament have originated, or to say pre- cisely from what source they were drawn. The minds of these old workers were often open to such 65 K A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE subtle influences, that it is even hazardous to offer an opinion as to what may have guided them. Still, there are certain broad characteristic features and marked resemblances to Classic and other early styles of ornamentation that we cannot well fail in perceiving to a very great extent the sources from which the Norman artist drew his inspiration. Some of the capitals in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral have a semi-classic feeling, such as might be the result of working solely from recollection, and the capitals in Bishop St Hugh's choir at Lincoln are arranged after the Corinthian, hut the latter is a type comparatively rare in England. One of the most remarkable effects of that transition period, which we are to consider later in this chapter of our history of English Gothic, was the abandon- ment of the conventional Norman ornaments, and the substitution for them of foliage, which was derived less from Classic examples than from living plants. Canterbury choir is generally accepted as the best example in which this can be seen, and the foliage there is partially taken from Nature, and is often very beautifully conventionalised.* Another circumstance well worth noting is, that no animal form is found mingled with the foliage, show- ing an entire change from the previous style, where the introduction of animal form was so common . The whole appears to be of Classic origin, and the capitals * The plants which their sculptors have conventionalised in certain pier capitals in the cathedral at Paris, are those commonly found in the fields around that city; they are generally Gothic in feeling and have nothing in common with those which crown the columns in Anglo-Norman churches. 66 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL to be based upon the formation of the Corinthian, and are quite free from any Celtic forms. Yet in our own Early English we have frequent scrollwork, into which is wrought, with great skill, animals which terminate in foliage in the same manner as we find animal form intermingled with the Norman foliage of the Celtic type. Some of the capitals of Canter- bury have foliage which is very classical in character. Let me return for a brief space to the kind of ornamentation which characterised the English Romanesque, and which, by its increase, ripened it for transition. It consisted, no doubt, mainly of the mechanical classes of enrichment, such as the chevron, fret (sometimes quite attic, as in the nave of St David's Cathedral), the innumerable kinds of zigzag, nail-head, and bird's beak, and many varieties of surface ornament. Whether this ornamentation differed from that of contemporary buildings in Normandy I will not offer an opinion, though the doorways here are often more profuse in their enrichments ; indeed, one can scarcely distinguish the architecture of the exquisite clerestory, added early in the twelfth century to Matilda's Church at Caen, from that of Ernulf and Conrad's choirs at Canterbury, or that of the beautiful remains of Ernulf's chapter-house and cloister at Rochester, in which the ne plus ultra of Anglo-Norman refine- ment would appear to have been reached. We find the same kind of ornamentation to prevail throughout England, and in no less degree than else- where in Kent ; as for example the Churches of St Margaret at Clyffe, of Barfreston, of Patrixbourne, 67 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and the small remains of St Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury. That these became more and more refined as the transition approached we see in the solitary relic of Horton Priory and New Romney Church, as well as in countless buildings spread over the length and breadth of the country, such as the Cathedrals of Ely, Hereford, and Rochester; and the Churches of Cholsey (Surrey), Elkstone, South Cerney, Siddington, and Wootten (Gloucestershire), Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire), Iffley (Oxford- shire), Kilpeck (Herefordshire), St Peter's (North- ampton), Stourbridge (Cambridgeshire), Tickencote (Rutlandshire), Walsoken (Norfolk), Stoneleigh (Warwickshire), and Worksop (Notts). The capitals, where foliated, were more usually of entwined foliage and other varieties, not at all, as a rule, assuming a Corinthianesque form ; but were still more frequently formed of varieties of the cushion capital greatly subdivided, and often departing very widely indeed from the original type ; and had we been cut off from communication with France there can be no doubt that the details of our English tran- sitional style would have been mainly characterised by the elaborate refinement of those of the Anglo- Romanesque. It is impossible, within the limits assigned to me, to attempt to treat in this chapter of Romanesque architecture in its varied forms, such as is exhibited in different districts of Italy and of France, in Germany and England, and to recount how each developed itself into the particular form from which, in its own country, the pointed Gothic, through a 68 THE NAVE. TCH'RNAI CATHEDRAL. (Romanesque of Belgium.) 5 "^L',%-. " ** 3 CKVI'T AT (;(>LI.IN(,i:N. To face p. (.S. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL short period of transition, arose. Suffice it to say that in each country of western Europe the Roman- esque style, ever-increasing in richness and exuberance of ornamentation, did so develop itself, and that it did in the early part of the twelfth century ripen for a great change which everywhere loomed before it as an inevitable result. England differed from most others in this ; that her native variety of Romanesque sluggishly, it must be confessed, creeping in during four or five centuries had gradually faded away before the far superior Romanesque imported by the Normans, and almost forcibly planted in its room. So that the English developments, upon which our transition from the round to the pointed-arch system had to be founded, were themselves based upon a style which had only for about a single century existed on our soil. The architecture thus summarily eradicated had lasted as long as from the days of Chaucer to the present moment, yet it had failed to generate any style of a really artistic character ; and though it was thus suddenly supplanted by one at first sight little less rude than itself, it was by one which contained within itself such vigorous germs as to produce in less than a century and a half, by its mere natural growth, a style perhaps more glorious than the world had ever yet witnessed. We will, therefore, let the old English or Saxon style (so far as any artistic value attaches to it) rest in peace, and follow the fortunes of its successor. That the architecture, which had a cen- tury and a half earlier been destroyed out of mere barbarism by the forefathers of these same Normans, 69 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE had been but a few shades different from our own Saxon seems probable from some few traces of it still to be found in Normandy, as, for example, though the work of early Normans, the relics of the early chapter-house of the Abbey of Jumieges, on the banks of the Seine between Rouen and Havre. Nor do we know hoiv the more healthy manner of building had been introduced among the newly Christianised Northmen ; though it is probable that it came to them from the more southern provinces of France. However this may be, we know that their adopted style was one founded logically on reason, and on true principles of construction ; for not only was this the case with the buildings erected in England by its Norman invaders, but it was equally so with those Of the same and earlier date in Normandy, and with the earliest of them, the Abbey Church of Bernay between Caen and Lisieux, erected by the Duchess Judith, the grandmother alike of the Conqueror and his Queen. So evident indeed did this fact become in our own country, even before 1066, that King Edward the Confessor, in rebuilding the Abbey of Westminster, rejected the old style of his country in favour of the newer architecture of Normandy, so that his building was spoken of by a subsequent Norman chronicler as " that church which he, the first in England, had erected in that mode of composition which now nearly all emulate." The style is distinctly spoken of as a " Novum genus compositionis." After that one Norman church erected before the Battle of Hastings in this new method of composition, tla- next and the 70 C/THfO*A.. DFTAII.S f)F rill': \N(;i.()-\OR.M.\\ AM) IK \\sri ION I'l RIODS. To /ace />. 70. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL first erected after that momentous event was in all probability that built by Lanfranc, in rebuilding St Augustine's old cathedral of Canterbury. Seventy years ago Professor Willis traced out in a most interesting manner * the accordance in style, plan, and even in dimensions, between this church of Lanfranc at Canterbury, begun only four years after the Norman invasion, with the Abbey Church of St Etienne the Abbaye aux Hommes referred to just now at Caen, built under the same prelate and at the expense of the Conqueror, and so completely contemporaneously with it that though St Etienne was the first begun, Canterbury was the first finished ; * " The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral," (1845) ' now very scarce indeed. Professor Willis always contrived to make people in love with the sect of Peripatetics : he was thor- oughly at home on his subject, and no teaching could be more instructive than this kind of learning, made easy on the spot. Ladies were found to take an interest in arcading, corbels, and string-courses ; and anxiety was always expressed to be better acquainted with the distinguishing characteristics of our Gothic architecture. The fever must have been at its height when, early in the 'forties of the last century, ladies were seen following the professor through the dust of the noble undercroft at Canterbury or threading the narrow stone staircases leading to the triforia in the transepts of Ripoii, and playing at follow my leader among the forests of columns in such crypts as Worcester and Rochester. However great may have been Willis's qualifications for the chair of Natural Philosophy, he certainly was a wondroui archaeologist, and in the opinion of all was a first-rate architect thrown away. He knew as it were by instinct what was hidden under the soil. " Dig there," he said, and the base he wanted came to light. " Open out the earth here," and the solid piece of stone which he had been looking for to complete his imagin- ary plan, was straightway disclosed to view. He seemed to havr made up his mind before he entered a cathedral or an ancient church, what he should discover ; and lo ! there it was, ready to hand 7 1 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and though Lanfranc's work has for the most part disappeared, so much of his church at Caen remains as to show us quite clearly what his architecture was, and that it was pretty closely identical with the traces we have of the Confessor's work at Westminster, and that of William and Gundulph in the chapel of the Tower of London. So sound, so logical, and so reasonable is this early twelfth-century architecture that but little essential difference is perceptible between it and the ornate Norman of half a century later, nor the highly refined form of the same style which immediately preceded the transition, when the pointed arch, arriving from the Crusades, came and seated itself like a conqueror upon columns designed to support only circular arches ; but, on the contrary, rude and clumsy as it may appear in this, its archaic stage, it apparently carried within its rough envelope the germs, not only of its own growth, but of the very transition itself which so soon converted it into the heaven-aspiring Gothic architecture of Salisbury or Westminster. Romanesque architecture in most (or all) of the countries where it prevailed had, by the end of the eleventh century, shown progression rather in per- fecting the workmanship, refining the details, and in generating suitable systems of ornamentation, than in developing any new principles. The efforts of the Romanesque builders from the beginning of the twelfth century to refine and perfect their art can only be appreciated by those who apply to the works of that period the closest and most careful study. In respect of workmanship, we find in the course of only 72 THE CHOIR, OXFORD CATHEDRA], (Late Anglo-Norman.) To face p. 72. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL about half a century that the mere stone facing was changed from the coarse hewing with mortar joints of about an inch in thickness, to the most exquisitely finished surface-texture, such as all the efforts of modern builders cannot be brought to emulate. In respect of profiles of mouldings, we find, during the same interval, the great round rolls of the Early Norman arches, and the dull mouldings of the bases of their pillars, give place to arch mouldings of the most charming and varied profile, and to base moulds of attic type, and more than attic beauty of section- such as one can never possibly examine without fresh wonder how such exquisite refinement could have been arrived at, at such a period ; while in respect of ornamentation, the delicacy was so surpris- ing as to have outrun its mission, and to have brought its course to a premature close by its very excess of intricacy. This breathless race after refinement evinced itself alike in each country where the Romanesque style prevailed ; but it is natural that the forms of orna- mentation followed should in a greater or less degree assume in each its own provincial character. Thus we have such varieties of the Romanesque as the Pisan and the Lombard in Italy; of the Rhine and Saxony in Germany ; of the Auvergne, Perigord, Aquitaine, Burgundy, and Normandy in France ; and our own school, which was pretty much alike all over the country. As this ceaseless reaching forward after perfection was the ripening for, and the prelude to, the great transition so soon to follow, it was equally natural that this change, though on a broad view 73 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE of the case one, should on a narrower view appear to be multiform ; that of each country being influenced by the varieties of its own particular form of Romanesque. The whole movement was, there can be little doubt, affected and stimulated by bringing the nations of the Western Church together and opening out to them the arts of that of the East, as well as those of their infidel enemies by means of the Crusades ; yet while this tended to keep the art progress of the Western nations from wandering too widely apart, it did not prevent the existence of local and national varieties. The one greatest element of all in the transition from the round to the pointed arched style, in what- ever country it was being worked out, was the pointed arch. This was called for by more causes than one. The tendency of the later Romanesque was to increased height; but, while the columns could be elongated, the round arch was incapable of extension. An arch, therefore, was craved of elastic proportions. In vaulting any space but an absolute square with groining, the semicircular vault could hardly be used both ways, or either; one would be higher than the other, or anyhow, their intersecting line would not be in a true plane for that purpose ; then an arch of variable proportions was needed. In arching over great spaces, such as the naves of churches, or in using arches for the support of great weight, as those under central towers, the round arch was found to be weak, and to produce undue outward pressure; and, from this cause, an arch of increased height was demanded. The architects knew the form 74 ST. MICHAEL S, HILDESHRIM. To face p. 74. s\\ MU IIKI.K. i.rccA. (Examples of German and Italian Romanesque.) ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL of the pointed arch. They had met with it in the first proposition of Euclid ; they had seen or heard of it in the East ; their brethren had used it in Sicily, and themselves in their intersecting arcading. They saw that it met the threefold cravings of their art and they adopted it first where most demanded, and eventually from finding it just what was wanted for the perfecting of their architecture. The result was magical. It became, in the hands of men labouring to render their architecture expressive of the ennobling sentiments of religion, a means of perfecting that solemnity which the Romanesque buildings possess in so wonderful a degree, and of adding the most exalted sublimity to its hitherto stern and rugged grandeur. At first, however, it was limited to the vaulting of large spans, and to arches of large width, or carrying great weight ; the round arch remaining long in use for smaller or less important openings. Such are the steps which led up to that interesting period in the architecture of England, known as the ' transitional," which took place just after the twelfth century had passed its meridian, and with other causes combined to throw some of the most refined metal from the French refining pot suddenly into our English crucible. All architecture, so long as it was a living art, was in reality " transitional " ; it only ceased to be such when its vitality vanished, as it did at the close of the period to which this transitional was the introduction. Still, from our standpoint, as heirs of all the centuries, we can note certain links in the chain of its 75 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE progress as having been exceptionally ' ' transitional ' more from their relation to the preceding and succeeding links than from any intrinsic peculiarity of their own. It is in this sense that the period of architecture of which this chapter treats has specially obtained the above name, and that its applicability to it has become recognised, and the term consequently familiar. Edmund Sharpe * who, if not its original sponsor, was its most loving and devoted exponent, aptly called it " the tomb of the Romanesque, and the cradle of the Gothic." While again reminding my readers that all archi- tecture, speaking of it historically as a living art, was an unbroken sequence, with but one cradle (Greek) and but one tomb (Renaissance), I will adopt the definition of the learned writer just alluded to, so far as to allow 7 that the " transitional " was the link that stood betw r een the Romanesque and the Gothic, and I shall endeavour to make its character, as such, and its connection with its predecessor and successor, as clear as I can ; and therefore now proceed to point out whence this " transitional ' arose, and whither it tended. * Mr Sharpe (d. 1877) was one of the earliest, ablest and most zealous pioneers of the English Gothic revival. The instances are rare in which architects, at least of seventy years ago, found time for contributing to the literature of their art during a professional practice. But both by his books and works Mr Sharpe identified himself with the cause of mediaeval art, and the former, among which may be named his " Architectural Parallels " a work illustrating the progress of ecclesiastical architecture through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, exercised a great influence on professional taste by drawing attention to older and purer examples of Gothic than had yet been imitated. 7 6 AKBKY CIHKC II AT (.KKNRODK. (Saxon Rom;tne..qui> (if ihr 'I'cnth ("oiHiir 'I'o face p. 76. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL Greece was the cradle of refined systematised architecture, the elements of which had, however, existed in a state of chaos for ages previously through- out the East. Grand and elaborate works had, it is true, been built before in India, Persia, Assyria, and Egypt, but in none of these countries had any style been developed which the world could accept as a model to work upon. The purest and most perfect art of its kind, though not the most original or vigorous the world has seen, was unquestionably that of Greece. In its crucible, the heterogeneous, unassorted elements of the Oriental world were fused and refined, and they issued thence in a form systematised and adapted to the require- ments of the time and clime of that highly gifted nation, and became an acknowledged canon of taste for all ages to come. The Romans added the arch as their contribution to the repertory of the art, and spread their system over the whole of the then known world, and though it fell into decay, together with the empire itself, it lay, as seed instinct with life, ready to burst forth under the revivifying influence of a new age and circumstances, and to leave, as a husk behind it, the dress with which Rome had clothed it. That influence was in d,ue time supplied by Christianity. The art of the ancient world had been intellectual, and it had dealt with the material. Its aim had been a comparatively low one, and within human compass. This had been achieved by the Greeks in a manner approaching perfection as nearly as lay within the power of man to attain. But Christianity added 77 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE another and yet higher aim, yet one far more difficult to realise. It sought the spiritual in art, and subor- dinated to that the intellectual, which had been the final goal hitherto, and it found material elements to its hand in the fragments of the ancient architecture freely strewn around, and strove to mould them to its own wider purposes. I shall pass but lightly over this portion of its history to show by it the connection of the several links in the chain of progress ; my object in doing so being to point out that Christian architecture has been ever in a state of transition from its rise to its close, and that from its nature it could not have been otherwise. It is true that in its infancy its steps were faltering and slow, but they were sure, being founded on right principles. The Christians set up the fallen columns and entablatures that the Romans had used as masks to their structures, and for rational supports to the walls wanted to divide the naves from the aisles of the churches which they at first built in imitation of the basilicas, or halls of justice. As their vaulted con- struction became complicated, and they found these no longer suitable, they gave each weight its visible support, and thus arrived at the compound piers, etc., which embody the principle that distinguished their architecture throughout, and which has been tersely summed up thus : ( That every artifice of con- struction must be displayed." Henceforth architecture was ever in a state of transition, though for a long period its progress was 73 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL slow. Commencing with the fourth century from the ruins of heathen basilicge and temples, this Christian-Roman type was modified when trans- planted, with the Empire, to Byzantium (A.D. 476), by the purer Greek and Oriental influences lingering there. It was not till the time of Charlemagne (A.D. 768) that any great movement took place, though in the intermediate period, notwithstanding political troubles, foundation was being laid both in the East and West for the time to come. Under Charlemagne the Empires were reunited, and the arts encouraged, and the style of architecture known as the Roman- esque then grew out of the fusion of the Christian- Roman and the Byzantine. This spread over North Italy and Germany, along the great highway of the Rhine, and became the established style throughout Christendom ; though after the death of Charlemagne, the arts somewhat slumbered again till after the year 1000, which men had dreaded as the probable end of the world, and till the establishment of the feudal system, in place of the preceding anarchy, seemed to give them fresh opportunity. With the eleventh century, Christendom awoke to life, and a change passed over the spirit of the world. Feudalism, with its chivalrous enterprise, was the established order of things in Europe ; and the Romanesque style of architecture became a worthy exponent of its character. The conquest of England was one of the most stirring incidents of the century, but one quite in harmony with the age ; and the Norman architecture which William and his barons- ecclesiastical and military introduced, was a visible 79 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE embodiment of the spirit and circumstances of the builders. Stately and awe-inspiring were the fabrics of the Church ; as haughty and alienated from the people were its priests. The Chapel of the While Tower of London has a grave dignity in its simple proportions which bespeaks a need for defence rather than display ; and the noble naves of Gloucester, Norwich, Ely, Peter- borough, Tewkesbury, and Durham impress us by their solemnity and massive character, with but small aid from any details of their ornament. The twelfth century, however, was ushered in with signs of a still mightier impetus. Those who returned from the first Crusade, which Peter the Hermit had preached (A.D. 1096), brought back wider views and new ideas. Then at the close of the reign of Henry I. that great and popular religious revival took place, which shook the feudal society, already weakened by internal discords, to its foundation the institution of that austere Cistercian Order by St Bernard which forced reform upon the Church. This new zeal found vent largely in the buildings required for the numerous monastic foundations which then became a rage; of these, twelve hundred abbeys and no fewer than three thousand dependencies were owned by the Cistercian Order alone, and the other religious Orders emulated their example. Such were the political conditions of the period the work of which it is the object of this portion of our chapter to explain. In one sense, perhaps, this is not more specially transitional than others in the history of architecture 80 TJIK NAVK, SI-NS I ATHKDKAL. (Transitional stylr of France, c. n^ Ti> face p. So. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL and art, but yet one that has not without good reason obtained the recognised special title of the " transi- tion," in that it marks the point of divergence between ancient feudalism and modern progress, between tyranny and liberalism; and, in architectural detail, between the use of the round and of the pointed arch, between the prevalence of sturdy simplicity and elegant elaboration and splendour of detail, between surface ornament, basking in light, and recessed, shrinking into shadow. In brief, it was the link between the old and the new civilisation of Europe. The period of the " transition ' may be said broadly to occupy the latter half of the twelfth century (1145-1190), and the reigns of our Angevine Kings, the Plantagenets, viz. the latter part of the reign of Henry II. and Richard I. It was not the invention of any one mind, nor an importation from any foreign country, but the gradual work of many minds and of more than one generation, assisted by hints and ideas taken from many different sources and different countries, with which the people had the opportunity of friendly intercourse. The history of the change is more traced in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral than in any other building, with the help of the contemporary records of Edmer and Gervase, translated and applied by Professor Willis. The corona, or eastern chapel of this cathedral, the work of William the Englishman, is so much in advance of the work of William of Sens, that the chief merit belongs to the pupil who had greatly improved upon his master. The Cathedral of Sens greatly resembles the choir, eastern transepts, 81 F A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and Trinity Chapel of Canterbury, but not the corona. There are grounds for believing that Sens Cathedral is later than Canterbury, it having been rebuilt or greatly altered after a lire in 1184, the year that Canterbury was finished. Other buildings in France are in advance of Sens, such as the south transept of Soissons Cathedral, the west front of St Denis, and especially the hall and chapel at Angers, built by our Henry II., who frequently held his Court there, while this work was going on ; and to these meetings of the leading men of the north and south in friendly intercourse, may be attributed considerable influence on the rapid progress of architecture. In the southern and south-western provinces of France, they had pointed arches and domical vaults over large spaces, and an excellent school of sculptors, half a century before they had these in the north. On the other hand, the northern people had attained to much greater elevation in their buildings, and greater length in their ground-plans, so that each had what the others wanted. The Byzantine domes in Peri- gord, and the pointed vaults of Anjou, Poitou and Provence had considerable influence on the develop- ment of the style. The churches built by the Crusaders in Palestine have pointed arches, but no Gothic details, and are almost exactly like the churches in the west of France at the same period. The present Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem was founded by Fulke, Count of Anjou, in 1140. But all these influences were indirect, and subor- dinate to the natural development which took place 82 u ,t > ~ ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL in England. The change of style had begun at an earlier period, and although the general use of the pointed arch was a matter of fashion, its introduction was primarily owing to the necessities of vaulting. It is recorded that three Greek noblemen from Byzantium were present at the consecration of St Bartholomew's, Smithfield, and they were probably consulted by the founder as to the plan of the church. The vaulting of the aisles is peculiar, and the vaulting of the central space seems to have been part of the original design, though not carried out by the founder ; if so, it is the earliest instance of this idea being formed. The round churches of the Templars had probably some influence in giving new ideas. Build was Abbey and the Church of St Cross at Winchester present instances of pointed arches before 1150. After the completion of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1184, the progress of the new style was very rapid. The hall of Oakham Castle, and the galilee of Durham Cathedral where although the arches are round the pillars are slender are good examples of late transi- tion about the same date. Before 1200 the Early English Gothic was fully established. In most parts of the Continent it was later, but the stamp of each century, and especially of the thirteenth, is distinctly visible everywhere, even where the round arch was continued, as, for instance, in Germany. The Greek Doric order of the trabeate construction as perfected in the Parthenon set the course for archi- tectural proportion, and was suited for its place and purpose. But Christian architects, for other purposes 83 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and places, did well to deal as they did freely with this type of column and supports. They adopted the Roman arch instead of the Greek entablature, and altered the proportions of the column so that in the sturdy Norman we find it often but two or three diameters high, and in what may be called the weedy Perpendicular its shafts are as " linked sweet- ness long drawn out." In short, they subjected their ancient precedents wholly to plain common sense, and used them as they needed. Breadth, horizontality, and repose, had been the essential characteristics of Classic architecture, and remained so to a great extent until this epoch of the " transitional." The characteristics of the Gothic architecture to which that style was the portal, and which was the logical result of the common-sense principles followed by the Christian architects, were, on the contrary, subdivision, verticality, and aspiring energy. The period of the transition was that of the struggle between these opposite tendencies. There are five points of essential difference between Classic and Gothic architecture, which it may be as well to recapitulate as the details of the struggle upon this transitional battle-ground. T. In Gothic architecture, as opposed to classical, the arch is essential, the entablature not, and the columns support arches instead of entablatures. 2. There are any number of planes of decoration, one behind another, leading with several arches under one, to tracery; and with arches of different forms under another, to foliation. 3. The weights are divided into as many parts as 84 SAN PAOI.O A RII'A, PISA. To face p. STA .MARIA MAfXilORK, TOSCAXKLI.A. (Examples of the later Romanesque of Italy.) ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL possible, and these are given to independent supports, whence compound piers and clustered pillars result. 4. The diagonal pressures of the arch are conspicu- ously displayed whence come buttresses and pinnacles. 5. The dominant lines are vertical instead of horizontal. The gradual establishment of these new principles in the early Christian Roman works had always to struggle in Italy (the fountain-head of Classic) with strong local influences, and were never able wholly to assert themselves as they did ultimately north of the Alps. Transferred for a time to Byzantium, and thence to Ravenna, they combined there with strong original Greek and Oriental influences. In the former case the Latin cross plan, the basilican arrangement of nave and aisles, the wooden roof, and Roman round-edged type of foliage, were followed. In the other, the Greek cross plan, domed vaults, and sharp-pointed Greek type of the acanthus foliage prevailed. But the Romanesque developed from both these styles, united distinct features of each, and noble buildings arose in and after the time of Charlemagne, throughout Lombardy and Germany, having the Latin cross plan, with nave and aisles, with Byzantine apses, with semi-domes, and vaulted roofs. In these the new principles were carried farther, as the requirements of the vaultings to the compartments of naves and aisles demanded, to the limited extent that the retention of the round arch permitted. The Romanesque did not spread to France till shortly before the time of the Conquest of England, 85 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE when Byzantine feeling had diminished. Few build- ings in that country claim higher antiquity than the early part of the eleventh century, when Rollo, in Normandy, helped to build Notre-Dame, Rouen, and Other great churches elsewhere. The two abbeys at Caen St Etienne, founded by William the Con- queror, and La Trinite, by his wife, Matilda were completed the one just before, and the other after the Conquest ; Jumieges was founded in 1067 ; and St George de Boscherville ten years earlier. Thence the Romanesque was imported to England, where it was wrought out with so distinct and original a character, as almost to form a style of itself, nearly free from all Byzantine influence, even its Roman origin being difficult to trace; it became, as it were, a self-contained and distinct style of which we may be proud. The distinctive features of the details of Roman- esque as needed for our present purpose of comparison with transitional, may, then, be briefly enumerated thus : In Germany, where it was purest, as nearest its sources, and grandest in conception, though not most beautiful in detail, numerous towers compose splendid groupings ; its naves as well as its aisles were vaulted, the piers were large and plain ; cylindrical shafts were not used. The arches were, of course, round only. Transepts occur at both ends of the church ; often there is an apse between the two western transepts, and the eastern pair of transepts is also apsidal. Compared with the English the doorways and pier arches are plain. The simple zigzag arid triple billet 86 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL alone, out of the vast variety of English ornaments of the class were freely used, and in the shape of windows many strange forms occurred, such as arches fringed with rudimental cuspings of an Oriental character, while others resembled in shape the ace of clubs. In France, the simple basilican type with the nave and aisles prevailed, with only an eastern semicircular apse. There were central towers, and often two at the west end. Among its ornaments we find the zigzag, billet, chevron, nail-head, cable, fret, etc., together with sculpture of a Byzantine character, in which the Corinthian capital was imitated, but with Greek, rather than Roman, foliage. Slight pro- jections, recalling antique pilasters, were the only buttresses. The masonry was rude, its joints large, its stones square and axe-faced. It had large circular single pillars, but later square pillars with shafts attached. The naves were wooden roofed with flat ceilings; but the aisles were vaulted. In England the Early Norman was still more massive than in France, though the later Norman was much lighter than these (as in the galilee of Durham Cathedral). The great cylindrical pillars were relieved with zigzag and other groovings, as at Durham, Lindisfarne, Selby, and Waltham. It was often most richly ornamented, sometimes with rude, vigorous, grotesque carvings, as at Kilpeck, in Herefordshire, with a profusion of various simple ornaments, but at others with exceedingly delicate and .beautiful work resembling that in France, supposed to be derived from Byzantium ; like jewellery with 37 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE pearled bands, of which there are good examples at Barfreston and Patrixbourne in Kent. In comparison with " transitional," the windows, round-headed in both, are in Norman low and broad ; the pier arches plain and square-edged, or with heavy rolls on the edges of one or more of the windows of the arch. The capitals, in early Norman, are after a very rude Corinthian type, and fhe later Norman equally primitive upon the Doric tyge, which has become known as the cushion capital. In north-eastern France, where the intermediate steps by which the first pointed style attained its complete development are to be traced only by an occasional and indiscriminate mixture of the circular and pointed arch, the mouldings of these, the section of the abacus and decoration of the capital under- going, for the most part, no transformation. This transitional epoch possesses little interest compared with that excited by its development with us, and has absolutely no claim to a distinct consideration. On overstepping, however, the boundaries of this province, whether in the direction of the lie de France, or the Orleannois, and from them into Champagne, Touraine, and Poitau, we discover abundant evidences of a mighty change in the spirit of architectural creations. We discover a class of buildings which lead us, by progressive and almost insensible grada- tions, from the first incomplete perception of a new principle of beauty disclosed in the pointed arch, to a system so full of harmony, of splendour, and of grace, that were we not familiarised with the stupendous works the art was still destined to accomplish, we 88 NOTRE DAME, CLERMONT-FERRAND. (Romanesque of Auvergne.) To face p. \VESTKKN 1>OR( II, ATTTX ( A II I l-:i >K A I. (Romanesque of Burgundy.) ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL might well believe her to have attained her utmost limits, and pronounce her incapable of sublimer efforts than these her first essays. Such buildings as the choir of Poitiers Cathedral, Sens Cathedral, and " the round " of our Temple Church, are distinguished by the almost universal use of windows, still round-headed, but drawn upwards into lengthened and more graceful proportions, by pointed vaulting in all, and in many of them by a peculiar eight-celled domical ribbed roof, doorways indifferently circular or pointed, enriched with a profusion of statues in the sides, and small sculpture in the arch mouldings ; a characteristic capital of uncommon beauty of design, of fantastic foliage where this is not displaced by small figures ; constant invari- able mouldings of pier arches ; west fronts broken into an infinity of minute particles, and niches occupied by statuary ; a lavish use of cornices on the inside as well as externally; of light and elegant sections, supported by corbels of inexhaustible variety and great delicacy of workmanship ; an almost entire absence of the ornaments of the first Romanesque era, and in most cases some peculiarity in the plan of the church. Of the carved work in France there is great variety and character in that of the different provinces, betraying Byzantine and Oriental influences, the latter doubtless through the means of the crusades. These were all of a conventional character, and not of the original nature of that of England, which was developed from the Norman and a study of natural foliage. There was, however, a profusion of sculpture A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE In France of a highly conventional character, both in figure and costume, also undoubtedly derived from a Byzantine source apparently imported paintings. The style in Germany, analogous to and partly contemporary with the transitional of France and England, can hardly lay claim to that title, seeing that it never lost its round-arched character until quite the middle of the thirteenth century, no style correspond- ing to our pure Early English forming the natural sequence. Some of the special peculiarities of this epoch of German architecture are due to the fact that vaulting large spaces was practised in Germany at an early date. Having vaulted the aisles during the Romanesque period, it was then attempted to vault the naves also, but in doing this difficulties arose, since semicircular arches would only accommodate themselves to the covering of square compart- ments. Consequently it compelled the naves to be double the width of the aisles, and the alternate piers only carried the nave vaulting. These piers were distinguished by greater bulk than the intermediate ones, i.e. those carrying the arches (arranged in pairs) which opened to the aisles, which had only to bear their share in supporting the aisle vaultings. The light from the small windows of the early Romanesque churches being found insufficient, larger clerestory windows were introduced. In place of the single window, which before occupied the centre of each compartment, two were, later in that style, introduced, and placed near each other in pairs, so as to reach the central higher part of the arch. These difficulties and limitations were found to be 90 ABBKY CHURCH OJ/ LAAC1I. (Rhenish Romanesque.) To face p. 90. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL overcome by the use of the pointed arch, which enabled the breadth of the central division of the church to be no longer necessarily double that of the aisles, and to be oblong in shape instead of square ; usually the arch crossing the nave at the intervals of the vaulting was the pointed one, and those spanning the clerestory windows or wall ribs remained semicircular. Next, both these became pointed, allowing any proportion of breadth and length. Sex-partite vaulting a com- partment divided into six cells by the ribs only possible with pointed arches, became common, with octo-partite or eight-celled vaulting at the intersection of the four arms of the church, and a German peculiarity of transitional vaulting was its usual domical treatment, arising from the diagonal ribs rising higher than the transverse and wall ribs ; while an ugly variety of a domical vault, with face ribs, is frequently to be met with. As to plan, whereas the Romanesque apse had been circular, in the transitional it was usually polygonal ; or the two were combined in the same church as in the minster at Bonn. We find apses and towers at both east and west ends,* combined with octagonal cupolas or pyramids, and the termination of the towers with gables on each face and a short square, or octagonal spire above is peculiar to Germany, though a few small examples exist in England. f The triforium was during this period developed from a plain blank awkward wall space occasionally * As at Laach Abbey, and the Cathedrals at Mayence and Worms. f A well-known example is the tower of Sompting Church, near Worthing. 91 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE left between the pier arch and the clerestory in Romanesque churches, into a fine large open gallery, forming a second story to the side aisles, and used as such.* This gallery finds its counterpart in the great French transitional churches of Notre-Dame, Paris, Mantes, Noyon, Soissons (south transept), Senlis, and Laon. The clerestory was enlarged, and filled with large windows, sometimes in triplets, and others in the curious local fan-shaped openings. Buttresses of small projection, with plain cappings, also made their appearance. From these details it will be seen that German architecture of the second half of the twelfth century and the first quarter of the thirteenth never attained the unity and the harmony remarkable in the contemporary work in France ; it was marred by many features more curious than beautiful ; and though often exceedingly grandiose, was deficient in that refinement which is so conspicuous in the " transi- tional " or Plantagenet architecture in England. The introduction of the pointed arch in Germany was by no means at once accompanied by all the other changes which distinguished the Gothic from the Romanesque. The old forms and tendencies lingered long, and were replaced gradually, and the architec- ture of the period named above offers an image of the conflict and indecision of a revolution which is to end in replacing the prevailing principles by their * Examples of this occur chiefly in churches on or near the Rhine as, e.g. St Ouirimis at Xeuss the church at Wcrclen ; the Liebfrau Kirche at Coblentz ; at Sinzii^, Andernach and Boppart ; and in the cathedra! at Limbing on the Lahn. 92 \\YI-; OK THK CIHRC II AT BOl'I'ARi. ( Rli(.'ni>h style of the Thirti-enth Centurv.) To face p. 92. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL opposites. It is apparent, therefore, that while in other countries the Romanesque features gradually faded away before the new style of architecture Germany as a whole, but particularly her Rhenish provinces, clung to them to the last, and abandoned them with manifest reluctance; as if that mighty river, that bore the tide of human civilisation into the heart of Europe, had infused into the nations through which it flowed a veneration for Roman memorials ; with a wish to preserve and perpetuate them, by establishing, according to the principles of their construction, a kindred and lasting style of their own. The transitional style in England must yield to that of the Continent as to priority ; yet, like its pre- decessor, the Anglo-Norman, and its successor, the Early English, it arrived at a higher state of refinement and completeness of character than its contemporary style in either Germany or France. It was free from the quaintness, bordering on the coarse or grotesque, which the one indulged in, and the want of consistency which the other showed, from the retention of many scarcely disguised Classic features, together with the introduction of others of prematurely developed Gothic. The English transitional is more self- contained and harmonious than either. It is no longer stern and forbidding, as was the Early Norman such as we see in parts of the cathedral at St Albans. It is no longer ponderous and plain, on the other hand it is not so light or so graceful as the Early English. It unites, happily, the best qualities of the art; and though it would have been undesirable, as well as 93 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE impossible, to have arrested the tide of architectural progress at that stage, we may and should look back to it with keen admiration, and give it our earnest study. The round arch still prevails in the windows and doors as in Norman, but the windows are higher and their shafts slenderer, as in the choir of Canterbury and the circular portion of the Temple Church. The buttresses and base course project more, and in late examples have sets-off and pyramidal cappings ; the walls are thinner and the masonry finer. Moulded cornices are carried on corbels of uniform profile, and the parapets have sloped copings. Generally increased lightness pervades all parts of the building. Within, the heavy cylindrical columns give place to piers of a lighter mass of semicircular shafts and square edges ; or slenderer circular and octagonal piers, alternate, as in the choir of Canterbury, some- times they are formed of a cylinder with four slender shafts grouped round it, as in the circular portion of the Temple Church in London, and occasionally we find a shaft with pear-shaped section. The capitals still have square blocks moulded down to the circular form below, the lower part being hollowed to the circle, instead of being full and round, as in Norman. Frequently they have small volutes, forming the curled end of a plain leaf encircling the ball. The abacus is square, and its upper edge square in section till late in the style, when greater freedom obtained. The cushion capital is subdivided witli intervening leaves, and the small cushions become more and more detached, and at last by successive stages of en rich - 94 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL ment become balls of stiff conventional foliage peculiar to English work, and leading by easy gradation to the beautiful Early English foliage. About 1175 tne importation of French influence, through the employ- ment of William of Sens at Canterbury,* led to considerable modifications, and the capitals began to assume the Corinthian type as in France, and the French projecting horn (crochet) takes the place of, or is set beside, the other types described. The pointed arch makes its first appearance in the earlier buildings in arches of construction only, as pier arches, or those supporting the central tower, the circular form being retained for arches of decoration, but later it is used for them also, particu- larly for clerestory windows, which naturally were the last built. The pier arches are therefore generally pointed, at first obtusely, and later, acutely ; the mouldings are few and plain, but lighter (usually a roll or pear- shaped at the angle of each shoulder of the arch) , and still maintaining the general square section of the soffit, whereas in Gothic it becomes angular. There is often no hood moulding. The usual orna- ments of the previous Norman disappear, except the chevron occasionally ; and in later examples the dog- tooth appears. The vaulting shaft has generally the elliptical section, giving it great refinement. Plain pointed quadri-partite vaulting sometimes covers the aisles and occasionally the nave, even with * Some account of this great work will be found in the succeed- ing chapter, in which the elongation of the cathedral choir at different periods is considered. 95 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE circular-headed windows beneath the acutely pointed wall ribs. The most characteristic of the works of this epoch in England were the abbeys built by the Cistercian Order of monks, to whom was due that religious revival in the early part of the twelfth century to which reference has already been made. I allude to such churches as Fountains, Furness, Roche, Byland, Jervaulx and Abbey Dore. The whole of the foundations of these buildings were laid out upon one general plan at this period. They were all dedicated to the Virgin Mary-, and built in the most secluded sites that could be found, in the form of the Latin cross in England with short choirs generally of but two compartments. The east ends were square, in contrast to the Continental fashion, such as we see in that typical French Cistercian church at Pontigny, and in Germany at Altenberg, Doberan, Chorin, and that solitary remnant the apse of what must have been the most perfect example of a German Cistercian church, Heisterbach. Most churches of this order in Germany were like those of England, square-ended, with a rectangular sanctuary and two or more oblong chapels opening from the eastern side of either transept as at Arnsberg, Eberbrach, Ebracli, Heiligkreuz, Lilienfeld, Loccum, Maulbronn, Pelp- lin, Riddagshausen and Wettingen.* In England, the transepts of the Cistercian churches were aisleless, but had two or three apsidal chapels on their eastern sides ; there were no lofty towers till a * There is a very perfect example of a brick Cistercian church at Soro, iti the Danish island of /A aland. 9 6 THH RKTROCHOIR, CHIC HliSTKR CATHKDRAL. Mil CISTF.KCIAX CIIfRC-H AT SORO, ni-XMARK (c. Il6o). To face p. 96. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL later date when that severity with which St Bernard had inspired the Order was relaxed. No figure carving was permitted in them, and the stained glass was to be in patterns only, the finest and most perfect examples of this kind of decoration being extant at Altenberg near Cologne. In fact, there was a general restraint in matters of ornament. Cistercian architecture was severely simple and practical, yet excellent, and even elegant, but always dignified in proportion, and neither rude nor clumsy, nor frivolous and flimsy. As an example of the architecture of this period, the last ten years of the twelfth century we cannot do better than take the two eastern bays of the choir of Chichester Cathedral. The episcopate of Bishop Self rid 1180-1204 is the most important epoch in the early history of that cathedral. He saw it almost destroyed by fire in 1187, but he lived to rejoice over the reconstruction which he devoted all his resources and energies to accomplish. The restoration executed under Bishop Seffrid is an admirable specimen of that masterly skill in repairing and recasting old damaged work, and of that genius in designing new forms with which mediaeval builders were so eminently gifted. At Chichester the roofs as in most Norman churches were wooden ; when these caught fire from the carelessness of the plumbers in repairing the lead work, the upper portions of the in- side walls were of course scorched and damaged by the burning timbers hanging against them, and when the beams and rafters dropped on the floor and remained blazing there, the lower parts of the columns 97 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE would be injured in like manner ; the intermediate portions suffered least, though the string-courses and edges of the arches would here and there be chipped by the fall of the timbers. The greatest mischief would naturally be done in the eastern parts of the building, where the stallwork and other wooden fittings supplied so much fuel for the fire. The structural changes at Chichester under Bishop Seffrid, as they may be traced at the present day in his cathedral, exactly corroborate this theory. The triforium being little if at all damaged, was left unaltered, but the clerestory, being nearer the roof where the fire broke out, had to be recast. It consists of a triple arcade supported on single shafts of Purbeck marble ; the central arch enclosing the window is round, but the two blind arches are pointed ; the abacus of each of the corner shafts is square, while the abacus of the central shafts is round ; variations which prove that this work belongs to the transitional period between Norman and Early English. Stone vaulting was substituted for the old wooden roofs of nave and aisles, and buttresses were planted outside to resist the thrust of the vaulting. So far reparation only was needed, and it was done with admirable completeness and economy. But the eastern parts of the church, being far more damaged, had to be more extensively altered. The apsidal ending and radiating chapels of the Norman church were cither destroyed, or so much injured by the fire as to enforce removal. The eastern arm was there- fore lengthened with a square termination, and its arches, two on either side, round-headed, but more 98 * 3 RIPON CATHKIiRAL. (Showing western tower-arcli of the Transition To face p. 98. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL deeply moulded than the Norman, were supported by piers of remarkable elegance, consisting of a central cylindrical column, surrounded by four detached shafts of Purbeck marble, with deeply carved capitals. These were surmounted by a new triforium of two pointed arches enclosed within a round one with sculp- tured tympanum, and resting on clustered shafts of Purbeck marble. Above the triforium again is a clerestory of three arches, all pointed and much loftier than in the three western bays of the choir, or nave, resting on single shafts of Purbeck, and combining, as in the former instances, the round and the square abacus. The arch opening to the Lady Chapel is pointed, but ranges in height with the two north and south, and is surmounted with a triforium arcade of corresponding design, and over this is a triplet of first-pointed lancets. The work in this eastern part of Chichester Cathe- dral has some resemblance in style to the choir of Lincoln, though a little more advanced. Bishop Hugh's architect, Geoffrey de Noyers, having begun his work in 1186, the year before Chichester was burnt. With one exception there are no buildings in London where the architecture of the transitional period may be studied, but that building is a gem of its kind. I refer to the Temple Church, the circular portion of which, consecrated in 1184, is indeed fitted by its inspiring and spiritual character to elevate the mind. It thus justifies the claim I have made for the award of a higher place than even the intellectual and material glories of the Parthenon secured for Classic, 99 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL Chester, St John's, nave arcades, and arches of former central tower. Chichester Cathedral, the greater portion. Chislett, Kent, doorway. Christchurch Priory, Hants, nave. Clun Church, Salop, nave arcades. Clyffe, near Dover, St Margaret's. Compton Church, near Guildford, chancel and its upper story. Corringham Church, Bssex, tower. Crediton Church, Devon, lower part of central tower. Dartford Church, Kent, tower. Devizes, Wilts, tower and chancel of St John's. Dunstable Priory, Beds, nave arcades and triforia. Durham Cathedral, the greater portion. Bast Dereham Church, Norfolk, south doorway. Elkstone Church, Gloucestershire, chancel, south door. Exeter Cathedral, towers. Exeter, St Nicholas Priory, undercroft or crypt. Framingham Earl, St Andrew's, near Norwich, chancel arch, south doorway. Garton Church, near Driffield, Yorkshire. Gloucester Cathedral, crypt, arcades and triforia of choir, nave arcades and triforia, and part of the chapter-house. Haddiscoe Church, near Reedhatn, Norfolk, south doorway . Halesowen Church, Salop. 1 01 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Hadleigh Church, near Southend. Hanborough Church, Oxon, doorway. Hemel Hempstead Church, Herts. Hereford Cathedral, nave arcades, south transept, piers and arches of central tower, choir, as far as the clerestory, arch at east end of choir. Horton Church, Berks, north doorway. Iffley Church, near Oxford. Irchester Church, Northants. Kenil worth Church, west doorway. Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire. Kilkhampton Church, Cornwall, south doorway. Kingsthorpe Church, Northants, nave arcades. Lastingham Church, Yorkshire, crypt, chancel. Leicester, St Nicholas, tower and north side of nave. Llandaff Cathedral, arch between choir and Lady Chapel, south doorway. London, chapel of St John in the White Tower. London, choir of St Bartholomew's, Smithfield. London, crypt of St Mary le Bow, Cheapside. Malvern Priory, Worcestershire, nave arcades. Margate, columns of the nave arcades. Melbourne Church, Derbyshire. Minster Church, Thanet, nave arcades. Moccas Church, Herefordshire. Northampton, St Peter's. Norwich Cathedral, the greater portion. Ospringe, Kent, doorway. Oxford Cathedral, choir. Oxford, St Peter's in the east, chancel, crypt. 102 ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL Oxford, Tower of St Michael's. Patrixbourne Church, Kent. Peterborough Cathedral, the greater portion. Petersfield Church, Hants. Porchester Church, Hants. Rainham Church, Essex. Rochester Cathedral, part of crypt, nave arcades and triforia, west front, arches and windows in west front of ruined chapter-house. Romsey Abbey, Hants, the greater portion. Sandwich, Kent, St Clement's, tower, doorway. St Albans Cathedral, portions of nave, central tower, transepts. St David's Cathedral, nave arcades. St Peter's, Thanet, nave arcades. Sherborne Minster, piers and arches of central tower, cores of some of the nave piers. Shrewsbury Abbey, nave. South Cerney Church, Gloucester, south door. Southwell Cathedral, central tower and transepts, nave and western towers. Stafford, St Chad's. Stanton Lacy Church, Salop. Steetley Church, Gloucestershire. Stewkly Church, Bucks. Stone Church, Lincolnshire. Stow Hill Church, near Newport, Monmouthshire, nave arcades. Tansor Church, Northants. Tewkesbury Abbey, the greater portion. 103 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Thorn ey Abbey, Cambridgeshire. Tickencote Church, Rutlandshire. Upton Church, Bucks^ chancel. Walsoken Church, Norfolk, nave arcades. Waltham Abbey, nave. Water-Shedford Church, Bucks, south doorway. Whaplode Church, Lincolnshire, nave arcades. Wimborne Minster, central tower. Winchester Cathedral, central tower, transepts, crypt, cores of many of the nave piers. Westminster Abbey, substructure of the dormitory, Chapel of the Pyx. Winchfield Church, Hants, chancel arch. Wisbech, St Peter's, north arcade of nave. Worcester Cathedral, crypt, much of the masonry in walls of nave aisles and transepts. Worksop Priory, Notts. Worth Church, Sussex. York Minster, crypt. Youlgrave Church, Derbyshire, nave arcades. A list of some of the most remarkable buildings of the later Norman and Transitional periods, 1150- 1190. Brading Church, Isle of Wight, nave arcades. Brinkburn Priory, Northumberland. Bristol Cathedral, vestibule to chapter-house, and gateway from College Green. Buildwas Abbey, Yorkshire. Byland Abbey, Yorkshire. Canterbury Cathedral, choir. 104 ; V < ; THK TKMl'LK CHLRCH, LONDON. (Circular portion, 1184: choir, 1240.) To face p. 104. ANGLO-NORMAN AND TRANSITIONAL Chaddesley-Corbet Church, Worcestershire, south arcade of nave. Chichester Cathedral, retro-choir, and some upper portions of the choir. Darenth Church, near Dartford. (Durham Cathedral, the galilee. Eastbourne, St Mary's Church. Ely Cathedral, portions of the western transept and tower. Fountains Abbey, nave and transepts. Furness Abbey. Glastonbury Abbey, St Joseph's Chapel. Harrow Church, nave arcade. Hereford Cathedral, ambulatory between choir and Lady Chapel. Jedburgh Abbey, nave. Kelso Abbey, western transept. Kirkstall Abbey, near Leeds. Leckhampstead, Bucks, Church of the Assumption, nave arcades on north side. Llanthony Abbey, nave and choir. London, All Hallows, Barking, some columns in the nave. London, circular portion of the Temple Church. Malinesbury Abbey, nave. New Shoreham Church, Sussex. Northampton, circular portion of St Sepulchre's Church. 105 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Newton Longville Church, Bucks, nave arcade. Oxford, the greater portion of the cathedral. Peterborough Cathedral, the western transepts. Polebrook Church, Northants, north arcade of nave. Ripon Cathedral, transepts, portions of the nave and choir. Roche Abbey, Yorkshire. Rothwell Church, Northants, nave arcades and western doorway. Selby Abbey, Yorkshire, nave. Sohaiu Church, Cambridgeshire, nave arcades, and arches of former central tower. Stamford, St Leonard's Priory. Waddesdon Church, Bucks, south arcade of nave. Wells Cathedral, western part of the choir. Whitchurch, St Candida, Dorset, south nave arcade. Wimborne Minster, nave arcade. Winchester, St Cross, choir and transepts. Winchester, St John's, nave arcades. Winchester, St Peter's, nave arcades. Worcester Cathedral, two western bays of the nave. Yarmouth (Great), St Nicholas, nave arcades. 1 06 CHAPTER IV THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 1190-1260 The dawn of a new and glorious era General characteristics of thirteenth-century architecture The pointed, arch Compari- son of English and French work Some representative buildings Hints for examining a mediaeval church Apsidal terminations Westminster Abbey English mode* of choir extension and termination The square east end Foreign methods of choir planning. . IN the preceding chapter we witnessed the struggle for supremacy that was going on during the reign of Henry II. between the round and the pointed arch. By the time the twelfth century had entered upon its last decade, the latter had gained the ascendancy. The Romanesque or round-arched Gothic, had, both in France and England, transformed itself by a thor- oughly consecutive and logical series of changes into the pointed-arch style, and in both countries that style had been worked into a state of perfect consis- tency, and in each it had assumed its national characteristics, so that the works in the choir at Lincoln, the retro-choir at Winchester, and the western portal of Ely, all of which date from 1190 to 1215, mark the perfectly developed English style, and 107 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE are readily distinguishable from the contemporary works of France. The English works of this period have, at least to our eye, a more advanced character than the French. The round form of the abacus or upper portion of the capital, the greater richness and delicacy of the mouldings, and generally a more decided severance from the massiveness of the Romanesque forms, give to the works before alluded to a later appearance than what we observe in buildings of the same precise period in France. The leading characteristics were, however, much the same. Arches are pointed * generally of the lancet form, and as a rule richly moulded. Triforium arches and arcades are open, with trefoiled heads. Piers are slender, composed of a central circular shaft sur- rounded by several smaller ones, almost or quite detached, often with horizontal bands. In small buildings the plain multangular and circular pillar is used. Capitals are concave in outline, moulded or carved with representations of conventional foliage, delicately executed and arranged vertically. The abacus is always undercut. Detached shafts are often of Purbeck marble, and bases of piers and shafts have a deep hollow between two rounds. The windows are at first long, narrow, and deeply splayed internally, the glass being within a few inches * The round arch was occasionally employed even in the advanced stage of the style, but only in situations where the architect felt he could use it better than the pointed one, as for instance, in one of the transept doorways of Beverlcy Minster, in the triforia of the transepts at York, and of the choir of Hexham Abbe}-, where it encloses two narrow pointed ones. 1 08 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE of the face of the wall. Later in the style the windows become less acute, divided by mullions, enriched with foliated circles in the heads, and often of three or more lights, the centre one being carried highest. Doorways are often deeply recessed and enriched with slender shafts and elaborate mouldings. Shafts are detached. The buttresses become a more important feature, generally, however, with but one "set-oft"' or without any. They are placed at angles and always in pairs. Fonts assume a variety of shapes, and are often ornamented with foliage in high relief, or the tooth ornament, the stem being surrounded by detached shafts. Mouldings are bold and deeply undercut, consisting chiefly of pointed and filleted bowtells or rounds, separated by deep hollows . Great depth of moulded surfaces are generally arranged in rectangular planes. Hollows are of irregular curves, and are sometimes filled with the tooth ornament or foliage. Roofs take a high pitch, the timbers being plain and open. Early in the style finials formed of plain bunches of leaves make their appearance; and towards the close assume more ornate forms, together with the introduction of crockets. Carved foliage is of an unconventional character ; flat surfaces are often richly diapered ; spires become more graceful and elance, and are, as a rule, broached. Such are the leading features of that new and glorious era in church architecture upon which our history has now entered, known as the Early English or first pointed. 109 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE An age of church-building zeal and devotion seems to 'have revelled and expatiated in the luxury of this newly developed pointed system, for now the whole contour of buildings is changed from heavy to light, from low to lofty, from horizontal to vertical, one might almost say from earthly to heavenly. With an occasional glance at the contemporary architecture of other nations for the sake of com- parison, we confine ourselves exclusively to English architecture of the last ten years of the twelfth century and the first half of the thirteenth century for several reasons. It is ample for the space at disposal, it is the best architecture of the period, and it has such distinct characteristics as to make it necessary to treat it by itself. In earlier times this was not so. Our earlier architecture was Roman in its origin ; our transitional still Romanesque in almost all respects ; and in the thirteenth century it was that architecture burst out with what was really a new invention a new style. It is unnecessary to dilate on the thirteenth century and all its glories. The age of Dante and of the great group of Italian artists of all sorts who sur- rounded him Giotto, the Pisani, Memmi, Buffalmaco, Arnolfo, and others. In France it was the age of Philip Augustus and St Louis, and of the grandest churches in that great country Amiens, Chartres, Rheims, Soissons, Rouen ; in England the period which is occupied by the reigns of John and Henry III., which saw the erection of Salisbury, West- minster, Wells, Lincoln, the transepts of York, Fountains, Whitby, Beverley, Hexham, not to no THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE mention others; the age in which Magna Charta was signed, and the foundations laid of all our subsequent greatness and prosperity ; in which, finally, English art arrived at a perfection never since approached. In the transitional style there was more respect for the past than hope for the future, the pointed arch was used because it was useful, and because it was liked. The problem in construction which its use involved had not been realised or worked out. The art Was essentially one of rest and quietness. Amongst the reasons for the development of the new mode of building none was more important than the adoption of groining ; when this was introduced the builders perceived that the pointed arch was the best suited for their purpose. With the circular arch, groining could be and was used, but with grave inconvenience in the arrangement of the diagonal and principal arches, whilst the construction was weak. Thus it became almost essential that the arch used in vaulting should be pointed. Then the thrust of the arches had to be resisted, and this provision for thrust led to the introduction of the buttress, and the more scientific disposition of the masses. Before the thirteenth century all the principles of architecture were founded on classical traditions. The arch, it is true, was used, but it was the arch at rest. It appeared to exert no lateral thrust. The piers were enormous, the walls very thick, with no buttresses, and the weight and the thrust of superin- cumbent work was as great as possible, but distributed all over the length of the wall face. In the thirteenth in A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE century all this was changed. Men discovered the real use of the arch. The pointed arch had been used in the East at a much earlier period. In north- western Europe it \vas introduced, as we have seen in the previous chapter, about the middle of the twelfth century ; but only because it was convenient. How it came to be invented would in any case be a merely antiquarian question ; but how suddenly the discovery of its proper use revolutionised architecture, and led at once to the invention of a new style, is really the most interesting fact in the whole history of the art. All other styles may be said to have been slowly developed by patient steps, each being little in advance of the last. Here we have a sudden mighty change in the whole practice of architecture following immediately on what was as distinctly a discovery as are any of those great inventions which in the last century have changed the whole current of labour in so many ways. Thirteenth-century architecture is not in any proper sense a mere development. Its authors knew, indeed, what had been done in their earlier years and by their fathers. Their merit was that they realised at once in a practical way the proper consequences of the use of the pointed arch. What were these ? (i) Weights were gathered together, carried to the ground in part, and in part distributed by arches to other piers or buttresses. (2) Walls were no longer continuous masses of vast thickness. The wall proper was a thin connecting link between the buttresses which received the weight from above, brought to them by arches and flying buttresses. (3) The construction was every - 112 =i PlCR CAITI.. CHOIR ( LiNtotw CATHEDRAL C. ll<0 . [_ -1 To /act p. 1 1 a. THIRTEENTH CENTURY UOTH1C DETAILS. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE where displayed. Men's delight in it made them show it, and henceforth the ornament followed the construction so closely that it became almost a canon that all ornament should be used with a view to emphasising the constructional lines of the design. The result of these three rules was, one may almost say, a necessary one. Architecture was, as it were, suddenly vivified. Where before all was at rest, suddenly an active life pervaded every stone. The building became almost as full of life as a human being. Each part had its work to do, and its shape, its position, its section, was contrived expressly to enable it to do it in the best way. The essential difference between all earlier architecture and that of the thirteenth century was, in a word, that in the latter there was from beginning to end thrust and counter-thrust in every part of the wall. From the base to the top of the highest pinnacle every stone may almost be said to have its work to do. Masons and architects had been skilful and able up to a certain point before. They had laboured to give decorative effect to their work by a profusion of carved enrich- ments ; but they had shown little, if any, scientific power. Within a few years the same men and their children have become transformed into workers so skilful and so scientific that every portion of their work has been touched by a warm breeze of refinement, which presents us with the most delicately beautiful results that have ever been seen in the work of architects in any age. All later changes were again, as before, merely developments. There is no difference in principle 113 H A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE between thirteenth century and fourteenth, or between fourteenth century and fifteenth, and the only radical changes since the thirteenth century have been the determination of the Renaissance builders to forget that such a thing as a pointed arch had ever been constructed. The limits accorded to me preclude my dwelling with great particularity as to exactly where and when this great development arose ; most people concur in allowing to France the greater share of the honour. In England, one of the earliest examples of radical change in style is that to be seen in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, the work of a Frenchman. But the distinctly French style of this church the style of the Domain Roy ale, or country within a radius of fifty miles or so from Paris had curiously little influence on architecture elsewhere in England. And there is more general likeness between the buildings of Normandy and England than between those of Normandy and the province just alluded to. Proceeding to a more detailed examination of this grand period of architecture, we find a group of great cathedrals, abbeys, and parish churches either com- pleted or partially so between the accession of King John in 1199, and the death of Henry III. in 1272. Of the Temple Church in London the choir was consecrated on Ascension Day, 1240, in the presence of Henry III. Of Westminster Abbey, the first stone was laid in 1245 f the choir (or as it is generally styled, the sacrurium) and transepts, and it had made sufficient progress twenty-five years later to enable it to be used for service, though the greater part of the H4 \VKI.I.S ( \TIII ; .I)R AI.. '1'he Nave, looking cast. Early English style.) To fuce p. 114. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE Confessor's nave was still standing. Stone Church, near Dartford, Skelton Church,* near York, and Southwark Cathedral at that time the church of an Augustinian Priory were completed shortly after the middle of the century. Salisbury Cathedral was built by Bishops Poore and Bridport, on a uniform design, between 1218 and 1259, the glorious central tower and spire being left for future ages to achieve. Wells Cathedral, begun at least ten years before the close of the twelfth century, was consecrated in 1239, in which year a whole batch of cathedrals and churches were hallowed, so much of the building as was absolutely necessary for divine service being finished. Contemporary with Wells are the choir and eastern transepts of Lincoln St Hugh's share in that noble minster. On the showing of the highest authorities both in England and France, these two buildings are the earliest pure Gothic ones in Europe. A little later and we have Bishop Lucy's exquisite retro-choir and Lady Chapel at Winchester. The transepts of York Minster, in progress between 1227 and 1240, were the first instalment of a design for rebuilding the Norman cathedral on its present grandiose scale. Fountains Abbey, parts of St Albans Cathedral, the western transepts and nave of Lincoln Cathedral, the extension of the choir of Durham, and the choir and transepts of Beverley Minster are all among the greatest works in progress up to the middle of the century, to which period belong almost all the most exquisite of our abbeys Netley, * Two tniall but elegant examples of the style. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Beaulieu, Wliitby, Rievaulx, St Mary's, York, Lanercost, Binham, Tintern, Fountains (east end), Easby, Finchale; and in Scotland Dryburgh, Plus- cardine, Elgin, New or Sweetheart, Jedburgh, and Glasgow ; and in Ireland Christ Church and St Patrick's Cathedrals, Dublin, Ardfert, Kildare, Kil- kenny, etc. The buildings, of which a brief list has been given, are of the first half of the thirteenth century. In point of fact the style to which the reader's attention is directed is seen in some of its earliest efforts, fairly complete in the last twenty years of the twelfth century, and by the end of the reign of Henry III. so changed as to be in truth a different style. It is only in a rough and arbitrary way that we can talk of the art of a century, and it must be always as of that which most distinguished the century, rather than that which was practised throughout the whole course of it. There was too much life and change to make any other treatment of the question possible. Of the examples which, by those resident in London, may most readily be studied on the spot, I may name Westminster Abbey, the Temple Church, Southwark Cathedral, and the chapel of Lambeth Palace; while within easy access of town are Dunstable Priory, St Albans Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral, and St Mary Stone, near Dartford. My readers may like to have some rule for examining a church by themselves. They should observe, wherever thev go, the following points in every building : (i) Ground-plan, and plan of groining. 116 ROCIIKSTKR CATHKDRAL (Tin' Choir, looking cast. K.irlv ICn To face p. 116. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE (2) General character of design. (3) Character of piers, arches, and mouldings. (4) Character of traceries and arcades. (5) Special features of con- struction. (6) Furniture, stained glass, monuments, and details generally. And to enable them to do so I may tell them in a few words what they will usually find and should look for in such examinations. i. GROUND-PLAN. Most Anglo-Norman and foreign Romanesque plans had apsidal terminations. Canter- bury has one, but copied from Sens ; Westminster is apsidal, but designed by an Englishman though under somewhat French influence. English prejudice was, however, against the apse, and it is very rarely introduced in work in this country after the twelfth century. Glastonbury, " a well of English undefiled," is square-ended. A great number of twelfth-century apsidal east ends were destroyed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in order to make room for square ends, sometimes under difficulties, as, for instance, at Winchester and Gloucester, where the crypts remain apsidal, although the superstructure is altered. Stone Church, which was obviously built by the same men as Westminster, is square-ended. In fact apsidal terminations after the end of the twelfth century seem very rarely constructed in England, though many were pulled down. As most of the churches built in this country in Anglo-Saxon times terminated rectangularly, this prejudice in its favour may have been only a recurrence to the old familiar form in the thirteenth century. In Westminster Abbey we have a very English 117 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE version of a French chevet, as the apsidal end with its aisle and chapels is called. I need hardly remind my readers how beautiful its general effect is. But if they will examine its ground-plan they will see how extremely scientific it is in every arrangement, and how it grew out of the necessities of the case. Agreed that the central roof must be lofty, properly lighted, and covered with a stone vault, and the apsidal form makes it necessary to provide buttressess radiating from the centre. In order to provide aisles round the apse, these buttresses have to be carried on arches, and thus become flying buttresses, and the spaces between them become available for use as chapels, opening out of the aisle or procession path. A single chapter might be devoted to an explanation of the various developments of plan which the necessities of the apse and its chapels gave rise to. There is no feature in which so much varied ingenuity has been displayed by the mediaeval architect, and to the French, especially those of the north, the palm must be awarded in this matter. None others were so capricious or so bold. The Italians and the Germans never attempted to compete with them, for though they occasionally made use of the aisled apse, it was in an awkward way, and our own ancestors were led to abandon it in favour of the square end, which, though it may be as noble in its effect as, for example, in the Early English Ely, the Decorated Lincoln, and the Perpendicular York is neither so ingenious nor so difficult in its construction. The whole character of the design of Westminster Abbey is English, not French ; and the planning of the apse is unlike that 118 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE of any French apse, and is distinctly original. As regards some details, especially the windows, there is a striking similarity between the apses of Westminster and Rheims. There can be little doubt that our Henry III., during his sojourn in France, became enamoured of this arrangement, which in its perfected form he may have seen in course of construction at Amiens, Beauvais, Rheims, and elsewhere. It would naturally strike him as being well suited to the reconstruction of the eastern portion of a church already possessing an apse with a circumambient aisle, as the Confessor's did. Judging from internal evidence I should imagine that an English architect or master of the works was commissioned to visit the great cathedrals then rising all over France north of the Loire, with a view of making his design on the general idea suggested by them. Would that, like his contemporary, Villard de Honnecourt, he had bequeathed us his sketch-book. The general resemblance here referred to does not amount to any proof of identity between the building and its architect, but it is a most interesting fact that Westminster Abbey is the only introduction into England of the perfect French arrangement of chapels at the extremity of the church, as a chevet, a combina- tion of design beautiful beyond comparison ; while the square ends of Ely and Southwell and Hexham, majestic as they are, or the picturesque grouping of low eastern chapels at Chester, Chichester, Hereford, Salisbury, and Southwark, are hardly worthy to be considered as in any degree equivalent to the charm of those coronse of radiating apsidal chapels at 119 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Amiens, Beauvais, Le Mans, Altenberg, Cologne, Prague, and elsewhere, and it seems remarkable that where other buildings were really copied almost literally by their architects, and transplanted into England, so beautiful an arrangement as the chevet at Westminster should not have taken root in this island. In his book, ' Gleanings from Westminster Abbey," Sir Gilbert Scott mentions remarkable points of difference, and an absence of any such marks as might be sufficient to refer this masterpiece of design and construction to any known architect ; neither could he detect a French character in the details, although the comparison is so essentially and singularly foreign. In this respect the Abbey stands almost alone. It is, indeed, a building of marvellous beauty internally ; its lofty arcade, richly diapered spandrels, deeply moulded triforium with its double plane of traceried arches, surmounted by lofty clerestory windows, form a composition hardl}- to be surpassed. Nor is there any cathedral bearing close resemblance to it. Yet, strange to say, the nave of Westminster has been often compared with that of Rheims, to which it bears very little similarity, Westminster being infinitely the superior work, always excepting the west front of Rheims, which, as a work of its kind, is unsurpassed. The only reason that can be assigned for its being put in comparison with Rheims is that, like Westminster, it has been the church generally chosen for coronations. I am strongly of opinion that it is the work of an architect who, seeing the results achieved by the 120 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE French architects, desired to achieve the same ends without exactly concerning himself as to the means which they employed ; and hence his work is not only in its detail, but equally in its ground-plan, distinctly an English work. The usual difficulty in planning an apse is to get the sides nearly equal, the bays of the aisles regular, and the chapels beyond equal also, and to do all this without waste of space or unnecessary amount of walling. It may also be said that no two French apses were alike, so many were the efforts to produce a perfect result. In Beauvais, Bourges, Rouen, Le Mans, and Notre-Dame at Paris, the most perfect arrangements are found surpassed, however, I am disposed to think, by that of Amiens which, undoubt- edly, gave its lines to those later chevets south of the Loire at Clermont Ferrand, Limoges, Bordeaux, Narbonne, Rodez, and Toulouse. At Westminster the architect contrived to make all his chapels exactly equal ; but in order to do this he had to make a rather clumsy mass of masonry between the end of the outer aisle and the first chapel, and he has an awkward bay between the choir aisle and that of the apse, cutting into and spoiling the perspective. In almost all the French plans the base line of the apse is definitely marked, and the lines as far as possible all radiate from the centre of the central apse. At Amiens Cathedral, which I have already alluded to as the most perfect, they all do so. The surrounding chapels are all equal, and there is no awkwardness in the junction of the flying buttresses of the apses with the walls and buttresses of the side 121 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE aisles. At Westminster the line of the commence- ment of the chevet is not marked ; one of the centres of the apse has no chapel opposite, and there is great awkwardness in the prolongation of the radiating treatment of the buttresses beyond the base of the apse. In this respect no French example is like it. The architect of the chevet and " sacrarium " * of Westminster, however, in imitating the great con- temporary churches in France, did not adopt another of their great characteristics the bar-tracery of their windows. I am not aware that it exists in a perfect form in any earlier English work, though often closely approached. It is said that Netley Abbey was erected about 1240; and the eastern part of old St Paul's is said to have been consecrated in that year, and as both of these contained perfected tracery, the substantiation of those dates would establish for us an earlier claim. But on the whole I think we may fairly yield this development to our neighbours, and consider this to be about the period at which we borrowed it ; though so perfect is the catena of transitional steps that we should have had no difficulty in tracing out the history of the development from English examples. The earliest introduction of the perfected principle of bar- tracery is seen in the apse of Rheims Cathedral. We find there the pierced spandrels and gussets moulded as the openings themselves, and the principle of bar- tracery completed, though with some remaining imperfections. It is very difficult to fix dates for * A term applied to the eastern lirub of Westminster Abbey from time immemorial. Strictly speaking the " sacrarium " i the " piscina." 122 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE these transitions. Rheims Cathedral was commenced in 1 212, and M. Viollet le Due, the distinguished French architect of the last century, was always puzzled at finding perfect traceried windows at so early a period, and suggested it as probable, as the transept of the same work does not exhibit equal advancement, that the aisle windows were altered by the first architect a little later. Certain it is that neither Bourges nor Chartres Cathedrals, which were in progress about the same time, give any evidence of a like progression ; while the intermediate step at Le Mans and Tours would appear from many of its accompanying details to be of later date than that given to Rheims. Had de Honnecourt put a date to his sketch-book, which gives these very windows at Rheims, the difficulty would perhaps have been solved.* Westminster Abbey then stands forth prominently among great English churches as marking, first, the introduction of the French arrangement of chapels, which, however, failed to take root here ; and secondly, the completed type of bar-tracery which was no sooner grafted on an English stock than it began to shoot forth in most vigorous and luxuriant growth. We lost a valuable example of the English treat- ment of the chevet when the late twelfth-century choir of Lincoln Cathedral was extended, only fifty years after its completion, to make way for the square-ended Angel Choir, which beautiful as it is, hardly com- * The sketch-book of Villard de Honnecourt shows that the plan was altered after the work was begun, and these windovrs belong to the later period (c. 1240). 123 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE pensates us for the loss of so interesting an essay in the art of apse planning as that of St Hugh's architect, Geoffrey de Noyers. Excavations prove that at Lincoln there was no intermediate bay between the curve of the apse and the eastern transepts. It had five sides, and a procession path, into which five chapels of unequal size and outline opened, encircled it. From this it would seem that the Lincoln architect had not grasped those fundamental principles of the art of chevet planning which the Frenchman knew so well how to apply. What the details of this apse were is only recoverable by analogy with the work existing in the choir and transepts, and this makes us again regret that no English Villard de Honnecourt has left us his album. Meanwhile a purely insular system of eastern termination, in which the procession path and chapels debouching into it, had (under various circumstances) been devised at Winchester,* Hereford, Chichester, Chester, Salisbury", and later at Exeter, St Albans, Wells, and Manchester. At St David's this exten- sion was effected in a peculiar manner, which will be detailed hereafter. In Scotland this arrangement may * A work of great value, both from its simplicity and beauty, and well-ascertained date, and as being the earliest example of what became so frequent afterwards), a Lady Chapel of lesser altitude but of considerable size and great architectural splendour, built at the extreme east end of a cathedral or other great church. It was the work of Bishop Lucy (1186-1204) the Norman apse being removed to make way for this extension. An admirable description of how this was effected is given in the volume of the proceedings of the Archaeological Institute for 1845, from the pen of Professor Willis. 124 CH1CHESTER CATHEDRAL. (From the N.E., showing English mode of Choir extension.) To face p. 124. ST. DAVID S CATHEDRAL. (From the S.E., showing English mode of Choir extension.) THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE be seen at Glasgow, and in Ireland at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. The plan of their architects was to prolong the aisles one or more bays beyond the gable end of the choir, by which means an ambulatory or via processionum was obtained behind the high altar, and from which an arch opened into a chapel extending for a considerable distance eastward. The peculiar arrangement of these low eastern aisles originated at Hereford very early in the thirteenth century, if not before the close of the twelfth, and it was quickly followed at Winchester, where we may see the most extensive illustration of this singularly English arrangement. At Hereford the low eastern work consists of two compartments of transition Norman leading to an Early English Lady Chapel, and flanked by low Decorated transepts. The distribution of the piers in the low eastern work at Wells, which is quite the latest example of this system of extension, is peculiarly complex, and produces a beautiful effect. It appears to have been contrived with two objects the circulation of processions, and as a depository for the shrine of the saint locally honoured. Gervase, the historian of Canterbury, has told us that care was taken to accommodate processions in the eastern aisles of Conrad's " glorious choir," which so soon usurped that of Lanfranc. William of Worcester applies the term via processionum to eastern aisles, and in English vocabularies they are called the " procession path." How Bishop de Lucy's architect effected the junction of the Norman choir at Winchester with his I2 5 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Early English work in the new extension, after his removal of the Norman apse, we can only conjecture, as great alterations took place in that part of the church which lies between the Norman tower of Bishop Walkelin and the gable end of the choir, during the fourteenth century ; but it is probable that three Early English arches surmounted by a triplet of lancet windows were employed as at Salisbury twenty years later. This retro-choir at Winchester is a parallelogram on plan, divided into a centre and two side divisions of equal height by graceful Early English columns and arches, the bays thus made being utilised at a much later period for the sumptuous chantries of Bishop Waynflete and Cardinal Beaufort. The central division opens eastward into a square- ended Lady Chapel, partly Early English, with a Perpendicular bay added, and the side ones into smaller chapels also rectangular, which, until its extension, had their east ends in a line with that of the Lady Chapel. At St Mary Overy (now the cathedral of St Saviour, Southwark), we see the same idea carried out as at Winchester, from which perhaps it may have been copied. At Southwark there are four parallel chapels, each with its separately gabled roof behind the east end of the choir, three bays in length, and separated from one another by graceful columns and arches ; there is no procession path, the outer walls of the chapels being carried on as at Winchester in the same line as those of the choir aisles, which thus open directly into these chapels, so that the eastern limb of the church is, on plan, a rectangle. There are two 126 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE arches at the east end of the choir, but whether they ever opened into this " retro-choir ' as the late Mr Francis Dollman, who had devoted much study to the church, always called it is a matter of some doubt. The masonry with which they are now filled, looking at them from these chapels, appears, from the reticu- lated panelling upon them, to belong to the later Decorated period, and they were quite concealed from the choir when, early in the sixteenth century, Bishop Fox reared his soaring altar piece against them. The choir of Southwark Cathedral is an admirable example of delicate Early English work, and of the skill shown by thirteenth-century architects who have made a small building look large by the subdivision of the parts in detail. The arches dividing the choir from its aisles are only about twelve feet wide, and yet the triforium is an arcade of four divisions. The main columns also may be noticed as extremely good in their design ; alternately circular and octagonal, some have delicate shafts, others corbelled shafts at their cardinal points.* The four eastern chapels are still very charming, and though the whole of the eastern arm of St Saviour's was subjected to a well- meant but somewhat clumsy restoration very early in the last century, from the designs of Gwilt, some of its mouldings e.g. those of the capitals and of the groining ribs deserve study. If carefully looked at, a great difference is noticeable between the groining * The octagonal columns have their obtuse sides much narrower than their cardinal ones. The columns with corbelled shafts attached to them have been copied in a striking church erected about thirty-five years ago, St Augustine, South Bermondsey, now in the diocese of Southwark. 127 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE of the aisles which in their lowness are almost Romanesque and retro-choir, and that of the choir itself. In the former the diagonal rib is a semicircle, in the latter it is a pointed arch. The former is much more agreeable, for the eye is carried forward from one rib to the next without a violent pause, and this is in every way better in effect. I alluded in a former page to St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Coeval with Salisbury, the ground-plan of St Patrick's Cathedral survives in its ancient lines in perfection of symmetry and proportions as it was originally cast by its designer, about 1225. As a study on paper, the ground-plan of St Patrick's is of singular beauty of proportion and perfect symmetry, of which there is no similar example in England. It reveals itself as the design of a mathematical mind, which arrived at the proportions of a Latin cross by the placing together a number of absolutely uniform equilateral triangles, which are found to agree in indicating the width and proportions of every main feature. The choir, nave, and transepts present in plan a perfect cross. The aisles of the four limbs which surrounded this, extended on the same accurate system of triangulation, present another proportion of a Latin cross of no less beauty, the repeated dimension of sixteen feet being evident as a factor in the proportion of every feature of its plan. At Gloucester the Norman side chapels of the apse were not removed when great alterations took place in that cathedral during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but were transmuted into Perpendicular. The central or Lady Chapel of the apse was, however, 128 ( III k< H ( )!' SI. OMKR. (Northern French Gothic of the Thirteenth Century.) Tn face p. 128. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE entirely removed, and a very long square-ended one substituted. At Norwich, the least altered of all our Norman cathedrals as regards its ground-plan, the original Lady Chapel was rebuilt in the thirteenth century. The arch of entrance to this chapel still remains, but the building was destroyed by Dean Gardiner in the reign of Elizabeth. Its foundations, proving it to have been of large size, have been traced, as well as those of its predecessor, which was circular, like the existing side chapels of Jesus and St Luke. Quite at the end of the fifteenth century a large chapel, equal in width to the choir and its aisles, was built behind the apse of Peterborough Cathedral. The main apse was but little disturbed, but the end walls of the aisles were removed to give access to it. This was not built for a Lady Chapel. At Peter- borough (as at Ely still) the Lady Chapel was on the eastern side of the north transept, into which it opened by two arches. It was an Early English structure of beautiful character, and was demolished for the sake of the materials, in order to repair the damage done to the cathedral during the Civil Wars. At St David's the chapels beyond the choir were not extended until late in the thirteenth century, and the work was effected in a very singular way. The east ends of the Early English choir and its aisles were left untouched, but doorways were made in those of the latter which were prolonged beyond the east end of the choir to a distance sufficient to allow a space of fifteen feet from west to east. Beyond this a connect- ing aisle was built forming a passage to the Lady 129 I A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Chapel, and opening into the aisle at its north and south ends by two very beautiful pointed arches. The oblong space thus left between the east wall of the choir and the passage to the Lady Chapel appears to have remained open until the time of Bishop Vaughan (1509-1522), for it is described then as " vilissimus sive sordissimus locus in tota ecclesia." One can only account for this hiatus between the main building and the Lady Chapel by supposing that the architect of this eastern extension at St David's was an extra- ordinarily conservative person, with scruples abaut disturbing the square end of the choir by piercing it with a connecting arch or arches as in the cathedrals before alluded to. On taking the matter in hand Bishop Vaughan removed the glass from the three lancets at the east end of the choir, filling them up with masonry,* and to the walls of the hitherto unoccupied space behind it he added a clerestory and a vaulted roof, by which means a structure was obtained which has always been styled Bishop Vaughan 's Chapel. The Perpendicular work here is late but good ; the fan vaulting is excellent, and the windows in the clerestory, with their triangular- headed lights and arches are pleasing examples of the style, as are the light open screens with their eccentrically placed doorways, which fence off the chapel from the aisle on either side of it. The work in the Lady Chapel and the passages connecting it with the aisles of the choir is geometrical Decorated, and, for a long time after the restoration of the main fabric had been completed, lay roofless and almost in ruins. * These wall spaces are now filial \vith subjects in mosaic. 130 Within recent years the reparation of these outlying parts has been judiciously effected, and they now unite in composing an architectural group of the highest beauty and interest. There was, however, another method which in the latter part of the twelfth, and throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was destined materially to affect the character of almost all the chief churches of England. The eastern limb of a cathedral or monastic church, as originally planned by its Norman architects, was in most cases of very moderate length. The fact was that existing requirements did not render any considerable space at the east end necessary. The area under the central tower afforded abundant room for the ritual choir and the ordinary services of the Hours, while the three or four bays that inter- posed between the tower and the apse gave room enough for all that was wanted to add dignity to the Eucharistic celebration. In the centre of the chord of the apse stood the high altar, behind which, in the middle of the curve, was the seat of the bishop ; it may still be seen in the apse of Norwich, and in a more perfect form at the Cathedral of Torcello, near Venice. On either side of the high altar rose the shrines of such saints, greater or lesser, whose relics the Church had the good fortune to call her own.* But as years rolled * At Canterbury, the shrine of St Elphage was placed on the north of the high altar, that of St Dunstau on the south, with their respective altars to the west of the shrine. At Worcester the shrine of St Oswald stood in advance of the high altar to the north, and that of the sainted Bishop Wnlstan to the south. The A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE on, these hallowed treasures increased in number and attractiveness. The tombs of departed saints became the accredited centres of miraculous agencies, and drew to themselves ever-increasing crowds of devotees, desiring not only an interest in the holy man's inter- cessions, but, still more, a share in the physical benefits of which his remains were supposed to be the divinely appointed channels to suffering humanity. To accommodate these vast throngs, as well as to afford space for the due exhibition of the objects of their veneration, a greatly enlarged eastern limb was required ; and in one cathedral and great church after another we find the same process of eastern extension gone through, and for the accomplishment of the same object. It matters little what cathedral it is to which our inquiry is directed, the result is the same. Wherever the fabric has been elongated to the east, an examination of the documentary history will show that the motive was identical, the necessity for increased shrine room, and an enlarged area for the reception of the worshippers of the local saint, as e.g. St Etheldreda at Ely, St Thomas at Canterbury, St Wulstan and St Oswald at Worcester, St Cuthbert at Durham, St William at York, St Hugh at Lincoln, St Werburgh at Chester, St Chad at Lichfield, St William of Perth at Rochester, St Alban at Verulam, St Erkenwald at Old St Paul's, and so on. very unsaiiitly John Lackland found his resting-place between the holy men, " that," said the chronicler, " the saying of Merlin might be verified, ' lie shall be placed between the saints.' ' On either side the high altar of Tonrnai Cathedral is the beautiful mediaeval shrine of a saint of local celebrity St Eleuthenus (Eloy) and St Peter the Martyr. 132 MAGDF.IU R(, CATIIKUKAI.. Gothic of the Thirteenth Century.) To face p. 132. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE This fact, which has hardly received the promin- ence due to its importance, also affords an explanation of the enlargements received by our cathedrals being, almost without exception, confined to the eastern limb, and the chapels grouped about it. In almost every instance the nave occupies the same ground, if it be not actually the same fabric, as that originally built by the Normans ; while there are but seven instances Winchester, Gloucester, Durham, Here- ford, Norwich, Oxford, and Peterborough in which the walls of the choir have not received eastward elongation, and in all of these, with the single exception of Oxford, chapels have been added still farther to the east. The first impulse in the direction of this eastward enlargement of our great Norman churches proceeded most naturally from the same quarter in which the first example of a Norman cathedral was given the Metropolitan Church of Canterbury. The eastern limb of Lanfranc's Church very soon proved inadequate for the requirements of the brethren, and about A.D. 1093, within twenty years of its completion, it was pulled down by the prior and monks of the monastery, at the instance or at least with the approbation of his successor Anselm. The work was begun by Prior Ernulf, and finished by Prior Conrad. It may seem strange that Ernulf should undertake a work apparently so lavish and so wild, as pulling down the eastern limb of a cathedral seven years after its completion, but the probability is that this was done owing to the extreme shortness of the eastern 133 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE limb of Lanfranc's church, which was only (as in other churches of Romanesque date, when basilicas were developing into mediaeval cathedrals) devoted to the purpose of the sanctuary merely, the choir being under the great tower. The days of St Anselm were those of extreme ecclesiological development. The shadow of Gregory VII. had passed over the Western Church. The result was that his priors Ernulf and Conrad pulled down the Lanfrancian sanctuary, and showed the English Church the first instance of a long eastern limb, in which both choir and presbytery were placed eastward of the great tower. So extensive was this development that the area of Canterbury Cathedral was nearly doubled by it, " and as no ruin, fire, or other casualty has been recorded, it must be assumed that the sole reason for this change was that the monks did not think their church large enough for the importance of their monastery ; and above all and this we cannot doubt was the leading motive that they wanted shrine room for the display of the relics they had so assiduously collected ; and also for the proper disposition of their ancient arch- bishops, most of whom appear to have received canonisation."* The ground-plan of Canterbury choir as recon- structed under Anselm " the glorious choir of Conrad " as it was styled by Gervase given by Professor Willis, enables us at a glance to realise the prodigious stride taken by Prior Ernulf, and followed, though somewhat tardily, by successive generations of church builders. Instead of the short construc- * Willis, "Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral." 134 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE tional choir, hardly ever exceeding four bays, and often having a smaller number, we see a choir of no less than nine bays to the springing of the apse ; and the apse itself, not a mere semicircular wall, but a graceful chevet of five arches opening into the aisle, continued as a procession path round it. We remark also the appearance of a new feature borrowed in all probability from the great Abbey Church (now alas almost totally destroyed) at Cluny viz. a second or eastern transept of greater projection than the tran- septs of the original Norman churches, each with two apsidal chapels attached to the east wall. Later on this double transept found its full develop- ment in the successor of Conrad's choir at Canterbury ; in the Cathedrals of Salisbury, Worcester, Lincoln, Rochester, and the minster at Beverley.* At York it seems to have formed part of the plan of the choir rebuilt by Archbishop Roger (1070-1100), but its projection was small, and it was virtually lost, when another rebuilding (that of the present choir) took place in Perpendicular times (1361-1400) in the increased breadth of the aisles. This eastern transept appears also in the ground- plans of Hereford and Wells, where, however, it is only co-extensive in height with the aisles. A tran- sept at the extreme east is a remarkable feature at Durham and Fountains Abbey. A western transept, * With the exception of Cluny, the eastern or choir transept seems never to have been adopted in France, the only instance of it with which I am acquainted occurring in the choir of the grand Church at St Ouentin in Picardy, a building almost rivalling Amiens in its prodigious height. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE formed by the bases of the western towers and appended chapels, exists at Lincoln, Peterborough, Wells, and partially at Lichfield. The grandest example of the western transept branching from a tower is that presented by Ely. In Germany, and particularly in the Rhine provinces, the western transept is one of the most striking features in many of those imposing ' transitional ' churches, built early in the thirteenth century, as e.g. St Cunibert's, the Holy Apostles' and St Andrew's at Cologne, St Quirinus at Neuss, and by a prolongation of the aisles to the front of the short limb westward of the western tower at Werden. To return from this digression to Conrad's choir at Canterbury. The apse was flanked with two towers bearing the names of St Andrew and St Anselm, with eastern apses containing altars. The whole term- inated in a square-ended chapel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The large number of altars many of them enshrining relics of peculiar sanctity, and tombs of canonised archbishops demonstrate the motives which led to this immense extension of the church both in length and area. On the 5th of September, 1174 forty-four years after its solemn dedication in the presence of Henry I. of England, David of Scot- land, and all the English bishops, in 1130 this new choir of Ernulf and Conrad was so seriously damaged by the disastrous fire vividly described by Gervase, that it became necessary to rebuild it. The shattered walls were retained as far as possible, but they were considerably heightened, a vault of stone was thrown over the central alley, as a safeguard against future 136 OS c THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE conflagrations, and it again received a considerable addition of length. The architect at first employed was William of Sens. After he had been crippled by a fall from a scaffold in the fifth year of the work, another William, distinguished from his predecessor as " William the Englishman," was called in, and by him the work was brought to a conclusion, though no doubt the whole design had been conceived by William of Sens, the other William merely carrying it out. The proba- bility is that had the Sens architect been allowed a free hand he would have introduced that elegant arrangement of coupled columns that we see in the eastern part of Canterbury, and throughout the cathedral of his native city ; but the columns of Conrad and Ernulf's choir were found sufficiently firm to be used in the new work, so William of Sens heightened them very considerably, crowned them with graceful Corinthianesque capitals, added a second series of windows to the aisles, and erected the present triforium and clerestory. This design was continued until he reached the new extension the chapel of the Holy Trinity, behind the high altar where, finding himself unfettered, the architect introduced the coupled column, and thus gave to the whole that appearance of resemblance to the interior of Sens which must strike every visitor to that noble old Champenois Cathedral. It must, however, be remarked that the details in the choir of Canterbury are much more refined than at Sens, and so we are in possession of an example of the " transitional " period of architecture unequalled for grace and refinement by any of its 137 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE French contemporaries. The eastern transepts of Canterbury are perhaps unrivalled for these qualities ; indeed they may be considered the most beautiful portion of the whole cathedral, whose choir as we now see it was brought to completion in the incredibly short space of ten years, viz. in 1184, under the English William. The motive for this second elongation of the cHoir of Canterbury, by the addition of the Trinity Chapel, was to do honour to the great saint with whose name the city was to be henceforth inseparably connected. At the extreme east end stood the chapel of the Holy Trinity, where Becket celebrated his first Mass, and, in the crypt beneath, his body was first interred. Thus the ruling idea of the rebuilders of the church was not merely to secure the honourable collocation of the lesser and older relics of the church, but much more, to provide a fitting shrine for their greater and more recent treasure, through which they were daily obtaining those vast pecuniary resources that alone would have enabled them to rebuild the church on Its present splendid scale. The temptation to linger over this most interesting page in the history of our cathedrals is great, but it has been ably elucidated, both in its historical and constructional aspects, by the pens of such masters in their respective arts as Dean Stanley and Professor Willis, and I must hasten forward to consider the still mightier changes which in so short a time were to transform portions of our old Norman cathedrals into the aspect with which we are familiar to-day. The works of the two Williams at Canterbury were THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE examples of the transitional style, in which the sterner features of Norman architecture were gradually soften- ing into the pure Gothic, in its first or " Early English " type. The two earliest known works in which this exquisite style was adopted, without any admixture of the Norman influence, either in form, details, or moulding, are, as already mentioned, St Hugh's choir at Lincoln some particulars of whose eastern termination have been given and the western part of the choir of Wells. On his appointment to the See of Lincoln in 1186, Hugh found his church rent from top to bottom by an earthquake that had occurred the preceding year. This church, as I have had occasion to remark, was a Norman one, built on virgin soil, like the Early English Salisbury two hundred years later, by Remigius, the first Norman bishop, and completed at his death in 1092. It had passed through the usual vicissitudes of fire and storm and human violence, and had received the important addition of a stone vault and western towers from Bishop Alexander between 1125 and 1148. The new prelate, one of the very greatest and noblest of English bishops of any age, at once determined to rebuild the shattered fabric. He called to his side an architect, Geoffrey of Noyers, who, in spite of his French name, may well have been a thorough born and bred Englishman, with three or four generations of English parents before him, and began where the rebuilder of mediaeval churches always did begin with the eastern arm. His plan embraced an aisled choir of four bays, an eastern transept, with two 139 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE apsidal chapels in each arm, as at Canterbury, and a large chevet or apse, the foundations of which are known still to exist beneath the pavement of the present Angel Choir. The whole is vaulted in stone. It is not the purpose of this section of the work to enter into architectural details, but I cannot refrain from expressing admiration at the dignified simplicity of the whole work, the largeness of treatment, and the vigorous originality of conception with which the entire design of St Hugh's choir at Lincoln was con- ceived and executed. All demands our highest admiration, and this great work stands clearly at the head, as well in point of time as of excellence, of all the works of the lancet period of English architecture. St Hugh's plan involved a considerable extension of the Norman choir, which appears to have been of very small dimensions and aisleless, and provided a large increase of chapel room. In some other of our larger churches the eastern additions are of the full height of the choir itself, an arrangement which, if wanting in the picturesqueness created by the grouping of the pillars and arches of the lower aisles, is greatly superior in stately grandeur. The most remarkable instances of this arrangement are (to omit Canterbury, of which some description has been given) Worcester, Beverley, Rochester, Ripon, Southwell, Ely, Lincoln, Carlisle, Lichficld, Bristol, and York. Old St Paul's, built on the same plan, seems to have exceeded them all in size and magnificence. At Chichester, Chester, and Wells, the choir was elongated in maintaining the same 140 r.a .<, Pi KM ^ rt.c CMDIK '( SAllSfrlNtf rlMSi. f.KOfXD-I'I.AXS 1)1'' KNT.I.ISH CATIIICDKAI. CHOIRS. To face p. 140. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE elevation, and a lower Lady Chapel added, under circumstances already alluded to, beyond it. It was that outburst of devotion towards the Virgin Mary which took place under the pontificate of Innocent III. (1198-1226) that gave rise to this architectural development of our cathedral choirs in one or other of the two forms which I have endeavoured to render clear. Sometimes this eastern extension was shared by the Blessed Virgin and the saint of local celebrity as at Lincoln, Lichfield, York, and Worcester, their shrines being placed behind the high altar, which was never at the extreme east end, but so placed that there should be several bays behind it, and in every case save one the eastern termination was square, and lighted either by one large window or by two tiers of lancets, in groups of three, four t or five. The square east end is the most marked peculiarity of our national church architecture. It may almost be said that there are no square-ended churches except in Great Britain and Ireland, and none but square- ended churches here.* The number of churches with square east ends throughout the whole of Christendom (excepting the British Isles) is exceed- * In the architecture of vScotland there are many peculiarities approximating in some degree to a foreign, and particularly a French, character, accounted for by the intimate connection that long existed between that country and France; while she was almost always at enmity with England ; but I am not aware that the French form of east end was ever employed. On the contrary the great churches of Scotland seem to have been always ter- minated rectangularly, and this, is certainly the case at St Andrews, Dunblane, Dunfermline, Dunkelcl, Elgin, Glasgow, Mel rose and Paisley. 141 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE ingly small. It is this fact that gives to the universal prevalence of this type in our own country its especial and unique importance. The tradition is carried back to a date earlier than the Middle Ages, by the small churches or oratories of Ireland, and the supposed British church at Peranzabulee in Cornwall. The prevalence in these isles at that early date of a type of church different in a most significant manner from the types prevailing both in the Latin and Greek communions is a most singular fact. It is the more remarkable when we consider to what a great extent the existing Christianity of England is due directly to the labours of Latin missionaries, who brought with them, as we know by the accounts of the first cathedral erected at Canterbury, the basilican plan with its apsidal end. From the chapel at Peranzabulee, and from the square-ended early Irish churches, which, whatever be their date, certainly show little or nothing of the Latin influences, we must, I think, infer that the square east end was the prevalent type in these islands before the overthrow of British Christianity by the Saxons. We may conclude from this, as from other reasons, that British Christianity was not so utterly enfeebled as has often been represented, and that its own peculiar traditions survived and leavened to a considerable extent the great revival which the Latin missionaries effected. The square-end tradition had a second great struggle for existence at the Conquest. The Normans natur- ally introduced the Continental fashion a fashion which the Confessor had already followed at West- 142 U . I! It ** THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE minster Abbey. It is not improbable that most of the Saxon churches, which have apses, date from his reign. The apse became almost everywhere the rule as long as the influence of the Norman clergy and nobility remained fresh and distinct ; but no sooner had the conquerors begun to coalesce with the con- quered, and the conquest become gradually tided over, than the square east end began slowly but steadily to gain upon its rival. By the thirteenth century its triumph was complete, and although we have in Westminster Abbey one of the most complete and beautiful specimens of the type in Christendom, the circumstance of its rebuilding and the French tastes of Henry III., of which mention has already been made, render it clearly an exceptional case. It is a curious fact that the language spoken in that monastery was, as Abbot Ware tells us in his " Customal," neither Latin nor English, but French. A tradition so ancient and remarkable, one peculiar to the English branch of the Catholic Church, and connected in all probability with its very earliest origin, is deserving surely of all respect, and ought never to have been abandoned, as it has too often in our own day, to a mere feverish craving after novelty, or to the affectations of a travelled dilletantism. There is, of course, much to be said in favour of the employment of an apse when exigencies of site demand it, or when a church is designed in a style foreign to our shores ; and that its resources have been tried by architects of distinction, may be proved by those who have visited such noble creations of the last century as St Mary's, Stoke Newington, one of " 143 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Sir Gilbert Scott's masterpieces; St James the Less, Westminster, and St Mary Magdalene's, Padding- ton, by Street; St Peter's, Vauxhall, and St Agnes, Liverpool, by Pearson ; St Chad's, Haggerston, and St John the Baptist's, Kensington, by Brooks. On the other hand, when it has been used, as it too frequently has, as a termination for any small " pattern district," or modern village church, in styles subse- quent to that of the middle of the thirteenth century, and (as often as not) with a raftered roof resting upon the strings of the walls, it only becomes unmeaning and unnational. Sir Charles Barry was, I believe, the first architect of the Gothic revival to introduce the fashion in his Perpendicular Church of St Peter, Brighton, finished in 1824, but it was removed a few y ears ago in order to extend the chancel, which now terminates in a square end. Of small Early English churches having apsidal chancels, there is a very pretty illustration in Tidmarsh Church, Berkshire, copied about half a century ago in the little church at Kidmore End, Oxfordshire, and several exist in Kent and Sussex. We may conclude this section of our review of the architecture of the thirteenth century with a glance at the apses of other nations. In France the apse, whether semicircular or pent- agonal, with its procession patli and corona of chapels, had existed from the Romanesque period, but carried out in the manner peculiar to the people of the province in which it found its home. Thus in the Romanesque churches of Poitou we usually find only 144 ST. MAURICE, VIENXE. To face p. 144. THE APSE, ST. HILAIRE, POITIERS. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE four semicircular chapels around the via processionfim, as e.g. St Hilaire and St Jean at Poitiers ; the same rule being followed in churches of the same period in Auvergne Notre Dame du Port at Clermont Ferrand, and those at Brioude, Issoire, St Nectaire, etc. In the district called the Angoumois now the de- partment of La Charente of which Angouleme is the centre, the apse ordinarily has no aisle, but (usually three) small chapels debouch into it. In Burgundy and the adjacent Lyonnais and Dauphine, the aisle- less apse was much in vogue, as for instance in the cathedrals of Autun and Lyons, Notre-Dame at Dijon, St Etienne, Chalon-sur-Saone, and St Maurice, Vienne. All these churches were rebuilt at various times in the transitional and complete Gothic epochs on, it is to be presumed, the founda- tions of the Romanesque apses. Occasionally in Burgundy and in the more southern provinces of Languedoc and Gascony, we find the complete chevet in Romanesque churches like Paray-le-Monial, Conques, Tournus, and St Sernin at Toulouse. The vast abbey church at Cluny was thus termin- ated, i.e. with procession path and five chapels, not however adjacent, opening from it. In Champagne, one chapel opening from the circumambient aisle was common as at Sens,* and on the confines of the adjacent Burgundy, at Auxerre. The Norman Cathedral of Rouen was in all probability planned with only three apsidal chapels, but with others opening from the eastern sides of the * Three chapels now open from the via procession-Am at Sena, but the two lateral ones are eighteenth-century excrescences. 145 K A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE transepts, and this plan was followed when the cathe- dral was rebuilt at the beginning of the thirteenth century.* Thus the plan so produced by French architects in Romanesque times was never lost sight of by them, but was skilfully developed into a variety of beautiful forms which, by the juxtaposition of these apsidal chapels grouping them into fives and occasionally into sevens assumed such elegant con- tours in the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens, Beauvais, Bayeux, Chartres, Coutances, Le Mans, Meaux, Noyon, Rheims, Senlis, Soissons, Tours and Troyes : and when the first half of that century had gone by, the same plan was accepted by people in the provinces south of that important architectural boundary line the Loire in districts which had long been impatient of the northern influence, when they rebuilt their Romanesque choirs at Bordeaux and Rodez in Guienne ; Auch and Bayonne in Gascony ; Toulouse in Languedoc ; Clermont Ferrand in Auvergne and Limoges in Limousin. In the north-eastern French provinces where * The Norman Church of St Etienne (the Abbaye aux Homines) at Caen had only a very short choir of two bays terminating in an aisleless apse, the aisles being" square-ended. On its recon- struction before the middle of the thirteenth century in one of the most graceful editions of the Early French Gothic style, two more bays were given to it, and the aisleless Norman apse was replaced by one with seven pointed arches opening into the ambulatory, from which as many chapels, each with an angle in the axis, but not projecting beyond the separating buttresses, open ; thus producing on the ground-plan, a semicircle. I have already alluded to the plan of the Norman Church of St Etienne as having been identical with that of Lanfranc's Cathedral at Canterbury. 146 - - OS a x = THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE Teutonic influence was felt, the aisleless apse is frequent, as at St Omer, St Maurice, Lille, and St Gangoult, Toul, while in Belgium where the archi- tecture may be said to present an admixture of the Gallic and Teutonic elements, allied with some very striking national peculiarities, we find both forms of eastern termination, often in the same town. The true French chevet is illustrated best perhaps in the stupendous choir of Tournai Cathedral, while pleasing ones (though not so skilfully planned) occur at Ste Gudule, Brussels, Ste Waudru, Mons, St Pierre, Louvain, St Bavon, Ghent, St Gommaire, Lierre, and the cathedrals of Bruges and Malines. The lofty aisleless apse assumes an imposing char- acter in Notre-Dame de la Chapelle and Notre-Dame du Sablon at Brussels, Ste Croix, St Denis and St Jacques, Liege, in the churches at Vilvorde and Huy (two of the finest of their kind), and in St Martin, Courtrai . In Germany, where the Romanesque churches almost invariably had simple aisleless apses,* the same plan was reproduced in nearly every church built or rebuilt in that country between the middle of tha thirteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth. Sometimes, as in St Elizabeth's Church at Marburg in Hesse, St Victor at Xanten in the extreme north- west, and at Ratisbon in Bavaria, two, or three, tiers of windows were employed to light these tall aisleless apses; but as a rule we find one window in each side; * It was, in all probability, the three-sided apse that gave rise to that feature, almost peculiarly German, the carved or painted triptychal altar piece. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and these windows, when the church was more than ordinarily lofty, reached exaggerated dimensions, as for instance in the apsidal choirs of St Sebald at Nuremberg, St Lambert at Miinster, the Dom at Erfurt, and St Mary in the Meadows at Soest. One of the most pleasingly proportioned apses in that exceedingly rare style of German architecture the pure early pointed free from Romanesque influence is the western one of the Dom at Naumburg; the western ones of the Cathedral at Bamberg and St Sebald at Nuremberg are likewise elegant illustrations of their age, the middle of the thirteenth century, as is that of the Church of St Mary at Gelnhausen. The two best and most artistic applications of the French chevet in Germany are seen in the cathedral at Cologne and the Cistercian Abbey Church at Altenberg, but as a rule when the Germans tried the apse with its procession path and chapels as at St Mary's, Osnabriick, Miinster, and Halberstadt Cathe- drals ; or with the tall unclerestoried apse and an aisle round it as at Nuremberg, Werden, and the Great St Mary's Church at Lippstadt, they did not succeed in producing a harmonious result. A strict regard for the orientation of altars may be adduced as another reason for this Teutonic rejection of the chevet, which could not be observed when the French form was adopted. They therefore termin- ated their choir aisles with apses, and in this manner carried on the old Romanesque parallel-triapsidal plan. Sometimes when, as at Xanten, the church has double aisles, we find each aisle terminated in this manner. 148 c c u t: Z o C- THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE A few remarks on the contemporary architecture of Germany may not unfitly find a place here. There are some peculiarities in the dates of old German work which are rather striking in compari- son with English and French works. We have there, first of all, a few buildings such as the convent at Lorsch which are said to be and perhaps are of Roman design. Then next there is a large group of churches of which those in Cologne and the Rhineland are the most dis- tinguished examples, which, whilst it is entirely unlike anything in the rest of Northern Europe, has a most remarkable affinity to the Lombard churches in the north of Italy, at Pavia, Bergamo, and elsewhere. These churches date from the early part of the twelfth century, and continue with but little alteration of importance down to the middle of the thirteenth, or even a little later, when the strange spectacle is seen of a style almost com- pletely Romanesque in character suddenly supplanted by another style which, as far as can be seen, in no way grew out of it ? and which is distinguished from the first by peculiarities of a most marked kind, and by the perfect and complete form which it at once assumed. Then after this style, which again in its turn retained its hold longer than our styles ever did, and which to a late period is altered only slightly in its detail, we find another essentially German style answering in point of date to our late Perpendicular, and to French Flamboyant. The Germans have therefore less natural growth to show in their architecture than we have. Instead 149 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE of our beautiful gradations from Norman to Perpen- dicular in which the germ of each development is to be discovered in the antecedent work, we have there a series of breaks or gaps in the chain which it is very difficult to account for, and which make the study of German Gothic architecture highly interesting, and at the same time somewhat perplexing. The question seems naturally to arise whether each of these new styles thus wanting in evidence of natural growth one out of the other, is to be looked at as a German invention in the true sense of the word, or as the result of the sudden conversion of a slow and sluggish people to the beauties of foreign work, and then their resolute and hearty earnestness in the attempt to make the style their own by some infusion of national peculiarities. I incline to this last opinion because I am convinced that no style was ever invented. Architecture has always grown gradually and systematically, and it is quite possible to imagine that Germany may have refused to follow the lead of France and England in art until their superiority was so great as to make it an absolute matter of necessity, and that then an attempt would be made to give a national character to what they had in the first place borrowed. A slight comparison of dates of a few German churches will explain my grounds for speaking as I do of German architecture. Of the Rhine churches, the most remarkable are the work of the first half of the thirteenth century. St Quirinus at Neuss was commenced in 1209, St Gereon at Cologne, begun in 1205, was consecrated ST. ELIZABETH'S AT MARBURG. (1235-1283.) To face p. 150. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE in 1248. Then to the first half of the thirteenth century belong considerable portions of the Cathedrals at Limburg on Lahn and Bamberg, the Dom at Naumburg, the Minster at Bonn, and St Mary at Gelnhausen. Now, taking these churches in the mass, they are of such a character that were we to see them in France or England, we should at once put them down as the work of the end of the twelfth century, and we should look for another class to fill up the period between 1 200 and 1270, when Cologne Cathedral was begun or the nave of Strasburg finished. It will be seen how important these dates are when we consider that at the same time that St Gereon and St Cunibert at Cologne, the nave of Naumburg Cathedral, and the church at Gelnhausen were being built, cathedrals like Amiens, Le Mans, Tours and Troyes were rising throughout France, whilst in England, Westminster and Lichfield and a host of other churches in the later phase of the Early English style were built at the same time. I do not mean to say that no pointed Gothic churches, quite emanci- pated from the Romanesque are to be found in Germany, but only that they were of extraordinary rarity and do not afford the same evidence of natural growth that our own do. Of work really similar to our own of this first half of the thirteenth century that at Liibeck, in the north porch of the cathedral may be cited ; also the choir of Magdeburg Cathedral with its apse and series of low chapels round it designed in imitation of the French chevets ; the nave of St Sebald's, Nuremberg; the A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE western choirs of the Cathedrals at Bamberg and Naumburg, and the elegant Church of Our Lady at Treves. Of a later period , and almost unique in its character is the fine "Hall Church"* of St Elizabeth at Marburg, a structure whose date is well known (1235- 1283), and which affords us one of the few German examples of a style intermediate between the work at St Gereon and that of Cologne Cathedral. The aisles of the naves of Magdeburg and Paderborn Cathedrals are also vastly superior to any other German work of the date (1260-1280), but these are only exceptions which serve to prove the rule, and cannot in any degree be taken as evidence of the same kind of growth and gradual development that we trace with so much interest in every church and building of the Middle Ages in England. It was an architecture of fits and starts and conceits, not of growth, and full therefore of the contradictions and eccentricities which such a condition naturally involves. Recurring to the subject of eastern terminations it may be observed that the Italians, like the Germans, never seem to have competed with the French as The " hall church " which is almost exclusively confined to Germany, is one in which the nave and aisles are very lofty and vaulted at the same level, the former having no clerestory. Besides St Elizabeth at Marburg, the following are some of the most remarkable of this class of building : St Lambert, Miinster, St Mary in the Meadows, Soest, Paderboni Cathedral, the Minster at Iler- ford, the Dom at Mindcn, the Doin at Erfurt, the two great churches at Muhlhausen, and that at Zwickau. Our nearest approach to this type of church is the choir of Bristol Cathedral, rebuilt early in the fourteenth century on the site of a Normau structure. The Temple Church in London is also of this claae. 152 THE DOM AT MINUliN". (Church with Nave and Aisles of the same height: Gonna lattr-r part of Thirt<->>nth Century.) To face p. 152. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE regards the apse with its clerestory, surrounding aisle, and corona of chapels. This may have arisen either from a preference for tradition or from a deficiency in engineering skill, but that they knew how to use the aisleless apse elegantly is patent in such churches as San Francesco and Sta Chiara, at Assisi, in the Cathedral at Arezzo, and in Sta Maria-sopra-Minerva, Rome's only church in the pointed style. The Italians had, however, a system of choir planning peculiarly their own, which I will endeavour to explain. In examining the features of any national school Of architecture it is worthy of notice how distinctly some of its peculiarities and prejudices are marked from the very first, even in the ground-plans of the buildings it produced. Each had its special arrange- ment of plan, seldom departed from, and handed on from age to age as a precious heirloom. \.nd going to Italy we shall find that the same feature strikes us there in almost all the buildings of the pointed style. Xheir plans are all derived from two ancient types, both of which are of venerable antiquity.. It was from the basilica, converted into a church t with its nave and aisles terminated at the end by an apsidal projection from a sort of transept, that a very large number of the Italian Gothic churches with transepts were copied. Indeed, if we look at the ground-plan of St Paul without the walls at Rome, and compare it with the fully developed Gothic churches Sta Croce at Florence, Sta Anastasia at Verona, and Sant Andrea at Vercelli ; \ve shall see that absolutely the only A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE difference is the addition of small chapels on the east side of the transept ; so that in place of the one apse which marks the former, we have the central apse and five chapels on each side of it : whilst in the churches founded on the same type, of Sta Maria dei Frari at Venice, and San Domenico at Siena, there are three, the main apse or choir and the side apses of the former being all built with an angle in the axis, the central apse having six sides and the lateral ones two apiece, while in the latter the choir and its parallel chapels are all square-ended. All these great churches, besides many others in the important cities of Viterbo, Pistoja, Pisa, Lucca, Orvieto, Florence, etc., were built by the two great preaching Orders the Dom- inicans and the Franciscans, and besides this peculiar eastern termination, which the Italian architects felt they could manage better than the apse with its aisle and corona of chapels, there was, in most cases, a vastly long and broad nave without aisles and with a series of altars ranged along its walls on either side. Sta Croce at Florence which may be taken as the archetype of these great preaching churches has not only very spacious aisles but a lofty clerestory ; while other aisled churches with transepts and chapels opening from their eastern sides are Sta Anastasia at Verona, Sta Maria Novella, at Florence, and Sta Maria-sopra-Minerva at Rome. The Church of San Clemente, at Rome, restored in its present form early in the twelfth century with its three aisles ended with parallel apses, is the other type followed in such churches as the cathedral at Tor- cello, and indeed all Italian pointed churches without 154 HASIUCA OF STA. AC1NKSK, ROMK. To /ace />. 154. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE transepts. Thus in this respect Italian Gothic was simply a natural development from an earlier style, and, adhering very closely to the older plan and arrangements, affords us scarcely an example of those prolonged choirs of which our English cathedrals and abbeys are perhaps the most magnificent examples. But it was not only in respect of the plan that it thus founded itself upon what had before existed. The traces of Classic influence are indeed so many and so clear, that it is hardly speaking too strongly to say that Gothic architecture was never fully developed in Italy, so shackled was it by the ever- present influence of buildings in another style. Hence the more we study its peculiarities, the more we see how curious a mixture there is in it of the character of Classic and Gothic art. 155 CHAPTER V THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued Mouldings of the period Columns and shafts Windows Growth of tracery Doorways Roofs Towers and spires Sculpture Stained glass. IN visiting an old building certain arrangements of the plan contrived to serve certain recognised wants will always be found ; and the way in which these have been modified as fresh wants arose, so as to meet the requirements of special sites or parochial needs is one Of the most interesting subjects of inquiry to the ecclesiologist. Each nation had its own special de- velopment in consequence. In Germany and France and Spain almost all buildings had stone vaults, and the architect had, therefore, to take his heavy roof into account from the commencement. In England, on the contrary, stone roofs were uncommon save in our grander churches, and the architects were, consequently, much less bound to make their plans regular and symmetri- cal, and an amount of variety was a consequence of this, for which we may well be grateful. The next point to be observed is the general character of the design. Now this depended in the 156 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued thirteenth century, just as much as it does now, on the taste and skill of the master mason or architect^ and all the difference in the world will be found between the work of one man and that of another. They were affected also by the materials available. Should any of my readers find themselves on the Sussex coast, between Worthing and Littlehampton, let them visit such a church as Clymping, and they will see how the architect contrived with very humble materials, and very small amount of enrichment to produce a work of art almost as interesting as the sumptuous works which at the same time were rising in the far richer districts of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. The Clymping architect's work has few mouldings, and seldom went beyond the use of a delicate chamfer for all angles. In these Sussex Early English churches the windows are simple lancets with deep splays ; the glass is set close to the outside face of the wall, the buttresses are simply weathered, the roofs are of timber arched in a simple fashion, and the towers so simple in design that it might almost be supposed no architectural skill was required, for they are finished with simple spires of oak covered with shingle. Yet such towers and spires as Iford and Southwick and Newhaven and Alfreston, are not inferior in artistic character or in the proper use of material to Stamford and Ketton and Warming- ton, built in counties where the architects having good stone close at hand and the example of their cathedral architects to guide them, built churches full of precious and beautiful detail, designed a number of varied towers, and finished them with A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE stone spires which are, to the present day, the proper subject of admiration to all who take a pride in the church architecture of their native land. But to understand how to observe these very varying beauties, it is necessary to observe and distinguish the features of detail which give them, in an architect's eyes, so much of their value. The office which mouldings fulfil is doubtless known to many, but study is requisite to comprehend fully how much the effect of the finest work depends upon their being well designed, or the contrary. One of the greatest improvements introduced by the thirteenth-century architects was the chamfer. It was formed by cutting away the angle of a piece of stone, then hollowing the flat surface so as to afford a play of light and shade upon it ; or the angle might be left, and the parts of the stone above and below each cut into by a roll or into two half-rolls ; then the hollow was deepened, and a small fillet added beneath it, and these rolls and fillets were multiplied so as to vary the effect of the shadows and lights. The string-courses, plinths and bases, were similarly the subjects of like changes, all made with the object of getting more variety of light and shade, and so as to enrich and emphasise the architectural lines. The thirteenth-century English mouldings were, I think, the very best in Europe ; they were well drawn, fitted to their places, and infinitely varied in section. They were frequently adorned with ' dog-tooth ' and other carving. Some idea of the different manner in which English and French architects designed their mouldings I refer more especially to those of 153 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued the pier arches may be obtained by placing side by side a photograph or a good engraving of the Early English portion of the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, and of the nave in the French one of Chartres contemporary works. In the former we have a succession of deep mouldings meeting in the soffit or under side of the arch in one still deeper ; in the latter the mouldings are fewer and the sofh't of the arch is flat, with one hollow on either side of it.* Those of my London readers desirous of an ocular demonstra- tion may obtain this by visiting two of the finest churches built in the metropolis in modern times, each the work of an architect thoroughly versed in the grammar of his art the great cruciform Early English " cathedral " in Gordon Square, designed in 1851 by Raphael Brandon, and the parish church of St Mary, Stoke Newington, built a few years later in the style of the transition from first to second pointed on a northern French motif by Sir Gilbert Scott. The shape of the abacus of the capital had much to do with the richness or plainness of the arch mouldings. Amongst the French the use of a square abacus led to a square section of moulding and to a uniformity in design which may be said to have lasted until the extinction of the Gothic style in France ; but the}' secured one fine effect of shadow breadth and boldness. In England by the end of the twelfth century the square abacus was discarded in favour of a circular one, and with results probably not fore- * One of the most beautiful exceptions to this rule are the pier arches in the nave of Rouen Cathedral, which for obvious reasons have a strikingly English character, from their richness and depth. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE teen. It was impossible to plan mouldings with a broad plain soffit to fit a circular abacus. It became necessary instead to plan them on the chamfer plane, as mouldings fitted to squares would overhang the caps. So it was necessary to devise fresh forms. Then there was a loss of light and shade so simply obtained by the old fashion, and this was regained very skilfully by deeply cut hollows at the junctions of stones, and among the mouldings. To our circular abacus we owe our beautiful system of mouldings, which may be seen not only in our state- liest cathedrals, but in those parish churches in which we are excelled by no other country in Europe. As peculiarly fine instances of rich Early English mould- ings I may refer to the pier arches in West Walton Church, Norfolk, All Saints', Stamford, a doorway in Great Milton Church, Oxfordshire, and the triplet of lancet windows at the east end of Polebrook Church, Northamptonshire ; but the system would appear to have reached the ne plus ultra of refinement in the triforium of the north transept of York Minster. This necessity for the study of effect by means of moulding led to the use of mouldings to an extent un- heard of by other schools. Our English capitals, instead of being always carved with leafage, were more often simply moulded. Among our finest examples of this work are, to name but a few, the clustered columns in the choir of Southwell Cathe- dral ; throughout Salisbury Cathedral ; in the choirs of Beverley Minster, Westminster and Netley Abbeys ; in the south porch of Woodford Church, Northampton- shire, and in the choir of Hexhani Abbey. 1 60 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued With mouldings the architect knows exactly the effect he will produce; with sculpture he is at the mercy of someone else for a most important feature. The rounded and soft lines of thirteenth-century mouldings accord singularly well with the round and true lines of traceries, with the circular column or the slender shaft. The former, though never used after our transitional period on so large a scale as those in the choir of Rouen Cathedral, in the nave of Soissons or in the choir aisles of Chartres, are of frequent occurrence in parish churches ; as at Oundle, Northamptonshire, Ketton, Rutlandshire, St Giles, Oxford, Long Stanton, Cambridgeshire, Clymping, Sussex, and Falmersham, Bedfordshire ; and not only with these, but with all the features of the buildings they adorn, these graceful Early English mouldings happily accord. So much is this the case, that when at the end of the century the window tracery became more complicated, and the columns ceased to be shafts or clusters of shafts, the mouldings were all altered to harmonise with them, and in the fifteenth century the hard sharp lines of mouldings tallied exactly with the formal and precise designs of the traceries.* * The tall cylindrical column with the foliaged capital was used in continental Gothic through all the epochs of pointed. In the Low Countries it is almost universal ; in Germany we find it in the Cistercian church at Altenberg ; St Lambert's, Miinster ; Our Lady's churches at Treves and Nuremberg (the capitals in the latter instance being carved with small figures of angels ; in North Italy at Venice (Churches of SS. Giovannie, Paolo and the Frari), Vicenza (San Lorenzo), Verona (Sta Anastasia). A rare instance of this tall circular column in England occurs at Fountains Abbey (eastern transept). 161 L A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Endless was the variety in the shapes of thirteenth - century columns circular, octagonal, clustered grouped in fours with smaller shafts at the angles, or even with double series of the attached shafts to give greater richness of effect.* In doorways the general arrangement of the twelfth century is retained a series of columns in square recesses, with angles taken off or moulded. For detached columns or clusters of columns various sections were used, and in this age it became the fashion to form the detached columns of marble. This could not be got in long blocks ; hence came banded shafts. The extent to which this charming custom was carried may be seen at West- minster, at Salisbury, Rochester and Worcester, and the Temple Church. It had its inconveniences, how- ever, in construction, as these collections of columns depended on their caps, bands and bases for holding them together, and therefore, for their strength ; and it was found, before the end of the century, that safer buildings could be constructed with stone built in courses, and so gradually marble shafts went out of fashion. But they are one of the special and most beautiful features of the thirteenth century. As i charming instance of the use of marble shafts the * A singular kind of Early English column is that of the nave arcade of vSt Cuthbert's. Wells. It is composed of a square nucleus to each side of which three slender amalgamated shafts are attached. The capitals of these shafts are small, and some are foliaged while others are plain and somewhat poor-looking. These columns were not originally so lofty as they are now, having been heightened in Perpendicular days when the church underwent a complete transformation, but the Early English capitals were used again. Their form and leafage is of a type peculiar to Somersetshire. 162 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued clustered columns in the Lady Chapel of Worcester Cathedral may be cited. In the transitional and Early English work of the counties north of the Humber we meet with a peculiar type of column. It consists of a cylindrical nucleus around which perhaps eight slender shafts are grouped. Sometimes the capitals of these shafts have rather elongated bells without any carving, at others they are foliaged, but the whole group is crowned with one common capital of circular form. Such piers occur in the arcade and triforium of Selby Abbey ; they are used entirely in the naves of St Hilda, Hartlepool (where the aisles which have lean- to wooden roofs, are spanned at the interval of each bay by a semicircular stone arch), and of Billingham Church, Durham. A similar capital crowns the quatrefoil-sectioned piers on the north side of the nave of St Guthlac's, Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. An exceedingly graceful type of column is that used in the nave arcade of West Walton Church, near Wisbech, the cap and base of which is shown in the illustration, but the ne plus ultra of Early English richness and refinement is seen in the presbytery of Ely Cathedral, that exquisite addition of six bays which Bishop Hugh de Northwold made to the Norman one between 1235 and 1252, to form a more fitting and convenient space for the shrines of St Etheldreda and her sainted sisters Withburga, Sexburga, and Ermenilda. These piers are of Purbeck marble, cylindrical, with eight attached ringed shafts around them, the capitals of which have leafage of the boldest character. 163 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Three years after the dedication of this presbytery of Ely, when Henry III. and his Court were present, the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, an extension, five bays, of St Hugh's work, was commenced. Here the columns, also composed of eight shafts, have their capitals similarly foliaged. They are likewise ringed at mid-height, and except that the shafts are placed so close together that they conceal the nucleus, and that they form a diamond collectively on section, differ but little from those in the nave of the same cathedral (1209-1235) or from those just described in the presbytery of Ely. If we have variety in the form of the Early English column, we have a still greater one in the window of that period. It may be interesting to trace its evolution. The windows in the most ancient buildings of our ancestors which time has yet spared, bear their mute but impressive testimony to the character of the age in which they were erected. Their rude simplicity tells of a period in which precaution for security was no less necessary than the admission of light. The earliest windows were no more than small and narrow apertures pierced as it were with timid hesitation through walls of massive thickness, and set as high as possible above the level of the ground. With the view to diffuse as widely as might be the light almost stealthily obtained, the window openings were made to splay or spread with a slope each way inwards from the actual aperture in the outer face of the walls. A necessary conse- quence of this arrangement was that, though two windows side by side in the same wall might be actually at a considerable distance from each other 164 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYE'S continued when viewed from the exterior, in the interior their splayed sides would be almost in contact. Thus the two windows would be brought into combination ; and hence, as time rolled on, and circumstances were modified, several windows came to be so grouped as to form a single figure, and, by one step onward, from this grouping of separate windows arose the one window divided into lights and crowned with tracery. In Norman architecture the window in general use was a single, round-headed opening ; but circular windows were also not uncommon, and one of these circular windows would naturally enough be placed above two of the plain round-headed windows in a gabled end of a church. In the gables of the eastern chapels attached to the Cistercian Abbey Churches of Fountains and Kirkstall, a circular window appears thus placed above two single round-headed windows, and the three openings are splayed together in the interior, so as to produce, when viewed from that direction, the appearance of a connected composition. The relation which these three openings bear to one another, and to the space in which they are situated, is too evident to permit ,us to doubt that in this arrangement we have the type of the elemental principle of geometrical tracery a circle carried by two arches. The conventional church at Kirkstall was completed in 1152; and Westminster Abbey, the first building in England of authentic date in which window tracery properly so called was used, was commenced in 1245. We liave tllus an entire centul 7 intervening between the first appearance of this 165 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE feature and the introduction of the art to which it eventually gave rise. At the ends of churches which were gabled three lancets were commonly placed, as, for example, the small Early English churches of Weston in Lincoln- shire, and Strixton in Northamptonshire, the centre window being the most elevated of the group ; but in the side walls the usual plan was to put two of these single-light windows into connection with each other. I alluded just now to Weston Church, Lincolnshire. The chancel of this church is in every way a typical example of an Early English one in the " lancet ' phase of the style. Of a beauty little inferior is the eastern elevation of Westwell Church, Kent, about which there is, as at Weston and Strixton, Wappen- bury, in Warwickshire, and Itchenor in Sussex, a Doric simplicity which is eminently pleasing. There are two tiers of windows at the east end of Westwell Church ; in the lower is a triplet of lancets the central one of which contains a small portion of a thirteenth- century Jesse in stained glass, and in the upper a circle flanked on either side by a lancet. Westwell Church remarkable also for the three arches at the entrance to its chancel, a feature of another Kentish church, that of Capel-le-Ferne is, however, only one of the many churches of this period with which Kent and Surrey are so liberally bestrewn, and among which may be named CliiTe at Hoo in the former county and Chipstead in the latter.* It is many years * In a paper read by Mr Street before the Ecclesiological .Society (i6th May iS. r ,'.>), the eminent architect remarked upon certain similarities in the character of some village churches in Kent and 166 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued since I saw Chipstead, but memory recalls a cruciform structure with a low massive central tower and short square spire, and a deep aisleless chancel lighted on either side by five lancet windows. Examples occur of two lancets being pierced in both the eastern and western ends of small churches. In the interesting little Church of Elsfield, in Oxford- shire, two such windows appear towards the west, and at Fisherton Delamere, in Wiltshire, the eastern wall of the chancel has two beautiful lancets, which in the interior are surmounted by a rich group of mouldings, rising from Purbeck shafts ; and thus, in this instance, the much-desired triplicity was obtained from the shafts of the scoinson arches of the windows, instead of from the pierced openings themselves.* It is interesting to observe the altered forms of single-light windows which took place within a century (1150-1250) their gradual elongation, the introduction of the lancet-shaped heading, and the grouping of several lancet windows with continually diminishing spaces of wall between them ; then comes the connection of the dripstones of the group, with the elevation of the central light of a triplet above its side lights, and the subsequent substitution of a single arch above the three windows in place of their three connected dripstones ; next follows the extension of vSurrey, which, as it struck him, proved that they owed their design to one and the same man, instancing, besides those above alluded to, Merstham, Merton, and Gatton in Surrey, and Brasted in Kent. *The east end of St Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln, with its two lancets one on either side of a central buttress and an elongated quatrefoil in the gable, is a charming composition, simple yet elegant. I6 7 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE the number of component members of the group from three to five as in the chancel of Chetwode Church, Buckinghamshire, and even seven lancets as at Ockham, in Surrey, sometimes all surmounted by a single arch, and all having their lights so adjusted as to establish a relation between the several lancets, not only to one another, but also to the gable in which they were placed ; and finally, the spaces between the heads of the lancets thus grouped are discovered to be pierced either with triangular openings or small circles, while the lancets themselves begin to be separated by true mullions in place of narrow strips of wall. Meanwhile, in the case of two lancet windows being brought into combination results of no less importance were in course of progress ; the connected dripstones of the two distinct windows gave way to a single arch thrown over the two; the tympanum-like space of masonry between this arch and the heads of the two windows brought to remembrance the Norman composition exemplified in the gables of Kirkstall and Fountains, and it was accordingly pierced either with a plain circle or a foiled figure, or a similar figure within a circle, or with a lozenge-shaped opening adapted to the curves of the arch above and the spandrel below. There is one singular composition, not very generally known, as exemplified in a window at Wimbotsham, Norfolk. It consists of a single arch simply chamfered and without any dripstone, enclosing a recessed plane of masonry in which are placed two contiguous lancets without hood-mouldings, while a quatrefoiled circle above them has a slightly undercut dripstone carried quite round it, and kept 1 68 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued distinct and clear both from the window heads and the arch which surmounts and encloses the whole. It was by the joint operation of these two important changes, viz. the conversion of a group of lancets into one window of many lights, and the combination of a circle and two lancets under one arch, that the way was prepared for the introduction of actual window tracery. Be it remembered, however, in due honour to the late twelfth-century architect of the Yorkshire abbeys, that the circle carried by two lancets is the type and origin of the most perfect forms of tracery, and that the most beautiful windows of geometrical tracery have been produced from the direct application of this type. Thus we see how the mere slit becomes a gracefully moulded and shafted lancet which was doubled, trebled, as in the transepts of Beverley Minster, and in the chancels of Hythe, Kent, Castle Rising, Norfolk, Polebrook, Northants, and the east end of Ely Cathedral, where the triplet is surmounted by a quintuplet or group of five ; arranged in two tiers of four as at the east end of Southwell Cathedral ; in one tier of five as in the Lady Chapel of Hereford Cathedral, the chapter-houses of Chester and Oxford, the north transept of York Minster, the chancel of Chetwode Church, Bucks,* and that of the Chapel of the Grey * An ancient conventual church belonging to a priory of Augustinians, founded here in 1244. These lancets still retain their coeval stained glass (see p. 204). It was from the study of this church that Sir Gilbert Scott first obtained his love for, and knowledge of, Gothic architecture. (Vide his "Personal and Professional Recollections.") Sir Gilbert reproduced these five lancet windows in one of his earliest London churches St Matthew's, City Road, built 1847-8. 169 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Friars (now the Guildhall) at Chichester. At the east end of Ockham Church, Surrey, is a group of seven lancets, a most remarkable and, I believe, unique arrangement in a moderately sized parish church, the lancets being divided by slender detached shafts of Sussex marble with sculptured capitals.* The richness to which fenestration was carried in England before the middle of the thirteenth century, is exemplified in the Lady Chapel of Hereford Cathedral, where, owing to the great thickness of the walls, the architect was enabled to enrich the splays of the single side lancets with no less than six banded shafts with boldly foliaged capitals. The bar-traceried window grew out of one composed of two or three lancets with one large, or one large and two small circles over them, which have the appearance of being pierced through a stone panel. This is known as plate tracery, and there are excellent examples of it in the great rose window of the north transept of Lincoln Cathedral, the Castle Hall at Winchester, the Bishop's Palace at Wells, Browns- over Church, Warwickshire, Stone Church, Dartford, Lynchmere, Sussex, Wimborne Minster and Glap- thone Church, Northamptonshire, where the opening above the two lancets takes the form of the 1'csica. These Early English lancet windows are almost always very deeply splayed internally. Sometimes, * The triplets of lancets at the east ends of Castle Rising Church (Norfolk), Polebrook and Strixton (Northants), Skelton (near York), Kirkstead Chapel (near Horncastle), Stanton Harcourt (Oxfordshire), and Wimborne Minster (Dorset), are perfect models of their class, as are those in the choir aisles of Worcester Cathedral and Pershore Abbey. 170 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued when the window is composed of two or more lights, the design is repeated internally in the form of two openings separated by a shaft, and at more or less distance from the window according to the depth of the splay ; examples of this inner plane of tracery as it is called, may be seen in the choir of Worcester Cathedral and Pershore Abbey, at Stone, near Dart- ford, in the clerestory of the choir of Hereford Cathedral, in the west windows of the great southern nave of St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, where we have three very tall windows of two lights apiece ; and in a very curious form in the belfry of Sutton St Mary Church, Lincolnshire, where the outer windows are pointed ones of two acutely lancet lights without any foliations, while the inner ones have three lancet lights on slender cylindrical shafts, likewise without any foliations. But the la'rgest and most beautiful example of this inner plane of tracery occurs at the west end of Dunblane Cathedral. Externally it is lighted by three tall windows, each of two plate- traceried lancet compartments with a q.uatrefoil pierced in the tympanum of the containing arch ; while internally this panel has an inverted cinq.uefoil. The inner plane of tracery has capitals to the shafts, while on the exterior they are plain. Sir Gilbert Scott, who about the time he was preparing the designs for Kensington Parish Church was studying the ecclesi- ology of Scotland, has reproduced the Dunblane windows at the west end of his London work. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century the large bar-traceried window, of three, five, or seven lights, had developed itself, and as far as its tracery 171 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE was concerned constituted a transition from the Early English style to the glorious Decorated one that succeeded it. When this kind of window first made its appearance the lights were not cusped, but the circle or circles composing the tracery were. This is the case with the windows in the earlier parts of Westminster Abbey, where, as in the chapels of the apse, they are formed of two plain lancet lights supporting a sex-foiled circle. We see very much the same type of window in the contemporary chapels round the apse of Beauvais Cathedral, in the aisles of the transepts at Amiens, and in the choirs of Rheims and Troyes. In the nave of Lichfield Cathedral, in some of the chapels at the east end of Exeter Cathedral, and in the clerestory and great east window of Lincoln Cathedral, the lights are plain, while the circles composing the tracery are cusped. In the fine six-light east window of Raunds Church, Northamp- tonshire, this arrangement is reversed, the lights being cusped while the circles in the head are plain. Other windows of this period (1250-1270) which may be styled one of transition from Early English to Decorated, are those in the chapter-house at Salisbury, Stone Church near Dartford, St John's, Winchester, the nave chapels of Chichester Cathedral,* Acton Burnell (east window), Shropshire, Peterborough Cathedral (eastern aisle of the south transept), and Magdalen College School, Brackley, Northants (east * Two adjacent windows here afford a good illustration of the growth of tracery, the one being " plate traceried " and of two lancet lights with a quatrefoil in the tympanum, while the other is " bar-traceried " and of three lights with tracery composed of three circles, which, us well as the lights, have rio cuspiugs. 172 \VKSTKKX PORTAL, SI \ AXASTASIA, YKRONA. (Gothic of North Italy.) To face p. 172. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued window). One very beautiful type of window, but not a very common one, is that in which the acutely pointed lights, without any foliations, rise up to the containing arch. A five-light window of this descrip- tion may be seen in Irthlingborough Church, Northants. Such a window affords a splendid field for the introduction of one large subject in stained glass, as, for instance, the Tree of Jesse, or the Te Deum. Copies of the Irthlingborough window may be seen in the modern churches of St Andrew's, Stoke Newington, and St Martin's, Brighton. Before the end of the thirteenth century cusping had grown into most elaborate traceries, and even very early in it, as at Netley Abbey ; and by the middle of it in the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey, we see tracery of the most complete and finished description. The essentials of good tracery are subordination of members, and divisions into primary, secondary, and tertiary orders of tracery. These are carefully observed in the work of the thirteenth century. At that time the designs of openings were as important as the line between them, so that whether the lines of the stonework or the voids are regarded, the eye is equally gratified. Differences between early and late traceries are perhaps in favour of the former. The arrangement of cusps is well worthy of attention. Ogee or wavy lines are never used, the cusps are inserted in a groove, and the cusping of arcades is undercut, as at Westminster. Very frequently its outlines follow no stiff mathematical lines, but show by their variety and freedom that they are drawn by * * */ 173 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE hand, as at Lincoln. In the earliest cuspings all the mouldings follow the cusps ; the later cusps are subordinate to an enclosing line. Those who have paid a visit to the triforia of West- minster Abbey will have observed the rich effect of the double planes of tracery to the arcades opening on to the nave or choir. These are partly moulded, partly carved, and very plain on the side of the passage, but still good. The wall arcades below the aisle windows of West- minster Abbey and Stone Church near Dartford, are nearly identical. Extremely beautiful is this kind of work in the Early English choirs of Worcester and Lincoln Cathedrals, and in that of Beverley Minster. It is much to be regretted that much of this fine work at Westminster has been mutilated to admit of memorial tablets. The inside heads of windows of this period were moulded, carried on shafts, and generally struck from a centre lower and different from the exterior arch. Although our thirteenth-century doorways are not among the glories of that period as compared with the French ones, we have examples of which we may well be proud. Of these I may refer to the western door- way of Ely Cathedral, to that within the " galilee porch " in the western side of the south transept at Lincoln, to the north porches * of Salisbury and Wells, * The porches at Ely, Lincoln, Salisbury, and Wells are very fine, being groined and enriched with arcading at the sides, with fine outside and even finer inner arches, and generally of two stories in height. At Ely the vaulted chamber is of unusually lofty dimensions, being lighted on the western side by three lancet windows. 174 fBB^ -^S^mmfigy %*&&*" /:- r - '^ THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued to those of Beverley Minster, Christchurch, and Bridlington Priories, to the south transept doorways of York Minster, the north and south transept door- ways of Lichfield Cathedral, and to countless more modestly dimensioned but exquisitely graceful ones scattered up and down the country in our incomparable town and village churches. Beautiful as they are, our own portals make no kind of pretension to vie with those of the French in magnificence. In this respect the architects of the two nations seem to have gone on quite contrary principles, for the French, even in buildings on the secondary scale, introduced portals of prodigious size and extreme richness, while the English, even in buildings on a grand scale, often made their doorways very inconspicuous. Compare, for instance, the faades of Amiens and Wells in one the portals are everything, so that we can recollect little else, and in the other they are nothing, and their existence is hardly recollected, while in the fa?ade above, the English example is the richer of the two, and the illustrative sculpture which in one case is expended on the portals, is in the other diffused over the whole front. In England a magni- ficent portal is of rare occurrence ; in France one looks for it as a matter of course. Nothing more glorious than the French portals can be conceived ; the lofty and deeply receding jambs are divided in their ample height into two portions, the pedestal or basement of which is richly decorated either with diaper-work or with sculptured medallions, or, as at Amiens, with both, and the upper stage contains colossal figures of Apostles or other holy men of old, A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE who appear to view with severe and solemn benignity all who enter. In the tympana are sculptured scenes from scrip- ture history : the Last Judgment in many instances occupying the tympanum of the central doorway, when as at Rheims, Amiens, Paris and Poitiers there are three, or as at Bourges, five great portals, and incidents in the lives of the Blessed Virgin or of the saint to whom the church was dedicated corresponding positions in the lateral ones ; and the mouldings of the arches are probably filled with angelic figures as if the guardians of the faithful worshippers, while this impressive array of imagery is placed in a setting of the noblest and most perfect architecture, and that on a scale well suited to the sublimity of the subjects expressed. One fa9ade we have which may be said to be peer- less, that of Peterborough. Here, three vast arches, rising the entire height of the fabric, cross the whole west front ; the doorways behind them are of the usual modest dimensions, but the charm of this great porch is indescribable. The deep shadows of the arches are seen rising high above the surrounding houses as the city is approached from the distance ; they are adorned with line upon line of moulding, carried by whole ranges of delicate shafts, and surmounted by gables filled with niches and sculpture, and circular windows of rare beauty, flanked and divided by lofty pinnacles. This may, in truth, be said to be the most poetic conception of the thirteenth century in England ; it deserves a pilgrimage from the farthest part of the Empire from all those who wish really to grasp the 176 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued combined power and tenderness of thirteenth-century art, and lives in the recollection of all who have seen it, with ej^es capable of appreciating it, as among the most lovely of man's creations. The carpentry of this period was certainly not so good as the masonry, and this was very clearly the case in the roofs. These are of oak. and the rafters are framed together with king-posts. These often resemble fifteenth-century work, but before assign- ing a date the sections of the tie-beams and the king-posts, their mouldings and outline should be carefully examined. Early English wooden roofs are usually plain and without any very marked character ; they are of steep pitch, and either canted or of a circular form like a barrel vault, and have tie-beams. The nave of Halesowen Church, Shropshire, is an example of this kind. The south aisle of the choir of Rochester Cathedral has a lean-to roof with moulded beams of clearly Early English character, and there is a very remarkable lean-to one at St Mary, Gisburn, Yorkshire, in the south aisle, and over the nave a gabled one. These will be found figured in Plate 51, Vol. iv., of " The Spring Gardens Sketch-book." At Old Shoreham Church, Sussex, is a tie-beam with the tooth ornament cut on the angles of it. Portions of roofs of this style occur more frequently, and though generally mutilated, yet retain enough of their original character to mark their date. In South Moreton Church, Berkshire, the tie-beams and braces remain ; and there can be little doubt that in many instances the original circular braces remain above a flat plaster ceiling. At Bradiield, Berkshire, and Upmarden, i M A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Sussex, the wall plate has mouldings of this style ; the other timbers are plain, canted i.e. sliced off at the corners and probably of the same date. At Llan- tysilio, in Anglesea, is a very good small Early English roof with the nail-head ornament cut at intervals upon the beams. There are doubtless some original roofs of this period still hidden from view by ceilings of lath and plaster, while many have, it is to be feared, vanished during the last century, together with other leaves out of the book of history in that reckless work yclept " restoration ' which, with increased knowledge and reverence for ancient land- marks, is now conducted with greater care. There are not many Early English roofs in imitation of a stone vault, but there is one very remarkable late example in Warmington Church, Northamptonshire. It is quadripartite that is to say the compartment of it covering each bay of the nave is divided into four cells, and it has the continuous ridge or longitudinal rib with bosses of rich foliage at the junction of this rib with the diagonal ones. Such a roof as this gives so minster-like a character to the nave of this church which is one of the most beautiful examples of advanced Early English in the country that it is surprising it was so seldom made use of. In the towers and spires of the Early English period the custom of the district affects the designs very much. There is a great change herein from the work of the twelfth century. Instead of being large and clumsy the towers were, as a rule, lofty in their proportions, and surmounted by spires. Stone spires (>.\I OKI* LATHI- DK \I . (Kirlv English Tower and Sin; T,, /,,,v p. , 7 S. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued of this date as a rule have no parapets. They just overhang the walls of the tower, which finish with an eaves cornice under them. These eaves cornices are a feature of the style. The tower buttresses mostly finish below the belfry, and this is richly arcaded with shafts to its windows and at the angles. The spires have " spire lights " under gablets, but always on the cardinal and not on the obtuse sides ; so also buttresses are always square and never diagonal as in the Perpendicular period. The spire lights have shafts for monials, and connecting the bases of the obtuse sides of the spire with the angles of the tower are triangular-shaped pieces of masonry, termed broaches, which serve to impart that appearance of easy grada- tion from the square form of the tower to the octagonal one of the spire. This is the leading characteristic of the Early English steeple, by which is implied the tower and spire collectively. Two most graceful broach spires of this period are at Polebrook in Northants, and Aumsby in Lincolnshire. Occasion- ally pinnacles crown the angles of the tower, as at Oxford Cathedral, one of the earliest of thirteenth- century spires, and at Leighton Buzzard, Bedford- shire, Wollaston, Northants, Witney, Oxfordshire, and Southam, Warwickshire, where they rise from the broaches. Some knowledge of detail is required to discriminate between an early and a late thirteenth-century spire, for we frequently meet with an Early English tower crowned with a Decorated spire, as at Ketton, Warm- ington, and St Mary's, Stamford. These three steeples are most generally admired, and have been 179 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE favourite models with architects since the Gothic revival in this country.* Northamptonshire, Hunt- ingdonshire, Rutlandshire, Leicestershire, and Lin- colnshire are the counties where the spire is almost universal, and where it may be seen to perfection in every period of architecture. It will often be found that the thirteenth-century belfry-stage was not considered fine enough or lofty enough, and has been surmounted by another at a later period, as ma3< T be seen at Oakham and Grantham. It is possible that we owe our best spires of this epoch to Normandy, where at a very early date very fine examples were erected at Caen (St Etienne), Bayeux, and Coutances Cathedrals, and in the neighbourhood of the first-named city at Audrieu, Bernieres, Langrune, Ifs, Douvres, and Bretteville. One of the chief beauties of these Normandy steeples is the belfry-stage of the tower where the very long coupled lancet openings richly adorned with shafts seem to have been reproduced in that northern part of the province through all the epochs of pointed. The same elegant feature is common to many steeples in Brittany, one of the most remarkable being the Kreisker at St Pol de Leon. In the same provinces of France, and indeed very generally in the north and north-eastern ones of that country, the gabled or saddle-back tower is very frequently met with, often on a grandiose scale. We have nothing of this kind in our mediaeval * vSt Mary's, Stamford, steeple has been copied at St John's, South Hackney, and St Stephen's, Westbourne Park, Paddington ; and Ketton in that of St Martin's, Leicester. I SO ST. MAI I III AS MncliTM i-\:illl|)lc- ot 1 To /<(-< />. i So. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued churches * of such dimensions as those at Champagne, Auvers, Villers St Paul, and Nogent Les Vierges, places along the course of the Oise, between Creil and Pontoise, or that of the Seine between Rouen and Paris ; but there are numerous instances of its employ- ment in village churches in various parts of the country, on a minor scale, as at Tinwell in Rutland- shire, Bagendon and North Cerney in Gloucestershire, Ickford and Fingest f in Buckinghamshire, Brigham in Cumberland, Llanvaches, Llanhilleth, Netherwent, and Penalt in Monmouthshire, and Thorpe-Mande- ville (where it is curiously combined with pinnacles), Rothersthorpe, Cold Higham, and Maidford, in Northamptonshire. At Brentingly, in Leicester- shire, is a western gabled tower roofed with stone, and on the ridge is an octagonal spirelet, reminding those who have visited Gottland of the church at Gotham . Cabling a tower on each side was a very favourite practice in the north of Germany, one of the earliest and grandest examples being the tower of St Patroclus at Soe'st (see illustration p. 14). In the district around Paderborn this kind of tower the cruciform saddle-back with a small central pinnacle is very * Since the Gothic revival the " saddle-back " tower has been employed in several of our large town churches. One of the most imposing examples of it is the central tower of St Matthias.', Stoke Newington, from the designs of Buttcrfielcl (1853). f A curious instance of two gables crowning one broad tower, and as picturesque in its way as the " screen fayade " of the Church at Neufahnvasser near Danzig, on which two lofty spires of the type so common in Liibeck and Luneburg, are placed in juxtaposition. 181 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE common ; that of the cathedral there assuming this form, until it was surmounted (and hardly improved) in modern times by a tall spire of wood covered with lead. Our grandest and loftiest Early English tower is the western one of Ely Cathedral, which was commenced during the episcopate of Bishop Ridel (1174-1189) and completed either by him, or his successor, Eustace. How this tower was finished originally is not certain for in the fifteenth century tall octagonal turrets and 3 lantern of the same shape but of no very great merit were added, but it is probable that when finished before the close of the twelfth century it was covered by a form of timber and leaded spire, which subse- quently became frequent in the neighbouring marsh- lands ; a vast octagonal pyramid, surrounded by four of smaller size rising from their turrets at its angles, like that we see to-day at Sutton St Mary's. Such a spire must clearly have terminated the beautiful detached tower at West Walton. Such I think existed on the south-west tower of St Margaret's at Lynn, and probably at several of the neighbouring churches ; and all these, as I imagine, followed the great type first established at Ely, either by Bishop Ridel, or in the next century by Bishop Northwold. The front of Ely Cathedral, with its tower thus ter- minated, with leaded spires also on the turrets flanking the north and soutli ends of the western transepts, and with the high roofs on these transepts and the western porch, must have presented a tout ensemble of the most imposing and majestic character. Of Early English church towers, the following are 182 I THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued among the finest and most important : in North- amptonshire, St Mary's, Stamford, f and St Peter's, Raundsf ; in Lincolnshire, Sibsey,f Sutton St Mary's, f Whaplode, and the lower part of Gedney; in Leicestershire, the first stage of Melton Mowbray * ; in Durham, the western towers of the Cathedral above the springing of the nave gable, and St Cuthbert's, Darlington * ; in Yorkshire, Old Malton ; in Notts, Thurgarton ; in Beds, the lower part of Felmersham * ; in Oxon, Middleton Stoney; in Wilts, Bishop's Canning f ; and in Norfolk, West Walton. The West Walton tower, detached like that at Long Sutton from the church, is covered with arcading from the ground up, finishing with much later pinnacles. There was formerly a tall spire of the same material, in all probability much like that valuable one at Sutton St Mary's, a copy of which, though in stone, may be seen in one of Sir Gilbert Scott's earliest London churches, St Matthew, City Road. The Sutton St Mary tower has angle turrets and lead pinnacles ; West Walton tower terminates in quad- rangular stone pinnacles with crockets. The original thirteenth-century builders of our cathedrals usually erected central towers rising suffi- ciently high to receive the four arms of the church as at Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln, and St David's. At Salisbury the story against which these roofs abutted, is a very light structure, and was intended to be visible from within. It is perforated in its thickness by a triforium gallery, leaving externally a wall of little * These are central, f These have spires. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE more than two feet in thickness, while the interior con- sists of a light arcade with Purbeck marble shafts. The corner turrets have each a staircase, rendering them mere shells. On this frail structure the fourteenth-century builders carried up the vast tower, some eighty feet high, with walls nearly six feet thick, and upon this a spire rising one hundred and eighty feet more. It need not then be wondered that the older story, so unduly loaded, should have become shattered. Sub- sequent builders have bolstered it up by flying buttresses, and by every form of prop that they could invent, till the sectional area of the added supports exceeded that of the original structure. Still, how- ever, the crushing went on, and when Sir Gilbert Scott examined it earty in the ' ' sixties ' ' of the last century, it had proceeded to very alarming le._ & ths. In addition to the numerous ties it already had, Scott banded it together by additional iron ties, and then new stones were gradually inserted in place of those which were shattered. Sir Gilbert dared not do anything to the bent piers which carry the tower. Their curvature appears to have arisen from two causes, the pressure of the arcades upon their flanks, and from their backs or flanks not consisting as do their fronts, of Purbeck marble closely bedded, but of compressible rubble walling. These two causes acting together would almost necessarily produce flexure. This had been remedied in the openings to the transepts by building ' ' strainer arches ' : across them at about half- height. 184 SAI.ISBfRY ( A 1 Hi:i)K.\I.. The Tower and Spire, from the cloisters.) I'OI.KBKO* >K CIU'KCII, NORTH \\ll' I ( )NSIII KM- (F.nrlv l-'n^lish tn\\-rr ;IIK| -pii-c.) To lace p. 184. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued It was the same at Wells, where the fourteenth- century architect piled a huge pinnacled tower on to a thirteenth-century substructure supported on arches designed to carry only a certain weight. To remedy this, those inverted arches which form so striking a feature of the interior of Wells Cathedral were inserted within the arches opening into the nave and transepts. At St David's there is documentary evidence of the fall of the great tower in 1220, by which the transepts and eastern limb appear to have been crushed ' ' Nova turris Meneviae Ecclesiae die Lunae ante festum S. Martini statim post vesperas in ruinam improvisam versa est." (Annales Cambriae.) The cause was the failure of the two eastern piers. In rebuilding the tower, the two western piers were left standing so that it was supported on columns of unequal strength, puring the six centuries which followed the rebuild- ing, the height of the tower was greatly increased, first in the fourteenth century by Bishop Gower, and again in the sixteenth by Bishop Vaughan. The two eastern piers bore the superincumbent mass well, but the original western ones had become crushed literally to fragments. At one time a vast wall had been erected between the piers, displacing half the width of Bishop Gower 's exquisite choir-screen ; but this abutment was insufficient. One transept arch had also been walled up, as had that opening to the nave, though this latter had been reopened before Sir Gilbert Scott was called in, about 1864. Not only were the two older piers thus shattered, but very much of the superstructure also, while the later stories above were split from top to bottom by gaping cracks of great width. 185 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE By united engineering and architectural skill St David's tower. was preserved from utter collapse, and its effect now internally, with the four arches of its lantern rising from graceful shafts, the arcades above, and the richly decorated timber groined roof over all, is very charming ; indeed the interior effect of this central tower of St David's is as fine as anything in the range of English architecture. At Lincoln, where the Early English tower of Bishop Grostete rises higher above the roofs than in those of the same epoch elsewhere, the arches have always stood well the stately addition made by Bishop John of Dalderby in the fourteenth century. A pretty feature of the small Early English village church is the gabled belfry, or as it is usually styled " bell-cot." It is sometimes placed at the junction of the nave and chancel as at Skelton, but more frequently it crowns the western gable where, especially if it is in conjunction with buttresses, it forms a very pleasing feature. Admirable models of bell-cotes are to be seen at Binsey, Forest Hill and Toot-Baldon in Oxford- shire ; Inglesham in Wiltshire ; Northborough, Northants ; Long Stanton, Cambridgeshire; Howell, Lincolnshire ; and Little Casterton, Manton and Whit- well, Rutlandshire; where this feature seems to have been mostly localised. At Peakirk, in Lincolnshire, the bell-cote is built with a " set off," dividing it into two stages, the lower and wider one being pierced with openings for two bells, and the upper with a similar aperture for one bell. At Forest Hill (about two miles and a half from Oxford, the bell gable is a remarkably picturesque object and from its situation is visible from 186 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued a considerable distance. It appears to be part of the original building of transitional work, but has had two very tall and deep buttresses attached on the west side to support it. The gabled bell-cote is, however, not confined to England. We frequently meet it on the Continent, particularly in Spain and Italy, where as a rule it is not built in the positions above alluded to, but upon some structure contiguous to the church. It seems to have continued in use quite late in the Renaissance period (several very charming flat-topped bell-cotes of this epoch being in Cordova) when it was made to assume a variety of forms. Of Italian Gothic bell-cotes there is hardly a more pleasing example than that on the western gable of the little chapel of San Matteo at Perugia. The vertical portion is very tall and divided into two stages by a string-course upon which the two trefoil-headed openings for the bells rest, while within the gable itself are two smaller aper- tures occupying the whole height of the triangular space. The ensemble of this little belfry at Perugia is charming, and so English-looking, that it might be appropriately laid under contribution for a small country church. Thirteenth-century sculpture is of two kinds foliaged and figured. That of foliage shows a great development on what had gone before. The best capitals of the transitional epoch were copied, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, from Corinthian, and in French work natural foliage was to some extent grafted on this. Early English foliage is marked by its extreme gracefulness. The same sense of beauty which made the architect's design so graceful naturally 187 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE produced this result. The idea was as a rule not to copy natural foliage, but to give a conventionalised representation of the essential facts of Nature. The variety is great, but the commonest form gives us either capitals with distinct, but regularly arranged masses of foliage, growing firmly and very gracefully from the neck of the shaft, or another variety gives capitals with a continuous mass of foliage.* In addi- tion to this enriched carving of capitals other occa- sions for its use were devised. One of the most characteristic is the custom of diapering the plain surface of a wall, as at Westminster Abbey in the spandrels of the arches in Henry III. and Edward I.'s portions of the work. The delicacy of these diapers is extreme, especially some in the arcading round the walls of the chapter-house. Another one is the carved decoration of mouldings ; sometimes with foliage, * As examples of that bold yet delicately foliaged ornament in which the thirteenth-century artificers in England excelled, I may name the pier capitals in the choir and Lady Chapel of Worcester Cathedral ; the transepts of York ; the nave and transepts of Lincoln; the retro-choirs of Chichester (very early), and Winches- ter; the presbytery of Ely ; the eastern bay of the choir of Durham ; Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire; St Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln; West Walton Church, Norfolk; All Saints, Stamford ; the Elder Lady Chapel in Bristol Cathedral ; Skelton Church (near York) ; Warmington Church (Northants) ; St Helen's, Abingdon (inner doorway of tower) ; Bridlington Priory (Yorks), north porch ; St Candida, Whitchurch Canonicorum (Dorset), north arcade of nave. The foliaged ornament in Wells Cathedral is of a type peculiar to Somerset ; it crossed the Bristol Channel, for we find pier capitals exactly similar at Berkeley in Gloucestershire, and Llandafi Cathedral. Cross the Irish Sea, and it appears in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Much delicate carved work of this epoch may be looked for in fonts, sedilia, piscinre, and other accessories of Divine worship. 1 88 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued oftener with the dog-tooth. This was for giving emphasis to a moulding, and was a development from the Romanesque nail-head, which was also still used. Foliage was also used for stopping mouldings under capitals, for covering a transition from the circular to the square portion of a base, and for the ends of cusps. In England perhaps no architectural foliage has ever excelled that of the first half of the thirteenth century for purity, boldness of treatment and effects of light and shade. It is, however, too conventional for the purposes of modern art. It is engrafted with, and forms a portion of the architecture of that period, and can therefore be used at the present day merely as a revival, without becoming a part of the architecture of the Gothic revival. There is great need to guard against this conventionality, which is prone to descend to mere mannerism, to the exclusion of natural forms and features, as was so evident in the ornament of the Perpendicular period. The treatment of foliaged ornament for the pur- poses of architectural ornament must, more or less, be always geometrical and symmetrical, in accordance with its situation and purpose ; first, as to the arrange- ment of branches constituting the leading ornamental lines; second, as to the forms of leaves and flowers; third, as to conditions of light and shade; fourth, the position it is intended to occupy, whether near the eye, or at a distance from it, and lastly, the material of which the ornament is to be executed. Animal form, interwoven with forms from the vegetable kingdom has almost always entered to a great extent into every kind of decoration, evidenced, among other instances, in the 189 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE conventional representation of the lion in the various types assumed by the Assyrian, Greek, Roman, Romanesque, and mediaeval periods down to the sixteenth century, each age possessing the peculiar characteristics of its own system of art. One mode of rendering animal and vegetable form consisted in representing them merely by the aid of two colours in painting and inlay, or two surfaces in sculpture, leaving the object to be shown, in its simple block form, and trusting entirely to its outline for expres- sion. Such having been the case in Egyptian and Assyrian ornament, Roman mosaic pavements, the " wall veil " inlays of Italian art, tapestry and woven tissues, and our own mediaeval tiles, brasses, wall- paintings, heraldry and manuscripts. No people have more beautifully idealised the vegetable world than the Egyptians, as in their treatment of the lotus-leaf. In Assyrian ornament is to be observed a development of the Greek form of ornament connected by the scollop or semicircle shown on an ivory in the British Museum, which represents a fully expanded flower alternating with a circular bud or pomegranate. The highest form of foliated sculpture, however, is that which expresses some thought or idea beyond the mere combination of leaf form, adopting some mode of symbolical expression. Mediaeval artists expressed belief in the Trinity by triple foliage and other triune arrangements of form ; and of their faith in Christian- ity by the constant development of various forms of the Cross. The foliage of the Anglo-Norman period is remarkable for its great vigour and expression, and contains the most clever developments of elegant lines, 190 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con tinned combined with great simplicity of light and shade; and in the doorways in particular the sculpture evinces the highest and most artistic treatment. Very little undulation of surface is necessary for the sculptured representation of leaves, where the ground should be deeply recessed for shadow, thereby giving greater brilliancy to their radiating or other forms which would be otherwise impaired by a superabun- dance of light and shade. Nature should be con- stantly studied, rather than the merely inanimate form ; she should be watched and examined at different periods of the year, and viewed from different posi- tions ; and every part of a plant that strikes the eye by its elegance of form should be carefully examined and drawn to form a store for future use in designing ornamental art. All carved ornament placed on a surface, whether leafage, flowers or fruit, should be carved out of, or within, the surface itself; that is, the ground from which the ornament springs should be recessed or sunk, the subject being, as it were, contained in a panel, thereby giving truthfulness to the work, and avoiding that stuck-on appearance that was so commonly practised in modern architecture in the earlier stages of the Gothic revival, where the ornamentation, being placed outside, hangs fre- quently in festoons over the surface to be decorated, instead of being formed within it and becoming a portion of the work itself. Architecture thereby becomes a mere peg upon which to hang the fancies of the decorative artist, whose object is to cover up the architecture wherever he can extend his ornamenta- tion a 'system which is not only confined to sculpture 191 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE but to painting, as witness the manner in which some of the finest conceptions of modern architects have been bedizened to the lowest depths of degradation ; for ornamentation thus appears to be endeavouring to usurp its place a vicious principle which cannot be too strongly condemned. The Early English style is not more remarkable for its differences from the preceding style in the forms of arches, columns, and mouldings than for the increased use of foliage ornament. Speaking gener- ally, in the Norman buildings foliage was restricted to the capitals and bases, and sometimes the shafts of the columns, and to the ornaments of doors or window arches. In the Early English not only was foliage introduced in the adornment of vestments and church furniture, but the invention among others of the crocket, the cusp, the finial, and it may be said the boss, and the diaper, supplied new means of using this kind o'f ornament, of which the architects and sculptors took advantage. There are not many who will dispute that the Early English foliage excels that of every other period in England, and will hold its own if compared with the ornament of any style or time. The characteristics of the foliage of the different periods of English work strike one with almost fresli force when the examples are brought together in suc- cessive pages drawn to a similar scale, and it would appear almost by the same hand, so that there is no distraction from the peculiarities of draughtsmen, as, for instance, in Mr J. K. Ceiling's " Examples of English Mediaeval Foliage" published in 1874. It 192 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued requires but a glance through this delightful book to see that although there was a remarkable develop- ment of some parts of the Norman ornament, and a gradual approach to Early English during the time of the first transition, yet there was much which must have been derived from fresh invention, and therefore there was sufficient to mark the starting of a new period then, however difficult it might be to draw the boundary between other periods. For instance, the abandonment of the square for the round abacus was a remarkable event by itself, almost enough to con- stitute a period, although we cannot account for it, or for the general adoption of the new form, any more than for some other circumstances in the history of English architecture. Even towards the end of the semi-Norman or transition time, the leaves that were wrought on the capitals generally were lobed or serrated from the springing, a practice inherited from the Roman sculptors, and a leaf of one species was often wrought upon the face of another of a different kind, there being no .undercutting between them. But in the Early English, not only in capitals, but in other sculpture, the effect was produced mainly by using but one form of conventional foliage, and arranging it so as to give flowing curves. In a capital what may be called the lower zone depended for effect upon the strong lines of the ribs or stems with which the overhanging lobes contrasted finely, and in the sculp- ture with which spaces like spandrels were filled, the stem was an important feature. The effect of the simple forms was heightened by the deep under- cutting, so that the capitals especially have a play of 193 N A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE light and shade beyond all others. We see this in such work as the pier capitals in the Lady Chapel of Worcester Cathedral, in the presbytery of Ely, and in that typical range of Early English columns com- posed of a cylinder with four slender shafts grouped round it at West Walton. The light and shade is similar in principle to the plain mouldings of the style, where we see the beads and bowtells separated by deep, cavernous hollows. Nothing can be more harmonious than the combination of the characteristic mouldings, and the vigorous foliage of this epoch. Towards the latter half of the thirteenth century the custom of copying natural foliage was much adopted, as at Southwell Minster, in the chapter-house. This was beautifully executed, and under certain con- ditions may be allowed ; but it is inferior in excellence and in skilfulness to conventionalised work. This leafage is always very luxuriant, growing in very strong curves with extremely good light and shade, and often undercut in the most elaborate manner. The leaves generally exhibit some variety of trefoil ; no architectural foliage is so good as this usually was. The spandrels of the wall arcading in Westminster Abbey and Stone Church with leafage round the arch mouldings are specially worth studying. Sculpture of the higher sort, of figures and groups was not so common in England as in France. The west front of Wells Cathedral is the finest we possess ; those of Salisbury and Lichfield, where every space in which a statue once stood has received its complement of late years, ranking next. But we may look at 194 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued Westminster, at the angels in the spandrels of the transept windows, and at the bronze figures of Henry III. and Queen Eleanor on their monuments. These are thoroughly fine works of art ; they were executed by Torel an Englishman and in a style which makes one proud of him even if his work be compared with the best of the contemporary Italian artists, such as the Pisani. The best sculpture is generally that of recumbent effigies on monuments. At Higham Ferrers, in the tympanum of the west door are ten small groups within medallions * ; and the Fine Art Courts at the Crystal Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Architectural Museum in Tufton Street afford more ample opportunity of studying this art than most of our old buildings, so complete has been the destruction of figure sculpture in our churches, thanks to Puritanical fanaticism. Early English draperies always hung in straight and simple folds ; the figures are always draped, generally picturesquely posed, and subjects are very simple in their stor}?-, and not at all complicated in their treatment. The carving of mediaeval sculptors is never more delightful than when the subjects are flowers. Their figure compositions are often puzzling, not merely * These represent, in the sinister half of the tympanum, the salutation of Mary and Elizabeth ; the angel appearing to Zacharias ; the Epiphany ; our Lord in the Temple ; and His Baptism. In the dexter half, the Crucifixion; the Annunciation; the Disciples at the Sepulchre (which is shown as a coffin resting on a trefoiled arcade, through which are seen the soldiers as in an Easter sepulchre) and the descent into Hell. The vault of the shallow porch before this door is richly diapered. 195 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE from the indifference to created examples which they reveal, but from the delight seen in exhibiting scenes of punishment which was never much of a character- istic with artists, unless they were men with unequili- briated minds, like Michael Angelo and William Blake. The fragments of carving from the pedestal of the shrine of St Frideswide which were found in various places near Oxford Cathedral about twenty years ago are charming examples of that power which came from affection for floral ornament. The saint found her mission in solacing the Gurths and other serfs and outlaws who lived in the Abingdon woods. The sculptors therefore almost concealed her figure, and filled the spandrels with such simples as were to be found in the district, and which the saint was likely to employ with her patients. The plants are so faith- fully represented that Mr Druce, the author of " The Flora of Oxfordshire," was able to identify them, and he testifies that they are all to be found near Binsey, the modern name of the place where the Saxon saint's hospice was set up. Among them are sycamore, maple, celandine, columbine, hogsweed, crowsfoot, oak, ivy, etc. The monument is supposed to have measured seven feet in its length, and it was six feet in height, and it must have been among the most perfect of English works of its age and class. Appar- ently it was the " new shrine " mentioned in some legal deeds in 1269. Supplemented by modern work St Frideswide 's shrine has been rebuilt and replaced in what was no doubt its original position in front of the Lady Altar, the painted decorations on the groining and on the 196 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued arches of the bay opposite the rich altar tomb of Lady Elizabeth Montacute indicating that this was the locality destined for it the first of the two chapels adjoining the north aisle of the choir in the cathedral of Oxford. The decorative work of this age is to be studied as well in London as anywhere. To say nothing of what may be seen in museums, let us consider what we have at Westminster. To begin with, there are the pave- ments of Edward the Confessor's Chapel and before the high altar. They are of opus Romanum ; the latter was given to the church by Abbot Ware, and finished in 1268. It is similar in style to the pave- ments in many Italian churches, and an admirable example. This pavement in the " sacrarium ' of the abbey should be examined carefully and the difference noted between it and that in the Confessor's Chapel, which is probably an English imitation. Of the same period are the encaustic tiles in the chapter- house some of the best in England in execution, though not the most fitting in design. They repre- sent traceried windows, intersecting squares and circles, and very elaborate foliage. Then again there is the shrine of the Confessor, another work, like the pavement, of Italian origin, the wooden sedilia, and the coronation chair, the enamelled figure of William de Valence, the painted altar frontal or retable, the ironwork in front of Queen Eleanor's tomb all of them works of the thirteenth century, by a careful examination of which some idea may be gained of how a church well-furnished throughout at that period looked. Nor, although 197 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE belonging to a much more subsequent period must we overlook two of the finest monumental brasses in England those of John Waltham, Bishop of Salis- bury and Lord High Treasurer of England (ob. 1395), in the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor ; and of Robert Waldeby, Archbishop of York (ob. 1397), in the Chapel of St Edmund the King, both in West- minster Abbey. These two brasses are especially valuable to students of the episcopal vestments of the fourteenth century, both bishops being in full Mass vestments, viz. alb with embroidered hem, fringed dalmatic, oval shaped and orphreyed chasuble, minutely worked amice, embroidered mitre and shoes, and jewelled gloves. Their effigies stand beneath tripled ogee arches, with pinnacles between them, and the borders represent series of small arched niches containing figures. During the twelfth centur}- stained glass was almost always of one description a mosaic of rich colour. In the first sixty years of the thirteenth century, though to some extent the mode of design was similar, the details were more elegant, and the use of white glass was more developed. The principles on which it was designed were simple and true. Pot-metal was used for colour, stain being seldom used until the end of the century. The drawing and the arrangement of subjects in oblong panels or medallions with white glass between is one of the leading characteristics of this branch of ecclesiastical art at this period. The lead work followed leading lines, and the ironwork followed the general scheme, and added much to the effect. The drawing of details of stained glass was 198 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued extremely bold and careful ; generally it was strongly outlined, and leaves were filled in with delicate lines instead of shading. This is entirely correct in prin- ciple, and although I have the greatest admiration for the Decorated and early Perpendicular stained glass, I always feel on looking at that of the first half of the thirteenth century that nonfe surpasses it in brilliancy and force of colouring. The design was also never a mere imitation of stonework, but always a genuine design made for glass and suitable for nothing else. The introduction of grisaille was one of the beauties of this style. The manner in which the ironwork of the windows was designed to harmonise with the glass is well worthy of notice ; and in some cases it is almost as beautiful. Although we have no such collections of early thirteenth-century glass in our cathedrals and churches such as may be seen at Amiens, Auxerre, Bourges, Chartres, Poitiers and Sens religious fanaticism, culpable neglect, private cupidity and ignorance having done their worst for us in this respect we may point with pride to the work in the tall broad lancet windows of the Trinity Chapel and " Becket's Crown " in Canterbury Cathedral. These windows are perhaps the finest in Europe, excelling in many respects those in the French churches alluded to, and they display drawing as accurate and classically correct as that of the purest ages of art, great value being given to the brilliant hues by the liberal use of white and neutral tints. The scrolls and borders surrounding the medallions are also of extreme beauty. The three windows remaining in the Trinity Chapel 199 are entirely devoted as were all the rest to the miracles of Becket, which of course commenced imme- diately on the death of that prelate, to whom, as visions declared, a place had been assigned between the Apostles and martyrs, preceding even St Stephen, who had been killed by aliens, whilst Thomas was killed by his own. At York Minster its unrivalled collection of stained glass dates almost entirely from the later part of the thirteenth century, but in the northern clerestory of the nave, in the second window counting from the west there is a portion of a Jesse, the date of which is about 1 200. It is therefore much older than the greater part of the Early English glass at Canterbury. This piece of glass may have been taken from one of the windows in the Norman nave which was gradually removed during the erection of the present one (1285- 1345). Much Early English glass, varying in date from the beginning to the middle of the thirteenth century, has been employed to fill the wheel of tracery in the head of the above- mentioned window, as well as the wheels in the tracery of the five next clerestory windows. The upper tier of subjects in the lower lights of the fifth and seventh windows counting from the west on the north side of the clerestory are also Early English. A subject of the same period is inserted in one of the lower lights of the sixth clerestory window counting from the west. The wheels in the tracery of all but three of the clerestory windows on the south side of the nave are likewise filled with Early English glass ; and glass paintings of this epoch are also to be found amongst the subjects 200 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued in their lower lights. In England as in France it was frequently the custom to transfer the stained glass from a window of an earlier period to one of later date. This may be seen at St Radegonde's, Poitiers, where very early thirteenth-century glass has been taken from coupled lancet windows and replaced in one of five or more lights of the Decorated period. At York the quintuplet of lancets known as the " Five Sisters " in the north transept retain their original Early English glass, consisting of diapered patterns varying in each window, and of very great beauty. The narrow white border which surrounds each window was inserted in 1715. The glass in the five upper lancets is modern. In his " History of York Cathedral " Gent tells us that there is a tradition of five maiden ladies having defrayed the cost of these five lancet windows, and that the painted glass in them, representing a kind of embroidery or needlework, might perhaps give occa- sion for the story. (Vide the storv in " Nicholas Nickleby " "The Five Sisters of "York.") The truth is perhaps that the name arose from the equal dimensions of the five lancets. Our largest and most complete example of the stained glass of this period is the rose window in the north transept of Lincoln Cathedral. The tracery in the centre of the circle is composed of one large quatrefoil, the ends of the cusps being prolonged to an ornament of four curved sides ; in the middle of it, in the spaces formed by the lobes of the quatrefoil with the rim of the circle, are small tref oiled openings. Between this large central quatrefoil and the three 201 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE orders of mouldings which form the setting of the rose are sixteen plain circles. Not only the glass which fills it but the window itself is one of the most splendid and perfect works of its age and class in England. It is probably part of St Hugh's design, and together with the glass may date from soon after 1200, but the stonework on the interior was, until Mr Pearson's careful restoration of the transept forty years ago, in a condition of great rudeness, owing to the repairs which had been made from time to time for the preservation of the glazing. The subject of the glass is " The Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven." The great central quatrefoil is occupied with a representation of the Blessed in Heaven, with Christ sitting in the midst. Each of the four trefoils in the angles formed by the quatrefoil contains the figure of an angel tossing a thurible. The eight small circles at their sides contain four-leafed ornaments. The sixteen circles which form the outer part of the window set forth the mysterious scheme of man's redemption and the efficacy of the Church. The topmost of these circles represents our Lord seated on a rainbow and displaying the Five Wounds. The two next circles on either side contain angels support- ing the Cross, and other instruments of the Passion. In the next circle on each side are holy persons in the act of being conducted to Heaven by St Peter and other saints. The two next circles on each side are, or have been, occupied with a representation of the general resurrection ; and each of the lowest five circles is filled either with the figure of an archbishop, or of a bishop in eucharistic vestments. 202 THE EARLY ENGLISH The extraordinary intensity and vividness of the colours, the strength and boldness of the outline, the tallness of the figures, their vigorous and spirited attitudes and classical air of their heads, also the conventional character of the foliaged ornaments as displayed in the borders and white patterns, and which resemble the ornaments of the contemporary sculpture, are all characteristics of the Early English style of glass painting, and are all traceable in this window, which also exhibits the general principles of com- position common to any Early English window that contains a number of pictures. Each picture, the design of which is always very simple, is placed in a panel having a stiff -coloured ground, and well-defined border. The panels are also embedded in a stiff- coloured ground. Very little white glass is used, so that the window consists of a mass of rich and variegated colouring, of which the predominant tones are those of the grounds. The design of this great northern rose at Lincoln, owing fo the smallness of its parts, is confused when seen from the floor of the transept, the best position for viewing it being from the gallery of the triforium or clerestory. There is also much other Early English glass in the four lancet windows of the opposite transept, collected from different parts of the cathedral. Over these lancets is another magnificent rose of a period which our history has not yet readied. According to the sym- bolism of the different parts or" the church in ' ' The Metrical Life of St Hugh " (written between the years 1220-1295) these windows typified the Bishop and the Dean " Ecclesiae duo sunt oculi ' the Bishop 203 looked towards the south, the quarter of the Holy Spirit, as though inviting His influence; the Dean towards the north, the region of Lucifer (Isaiah xiv. 13) in order to watch against his advances. The five lancet windows at the east end of Chet- wode Church, Buckinghamshire, have retained their original glazing in a fairly perfect condition. It represents figures of saints and bishops and a king (Henry III. doubtless, in whose reign the church was built c. 1240-44) standing within oval compartments against blue backgrounds. The borders are a delicate grisaille, and the same tone is employed in the patternwork separating, at considerable distances, the figures just mentioned. The whole forms, with of course modifications in the drawing and pose of the figures, an admirable model for a modern window in a church of this period of architecture where it is necessary to exclude as little light as possible. 204 CHAPTER VI THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued Some representative buildings Lincoln Cathedral The chapter- house of Westminster Abbey The presbytery of Ely Cathe- dral Churches at Skelton, Nun Monkton St Nicholas Chapel, Coggeshall Uffington, Hythe The Early English of Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, and the Nene Valley The towers and spires of Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Hunting- donshire Of other counties The English village church List of buildings of the period. To enter into an examination, however brief, of even a few among the great architectural works of this epoch, such as Salisbury and Wells Cathedrals, the retro-choir of Winchester, the transepts of York, the choirs of Southwell and Worcester, and the matchless presbytery of Ely, would occupy more space than can here be afforded.* There are, however, three build- ings of this epoch which, before proceeding to brief notices of some smaller and less-known ones, must not be passed over without comment the cathedral of Lincoln, the chapter-house of Westminster, and the presbytery of Ely. No English cathedral is externally so imposing as * A list of some of the best and most representative buildings of this period will be found at the end of this chapter. 205 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Lincoln, nor do I recollect any abroad which, as a whole, surpasses it, and nearly the whole of its sublime architecture belongs virtually to this century, though it begins, in actual date, a few years earlier, and ends a few years later. It is the custom to speak of Salis- bury as the great typical example of the Early English style, and its unity and completeness warrant the claim ; but both for the grandeur of the whole and the artistic beauty of every part, and also as a complete exponent of English architecture throughout the whole duration of its greatest period, Lincoln far surpasses it. Its leading features form a perfect illustration, and that on the grandest scale, of the entire history of our architecture from the last years of the twelfth to the early part of the fourteenth century. In size and importance Lincoln may be regarded as the third great church of the Early English period in England, the whole of the interior, except the Angel Choir, or portion beyond the eastern transept, being of this age, and this part follows so immediately after the rest as not to produce any want of harmony, but merely a degree of enrichment suitable to the increased sanctity of the altar and the localities surrounding it. In grandeur of situation, Lincoln has no rival among English cathedrals ; no other cathedral is richer or more varied in its outlines, and few can be exceeded in the interest of its details. The polygonal chapter-houses of our cathedrals of the old foundation are indeed unique. There is nothing to compare with them on the Continent. Take that of Lincoln for example. Decagonal in 206 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued shape this house at Lincoln with its high bold roof and its long projecting flying buttresses, was pro- nounced by Pugin " truly grand." Chronologically it takes up ground between the nave and the Angel Choir, so that it would be safe to fix its date between 1240 and 1260. Even here the lancet form of window prevails, each side of the decagon except that open- ing into the equally exquisite vestibule being lighted by a pair, while running round the walls below the windows, unbroken by the vaulting shafts which are stopped upon corbels at the string-course, is a series of uncusped pointed arcades. In the centre rises a tall column composed of twelve slender shafts grouped around a nucleus and resembling the trunk of a palm- tree, of which the head bends down like an immense sunshade, sheltering under its symmetrical branches the whole area of the floor, the branches being united with parts of other palms which spring from the angles of the decagon. The chapter-houses of Salisbury and Westminster may be lighter and more gracious in the disposal of their vaults, but it is impossible not to admire the consummate skill evinced in their majestic parent at Lincoln. Contemporary French or German archi- tecture has produced nothing from which a notion can be formed of so exquisitely delightful an example of groining. The thirteenth-century English architects may not have possessed the same engineering skill as those of the Domaine Royal and Champagne in the arrangement of their east ends, but in the art of disposing and ornamenting their vaults, particularly those of octagonal chapter-houses, they unquestionably 207 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE carried off the palm. They seem to have had a peculiar aptitude for that work which enabled them to exercise their imagination and their practical studies, and hence they produced a variety of effects of extra- ordinary richness. But among all their inventions there are few more original than the palm-tree-like vaults in those chapter-houses of Lincoln, Salisbury, Westminster, Lichfield, and Wells, which form so remarkable and continuous a sequence of buildings. For loveliness there was probably no more conspicuous building in the kingdom, if in Europe, than the chapter-house of Westminster when it was in its glory, no little of whicK was given back to it about five-and- forty years ago, after centuries of ill-treatment and neglect, through the wonderful skill and acute diagnosis of Sir Gilbert Scott. All that art could do, both in its construction and decoration, was employed to the fullest possible extent. Whether we look to its sculpture, its proportions, the cleverness of its construction, or its mural and other decoration, better examples than what was to be seen here could scarcely be pointed out. In proportion this chapter-house has no superior; and if, as we possibly may, we except Lincoln, it was the earliest of the whole series of polygonal chapter- houses, having been begun about 1250.* This much is certain, that the windows were nearly finished in 1253. The chapter-house which most resembles it is that at Salisbury, which was, in fact, to a great * Matthew Paris " under the date of 1250 " says, after stating that the King (Henry III.) had rebuilt the church : " Dominus Rex aedificavit capitulum incomparable." 208 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued extent copied from it, and is in certain of its features of a more advanced and ornate style. It would seem, however, that the Lincoln building, very similar in construction, having the same description of flying buttresses to support its walls, was commenced slightly earlier. That is a decagon of about the same diameter as the Westminster octagonal building. Its form is not so good as the other for several reasons. The octagon gives much more idea of size, and being less cut up affords opportunity for windows of much larger dimensions. In the Lincoln chapter-house the windows are lancets arranged in pairs, at Westminster we have one large four-light window in seven of the sides, with geometrical tracery of a very high order; indeed they are as fine specimens of windows as are to be found in any country. The only exception to this is over the portal, where the shortened window is of five lights. This was doubtless to avoid an unpleasant dwarfed appearance, that a four-light window cut short would have had. As might be expected, the Lincoln carvers have, as usual, displayed all their powers in the enrichment of the capitals of the great central column of shafts and in the elongated corbels upon which the angle shafts are supported ; whereas the majority of the Westminster shafts have capitals of comparative plain- ness. No one who takes the trouble to imagine what this ' ' capitulum incomparable ' ' was j^hen it was first built can think that Matthew Paris's description was at all exaggerated. It was indeed an incompar- able chapter-house. Though less rich in carving than others, its interior must have been more effective, on 209 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE account of its greater nobleness of proportion and splendour of coloured decoration. Fifty years ago it was hard for the uninitiated to understand from its then condition the glowing accounts which Sir Gilbert Scott and others had given of this chapter-house. Nothing could well be more shameful ; every window was blocked up, the whole of the exterior so entirely defaced as scarcely to leave a vestige of its former glory. Fortunately, there was just enough to show that the exterior mouldings and ornaments were similar to the interior, and so the task of restoring though apparently hopeless was really an easy matter. The interior had suffered less than the outside, miserable as was its condition at that period ; but the very neglect with which it had been treated was here an advantage. The Government, in whose hands the building had been almost from its foundation, had simply let it go gradually to decay. What had been strong enough to last had been let alone ; and so in certain parts we had in this building that which existed nowhere else. These destroyers did not even attempt to keep the place in repair ; and so, instead of repaving the floor, as they probably would have done if they had acted in the spirit of the eighteenth century, they simply covered it up with woodwork, and left us one of the finest, if not the very finest, specimen of tile-work that is to be seen in this or any other country. Whether we look to the design, drawing, or execution of this matchless work, it is in every way admirable. In saying this I do not make any comparison between this pavement and those formed of tesserae, or inlaid with precious marble, 210 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued porphyry, and the like. As a pictured floor executed in ceramic work, I can call to mind nothing to equal this, unless, as a matter of art, the excellent Chertsey pavement, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington, be excepted. Then again, the neglect of the place was so absolute, that it had happily never been whitewashed ; and so have been preserved some most extraordinary paintings, many of them still in excellent preservation, and of the highest interest in every way. When the filling up of the windows was taken out, many other original features came to light. The window over the door, for instance, was found by Sir Gilbert Scott to be blocked up with some of the original ribs of the roof which was destroyed. Much more information of a similar character was forthcoming as the work of restoration proceeded, for the Government evidently did not take the trouble to clear away the debris, but used it up as much as possible in botching up the building. Shamefully as the State had used this incomparable piece of thirteenth-century Gothic skill, it is to State history that after its position in the history of mediaeval art it owes its principal history. Almost from its erection the Westminster chapter-house was used for State purposes. Within twenty years of its birth it seems to have been used, at least occasionally, as the place of meeting for the House of Commons. In 1377 it appears to have been given up to the Crown to be used as a Commons' house, on condition, it is said, of keeping the building in repair. This latter point does not, however, appear to be known from any document. The authority for this assertion is Sir 211 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Christopher Wren. At any rate, it is clear that the Crown from time to time did profess to undertake the repairs. The Commons met here till 1547, when St Stephen's Chapel was given up to them. After this it became a Record Office, and in 1703 Wren refused to erect a gallery in it. In 1705 he repaired it, but later it was delivered over to the tender mercies of barbarians, who reduced it to the wretched state it was in fifty years ago, some idea of which may be formed from prints exhibited, I believe, in the restored building, which is now used as a museum of antiquities. Instead of repairing the vaulting, it was taken down bodily, and a wooden ceiling substituted ; and thus an extra chamber or loft was gained for the record people. The side walls had given way in some degree. Wren had noticed this, and attributed the fact to the curious flying buttresses a construction he held in great contempt, as being merely fanciful, without beauty, and wanting in strength. Facts, however, seem against him, for the resistance of the buttresses is twice as great as would ever be required of them, and the wall that abuts on the building was certainly not in a better state than those which had the other support. The fault was probably more in the foundations. The mediaeval artists, however, do not seem to have cared for this constructional feature, for in the Salis- bury and subsequent chapter-houses, the buttresses were attached to the walls. Before the restoration took place (c. 1867) nothing had been done to this house for a hundred and fifty years. All the records 212 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued having been removed to the building erected for their reception in Fetter Lane, the chapter-house was of no further use to the Government. On Gladstone's accession to power in 1868 he set seriously to work to remove what had come to be nothing less than a national reproach. The work of restoration was entrusted to Sir Gilbert Scott, in whose able hands the chapter-house of Westminster began to assume some- thing of its pristine splendour and form. Not a point was missed which would enable Sir Gilbert to ascertain the actual design of any part, nor was any old feature removed of which a trace of the old form remained ; the only parts conjecturally restored being the external parapet, the pinnacles, the gables of the buttresses and the pyramidal roof. Perhaps the most graceful feature of the West- minster chapter-house is the central pillar. About thirty-five feet high, it is entirely of Purbeck marble, and consists of a central shaft surrounded by eight subordinate shafts, attached to it by three moulded bands. The capital, though of marble, is most richly carved, and on the top of it is a systematically con- structed set of eight hooks of iron for so many cross-ties. The same was the case at Salisbury, and there can be no doubt that the hooks on the columns in that cathedral are many of them original, and were intended for security during the progress of the work . Some curious facts came out during Scott's numerous visits of inspection to the chapter-house years before its restoration was ever contemplated. He had often wondered that, while the windows 213 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE generally were walled up with brick, that over the entrance should have been filled with stone ; but on taking out one of the ashlar stones to ascertain the section of the jamb, what was his surprise at finding them to consist entirely of the lengths of the moulded ribs of the lost vaulting, carefully packed away like wine-bottles in a bin, with their moulded sides inwards. Our third example Bishop Hugh de Northwold's extension of the eastern arm of Ely Cathedral is not only one of the greatest undertakings of this period, but one of the noblest and most richly ornamented pieces of architecture produced before the thirteenth century had reached its meridian (1234-52). The Norman apse, or its substitute at the east end, was taken down, and six bays with a grand faade, lighted by two tiers of lancet windows, added. The work cost what in our own money would be equal to one hundred thousand pounds. Its design was in some degree influenced by that of the four Norman bays of the presbvterv to which it formed a continuation. Hence its triforium story is unusually lofty, and had an external wall with beautiful lancet windows in pairs of its own. A like fatality has happened externally to both the Norman and the Early English triforia at Ely, their walls having been so transformed that their original design would be unintelligible had not a single portion of each been happily left untouched viz. the two bays of the Norman wall east of the north transept, and two bays of the Early English wall on the south side of the presbytery. From these a restoration on paper of 214 Till-: PRKSUYTKRY. KI.Y (. A TllKDK.U. To face p. 214. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued nearly the whole cathedral, so far as relates to its bays, whether Norman or Early English, could be laid down . These alterations in the lighting of the trif oria at Ely, and which affected it almost throughout the cathedral, were carried out at intervals during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Bishop North- wold's six bays are magnificent in all their details, profuse in the use of Purbeck, marble, and noble in every portion of its design. One of the most charming creations of the lancet or early phase of thirteenth-century English architecture is the little village church of Skelton, about four miles from York. Some of my readers will probably have heard of it, but they may not (unless they have seen it) have realised its exceeding littleness. Consisting as it does of chancel and nave both with aisles, and covered with one length and breadth of high pitched roof, it only measures internally forty-four feet two inches by thirty-two feet eight inches. The details are very rich and very beautiful, and it is not sur- prising that it has formed the model for churches at the present day. Sir Gilbert Scott adopted it when designing the very elegant and sumptuously decorated little church at Cadeby, near Sprotborough a station on the Midland Railway between Sheffield and Doncaster, but it was no doubt Mr Ewan Christian's careful monograph * of it, published in 1846, that brought Skelton Church most prominently before the * The plates in this work were lithographed by Mr J. R. Jobbins and Mr J. K. Colling- (a well-remembered authority on English mediaeval foliaged ornament) from the author's drawings. The names of several architects in practice at that time are found in the list of subscribers. 215 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE architectural public. This little church is tradition- ally said to have been built with the stones that remained after the completion of the south transept of York Minster (c. 1250), and although, as may be gathered from the above given dimensions, it is very small, but few ecclesiastical buildings of its size are perhaps to be found more perfect in harmony of parts, unity of design, and purity of style. It is indeed a gem, well worth the study alike of the architect and the amateur. It is built of a light-coloured limestone, and was carefully restored the year before the Battle of Waterloo in a manner wonderful for that period, by a young architect, Mr Graham, and at the cost of a lady, to whose timely munificence we are indebted for the preservation of this interesting little relic of first pointed art. The nave has two bays, the chancel one, and from the wall above the arch dividing the two portions rises that graceful bell-cote illustrated on page 112. The wide expanse of roof was formerly covered with tiles, but at the restoration of 1814, Westmorland slates, harmonising very well with the environing scenery, were substituted. All the windows are lancets, there being a graceful triplet at the east end surmounted by an oval, and single ones at the west end, the ends of the aisles and at the sides. The two arches dividing the nave from its aisles spring from a column crowned with a capital whose bell is enriched with a delicate bead moulding, the responds or half columns at the east and west ends being composed of three slender shafts, the eastern responds uniting with the attached column of the chancel arch to 216 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued compose a group of singular richness and beauty. The only modern interpolation is the roof, somewhat painfully configured by the architect above named after those in the transept of York Minster. But the gem a priori of this little church is the south doorway. Within its limits the designer evidently aimed at magnificence, and he as evidently succeeded. In the jambs he obtained what may be called an avenue of pillars, nine in number, on either side, bold and uncramped, which throw out their ramifications of mouldings above, in more than four orders, with admirable effect. The chief ingenuity of the scheme consists in a contrivance to show large and handsome capitals and bases, notwithstanding the contiguity of their shafts. This is effected by corbelling back some of the bases, whereby the nine merge into six, whilst the nine capitals plunge into and lose themselves in their well-contrived foliage, and their abaci or tops, without the appearance of mutilation, come out four in number. Within a short distance of Skelton is the curious and even more interesting church of Nun Monkton. Built in the twelfth century as a church for a priory of Benedictine nuns, it was endowed by William de Arcubus and Ivetta his wife, in the reign of Stephen, with their whole estate of Monkton, but the present church is of a date considerably later, being in the very earliest phase of first pointed (c. 1190-1215). The general plan is a simple parallelogram, about thirty-five feet wide externally ; the original length is uncertain, as only five bays and a part of the sixth of the eastern part of the original work have survived. 217 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Externally, the west front is the most beautiful feature, and is a perfect gem of the transitional period of English Gothic. It contains in the lower stage an entrance door very deeply recessed, flanked by two niches on either side of it, the arches both of doorway and niches being semicircular, and enriched by mould- ings and shafts which exhibit the volute and other characteristic ornaments of the time in great per- fection. Above, in a second stage, are three exquisite early lancet windows, surmounted by a belfry tower, the corbel course of which just clears the apex of the roof line. This tower is supported on the west wall and within the church on two plain chamfered piers, separated from the wall and from each other by pointed arches, which, viewed from within, somewhat interfere with the general harmony of the composition, and suggest the idea that this tower, though an original part of the structure, was not part of the original design. The north and south walls are more plainly treated externally, being broken at intervals, regular on the north side but irregular on the south, by flat pilaster buttresses, and pierced within the spaces thus formed by plain lancet window openings of good proportion. The buttresses die into the wall immediately below a moulded corbel table, on which are introduced a series of plain masks. At the fifth buttress of the north and south walls the corbel table is slightly raised, and the masks supporting it are changed in character, evidently indicating the commencement of the original chancel. The south wall contains a recessed semi- circular arched doorway of similar character to the " 218 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con tinned west doorway. This had been broken through, but sufficient remained to make a perfect restoration of it. The south-west doorway, deeply recessed with cham- fered jambs of three orders, has also been opened out. Within is found the most remarkable feature of the church, and it is difficult to imagine anything more exquisitely beautiful than the general treatment of the four walls there exhibited. A passage or gallery is carried in the walls, which are more than four feet in thickness, round the entire building at a height of some ten feet from the floor. To that height the walls are perfectly plain, but from a moulded string-course, which is there introduced, rises one of the most charming compositions in the whole range of Gothic architecture. This is produced by treating the passage or gallery, which is a little over seven feet high, as a triforium, divided by vaulting-shafts into alternate wide and narrow bays. In the wide bays are the window openings with banded cylindrical shafts in the jambs ; in the narrow bays are small coupled openings with very acutely pointed arches of the height of the passage, immediately above which in the wall are small tref oiled panels; and above, again, wider, deep-cusped, trefoil-headed niches, intended, no doubt, to receive figures. There is thus produced a parallel (if it may be so called, where there are no supporting arches) of the triple arrangement of arch, triforium, and clerestory so familiar to us in many of our cathedral, abbey, and collegiate churches ; and the whole is so carefully and variously moulded and enriched as to form a complete repertory of ornamenta- tion for the architectural student. 219 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE The presence of vaulting shafts leads to the supposition that a vaulted timber roof was con- templated, but it is by no means certain that the builders succeeded in erecting this, or indeed any roof of the high pitch at first intended and adopted when the church was conservatively restored and the destroyed chancel rebuilt in 1873, as indicated by the water tabling in the walls of the tower. The triforium, at a point corresponding with the fifth internal buttress, assumes a greatly enriched character ; the narrow bays show considerable variety of treatment, and there is generally great diversity of detail, seeming to indicate a transition of style. The type of roof adopted when the church was restored in 1873' was the simple longitudinal \vooden vault of high pitch, divided into bays by ribs to which shallow cusps give a cinquefoil elevation. The bays between the ribs to the new chancel, which is square-ended and lighted by three very richly and carefully moulded lancet windows, filled with stained glass by Morris & Marshall, being panelled as a vehicle for decoration. A tie-beam, from which rises a king-post, connects the lowest cusp on either side of each rib, and prevents the thrust which such a high-pitched roof would other- wise exercise on the walls. The whole church is quite a model for its size, and no better one could be adopted for the chapel of a collegiate or conventual establishment of the present day. In striking contrast to these richly ornamented little churches at Skelton and Nun Monkton, stands the almost commensurate Chapel of St Nicholas near Coggeshall in Essex. Long used as a barn, it was 220 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued given about forty years ago by the owner, the Rev. W. Bullock, together with an acre of land round it, to the church and vicar of Coggeshall, restored and fitted for Divine service. It is built of brick in the very simplest and severest Early English style, and con- sists of an aisleless nave and chancel of equal length, the latter being a little loftier, and having its square east end lighted by three lancets. The other lancets, are two on either side of the nave and two on either side of the chancel, with on the south side of the former a pointed doorway. In the chancel eleven pairs of the original roof rafters remain. The three lancets at the east end are grouped under an arch lined out in the brickwork, the eyes or spaces formed by the arch with the side lancets being unpierced. The whole is pleasing from its simplicity and, in an enlarged form, has served as a model for churches at the present day, in which economy combined with dignity and ecclesiastical feeling are desiderata. The Church of Uffington in Berkshire is probably known to many of my readers as one of the most interesting and perfect examples of an early thirteenth-century church on a modest scale of which we can boast, and has features which make it beyond almost any other interesting to the zealous ecclesio- logist.* It has an octagonal central tower and a square-ended chancel with its eastern bay alone groined, the phase of the style in which the whole is carried out being the lancet. * Uffington Church, for which Street had a particular fondness, was restored by him, as well as the equally fine but later Church of Wantage early in the 'fifties of the last century. 221 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Hythe Church, in Kent, is even finer; here the clustered shafts, the elevation of the chancel above the nave owing to the crypt, and the contrast between the simplicity of the nave and the magnificence of the chancel, and the beauty of all the detail, make it one of our most perfect examples of a parish church on a small scale. Here the whole eastern part is groined. Stone Church near Dartford so easily within the reach of Londoners, is specially interesting because there can hardly be a doubt that it was built by the same architect as Westminster Abbey ; but it has a square east end, and it had the good fortune, half a century ago, to pass into the hands of George Edmund Street, who restored the vaulted roof of the chancel, which had been renewed at a much later period, to its original form of two bays of plain quadripartite vault- ing. Here, as at Hythe, the whole of the details are most interesting and delicate, the columns dividing the nave from its aisles being especially remarkable as specimens of the purest Early English, quite free from any reminiscences of the Romanesque. It is generally acknowledged that there is no county within the limits of the three kingdoms which is so entirely destitute of the picturesque as Cambridge- shire ; no county so little likely to attract the attention of the admirer of rural scenery, or to arrest the foot- steps of the wandering artist in search of subjects for his sketch-book ; and yet there is something in this absence of the picturesque and beautiful in the general aspect of Cambridgeshire, and especially in the Fen districts, which is by no means devoid of interest, and 222 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued excites an attention far above the " beauties so tame and domestic " as our more highly cultivated pastoral counties. Its widely extended flats of black peaty soil, separated by dark sullen dykes, and intersected by mighty drains, the long rows of willows and poplars, and the uncultivated acres of swamps have about them an air of desolate grandeur and gloomy vastness very striking in its general effect, and by no means devoid of a poetry of its own. Now the churches in this district are among some of the finest in England, and are most of them built on elevated sites to preserve them from the inundations to which the Fens up to a comparatively recent period were constantly liable ; and this, added to the level nature of the country, and the absence for the most part of intervening foliage, causes them to loom out in the distance, so that they look like miniature cathedrals and form landmarks for miles around. This peculiar topographical feature may have induced rather exaggerated notions of their size and grandeur ; still excepting perhaps the Fen districts of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, we may fairly claim for that portion of the county especially which lies to the north of Cambridge, a position unsurpassed in the ecclesiological topography of England. The first thing that strikes one in a general survey of the architecture of Cambridgeshire is the remark- able fact that here, as in the other marshy districts of England, the churches are in general so spacious in proportion, so rich in ornamentation, and so excellent in workmanship; and these, it must be remembered, were erected at a time when the country was much 223 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE poorer than it is now. Two sources of expense deserve especial mention. As there are no stone quarries in Cambridgeshire, this important material had all to be brought from a distance, and though stone from Barnack near North- ampton, and from Ketton near Stamford is used very generally, yet Caen stone, which of course had to be brought all the way from Normandy, is very fre- quently met with ; then too, the mouldings and internal carvings are generally very rich and elaborate, and would seem to have been very costly. We may in some measure account for these facts ; for no doubt the Fens were at that period intersected by navigable streams in all directions, many of which may still be traced close up to the present churches, so that the cheapness and convenience of water- carriage was readily available right up to the building ; and about sixty years ago a vessel was found in the Isle of Ely many feet below the surface, and laden with building stone which had evidently sunk in a navigable watercourse while conveying materials to some church then erecting. And with regard to the richness of the ornamental work of the interior, the material employed is for the most part the chinch or Burwell stone of the district, easily procured, very easily and effectively carved, and durable in internal work, but very perishable externally. But allowing for these two circum- stances, as lessening the cost of the carriage of stone and facilitating the means for internal decorations, very large sums must still have been expended from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries for church 224 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued building in Cambridgeshire. The question still arises, where did the money come from ? For taking into account every advantage, the expense of building such churches as Bottisham, and Soham, and Isleham, and Burwell, Sutton, Haddenham, and many others, must have been enormous, and far above the means of the monastic institutions in the country. The problem is a hard one, and has never been satisfac- torily solved. Church building in the country districts of Cam- bridgeshire, judging from the existing remains, does not seem to have made much progress during the hundred years which followed the Norman Conquest. With the exception of the two great abbeys of Ely and Thorney, St Sepulchre's, and Stourbridge Chapel in Cambridge, there are scarcely any remains of Anglo- Norman architecture worthy of note. This, in some slight degree, may be owing to the unsettled state of the district during the time the Camp of Refuge in the Isle of Ely was the gathering-place of the Saxons in their last struggle against the Norman invader; or we may account for it from the great impetus given to church building by the powerful bishops and priors of Ely during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ; and as work of the previous period was always ruth- lessly destroyed to make way for the current style,, this may have involved the destruction of much Nor- man architecture. However this may be, out of the hundred and ninety churches in the county only twenty-three have portions, some of them very frag- mentary, of the style prevailing during the first seventy-five years of the twelfth century. In the 22S P A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE twenty-five years that followed, during which the struggle was going on between the Romanesque and the first pointed style, there are almost as many remains as there are of the previous century. The nave and central tower arches of the noble Church of Soham near Ely are remarkably fine specimens of this period, but the central tower has since been demol- ished, and one of Perpendicular date erected at the west end, as was often the case in other parts of England. Bourn, another fine church is also of this date ; the tower was always the last portion built, and here it is pure Early English, and must have imme- diately followed the completion of the nave ; the style as usual being changed to that which had come into vogue during the progress of the building. To the new and glorious era in church building forming the subject of this chapter, Cambridgeshire bears abundant witness. Two munificent bishops, Eustachius and Hugh de Northwold now presided over the mother church of the diocese. To the former we are indebted for the splendid galilee porch, and to the latter for the unsurpassable presbytery (the six eastern bays of the choir) of the Cathedral of Ely ; and no- where is the marvellous grace and versatility of this exquisite style so fully developed. This, of course, was not without its effect throughout the country, and accordingly we find portions of this period in between sixty and seventy churches out of the hundred and ninety, for the most part of a very high character, and exhibiting excellent workmanship. In proof of this I may point to the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge, to the exquisite work in the chancel of 226 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued Cherry Hinton, the chancel and transepts of Histon, the greater part of the fine churches at Elm and Leverington, the tower at Bourn, large portions of Foxton, Barrington, Cheveley, Fordham, Hadden- ham, Downham, March, Long Stanton, Haslingfield, Guilden Morden, and very many others too numerous to name, affording good examples of this style in all its varieties from the period when it had scarcely emancipated itself from the trammels of the Roman- esque, until it becomes lost in the Early Decorated or geometrical middle pointed style which succeeded it. The neighbouring county of Northamptonshire may be singled out as an especially valuable one to the young architectural student, since the churches with which it is so richly endowed embrace every period of English architecture, and the examples of these periods are almost, without exception, the best of their kind; indeed, all conversant with the ecclesiology of Northamptonshire agree that it ranks quite among the first of our counties as regards the architectural beauty, variety, and general interest of its churches. The abundance of good building stone will in a great degree account for this ; and in the northern district where the stone is the best, the churches are decidedly the finest, though the southern division affords also many elegant features and interesting details. Near the south-west extremity of the county there is a group of churches in and near the valley of the Cherwell that " water lilied " riveret, as Dray ton calls it, which falls into the Isis at Oxford, and is so pleasantly remembered bv Oxford men where the 227 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE greenish Horn ton stone is employed from Oxfordshire quarries, and the masonwork is consequently allied to that of which the Oxfordshire churches of Bloxham and Adderbury are the most noble examples.* In the Nene Valley churches a lavish use was made of the local ironstone in alternation with the light-coloured oolite of the neighbourhood. Much of the ironstone has perished, and in modern restorations walls and arches have often been repaired in light-coloured stone of one kind ; but in the interiors of Higham Ferrers, Irthlingborough, and Earls Barton, in the basement story of the tower of St Peter's, Northampton, and in the spires of Irchester and Rushden, we are able to appreciate the effects of colour introduced by the means of ironstone, and to see how the contrast supplies much of that light and shade which in other districts is produced by the elaborate contrast of round mouldings, with recesses of deep shadow. Although Barnack provided Lincolnshire, Cam- bridgeshire, Norfolk, and even Suffolk with a large amount of stone, yet the influence of the neighbouring districts is clearly felt in Northamptonshire. The quarries of Ketton and Clipsham were both outside the county; and just as in Lincolnshire, north of Stam- ford, the Ancaster quarries had their influence on the county west of the Witham, so in Northamptonshire the masonwork of Rutland seems to push its influence * Two of the three church spires in the neighbourhood of Ban- bury whose respective merits are best described in the well-known lines : " Bloxhara for length, Adderbury for strength, And King's Suttnn for beauty." 228 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con tinned south and east of the Welland and meet the type of masonwork represented by the Nene Valley churches. I do not profess to have seen all the churches in the county, between three and four hundred in number, but I am acquainted with a great majority of them, including all the most celebrated, which are those of the towns and villages along the course of the Nene from Northampton to Peterborough. Northampton- shire is, more conspicuously than any other part of England that I know, the land of handsome, moderate- sized parish churches. Its monastic institutions were not very numerous, and it contained but few of any consequence ; and nowhere, with the glorious exception of the cathedral church I refer of course to Peter- borough have they more utterly vanished from the earth. That, however, hardly belongs to Northamp- tonshire ; it is but a stone's throw from the border, and belongs to that grand series of splendid abbeys, extending throughout the Fen country, of which no other is within the limits of the county. Nor can its architecture be said to have greatly influenced that of the smaller churches. Of the other religious houses scarcely any traces remain ; Northampton contained several, but they are completely destroyed, and well- nigh forgotten ; and others in other parts of the county have shared the same fate. They are utterly gone; there remain neither parochial abbey churches like Waltham or Wymondham, or Dunstable, or Howden, nor even ruins. The only considerable monastic frag- ment that I am aware of is the west front and a small part of the nave of the priory church at Canons Ashby, 229 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and this can hardly be called distinctly conventual in its architecture. And the collegiate churches, of which there are several in the county are in no important respect different from the simply parochial edifices, being themselves parish churches, with colleges attached at a later period. Even when the fabric has received important changes at the close of, or later than, the addition of the collegiate body, they are indeed often to be traced in increased size and magnificence, but not in anything imparting the peculiar character of a minster. Thus Higham Ferrers, one of the finest churches, not only along the course of the Nene, but in the count}', received no alteration of importance when made collegiate by Archbishop Chichele, and the more remarkably so as it has in its superb western doorway copied by Richard Carpenter in his well- known church of St Paul, Brighton a thoroughly cathedral feature of two centuries earlier. Irthlingborough, on the opposite bank of the Nene, received large and interesting alterations simultane- ously with the foundation of the college in 1376 by John Pyel, but unless we so consider the addition of a clerestory to the choir a rare feature in Northampton- shire, none that at all impart a collegiate character to the church itself. At Cotterstock, between Oundle and Peterborough, the erection of a college or chantry was indeed marked by the reconstruction of the choir in the flowing Decorated style, on a scale of surpassing grandeur, throwing into utter insignificance as at Norbury in Derbyshire tlic diminutive earlier nave to which it 230 is attached ; but even this stately structure is but a common parochial chancel without even the degree of pretension given by the addition of aisles. All these were fourteenth-century foundations of no great riches or celebrity ; but the remark applies equally to the existing portions of the church belong- ing to the wealthy and royal establishment at Fotheringhay ; the nave is the finest of its own date and style (late Perpendicular) in the whole county, but it is still merely a fine parish church, and is surpassed by many of its age and class in Somerset- shire. And though the choir, where a collegiate character would be naturally looked for, is utterly destroyed, the weather moulding remains on the eastern gable of the nave to attest its height, which was so much inferior to the nave, that it could not have been architecturally the most dignified portion of the building. The churches then of Northamptonshire are genuine parish churches, neither swelling into minsters nor sinking into chapels. They do not even approach the former character which is bestowed by the cruciform plan and the central tower. There is no such series of cruciform churches as the neighbouring county of Oxford supplies, at Witney, Bampton, Thame, Kidlington, Cuddesdon, and Stanton Harcourt ; and though the churches are often of considerable dimen- sions, several, especially in the north, reaching to a length of from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet, there are none which exhibit the common parochial form on the exaggerated scale of Boston or Coventry or Hull. On the other hand, while almost every 231 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE collection of houses has its church, that church is almost always a genuine church, with nave, aisles, chancel, and tower ; the mere chapel or aisleless church are objects of rare occurrence. On the merits of these buildings in an architectural point of view it is not my intenton to enlarge ; suffice it to say that the claim of Northamptonshire to a place in the very highest rank in an ecclesiological map of England has never been disputed. Its churches are, for the most part, miscellaneous assemblages of every period of church architecture from Norman to Per- pendicular, but all is of the very best, and this is why I have called attention to them as most worth the attention of the architectural student. Let him open any architectural work, and he will find no district more frequently alluded to, none supplying more numerous examples both of singularities and beauties from the Anglo-Saxon of Barnack, Brigstock, Earls Barton, Stowe-Nine-Churches and Wettering, to the expiring Gothic of Whiston ; from the most ancient church in England still applied to sacred uses, to the last that was erected before ecclesiastical architecture became thoroughly debased. If anyone would know what art can do for nature, I should recommend a visit to that superb group of churches all within easy reach of Higham Ferrers Rushden, Finedon, Raunds, Stanwick, Irthling- borough, Ringstead; or to that which, equally accessible from one of the most charming old country towns in England Oundle comprises such gems as Polebrook, Cotterstock, Tansor, and Warmington. I often think what a prospect it would be if Gloucester- 232 ST. MAKV, ST. \MIOKI). .arlv Knglish 'I'o\vcr, and Decorated Sp ']'<> fact- p. 232. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued shire provided churches which we might contemplate from the hills, or if Northamptonshire provided hills from which we might contemplate the churches. If Higham Ferrers and Oundle could occupy the sites of Dursley and Stroud, I can conceive no nearer approach to that terrestrial paradise of which Sir John Mandeville informs us that he could give no account, adding the very sufficient reason that he never was there. Northamptonshire has been called the land of squires and spires, and it is undoubtedly pre-eminent in examples of the latter, ranging from the Early- English or incipient Decorated of Achurch, Elton, Kingsthorpe, Polebrook, Raunds, and Warmington, through the fully developed Decorated of Aldwincle (St Peter's), Barnwell (St Andrew), Brampton, Fine- don, Irchester, Stanwick, Weekley (smallest of Decorated spires), Wellingborough, and Wilby, to the Perpendicular of Islip, King's Sutton, Kettering, Middleton Cheney, Oundle, Rushden, and Uffington. The Northamptonshire spires, or, as they are locally termed, broaches, are not, with some splendid exceptions, very lofty, in fact, rather squat than otherwise, and with a very marked character produced by two or three rows of strongly projecting spire lights. The towers on which they stand are not usually remarkable for their height, being often very much like the low early towers of the other part of the county with the addition of the spire.* There is equal variety in the buttresses, but the diagonal buttress and corner turret are more usual than in the towers * As e.g. Raunds, Irchester, and Stanion. 233 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE without spires. There is very frequently no western doorway, and the west window is commonly a single lancet or other composition of no great size. Of the Northamptonshire towers without spires, it is hard to predicate anything very distinctive. They are of all dates and styles, from Saxon to Per- pendicular, and chiefly agree in negative points ; even among those of the same period there is seldom any marked resemblance. They are scarcely ever very lofty or elaborate, but, on the other hand, they are not frequently displeasing to the eye. It is impossible in this place to give a list, however imperfect, of the Northamptonshire towers illustrating the several periods of church architecture, but I cannot refrain from mentioning such rich and stately examples as the Perpendicular ones of Aldwincle, All Saints, Elton, Fotheringhay, Lowick (both crowned with octagonal lanterns), Titchmarsh, and Whiston. The outlines of the Leicestershire churches are, on the whole, much the same as those of Northampton- shire; but as that district has many more examples of small, rude, and imperfect designs, there are of course many more instances of the general type not being so completely carried out ; there are many more churches without aisles, or with a single one; but in those which do present the complete type it varies but little from that prevalent in Northamptonshire. The cruciform plan and central tower are, as far as my experience goes, still rarer, excepting Melton Mow- bray, and St Martin's in Leicester, which, as well as the other mediaeval churches with which the county town is so richly endowed All Saints, St Margaret's, 254 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con* ww^ St Mary's, and St Nicholas do not, like those in Northamptonshire, exhibit many of the local peculiarities.* Barrow-upon-Soar is an example of a church with very long transepts, but as they are lower than the main body, and the tower is western, but little cruciform effect is obtained. But two churches Frisby and Asfordby are remarkable for single south transepts, even more conspicuous than that at Northborough, as being furnished with western aisles. The towers are as generally western as in Northamptonshire. The clerestory is not quite so universal, and is far more generally a Perpendicular addition. St Mary's, Leicester, has a northern clerestory of Norman lancets to its nave, while above the geometrical Decorated windows of its southern aisle, or rather nave, for it is broader than the original nave, resembling somewhat the vast north and south naves of St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, is a tier of smaller windows of the same epoch. This practice of lighting a lofty wall with two ranges of windows is not uncommon in Leicestershire, and several instances of it occur in Bedfordshire, among them being the spacious church of St Paul, in Bedford itself. There are Decorated clerestories at Gaddesby and Rotherby, but the work is generally much better than is common in the Perpendicular clerestories in Northamptonshire. Chancel aisles and chapels are much rarer than in that district. The Leicestershire spires are, on the whole, inferior to those of Northamptonshire. The broach, indeed, * Leicester is equally rich in churches built since the Gothic revival ; among them must be mentioned, St John's, St Matthew's and St Saviour's by Sir Gilbert Scott. 235 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE is common, and excellent examples occur at Gaddesby and Oadb}'. An admirable specimen of the shorter and thicker kinds is at Barkby, which is remarkable for its panelled bands, and, above all, at Market Harborough, which must certainly be allowed to surpass any in Northamptonshire. The very lofty Decorated tower of St Dionysius' batters and displays an excellent double-windowed belfry-stage ; the spire, shorter in proportion than many others, is crocketed. But most of the Leicestershire spires are inferior both in elevation and design ; the later ones usually rise uninterruptedly from the centre of an embattled tower, with or without pinnacles, and are seldom of any great height, with a few fine exceptions, as Queenborough, and St Mary's, Leicester. Numerous examples occur at Frisby, Asfordby, Brooksby, Knighton, Earls Shilton, and elsewhere. But the most interesting, though not the most beautiful class of spires in this county are those which illustrate the transition between the two principal forms. One or two examples, as Aylestone and Hoby, occur of the Northamptonshire type of spire seen at Denford and Woodford, the square-based broach rising within a parapet. At Blaby we have the real broach, with very small squinches similarly treated ; and at Gilmorton is one of the most extraordinary spires I have ever seen. From within a battlemented parapet there rises a broach remarkable for the extreme con- vexity both of its own lines and those of the squinches. This seems quite unnatural ; the usual development leads us from the spire at Blaby to the plain parapet which we see at the two spires at Wigston one of 236 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued them as good a steeple as such an arrangement will show and from thence to the ordinary embattled form. I must not omit to say that Leicestershire contains at least one example of the Perpendicular broach, namely at South Kilworth on the Northamp- tonshire border. In referring to Northamptonshire as a particularly rich field for the ecclesiologist, I have dwelt more particularly on the churches of the district north and east of the county town, and to the special type of architecture which was developed in and near the valley of the Nene. The churches of the Welland Valley on the north-east border of the county, although inferior to those of the Nene Valley, form a subdivision of the same architectural province, connecting it with the churches of Leicestershire and Rutland ; while in the neighbourhood of Peterborough we come into close relation with the fenland and marshland churches of Lincolnshire, and the district round Wisbech, which owe their exceptional beauty to the use of Barnack stone. There are thus points in common between the architectural conditions of Northamptonshire and those of Lincolnshire, and in both cases the county town stands at a point at the head of a navigable river, where on one side in an upland and scantily watered district the interest of the church fabrics is occasional and unequal, while on the other side in the well- watered lowlands almost every church has a special claim to distinction. It may be noted, however, that while the church architecture of Lincolnshire affects rather than is affected by the influence of the neigh- bouring counties, the borders of Northamptonshire, 237 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE an entirely inland shire, show a distinct tendency to receive impressions from outside. The Lincolnshire spires I refer especially to those in the district above alluded to have more individual and less local character than their Northamptonshire neighbours, and it is much less easy to classify them. The broach is less common, double buttresses, often gabled, are continually found running up the whole height of the tower there. In Northamptonshire and Leicestershire the projecting buttress, except it be diagonal, and, indeed, often then, usually terminates under the belfry-stage ; and between a pair of these buttresses it is not uncommon to find a stair- case turret introduced in a somewhat awkward manner. Of the Lincolnshire spires of various dates in the south-eastern part of the county, the following are among the finest to be found in any part of Europe Sleaford, Helpringham, Ewerby, Heckington, Frainp- ton, Moulton, and Holbeach. In other parts of the county the spires of St Mary's and All Saints, Stamford, Aunisby, Anwick, Walcot, Grantham, and Louth, are, generally speaking, magnificent instances of that true spire in which the octagonal form dies on the square, thus leaving the angles of the tower for real or apparent buttresses, while the gabled spire lights die back on the slope of the spire. The Rutlandshire spires of Ketton (a copy of that osf St Mary, Stamford) Decorated on an Early English tower, Langham, a valuable Early English example, Exton, where it rises from an octagonal story, Cottes- niore and Oakham, vie with those of Lincolnshire and 238 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con tinned Northamptonshire in their claims to be considered as models for imitation. Considering its small dimensions, Huntingdonshire contains a large number (one hundred and six) of inter- esting churches, which from their great merit entitle the county to a very good position in the ecclesiastical topography of England. Some of these churches are of great importance, both as to size and beauty, and in consideration of their excellent detail are deserving of attentive and careful examination. Good building stone being at hand, the external appearance of the Huntingdonshire churches, like those of the con- tiguous Northants, is much more imposing than in some others where stone is not so readily procured. Many have delicate and elaborate details on the exterior, principally in doorways, windows, and ornamental panelling. Every style is represented from Norman to late Perpendicular. Spires form a very important feature in the county, and are of all epochs. One of the tallest and most beautiful of this or any other county being the late Decorated one of Keystone, on the main road between Huntingdon and Thrapstone, and which like several others on or near the same line of route Brington, Buckworth, Bythorne, and Spaldwick feature those of Northamp- tonshire. Within easy access of Huntingdon, which contains two very interesting churches All Saints and St Mary's and lying amid the pastoral country on either side the Ouse, are Godmanchester, Houghton, Hemingford Abbots, Fenstanton, Bluntisham, and St Ives. On the road from St Ives to Ramsey lie 239 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Broughton and Warboys ; on or near that from Huntingdon to Peterborough are Alconbury, Steeple, and Great Gidding, and Winwick ; Swineshead neigh- bours Kimbolton ; while in the extreme north of the county, and for which Peterborough will be found the most convenient centre, are Fletton, Stangrove, Chesterton, Water Newton, and Yaxley, the spire of the last named being the only crocketed one in the county. In other parts of the country where the spire is not localised as it is in the counties just considered, but may be looked upon as an exception, we have in Warwickshire noble examples at Coventry (Holy Trinity and St Michael's), Solihull, and South am ; in Oxfordshire, Adderbury, Bloxham, Burford, Witney, the cathedral and St Mary's, Oxford ; in Cambridgeshire, Whittlesea and Leverington ; in Bedfordshire, St Paul's, Bedford; Leighton Buzzard, Harrold, Pavenham, Podington, Shambrook, Soul- drop, Wimington, and Yelden. Nottinghamshire presents two notable spires in those of Bingham and St Mary Magdalene's, Newark ; Essex in Bishop Stortford, Saffron Walden, and Thaxted, all in the north-western part of the county ; and Derbyshire in Ashbourne, Bakewell, and Repton. In the south and west of England, where the embattled or pinnacled tower is the rule, the lofty enriched stone spire is hardly to be met with, but examples occur of the tall plain spire without gabled lights or any other enrichment in Sussex, at West Tarring, and Chiddingley ; at St Michael's, South- ampton; Croscombe, Frome, Selwood, and Whatley, 240 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued Somerset; Down Ampney, Lechlade, and Painswick, Gloucestershire; Ledbury and Ross, Herefordshire. In the north midlands we find the tall plain spire at Ashover and Bakewell in Derbyshire, and at Atten- borough, Nottinghamshire. Yorkshire presents several pleasing examples of this type of spire in the churches of Bray ton, Hemingborough, Masham, and St Mary Goodramgate, York ; and in Durham there is such a spire at Chester-le-Street. At Lostwithiel in Cornwall there is a singular steeple. The tower, square and very plain, is ' canted " at each angle to receive an octagonal story. This has on each side a rather tall window of two uncusped lancet-shaped lights surmounted by a gable, a quatrefoil being pierced in the space formed by it with the lights. At about midheight the mullions of these windows are covered by a piece of masonry alternately circular and square, and pierced with tracery. The spire, although well proportioned, is plain, and has only one small gabled light in the lower part of each of its cardinal sides. A few words on the English village church may not inappropriately close this chapter of our history. There is, as far as I know, no country in Europe where the village has retained so much of its primitive importance as England. Nowhere has the influence of the great towns been until within recent years so little felt. The Englishman is, after all, essentially a country man, and country life is not more the birthright of the gentleman than it is the aspiration of the successful man of business. It is not, therefore, unnatural that our village churches A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE should be the especial pride of our national archi- tecture. Our cathedrals, with some noble exceptions, are surpassed by the great churches of Continental cities. Our abbeys themselves centres of agricultural life which were once the glory of England have passed away; but the village churches still remain, so far, at least, as the hands of the restorer have spared them, as the finest monuments of the architectural genius and the practical piety of the past generations of Englishmen belong to what period the}^ ma}^. The village is, next to the family, the simplest and least artificial of all the forms of social organisation, and it has continued through all the changes which religion and politics have undergone in the main unchanged. It still consists essentially of the same elements which constituted the little primitive com- munity from which it takes its origin, and it forms to this day, as it did in the first, the unit of all political association. The village church has besides a peculiar interest of its own. It is the only public building which a village, as a rule, possesses. It is the central point of the common life, the building which typifies the oneness of the little community. Cities have beside their great churches or their cathedral, their town halls, their market halls, their assize courts, their theatres, all connected in different ways with the common life to which they minister, and which they symbolise; but the village has only its church and its churchyard. Here alone all meet on equal terms, and with an equal right, as members of one little 242 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con tinned society of which the church forms naturally the centre. We have thus passed in review some of the fairest buildings raised in this country during the first half of the thirteenth century, during whose progress all that is noble in modern art took its origin. Mind awoke from its paralysis, and step by step rapidly advanced in the development of its theoretic faculties. Knowledge kept pace with idea. Religion and patriotism stamped their image on (progress. Art assumed the position of teacher ; the people clapped their hands with joy as the new light broke upon them. The mental movement throughout Europe was univer- sal and sincere. It was a popular movement, and taking root in the hearts of the people, grew and flourished as art as a whole had never done before and has never since. It covered Europe with religious edifices of a character at once the reverence and despair of all after time. It gave us Salisbury and Wells and Westminster ; Rouen, Chartres and Rheims ; Cologne, Altenberg and Ratisbon ; Genoa, Assisi and Lucca; Burgos, Leon and Toledo. To build as the mediae- valists built we must feel as they felt. Every stone was laid in sincerity. There is no thought more apparent on these hoary stone records of a believine generation than the sincerity of the spirit which led to their erection. Pride of architecture and vanity of display came in with Renaissance sensualism, but mediaevalism stands in history the solitary exponent of the principle of labour for its true end the development of the spirit. Hence its greatness. Practical knowledge was often 243 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE wanting, but the people went to art as little children willing to be taught ; she did teach and elevate them, and the people grew and flourished in spiritual truth until the reign of tyrants commenced, and sensualism blasted the fruit before it fully ripened. True it is that political wisdom was imperfectly understood, and "civilisation in its most useful character of order was as yet undeveloped. Still commerce flourished, free cities multiplied, science spread, and all would have been well for the social fabric had the people under- stood the strength of union. Tyranny made them its servants through domestic discord. Aside from the social question, art in their hands was unquestionably lofty. Artists were ennobled in the public heart. They were both its leaders and its servants. A list of some of the most remarkable Earh- English buildings, 1190-1270. Abbey Dore Church, Herefordshire, choir. Abingdon, Berks, St Helen's, inner door of tower. Acton Burnell, Salop, east window. Auckland, Durham, St Andrew. Aumsby Church, Lincolnshire, tower and spire. Aylesbury Church, Buckinghamshire, chancel. Barrington, Cambridgeshire, south doorway, nave arcade. Berkeley Church, Gloucestershire. Beverley Minster, choir and transepts. Bicester, Oxon, doorway. Billingham Church, Durham. Binham Priory, Norfolk, west front. 244 DARLINGTON CIU'RC'II. IH'RHAM. (Karly KnjjlUM lo face p. 244. THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE con tinned Bishop Auckland, Durham, chapel in palace. Bledlow Church, Buckinghamshire, nave arcade. Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, west front. Boxgrove Priory Church, Sussex, choir. Brackley, Northants, east window of Magdalene College Chapel. Bridlington Priory Church, Yorkshire, north porch. Bristol Cathedral, Elder Lady Chapel. Cambridge, Chapel of Jesus College, entrance to the chapter-house. Canons Ashby Church, Northants, west door. Carlisle Cathedral, choir aisles and arches. Castle Acre Church, Norfolk, east window. Chester Cathedral, chapter-house, and eastern part of choir. Chichester Cathedral, western and southern porches, outer aisles of the nave. Chipstead Church, Surrey. Christchurch Priory, Hants, porch. Darlington, Durham, St Cuthbert's. Dunstable Priory Church, Bedfordshire, west front. Durham Cathedral, eastern transept, western towers (all above springing of nave roof). East Dereham Church, Norfolk, chancel, sedilia and piscina. Eaton Bray Church, Berkshire, north arcade of nave. Ely Cathedral, galilee porch, western tower, six eastern bays of choir. Felmersham Church, Bedfordshire. Folkstone, SS. Mary and Eanswith, chancel. Gloucester Cathedral, vaulting of nave and aisles. 245 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Hartlepool, Durham, St Hilda's. Hedon, Yorkshire, St Augustine's, transepts and choir. Helpringham Church, Lincolnshire, sedilia and credence. Henbury Church near Bristol, nave arcades. Hereford Cathedral, clerestory and vaulting of choir, Lady Chapel (St John's Church). Hexham Abbey, Northumberland, choir and tran- septs. Higham Ferrers Church, Northants, lower part of tower and west entrance. Itchenor Church, Sussex. Ketton Church, Rutlandshire. Kirkstead Chapel, near Horncastle, Lincolnshire. Lambeth Palace, the chapel. Leicester, St Margaret's, eastern bay of nave on north side (very early and interesting), St Martin's, tower arches and nave arcades, St Mary's, portions.* Leighton Buzzard Church, Bedfordshire. Lichrield Cathedral, three western bays of choir, transepts, chapter-house. Lincoln Cathedral, choir and eastern transepts, lower part of central tower, great transepts, nave, chapter-house. Llandaff Cathedral, the greater portion. * All the ancient churches of Leicester, being miscellaneous assemblages of architecture, present problems for the solution of the ecclesiologist. An excellent paper was read upon them before the Architectural Societies of Lincoln and Northampton by RCY. O. Ayclyffe Poole, at Leicester, xyth May, 1854. 246 THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE continued London, choir of the Temple Church. London, crypt of St John's, Clerkenwell . Merstham Church, Surrey. Minster Church, Thanet, choir and transepts. Nun Monkton Church, near York. Oxford Cathedral, Lady Chapel, chapter-house, cen- tral tower and spire. Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire, choir. Peterborough Cathedral, western facade, arcade at west end of infirmary, north-western tower, monks' doorway from destroyed cloisters. Polebrook Church, Northants, chancel, tower and spire. Portsmouth, St Thomas's Church. Raunds Church, Northants, tower and spire, north arcade of chancel, east window. Ripon Cathedral, west front and towers. Rochester Cathedral, choir, and transepts. Romsey Abbey, Hants, three western bays of nave. Salisbury Cathedral. Sandwich, Kent, St Bartholomew's Chapel. Sedgefield Church, Durham. Shrewsbury, St Mary's, nave arcades. Southwark Cathedral, choir and chapels. Southwell Cathedral, choir. Stamford, St Mary's, tower; All Saints, arcades of nave and chancel. St Albans Cathedral, the first four bays on the north side of the nave, and the first five on the south. St David's Cathedral, upper parts of choir, east end. 347 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Stafford, St Mary's, nave arcade. Staindrop Church, Durham, nave arcade and sedilia. Sutton St Mary, Lincolnshire, tower and spire. Terrington St Clement's, Norfolk, sedilia. Thaine, St Mary the Virgin, Oxon, piers and arches of central tower, nave arcade, four lancet windows on north side of chancel. (One of the most inter- esting and beautiful assemblages of miscellane- ous architecture in the kingdom.) Towcester Church, Northants, nave arcade. Uffington Church, Berkshire. Wappenbury Church, Warwickshire. Warinington Church, Northants. Wells Cathedral, the greater portion. Westminster Abbey, the greater portion. Weston Church, Lincolnshire. West Walton Church, Norfolk, detached tower, west door, nave arcade. Westwell Church, Kent, east end. Whaplode Church, Lincolnshire, tower, western door- way. Witney Church, Oxon. Whitchurch, Dorset, St Candida, north arcade of nave. Wim borne Minster, choir and transepts. Winchester Cathedral, retro-choir. Worcester Cathedral, choir, eastern transepts and Lady Chapel. York Minster, transepts, tomb of Archbishop Walter de Grey. 248 I IMA UKO.ss Mil \\\1. SIR \SMIKI. c A I 1 1 1! >R\ I.. I.-IM < n.iitii i 'I tin l;it!i r i>;iri ol tin- I liirti-i-nlh Ccnturv.) CHAPTER VII THE DECORATED STYLE, 1270-1350 Its growth from the preceding style General characteristic* Reconstructions of, and additions to, earlier works Column* Window tracery Foliage and figure sculpture Woodwork Roofs. THE period of Gothic architecture which we are to consider in this chapter is that which is generally known as the " Decorated ' and also as the "second" or " middle pointed" style. The first denomination was first applied to it by Rickman, Whewell and other writers early in the last century; the second, from its being intermediate between "first pointed" or "Early English," and the "third pointed" or "Perpendicular" was the in- vention of the Cambridge Camden (afterwards ' ' The Ecclesiological ") Society when it entered upon its useful labours the year after Queen Victoria came to the throne. Sometimes it goes by the name of ' fourteenth-century architecture." This, how- ever, is a rough term of distinction between it and the so-called "thirteenth and fifteenth-century periods," and is, in fact, a rather misleading one, as the change from the preceding style commenced many years before the close of the thirteenth century. A short transitional period, not easily defined with 249 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE precision, occurred between the Early English style and the full development of the Decorated. So imper- ceptibly did it grow out of the previous style that it is a matter of difficulty to draw any line of demar- cation. But we may pretty safely assign from 1272 to 1307 to the early or geometrical Decorated, and to the Decorated, comprising the remainder of the term usually assigned, the next sixty years chiefly by window tracery and foliage ornament. Now the change in style, from Early English to Decorated is to be regarded really as a development of the former of these two, there being, as I reminded my readers in the previous chapter, no difference in principle between thirteenth and fourteenth-century work. In the thirteeenth century the use of the pointed arch, both for constructive and ornamental purposes effected a revolution in architecture. The designing of a great building was set about in a per- fectly novel manner. Instead of erecting huge masses of masonry to carry nothing more than a wooden roof as the Normans generally did, the con- struction of the " pointed ' groined stone ceiling influenced the designer in his whole plan, and he had to place his piers and supports in such positions, and to make them of such proportions as would both carry and support the weights and thrusts of his walls and groining. The Normans did not thoroughly under- stand any such principles of construction ; and conse- quently their towers fell in all directions over England ; while what little now remains of their attempts at groining (excepting the Roman ribless form used in their crypts) is more or less dilapidated. 250 With the newly built noble pointed cathedrals and churches before them, the architects of the latter part of the thirteenth century were content to take their starting-point from what they saw, and to try their best to improve upon them, or, at all events, to develop the earlier style in various forms to suit the ever-changing fashion of their age. It is difficult now for us to understand the utter irreverence (as we should think it) shown towards the earlier work by these men. Working in the favourite style of their own day, they evidently felt the most perfect confidence that their own style and no other was the perfect one. Norman choirs and towers were cleared away, without compunction. The anti-restoration societies, had they then been in existence, would have had hard work in protesting against the destruction of old work ! They would have been swept away by the flood of new ideas incessantly following each other a thought out and carried into execution by men who believed intensely in their own work, and but little in that of their pre- decessors, each using the older style as one to be improved upon, and not on any account to be copied or strictly reproduced. We may regret that at York, Westminster, Canterbury, and many other buildings the grand Norman choirs are gone ; yet far nobler works replace them, and give to those buildings a greater interest than they would otherwise have possessed. But with all the changes brought about, there was, in England, a certain sense of unity pre- served ; over and over again we find the proportions of later styles influenced by those of the early Norman work, where the two had to be grouped into one whole. 251 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Take the choir and presbytery of Ely Cathedral for example. These parts of the church from totally different causes were rebuilt at epochs remote from one another, but their architects were most careful in making their pier arches, their triforia and their clere- stories of the same proportions as the Norman ones. On the contrary the builders of the choirs qf Beauvais and Le Mans, or Bordeaux and Toulouse thought differently. They designed their proportions without any reference whatever to the preceding work ; and grand and truly magnificent as their works are, there is wanting the sense of unity which is evident at Ely, St Albans, Lincoln, and Westminster. About the end of Henry III.'s reign the Early English style had practically passed away. The lancets had grouped themselves together and become the lights of a window ; the walls between them had diminished in size and become mullions ; and the space over them had changed from distinct and separate circles or piercings to geometrical tracery, all included under one containing arch. Windows had now become vast fields of light, instead of, as it were, apertures cut through the wall, and this resulted naturally in the proper working out of the pointed system of ground-plan, in which the masses of masonry were placed exactly as they were wanted as piers and buttresses for the purpose of carrying weights and resisting pressure, while the intervening spaces became lighter and slighter in construction. In France this was carried sometimes to an excess by over-daring, as in the choir of Beauvais Cathedral, where, in an attempt to outrival Amiens choir, this 252 THE DECORATED STYLE daring defeated itself, and in the result was the partial destruction of the work, and a permanent patching up and injury to the original design. At Leon Cathe- dral in Spain (of French design like Burgos and Toledo) the attempt was made to reduce the piers and buttresses to a minimum ; and it is amazing to see the extreme slightness of the structure, the idea being to get, as it were, walls of stained glass with the least possible amount of stonework between. This, how- ever, partially failed, and the outer lights of the great windows and of the triforia had to be filled in.* Yet after all the design was practicable, and it proved to have failed only through faulty work in carrying it out ; for the south transept was rebuilt thirty-five years ago, and the original design executed in its entirety from plans furnished by the talented architect Don Juan de Madrazo. In England, however, there was always a more sober spirit in design, and build- ings carried out in the Decorated period show an ample and satisfying reserve of strength, though indeed we could sometimes wish that their architects had not felt so fettered by the proportions of their predecessor's work. The beautiful Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral is an illustration of this. The duration of the Decorated style was more than a hundred years, including the transitional stage from Early English. It began in the reign of Henry III. and lasted till about the end of that of Edward III. However, even before that time another change was creeping on, quickly in one place, slowly in another. * The same expedient had to be resorted to in the south-western French Cathedral of Rodez. 253 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE We do not, as a rule, find that there is an essential difference between the ground-plan of a Decorated building and one of the preceding style, the conditions of the design being the same in each until the style grew later, when greater spaciousness was aimed at. The columns then became smaller, were gathered up into elegant clusters of shafts, and were placed at wider intervals, as in the nave of York Minster and in some of the great parish or conventual churches, such as those of Holy Trinity at Hull, Boston, Newark, and the Augustinian (now the Dutch Church) in Austin Friars near Broad Street, London a most admirable example of what a great town church should be, and upon which Richard Carpenter, the distin- guished architect of the Early Victorian era, modelled his fine churches, St Mary Magdalene, Minister vSquare, London, and the Subdeanery Church at Chichester. The English, after Norman times, seem to have determined on square east ends for their churches ; but occasionally an apsidal plan is found, as in the Lady Chapels of Lichfield and Wells Cathedrals, Madeley Church, Herefordshire, Little Maplestead, Essex, and Bay ham Abbey. At Tewkesbury when the upper parts of the Norman choir, and the aisles with their diverging chapels were rebuilt, the columns of the choir and apse arches were retained, but heightened and made to carry arches of the Decorated period, the shape of the clerestory of the apse being made angular instead of semicircular. There was at this period a general rebuilding of Lady Chapels on a grander scale than formerly, and 254 THE DECORATED STYLE an enlargement of the space reserved for the shrines of local saints. At Lichfield the great shrine of St Chad stood between the high altar and the Lady Chapel in the two bays forming the retro-choir, as in the earlier examples of Westminster and Ely. At Hereford the Cantilupe Shrine was placed in the north transept, which had been re-erected for its reception a rather .unusual position. At Chichester the shrine of St Richard seems to have been placed in the south transept. At Ely, the new Lady Chapel was built at the north-east angle of the north transept, a passage joining it to the choir aisle. The earlier examples of Lady Chapels, now destroyed, at Peter- borough and Lincoln, opened directly out of the transept, but were in much the same relative position as at Ely. At Lincoln, Wells, Exeter, York, St Albans, and Carlisle, the Lady Chapel was an eastern extension, having a retro-choir or space between it and the choir for the saint's shrine. At Waltham it still exists on the south side of the nave. In some collegiate churches, such as that at Higham Ferrers, the Lady Chapel was built on the north side, as also it was at Osney, St Frideswide's, Oxford, Wymond- ham Abbey, and Arundel Church. Although it would be much beyond the province of this chapter to consider the movement in France which changed the early pointed architecture into "geometrical," and then into the later Decorated style, it may be remarked in passing that the choir and transepts of Le Mans Cathedral date from 1217 to 1254 ; that the choir of Amiens Cathedral was con- secrated in 1244 and completed in 1288 ; that the choir 2 55 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE of Beauvais was built between 1225 and 1270, and rebuilt and repaired up to 1324; that the Sainte Chapelle in Paris was rising between 1245 an d J 257. All these buildings are earlier in their development than English buildings of the geometrical style corresponding in design with them. It would be too long a question to consider how far our English work was derived from the earlier French work. Doubtless it was influenced by it, when we bear in mind the close connection which then existed between England and the northern and western provinces of France, more so in the earlier phase of the English Decorated than in the later. There are some beautiful examples of the French Decorated of the fourteenth century in the exquisite chapels added to the early pointed nave aisles of Coutances Cathedral (they probably had their influences) ; so also the Lady Chapel of Rouen Cathedral (the longest in France), the earlier work of the Church of St Ouen, and the choirs of Evreux and Seez Cathedrals. On the other hand, however, the influence of Early English Decorated work is remark- ably English in the province of Brittany. The cathedral at Dol * has a square east end, and its details and tracery are peculiarly English in character ; so also the cathedral at St Pol de Leon, and the remark- able church of "the Kreisker " in that city, all so English in plan and details that it is very evident that an Englishman designed them. Yet in later Decorated * Similar in character is the square east end of St Julian at Tours in the adjacent Touraine. Brittany long formed the province of the Archbishop of Tours. 2.56 THE DECORATED STYLE times the English took their own line, and the style advanced into the magnificent works of the Per- pendicular period, whilst the French lost itself in the debasement of the florid Flamboyant style. Before proceeding any further with notices of buildings belonging to this most glorious period of our church-building history, I will capitulate the lead- ing characteristics of the style of architecture prevalent in England during the second half of the thirteenth century and the first half of the succeeding one. The column of this epoch presents much variety of contour. Its archetypes may be selected from those in Exeter Cathedral, the presbytery of Winchester Cathedral, and the nave of Bridlington Priory, Yorkshire. In the choir of Exeter Cathedral we have a massive diamond-shaped pier of Purbeck marble, showing on section a figure of sixteen foliations, and in elevation one of the same number of amalgamated shafts with simply moulded capitals and well-proportioned bases. It is interesting to observe that although Exeter Cathedral was in progress, roughly speaking, for a century and a half (1258-1390), during which great changes were taking place in form and detail, the same type of column should have been adhered to from the chapels behind the high altar to the west wall of the nave. In the presbytery of Winchester Cathedral (i.e. the four bays east of the central tower) the piers assume the same contour as those at Exeter, except that here the number of amalgamated shafts is just half. Both these columns and the arches which they carry at 257 R A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Winchester are beautiful examples of early fourteenth- century work (c. 1320) and may be regarded as the first instalment of those great works which were almost completely to transform a Norman interior into one of Perpendicular character. The Bridlington columns assume much the same outline as those just described. Here they are formed of twelve amalgamated shafts, those at the cardinal points being thicker than the four intermediate pairs. The capitals, like those at Exeter and Winchester, are simply moulded ; and of the same type though bolder are those of the eight amalgamated shafts composing the columns in St Wolfran's, Grantham, in the procession path round the choir at Tewkesbury, and at Tintern Abbey. The last-named would appear to have formed the model for those in St Alban's, Holborn, built from Butterfield's designs in 1861-3. The decorated columns in five of the bays on the south side of St Alban's Cathedral have four shafts engaged on the cardinal sides of a polygonal nucleus, and diifer but little from the Early English ones of the four adjacent bays. In the nave of Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, we have eight clustered shafts with a narrow space between each, and with small plainly moulded caps perfect types of their age and class. Then in the choirs of Carlisle Cathedral and Selby Abbey we have eight shafts, but in these instances amalgamated, and with capitals carved in natural foliage. The York Minster choir columns (very late in the style) also partake of this type, but a small space is left between the shafts giving a glimpse of the nucleus. 258 THE NAVE ARCADE, ST. ALBAN S. HOI. BORN. To face p. 258. THE DECORATED STYLE In the choir of Holy Trinity, Hull externally a valuable instance of the use of red brick in the fourteenth century are columns of much grace composed of an octagonal nucleus having its obtuse sides slightly curved and a slender shaft attached to each cardinal side. A similarly planned column is used in the long choir of St Mary Magdalene's, Newark. St Botolph's, Boston, has piers of this description, also St Margaret's, Leicester; Howden, Yorkshire; Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire ; Hingham and Tunstead, Norfolk; and Austin Friars, London. The tall plain octagonal column is seen to advantage in those two bays behind the reredos of St Albans Cathedral, which connect the choir with the Lady Chapel. They are also used to support the three arches under the window of the gable end of the choir, thus reproducing the Early English arrangement of Salisbury in Decorated times. In parish churches the low octagonal column is often used alternately with a clustered one of more complex form. Butterfield reproduced this system in the nave of his stately and abnormal Church of St Matthias, Stoke Newington ; and Scott in St Mary's, Kensington. In its tall form the octagonal column is used alone, good examples occurring in some of the churches in the north-western district of Norfolk. Sometimes, as at Chacombe, Northants, the octagonal shaft has the capital simply moulded in the form of a quatrefoil ; at Dunchurch, Warwickshire, the same shaped shaft has a small flower at each angle of the bell of its capital, with the further embellish- ment of a sort of embattled cresting. In the later 259 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE stages of the style, the shafts are filleted, that is to say a slightly projecting strip of masonry is carried from capital to base. Several of the piers carrying the arches in the Early English choir of Southwell Cathedral have their shafts filleted, indicating that these columns may have been rebuilt in the later Decorated epoch. We occasionally find in arcades of this period, especially during its latter part, the mouldings of the arches subsiding into an octagonal column without the intervention of a capital, as in the two arches at the east end of Exeter Cathedral, and throughout the nave and choir of that at Newcastle a building which looks as such churches in Targe merchant towns often do look as if tEe founders wished to get the greatest possible room out of the least possible money. In the nave arcades of St Asaph Cathedral, and in those of the churches of Monks Kirby and Ratley, Warwick- shire ; of Cropredy, Oxfordshire ; and of Blakesley and Charwelton, Northants, the arch mouldings are continued down to the bases of the piers a practice very common in large churches in Belgium of this period, as, for instance, Notre-Dame at Antwerp, St Pierre at Louvain, St Germain at Tirlemont, St Waudru at Mons, and the great Abbey Church of St Hubert in Luxembourg. In his two very striking London churches of St Agnes, Kennington Park Road, and All Hallows', Southwark (1874-1880), the late Mr Gilbert Scott introduced this kind of arcading, then a novelty in ecclesiastical design ; and more recently, Mr Burke Downing, in his imposing Church of the Holy Spirit at Clapham, and Mr Bodley in St Mary of Eton, Hackney, Wick. 260 TROVES CATHEDRAL. (Fourteenth-Century French arcades.) Tc face p. 260. ST. ASAPH CATHEDRAL. (Fourteenlh-Ontury Ivn^li-h arr:i:l' THE DECORATED STYLE Vaulting became more elaborate by the addition of intermediate ribs and ridge-ribs (as at Exeter, Lich- field, Worcester, Pershore, and Westminster) and, towards the end of the period the ' lierne ' an apparently intricate but really simple system of vaulting came into use, as at Tewkesbury. The mouldings of windows were elaborated and sub- divided, the early shafted mullions gradually changing in character till the shafts became identical with the tracery mouldings, though they frequently retained their carved capitals and bases. The subdivisions of the mouldings of the mullion are usually very beautifully managed, and are most effective in leading the eye to appreciate the principle of design of even the most elaborate flowing tracery. There are so many varieties of tracery peculiar to certain districts that it is possible to touch but a few of them. In Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire a common type is the window of two, three, or four compartments with simple chamfered or hollowed mullions, from each of which starts a curve identical with the window arch. These intersect each other, and each of the spaces is filled with very delicate geometrical soffit cusping, forming a truly charming type of window. Another type, of which there are fine examples in the nave aisle windows of Lichfield Cathedral, is more common, viz. a three-light window, the subdivisions being simple lancets supporting three circles cusped with soffit cusping. The same treatment is found in windows of more lights than three. Many windows of both these types have suffered from wanton injury 261 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE by country glaziers ; the delicate cuspings have been cut out, leaving only the larger mouldings of the intersecting tracery or of the circles. It has been stated that these empty circles are really examples of an earlier stage in the growth of tracery, but I much doubt it, as in almost every example of the kind which I have examined, it is clear that the soffit-cusped tracery had existed and had been cut out. Another charming style of window tracery is that known as ' reticulated." It is ven T elaborate in effect, but is simply composed of a repetition of circles ogeed into each other, and producing a net-like effect, whence the name, which is derived from " reta," a net. Elegant examples of this reticulated tracery are the east window of St Lucy's Chapel in Oxford Cathedral, the west window of Ludlow Church, Salop, and the north transept window of Milton Abbey, Dorset. Lesser illustrations are in the aisles of Llandaff Cathedral ; the clerestory of the choir, Carlisle Cathedral; St Mary Magdalene's, Newark; the west window of Dartford Church, Kent; the south tran- sept window of Great Berkhamsted Church, Herts; and the east windows of Spilsby Church, Lincolnshire ; Highain Ferrers, Northants ; St Helen's, York; and St Oswald's, Durham. In Kent, and in some parts of Sussex, a most beautiful and peculiar type of tracery is found, notably, i:i the choir of Winchelsea Church, in St Anselm's Chapel, in Canterbury Cathedral, and in Chartham Church near Ashford. The window opening to the cloister-garth of Westminster Abbey (opposite the entrance to the chapter-house) is of this style. 262 THE DECORATED STYLE In Kent and Sussex we find most charming types of the "flowing Decorated" tracery. At Hawkhurst Church, for instance, and in the chancel of the beautiful collegiate church at Etchingham there are examples well worthy of study. Traceried windows of this period (the early part of the fourteenth century) are often found with flat or slightly curved heads, as for instance at Over in Cambridgeshire, Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Sutterton in Lincolnshire, and Brailes in Warwickshire ; but in all these a few out of count- less examples no two are alike. Kent is particularly rich in this class of window. In Northamptonshire, as at Ringstead Church, special types of flowing tracery are found ; but it is in Lincolnshire perhaps that this style developed in its greatest beauty. The population and wealth of that county produced large and costly churches, completed with the most refined detail such churches as those of Holbeach, Ewerby, Sleaford, Heckington, Framp- ton, Boston, Threckingham, Donnington, Gedney, to name but a few of a glorious series either lining the great road from Sleaford to King's Lynn, or lying a short distance from it on either hand.* To the * Several of these churches are included in Bowman and Crowther's " Churches of the Middle Ages " a large and sump- tuous work, illustrating well-selected specimens of the Early Eng- lish and Decorated structures, together with a few of the best Perpendicular examples. At the time of the publication of this book the art of lithography had much improved (1846), and was admirably adapted for illustrations of architecture on a large scale, especially when it was desired, as in this case, to publish perspective views of an artistic character in the same volume with plans, elevations, and studies of detail. 263 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE student of moderately sized parish churches, abound- ing in detail of the best and most refined description, these buildings may be especially recommended. Then there are St Mary's, Beverley, the choir of Selby Abbey, Guisborough Abbey, the exquisite but alas partially ruined church of Howden, and that " Queen of Holderness ' ' Patrington all in the neighbouring county of Yorkshire, and showing what capabilities there were in the style when worked by the master minds of the day. As a model of the geometrical phase of Decorated tracery it would be difficult to point to a more perfect one than the east window of the choir of Ripon Cathedral (1288-1300). A singular, nay, unique window is the eastern one of Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire. It has six lights divided into two windows of three lights each by a buttress, at the apex of which is a large traceried circle filling the head of the enclosing arch. The two sub-windows have no mullions, but are entirely filled with tracery formed by variously outlined figures. This window, having suffered serious mutilation, was restored early in the 'fifties by the Oxford Architectural Society, under the direction of Butterfield. Examples of tracery produced during this golden age of English architecture crowd so thickly upon us that, however tempting it may be, it is impossible to give a catalogue raisonnee of even a tithe of them. Several, however, of more than ordinary interest and importance demand attention. One is the great east window of Temple Balsall Church, Warwickshire, probably well known on account of the superlative 264 THE DECORATED STYLE excellence of its window tracery. Here we have a large window of five cinquef oiled lights, the comprising arch of which encloses another arch spanning the three central lights. These support three plain circlets forming the tracery of the inner arch, while in the spaces formed by the two arches over the two exterior lights are similar circlets. This window at Temple Balsall would appear to have been a favourite model with modern architects of distinction. Butterfield adopted it with some modifications for the east window of St Matthias', Stoke Newington, but Bodley and White transferred it much more completely to their churches of All Saints, Cambridge (1865), and All Saints, Kensington Park (1852). The other window remarkable for the singularity of its tracery is the eastern one of Mildenhall Church, Suffolk. Here we have a window of seven lights. The five central ones are confined, as at Temple Balsall, within a pointed arch, and the space within their encompassing arch is filled with a vesica having a border of continuous circlets and its inner rim octof oiled. This vesica touches the top of the central light of the window which is wider than the rest, the two adjacent lights on either side supporting a spherical triangle enriched with four foliations. The outer light on either side is narrower than the others, and the space above it formed by the main and inner arches of the window present a series of small foliated circles. Other remarkable examples of geometrical Decorated tracery are the windows in the Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral, where it is formed by 265 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE tiers of small spherical triangles, cusped, and diminishing in number and size as they ascend ; the eastern and western ones of Tintern Abbey ; several in Northfleet Church, Kent ; in the choir aisles of Selby Abbey and the chapter-house of York Minster ; Merton College Chapel, Oxford ; and the basement story of the tower of Herne Church, Kent. We have few rose windows of this period compar- able with those of France or those smaller ones so common in the Italian Gothic work of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but we may point with pride to those in the transept fafades of Westminster Abbey; to the south transept rose of Lincoln,* and to a large one (fifteen feet diameter) in the eastern side of the north transept of St Mary's, Cheltenham. Small but pleasing specimens of circular windows with rich tracery may be seen at Leek Church in Stafford- shire, in the western gable end of Temple Balsall Church ; in the clerestories of two Norfolk churches Cley-next-the-Sea, and Terrington St John's and at the east end of St Margaret's, King's Lynn, where it is filled with rectilinear tracery. The windows in the Lady Chapel of Ottery St Mary Church, Devonshire, are good specimens of a not very common type. The arches of the side windows are acutely pointed and enclose three foliated lights reaching to the head of the window. The eastern window has eight such lights within a very wide arch, the outermost one on either hand being narrower than the rest. * The delicate character of the tracery in this rose at Lincoln reminded 1'ujjin of the U'JK* of a leaf. 266 EXETER CATHEDRAL. (Studies of window tracery.) To fare p. 266. THE DECORATED STYLE Curvilinear tracery reached its highest excellence towards the middle of the fourteenth century in the east windows of Carlisle and Wells Cathedrals, Selby Abbey, and St Mary's, Shrewsbury; and in the western ones of Durham and York. In the chancel of Nantwich Church, Cheshire, the south transepts of Chester and Chichester Cathedrals, there is much beautiful tracery of the same kind ; and at the east end of Chaddesley-Corbet Church, Worcestershire, is a noble five-light window with skilfully disposed tracery exhibiting a mixture of the geometrical and curvilinear varieties (see illustration p. 274). The east window of Wellingborough Church, Northants, is also a fine illustration of the mingling of the two forms of Decorated tracery. I cannot leave the subject of Decorated tracery without alluding to the windows in the south aisle of the nave at Gloucester, which was almost entirely rebuilt during the abbacy of John Thokey (1306-29). The tracery of these seven windows seems with its stiff mullions enclosing trefoils, and crossing one another at right angles, to foreshadow that complete, sudden, and unprecedented change in the former history of English pointed architecture which took place in the west of England about the same time that the archi- tecture of the Continent had begun to deviate into the less pure forms of the Flamboyant. At the very moment when in other parts of the country the forms of window tracery began to be most flowing and graceful, when the risk was apparently an excess of riot similar to what was beginning to prevail abroad, the whole spirit of our national architecture changed. 267 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE A new style seemed to leap into life at once, of which the leading characteristic was the prevalence of vertical lines, and it was at this juncture that an event happened which was destined to almost completely transform this simplest and severest of Norman abbeys into one of the most florid and sumptuous. This was the murder of that unfortunate King, Edward II., in Berkeley Castle, 2ist September, 1327, the conse- quences of which, so far as Gloucester Abbey was concerned, entailed an almost entire reclothing of the church, at least externally. Somewhat analagaus to these windows in the south aisle of Gloucester Cathedral is one in Stanton St John Church, Oxfordshire. It has three lights, the triangular heads of which are prolonged crosswise in the head of the window so as to produce three diamond- shaped compartments of tracery, the stiffness of which is relieved by foliation. Another abnormal window having a sharply triangular head up to which the two inullions rise without any tracery whatever may be seen in Uffington Church, Berkshire. The belfry windows and other windows in towers of this period have usually a distinct character, and are frequently partially tilled up with stonework, as at Aynhoe, Northamptonshire. Sometimes they may be called twin windows, consisting of two single lights coupled together with a niche for an image between them as at Irthlingborpugh, Northants, and Bloxham, Oxon. The circular openings filled with tracery, but not glazed, which are found in some districts, especially in Norfolk, sometimes occur in this style, as at Great Addington, Northants, though they are 268 MODKRN IOU1.R AM) Si'lk'K ()! 'II!!' I >KC'OR ATI-: I ) PKRIOI), S'l'. CII.I-S', C. \.MKF.R\VF.I. I.. (Sir ( lilhcri Scott. .> To face p. 26S. THE DECORATED STYLE more common in the Perpendicular work of Norfolk. The name of sound holes is not very applicable, as they are more strictly air holes ; they are not used in the bell-chamber, but in the ringing loft, to give air to the ringers. Those belonging to the Decorated style are generally smaller than in the next. They are sometimes diamond-shaped, but more frequently square. Triangular windows are likewise frequently used in the points of gables over large windows ; sometimes the common, straight-sided triangle, more often the spherical triangle as at Alderbury in Shrop- shire, and the Maison Dieu, at Dover. In the later examples these openings are filled with bar-tracery, the same as in the windows of other forms and sizes. The carving of this period differed altogether from that of the earlier style, inasmuch as it departed from a conventional treatment and changed to a natural representation of foliage and flowers. The beautiful and grand scroll forms of the Early English foliage was abandoned. This is one of the great losses in beauty of general form of this period. The branches were often made crooked, as in Nature; where the scroll was used they were merely curved branches. In the Early English the leaves and every central line and lobe of a leaf flowed tangentially out of the other curves, but in the early Decorated the leaves often partook of the palm form, that is, radiating from the spring or foot-stalk of the leaf, as in the maple, ivy, and others. This arrangement interfered very much with the continuous flow of the lines, and the stems were reduced from the scroll to the wave form. This constitutes one of the main differences between the 269 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Early English foliage and the Decorated. The latter was a fuller development of natural leaf form, and the stems became subordinate. In the later phase of the Decorated style the leaf was frequently still further developed, and was made to spread in intricate and long strap-like lobes over the whole composition, and the stems were in a great measure abandoned, or at least were made subservient to the leaves, as in the choir of York Minster (c. 1361-1400). In the treatment of leaves there were, however, at that time two methods in practice by which much of the character of the leaf was lost that is, forming the surface into undulations to gain light and shade, and twisting and lengthening the leaf to suit every position, so that it often almost seems as if the foliage must have been derived rather from some varieties of marine vegetation than from trees or plants which grew in England. Foliage was more extensively employed as a means of decoration than in the Early English, and it may be admitted that through the dexterity of the workmen there was often too much of this ornament, as in the excessive use of the ball- flower ; and parts of a building were adorned which might with advantage be left plain as in the earlier style. Early examples of carving executed during the last three decades of the thirteenth century are to be seen in the arches of the western doorways of Lichfield Cathedral, and in the south-eastern one in the Angel Choir of Lincoln, beautiful alike in execution and design, and in the chapter-house of Southwell Cathe- dral. Later, however, the effect of the carving became 270 TOWER OF ST. MARY-OVKR-THE-WATFR, MUNSTKR. (\\VMphalian (iotliic of tin- Konrtc-i'iiili Century.) 7 r> face p. 270. THE DECORATED STYLE weaker, outline being less thought of than richness of execution. The carving on the tombs in Winchelsea Church ; on the Percy shrine in Beverley Minster ; on the tomb of Aylmer de Valence in Westminster Abbey ; in the small groups representing incidents in the life of St Etheldreda in the octagon of Ely ; in the arcading of the Lady Chapel, or Trinity Church of the same cathedral; in the corbels supporting the vaulting-shafts in Exeter Cathedral * ; in the west door of the fine Decorated Norfolk church of Cley- next-the-Sea ; in many Lincolnshire churches ; in the pier capitals of the choir of Carlisle Cathedral ; the rood-screen in St David's Cathedral ; in the door leading from the eastern walk of the cloisters into the nave of Norwich Cathedral ; and in the octagonal north porch of St Mary, Redcliffe, Bristol, are examples deserving the most careful study. A form of decora- tion often employed for the hollows of mouldings, as in the windows alluded to at Gloucester, at Badgworth (Gloucestershire), Leominster (Herefordshire), the porch at Byfield (Northants) , the towers of Hereford Cathedral and St Wolf ran, Grantham, and the pinnacles round the base of the spire of St Mary's, Oxford, was the so-called " ball-flower ' small round balls opening and budding in the centre and placed at regular intervals. In Lincolnshire and elsewhere we find rich square bosses of foliage placed at intervals on the mouldings, * The bosses in the roof of Exeter Cathedral are even more admirable in design than these corbels, and far more varied in foliage. The maple and the oak, the filbert with its cluster of nuts, and the vine with its fruit and tendrils could hardly be reproduced more faithfully. 271 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and smaller ones in the hollows, both of arches and jambs. Crockets were very bold and wavy in outline, frequently joined together by continuous foliage up the angles of the pinnacles or gables. The east ends of Carlisle Cathedral and of Selby Abbey, the west end of Howden Church, and the east end of that at Heck- ington, are particularly fine examples of the richness lavished by the early fourteenth-century men on this part of the church. Richly diapered stonework is found in the screens erected by Prior de Estria above the stalls in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. At Westminster the spandrels of the pier arches and triforia in the portions erected under Henry III. and Edward I. are similarly enriched, as are those of the contemporary north transept of Hereford Cathedral, where the arches opening to the eastern aisle and those in the triforium are triangular. At Lincoln the recesses in the choir screen, the Easter sepulchre on the north side of the high altar, and the wall above the lavatory in the choristers' vestry, are enriched with this elegant mode of decoration, as are the Easter sepulchres at Hawton and Heckington, and the sedilia at Winchelsea. The best figure sculpture of this period (1260-80) is that at Lincoln, viz. the beautiful series of angels in the spandrels of the " angel choir " of the cathedral, which rank among the highest works of English art ; equally beautiful though rather later is the figure sculpture in the " bishop's doorway " in the south side of this " angel choir," and on some of its buttresses. The figures which fill the niches in the west front 272 (Von. ve Rooo SCRKC * OBERWESEL. u- ,i f o QARIE icoii DKT.UI.S 01- HIIC l)l-XC)R.\ri:i) Pl-KIOl). THE DECORATED STYLE of Exeter Cathedral represent both Old and New Testament Saints and the Kings of England from Saxon and Danish times up to Edward III. (in whose reign they were executed), and are bold and character- istic in their attitude and treatment, as are those in the balcony of the Minstrel's Gallery on the north side of the nave. In Lincoln Cathedral and the Churches of Heck- ington, Lincolnshire, Hawton, Notts, and Patrington, Yorkshire, are magnificent Easter sepulchres, all remarkable for the excellence of their sculpture, representing the risen Lord, with angels, and a row of sleeping soldiers below. The sedilia at Tewkes- bury, Heckington, Winchelsea, Paignton, Temple Balsall, Dorchester, Bristol, Ripon and Exeter Cathedrals, JBitton and Hawton are of beautiful detail. Of that exceedingly rare feature the sculptured reredos, there are two interesting ones belonging to this period. In most old English churches the east window or windows were a few feet only above the altar, thus leaving but little room for sculptured imagery whether in single figures or in groups. One of these Decorated reredoses is in Bampton Church, Oxfordshire. It consists of thirteen arcades tref oiled, surmounted by crocketed gables, of which the central one is wider than the rest, and contains a figure of our Lord, seated holding up both hands, and showing the stigmata. The flanking recesses contain standing figures of the Apostles each with his emblem. The other example, also in Oxfordshire, is at Somerton. It is what is called a Caznacolo or repre- 273 S A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE sentation of the Last Supper. Here, across the whole width of the wall, stretches a long draped table at which our Lord and ten of His disciples are seated, each figure being canopied with an arch of ogee-form trefoiled and enriched with crockets.* This type of reredos has often been reproduced in modern times, that at Somerton would appear to have supplied the motive for the Ccenacolo in St Martin's, Coney Street, York. When the old parish church of Reigate was par- tially restored under the direction of Henry Woodyer about 1846, a late Decorated reredos was found behind some woodwork. It consists of thirteen niches richly worked within, and surmounted by crocketed canopies of the ogee form. Remains of polychromatic decora- tion were found on scraping off the whitewash, and the present decoration is, as nearly as could be dis- covered a restoration of the original. Other reredoses of this period are in the Lady Chapels of Bristol, Exeter and Wells Cathedrals, in that of Ely Cathe- dral (now Holy Trinity Church), and in that of Patrington Church, Yorkshire. That such long choirs as Chester, Ely, Lichfield, Lincoln, Rochester and Worcester were equipped with reredoses to separate them from the easternly parts where the shrines of saints were located, there can be no doubt, but the ravages committed in our great churches at different times since the Reformation have obliterated all traces of them. * The earliest instance of the revival of the reredos is that in Lincoln Cathedral. Erected c. 1770 from the designs of Jamea Essex, it is by no means contemptible for its date. 274 T. Z. X ~ A happier era has, however, done much to replace this important feature in the general view of a lengthy choir, and it lives again in Sir Gilbert Scott's graceful conceptions at Ely, Lichfield, Salisbury and Worcester, and probably in choicer and more sump- tuous materials than the mediaeval builders had to hand. The period of which this chapter treats was one of elaborate tombs such as those of Edmund Crouchback and Aylmer de Valence in the choir of Westminster. These have recumbent effigies on an altar tomb, with statuettes on each side, and over it an arched canopy and gable, flanked by pinnacles and (originally) with figures on the brackets of the gables. These are executed in oak, and were originally painted and gilded traces yet remain. This type of design was a favourite one for tombs in stone as well as in wood, the tombs of Bishop de Luda at Ely, of Bishop Langton, and others at Chichester, of Gervase Alard and others at Winchelsea, the Percy tomb in Beverley Minster, and that of Archbishop Greenfield at York are of this character. Stone rood-lofts of this period are still in situ at Exeter, Lincoln, and Southwell Cathedrals, also at Christchurch Priory in Hampshire. At Beverley Minster there is an elaborate reredos with behind it the substructure of the watching loft for the shrine of St John of Beverley. It takes the form of a rood- loft supported upon three pointed arches on clustered shafts with delicately foliaged capitals. It is probable that Pugin took this watching loft at Beverley as the model for that beautiful screen which, until of late 275 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE years, separated the nave from the choir of St George's Cathedral, Lambeth, but which has (to the great detriment of the internal effect) been removed and set up at the west end of the church. Examples of the woodwork of this period are the episcopal thrones with their spiral canopies in the cathedrals of Exeter and St David's; the stalls, with their backs and canopies at Chichester, St David's, Ely, Winchester ; and without the backs and cano- pies at St Margaret's, Kings Lynn, where graceful open parclose screens of this date take their place. Similar screens divide the chancels from their aisles at St Mary's, Eastbourne, St Mary's, Newington, and St Botolph's, Northfleet (a singularly beautiful example including a trefoil-headed double door), Leake Church (Lincolnshire), St John's, Winchester, Shotswell (Oxon), Geddington and Cropredy (North- ants). The screen at the west end of the south aisle of Carlisle Cathedral is a graceful specimen of the woodwork of this epoch the middle of the fourteenth century, to which may also be referred some of the rood-screens in Norfolk, all of which are characterised by the extreme delicacy and beauty of their workman- ship. A valuable specimen of Decorated woodwork is the light open screen crossing the choir of St David's Cathedral between the eastern arch of the tower and the presbytery. As a screen in this position, it is unique, though in mediaeval times such an additional separation between the chorus and the presbytery was not uncommon. But the gem perhaps of this kind of ecclesiastical furniture is the tall open screen of oak which, dividing the refectory from the chapel in St THE DECORATED STYLE Mary's Hospital, Chichester, bears a very striking resemblance to the stallwork in Winchester Cathe- dral. Another high wooden screen of this epoch is in Stanton St John Church, Oxfordshire. There was late Decorated stallwork in Wells Cathedral until the choir was restalled and refitted during the restoration under Salvin between 1850 and 1854, when it was remorselessly swept away and the present absurd arrangement of stone seats and stone canopies placed between the first two arches of the choir was introduced. An elevation of the choir of Wells Cathedral, engraved in 1823 by Le Keux from a drawing by Cattermole for Britton's monograph on the church, shows some of this late Decorated stallwork. Characteristic examples of high-pitched roofs of this period are those at By field, Raunds, and Higham Ferrers (Northants), Wymington (Beds), Wysall (Notts), Adderbury and Kidlington (Oxon), Hasling- field and Over (Cambridgeshire), Winchelsea (Sussex), and Penshurst (Kent), Andover (Hants), Little Coxwell and Sparsholt (Berks), Duglinworth (Gloucestershire), and Cubington (Warwickshire), St Mary's (Leicester), the transepts of Ely Cathe- dral, the Chapel of St Etheldreda in Ely Place, London, and that formerly in the guesten hall of the monastic buildings attached to Worcester Cathedral, but which now covers the nave of Holy Trinity, a modern church in that city. Often the roofs were low in pitch, especially in Lincolnshire and North- amptonshire, with tie-beams and curved braces under them simply moulded. The roofs of Higham 277 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Ferrers Church, Northamptonshire, are examples of this type. Frequently also the roofs of churches ran through at one level for both chancel and nave ; sometimes there was no arch between the tw r o divisions, as at Hawkhurst and Higham Ferrers, an omission which became much more common in Perpen- dicular times, especially in the eastern counties. There is one cathedral roof of this period which, if not unique, is one of the most interesting and valuable. I refer to that covering the nave of Ely Cathedral. As originally constructed the roof of this portion of the cathedral, as well as the transepts, was finished inter- nally with a horizontal ceiling from wall to wall, as in the transepts of Peterborough and at St Albans and the choir of Romsey Abbey. This was the usual mode in Norman times where no stone vault existed. The external form of this nave roof at Ely, as well as that of the transept roofs, appears, from the weather- ings still existing, to have been truncated. In con- sequence, however, of the deviation from the original plan made by Alan de Walsinghain, when he erected the octagonal lantern in lieu of the Norman tower, it became necessary to reconstruct the roof over this portion of the building, and the result was the high- pitched polygonal form which exists at the present day.* Of simple construction, the framework is composed of rafters, at some distance above the feet of which are braces or struts carried obliquely from the ThU polygonal roof at Ely was reproduced in the little Cambridgeshire church of Long Stanton. A striking modern example of the same typ is that over the nave of St Matthias, Stoke Nwing"ton. THE DECORATED STYLE rafters on one side to those opposite, and these braces are again connected by an horizonal collar, which probably acted as a tie, thus forming, when seen from below, a kind of pentagonal arched roof. The original construction of this nave roof at Ely is now no longer visible from below, as in 1858 Styleman Le Strange commenced his great work of painting it, boards being laid over the open rafters for that purpose. Nor can it be seen in the transepts where the roofs are open and are somewhat plain examples of the hammer-beam, the projecting brackets having figures of angels with expanded wings. A little later than the nave roof of Ely was that of Romsey Abbey. Here the open timber roof had its framework com- posed of a number of low segmental arches at small distances, connected by longitudinal beams, the prin- cipal intersections being marked by bosses.* It is possible that some of the roofs thus adduced as examples of this style may be of an earlier or a different period ; they are, however, altogether distinct in their construction and ornamental accessories from the numerous wooden roofs, whether plain or rich, of the fifteenth century, and, where the framework is simple, the mouldings of the tie-beam or collar will frequently serve as a criterion of date. Our most important examples of wooden roofs in imitation of stone vaults are the early Perpendi- cular ones in the transepts of York Minster remark- * This interesting old piece of carpentry is now no more visible, having been concealed by a boarded one of commonplace design during some restorations. In his " Architectural Antiquities," Britten gives an engraving of the nave looking west of Romsey Abbey, showing the old open-raftered roof. 379 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE able illustrations of the " lierne ' type in this material. The cloisters of Lincoln Cathedral have very rich wooden vaults of this period (1280-1300), and there is reason to believe, from vestiges remaining here and there, that such groined wooden roofs were not un- common, the corbels and springers being of stone, although always intended to be carried out in wood, which has either been destroyed or never completed. We have a remarkable instance of this in the choir of Chester Cathedral, which had been prepared for pointed vaulting in the fourteenth century. This was never carried out, flat roofs of a very plain character being substituted. Upon the existing springers a roof groined in timber and plaster was given to the choir under the direction of Mr R. C. Hussey, who had restored the Early English Lady Chapel (which had been almost entirely transformed into Perpendi- cular) about sixty years ago ; but owing to its lines not being quite perfect it was regroined in oak when more scholarly works of amelioration and embellish- ment were carried out between 1873 and 1876 under Sir Gilbert Scott, who had given the nave the wooden groining for which it had so long exclaimed, a few years before, on the same principles.* The choir of Selby Abbey was groined like the whole of Chester Cathedral is now, from the first, viz. with a wooden vault on stone springers. This roof was destroyed in the fire of October, 1906, but has been rebuilt exactly on the same lines. Clerestories are frequently found in the larger * As was that of Ripen Cathedral about the same time. 280 MODERN TOWER AND SIMKI-: or THE DECORATED PERIOD, HIGHXAM, GI.OrCHSTI- R. (Honry \Voorlvor, Arrhilort, T^O.) 280. THE DECORATED STYLE churches, but they did not become so general or reach so imposing a scale as they did in the next period. The finest spires are found in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, where they are frequently set inside a parapet, with rich cornices and corbelling under, while pinnacles at the angles of the tower support miniature flying buttresses to the spire. The spire lights were multiplied and were often arranged on all eight sides of the spire alternately. 281 CHAPTER VIII THE DECORATED STYLE continued Some representative buildings of the period Merton College Chapel, Oxford Lichfield Cathedral The angel choir of Lincoln York Minster Westminster Abbey Exeter, Win- chester and Worcester Cathedrals The tower and spire of Salisbury The tower of Pershore Abbey. THE Decorated period being one of transition and of alterations, it will lead to a clearer understanding of its gradual use and development if we follow it through a few of our cathedrals and larger churches, and note what was done and what changes took place in them, and what were some of the most remarkable of the newly built works of that time.* This it is possible only to do briefly, as each building in itself would arford matter sufficient for one chapter. Although we may have to retrace our steps and to refer to earlier buildings, we may commence our studies at the beginning of the reign of Edward I. as representing a time when the Decorated style had emerged from its transitional stage, and was well developed in all its principles and details. Our first example is the chapel of Merton College, * A list of some of the most remarkable cathedrals and churche* of this priod will be found at the end of the succeeding chapter. 282 THE DECORATED STYLE con tinued Oxford, which was begun in 1274 by the founder of the college, Walter de Merton, Bishop of Rochester and Lord High Chancellor of England, the tower and transepts belonging to a later period. The choir is one of the earliest and most refined examples of the well-developed Decorated style, being in plan a simple parallelogram very harmoniously proportioned.* The side windows, seven in number, are all of three lights with different designs of tracery to each, the design of the eastern window being especially remarkable, for it has the unusual features of straight-sided gables and pinnacles introduced into the tracery, the head of the window enclosing a rose of great beauty. The buttresses along the sides of the chapel and at the east end are grandly treated and finished with gablets and traceried panels. Fine as the design is, it would gain much in dignity if there were more height between the plinth and the window-sills, especially at the east end ; but this lowness is rather a peculiarity of the style in England. In the transepts of Howden Church, Yorkshire, there is a great likeness to this work at Merton College. Of the coeval stained glass which fills all the side windows of this gem of the * In 1330 the extension of this chapel westward took place by the addition of a tower and transepts, thus giving the chapel that peculiar T form seen in the later ones of New, All Souls, Magda- len and Wadham. At Merton the chapel being also the parish church of St John the Baptist a nave was intended, as may be seen by the arches on the western side of either transept. The work was carried on at intervals during the fourteenth century as funds came in, and in 1424 it was dedicated with great pomp " in honour of God, St Mary, and St John the Baptist," all but the top of the fine pinnacled tower being then completed 283 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Decorated period I shall have something to say later. The west front of Lichfield Cathedral begun in 1257, now tnat a ^ ^ e statuary * which had been destroyed by the Puritans either in the memorable siege of 1643, or in 1651 when the lead was stripped from the roof, is next to that of Wells Cathedral the most superbly treated in England. Its building followed that of the nave, the clerestory of which was probably then being carried out with triangular or spherical windows like those in the clerestory of the north transept at Hereford, and those which appear to form a second story in the aisles of Westminster Abbey, but which in reality light the triforium an arrangement unique in this country. The front of Lichfield is covered by a series of arcades with canopies now all filled with statuary by the most eminent sculptors of modern times. The doorways, beautiful as they are in themselves, are but small, following the usual English type. The twin steeples, with their great pinnacles and staircase turrets, and the central spire rising between them, form a most unique group. I shall have to recur to Lichfield, as the rebuilding of that cathedral was one of the greatest works of this period. The great beauty of the English Gothic style of the end of the thirteenth century is that natural and gradual development from the preceding one, perhaps nowhere so strikingly illustrated as in the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral. This is a typical * For some account of the restoration of this statuary ee my " Cathedrals of England and Wales," vol. iii. p. 33. 284 THE DECORATED STYLE continued specimen of that period of architecture which belongs partly to the Early English and partly to the Decorated styles, but which is in reality distinct from both, and pre-eminently entitled, from the number and beauty of its examples, to separate classification. This work is one of the most glorious pieces of architecture in England. The great east window of eight lights with geometrical tracery, is a most noble one ; while the clerestory has windows of four lights, and the aisles three-light windows of the same style of tracery. All are derived from the earlier type, such as that at Netley Abbey and Westminster, but are developed with an increased richness and subor- dination of mouldings and cuspings. In the clere- story bf this Angel Choir at Lincoln the circles form- ing the window tracery have cuspings, but the lancets of the lights are plain. The great east window has no cusps to its lights, but all those in the aisles are duly provided with them. It seems strange that the highest part of the work and the one which would have been reached latest should evince a more " tran- sitional ' ' character than those in the aisles which would have been completed first. In this Angel Choir we have to regret that the architects felt themselves restricted in their design as to height by the Early English choir of St Hugh which they had to build on to. The lowness of its proportions is certainly a defect though this is for- gotten in the delicate beauty of the detail. On the south side is the " Bishop's Doorway " one of the few sculptured ones we possess that can in any way be compared with those of France ; it is the doorway 285 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE which served as the entrance to the retro-choir, where St Hugh's shrine stood, and is perhaps, in its design, its figure sculpture, and its carving, the most beau- tiful example in England of its own or any other period. The cost of these great works at Lincoln was de- frayed by the offerings at the principal shrine (that of St Hugh) a source of income which was often in those days made available for vast undertakings. Between 1285 and 1290, another of the grandest works of the Decorated period was begun the nave of York Minster. The expenses were met, to a great extent, by the offerings of the pilgrims at the shrine of St William, whose relics had been translated in 1284. The Norman nave was completely pulled down, but the Norman choir was left for the present. Vast as the dimensions of this nave at York are, it cannot be pronounced a success. The details of the clustered piers and vaulting shafts being poor and clumsy, and the bases of the piers seeming wholly inadequate to their huge superincumbent masses. But its chief defect is its great width in comparison with its length, combined with the wide spacing of the pier arches, which enables the spectator to see through this part of the building in every direction, and thus depriving it of the poetry of design found in Wells or Salisbury. The exterior of the nave can only be said to have been finished lately by the completion of the pinnacles and the addition of flying buttresses. The building of these was abandoned when the architect found that to vault the nave in stone was beyond the means of the chapter or his own courage. The expedient there- 286 THE DECORATED STYLE continued fore was adopted of covering the nave with a wooden roof in imitation of a stone vault. It probably was the first attempt of the kind, but was apparently deemed so successful that when the choir was recon- structed in the second half of the fourteenth century a wooden vault was determined on from the beginning, as no sufficient counterpoises for a stone vault were introduced. The windows throughout the nave of York are, however, good in design, and the growth of tracery from those in the aisles, through the clerestory to the great flowing Decorated west window is highly instructive. The great west window, with its flowing tracery, would probably be finished near the close of the works in 1345, and shows how the style had developed, for the octagonal chapter-house, begun at the same time as the nave, has pronounced geometrical tracery in the noble five-light windows, and the roof groined in wood like the nave. Later on in the period 1352-72, the erection of the easternmost four bays of the present choir took place, the ancient Norman choir being left standing until the completion of this extension. The window tracery being of Perpendicular character, with reminiscences of the flowing Decorated type, this portion of York Minster is a valuable example of the transition between those two periods of architecture. At the Abbey Church of Westminster, Edward I. took up the rebuilding of the Confessor's Church at the point where Henry III. had stopped; and pulling down a portion of the Norman nave, he built five bays immediately westward of the transept to contain the choir fittings. The difference in style is not very A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE apparent without careful examination, as the general design of Henry III.'s work was retained. The piers, however, have eight instead of four shafts clustered about their cylindrical cores, half of those shafts being detached and the other half forming portions of the solid pier ; the arch mouldings are built of stones alternating in colour ; the clerestory windows have wider splays, and the window shafts have moulded instead of carved capitals. In the groining there is much greater richness, for there are double the number of ribs, besides a ridge rib i.e. that running the entire length of the roof at the point of the arch with rich bosses at all the junctions of the ribs. The filling in is of chalk, with grey bands at intervals, as in the earlier work ; but the filling in is so arranged as almost to produce the same effect that of a mass polygonal in plan as was produced by the fan groining of the Perpendicular period. The design of the windows in the aisles and clerestory very nearly resembles that of Henry III.'s work. The northern walk of the cloister was carried up at the same time, and has bold three-light openings, with arches filled with cusped tracery. It has long been known, both by history and by the architectural details that the greater part of the nave of Westminster Abbey the seven bays between the choir screen and the west end was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, although the general style of the five eastern- most bays (four of which are occupied by the choir screen and stalls), has been so well followed that casual observers are unconscious of the change of style. There is every reason to believe that the old 288 THE DECORATED STYLE con tinned Norman nave was left standing until that time, and documents prove that workmen were employed to remove it preparatory to the reconstruction on the lines of the portion completed by Edward I. In 1413 (the first year of the reign of Henry V.) a royal com- mission was issued to Richard Whytington and Richard Harrowden, monk of the Abbey, for carrying on the work of rebuilding the old portion of the nave then standing, and the former generally believed to have been no other than that wealthy merchant, who thrice became Lord Mayor of London was the commissioner for the execution of this work. In the account rolls of the Abbey he is called Richard de Whittington, whilst the other commissioner is called only Richard Harrowden, a monk of the Abbey. Entries are found of the cost of breaking down the old walls, and considerable outlay for stone, marble, labour, etc., showing that the work proceeded vigor- ously. From the time of Henry V.-VI. till the dissolu- tion of the monastery the nave slowly progressed, the west window being finished by Abbot Esteney in Henry VII. 's time, and the western towers left un- finished by Islip, the last abbot worthy of that namer The most remarkable characteristic in these seven bays of the nave of Westminster Abbey is their continuing the general design of the earlier portions, not copying the details, as was done in the cloister, but applying details of their own period to the general forms of the preceding age. So that, to a casual observer, the building presents throughout its interior a homogenous appearance. One of the chief differences is observable in the window tracery, which 289 T A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE in the thirteenth-century portion is a cusped circle, and in that of the fifteenth a quatrefoil without an encircling rim ; another is the cessation of the elegant diapenvork in the spandrels of the arcades and the triforium. Exeter, our most complete cathedral in the Decorated style, was gradually rebuilt under four great bishops Bronescombe, Quivil, Stapledon, and Grandisson the works extending over more than a century. There was, as usual, a Norman building at first, which was gradually removed, excepting the lower part of the nave aisle walls, and the two grand towers. These towers were subsequently pierced through to form transepts an idea as fine as it was novel. The Lady Chapel and the choir were the first portions undertaken, and finally the nave, so that we have in this cathedral a remarkably interesting devel- opment of the Edwardian style as the work proceeded westward. But although the tracery in the windows of the clerestory and the aisles shows a wonderful fertility of design, the whole of it with three exceptions is in the geometrical phase of the style. There being no central tower, the vault is continuous from end to end, and produces a striking effect. There are a number of intermediate ribs besides the main ribs (i.e. the diagonal and transverse ribs) ; but, beautiful though their effect is, there is rather a sense of weakness where the numerous ribs meet in a heavy mass and rest on slight clustered vaulting-shafts. This defect was more successfully got over in the days when fan-vaulting came in. The latest work of the rebuilding of the nave by Bishop Grandisson was its 290 i:\i-: i I-:K t A TIIKDK \i,. i I In- ( 'hoir, looking e;i-t ) To face p. 290. THE DECORATED STYLE continued west front with the outer sculptured screen, before alluded to, stretching across its whole width under the west window. There are three doorways in it, with two rows of canopied niches treated in the richest manner, and covering the whole wall-space. They contain no less than sixty-five statues. I shall have to recur to this cathedral in respect of its stained glass and other details. In 1320 the reconstruction of the Norman presby- tery (the four bays eastward of the central tower) of Winchester Cathedral was begun,* and about the same time part of the nave of St Alban's and the choir of Selby Abbey. f The latter, a most beautiful work of its period, was seriously damaged in a fire in October, 1906, but it has happily been restored exactly on the same lines. The great east window is filled with rich curvilinear tracery, which though extremely beautiful wants the perfect subordination which is so satisfactory in the * This, the first instalment of a work by which Winchester Cathedral was almost completely transformed from a Norman building into a Perpendicular one, commenced with the piers and arches. The side aisles of this choir are the undoubted work of Bishop Fox, who held the See from 1500 to 1528, so that about two centuries elapsed from the beginning to the end of the work, and it is not likely the monks were destitute of a choir or a roof to their high altar all this while. As in many other cases of gradual transformation they proceeded for their own convenience, doing a bit at a time, and taking down only as much of the old buildings as they thought themselves able to replace with the funds in hand, or in prospect, at the time. Winchester Cathedral is perhaps the most wonderful architectural palimpsest iu existence. t The first five bays on the south side of St Alban's nave and the first four on the opposite one are Early English the first instal- ment of a design for rebuilding the Norman church of Abbot Paul. 291 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE somewhat later example at Carlisle probably without a single exception the most beautiful design for window tracery in the world. All the parts are in such just harmony, the one with the other, the whole is so constructively appropriate, and at the same time so artistically elegant, that it stands quite alone even among the windows of its own age. (See illustration, p. 4.) Let us now return to Lichfield. After the building of the west front, the works were resumed in 1300, when the new Lady Chapel was begun; and in 1328 the rebuilding of the presbytery and a portion of the choir was taken in hand. The Norman Cathedral of Lichfield had a choir of three bays and an apse. The first addition to it was a rectangular chapel extending beyond the Norman apse for a distance of about thirty- eight feet, and with a slight deflection to the south. The next change involved the demolition of the Norman choir and the substitution of an Early English one. It extended farther east, the aisles being con- tinued in the same plane with the east end, which was square, and arranged in four bays for as man}'' altars. Eastwards the choir opened into the i'ia processionum by two arches. This Early English choir (1200-20), the foundations of whose east end, together with those of the Norman choir, still exist beneath the present pavement, embraced seven bays of the existing one. Three bays of this choir remain, and their columns and arches are among the most elegant and refined examples of thirteenth-century work. The next and most important alteration in the choir of Lichfield Cathedral took place during the episcopate of Bishop 292 To face p. 292 THE DECORATED STYLE confirmed Langton (1296-1321), who, notwithstanding his persecution at the hands of Edward II., when Prince of Wales, whose hatred he had incurred by boldly rebuking his vices, found time and means to do much for his cathedral. Like Beckington at Wells a little later, Langton was a great patron of architecture, constructing a magnifi- cent new shrine for the relics of St Chad, building a new episcopal palace at Lichfield, and repairing the bishop's castles and manor-houses in various parts of the diocese. At the cathedral itself the portion asso- ciated with the name of Langton is the graceful and unique Lady Chapel ending in a three-sided apse, the first of a series of works with which he had doubtless intended to supersede the Early English choir, and to afford increased accommodation for the throngs of pilgrims to the shrine of St Chad. As at Wells, the Lady Chapel at Lichfield was begun away from the cast end of the choir, so that the services should be uninterrupted as long as possible. Roger de North- burgh, the next bishop (1322-59) saw the scheme of uniting the Lady Chapel with the choir through. This work included the demolition of the Early English arcades as far as the third bay east of the central tower, and the rebuilding of the remaining portion, making the eastern limb of the church- exclusive of the Lady Chapel of eight bays instead of seven, as before. The triforium and clerestor} 7 above the three Early English bays, suffered to remain, were rebuilt to correspond with the rest, and the whole was vaulted with a noble continuous vault, one hundred and forty-two feet long, at one level from the tower to 293 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE the apse of the Lady Chapel, giving a magnificent effect.* The great windows of the apse, filled with late sixteenth-century Flemish glass, purchased from the dissolved conventual house at Herckenrode, near Liege, after the French Revolution, are nearly the full height of the building. Great alterations were taking place at Worcester during the fourteenth century. Between 1317 and 1360, the old Norman nave was gradually disappearing before the graceful Decorated one we now behold. The north side of the nave was first taken in hand, during the episcopate of Bishop Cobham (1317-27). For allied grace, solidity, and richness the columns and arches on the north side of the nave of Worcester Cathedral are, as works of their age and class, unrivalled, but they do not appear to have received the admiration and attention which they have always seemed to me to so justly merit. The arches are richly moulded, and the columns, which are not lofty, are composed of a number of slender shafts with * The roof of the nave of Lichfield Cathedral is, except in the two extreme bays west, and in one at the east end, of plaster; the stone groining and bosses having been removed, it is said, during the eighteenth century, because the weight of them was forcing out of the perpendicular the south side, as may be seen if the eye looks down the interior of the nave. The question was, " Could the stone vaulting be replaced ? " The re-opening of the cathedral after its restoration (1858-61) could readily have been postponed for the purpose, and Sir Gilbert Scott was urged somewhat strongly to take the matter in hand. But he refused, saying that the fabric would not bear the weight thus thrown on it unless the- buttresses on the outside were materially strengthened a very costly undertaking, not to mention the dis- figurement of the building. Thus, somewhat unwillingly, the roof was left untouched, the plaster being coloured so as to match the stone arouud it as nearly as possible. 294 THE DECORATED STYLE con tinned capitals of deeply cut leafage so arranged that they form a wreath round the top of the pillar. The southern arcade, begun about 1360, is not so good, the shafts being taller, fewer, and more slender, and the foliage, confined as it is to each individual shaft, is not continuous as on the opposite side. Both these Decorated sides of the nave oif Worcester are, as regards their arcades, a little loftier than the two transitional bays a late twelfth-century extension westwards of the Norman nave but the triforium and clerestory of the two distinct and widely separated portions are almost coincident in height. The triforium is a singularly prominent feature in the Decorated bays of Worcester nave. Singularly, because at this time the triforium in most places had become a very insignificant member in the elevation. Considering the time it was built, the nave triforium at Worcester is more reticent as regards detail than the Early English one of the choir, which to some extent it resembles in arrangement, and in the manner in which its uncusped arcades are walled up behind, there being but a narrow passage between the openings and the wall. Richness appears to have been sought by the introduction of small sculptured figures into the tympana once much mutilated ; but within living memory admirabty restored by a local sculptor named Boulton. In the clerestory, the late Decorated arrange- ment of the arcades follows that of the two twelfth- century compartments very closely, the tall central one through which the window appears having a depressed head. The nave was groined in 1377 by Bishop Wakefield, throughout ; but while fortunately 295 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE sparing us the two transitional bays just alluded to, he entirely changed the character of the west front, substituting a window, probably an early Perpen- dicular one for the original fenestration. But all traces of Bishop Wakefield's window have been lost, as it was replaced during the latter part of the eighteenth century by one of debased character which, during the extensive works of restoration in progress* at Worcester between 1854 and 1874, gave way to the present really noble geometrical Decorated composition of seven lights.* * Whether Bishop Wakefield's west window was in situ in 1789 when the debased one was erected to commemorate the visit of George III. and his queen to the musical festival of The Three Choirs in the preceding year, I have not sufficient data before me to prove, but prints of the west front, published before that date, might be helpful. The tracery in the bishop's window would in all probability have been curvilinear, or if not confirmed Perpendicular, a transition between the two. For designing the present window with geometrical tracery the cathedral architect, Mr A. E. Perkins, was censured at the time, purists asserting that he should have adopted that form of it which was prevalent during the second half of the fourteenth century. The original fenestration of the east end of the choir of Worcester Cathedral eems to have been disturbed some time during the Decorated period, and one large window substituted for what was in all probability a double tier of lancets. This window was rebuilt after the devastation of the cathedral during the Civil Wars in 1662-63, and again in 1792, but there are no records to state how the necessity arose for the erection of a window which was only rebuilt a hundred and thirty years before. The tracery in this late eighteenth-century window was, as may be supposed, of a spurious character, combining geometrical Decorated and the Perpen- dicular forms of tracery ; still for the time of its erection, it was by no means contemptible. An illustration of it is given in Wild's monograph, published in 18^5. This window disappeared between 1857 and 1863, when the eastern part of the cathedral was almost entirely rebuilt under Mr Perkins, who substi- tuted what was in all likelihood the original arrangamot 296 THE DECORATED STYLE continued In 1335 the raising of the central tower of Salisbury Cathedral, and the erection of the great spire, were commenced. When completed the whole rose to a height of four hundred and four feet from the pave- ment. To the same architect is attributed the central tower of Pershore Abbey in Worcestershire, and as there are several points of resemblance and dissimi- larity between these two works, a short space must be devoted to their consideration. It may seem strange at first sight to claim so close a parallelism between so sumptuous a work as the tower of Salisbury and one comparatively so simple as that of Pershore, yet the more carefully they are compared, the more convincing is the evidence that they were either designed by the same hand, or that one was directly copied from the other. Sir Gilbert Scott, who reproduced the Pershore tower with some modifications in that of St John's College Chapel, Cambridge (1863-68), believed that the former was the case, and that the tower of Pershore was a slightly later work of the Salisbury architect. At Salisbury the cathedral had in the main been completed by about the middle of the thirteenth century, or a little later. of two tiers of lancets. Externally this modern east end is poor and flat, but within, these two tiers of five lancets, with their marble shafts and the foliaged ornament in their spandrels, are very pleasing, and produce a fine effect from the west end of the cathedral. The " medallion " glass with which they are filled is by Hardman, and formed an important feature in the Great Exhibition of 1862. In his " Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester," published in 1866, Mr Noke informs us that this eighteenth-century eaat window of the choir was destroyed by Mr Perkins" " amid general 297 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE The central tower, however, had only been carried a little above the ridges of the four abutting roofs, and the story against which these roofs impinged was a lantern story, the walls of which were rendered hollow by a passage through their thickness, fronted towards the interior with elegant pillars and forming window- like screenwork. The angles expanded into pro- jecting turrets of peculiar form, neither square nor octagonal, but a .union of the two. These were perforated by staircases. Thus far, at Salisbury, the work belonged to the thirteenth century ; and on this, as a substructure, the architect of the fourteenth century erected with singular temerity, but with great artistic skill, the present tower and spire the work as of an angel architect. Now if we credit the Pershore tower to the same hand, what do we find was the course he followed ? Having no lantern story provided for him as at Salisbury, he commenced by translating that which he had found ready to his hand into the style of his own period. Having erected his lantern story, he proceeded to cap it externally with an embattled cornice, which is simply a reproduction with trifling alterations of that with which he had crowned the older lantern at Salisbury. Upon this he raised a bell-story, which is nothing more or less than the first stage of his Salisbury tower, studiously divested of its richer detail. Every feature is alike, though simplified, and the lower stage is merely a plainer version of the corresponding stage at Salisbury, the great distinction being that it is but one, whereas there are two in the prototype, and a spire in addition. The details bv.ir considerable resemblance the dis- 208 'THE DECORATED STYLE continued tribution of windows, blank spaces and piers is absolutely identical, and so is even the peculiar plan of the stair turrets, as also are the very remarkable bands of quatrefoils, etc., which divide the stages of the buttresses. While speaking, however, of the details as being simplified from those of Salisbury, we must except the internal features of the lantern. These, of course, differ in style as they do in date from the original, but they are far richer and more beautiful; indeed it would be difficult to find a lantern story so elegant as that at Pershore, and it stands quite alone in its design. The analogy between Pershore and Salisbury, however, extends be3 r ond the tower. The vaulting of the choir was at the same time completed, and a noble specimen of English proficiency in this art it is ; and the flying buttresses with the pinnacles consequently carried out, and these latter closely resemble those executed simultaneously with the tower at Salisbury ; even the little frill of leaves round the bases of the pinnacles are identical, as are also the very peculiar horizontal cuts in the copings of the flying buttresses. Such a multitude of coincidences could not possibly be accidental, nor could they be the result of mere imitation ; they seem to be only capable of being accounted for by the two structures having been designed by the same hand, and unhappily they agree in another particular the utter absence of information as to their date and erection. It is worthy of remark that in the far north of England, the Decorated style of which the magni- ficent window at Carlisle may be regarded as the 299 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE supreme effort was still improving and reaching almost perfection, while in the south and west, as at Winchester and Gloucester, the fashion was changing into a more mechanical, but yet, when well carried out, a truly magnificent style, peculiar to England and to English architects the Perpendicular. 300 CHOIR OF BRISTOL CAT HI-. ORAL. (From a drawing by Wild, 1^30.) : KM- IORI > c \ i ni'HR \L. To face p. 301 CHAPTER IX THE DECORATED STYLE continued Notice* of building* (continued) St Etheldreda's, Ely Place Augustinian Churches St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster Churches at Hawton, Nantwich Cley-next-the-Sea Patring- ton The Decorated work of Cambridgeshire Painting and tained glass List of buildings of the period. HAVING passed in review some of the largest and most important works of this wonderful century (1270 1370) I pass on to some others, less imposing, perhaps, but equally valuable, as being of the highest order. Of these London possesses two interesting examples, viz. St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, Holborn, a small building without aisles, yet of stately proportions, suited to the wants of the private household and retinue of a prelate * ; and the Augustinian Church near Broad Street, a magnificent structure, which, belonging as it did to a preaching order, was built to accommodate large masses of people. St Etheldreda's is a small parallelogram eighty feet long by thirty feet high, and fifty feet from the floor to the apex of the roof, and below it is a crypt of' * This chapel is the solitary remnant of the once splendid London palace of the Bishops of Ely, removed shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century. 301 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE corresponding dimensions, constructed for the purpose of bringing the chapel to a level with the episcopal apartments. The walls are divided into seven bays by a delicate and beautiful arcading, the five wide bays having two-light windows with geometrical Decorated tracery, which, together with the entire chapel, were restored about forty years ago. Previous to that time the chapel had undergone great disfigurement, and it was while it was in this condition that Sir Gilbert Scott applied for permission to examine it in order to discover whether the missing tracery of the side windows was still on the spot. These windows, denuded of their decoration, retained internally their beautiful jamb mouldings, and the wall between them had a graceful canopied and crocketed panel to each intervening pier, which gave the sides a very rich effect. Sir Gilbert Scott had long and often lamented their mutilated condition, and was one day endeavour- ing to obtain some clue to the design of their tracery, by examining the scars where it had been amputated, when the thought struck him that the two westernmost of them being blocked up by the adjoining houses, might, if opened out, be found to retain their decora- tive features. He applied for permission to do this, and to his delight, on removing the materials which obstructed them, found the old window, mutilated indeed and shattered, but still retaining every element needful to the restoration of its design. The great east and west windows having retained their differently beautiful Decorated tracery almost intact needed only a careful and conservative restora- tion. The former, an admirable example of that type 302 THE DECORATED STYLE continued of window in which the mullions of the tracery cross each other, with the spaces thus formed foliated, is filled with some of the finest stained glass produced in England since the revival of the art. Lightness and grace specially distinguish the nave * of the church of the Austin Friars, which justly bears comparison with those of many of our cathedrals. The church itself, and notably its piers, belongs to the Perpendicular style, but in arrangement and general form it preserves the Decorated character of an earlier church on the same site; the windows, removed from the preceding building, being of a very rich though late Decorated type. London is indeed fortunate in still possessing so noble a portion of a preaching friar's church, preserved alike from the great fire of 1666, and from the even more destructive force of private interest. A great disaster occurred to this church in 1862, when its roofs were totally destroyed by fire, and the walls so much injured that it was at first doubtful whether it would be possible to repair it, but to the everlasting honour of its present possessors the Dutch residents in London it was decided to do so. The length of the existing church is one hundred and fifty -three feet ; longer than some of our cathedral naves ; the width of the nave is thirty-five feet, eight inches, and that of the north and south aisles twenty- two feet three inches each, making up a total between the walls of about eighty-three feet wider than any English cathedral, except Chichester. The arcades * The only portion remaining of a vast craciform structure, {See " Ix>ndpn Churches, Ancient and Modern," vol. i. n. 125.) 303 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE are very lofty and light, and though there is no clerestory it must be considered on the whole a good type of a town church, and two fine modern London churches have been designed upon its model St George's Cathedral, Lambeth, by Pugin (1841-48) and St Mary Magdalene, Munster Square, by Carpenter (1850-52). This church is one of three types adopted by the Augustinian Order in this country, by whom only one cathedral at once secular and monastic was served, viz. Carlisle. Bristol Cathedral, originally the church of an Augustinian house only became the seat of a bishop at the Dissolution. In 1328 Edward III. ascended the throne, and resumed and completed the magnificent Chapel of St Stephen in the Palace of Westminster.* Its crypt had been commenced about forty years before (on the site of an earlier chapel) by Edward I. ; but in 1298 there was a great fire, and possibly little was done in succeeding years to repair it, and this most superb building was, therefore, one of the most distinctive of Edward III.'s reign in all its detail and magnificence of decoration. It was regretted on all hands that Sir Charles Barry's plans for rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the fire of 1834 involved the destruc- tion of the upper chapel walls, though he is to be thanked for preserving the noble crypt. After the burning of the Houses of Parliament, the walls of the chapel were standing, purified of the disgraceful fittings, ceilings, and floors which had obscured their * The site of St Stephen's Chapel is now occupied by that corridor known a* St Stephen's Hall. 34 THE DECORATED STYLE continued beauties, and made a bad and hideous room out of one of the most exquisite pieces of Edwardian Gothic in England. The window tracery and the roof had dis- appeared before the conflagration of 1834, and it is not known what the real design of either was. Most careful measured drawings of St Stephen's had been made by John Carter,* for the Society of Antiquaries, many years before, and he also made an ideal restora- tion. He is, however, candid enough to say where there was, and where there was not authority for this restoration ; and the window tracery he avowedly derives from Merton College Chapel, Oxford ; but it can hardly be correct, as the spandrels on each side of the windows indicate quite another type of tracery, more like that in the windows of the crypt. It must, however, be remembered that the crypt and the body of the walls of the upper chapel represent the work of Edward I. and that after the fire, when Edward III. resumed the work he may have inserted new tracery differing from the original design. He evidently * John Carter, the first effective labourer in the revival of English Gothic architecture, was an enthusiastic antiquary of George III.'s reign, who went about the country sketching, measuring, and describing every ancient building he saw. The Society of Antiquaries, recognising his delineative powers and knowledge of architecture, employed him to etch many of the views of the ancient buildings published under their direction. He made careful measured drawings of the Cathedral* of Durham, Exeter, Gloucester, St Albans, and York, and Bath Abbey. But John Carter wielded the pen with equal facility, for between 1798 and 1817 there appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine tinder the title " Pursuits of Architectural Innovation," a series of letters calling the attention of Deans and Chapters in a most trenchant fashion to the degraded state into which the noble buildings committed to their care had been permitted to lapse. 305 u A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE altered the interior (which would have suffered most from the fire), the marble seat which ran round it, and the rich arcades and panelling were of his period. The Sainte Chapelle at Paris had been erected at an earlier period by St Louis of France ; and the later English chapel was perhaps erected in rivalry of the other. St Stephen's Chapel had neither apse nor stone groined roof as the French chapel has, though in both cases the crypts are groined magnificently. It would, however, almost seem that the original idea of Edward I. had been to groin his upper chapel, as the buttresses are of sufficient size to resist the thrust of a stone vault, but Edward III. clearly put up a wooden roof. It was not till 1363 that the decorations of the interior were completed, and most interesting records are preserved descriptive of them and the materials used, and it is evident that they were of the very highest order of art. I shall recur to them when describing the mural paintings and stained glass which enrich this glorious period of our architecture. The crypt of St Stephen's, a very beautiful specimen of the early Decorated style, was carefullv restored under the direction of Mr E. M. Barry between 1863 and 1865, the walls and roof richly decorated in a style consonant with the period of the building, and the windows filled by Hardman with stained glass of much richness and brilliancy of tincture. In the section on the Gothic of England in his 'History of Architecture," Fergusson gives an internal elevation of St Stephen's Chapel, showing its windows to have been of four lighls with geomet- 306 THE DECORATED STYLE continued rical tracery, rich panelling in the spandrels, and between each window a canopied niche containing a statue. Below the windows there appears to be a bench table, the wall behind being arcaded and painted. In the Monthly Supplement of the Penny Magazine (3Oth November- 3 1 st December, 1834) is a view of the interior of St Stephen's looking east. This cut shows five pointed arches on either hand rising from clusters of shafts, apparently attached to the walls which, as far as can be judged from the illustration, have Perpendicular windows in them. At the east end is one very large window of six lights, also with Perpendicular tracery brought so low down as to have but little dignity of effect. The roof is given as a three-sided one, divided into panels . The plate is called " Restoration of St Stephen's Chapel," but no authority is quoted for it. In 1835-6 a folio volume was published by the Office of Woods and Forests professing to illustrate the chapel they were destroying, but it was so badly done that it was virtually useless. It adopts the absurd theory of two stories above the crypt, and is full of errors. As an example of the Decorated style in its later or curvilinear phase, no finer example could be adduced than the chancel of Hawton Church, near Newark, which some of my older readers may re- member by Mr G. G. Place's drawings of it published more than sixtv years ago by the Ecclesiological Society. A more tasteful structure than the chancel of this 37 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE church can scarcely be conceived. The exterior is not overloaded with ornament, but is really good. In all its proportions and details it is a standard and study of excellence. The grand seven-light window which, with its flowing tracer}*, adorns the east, can scarcely divert attention from the beauties of the southern side. Upon whatever point the eye fixes, whether the buttresses, the base mouldings, and string-courses, the parapet, the doorway, the three southern windows, or any other part, perfection seems to smile upon it everywhere. One arrangement which shows a very bold stroke of a master mind, whereby, with singular success, a difficulty has been overcome, which conven- tionalities would have rendered to ordinary minds insuperable, is this : the southern side of the chancel is divided by simple but elegant buttresses into three equal bays ; and in perfecting the design it was necessary to have a corresponding window in each. There was the difficulty ; for a door :i: was equally necessary, not only for utility, but to relieve in some degree the dullness of uniformity ; and where was room to be found for it ? The designer has not hesitated to cut off a portion of the lower part of one side of the centre window with a blank piece of wall, defined with n skewtable cutting across in a slanting direction, as in perspective a porch would intersect a window, and yet without detriment. Into this portion so gained he has inserted a doorway worthy of the rest of the edifice. Not only is the exterior of Hawton Church so good, but in the interior the Easter sepulchre, founder's tomb * The priest's door. 308 ANWICK CHURCH, LIXCOI.NSHIRi:. AU'lOX ( lll'KCH, \( ) I I INCHA.MSHIk'l 'I'o face p. j(-8. THE DECORATED STYLE continued and sedilia afford equal if not greater attractions. The Easter sepulchre formerly used in the worship of the church in pre-Reformation times, having been usually of wood is seldom found in stone in our English churches. The most interesting example in the district of Hawton is, I believe, that at Ashwell in Rutlandshire. But the most famous for their pro- fusion of ornament are those of Lincoln Cathedral, Heckington, Patrington and Hawton.* The exquisite enrichment of the northern wall of the chancel at Hawton by the doorway, the founder's tomb, and the sepulchre, in all of which the ogee arch prevails, and of the opposite one by the famous sedilia it is impos- sible to describe. The work is in excellent preser- vation, and is as good in execution as design. Turning to quite another part of the country the comparatively inedited county of Cheshire, inedited that is to say ecclesiologically, we find an extremely elegant illustration of the architecture that prevailed here about the middle of the fourteenth century, in the stately cruciform church of St Mary and St Nicholas at Nantwich, remarkable for its central tower which assumes the form of an octagon. The plan of Nant- wich Church includes a nave of four bays, with aisles, transepts, and a deep, aisleless chancel having a sacristy at its north-east angle. The great east and west windows are early Perpendicular, and the whole of the south transept is of this style. The head of the east window, which has seven lights, and owing * There is a very fine but much larger Easter sepulchre of late Perpendicular date (c. 1480) in Northwold Church near Stoke Ferry in the south-western division of Norfolk. 309 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE to the inconsiderable height of the chancel, brought somewhat low down, is enclosed by a straight-sided and crocketed gable rising into the richly traceried open parapet which is embattled ; the spaces formed by the window-head and the gable being filled with open tracery. The great windows of the nave and south transept fronts are of eight lights apiece. In the nave the tracery of the aisle windows is geometrical Decorated, while in those of the chancel it has passed into the curvilinear phase. Very stately indeed is the octagonal tower which internally is carried on four grand late Decorated arches rising from clusters of shafts with floriated capitals. It has one window of two compartments on each face except the cardinal one on the south, where a turret adjoins it. Ogee hood mouldings with crockets and finials crown the arches of the belfry windows ; small buttresses at each angle of the octagon confer an additional elegance of contour to the mass ; and small pinnacles unconnected with these buttresses and rising from the battlemented turret give the whole an appropriate finish. Built as it is of the local sandstone, Nantwich Church composes a fine architectural group. If loftiness be wanting solidity gives it dignity ; skilful grouping of parts adds considerable picturesqueness, and the rich details satisfy the eye as it passes from the mass to examine some individual feature with attention. Internally the effect is grand and sumptuous in the extreme, its constructional grandeur, its costly embellishment since its restoration half a century a^o lio THE DECORATED STYLE continued under Sir Gilbert Scott, and general propriety of arrangement are all deserving of admiration. No less so are its mediaeval instrumenta the flowing Decorated sedilia, the twenty-five richly canopied Perpendicular stalls, said to have been brought from Vale Royal Abbey, and the original Perpendicular stone pulpit connected with a low screen or septum of the same material at the entrance to the chancel; but the depth of its transepts and the aisleless character of its equally long chancel, however beautiful and picturesque they may be, preclude Nantwich Church from forming the model for a parish church suited to present-day requirements. Although the majority of the churches in Norfolk and Suffolk belong to the Perpendicular era, there are a few very graceful examples of the later Decorated, as for example, Elsing, Filby, Hingham, Snettisham, Trunch, Tunstead, and Worstead in the former county, and Bacton, Freslingfield, Wigenhale (St Mary Virgin and St Mary Magdalene), and Woolpit in the latter. To those in the former county must be added Cley-next-the-Sea, with one of the finest parochial Decorated naves in England, but with a tower and chancel hardly worthy of it. The external elevation of the south transept a fine piece of Decorated work is unusually fine. It is flanked by buttresses terminating in pinnacles rich in crockets and finials, and the gable which is also crocketed supports a floriated cross of singular beauty. The southern window of this transept at Cley is of four lights with depressed tref oiled heads. The lines of the comprising arch, instead of being carried from the A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE jambs to the apex in a direct curve, expand shortly after leaving the former, the additional width gained by this means affording scope for the introduction of two large circles separated from one another by the subarches which divide the four lights into pairs. These circles are quatrefoiled, and as each lobe of the quatrefoil is cinquefoiled, some idea may be formed of the extremely rich appearance of this window. The four large quartrefoiled diamond-shaped figures composing the tracery in the head of the window are similarly enriched, the subcuspings in this instance being trefoils. Other admiranda at Cley are the western doorway which has a cinquefoiled arch with trefoiled ornaments at the points of the lobes, and foliage in the spaces made by the cinquefoiled inner and the simply curved outer arch ; and the treatment of the clerestory, where circular windows quatrefoiled alternate with two-light ones, an arrangement met with at Terrington St John and elsewhere in Norfolk, but which does not appear to have been adopted in other counties.* The south porch, one of the most imposing of the parvis kind in England, belongs to the period which our history has not yet reached. Of Decorated work in Yorkshire, the church at Howden, the nave of the minster and the chancel of St Mary's at Beverley, the choir of Selbv, the east end of the ruined abbey at G.uisborough, and the nave of Bridlington, are very fine examples. The use of a peculiar pointed ornament (a form of ball- * Padbury Church, Bucks, ha* a low clerestory of circular windows. J J ~ HOLY TRINITY. KI'AS 1 \(, TON. (Modern example of the lat-j Decorated >tyle.) To face p. 312. THE DECORATED STYLE continued flower) may be noticed as unusual in the south of England ; and there is a tendency in the smaller churches to use that kind of column into which the arch mouldings subside without the intervention of a capital. The group of late Decorated churches in South Yorkshire Darton, Darfield, Royston, Penistone and Silkstone deserve notice, but the pride of Yorkshire fourteenth-century Gothic is the 4 Queen of Holderness," the elegant Church of Patrington, built in the early part of the reign of Edward III. Cruciform in plan, Patrington Church is generally stated to have been raised, like Salisbury Cathedral, on virgin soil, and all in one style. It was not, however, built out of the ground, unaffected by what was there before, and is not entirely fourteenth century in style. There is no doubt that where the screen is was originally the chancel, and that this and other features were the result of the site having been previously occupied by a church which was not entirely demolished until there was provision made for worship in the new building. One feature in the church is the extreme development of the transept, the windows at each end of which are distinctly of an earlier period than the other windows. This church has also been attributed to a canon of York of the latter part of the fourteenth century. This is a mistake, for the work is a little earlier than that, but the execution was probably interfered with by " the black death " which desolated the country in 1349. Regarded architecturally it is a great deal more of a Lincolnshire than a Yorkshire church, much of the detail being similar to that of Heckington Church. 3*3 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE But perhaps the most interesting features of Patrington Church are its Lady Chapel one which, in an English parish church is, both from its position and shape, unique and its spire. The great (and for a parish church unusual) development of the transepts somewhat dwarf the nave and choir. From the eastern aisle of the south transept, which (i.e. the aisle) is groined throughout, opens the Lady Chapel. It forms a three-sided apse, two sides of which are pierced for windows, whilst that in the centre shows an oblong panel above the altar site with tabernacle work in three divisions over it, thus forming a tall reredos. The arrangement of the central boss in the groining of this chapel is perhaps unique ; it is formed into a pendant, open on the eastern side, so as to contain a lantern which would throw its light down upon the altar. The design of the central tower and spire is singu- larly graceful and original, although the massiveness of the neighbouring tower of Hedon gives perhaps greater dignity. Round the third story of the tower, which is the belfry, runs an arcade of four arches on each side, of which two are pierced with square- headed windows. From the tower rises an open octagon having two cinquefoiled arcades in each of its sides and whose mullions are carried up through a simple, also open, parapet into crocketed pinnacles. This octagon is connected with the angles of the tower by small flying buttresses, and from within it a plain octagonal spire rises to the height of one hundred and eighty feet from the ground. Internally the tower is supported by four massive THE DECORATED STYLE continued piers each containing twenty shafts, with unusually fine bases. On the south side of the sanctuary are three very graceful sedilia, with a piscina ; and in the opposite wall one of the most perfect Easter sepulchres remaining in England. All authorities upon church architecture agree that in pure examples of that beautiful period of art which was developed out of the Early English style, Cambridgeshire holds a foremost position. The most accomplished church architect England has ever seen, Alan de Walsingham, was now carrying on his marvellous work at Ely in the octagon and Lady Chapel, and Prior Cranden, John of Wisbeach, Bishops Hotham and Montacute^ all zealous church builders flourished during the prevalence of this style. And no doubt their influence vibrated throughout the whole of the diocese in which at this period church building like church architecture seems to have attained its culminating point ; for of the hundred and ninety churches in the county something like one hundred and twenty have portions in this style ; and of these one hundred and twenty, one hundred and seventeen are entirely of this period with no other admixture. Thirty-one chancels and thirty-three towers were also built or rebuilt, and a very large number of aisles, chapels, porches, and other additions, which testify to the extraordinary zeal, energy and taste animating the ecclesiastical archi- tects in the diocese of Ely during the time the Decorated or middle pointed style prevailed, coinciding pretty well with the hundred years occupied by the reigns of the first three Edwards, and during the 315 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE whole of that century there was no falling off either here or in any other part of England. In selecting a few of the choicest examples of this glorious style, as illustrated in Cambridgeshire, what exquisite creations of art seem to rise up before one. The skilful elegance of the octagon at Ely Cathedral one of, if not the best pieces of Decorated composi- tion in the kingdom ; the elaborate lightness of the three western bays of the choir ; the gorgeously minute enrichment of the Lady Chapel, throw a fascinating spell over the lover of Christian art and make him feel how inglorious the best creations of our own day appear in comparison. And if leaving the mother church we wander among some of her more humble daughters, we shall still have to acknowledge how very far off we are in these vaunted days from attaining the artistic excellence of the Edwardian period. Bottisham with its pure bold suites of mouldings, its exquisite proportions and highly finished details ; Trumpington with its lofty arches, rich mouldings and interesting side chapels ; Haslingfield with its clustered piers, elegant string-courses, and handsome middle-pointed roof; Elsworth with its spacious chancel and rich sedilia ; Over with its beautiful south porch; Willingham with its remarkable sacristy and fine tower arches ; and Haddenham with its noble tower having circular windows enriched with alternate rows of dog-tooth and ball-flowers. Nor must mention be omitted of St Mary the Less, Cambridge a simple parallelogram like St Ethel- dreda's, Ely Place, Holborn abounding in exquisite late or flowing Decorated tracery and other details ; 316 THE DECORATED STYLE- continued nor of Prior Cranden's Chapel at Ely, a curious and valuable gem of the period, which at one time was divided horizontally into bedrooms, but which, thanks to the eminent dean, Dr Peacock, was " restored " sixty years ago i: 'to life and use, and name and fame." Other Cambridgeshire churches, enshrining portions of the Edwardian styles, are Little Shelf ord ; Fulbourne, containing one of the best fourteenth- century brasses in England, that of William de Fulbourne (d. 1391); Swaffham Bulbeck ; Westley Waterless ; Borough Green ; L/andbeach ; Soham ; Downham ; Chatteris ; W T isbeach ; Harlton ; Basing- bourne ; Gamlingay; and Balsham. Before concluding this chapter on the architecture of the Edwardian period I must pass briefly in review the state of the arts of painting and stained glass. Unfortunately, I am unable to refer to existing examples of the former, as in one way or another they have mostly perished ; but there is ample evidence to prove that English painters of this period had attained to a very high position.* The wooden tombs with their canopies in the 'sacrarium" of Westminster Abbey were painted, as was the stallwork of Chichester and Ely Cathe- drals, the tomb of Bishop de Luda in the presbytery, and the groining of the lantern in the latter cathedral, and the vault of Exeter Cathedral ; but we have nothing very definite of which any remains are preserved, or any records except the paintings at * It is possible that the paintings on the panels of some of the East Anglian chancel screens may belong to the later phases of the style. A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Westminster in the Painted Chamber and St Stephen's Chapel, now both destroyed. The Painted Chamber was originally Norman, and it stood parallel with St Stephen's Chapel. It was enlarged by Henry III., and the walls were ordered by him to be painted of a green colour, " as a curtain." In 1263, after a fire, paintings were ordered in the " King's Chamber," and in his " Oratory and Oriels," which formed part of the " Great Chamber." Otho and Master William a monk of Westminster and Peter de Hispania, were the earlier painters, followed by Master W T alter de Durham. These paintings were executed in the reign of Edward I., and it would appear that the subjects were painted, more or less, three times, the gilding especially being renewed. The subjects were carefully examined by Stothard, who has left a valuable record of them. They represented Old Testament subjects such as Abimelech, the death of Sisera, the miracles of Elisha, incidents in the time of Hezekiah, Jehoiakim and the Maccabees, the coronation of the Confessor, and of King OfFa, and also female figures represent- ing the Virtues triumphing over the Vices. All the figures are, as usual, represented in the costume of the day, and the architecture is of that period ; all are painted on a ground of blue. They were executed in distemper, and coated with an oily varnish. The paintings in St Stephen's Chapel were of Edward lll.'s time ; and the records that are preserved of them by John Carter's and Stothard 's drawings show that they were of the very highest order, and thai the interior of the chapel must have presented a ST. AGNES, KKNNINGTON PARK. (Modern example of the l.'ite I )<< onitfd M\l< To face p. 318. THE DECORATED STYLE continued most superb effect. The whole of the stonework was painted, the grey marble bench table (or seat) all round being alone retained in its natural colour. A sort of apple-green, blue and red was used indiffer- ently for hollows and projecting mouldings, fillets were gilded, and the chief projecting mouldings were covered with embossed gilded patterns and beadings, while on the columns and on the coloured mouldings were laid or stamped paterae formed of a sort of stucco_, or gesso, gilded. At the east end, on the north side of the altar, were represented Edward III., the Black Prince, and his royal brothers, richly clad in armour and embroidered surcoats, kneeling and gazing upwards, with a great picture above them representing the Adoration of the Magi. On the south side were Queen Philippa and the princesses, kneeling, while the scenes painted above them repres- ented the Presentation in the Temple and the Nativity. The King and Queen and their family have a rich arcading over them, painted in red and gold, with an architectural background painted on gold and silver. The ground of the great picture above is a richly embossed diaper of gold. All along the sides of the chapel, under the windows and tabernacle-work, were represented angels holding drapery. They had great wings of peacock's feathers, painted in red on gold, with eyes formed of green, blue and gold. The angels were vested in blue and scarlet, with gold patterns, and the background was dark, with gold stars. The figures were somewhat stiff and meagre; but the drapery was well disposed, and was represented as most richly embroidered, 319 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE showing how advanced the art of embroidery was in the fourteenth century. Above these figures the lower parts of the windows were made to form solid panels, on which were painted most spirited represen- tations of incidents in the history of Job and Tobit. Besides these, were paintings, especially by order of the King, of himself protected by St George, and Queen Philippa protected by the Blessed Virgin. It will ever be a subject of the keenest regret that such glorious works no longer exist; we, however, owe a debt of gratitude to those who copied them and preserved the memory of them as far back as the latter part of the eighteenth century. I have been somewhat diffuse in my description of the decorations of the chapel to show that, where such work was done, English painters of the Decorated period were not a whit behind their brothers in other countries. St Stephen's Chapel must indeed have been one of the wonders of English architecture of this period. The colours generally used in English wall painting were of the commonest kind, mostly earths, as in fresco, or of some mineral origin. The chief were colcothar or Indian red, for they are nearly the same, red ochre, yellow ochre, terra verde, verditer, and native cinnabar. Neither of the two last are used in fresco painting, and verditer both blue and green, are colours which fade and change very easily. To these may be added " lamp black," and white made from lime. Cinnabar, which stands in the place of vermilion, grows black in contact with lime, and this accounts for some reds turning quite black, probably assisted by damp. All our earliest paintings are 320 THE DECORATED STYLE con tinned monochromes or very nearly so. As regards the decoration of oaken screens, of which the eastern counties show many fine examples, both " tempera " and oil were used. Indeed the latter was very much employed in this country in early times, as our records prove. But it is very doubtful if this was for any delicate work. Many of the screens in Norfolk and Suffolk prove the influence of the Flemish artist, and we know many migrations from Flanders took place, bringing superior manufactures and, doubtless, a superior art practice. If we presume the use of oil in the painting of these screens, it seems always to have been applied on a ground of gesso, just as in preparation of panels by painters of both Flemish and Italian schools. But we cannot be sure that many which now seem to us as painted in oil were not first executed in tempera, and afterwards varnished. It is, however, of little importance. But there are specimens of tempera simply as well as in oil, or tempera varnished. On the screens we get a superior range of colours ; a finer blue, a brighter green, a preparation probably of vermilion. The gilding is excellent, and in one or two instances, late in the fifteenth century, stamped processes are used for such parts as the shafts of the canopy, executed with much beauty and subtlety. The screen in Yaxley Church, Suffolk, offers an example. In the thirteenth century the glass was continually and gradually changing from the deep, rich-coloured mosaic of the twelfth century, and becoming lighter in tone, owing to the introduction of white glass and grisaille work, This process continued through the 321 x A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Decorated period, even though the small windows gave place to large windows occupying in many cases almost all the wall space. The earlier specimens of the Decorated style are as rich in colour as the Early English, and are to be dis- tinguished from them principally by their details. But from the end of Edward I. 's reign a progressive increase in the use of white glass may be observed, even in the richest-coloured pictures. As the style advanced, the individual colours also sensibly diminished in depth. The effect sought to be produced in a Decorated window was an opposite one to that which was aimed at during the earlier period when the walls and their decorations were kept lighter in tone, often by means of red lines or patterns on a cream-coloured ground, while the windows were rich and dark in colour. The general characteristics of a Decorated picture glass painting is that it is broader in colour and less mosaic than an Early English one, and that its colouring is also somewhat less intense. The men of this period gave dark, rich colour of red, green, and gold to their walls and architecture, and as much lightness in tone as possible to their glass. The picture windows of this period are generally figure and canopy windows, and are easily distinguished from the Early English by the architectural details of the canopy work, which is borrowed from sculpture. The figures are also less classical, and their draperies are more ample and disposed in broader folds than the Early English. White glass was much used, but it must be borne in mind that what represented white was a sort of light sea-green tint, blending most 322 THE DECORATED STYLE continued happily with richer tones of colour. Glass of this period was not so thick as early glass. " Pot metal " glass (a yellow glass of one colour throughout the whole thick- ness) was replaced by glass with a yellow stain of a lemon tint; and this was largely used for the archi- tectural features of the canopy work, such as crockets and finials, and also in the simpler quarry patterns on a white ground. The patterns were of foliage and animals, very naturally treated. Sometimes the only rich colour introduced was in a shield of arms in each light, as in the noble Decorated chancel of Norbury Church, Derbyshire. Here we have four boldly traceried windows on either side, of three lights apiece, and one large one of five lights at the east end with tracery which has rather a rectilinear tendency, as the date of this fine piece of Edwardian Gothic may be placed between 1370 and 1380. The glass in this window has been much injured by being first removed into those of the nave aisles and cleres- tory, at the time when the window was walled up, and by being again replaced in its original position ; it consists chiefly of full-length figures of the apostles, above each of which is a portion of the Creed and a rich canopy. The side windows, which are perfect models for imitation in the present day, were beautifully delineated in colours by Bowman in his " Specimens of the Ecclesiastical Architecture of Great Britain " in 1846. At York Minster, the aisle and clerestory windows of the nave, belts of pictures in rich colours were in- troduced in two tiers, with colour in the tracery. 323 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Towards the middle of the fourteenth century figures, having lofty canopies over them, were introduced, often with small pictures below them, as in the great west window of York. In these windows the peculiar tone of the white glass, and the yellow stain of the canopy work is very remarkable. The Jesse windows of this period those repre- senting the genealogy of our Lord are in design something extremely like the Early English, but their foliage, instead of being tref oiled and conven- tional is natural. The vine leaf is that most used. In general, however, the form assumed by the branches is more varied and playful than that of an Early English Jesse. In the east window of Wells Cathedral copied in 1849 by Henri Gerente (the distinguished French glass painter) and reproduced by his brother Alfred a few years later in the west window of All Saints, Margaret Street, London * the vine branches run quite across the window, independently of the mullions. The white pattern windows, particu- larly the earlier ones have generally a rich sea-green tint like the Early English ; their borders are, how- ever, almost invariably composed of naturally formed leaves, like crockets on ruby or blue grounds, as at Norbury, or of heraldry, as at Merton College Chapel, Oxford, where there is a series of the most beautiful early Decorated stained-glass windows in the country. Heraldry, indeed, was largely introduced into the windows of this period, and through it their date in * Gerente "s glass in All Saints was removed about forty years ago, and the present work, illustrating the same subject, substituted. 324 JHSSI-: \\INDO\V, AI.I. SAIN IS , M AKt ; \ K !: I STK'KI-T THE DECORATED STYLE continued many cases may be ascertained with tolerable certainty. The ground-work of a Decorated white pattern window that is, as soon as the style developed itself, for in the earlier phase of the style, white patterns are exactly like the Early English, only less strongly drawn differs from that of an Early English white pattern in several important particulars. Instead of an arrangement of panels, laid as it were one over the other, the basis of a Decorated window is a flowing scrollwork of foliage, the leaves being usually copied from the maple, ivy, or oak, over which there appears to be laid, as it were, successive planes of interlaced geometrical ornaments y which appear on a careful examination to be princi- pally copied from the borders of the panels used in the preceding style, though the panels themselves are no longer retained. The rich effect of this arrangement may be seen in the windows of Merton College Chapel, Oxford These white pattern windows were often further enriched by the insertion of small groups or single figures under canopies, as in the example before named, and in the Latin Chapel on the north side of the choir of Oxford Cathedral ; or simply in panels, as in the chapter-house of York Minster, or of shields of arms as at Norbury. But in every case it will be observed that the picture is inserted quite independent of the design of the pattern work of the window. Patterns composed of ornamental, or as they are technically termed " flowered quarries " are not uncommon. The earlier quarries are generally banded, at least on their top sides, the effect of which is to produce an interlaced 325 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE banded pattern apparently overlaying the quarries. The later quarries are, in general, not banded as in the library of Merton College, and the form of the orna- ment painted on them is of a late character. The yellow stain of which mention has been made of being used in this epoch of glass-painting was intro- duced early in the fourteenth century, and was profusely employed as early as Edward II. 's reign. Of this the east window of Bristol Cathedral is an example. The discovery of this means of enrich- ment tended, there can be no doubt, to the adoption of a broader style of colouring. One of our most perfect examples of fourteenth- century glazing is the east window of Exeter Cathe- dral, representing figures of saints under canopies. It was removed from the original window, which was in all probability geometrical Decorated, and rearranged in the present fine example of early Perpendicular work. Although but scanty fragments now remain, the aisle and clerestory windows of Exeter Cathedral were once rich in old stained glass. The fabric rolls testify to the persistency of Bishop Stapledon in carry- ing out this work between 1308 and 1319, so that we are able to verify almost every window, what it cost, and the proportion of pattern to figured glass ; generally one-fourth. The nave was glazed early in the fifteenth century. Here the general tint was golden, while that in the choir was silvery a variation which must have produced a charming effect. The work would appear to have been accom- plished in Bishop Lucy's day (1420-55). 326 THE DECORATED STYLE continued The glass in the windows in the nave clerestory was in a bold pattern of floral grisaille. It was fixed just after the discovery of the stain, and the painters in their delight at using a new material were rather prone to excess in its application. Vestiges of this glass are still in situ on the south side. In the clerestory of the choir one window only remains on the north side. It has figures and canopies placed upon a background of grisaille, and is a good example of early fourteenth-century work. A fellow window to it, originally belonging to the north side of the choir and differing from the other in having smear instead of stippled shading, was dis- covered at the time of the restoration (1871-76) of the cathedral, packed away in a muniment room and has since been ruthlessly destroyed to patch other windows with. The seven windows in the choir and apse of Tewkes- bury Abbey contain some of the finest late Decorated stained glass in the kingdom. One of these, a four- light window, with curvilinear tracery, contains as many figures of knights,* some in mail and others in plaited armour, standing under ogee arches crowned with spiral canopies in which much white glass is used, and which mount up to the heads of the lights with for background a rich ruby. Gold is used for some of the architectural accessories as well as for the narrow borders in the foliated heads of the lights. In the borders following the mullions is a series of crocket- like ornaments on a ruby ground. These figures are extremely valuable as giving accurate repre- sentation of the armour and knightly gear of the time. 327 The four figures stand out effectively from alter- nately blue and pale green grounds, and below each figure is a considerable expanse of white glass patterned with diamond-shaped figures charged with flowers, thus giving great emphasis to the figures. The scrolls of white vine leaves on a brilliant ruby ground in the tracery openings are singularly beautiful. The central window of the apse, which has five lights supporting a traceried circle, represents the Last Judgment. In the centre our Lord is depicted with uplifted hands on which are the stigmata of the Passion. The glass in the side lights, from its unsymmetrical arrangement appears to have been re- arranged or rather disarranged at some time. The Apostles would naturally be grouped on either side, in the outer lights. The other two lights represent St John and the Blessed Virgin. Of these figures, the heads, which are modern, were inserted in 1828 by Collins, one of the glass painters of that period who helped to keep the art alive.* In the five panels below the figures, are groups of persons arising from their graves, one group representing- an angel disputing with the devil for the possession of three persons bound with a chain. At the bottom are armorial bearings. In the two-light east window of the north aisle of Cockayne Hatley Church, Bedfordshire, is a very charming specimen of early Decorated glass, trans- * He executed some glass in St John's, Walworth, which was presented to that building by its architect, Sir John Soane, in commemoration of its being the first church built by him in the long course of his professional career. 328 THE DECORATED STYLE continued ferred hither from a church in Yorkshire and containing, under conventional middle pointed canopies, small figures of SS. Sebald, Edmund, Dunstan and Oswald. Other specimens of mid -fourteenth century glass painting are the three central windows in the apse of Westminster Abbey; the Tree of Jesse in the east window of St Mary's, Shrewsbury * ; in the heads of three early fourteenth-century windows in the north aisle of St Lawrence Ludow ; a Jesse window in the Lady Chapel ; and some remains worked in admirably with Perpendicular glass in the south transept window of the same church ; the east window of Bristol Cathedral, restored and supplemented in 1847; an ^ the Last Judgment in the tracery of the east window at Carlisle. Selby Abbey, previous to the disastrous fire of 1906, possessed a superb " Tree of Jesse " in the east window of its choir, which not many years before had been conservatively restored and, where necessary, supplemented by Mr Thomas Curtis (the present representative of Messrs Ward & Hughes). It is satisfactory to state that this Jesse has since been reproduced, together with the Doom (which as at Carlisle occupies the tracery), in the restored east window of Selby Abbey. If there was one age of church architecture more glorious than the rest, it was the fourteenth century. It was the climax beyond which Christian art was never carried. Though all that riches, devoted piety, * This glass was brought from St Chad's when that church wa3 rebuilt in its present pseudo-classical form at the end of the eighteenth century. 329 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE and sublime talents could effect was done to sustain its consummate excellence, it followed the universal law, and having once reached perfection began gradu- ally to decline. We, who see nothing around us but the wrecks of ancient art, have some difficulty in forming an accurate idea of the extreme architectural and decorative magnificence which prevailed at this period. It may, however, be fearlessly asserted that not only were the abbeys and the cathedrals of gorgeous beauty and wealth incalculable, but every parish church was proportionately adorned. Let us step, for example of the former class of sacred edifices, into the Lady Chapel, that great oblong building now called Trinity Church which adjoins the north tran- sept of Bly Cathedral. Examine any one of its hundred canopied seats which line the walls below the vast windows ; but your enraptured gaze must dwell for an hour upon it before you can comprehend its beauties, or your eye can scan the whole of its exuber- ant details. Look first at the exquisite mouldings and panellings of the polished Purbeck shafts and buttresses below ; then admire the minute images, the crisp bunches of hollow foliage, carved like ivory balls with almost microscopic nicety. Lastly, see the thick flakes of gold which overlay them, and the bright varied colouring which may yet be traced under the coats of modern whitewash. Then view the spangled vault once glowing with stars and golden bosses ; the windows which were filled with the richest stained glass, as their scanty and obliterate fragments still attest ; observe the countless compartments of tracery within tracery, and canopy above canopy, 33 which climb even to the ceiling. The vestiges of ancient workmanship, which have not been hewn away by the axe and the chisel, must be minutely observed if the mind would truly realise the splendour which the eye now desiderates. Again, imagine Lincoln Cathedral or Westminster Abbey in its glory. There are many parts of these, and indeed of every cathedral where a single square yard of sculptured detail exhibits the labour of months ; where a niche or a canopy, or a moulded base must have been the task of many a long and toilsome week. The aggregate cost of any one such building would now be almost in- credible. Take the first of that long series of high tombs, with its panellings, its canopies, its effigies ; the jewelled mitre and ring ; the embroidered orphrey ; the gilded crocket ; look up under the dark canopy ; there is gold and colour and intricate groining; though man's eye was never likely to behold it. The pavement was once of coloured tiles, or mosaics, in which an hundred latten effigies and crosses shone resplendent. You may still see the marble shafts bereft of their metal ; the boss faint with its faded gold ; the canopy deprived of its silver saint ; the window without its ancient hues or with but a few fragments alone telling of its former glory. Go again to the village church. In the time of the Edwards alone, thousands of these were built throughout the land, but perhaps none more beautiful or so rich in detail as in Lincolnshire. It is certain and may be proved by actual examination in numberless instances that even these, however remote, generally possessed the most exquisite decorations. In the foregoing pages we have taken a view of that wonderful succession of glories which followed the course of ecclesiastical architecture in England from the arrival of St Augustine towards the close of the sixth century to the reign of Edward III. in the middle of the fourteenth. Among persons of differently constituted minds almost every variety may, to one or another, seem the point of perfection ; and it must be admitted that it is hardly possible to arrive at a certain conclusion on such a question. There is perhaps only one way of ascertaining the true position of that culminating point which we all wish to discover, and that is by carefully studying the differences to be traced out in the courses taken by pointed architecture in the various countries in which it most flourished ; and by observing whether they differed throughout, or had any points in common; and what theory seems to bring the apparent points of perfection attained in each country, most nearly to a chronological coincidence. This leads us to a result which seems to promise much, though after all it is difficult to say how far we can, with certainty, test its value. The series of changes, from the early Romanesque to the establishment of pointed architecture at the close of the twelfth century, differs materially in all the different countries of Europe, Germany being the most behind in this accomplishment. All, however, seem gradually to approach nearer and nearer to one another, till, towards the close of the thirteenth cen- tury, when all appear to have arrived, in the main at 332 u THE DECORATED STYLE con tinned least, at the same point ; and though some differences still remained, as might be expected, from slight varieties in climate, and materials, and racial habits, the essential principles and elements of the style were perfectly coincident in France, Germany and England, if we compare three such great representa- tive works as the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, the Sainte Chapelle at Paris, and the choir of the Cathedral at Cologne. This coincidence, however, was of short duration, for from this point all again diverged, so that at the time of the final extinction of the style at the beginning of the sixteenth century its national varieties differed, as widely as at its commence- ment. France had produced the Flamboyant, which in its earlier stages is rich, varied, and imposing. But in many instances it is remarkable how much the interest falls off towards the end of the fifteenth century, and how very poor and meagre it becomes when it is worked plain. In Germany, the flamboyant of that country ran riot into fantasticality, and in the works of the later stages of the style however much it may fascinate the lover of the picturesque it is impossible to avoid the thought that religious feeling had given way to human ingenuity, and that the whole vigour and beauty of the art were emaciated by constant strivings after new and whimsical combinations. England produced a style of her own the Perpen- dicular inferior to none in Gothic principle, and surpassing every other in the matchless beauty of 333 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE its detail, and this she well sustained until the epoch of the Reformation. This style may well be the pride of Englishmen ; for not only is it almost exclusively our own, but it has produced a train of cathedrals, abbeys, collegiate and royal chapels, town and village churches, among the most glorious our land can boast. Almost nine-tenths of our most magnificent churches owe their chiefest beauties to this style ; and with whatever variety of pointed architecture it is brought into contact, its merits shine forth pre- eminently, and so far from suffering, gain additional lustre by the comparison. A period of architecture which gave us the choirs of Gloucester and York ; the naves of Canterbury and Winchester ; the central towers of Canterbury and Gloucester; King's College Chapel, Cambridge; St George's at Windsor and Henry VII. 's at West- minster ; those glorious galaxies of churches in East and West Anglia ; the roodlofts, the stalls, the chantries, and other additions to, and embellishments of, our churches of previous epochs, is one of which we may be justly proud. Lasting from 1350 to 1530 a longer time than the Early English and the Decorated put together, it was the handiwork of men of acute wit and strong understanding great churchmen and statesmen and kings men, who while living were justly held in proudest esteem, and whose names in history rank high in the bead-roll of English worthies. In all that I have said in this book, I have tried to give the motives and characteristics of English art discernible in the earlier phases, and it is with the 334 THE DECORATED STYLE continued greatest regret that prescribed limits * preclude my more fully declaring them in the full-grown "com- plete Gothic " of the Perpendicular, that style which" is the outcome of our insularity the English of the English. If we would know the whole art-power of mediaeval England, in proportional lines, in decoration, stone- groining, wooden roofs, stalls, reredoses, screens, glass and sculpture of all kinds, we must turn to the art of the fifteenth century. In brief, the Perpendicular period is the crown and culmination of a long series of effort. It is the harvest-time of all our mediaeval endeavour. For in English Gothic, as in Nature, there are three phases of development, first the blade, then the ear, and afterwards the full corn in the ear. A list of some of the best examples of the English Decorated style (1270-1350). Aumsby Church, Lincolnshire. Beverley Minster, nave. Birchington Church, Kent, nave arcades and chancel arch. * In a future volume I hope to do as full justice to this latest phase of English Gothic architecture as I have done to the earlier ones, tracing its development in the middle of the fourteenth cen- tury through its decline in the earlier part of the sixteenth, to its debasement and admixture with classical details under the vStuarts. I shall also endeavour to show how, that although the true principles of Gothic architecture were ignored or forgotten for nearly three centuries, English love for it never completely died out, but was kept alive until a diligent study of it, allied with other causes, has produced in our own times a train of cathedrals and churches which vie with, if they cannot excel, those of mediaeval days. 335 A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Bishopstone Church, Wiltshire. Bitton Church, Gloucestershire, sedilia. Boston, St Botolph, chancel, nave arcades. Bristol Cathedral, choir, central tower, revestry. Bristol, St Mary, Redclyffe, tower and north porch. Canterbury Cathedral, screens round choir, Arch- bishop Peckham's monument. Canterbury, gateway to St Augustine's College. Carlisle Cathedral, portions of the choir. Charing Church, Kent. Chester Cathedral, choir and south transept. Cley-next-the-Sea, St Margaret's, Norfolk, nave and south transept. Chichester Cathedral, Lady Chapel, window in south transept, spire (rebuilt 1861-66). Cotterstock Church, Northants. Crick Church, Northants. Dersingham Church, Norfolk. Dorchester Abbey, Oxon. Durham Cathedral, upper parts of Chapel of the Nine Altars. East Dereham Church, Norfolk, central tower. Eleanor Crosses at Geddington and Northampton, that at Waltham has been much restored. Ely Cathedral, octagon, choir (first three bays), Trinity Chapel. Ely, Prior Crawden's Chapel. Etchingham Church, Sussex. Ewerby Church, Lincolnshire. Finedon Church, Northants. 33 6 IIHST1.K AHBKY 11I1-; KAST I-.NO Ul-M-'OKli KKS 1 OK A i 1O\ . (l-'roin l>ritlon\ " . \rcliitcctural Antiquities.") To face p. 336. THE DECORATED STYLE continued Gaddesby Church, Leicestershire, west end of south aisle. Gedney Church, Lincolnshire. Gloucester Cathedral, south aisle of nave, tomb of Edward II. Grantham Church, Lincolnshire, greater portion. Guisborough Abbey, Yorkshire. Harlton Church, Cambridgeshire. Heckington Church, Lincolnshire. Hedon, Yorkshire, St Augustine's, nave. Hereford Cathedral, central tower, north transept, windows in aisles of nave and choir, entrance to the chapter-house. Herne Church, Kent, tower. Higham Ferrers Church, Northants. Hingham Church, Norfolk. Holbeach Church, Lincolnshire, Howden Church, Yorkshire. Hull, Holy Trinity, chancel. Isle Abbot's Church, Somerset. King's Lynn, St Margaret's, chancel. Leicester, St Margaret's, nave and aisles ; St Martin's, additional south aisle of nave; St Mary's, south nave. Leverington Church, Cambridgeshire. Lichfield Cathedral, nave, west front, eastern and upper parts of choir. Lincoln Cathedral, " angel choir," upper part of central tower, south transept window, cloisters. 337 Y A GUIDE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Milton Abbey, Dorset. Milton Keynes Church, Buckinghamshire. Nantwich Church, Cheshire, the greater portion, sedilia. Newark, St Mary Magdalene's. Norbury Church, Derbyshire, chancel. Northfleet Church, Kent. Norwich Cathedral, cloisters. Old Walsingham Church, Norfolk. Ottery St Mary, Devon, Lady Chapel. Oxford Cathedral, Latin Chapel. Oxford, tower and spire of St Mary's Church, south aisle of St Mary Magdalene's. Ringstead Church, Northants. Ripon Cathedral, eastern part of choir. Rochester Cathedral, doorway to present chapter- house. St Albans Cathedral, five bays of the nave on the south side, presbytery, and Lady Chapel. St David's Cathedral, choir screen. Salisbury Cathedral, upper portions of tower, spire. Selby Abbey, Yorkshire, choir. Shottesbroke Church, Oxon. Snettisham Church, Norfolk. South wark Cathedral, south transept. Southwell Cathedral, chapter-house, choir-screen, sedilia. Stafford, St Mury, chancel. Staindrop Church, Durham, windows in south aisle. Sutton St Michael Church, Norfolk. 338 THE DECORATED STYLE continued Temple Balsall Church, Warwickshire. Tewkesbury Abbey, clerestory and chapels of choir, tomb of Hugh De Spencer. Tiltey Abbey, Essex. Waltham Abbey, Lady Chapel. Wantage, SS. Peter and Paul, tower arches. Wells Cathedral, upper part of central tower, eastern part of choir, Lady Chapel, chapter-house. Westminster Abbey, upper parts of transepts, cloisters, monuments of Queen Philippa, Countess Evelina, and Aylmer de Valence. Whisendine Church, Rutlandshire, tower. Winchelsea Church, Sussex. Woodborough Church, Notts, chancel. Wymington Church, Bedfordshire. Yarmouth, Great, St Nicholas, south nave, sedilia and piscina in south chancel. 339 YAn.TKI) Al'SF, ST. I'FTKR S, YArXMAI.L (|. L. I'IMI-MIM, \ivhitcrt, iSi,.).) GLOSSARY Abacus, the upper portion of the capital of a column, upon which the weight to be carried rests. Apse, a semicircular or poly- gonal termination to, or projection from, a church. Arcade, a range of arches supported on piers or columns, either open, or closed with masonry. Architrave, a term applied to the ornamental moulding running round the interior curve of an arch, and hence applied to the mouldings round the openings of doors, windows, etc. B Ball flower, an ornament in architecture, used chiefly in the fourteenth century, and resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the three petals of which form a cup round it. Barrel-vaulting, a simple form of tunnel-like vaulting, de- riving its name from its resemblance to half a barrel, or to the tilt often seen over large wagons. It is used mostly in the architecture of Southern France. Bar-tracery, that in which the tracery of the window- head forms a continuation of the mullions. The suc- cessor of Plate tracery, in which the lights of a win- dow and the tracery appear as though pierced in a stone panel, quite unconnected with one another. Base course, the lowest course of masonry of a wall or a pier. Bay, a principal compart- ment or division in the architectural arrangement ot a building, marked either by the buttresses or pilasters in the walls ; by the disposi- tion of the main ribs of the vaulting of the interior; by the main arches and pillars when the roof is of wood, or by any other leading fea- tures that separate it into corresponding portions. In a modern English church, five is the average number of bays. Bell, that part of the capital of a column between the necking and the abacus, and which is either left plain or enriched with carv- ing. Bench table, a low seat of stone on the inside of the walls of churches. It is also to be found in porches, cloisters, passages to chapter-houses, and round pillars. 341 GLOSSARY Billet, one of a series of short, cylindrical, projecting mem- bers in, or forming a mould- ing, its axis being parallel with the general surface and with the direction of the series. Boss, a projecting mass of carving placed to conceal the intersection of the ribs of a vaulted roof. Bowtell, an old English term for a round moulding, or head. Brass, a monumental plate of brass, or the mixed metal anciently called latten, in- laid on large slabs of stone, which usually form part of the pavement of the church, and representing in their outline, or by the lines en- graved upon them, the figure of the deceased. The earliest known English brass is in Stoke d'Abernon Church, Surrey. Broach, an old English term for a spire generally, but mostly used to denote a .spire springing from the tower without any inter- mediate parapet. A "broach spire " is an octagonal one, erected on a square base, requiring therefore some architectural device to collect its eight sides on the four faces of the tower, and to avoid that abruptness which would arise from so sudden a change from the square to the octagon. It is usually in tlie form of a triangular slab of stone tapering till it touches the oblique side of the spire. Cable, a form of moulding resembling a rope or cable and occasionally employed in the Romanesque architec- ture of the twelfth century in the decoration of arches. Canted bay or wall, that which makes an oblique angle with adjoining parts, especially a slope of con- siderable relative extent. Capital, the head of a circular column, an oblong or square pier, or a pilaster (called in Gothic work a " respond "). Chcvet, strictly speaking, the French term for a circular or polygonal east end hav- ing an aisle round it and chapels radiating there- from French ecclesiologists generally use the word to denote the eastern limb of a diurch whether round or square-ended. The word is derived from the Latin caput (head) and in explana- tion of this etymology it may be said that the chevet (pillow) of a church corres- ponds with that part of the cross on which Christ laid or pillowed His head. Chevron, an ornamental unit resembling an inverted V. Chorus Cantorum, the pecu- liar arrangement when the ground-plan exhibits only a nave and sanctuary or recess for the altar, and the stalls for the singers, etc. are therefore locally in the nave. In a cruciform church particularly a Norman ono \vhere the eastern limb is usually short the chorus cantorum is usually formed within the arches of the central tower. This arrange- 342 GLOSSARY ment is still retained in several of our cathedrals, where the eastern arm has never (been lengthened in later times. Cinquefoil, a figure of five equal segments, the form of which is derived from the leaf of a plant so called. It is used for the cusping of circles in thirteenth and early fourteenth-century Gothic work. Circle, many figures in Chris- tian design were constructed on the principle of a circle, which has always been con- sidered as an emblem of Heaven. Hence the circu- lar is the most proper form for a window intended to represent the Majesty (q.v.), the Adoration of the Lamb, or the rota- tion of the seasons which are constantly returning, and many other subjects which are found in the great wheel windows of the foreign pointed churches. Clerestory, the upper story or row of windows lighting the nave of a Romanesque or a pointed Gothic church. The term does not seem to have been generally used by writers on ecclesiastical architecture until early in the last century. In all prob- ability it is a coined word. Cloister, a covered way round a quadrangle of a cathedral, monastic, or col- legiate church ; connecting it with the subsidiary build- ings. Conch, the semicircle formed by the roof of an apse, often made a field for the artist in mosaic or fresco. Corbel, a shaft attached to a wall or to an isolated col- umn to receive the groining ribs. Frequently it assumes the form of a bunch of foli- aged ornament and is em- ployed as a respond (q.v.) at either extremity of a range of columns and arches. Corinthian, the Lightest and most ornamental of the three (or as some say five) orders of classical architec- ture. The capital by which the order is distinguished consists of two annular rows of eight leaves, at- tached to the bell with an- gular volutes springing from the caulicoli, sup- ported by leaves on either side. In the centre, be- tween the angular volutes, are two smaller spirals, which also spring from the caulicoli, called helices or urelloa. The sides of the abacus are concave, With the exterior range, called the horns, taken off, and often much ornamented. The shaft or column itself is fluted and rests on a base. The term Corinthianesquc is applied to that kind of capital which was so much used in France in the Gothic work of the twelfth century, and of which we have a most striking illustration in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. The Corin- thianesque capital is best seen in Southern France, in the portals of St Tro- phime at Aries, and St Gillcs in Provence, and in Burgundy in the Cathe- drals of Aurun and Langres. Crockets, projecting leaves, flowers as bunches of foli- 343 GLOSSARY age used in Gothic archi- tecture to decorate the angles of spires, pinnacles, canopies, gables over arches, etc. They are gen- erally modelled from vege- table productions, but occa- sionally animals and figures are introduced. The most beautiful crockets consist of vine or other leaves, with a pointed or varied outline, which are either represented doubled as lying on a ridge, or extended along the edge. The latter are usually termed square crockets, but their type is the same as the pointed, only in one case the leaf is seen in profile, and in the other it is flat and open. Cradle roof, a pointed or an- gular roof which is not divided by groining ribs into cells, and when not ceiled shows rafters placed with very little distance be- tween them. Crossing, a term invented by Dr Whewell (Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, [d. 1866], and one of the earliest writers on ecclesias- tical architecture on its re- vival in the last century) to describe the space between the four arms of a cruciform church. When this space is surmounted by a tower, open for a considerable distance to the interior, it is styled a lantern, as e.g. the central towers of Canterbury, St David's, Durham, Lincoln and York ; Coutances, Notre-Dame, Dijon, Laon and Rouen ; Gelnhausen, Limburg on Lahn, Neuss, Mayence, and Tournai. Cushion capital, a type of capital common in Roman- esque work (tenth century to thirteenth century), in England and Germany, and to some extent in France, having an approximately cubical form with the lower part rounded off to meet the shaft, and a moulded abacus. Cusps, the projecting points forming the foliations in pointed Gothic tracery, arches, arcades, etc. They came into use during the first half of the thirteenth century, at which period they were worked with a leaf, usually a trefoil, at the end. D Decagon, a building having ten sides. The Early Eng- lish chapter-house at Lin- coln is in this form. Decorated, a name applied by Rickman (one of the early writers on church architec- ture on its revival) to de- note the period comprised (roughly) between 1270 and I350- Diaper work, an ornament of leafage applied to a plain surface whether carved or painted. If carved the flowers are entirely sunk into the work below the general surface, usually square and placed close to- gether, but occasionally other arrangements are used. Diapering is a continuous pattern, in con- tradistinction to detached or scattered patterns, which is called powdering. The 344 DI-X'OKATKI) WINDOW SS. I'KTKK AND l>\n.. \V\NT\CK. To (nee p. 344. GLOSSARY word is more strictly applic- able to textile work ; it is derived from Diasprus, a precious sort of rich stuff, frequently mentioned in dhurch inventories, as, " Pluviale Diasprum cum Phrygiis." Dog-tooth, a pyramidal orna- ment generally forming one of a series close together, resembling a row of teeth. The common form has a base, square or approxi- mately square. and is formed by the points of four leaves radiating from a raised centre. Dom, strictly speaking, this is the German equivalent for " cathedral " (Italian duo- mo), but it Ls also applied to the head church of a city or town, whether the seat of a bishop or not. Domical vaulting, vaulting in which the dome or cupola shape is employed in contra- distinction to a wagon-head or a vault of moderate pitch with ribs dividing it into cells, which the domi- cal vault sometimes has, especially in Southern French and German archi- tecture. Doom, the ecclesiological term for a representation of the Last Judgment, whether ki painting or sculpture. It was usually depicted over the chancel arch in parish churches. Dripstone, called also label, weather moulding, and water table, a projecting tablet or moulding over the heads of doorways, win- dows, pier arches, etc. ; used externally to throw off the rain. Early English, the term used by Rickman, Parker, Whe- well and others to denote the first of the pointed styles used in this country after its complete emanci- pation from the Norman. It is, like the terms " Deco- rated " and " Perpendicu- lar " a very expressive one. Sometimes called " first pointed " or " thirteenth century." Easter sepulchre, a place where the Blessed Sacra- ment was solemnly reserved from Good Friday till Easter Day. There were two kinds, (i) permanent, built in the north walls of chan- cels, (2) composed of frame- work and rich hanging set up for the occasion. The finest examples of the stone Easter sepulchre (which seems to have been peculiar to England) are the deco- rated ones in Lincoln Cathe- dral ; Heckington and Navenby Churches (Lincoln- shire) ; Patrington (York- shire) and Hawton (Not- tinghamshire. A fine Per- pendicular one exists at Northwold in Norfolk ; but there are few parish churches in which this re- cess in some form or an- other may not be seen. In the richer examples the front of the base or tomb is enriched with carved re- presentations of the sleep- ing soldiers. Ecdesiology, the systematic study of the requirements of 345 GLOSSARY Divine worship. A word coined by the Cambridge Camden Society on its for- mation in 1839. Fan tracery, a kind of vault- ing, peculiarly English, which came in towards the middle of the fifteenth cen- tury, in which all the ribs that rise from the spring- ing of the vault have the same curve, and diverge equally in every direction, producing an effect some- thing like that of the bones of a fan. Feretory in its strict sense implies a bier, but as the shrines containing the sa- cred relics of the saints were frequently carried in solemn procession, the shrines themselves in course of time became thus desig- nated. In mediaeval times a narrow space behind the high altar of a cathedral or large church was so called. Finial, the flower or bunch of carved ornament terminat- ing a pinnacle, a gable, or the ogee form of arch. First pointed, the Ecclesiolo- gical Society's term for the Early English or thirteenth- century style. Flcche, the French architec- tural term for a spirelet or small spire, frequently placed at the intersection of the four arms of a cruci- form church. Foil, a leaf-shaped form pro- duced by adding cusps (q.v.) to the curved out- line of a window-head or circle forming its tracery. Fret, a band-like ornament composed of right lines which meet one another at abrupt angles. Grisaille, a term applied to that kind of stained glass in which geometrical or floral patterns are employed in- stead of single figures or groups, and the tone of which is a greyish-white. Groin, the curved line made by the meeting of the sur- faces of two vaults or por- tions of vaults which inter- sect. The groining rib is a bar of masonry or mould- ing projecting beyond the general surface of a vault to mark its intersection, or subdivide its surface, and to add strength. H Hammer-beam, a short beam securing the foot of the principal rafter to the brace, strut or tie, and in a sense replacing the tie-beam. The hammer-beam is usu- ally horizontal, and forms part of at least two of the triangles of construction, viz. one above connected with the principal rafter, and the other below, and connected with a wall piece. The object sought in re-placing the tie-beam by 346 GLOSSARY hammer-beams is usually interior decorative effect. Hexagon, a six-sided figure, mystically signifying the attributes of God blessing, honour, glory, power, wis- dom and majesty. J Jesse, a favourite mediaeval representation of the gene- alogy of Christ in which the different persons form- ing the descent are placed within scrolls of foliage branching out from a cen- tral stem which rises from the loins of a recumbent figure of Jesse. It is found chiefly in stained glass a window of an uneven num- ber of compartments being necessary for its proper ac- complishment ; and occa- sionally carved in stone within the heads of door- ways. In Dorchester Abbey, Oxon, the mullions and tracery of the window on the south side of the sanctuary are covered with figures representing this subject. The idea of treating our Lord's gene- alogy under the semblance of a vine, arose most prob- ably from the passage in Isaiah : " Egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice eius ascendet." The personages, royal and other, mentioned in the first chap- ter of St Matthew's Gospel, among which the Kings, David and Solomon, occupy distinguished places, have their names usually in- scribed on a label enclosed in the tendrils of the vine, close to the figure repre- sented. Near the summit is usually placed the Virgin and Child, but the stem does not extend to Him on account of His Divine In- carnation. There are how- ever, examples of Jesse's ter- minating in the crucifixion. One of the earliest examples of a Jesse window is in Chartres Cathedral (twelfth century). K King-post, in a truss, as fora roof, a vertical member connecting the tie-beam (q.v.) with the point of meeting of the two prin- cipal rafters. The queen- post is one of two vertical members or side posts be- tween the principals and the lower chord. Lancet, an acutely pointed window of one opening peculiar to the architecture of the latter part of the twelfth, and the early part of the thirteenth century, and frequently found ar- ranged in groups of from three to seven. The term is sometimes applied to tall windows of the round- arched period. Lancet style, a generic name for the early pure Gothic ; also called "Early English " and "first pointed." 347 GLOSSARY Lean-to roofed aisle, one whose roof is formed in a single slope with the top resting against the wall of the nave below the clerestory. Lantern, a term sometimes applied to the louvres (tur- rets) on the roofs of halls, etc. ; a central tower, when open for a considerable dis- tance above the arches. (See under " Crossing.") Lierne, a term applied to a kind of vaulting in which the ridge or longitudinal rib, the diagonal and the wall ribs are tied or bound together by short ones pro- ducing an effect of great intricacy. Probably derived from the French her, to bind. Light, one of the divisions of a window of which the width is divided by one or more mullions. Lintel, the stone or beam covering a doorway or win- dow-head, and often used in conjunction with an arch, the space between them, called the tympanum, being filled with a sculp- tured group, or tracery, which in Continental Gothic work is frequently glazed. The tympanum, solid or pierced, is rarely found in English Gothic work after the middle of the thirteenth century, though in foreign work it was used until the extinction of the style in the sixteenth century. English sculptured tympana are found chiefly in the small doorways of the Anglo- Norman period. 348 M Majesty, a sculptured or painted figure of our Lord seated, enthroned and crowned, and generally in the act of benediction. It was a favourite subject for the semi-dome of an apse or the tympanum of a door- way. Middle pointed, the Ecclesi- logical Society's term for that period of Gothic which flourished, roughly speak- ing, from 1270 to 1350. Minster, a word signifying in its true sense, the church of a monastery, or one to which a monastery has been attached, but it has come to be applied to cathedrals which were never the churches of religious houses, as York and Lincoln. MuUion, the slender pier which forms the division between the lights or compartments of a window, screen, etc. N Nail-head, a small projecting feature common in Roman- esque and Early English architecture, and resembling a rough four-sided pyra- mid. Nave, the portion of the church in which the congre- gation assists during the celebration of Divine Ser- vice. It extends from the west end to the transept or choir. The derivation of the word " nave " has been a matter of dispute. Some derive it from the Greek I'tiof, a temple ; others from CJMC*, MKMCT. DKTAII.S Or TIIK PKR 1'K \I)K I 1. \R IM-RIOD, I'KR CAllll-DK'Al, HICI-ORK ITS UESTOKA11ON, (From drawings by Whymper. c. 1840.) ce p. 348. CAMKKKI RV CATU I-DRAL. (The Nave, looking east.) GLOSSARY the Latin navis, a ship (a figure often used with refer- ence to the church), since the nave resembles the hull of a ship turned upside down ; and refer both this term and "Aos also to the ancient Phoenicians, whose original temples were said to be their vessels thus reversed. O Ogee, a moulding waved in its contour, concave at top and convex at bottom. An ogee arch is struck from four centres, two in or near the springing and two others above it, reversed. One of the earliest examples of the ogee occurs in a tomb in the north aisle of Salisbury Cathedral (c. 1246). It was not exten- sively used until the middle of the fourteenth century. Orphrey, in French orphori, which etymologists explain by Frange d'or. It signi- fies a band or bands of gold and rich embroidery, affixed to vestments. The Latin name (aurifrisium) expresses accurately its meaning and etymology. Parallel-triapsidal, the term applied to the plan of a church in which the aisles as well as the choir end in apses ; or when the choir has no aisles there is an apse on the eastern side of either transept. Pardose, a screen of stone or wood separating the chancel of a church from its aisles, or a chapel from the main body of the church. Pendentive, the internal mechanical structure intro- duced to connect the square story of a tower with an octagonal one, sometimes styled squinch. Perpendicular style, the last of the styles of pointed Gothic architecture which flourished in this country (c. 1350-1550). Pier, the solid mass between doors, windows, arches and other openings in buildings. The name is used indiffer- ently, but incorrectly, for isolated columns in Gothic and Classic architecture. Pinnacle, a small turret, usu- ally tapering towards the top, much used in Gothic architecture at the angles of towers, and as a termina- tion to buttresses, etc. Piscina, a shallow basin or sink supplied with a drain- pipe, generally recessed in a niche which is often ela- borately ornamented. It is always found in the wall on the south or epistle side of the altar, sometimes form- ing part of the composition of the sedilia to which it is always in close contiguity. It is used to receive the rinsings of the chalice at the close of the Eucharistic Office. Plate tracery, that kind of solid tracery which appears as if formed by piercing a flat stone surface with two lancets and a circle, a dia- mond, or a quatrefoil. It was rarely used in England on a large scale. 349 GLOSSARY Pointed, the emphatically Christian architecture com- monly called Gothic, char- acterised chiefly by the painted arch, and con- trasting in almost every par- ticular with the round-arch architecture from which it was developed. Presbytery, the space in cathe- drals and large churches be- tween the choir stalls and the altar. As the word implies, it was the place assigned to the bishop and presbyters, and none else were admitted to it. It was usually elevated one step above the rest of the choir, hence the architectural term gradus presbyterii. The term has now become obso- lete, but it may still be applied to those cathedrals where the eastern limb being short, the choir stalls are placed under the cen- tral tower as at Chichester, St David's, Gloucester, and Winchester. Precession path, a continua- tion of the choir aisles be- hind the high altar in an ap.sidal or a square-ended choir. Quatrcfail, a figure con- structed in the form of a cross, or four equal seg- ments of circles, either intersecting or stopped by angh-s. Used in the circles of window tracery, in the heads of doorways, etc. Reredos, called by Bishop Andrewes, " the back piece." The generic term for the wall or screen at the back of an altar, whether in carved stone, wood, or metal work. When tapestry is used, it is styled the " dossal " or " dorsal." Respond, a half-pillar attached to a wall to support an arch at the extremities of an arcade ; sometimes it as- sumes the form of a corbel. The term is also applied to the half-pillars or corbels supporting an arch between the nave and the chancel. Reticulated tracery , formed by the repetition of the same foliated opening, usually an ogee quatrefoil, but occasionally a trefoil. Retro-choir, an aisle, or area, providing a free passage round and behind a choir and altar, sometimes called the procession, path. Returned stalls, stalls which, besides running longitudin- ally, are returned trans- versely at the western end of the choir. Ridge rib, the projecting moulding on the vault of a church which runs at the point from one end to the other. It is almost invari- ably used in English work of all epochs, but rarely in that of the Continent. Roll, a term applied to any convex rounded moulding approaching wholly, or in part, a cylindrical form. Romanesque, the generic name for that style of round- arched architecture vvhiicjh prevailed in Europe from 350 I III, KKKKDOS, All. SOfl.S (< )1. 1.K( .[. CH Al'l-.I., OXFORD. To (ace p. 350. GLOSSARY the fifth century to the middle of the twelfth. Saddle-back or Pack-saddle roofed tower, one not hay- ing its sides of equal height, but two of them raised in gables, over which is con- structed a common roof, which in some cases gables transversely to the axis of the church. Sanctuary, the eastern part of a cathedral or church imme- diately surrounding the altar. Sedilia, seats near an altar, almost universally on the south side for the ministers officiating at the Holy Eucharist or at Vespers to retire to during the sing- ing of certain parts of the service. They are generally three in number for the celebrant, epistoler, and gospeller. In some cases as at Gloucester, Bristol, and Durham Cathedrals, a fourth seat is provided presumably for the cere- moniarius. During the Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular periods, much care and skill was lavished in the ornamental accessories of these seats, which are almost invariably recessed in the wall. Set-off, a diminution in hori- zontal size of a buttress, commonly spoken of as a weathering, which term applies properly to the ex- posed pieces of stone. Shaft, the body of a column or pillar ; the part between the capital and the base; but usually applied to the small columns clustered round pillars, or used in the jambs of doors and win- dows, in arcades, and various other situations. Soffit, the underside of an arch. Spandrel, the triangular space included between an arch and a rectangle formed by the string-course over it. Splay, a surface making an oblique angle with another ; usually applied to the ob- lique jamb of an opening, as in a window or a door- way. Squinch, a small arch formed across the angles of towers to support the oblique sides of octagonal spires, lan- terns, etc. above; some- times styled pendentive. Stall, a fixed seat of wood en- closed, either wholly or partially, at the back and sides. All cathedrals and conventual churches and many parochial churches previous to the Reformation, had a range of wooden stalls on each side of the choir or chancel, which were separated from each other by large projecting elbows, with desks fixed before them. Frequently they were enclosed at the back with panelling, and were sur- mounted by overhanging canopies of open tabernacle work, which were often carried to a great height, and highly enriched with pinnacles, crockets, pierced tracery, and other orna- ments. String-course, a projecting 351 GLOSSARY horizontal (or occasionally sloping) band or line of mouldings. Subarcuation, the introduc- tion within a wide round or pointed arch of two or more lesser arches. Tie-beam, the horizontal beam connecting the lower ex- tremities of the rafters of a roof. Tracery, the term for the ramification of mullions in Gothic windows, forming geometrical and other figures. The various styles are, perhaps, more readily distinguished by their tra- cery than by any other means. Transept, any part of a church that projects at right angles from the body (that is, the high central part either of nave or choir) and is of equal or nearly equal height to it. It gives to a church its cruciform arrangement. The word is sometimes used in the singular to include both the north and south arms. Transom, a horizontal mullion in windows, much used in the Perpendicular style. It appears late in the prece- ding Decorated style in the choir of Bristol Cathedral. Transverse-triapsidal, a term applied to a church in which the transepts as well as the choir terminate in apses. Tri/orium, a gallery or arcade when the aisle is vaulted, and forming a passage over the aisle of a church tween the lean-to roof and the arcades opening on to the nave or choir. On the Continent this thorough- fare, which of course can only be employed when the aisles are vaulted, is fre- quently groined. Triplet, a term used to express a group of three lancet win- dows. Similarly we have Quintuplet for a group of five such windowt. Vesica Piscis, a symbolical figure consisting of two intersecting segments of circles, introduced as an em- blem of our Lord. Void, a certain space left by the designer in the appar- ently solid portions of a building as much for light- ness as for artistic or econ- omic reasons. Volute, a spiral scroll, es- pecially that which forms the distinctive feature of the Ionic capital, which is re- peated in the horns of the Corinthian and composite capitals. W i Wall plate, the horizontal piece of timber at the top of a wall immediately under the roof. 352 INDEX ABACUS, the, 159 Abbey Dore, 96 Acton Burnell, 172 Adderbury, 240, 277 Addington, Great, 268 Alderbury, 26g Aldwincle, 233, 234 Altenberg, 96, 97, 161 Amiens, 19, 121, 172, 175, 255 Anglo Norman style, the, 51 et seq., list of some of the most remarkable specimens, 100 Anglo Saxon style, the, 45, 48, 49 Anselm, St, 134 Antiquarianism, 2 Anwick, 238 Apse, the, 61. 91, 117, 143, 254 Architectural terms, glossary of, 341 Architecture, Gothic, i : arts auxiliary to, 2 ; its alliance with history, 5 ; continual movement of, 6 ; nomen- clature of styles of, 7 ; localities for the study of, 10; influence of local scenery upon, n; forms assumed in different countries, 14; English and French contrasted. 19; Anglo Saxon, 45, 48, 49; Anglo Norman, 51 et seq. ; Early English of the thirteenth century, 107 et seq. ; Decorated of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 249 et seq ; Per- pendicular, 332 Arundel, 255 Athelwold, Bishop of Win- chester, 45, 49 Augustine, St, 42 Aumsby, 179, 238 Austin Friars, Church of the, London, 254, 259, 303 Aynhoe, 268 B BADGWORTH, 271 Ball-flower ornament, 271 Barfreston, 67, 88 Barnack, 232 Barnwell, 233 Bartholomew, St, Smithfield, 58, 83 Basilica, the, 32 Bayham Abbey, 254 Beauvais, 172, 256 Bedfordshire, 240 Belgium, 147, 260 Bell-cot, the, 186 Beverley Minster, 169, 174, 175, 271, 27; Billingham, 163 Bingham, 240 Bishop's Cannings, 183 Bloxham, 228, 240 Bonn, 91 Boppart, 92 Boston, 254, 259 Bourges Cathedral, 19, 176 Bowman and Crowther's " Churches of the Middle Ages," 263 Brackley, 172 Bradfield, 177 Brailes, 263 Brampton, 233 Bridlington, 175, 257 353 INDEX Hrigstock, 232 Bristol Cathedral, 54. 273 Bristol St Mary, Redcliffe, 271 Britain, early Christian churches in, 38, 40, 41 Brittany, 41 Brixworth, 47 Brown so ver, 170 Brunswick, 15 Buildwas. 83 Burford, 240 Butterfield, William, 250, 264 Byland, 96 CAEN, 61, 71, 86, 146 Cambridge, 58, 226 Cambridgeshire, churches of, 223, 3'5 Canons Ashby, 220 Canterbury Cathedral, 43, 66, 71",' 81, 131, 133, 136, 199 Carlisle Cathedral, 255, 258, 262, 271, 272, 276, 299 Carpenter, Richard, 254 Carter, John, 305 Carving, stone, 176, 187, 269; wood, 276 Castle Rising. 42, 61, 169 Catacombs, the Roman, 28 Cathedrals (see under names) Chaddesley Corbet, 267 Chancels, Norman vaulted, 61 Chapter-houses, 205 ; Lincoln, 206 ; Westminster, 208 Chartres Cathedral, 19 Chester Cathedral, 169, 267, 280 Chetwode, 169, 204 Chichester Cathedral, 07, 172, 2^. 267, 275, 276 Chichester, Church of the Gfi-v Friars. 170: Chapel of St Mary's Hospital. 276 Chipstead, 166 Choirs, English modes of termination and extension, 124. MI, 254, 2Q2 Christchurch, Priory Church, 55- '/?. -75 Church, historical sketch of the fabric of, 24 el seq. Churches, early Christian and British, 26, 32, 36, 38, 40, 4i, M2 Churches, Austin Friars, London, 303 ; St Bartholo- mew's, Smithfield, 83 ; Brixworth, 47 ; Cambridge- shire, 223, 315; Castle Rising, 42; Chetwode, 169, 204; Clymping, 157; Cog- geshall, 220; Elmham, South, 42 ; St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, 301 ; Hawton, 307: Huntingdonshire, 239; Hythe, 222 ; St John's in the White Tower, 58, 62, 80; Leicestershire, 254; Lin- colnshire, 237, 263 ; Merton College Chapel, Oxford, 282, 325; Nantwich, 309; Norfolk, 311 ; Northampton- shire, 227 ; Nun Monkton, 217; Patrington, 313; Per- shore, 297; Reculver, 41; Skelton, 115, 215; Stone, 115, 117, 222; Sutton St Mary, 171, 183; Temple Bal- sall, 264; Temple Church, London, 99, 114: Tewkes- bury, 327; Uffington, 221; Warmington, 178; Weston, 1 66; West Walton, 182, 183; Westwell, 1 66 Cistercian Order, its influence on architecture, 96 Cley-next-the-Sea, 266, 271, 3i i Clun, 58 Cluny, 135 Clyffe, St Margaret's at, 58, 67 Clymping, 157, 161 Coggeshall, 220 Colouring, English mediaeval, 3'7 Colouring, local, 13 Columns, Norman, 57; transi- tional, 04: Early English, 108, 162; Decorated, 257 Comminges, St Bertrand de, Chyrch at, 12 Conquest, Norman, its influ- ence on English architec- ture, 50, 70 Conrad, Prior, 133 354 INDEX Constantine the Great, 30, 32 Corinthian Order, the, 66 Cotterstock, 230, 232 Coutances Cathedral, 256 Coventry, 240 Cropredy, 260, 276 Cuddesdon, 231 Curvilinear tracery, 263, 267 DECORATED STYLE, the, 240 et seq. \ list of some of the most remarkable English build- ings, 335 Denis, St, 82 Dol, 256 Donnington, 263 Dooriways, 174 Dorchester Abbey, 258, 263, 264, 273 Dover, 58, 260 Down Ampney, 241 Dublin, St Patrick's Cathe- dral, 128 Dunblane, 171 Dunstable, 55 Durham Cathedral, 87, 135, 165, 267 EARL'S BARTON, 228, 232 Early English style, the, 107 et seq. ; list of some of the most remarkable examples of, 244 Easter sepulchres, 273 Ecclesiological Society, the, Q Ecclesiology, 2 Elkstone, 68 Elmham, South, 42 Elsfield, 167 Ely Cathedral, 163, i6g, 174, 182, 214, 226, 255. 271, 275, 276, 277, 278, 330 English Cathedrals and Churches, 18 English and French architec- ture contrasted, 19 Ernulf, Prior, 133 Etchingbam, 263 Etheldreda, St, Ely Place, 277 301 Europe, variety in the archi- tecture of, 14 Ewerby, 238, 263 Exeter Cathedral, 172, 255, 257, 260, 261, 271, 273, 276, 290, 326 Exton, 238 FABRIC OF THE CHURCH, sketch of the history of, 24 Felmersham, 161, 183 Finedon, 232, 233 Fisherton Delamere, 167 Fortunatus, Venantius, 47 Fotheringhay, 231. 234 Fountains Abbey, 06, 135. 165 Fourteenth-century style, mag- nificence of the, 320 Frampton, 238 France, 14, 82, 87, 88, 114, IIQ, 144, 255 Freiburg im Breisgau, 16 French and English Gothic contrasted, 19 Frideswide's, St, shrine, 106 Furness Abbey, 96 GABLED TOWERS, 181 Geddington, 276 Gedney, 183, 263 Geometrical tracery, 264 Germany, 14, 90. 136, 147 Gisburn, 177 Glossary of architectural terms, 341 Gloucester Cathedral, 128, 267 Gothic Architecture, nomen- clature of styles of, 7 Grantham, 238, 258, 271 Great Milton, 160 Guisborough, 264 H HALESOWEN, 58, 177 Hartlepool, 163 Hawton, 272, 273, 307 355 INDEX Heckington, 238, 263, 272, 273 Heisterbach, 96 Helena, St, 39 Helpringham, 238 Hemel Hempstead, 61, 68 Hereford Cathedral, 125, 135, i6g, 170, 255, 271, 272 Herford, 15 Herne, 266 Hexham, 160 Higham Ferrers, 195, 228, 255, 27.7 Hildesheim, 15 Hingham, 250 Holbeach, 238, 263 Honnecourt, Villard de, 123 Horton Priory, 68 Howden, 25Q, 264, 272, 283 Hugh, St, 130 Hull, Holy Trinity, 250 Huntingdonshire, churches of, 239 Hythe, 169, 222 I ICKFORD, l8l Iffley, 61, 68 Ilkstone, 61 Irchester, 228, 233 Irthlingborough, 173, 228, 232, 268 I slip, 233 Italy, 16, 153 I JERUSALEM, 25 Jervaulx, 96 Jesse window, the, 324 John's, St, in White Tower, 58, 62, 80 Jumieges, 70 KETTERING, 233 Ketton, 161, 179, 238 Kidlington, 2^1, 277 Kilpeck, 61, 68, 87 King's Sutton. 233 KiiLgsthorpe, 58, 233 Kirkstall, 165, 168 LAACH, 91 Lady Chapels, 125, 126, 128, 129, 254 Lancet windows, 166 Lanfranc, Archbishop, 71, 72, 133 Langham, 238 Langton, Bishop, 292 Laon, 92 Leake, 276 Leicester, 234, 259, 277 Leicestershire, churches of, 234 Leighton Buzzard, 179 Le Mans, 255 Lemgp, 15 Leominster, 271 Leon, 2^3 Lichfield Cathedral, 172, 255, 261, 270, 284, 292 Limburg on Lahn, 92 Lincoln Cathedral, 54, 115, 123, no, 164, 170, 172, 174, 183, 186, 201, 205, 255, 266, 27.0, 272, 275, 280, 284 Lincoln, St Mary-le-Wigford, 167 Lincolnshire, churches of, 237* 263 Lindisfarne, 87 Llandaff Cathedral, 262 Llantysilio, 178 Local scenery, its influence upon architecture, n Lombardy, 16 London, early British, 38 Long Stanton, 161, 186, 227, 278 Lostwithiel, 241 Louth, 238 Lowick, 234 Lubcck, 15 Ludlow, 262 Lynn, 266, 276 M 356 MADELEY, 254 Magdeburg, 15 Mantes, 92 INDEX Manuscripts, early illumin- ated, 40 Maplestead, Little, 2*4 Margate, 58 Market Deeping, 163 Market Harborough, 236 Maulbronn, g6 Mayence, gi Melton Mowbray, 250 Merton College Chapel, Oxford, 266, 282, 325 Middleton Cheney, 233 Middleton Stoney, 183 Mildenhall, 265 Milton Abbey, 262 Minden, 15 Minster, 58 Moccas, 61 Monasticism, its influence on church architecture, 47 OAKHAM, 238 Ockham, 170 Osnabriick, 15 Ottery St Mary, 266 Oundle, 161, 232, 233 Over, 263, 277 Oxford Cathedral, 169, 179, ig6, 2^5, 262 Oxford, Merton College Chapel, 282, 325 ; St PetePs in the East, 61 ; St Giles, 161 ; St Mary's, 271 Monmouthshire, gabled towers ' PADERBORN, 15, 181 in, 181 I Painting, English mediaeval. Mouldings, 158 Moulton, 238 Miinster, 14, 161 N NANTWICH, 267, 309 Nene Valley, churches of the, 228 Netley Abbey, 160 Neuss, 92 Newark, 240, 254, 259, 262 Newcastle, 260 Norfolk, 311 Norbury, 323 Norman architecture, 51 et seg. Norman buildings, list of the most remarkable ecclesias- tical in England, 100 Normandy, 180, 256 Northampton, St Peter's, 68, 228 Northamptonshire, churches of, 227 Northborough, 186, 235 Northfleet, 266, 276 Noithwold, Bishop Hugh de, 163. 182, 214, 226 Norwich Cathedral, 129, 271 Noyers, Geoffrey de, 99, 139 Noyon, 92 Nun Monkton, 217 3'7 Pantheon, the, Rome, 33 Paris, Notre-Dame, 66, 92, 176: Sainte Chapelle, 256 Patrick's, St, Cathedral, Dub- lin, 128 Patrington Church, 264, 273, 313 Patrixbourne, 67, 88 Peakirk, 186 Pershore, 171, 261, 297 Peterborough Cathedral, 129, 172, 176 Plate-tracery, 170 ; Pointed arch, the, 74 i Poitiers, 89 j Polebrook, 160, 169, 179, 232, Pontigny, 96 QUEENBOROUGH, 236 Quentin. St, 135 RATISBON, 15 Raunds, 172, 183, 232, 233, 277 Reculver, 41 357 INDEX Repton. 240 Reredoses, mediaeval, 273 Reticulated tracery, 262 Rheims Cathedral, 120, 122, 172. 176 Rhenish church architecture, QO Riddagshausen, g6 Ringstead, 232, 263 Ripon Cathedral, 46, 264, 273 Roche Abbey, g6 Rochester Cathedral, 162, 177 Romanesque architecture, 68, 7.s. 85 Rome, 26 Romney, New, 68 Romsey, 55, 278, 2/g Roofs, 177, 277 Rose windows, 266 Rouen Cathedral, 150. 256 Rushden, 228, 232, 233 SADDLE-BACK OR GABLED TOWER, the, 180 Salisbury Cathedral, 115, 160, 162, 172, 174, 183, 207, 2g7 Scenery, local, its influence upon architecture, 1 1 Scotland, 141 Scott, Sir Gilbert, 120, 210, 215, 302 Sculpture, Anglo Norman, 62 ; Early English, 187; Decor- ated, 26g Scdilia, 27;; Seffrid. Bishop, 07 Selby Abbey, 280, 2gi Senlis, g2 Sens Cathedral, 137 Sens, William of, 137 Sharpe, Edmund, 76 Shotswell, 276 Shrewsbury, 267 Shrine? of the Saints, 131 Skeltnn Church, us, 186, 215 Slrnford, 238 Soe'st, 14, i. Si Soissons 82, g2 Somptinp, gi Southam, 170. -40 South Mnrrton, 177 Soathwark Cathedral, 126 358 Southwell Cathedral, 160, i6g, 104, 260, 270, 275 Spires, 157. 233, 234, 238, 240, 281 Square east end, the, 61, 117, 141 St Albans Cathedral, Q3, 255, 258, 2sg, 2Qi St Asaph Cathedral, 260 St David's Cathedral, i2g, 183, 185, 271, 276 Stained class, ig8, 321 Stamford, 160, 183, 238 Stanton, Harcourt, 231 Stanw.ick, 232, 233 Stephen's, St, Chapel, West- minster, 304 Stone Church, 115, 117, 170, 171, 172, 174, JQ4, 222 Stowe, 61 Street, George Edmund, 166, 221, 222 Strixton, 166 Styles, Gothic, nomenclature of, 7. Sussex churches, 157 Sutton St Mary, 171, 182, 183 Swithin, St, 44 TANSOR, 232 Temple Balsall, 264, 266, 273 Temple Church, London, 04, gg, 114, 162 Temple, the, Jerusalem, 2? Tewkesbury Abbey, 55, 2^4, 258, 261, 273, 327 Thame, 231 Thirteenth century, style of the, 107 et seq. Thorney Abbey, 55 Tickencote, 61 Tintern, 258, 266 Titchmarsh, 234 Tombs, 275 Tours Cathedral, 256 Tower, St John's Chapel in the, 62, 80 Towers, round, so Towers and spires, 157, 178, 183. 233, 238, 240, 281 Tracery, window, 122, i6g, 261 Transept, the eastern or choir, 135 INDEX Transitional period, the, 68 et seq_. ; list of some of the most remarkable buildings of, 104 Triforium, the, 58, QI, 295 Tunstead, 259 U UFFINGTON, 221, 268 Upmarden, 177 Upton, 6 1 VAUGHAN, Bishop, 130 Vaulting, 61, 74, oo, 207, 261 Venantius Fortunatus, 47 Village church, the English, 241 W WALSINGHAM, Alan of, 315 Walsoken, 68 Waltham, 55, 87 Warmington, 178, 179, 232, Weekley, 233 Wellingborough, 233, 267 Wells Cathedral, 115, 125, 135, 174, 175, 183, 185, 255, 265, 267, 277, 293 Wells, St Cuthbert's, 162 Wenlock, 58 Werden, 92 Westminster Abbey, 70, 114 117, 160, 172, 173, 174, 197, 208, 261, 266, 371, 272, 287 Weston, 1 66 West Walton, 163, 182, 187 Westwell, 1 66 Whaplode, 183 Whiston, 233, 334 Whittlesea, 240 Wilby, 233 Willis, Professor, 71 Wimborne, 170 Winchelsea, 271, 273, 275, 277 Winchester Cathedral, 44, 115, 125, 257, 276, 291 ; St Cross, ?3 Window tracery, 122, 169, 261 Witney. 179, 231, 240 Wollaston, 179 Woodwork, 177, 276 Worcester Cathedral, 131, 162, 163, 171, 174, 261, 294 Worksop, 55, 58, 68 Worms Cathedral, 91 Wymondham, 55, 255 YARMOUTH, Great, 171 York Minster, 46, 115, 135, 169, 200, 255, 258, 266, 267 270, 275, 279. 286, 323 Youlgrave, 58 THE NORTHUMBERLAND I'KBSS, THORNTON STREET, NEMVCASTl.B-UrON-TYNS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES Architecture & Urban Planning Library, 825-2747. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. ' otc ^ ^ LEG 1 1989 REC'D DEC 81990 a V0 PSD 2339 9/77 UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES UCLA-AUPL NA 440 BBBg 19145 005 853 520 4 A 001 248230