ENGLISH GOTHIC1180 – EARLY 16TH C.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERGothic architecture in England can divided into 4 periods or styles.

Norman Gothic 1066-1180Early English Gothic 1180-1275Decorated Gothic 1275-1375Perpendicular Gothic 1375 - 1530

Gothic architecture emphasized strong vertical lines, high vaulted ceilings, minimal wall space, pointed window and door openings, and buttressed walls.

NORMAN GOTHIC PERIOD (1066-1200) wasn't very different from Gothic elsewhere in Europe.

•The buildings of this time are transitional •The structures have the thick piers •Rounded window openings of the earlier Romanesque style. •Vaulting and decoration are simple•There is little sign of the elaborate stonework to come. •Examples Durham Cathedral, Wells Cathedral, and Ely Cathedral (west tower 1150-75).

DURHAM CATHEDRAL

WELLS CATHEDRAL

WEST TOWER ELY CATHEDRAL

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTEREARLY ENGLISH GOTHIC 1180 - 1275

It is in the Early English period (1200-1275) that the Gothic style became truly adapted by English craftsmen/architects. Also known as “Lancet” and “First Pointed Style”The Cistercians gave the lead followed by York Minster

Main features:•Pointed arches•Quadripartite vaults•Lancet windows (untraceried)•Clustered shafts of tall, narrow piers•It emphasized simple, almost austere lines, preferring fine proportion to elaborate decoration.•Cosmetic rather than structural with application of veneers on walls•Importance given to decoration and ornamentation to space frames•Instead of soaring spaces and tall stained glass windows, they had rich mouldings and encrustations of polished shafts such as Purbeck marble•Vaults used for grand buildings due to possibilities of making patterns out of them

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTEREARLY ENGLISH GOTHIC 1180 - 1275Buttresses: The simple buttresses of the Norman period gave way to flying buttresses, These flying buttresses may be visible over the aisles, but just as often were concealed in the aisle roof. A variation on the Early English buttress is the "Oxford buttress", set diagonally at corners.

Lancet windows: Where the hood moulding (dripstone) followed a pointed design, echoing the lines of the windows, small ornamental holes in the space between the moulding and the lancets were given. This approach is called Plate Tracery. As plate tracery developed, the small holes became more elaborate, evolving into ornate trefoil and quatrefoil designs.

Towers were topped with steeply pitched roofs, often surmounted with very slender towers emerging from a broach, or pyramidal base.

Eg: The most complete example of Early English is without a doubt to be seen at Salisbury Cathedral. The Westminster Abbey is similar to French High Gothic

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

OXFORD BUTTRESS

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERDECORATED ENGLISH GOTHIC 1280 - 1380

Other common names used to refer to this period are Middle Pointed, Curvilinear, Geometric, and Flamboyant.These terms refer to the shape of window heads and window tracery, which became much more elaborate

Main features:•Elaborately curved tracery•Wider windows, better lighting•Richly-coloured stained glass•Increased use of bricks •Naturalistic, curved carvings •Pointed arches

Buttress: Widespread use of the flying buttress made possible the use of wider, taller windows, and with the increase in size came a corresponding increase in decorative elements in the window head.Ogee Arch: The simple geometric shapes of the Early English period gave way to complex curves; the ogee arch being the most obvious. This double-curve is the basis of most of the curvilinear tracery which became so popular during the 14th century. PLAN OF TYPICAL ENGLISH GOTHIC

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERDECORATED ENGLISH GOTHIC 1280 - 1380

Decoration: carving in the Decorated period is focused on foliage patterns, though the Decorated designs are more curvaceous than the Early English. A wider variety of leaves are used; with ivy, oak, rose, and vines leading the way. Animals, birds, and human figures are interspersed with foliage, and all the forms are more natural, less stiffly formal than Early English. Other common ornamental carving features are the ball-flower (a partly opened flower set on a sphere within a hollow moulding) and the symmetrical four-leaved flower.Columns: became more slender, and the free-standing shafts of the Early English period gave way to clusters of columns making up larger piers.BALL FLOWER

VAULT

Vault: The vaulting of the Early English period became lighter, and short ribs sprouted from the main ribs to form star-shaped patterns that were as much ornamental as structural.

The place where the ribs met became a focal point for decorative touches such as pendant knobs, grotesque faces, or foliage.

Materials: Although stone was still the most popular building medium, certainly for churches, bricks were used almost entirely for secular buildings

Secular architecture: The Decorated period had little influence on castle architecture. Many earlier castles were enlarged, with the addition of curtain walls, crenellations, and elaborate barbicans and gatehouses. The keep ceased to be a major living-space, and was given over to use as a storehouse and prison.Eg: Lichfield Cathedral Exeter Cathedral

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERDECORATED ENGLISH GOTHIC 1280 - 1380

LICHFIELD CATHEDRALEXETER CATHEDRAL

FAN VAULT OF EXETER CATHEDRAL

A Lierne is a tertiary rib spanning between two other rib called a lierne vault or stellar vault (named after the star shape generated by connecting liernes).

A Tierceron is a secondary arched diagonal rib which spans from the springers to the transverse ridge ribs.

LIERNE – ELY CHOIR

TIERCERON

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERPERPENDICULAR ENGLISH GOTHIC LATE 14th – EARLY 16th CIt is also known as the Rectilinear style, or Late Gothic. It is the final phase of Gothic architecture in England Main features:•Strong vertical lines•Very large windows with elaborate tracery•Fan vaulting•Hammer beam roofs

The chief characteristic of Perpendicular architecture is the emphasis on strong vertical lines, seen most markedly in window tracery and wall paneling.

Fan Vault: Roof vaulting became elaborate and ornate, with a multitude of vaulting ribs spreading outwards in a fan shape, ornamented with pendants and cross-ribs that served a purely decorative function.

Buttress: The flying buttress reached its final graceful and highly decorated form, with knobs, crockets and small pinnacles adorning every possible surface.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERPERPENDICULAR ENGLISH GOTHIC LATE 14th – EARLY 16th C

Windows: Window openings could be extremely large, and huge expanses of glass were created separated by thin, curving stone tracery in ever more elaborate patterns. Window area was maximized, while wall area was minimized. The result is lofty, open interiors of extraordinary lightness and delicacy.

Hammer beam roof: •The hammer beam roof is the wooden equivalent of the stone vaulting used in the great cathedrals of the time. •Hammer beam construction makes use of short horizontal and vertical beams to distribute the weight of a roof. These short beams rise in steps from the top of a wall to the roof peak, creating a more open space than earlier techniques allowed. Although the timbers which made up the supporting elements in hammer beam roofs were structural, they were also used as ornamental elements. •The meeting places of timbers were often adorned with pendants or fanciful carvings, and the timbers themselves were often painted and gilded.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERPERPENDICULAR ENGLISH GOTHIC LATE 14th – EARLY 16th C

Decoration: The curvilinear carving which so characterized the Decorated period became more formal, less flowing. Foliage designs were still the most popular motif, but even these are more stiff and formal, less ebullient, and certainly less natural. Carvings are shallower, and stand out very little from the surface of their stone background.

Eg: The finest examples of Perpendicular survive at Westminster Hall, London, King's College Chapel, Cambridge and Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Cathedral (1503-1519).

The depressed arch supported by fan vaulting -King's College Chapel, England.

Flamboyant tracery at Limoges Cathedral

Windows in the Chapter House at York Minster show the equilateral arch with typical circular motifs in the tracery.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, LONDONEARLY ENGLISH GOTHIC – PERPENDICULAR - 1045 - 1400

The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is an English Gothic church.

With Benedictine planning, the stone Abbey was built around 1045–1050 by King Edward the Confessor, it was the site of the last coronation prior to the Norman Invasion.

Henry III rebuilt the Abbey in Anglo-French Gothic style as a shrine to honour Edward the Confessor

Henry VII added a Perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503

Stone came from Caen, the Isle of Portland (Portland stone) and the Loire Valley region of France (tuffeau limestone).

The abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, LONDONEARLY ENGLISH GOTHIC – PERPENDICULAR - 1045 - 1400

Planning:

The architect was greatly influenced by the cathedrals at Reims, Amiens and Chartres, borrowing the ideas of

•Apse with radiating chapels

•characteristic Gothic features of pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, rose windows and flying buttresses.

•The design is based on the continental system of geometrical proportion, but its English features include single rather than double aisles and a long nave with wide projecting transepts.

•The Abbey has the highest Gothic vault in England (nearly 102 feet) and it was made to seem higher by making the aisles narrow.

•The Englishness is also apparent in the elaborate mouldings of the main arches, the lavish use of polished Purbeck marble for the columns and the overall sculptural decoration.

•The east-west axis was determined by the existing position of the Lady Chapel.