The Seven Periods of English Architecture Part 7

BURY ST. EDMUND'S Abbey Gateway.

HULL Holy Trinity Church Chancel.

CHAPTER X.

RECTILINEAR PERIOD.

PRINc.i.p.aL CHARACTERISTIC.

THE PREVALENCE OF STRAIGHT LINES, BOTH HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL, IN THE TRACERY OF WINDOWS, IN PANELS AND ARCADES.

_Exterior Compartment._

The WALLS and b.u.t.tRESSES of this Period present great contrasts, being generally perfectly plain, but occasionally, in the richer buildings, completely covered with rectangular panelling.

The BASE-COURSE is often deep, rises in several stages, and contains a few large bold mouldings.

The mullions of the WINDOWS almost invariably rise vertically through the Tracery, and are often crossed at right angles by other straight lines, as well in the lower part of the Window as in the Tracery itself.

These _Transoms_ in some of the larger East and West Windows, occurring at equal intervals, divide the entire design into a series of rectangular compartments, and give to the whole the appearance of a huge gridiron. They are sometimes ornamented with a small battlemented moulding.

The CLERE-STORY WINDOWS, as well as the side windows, where the aisle walls are low, are often square-headed.

The CORNICE generally carries a large shallow hollow, filled at intervals with a square flat leaf, and grotesque sculptures.

_Gurgoyles_, formed usually of the head and shoulders of some monster, and projecting from the cornice, for the purpose of carrying the water from the gutters clear of the walls, which occur in the former Period, are now universal.

The PARAPETS are frequently ornamented richly, with rectangular foliated panelling, and covered with a BATTLEMENT. Both are sometimes pierced instead of being panelled.

_Interior Compartment._

The PIERS are usually tall and light, and consist generally, as in the preceding Period, of four shafts with intervening hollows, which latter are continued uninterruptedly round the Pier-arch.

Frequently the entire Pier is moulded without shafts, and the whole of the mouldings are carried round the Pier-arch.

The Pier is frequently so disposed that its transverse section is greater than its longitudinal section, or, in other words, it is thicker from North to South than it is from East to West.

The CAPITALS are usually octagonal, but sometimes circular. Foliage is much more rarely seen in their hollows, and they contain plain mouldings of a more angular character generally than in the preceding Period. They are also taller, in comparison, to their diameter. They have sometimes a battlement moulding on their upper edge, which is in other cases often square.

The BASES are generally tall, narrow, and polygonal, and often of several stages.

In the PIER-ARCHES occasionally a form occurs for the first time, which is seen in no other Period. This is the _four-centered_ arch, so called from the circ.u.mstance of its being drawn from four different centres: its use, however, in _arches of construction_, except in the Vaulting, is by no means so common as in _arches of decoration_, where it continually appears. It is often enclosed in doorways, under a square head. The mouldings of Pier-arches, Window-arches, and all others are usually plain, broad, and shallow; the double Ogee occurs continually, as well as a large shallow hollow, drawn from three centres, between a few small filleted members. Few Arches carry more than two orders.

In the STRING-COURSES, CORNICES, and other hollow mouldings, flat square leaves at intervals, continuous training foliage, and the vine-leaf and grapes, frequently occur; but the relief is usually not considerable, and the amount of undercutting in foliage exhibited in the two previous Periods is never seen. The Tudor Rose and the Tudor Flower are frequent ornaments of this Period.

The TRIFORIUM is rarely seen, and in its place the Clere-story Window is often carried down in blank panelling to the pa.s.sage or String-course over the Pier-arches. It is sometimes, however, represented by a band of panelling or pierced work.

The CLERE-STORY attains considerable height and importance in this Period; the effect of which, in large buildings, is increased by the suppression of the Triforium, and the subst.i.tution in its place of the apparent continuation downwards of the Clere-story. In many buildings the Clere-story windows are in pairs, and so numerous that all blank wall entirely disappears; and the effect of the ma.s.s of light thus poured down into the Church is very striking and characteristic.

The VAULTING becomes much more complicated and enriched in this Period.

Diverging ribs having bosses and s.h.i.+elds at their points of intersection, cover the surface of the Vault: the plans of these vaultings are very various: some are called _Fan-tracery_ vaults, and others _Stellar_ vaults, terms which explain themselves.

Open wooden roofs of elaborate construction, and large span, become common in this Period. They spring frequently from Corbel shafts, resting on figures in the Clere-story wall; and have rich cornices of mouldings and carved work, traceried spandrels, figures of angels, and richly moulded beams. The AISLE-ARCADE is not often found, but its place is sometimes supplied by the rectangular surface panelling, so characteristic of the Period, which in some of the richer buildings literally covers the whole of the walls, leaving no blank or unoccupied s.p.a.ce.