The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture Part 9

Doorways in this style are often profusely ornamented; and it is common to see doors covered with panel-work boldly recessed, the compartments of which are sometimes filled in the heads with crocketed ogee arches, which produce a rich effect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Doorway, All Souls College, Oxford.]

Q. Are there many fine porches of this style?

A. More than in any other style, and they are often profusely enriched, the front and sides being covered with panel-work, tracery, and niches for statuary. The interior of the roof is frequently groined, sometimes with fan tracery, but generally with simple though numerous ribs; and in many instances a room is constructed over the groined entrance or lower story of the porch, but so as to be in keeping with and form part of the general design. The south porch of Gloucester Cathedral, the south-west porch of Canterbury Cathedral, the south porch of St. John's Church, Cirencester, and the south porch of Burford Church, Oxfords.h.i.+re, may be noticed as examples of rich porches of this style; many others might also be enumerated, as they are very numerous and various in detail. Some porches are comparatively plain, as the south porch of the church of Newbold-upon-Avon, Warwicks.h.i.+re.

Q. How are the windows distinguished?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Window, New College Chapel, Oxford.]

A. The chief characteristic in the windows of this style, and which renders them easily distinguished from those of an earlier era, consists in the vertical bearing of the mullions, which, instead of diverging off in flowing lines, are carried straight up into the head of the window; smaller mullions spring from the heads of the princ.i.p.al lights, and thus the upper portion of the window is filled with panel-like compartments.

The princ.i.p.al as well as the subordinate lights are foliated in the heads; and in large windows the lights are often divided horizontally by transoms, which are sometimes embattled. From the continued upright position of the mullions and tracery-bars is derived the term PERPENDICULAR, as applied to this style. The forms of the window-arches vary from the simple pointed to the complex four-centred arch, more or less depressed. The windows of the clerestory are sometimes arched, but oftener square-headed; and some large windows of the latter description nearly cover the sides of the clerestory walls of Chipping Norton Church, Oxfords.h.i.+re.

Q. What do we frequently observe in buildings of this style?

A. The interior walls of churches are often completely covered with panel-work tracery, arched headed and foliated, from the clerestory windows down to the mouldings of the arches below. The walls of Sherborne Church, Dorsets.h.i.+re, present in the interior a surface almost entirely covered with panel-work. Several large churches in this style have also long ranges of clerestory windows, set so close to each other that the whole length of the clerestory wall seems perforated: we may enumerate as examples the churches of St. Michael, Coventry; Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwicks.h.i.+re; and Lavenham and Melford, Suffolk. Walls covered on the exterior with panel-work are also far from uncommon: the Abbots' Tower, Evesham, the tower of the church of St. Neot's, Huntingdons.h.i.+re, and of Wrexham, Denbighs.h.i.+re, and many other rich towers, (especially those of the churches in Somersets.h.i.+re, where rich specimens in this style abound, more so perhaps than in any other county,) are thus decorated. The exterior of many rich structures in this style are also covered with panel-work, as the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, the west front of Winchester Cathedral, and Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Parapet, St. Peter's Church, Oxford.]

Q. How are the vaulted roofs of this style distinguished?

A. They are in detail more complicated than those of earlier styles, and in plain as distinguished from fan-tracery vaulting the groining ribs are more numerous. The ribs often diverge at different angles, and form geometrical-shaped panels or compartments; and the design has, in some instances, been a.s.similated to net-work. Plain vaulting of this style occurs in the nave and choir, Norwich Cathedral; the Lady Chapel and choir, Gloucester Cathedral; the nave, Winchester Cathedral; the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick; and a very late specimen in the choir, Oxford Cathedral.

A very rich and peculiar description of vaulting is one composed of pendant semicones covered with foliated panel-work, and, from the design resembling a fan spread open, called _fan-tracery_. Of this description of vaulting an early instance appears in the cloisters, Gloucester Cathedral.

The roofs of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, are well-known examples; and portions of several of our cathedrals and many small chantry and sepulchral chapels are thus vaulted.

Q. What may be observed of the wooden roofs of this style?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wooden Roof, south aisle, St. Mary's Church, Leicester.]

A. They are far more numerous than those we meet with in all the previous styles; and we frequently find churches of early date in which the original roofs, having perhaps become decayed, have been removed and replaced by roofs designed in that style prevalent during the fifteenth century. The slope or pitch of the roof is much lower than before, and the form altogether more obtuse, and sometimes approaching nearly to flatness.

The exterior is on this account often entirely concealed from view by the parapet. Many roofs of this style are divided into bays or compartments by horizontal tie-beams faced with mouldings, and apparently supported by curved ribs springing from corbels, and forming spandrels filled with open worked tracery; and the s.p.a.ces between the tie-beam, the king-post, and the sloping rafters of the roof, are filled with pierced or open-work tracery. The sloping bays or compartments of the roof are divided by rib mouldings into squares or parallelograms of panel-work, which are again often subdivided into similar-shaped panels by smaller ribs with carved bosses at the intersections. Some roofs are nearly flat, and simply panelled. On many roofs traces of painting and gilding may still be discerned, more especially in that part which was over an altar, and where the roof often bears indications of having been more ornamented than other parts. Roofs painted of an azure colour and studded with gilt stars are not uncommon. Sometimes the roof is coved, and the boards are painted in imitation of clouds. A great variety of wooden roofs is to be met with in this style, many of them exceeding rich; whilst the cornice under the roof is sometimes elaborately carved and enriched. Some roofs are much plainer in construction than others; and it was, during this era, a part of the church on the enrichment of which no small expense and attention were bestowed.

Q. What may be noted respecting the parapets of this era?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Parapet, St. Peter's Church, Dorchester.]

A. Many embattled parapets are covered with sunk or pierced panelling, and ornamented with quatrefoils or small trefoil-headed arches; and they have sometimes triangular-shaped heads, as at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and at the east end of Peterborough Cathedral. We also find horizontal or straight-sided parapets, covered with sunk or pierced quatrefoils in circles. A plain embattled parapet, with the horizontal coping moulding continued or carried down the sides of the embrasures, and then again returning horizontally, as at St. Peter's Church, Dorchester, Dorsets.h.i.+re, is also common. A bold but shallow cavetto or hollow cornice moulding is frequently carried along the wall just under the parapet.

Q. Was the panelled or sunk quatrefoil much used in decorative detail?

A. In rich buildings of this style the base, the parapet, and other intermediate portions were decorated with rows or bands of sunk quatrefoils, sometimes inclosed in circles, sometimes in squares, and sometimes in lozenge-shaped compartments.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rose and Foliage, Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.]

Q. What other ornamental detail is peculiar to this style?

A. The rose, which, differing only in colour, was the badge both of the houses of York and Lancaster, and as such is often to be met with. Rows of a trefoil or lozenge-shaped leaf, somewhat like an oak or strawberry leaf, with a smaller trefoil more simple in design intervening between two larger, was frequently used as a finish to the cornice of rich screen-work, and is known under the designation of _the Tudor Flower_. It is also common to find the tendrils, leaves, and fruit of the vine carved or sculptured in great profusion in the hollow of rich cornice mouldings, especially on screen-work in the interior of a church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Vine Leaves and Fruit, Whitchurch Church, Somersets.h.i.+re.]

Q. In what respect do the mouldings of this style differ from those of earlier styles?

A. In a greater prevalence of angular forms, which may be observed in noticing the section of a series of mouldings, and in the bases and capitals of cylindrical shafts. A large and bold but shallow hollow moulding or cavetto, in which, when forming part of a horizontal fascia or cornice, flowers, leaves, and other sculptured details are often inserted at intervals, is a common feature; and such moulding, without any insertion, is frequent in doorway and window jambs. A kind of double ogee moulding with little projection, is, in conjunction with other mouldings, also of common occurrence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Window, St. Peter's Church, Oxford.]

Q. Of what particular description of work do we find the existing remains to be almost entirely designed and executed in this style of ecclesiastical art?

A. Of the numerous specimens of rich wooden screens, composed as to the lower part of sunk panelling, with open work above, which we often find separating the chancel from the body of the church, supporting the rood-loft, and inclosing chantry chapels in side aisles, comparatively few now remaining are of an earlier date than the fifteenth century[137-*].

Q. What do we find in large buildings erected late in this style?

A. Octagonal turrets, plain or covered with sunk panelling, and surmounted with ogee-headed cupolas, which are adorned with crockets and finials. In Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster, they are used as b.u.t.tresses. We also find them at King's College Chapel, Cambridge; at St. George's Chapel, Windsor; and at Winchester Cathedral.

Q. Have we any coeval doc.u.ments which contain particulars relating to the erection of churches?

A. The contract entered into A. D. 1412, for the building of Catterick Church, Yorks.h.i.+re, and the contract entered into A. D. 1435, for rebuilding, as it now stands, the collegiate church of Fotheringhay in Northamptons.h.i.+re, or copies of such, have been preserved; as have particulars also from the contracts entered into A. D. 1450, for the fitting up of the Beauchamp Chapel, St. Mary's Church, Warwick. In the will of King Henry the Sixth, dated A. D. 1447, we find specific directions given for the size and arrangement of King's College Chapel, Cambridge; and no less than five different indentures are preserved, (the earliest dated A. D. 1513, the latest A. D. 1527,) containing contracts for the execution of different parts of that celebrated structure. The will of King Henry the Seventh, dated A. D. 1509, contains several orders and directions relating to the completion of the splendid chapel adjoining the abbey church, Westminster.

Q. Mention some of the earliest buildings of this style, the dates of the erection of which have been clearly ascertained?

A. The tower of St. Michael's Church, Coventry, the building of which commenced A. D. 1373 and was finished A. D. 1395[140-*], is an early and fine specimen; the beautiful and lofty spire was, however, an after addition, like that at Salisbury Cathedral, and was not commenced till A. D. 1432. Westminster Hall[140-], the reparation or reconstruction of the greater part of which by King Richard the Second was commenced A. D.

1397 and finished A. D. 1399, has a fine groined porch, the front of which exhibits the square head over the arch of entrance; and the spandrels are filled with quatrefoils, inclosing s.h.i.+elds and sunk panel-work. The large window above the porch, and that at the west end, are divided into panel-like compartments by vertical mullions, and a transom divides the princ.i.p.al lights horizontally. The wooden roof is of a more acute pitch than we usually find in buildings of this style, and is remarkable as a specimen of constructive art and display. The s.p.a.ces between the arches and rafters are filled up to the ridge-piece with open panel-work ornamentally designed; and this is perhaps the earliest specimen we possess of the perpendicular wooden roof.

Q. What complete structures are there in this style of a late date, the periods of the erection of which are ascertained?

A. The design for the rebuilding of the Abbey Church, Bath, was planned and the reconstruction thereof commenced, by Bishop King, A. D. 1500; and after his death the works were carried on by Priors Bird and Hollowaye; but the church was not completed when the surrender of the monastery took place, A. D. 1539. The foundation of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, was laid A. D. 1502, but the chapel was not completed till the reign of Henry the Eighth. It is the richest specimen, on a large scale, of this style of architecture, and is completely covered, both internally and externally, with panel-work, niches, statuary, heraldic devices, cognizances, and other decorative embellishment. The church at St. Neot's, Huntingdons.h.i.+re, is a fine large parochial edifice, all built apparently after one regular design, and consists of a tower covered with panel-work and ornament, with crocketed pinnacles at the angles and in front of each side; a nave, north and south aisles and chancel, and two chantry chapels, forming a continuation eastward of each aisle. It has a fine wooden roof, the cornice under which is in different parts curiously carved in relief. This church is said to have been erected A. D. 1507. But one of the most perfect specimens of a late date, on a smaller scale, is the church of Whiston, Northamptons.h.i.+re, built A. D. 1534, by Anthony Catesby, esquire, lord of the manor, Isabel his wife, and John their son: it consists of a tower encircled with rows of quatrefoils and other decorative embellishment, and finished with crocketed pinnacles at the angles; a nave divided from the north and south aisles by arches within rectangular compartments, the spandrels of which are filled with sunk quatrefoils and foliated panels; these arches spring from piers disposed lozengewise with semicylindrical shafts at the angles; there are no clerestory windows, and the windows of the aisles and chancel have obtusely-pointed four-centred arches. The wooden roof is a good example of the kind.

Q. What district is noted for the number of rich churches in this style?

[Ill.u.s.tration: St. Stephen's Church, Bristol.]

A. Somersets.h.i.+re contains a number of fine churches, erected apparently towards the close of the fifteenth or very early in the sixteenth century; and many of these churches have much of carved woodwork in screens, rood-lofts, pulpits, and in pewing. The towers are, in particular, remarkable for their general style of design, and are often divided into stages by bands of quatrefoils; the sides are more or less ornamented with projecting canopied niches for statuary, and in many of these niches the statues have been preserved from the iconoclastic zeal which has elsewhere prevailed. The belfry windows are partly pierced, sometimes in quatrefoils, and partly filled with sunk panel-work. The parapets, whether embattled or straight-sided, are pierced with open work; and at each angle of the tower, at which b.u.t.tresses are disposed rectangular-wise, is finished with a crocketed pinnacle, which is also often to be met with rising from the middle of the parapet. Towers similar in general design to those which may be said to prevail in Somersets.h.i.+re are not unfrequently met with in other counties, but do not exhibit that provincialism which is the case in that particular county.

[Ill.u.s.tration: King Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.]

FOOTNOTES:

[121-*] Mr. Rickman, from whom this appellation is derived, has been since generally followed in his nomenclature.

[137-*] In Compton Church, Surrey, is, or until recently was, the remains of a wooden screen of late Norman character. Between the chancel and nave of Stanton Harcourt Church, Oxfords.h.i.+re, is an early wooden screen in the style of the thirteenth century: the lower division is of plain panel-work, whilst the upper division consists of a series of open-pointed arches, trefoiled in the heads, and supported by slender cylindrical shafts with moulded bases and capitals, and an annulated moulding encircles each shaft midway up. In Northfleet Church, Kent, is a wooden screen which approximates in general design that at Stanton Harcourt, but is in a more advanced stage of art, being of the Early Decorated style: the lower portion of this is of plain panelling, while the open work forming the upper division above consists of a series of pointed arches, with tracery and foliations in and between the heads, supported by slender cylindrical shafts banded round midway with moulded bases and capitals, and these arches support a horizontal cornice.

Specimens of decorated screen-work, some much mutilated, others in a more perfect state, are existing in the churches of King's Sutton, Northamptons.h.i.+re; Croperdy, Oxfords.h.i.+re; Beaudesert, Warwicks.h.i.+re; and in St. John's Church, Winchester. A characteristic distinction between screen-work of an earlier date than the fifteenth century and screen-work of that period will be found to consist in the slender cylindrical shafts, often annulated, sometimes not, with moulded bases and capitals which pertain to early work of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the mullion-like and angular-edged bars, often faced with small b.u.t.tresses, which form the princ.i.p.al vertical divisions in screen-work of the fifteenth century.

[140-*] This stately monument of private munificence was erected at the sole charges of two brothers, Adam and William Botnor: it was twenty-one years in building, and cost each year 100_l._

[140-] Though not an ecclesiastical structure, it is here noticed as an example of the style in an early stage.