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A MANUAL 
 
 OF 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 BY 
 
 F. A. PALEY, M.A. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 “A MANUAL OF GOTHIC MOULDINGS,” &c. 
 
 WITH NEARLY SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLVI. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Printed by 8. & J. Bentlel, Wilson, and Flet, 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane. 
 
TO 
 
 GEOKGE GOLDIE, 
 
 OF YORK, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The present little volume is designed rather 
 to assist the student in the distinction, classifi- 
 cation, and analysis of architectural details, than 
 to supply new information, or to originate any 
 new method of treating the subject. So much 
 indeed has been already written, and so well, 
 on Gothic Architecture, and the general amount 
 of knowledge possessed by ordinary observers is? 
 in consequence, so much greater and more ac- 
 curate than it was before the publication of 
 several recent works, that the Public are perhaps 
 justified in expecting that a new Treatise should 
 take a deeper and more systematic view of the 
 subject, than the merely popular books on Ar- 
 chitecture have as yet exhibited. But neither 
 depth nor speculative theory is adapted to the 
 taste of those who desire to learn a little about 
 Ecclesiastical Antiquities ; so that an Author who 
 writes principally for these, however common- 
 place his remarks will now appear to the more 
 advanced, must pretend to little more than to 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 viii 
 
 say in other words, and to set forth by other il- 
 lustrations, what has already been said and repre- 
 sented in many different ways. 
 
 In truth it is quite impossible to treat of so 
 vast and so indefinite a subject as “ Ecclesiology,” 
 within the limits of a small duodecimo volume, 
 unless by touching cursorily on the principal 
 heads and departments of that science. Hence, 
 while Mr. BloxanTs excellent work is entirely oc- 
 cupied by describing the styles, each in a sepa- 
 rate chapter, in this book the three Gothic styles 
 and their subdivisions are discussed in a single 
 one ; for their importance as a branch of the 
 science did not appear to the Author to require 
 more. Besides, it is a very mistaken view to re- 
 gard what was in reality a progressive and con- 
 tinuous art, as something separable by gaps and 
 intervals into distinct eras. We should rather go 
 with the flow of time, and speak of Gothic de- 
 tails as we find them in each age, pointing out 
 their intimate connexion with what has gone be- 
 fore, and exhibiting their development simulta- 
 neously with the causes of their change. 
 
 The wood-cuts which decorate this volume are 
 from the graver of that justly celebrated artist, Mr. 
 Thurston Thompson, of London. The drawings 
 on the wood were made by the Messrs. Brandon, 
 Architects, whose invaluable work, “ The Analysis 
 of Gothic Architecture,” is, or ought to be, known 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 to all who desire an accurate knowledge of the 
 formation of Gothic details. These Gentlemen 
 have kindly allowed the Author the use of several 
 of their original drawings. 
 
 The Frontispiece is an accurate representation 
 of a very beautiful ancient Processional Cross, 
 now in the possession of a Catholic gentleman in 
 Lancashire. It has never before been engraved ; 
 and as it is probably one of the finest existing 
 in this country, its great interest will be readily 
 acknowledged by all admirers of ancient art. 
 
 The concluding chapter on Monumental Brasses, 
 which forms a complete treatise on this depart- 
 ment of Ecclesiology, is from the pen of C. B. 
 Manning, Esq. of Benet College, Cambridge, the 
 author of “ A List of the Monumental Brasses re- 
 maining in England,” who has favoured the work 
 with this valuable and original contribution. 
 
 It is right to add, that the first part of this 
 work was written and printed a year ago, much 
 delay having been experienced in procuring the 
 wood-cuts. It is possible that, at the present 
 time, the Author would have modified some ex- 
 pressions, which may seem to exhibit undue 
 warmth or unnecessary enthusiasm. It is diffi- 
 cult, while writing under the influence of earnest 
 feelings, to weigh every word, and check every 
 strong expression ; while, on the other hand, it is 
 both heartless and insincere to affect the in- 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 difference of a mere antiquary, in treating of tlie 
 splendid results of the Religion of the Middle 
 Ages. Without wishing to exhibit an exagger- 
 ated parallelism between the skill and the faith of 
 the churchmen of old, the Author confesses his 
 inability to treat such a subject with the cold 
 scientific apathy which distinguishes modern trea- 
 tises on Church Architecture. 
 
 Above all, we are all but too ready to dispa- 
 rage unjustly the works of modern architects, 
 who more frequently want the means than the 
 power to produce Gothic works equal to those 
 of antiquity. It is next to impossible to judge 
 of modern designs with strict impartiality ; and 
 critics are seldom fully aware, or disposed to 
 admit, how much their judgement is warped 
 and biassed by that utterly false and unjust no- 
 tion, that every medieval work is good, and 
 every modern imitative design is a failure. 
 
INDEX OF CHAPTERS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NOMENCLATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OP THE 
 
 STYLES. — THE ANGLO-ROMANESQUE. . . 28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE POINTED OR GOTHIC STYLES . . 74 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OP WINDOWS ..... 154 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF DOORWAYS ..... 193 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OP THE UNIFORMITY AND PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER 
 
 OP THE GOTHIC {STYLES . . . 205 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Xll 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF GOTHIC COMPOSITION, CONSTRUC- 
 TION, AND EFFECT. .... 222 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF THE PARTS OF CHURCHES 
 
 233 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MONUMENTAL BRASSES 
 
 264 
 
T 
 
 A 
 
 MANUAL 
 
 OF 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The style of Architecture commonly called 
 Gothic is that which was developed, by a re- 
 markable change of elemental forms and prin- 
 ciples, out of the Romanesque, or debased Clas- 
 sical, by the Western or Latin Church during 
 the middle ages, that is, from about the year 
 a.d. 1150 to 1550. This includes the whole period 
 from its nascent or transitional state to its- final 
 decline. 
 
 We say that the Gothic or Pointed Style 
 arose from the Romanesque, or rather through the 
 Romanesque, ultimately from the pure Temple 
 Architecture of Greece and Rome.* This state- 
 
 * Whewell’s “Architectural Notes,” p. 29, ed. 3. 
 
 B 
 
o 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 ment is not the less true, because the utmost dif- 
 ference, and even contrariety, of principles charac- 
 terise the works of the ancient heathen and the 
 later Christian Architects. In no civilized nation 
 has any peculiar architectural style started into 
 immediate and independent existence. The history 
 of the art shows that in every instance, except 
 that of the isolated savage tribe, certain forms and 
 features have been borrowed or modified from an 
 antecedent style or prototype, and that every local 
 variety, though influenced by circumstances of cli- 
 mate, habit, and material, has been founded on some 
 existing basis. In a word, all Architecture is in its 
 nature more or less generic, progressive, and imita- 
 tive.* It may be derived, imported, or inno- 
 vated ; but no complete style was ever suddenly 
 invented. One stock throws out various olfshoots, 
 which take root in congenial soils, and spread, and 
 themselves become independent growths, eventu- 
 ally casting off their connexion with the parent 
 stem, and perhaps losing all resemblance to it 
 in distance of time and fulness of development. 
 Hence all structures designed in after ages for 
 the purposes of the Christian religion must be 
 in some degree referable to those in use at the 
 period when that religion was promulgated, how- 
 ever different and opposite may be the two ex- 
 
 * Bardwell’s “ Temples, ancient and modem,” p. 161. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 3 
 
 tremes presented by tbe original exemplar, and 
 the style descended from it after tbe lapse of 
 fifteen hundred years. 
 
 Now Rome having been from the first the 
 centre of Christianity, the buildings of that city 
 naturally furnished the earliest models for Chris- 
 tian churches. And accordingly it is from these 
 that our noble medieval edifices trace their re- 
 mote but unbroken pedigree. On them was 
 founded all that we are now accustomed to ad- 
 mire and revere as the genuine offspring of the 
 Christian religion. Many indeed are the changes, 
 and violent the revolutions, of the art, which 
 Lombard and Byzantine, Italian, Oriental, and 
 Barbarian have brought upon it in its long 
 career ; but it is now as a thing that is past, so 
 that we of the present generation can look back 
 upon its birth, and death, and it may be shall 
 witness its revival. We can compare it in all 
 its stages, and view it in all its historical aspects, 
 a phenomenon strange and vast, beautiful and 
 holy ; at once original and derived, propagated 
 and self-produced. Bor who shall deny that the 
 speaking symbolism of Gothic fabrics is essentially 
 their own h They are only grafted on Paganism.* 
 
 * The adaptation of Pagan emblems and details to Christian 
 use, by which they of course become hallowed and traditional 
 to all time, is beautifully treated by Mr. Hope, in chapters xvi. 
 and xvii. of his learned “ Historical Essay on Architecture.” 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 We behold in them the spirit of Christianity as 
 contrasted with the spirit of heathen polytheism. 
 Their Pagan origin is their accident ; the Church, 
 in perfecting their development, stamped them with 
 a purer and sublimer character than the world 
 had ever known ; an impress which a reverential 
 mind loves to regard as almost more than human, 
 though they are but the works of human hands, 
 and transient alike wdth every human invention. 
 
 It is no idle employment to have been a wan- 
 derer among the old churches of England ; to 
 have made contemplation even of their material 
 fabrics a pursuit ; to have pondered over the 
 mighty changes of times and scenes which they 
 have survived ; and to have lingered with mingled 
 sorrow and admiration over the ruins of their 
 departed splendour. Let not any suppose that 
 an insensate antiquarianism is here advocated ; 
 much less the irreverent speculation of cold- 
 hearted mechanical enquirers. No benefit can ever 
 accrue either to ourselves or to the Church, if 
 we are to regard Church Architecture as a thing 
 of mere prettiness, of curious investigation, or of 
 engaging mystery. Surely it can teach us a far 
 higher lesson, and impart a graver and more 
 ennobling moral instruction than this. To un- 
 derstand it aright, and to derive the real plea- 
 sure and profit it can confer, we must com- 
 prehend its spirit as well as its principles. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 5 
 
 For want of this, both theorists and practitioners 
 of modern times have failed in their attempts 
 to grasp the gigantic facts which their eyes could 
 behold hut their minds were not schooled to 
 receive. Medieval Architecture was not a mere 
 result of piling together stone and' timber by 
 mechanical cunning and ingenious device. It 
 was the visible embodying of the highest feelings 
 of adoration, and worship, and holy abstraction ; 
 the expression of a sense which must have a 
 language of its own, and which could have 
 utterance in no worthier or more significant 
 way. And even as the soul quickens the body, 
 which without it is but lifeless and helpless mat- 
 ter, so it is the hallowed association and the 
 intellectual interpretation which alone imparts 
 to the student of Church Architecture its full 
 meaning and its true beauty. As well might 
 a grammarian reject the use of letters, as the 
 ecclesiologist overlook the faith and feeling of 
 the middle ages in his endeavours to attain a 
 right understanding of their works. There is a 
 moral in every sculpture, a lesson in every form. 
 And must not all this he a dead letter to us if 
 we care not to comprehend it aright ? 
 
 Every body has heard or read something about 
 Roman Basilicas, from which the general shape 
 and arrangement of our churches even to this 
 day are derived. A still earlier archetype has 
 
6 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 been found in the atrium, or largest apartment 
 of a Roman villa. This was a square room or 
 hall of considerable extent, whose roof was borne 
 by four pillars, also disposed in a square, and 
 resembling the plan of S. Mary Woolnoth, S. 
 George’s in the East, and some other modern 
 London churches.* 
 
 In the reign of Constantine, when the perse- 
 cution of the Christians had ceased, spacious 
 churches were first erected for their worship on 
 the overthrow and with the materials of ancient 
 Pagan temples. These Basilican churches, as 
 they are called, of which many of very early 
 date still remain at Rome and other places 
 of Italy, t were mostly built in the form of a 
 double cube, that is, twice as long as broad ? 
 terminating in a semicircular apsis. Along each 
 side of the central portions , or nave, extended 
 a row of columns and arches, thus dividing the 
 church into three longitudinal parts — our nave 
 and aisles . % The principal arches sustained a 
 triforium, or gallery, above, and a clerestory ; § 
 
 I 
 
 * Bardwell’s “ Temples,” p. 94. 
 
 + Few, however, remain without so much of later alteration 
 as to leave the original fabric scarcely recognisable. 
 
 X This word is derived either from ala or adcella , ascella , a 
 lateral .cell. 
 
 § So called, not because the nave wall stands clear above 
 the aisle roofs, but from the French clair , light, because the 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 7 
 
 and the roofs were of wood. The choir was not 
 at first a separate excrescence like our chancels, 
 hut an inclosed space at the end of the body or 
 nave. This is still seen in the Basilica of San 
 Clemente at Rome, built in the fourth century, 
 “an exact specimen,” says the late Mr. Gaily 
 Knight,* “ of a primitive church.” 
 
 Among the most celebrated Basilican churches 
 may be mentioned those of S. Paul ( destroyed 
 by fire in 1822, but given entire from a pre- 
 vious drawing by Mr. Gaily Knight ), S. John 
 Lateran, Old S. Peter’s, S. Maria Maggiore, 
 S. Agnese, S. Sebastian, S. Lorenzo, at Rome. 
 But, there are many others of great interest 
 and antiquity at Constantinople, Ravenna, 
 Lucca, &c.f 
 
 The Pagan Basilicas were justice halls, so 
 called in reference to early times, when they 
 
 windows in this part form a direct and strong contrast with 
 the dark arches of the triforium, which was anciently called 
 the blind-story (“ Ecclesiologist,” vol. ii. p. 79). The origin 
 of the word triforium is not known : hut it has been thought 
 to Latinize our word thoroughfare. 
 
 * See his noble work, the “ Architecture of Italy,” 2 vols. 
 folio ; Introduction, and on plate I. Bard well, p. 107. 
 
 T See on this subject Bardwell, p. 110, &c. Hope’s “His- 
 torical Essay,” chap. ix. ; Dallaway’s “ Discourses upon Archi- 
 tecture in England,” p. 75 ; Gaily Knight, already referred 
 to ; and the beautiful German work, “ Die Basiliken des 
 Christlichen Roms,” folio. 
 
8 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 were attached to the palace of the sovereign or 
 chief magistrate, or from the “ Archon Basileus” 
 at Athens.* They were not erected in Borne 
 till the year a.u.c. 570, after which about 
 twenty existed in that city.f In the time of 
 Constantine many of them were used by mer- 
 chants and men of business, after the manner of 
 our Exchanges. 
 
 The altar stood on the chord of the arc forming 
 the semicircular apsis. Behind it were seats 
 for the bishop and inferior clergy ; and this 
 arrangement still exists unaltered at Torcello, 
 Venice, and Parenzo, in Istria.t Formerly the 
 central seat, or tribune, was occupied by the 
 Prcetor or chief magistrate, and the rest by his 
 assessors, the judges and advocates. The ceil- 
 ing of the apsis ( concha ) and other parts were 
 adorned in very early Christian times with mosaic 
 pictures. § The Basilican form continued to be 
 used with but little variety till the eleventh 
 century. 
 
 An important change was introduced by 
 adopting the shape of the Cross for the ground 
 
 * See Hope, p. 78 ; and “ Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
 Antiquities.” 
 
 + Gaily Knight, Introduction, p. ii. 
 
 f Hope, p. 126. 
 
 § See Hope, chap. xv. Hence the interior decoration of 
 church walls with fresco or distemper paintings has the sanc- 
 tion of remotest antiquity. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 9 
 
 plan, by the addition of transeptal projections. 
 How and when this form, afterwards so common, 
 was first brought into use, is uncertain. Mr. 
 Gaily Knight is of opinion that it was not 
 earlier than a.d. 580.* Another very pro- 
 minent feature was the dome, or ciborium,t 
 first introduced by the Byzantine architects at 
 Constantinople in the fourth century, and after- 
 wards the characteristic of the Byzantine style. 
 This was originally intended as a vast cover 
 suspended in air over the relics of a buried 
 Saint. And this is the prototype of the mighty 
 dome of S. Peter’s, and of our own S. Paul’s. 
 Who that looks on the latter ever thinks that 
 it is only a developement of a bean-shell ? 
 
 What we call the chancel arch was anciently 
 the triumphal arch,J dividing sanctuary from 
 nave, and symbolizing the gate of Heaven. Our 
 crypts are directly derived from the custom of 
 building churches over the martyrs who were 
 buried in the catacombs. The descent to their 
 relics was afterwards managed by an open space 
 called the Confessionary .§ , 
 
 * Introduction, p. iii. But Mr. Petit (vol. ii. p. 34) says 
 it was tlie very earliest given to Christian edifices. . 
 
 + On the ciborium , or Egyptian bean, which presented when 
 cut a cup-like shell, see the “Archseologia,” vol. viii. p. 171. 
 
 $ Knight, Introduction, p. iv. 
 
 § See Professor Willis’ “ Canterbury,” p. 23, where the 
 plan of a basilican church is given and explained. 
 
10 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 The early churches did not always turn east- 
 ward,* though this rule was almost always ob- 
 served in the middle ages, even at considerable 
 inconvenience from the nature of the locality. 
 
 We come then briefly to consider how far this 
 Basilican style of church architecture was likely 
 to have affected the earliest ecclesiastical edi- 
 fices in this country : in other words, how far 
 Christian architecture was from the first co-ex- 
 tensive with the Christian religion. And we 
 think it will appear both probable in itself, as 
 well as borne out by the few facts we possess, 
 that little more than the general Basilican plan, 
 without the specific details of the style, was com- 
 municated by tradition or intercourse with the 
 central seat of Christendom, t What the earliest 
 British churches were, previously to the mission of 
 
 * Knight, p. iii. ; Hope, chap. x. p. 101. Some ancient 
 churches had apses containing an altar, both at the east and 
 west ends (Hope, p. 241. See “ Ecclesiologist,” New Series, 
 no. ix. p. 119). The most ancient arrangement of all was 
 to place the altar at the ivest end. See Willis’ “ Canterbury,” 
 p. 29. At Brixworth there was both an eastern and a west- 
 ern apsidal termination. 
 
 + See Britton’s “Architectural Antiquities,*’ vol. v. p. 119. 
 Ancient ecclesiastical writers speak of churches being built in 
 England opere Romano ; but no existing remains verify the 
 expression, unless very loosely interpreted. Professor Willis 
 (“ History of Canterbury Cathedral,” pp. 9, 27,) shows how 
 the ancient Saxon church of that city, built by Romans, agreed 
 in many respects with the Basilican arrangement. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 11 
 
 S. Augustine, we know not. Christianity having 
 become almost extinct in England by the end of 
 the sixth century, oppressed by the ferocity of 
 the invading Saxon horde, by whom the churches 
 were destroyed and the priests driven out, and 
 having received new life and vigour by the apos- 
 tolic mission of Augustine from Home, we may 
 be sure that Roman influences were not alto- 
 gether wanting in forming an ecclesiastical style 
 in the newly converted country. Thus, the 
 Saxon churches had apses, as at Worth. Sussex, 
 Brixworth, Wing ; the remains at Little Welne- 
 tham, Suffolk ; the Minster, at South Elmham, 
 near Bungay ; * and Castle-Rising ;f aisles, as at 
 Brixworth, and S. Michael’s, S. Albans ; the cross 
 form, as at Worth ; all which must have been 
 derived from Rome. Let us also consider some 
 other circumstances of the case. Many Roman 
 buildings had long existed in England, and must 
 from their superior size &nd style have become 
 in some measure familiar models. But the indi- 
 genous and barbaric style still maintained consi- 
 derable sway ; for S. Gregory allowed the Saxon 
 idol-temples to be converted into churches ; J and 
 
 * “ Ecclesiologist,” vol. i. p. 166. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 167. 
 
 + Churton’s “ Early English Church,” p. 46. Professor 
 Willis (p. 19) thinks that after the barbarians had destroyed 
 the ancient buildings, and obliterated their rules, on becoming 
 
12 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 there was little or no opportunity for the early 
 inhabitants of this country to Italianize to any 
 considerable extent, from the deficiency of proper 
 materials for columns, architraves, and other mem- 
 bers, which were abundantly supplied in Italy 
 from the ruined temples. In England, and other 
 northern countries, architects had to work with 
 bad materials, and to adapt their style to its ca- 
 pabilities.* lienee we explain that very singular 
 kind of masonry which has not inaptly been term- 
 ed “stone carpentry ,”+ and which is seen in the 
 tower of Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, and a 
 few other Anglo-Saxon churches. Here we clearly 
 see wooden construction and design contending 
 with stone materials ; and it is evident that 
 these and such-like edifices exhibit vestiges of 
 the indigenous barbaric style much more than 
 that of imitated Roman work. 
 
 settlers in the country, their architects worked as “ unschooled 
 imitators ” on the ruins and fragments they found. 
 
 * Dallaway’s “ Essay,” p. 4 ; Rickman p. 4. 
 
 + “ Hints on the Study of Ecclesiastical Architecture and 
 Antiquities,” p. 5. There can be no doubt that the great 
 majority of Saxon churches were of wood ; see “ Britton’s 
 Architectural Antiquities,” vol. v. p. 115, &c. ; and “ Churches 
 of Yorkshire,” No. I. p. 15, for the proofs of this. Hence it 
 appears much less astonishing that there should have been fifty 
 thousand churches in England in the Saxon times. (Blunt’s 
 u Reformation,” p. 24.) There are now not more than about 
 one fourth of that number. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 13 
 
 Yet the frequent missions and pilgrimages to 
 Rome, together with the importation of Italian 
 churchmen, which took place as early as the end 
 of the seventh century,* must have exercised 
 great influence upon ecclesiastical architecture in 
 England, just as in after ages, when the Gothic 
 or Pointed style was in its early growth, some 
 details were imported from the Saracens by the 
 votaries of the crusading expeditions. Again, 
 the aid of foreign workmen and artificers was 
 sometimes called in by the Saxons in planning and 
 erecting their churches ; + so that, on the whole, 
 it seems unreasonable to look for any other than a 
 mixed sort of semi-Roman designs, which is in 
 fact precisely what the most recent researches 
 have brought to light. 
 
 While, therefore, in other countries, as in France 
 and Germany, another development of the Ro- 
 manesque family was being matured, which was 
 
 * Blunt’s “ Hiscory of the Reformation,” p. 12 ; Churton’s 
 “ Early English Church,” p. 1 30. As the Pope claimed juris- 
 diction over the Church in this country as early as a.d. 700 
 (Blunt, p. 50), the intercourse with Rome and the appoint- 
 ment of foreign prelates was certainly nothing of unusual 
 occurrence. Mr. Churton (“ Early English Church,” p. 39) 
 would have us to believe that this claim was one of much 
 later times. But in fact it seems to have been coeval with 
 S. Augustine. 
 
 + Bloxam, p. 6. ed. 7 ; see particularly Hope, chap. xx. p. 
 190. 
 
 
14 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 afterwards imported into this country by King 
 Edward the Confessor, and is now called Norman, 
 our Saxon ancestors appear to have formed for 
 themselves a tolerably regular and uniform, 
 though rude style, something midway between 
 indigenous and Roman in its details. The build- 
 ings left by the Romans in this country, though 
 now rare, must have been sufficiently abundant 
 long after their departure from the island ; and 
 the few specimens we have, as an archway at 
 Lincoln, Richborough Castle, Kent, Burgh Castle 
 in Suffolk, and part of a ruined wall at Lei- 
 cester, * agree pretty nearly in the style of 
 masonry, and the use of large flat bricks, with 
 the construction of some Saxon remains, such as 
 those at Brixworth, the ruined church near Dover 
 Castle, and part of the church of S. Michael, and 
 the Abbey of S. Albans, f 
 
 * Specimens are engraved in Britton’s “ Architectural An- 
 tiquities,” vol. v. p. 260 ; See also vol. ii. p. 62, where it is 
 shown, in a very elaborate paper on Anglo- Roman buildings, 
 that they were mostly of poor character, built of bricks and 
 rag-stone. Roman bricks were not very unfrequently used in 
 after ages. They occur in work of the fourteenth century at 
 Wymondham Church, Norfolk. Perhaps, however, they 
 were manufactured after the Roman shape. S. Botolph’s 
 Priory, Colchester ; S. Nicolas, Leicester ; Darenth Church, 
 Kent ; S. Martin’s, Canterbury ; even the tower at Castle 
 Rising ; have these bricks. 
 
 t Archaeologia, vol. iv. p. 73, &c. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 15 
 
 Such then were the humble beginnings of En- 
 glish Church architecture, which for many cen- 
 turies afterwards may be said to have run a 
 career of undying splendour, occasionally chang- 
 ing, yet never really becoming deteriorated, while 
 the spirit of religious faith and liberality re- 
 mained unimpaired. Its final decline or de- 
 basement, in respect of principles as well as of 
 detail, commenced with the reign of Henry 
 VIII. The troubles of this and the succeed- 
 ing reigns gave, in England, a death blow 
 to its yet lingering and occasionally energetic 
 and beautiful efforts. It was most unhappily 
 and unworthily succeeded by what we may call 
 the Classic or Pagan age,* for which the revival 
 of literature, as it is called, and the extended 
 
 use of the art .of printing, together with the over- 
 
 CT' J “ ’ ,K lt - a ^ •- ' 
 
 ,r 15- 
 
 throw of the ancient Faith and suppression of 
 
 the monasteries, prepared the way. Then, the 
 great and chivalrous associations of the Middle 
 
 Ages being lost, as well as the piety and taste 
 which had eminently characterised them, hea- 
 thenism was once more invited to lend its aid in 
 forming for newly enlightened Christians a worse 
 than brazen era of architecture. Henceforth, 
 
 * In fact, the downfall of the Freemasons, who alone held 
 the secrets of the Gothic art, brought along with it the down- 
 fall of their craft, which others knew not how to practise. See 
 Hope, p. 463. 
 
16 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 nothing was admired but Grecian and Roman 
 structures and ornaments : * nothing was ap- 
 preciated hut the designs and emblems of idola- 
 try. So perverted and infatuated was the taste 
 of that time, that the once Catholic and beautiful 
 England, the land of mighty Abbeys, Cathedrals, 
 and Churches without number, was everywhere 
 disfigured with ugly and unchristian piles in 
 burlesque imitation of the foreign shrines of hea- 
 then gods. Then it was that the ancient and 
 national style of architecture was called in igno- 
 rance and derision the Gothic . f The term is in 
 itself absurd and calumnious ; but it has now 
 become so general that it avails little to endea- 
 vour to supersede it by another. 
 
 England was the country in which the Gothic 
 
 * Yet it is very interesting to observe how the Catholic 
 feeling lingered in many buildings till about the age of Charles 
 II. Churches, indeed, were more pulled down than built 
 after the reign of Henry VIII ; but not a few alms-houses, 
 hospitals, avd old English mansions exist, which evince sound 
 principles in the buildings of the ensuing century. There is 
 an almshouse at Little Thurlow, near Newmarket, of about 
 1600, worthy of any period. 
 
 t See WhewelTs “ Notes,” &c., p. 50. Bardwell, p. 147, 
 observes that the term is in fact much older than the seven- 
 teenth century, as it occurs in ancient documents exactly in 
 its modem acceptation. Mr. Bloxam, p. 19, refers the term 
 to Wren and his school. Mr. Hope, p. 464, says it was in- 
 tended as a synonym with all that is barbarous. It was first 
 given in Italy (ib. p. 332). 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 17 
 
 or Christian style was most exquisitely and most 
 sumptuously developed, especially in respect of 
 its details.* But France, Germany, Holland, 
 and the Low Country, and even Italy to some ex- 
 tent, used the very same style, and with only some 
 comparatively trifling differences. From the lat- 
 ter country it was to be expected that the ancient 
 and national school of art, adapted as it was to cli- 
 mate and materials, and endeared by association, 
 should never be entirely banished in after times.f 
 Nor was it reasonable that it should, when its 
 adoption by the first Christians had hallowed and 
 perpetuated it. The Italian style only becomes 
 inappropriate and displeasing when out of place, 
 and a strange uneasy settler in a foreign clime. 
 It is vain to defend the architecture of S. Paul’s in 
 London by that of S. Peter’s at Borne. 
 
 The Pagan Age extended over the same coun- 
 
 * Dallaway, p. 81. Mr. Hope (chap, xxxvii) thinks that 
 England “ almost always exhibited the last specimens of every 
 new modification introduced in the pointed style,” and he 
 much prefers the principles of composition in the continental 
 churches. He remarks, too (p. 361), that the architects of 
 the great English edifices have in all ages been mostly foreign- 
 ers. Mr. Petit (vol. ii. p. 80 — 83) contends that England 
 surpasses the Continent in its principles of design, and espe- 
 cially for having given each of the styles a certain delicacy and 
 purity for which we look elsewhere in vain. 
 
 T Whewell, p. 33 ; Willis’ “ Architecture of the Middle 
 Ages,” p. 3 ; Hope, p. 366. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 tries and at the same period, and seems to have 
 attained the height of extravagance in the last 
 century. During all that long and dreary time 
 (to speak ecclesiastically rather than politically), 
 a vast quantity of the finest medieval remains 
 was constantly being destroyed* in the most ruth- 
 less manner to make way for classical innova- 
 tions.f The ancient style was neither under- 
 stood nor appreciated ; its noble and matchless 
 works w'ere deemed but the results of benighted 
 superstition or perverse barbarism, and were an- 
 nihilated as such without a pang or a feeling of 
 remorse.* Incredible as it must seem to those 
 
 * It is but fair to remember that the Puritans of the Crom- 
 wellian faction did much more in the way of wilful destruc- 
 tion and desecration than even the so-called Reformers. We 
 can scarcely enter the humblest village church without noticing 
 the vestiges of some early brass cross, or frescoed wall, or 
 gilded screen, or stained glass window. Till Cromwell’s time, 
 the beautiful cloisters of Peterborough Cathedral, with all 
 their stair' ed glass windows, remained entire. Puritanism 
 began with Edward VI., brought forth its fruits under Crom- 
 well, and became a settled principle under William III. 
 
 f For example, the beautiful Early English nave of Llan- 
 daff Cathedral was demolished, and a most unsightly Roman 
 temple erected in its place (“ Ecclesiologist,” vol. iii. p. 10). 
 Everywhere the finest windows, monuments, and roofs were 
 sacrificed for trashy Italian masks and insertions (See Willis’ 
 “ Canterbury,” p. 106). But we must attribute all this to 
 the taste of the age rather than the change of faith ; for Eng- 
 land was not worse treated than other countries have been. 
 
 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 19 
 
 who have now attained more correct views of 
 the medieval Church and its great and glorious 
 monuments, it is a fact, that till the last ten or 
 twenty years ,the real and true view of Christian 
 architecture never dawned upon us. Though 
 now and then an individual writer or artist 
 arose, who advocated the cause of Christian art 
 over that of revived Paganism, yet these few 
 were laughed at, and their works little heeded.* 
 Others, who undertook the illustration of me- 
 dieval remains, thought themselves bound to put 
 forth at the same time the most malignant and 
 calumnious attacks upon the faith which had 
 reared them, as false as they were uncalled for 
 on the part of the writers.f Were these the 
 
 f That educated men should have been so deluded is truly 
 ■wonderful. Who would believe that the exquisite Gothic 
 woodwork was ejected from Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, 
 (it may still he seen in a neighbouring village church,) the 
 roof ceiled, and the interior completely paganised, at a great 
 and most needless cost ! 
 
 * Towards the end of the last century, John Carter pub- 
 lished his splendid folio works on Christian architecture, 
 sculpture, and painting. His frontispiece of Westminster 
 Abbey in the olden time proves how keen a sense he had, and 
 how correct a view of England in the days of yore. 
 
 p The works of Storer and others are full of scoffing and in- 
 sulting remarks about the superstition, &c. of the Middle Ages, 
 truly dark to their apprehension. It is sad to find such a 
 spirit in treating of such a subject. Even Mr. Rickman could 
 have felt little more than an antiquarian interest in his pursuit. 
 
20 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 men to feel all the poetry and the religion of 
 ancient church architecture? Thus the Gothic 
 style continued so little known and practised 
 that the few attempts at designing * which were 
 made invariably proved complete failures ; and 
 we now look with as much surprise on the 
 handywork of the last century as the next ge- 
 neration will perhaps feel on regarding ours. 
 With bad taste and ignorance of true principles 
 w r as associated an unreal and perishable kind of 
 construction, plaister for stone, scanty walls and 
 w r eak roofs for the solid massiveness of ancient edi- 
 fices ; so that people could not help feeling that 
 they were building but for themselves, where 
 their predecessors had built for ages yet to come. 
 It was found, too, by a sad experience, that there 
 evidently were some very decided and impor- 
 tant law r s wdiich regulated the principles of Go- 
 thic composition, and that there was, after all, 
 something more than the mere caprice and ex- 
 travagant fancy which Sir Christopher Wren and 
 persons of his school pretended to believe, and 
 
 * Those who have seen cer + ain works (which it would he 
 invidious to particularise,) containing “ designs for Gothic 
 churches,” &c., set forth as models some ten or a dozen years 
 ago, will certainly be unable to suppress a smile. We augur 
 some improvement in designs for parochial buildings from the 
 appearance of the Messrs. Brandon’s excellent new work, 
 “ Parish Churches,” which contains a good selection of the 
 most available ancient models. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 21 
 
 took great pains to teach. Thus gradually, and 
 as it were reluctantly, a little more attention was 
 given to the general subject of medieval art ; 
 and now, towards the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, such extraordinary interest has been 
 universally excited, that difficulties seem to va- 
 nish fast before increased enterprise and in- 
 telligence. Our artists make drawings of perish- 
 ing remains ; proprietors and corporate bodies 
 are exerting themselves to preserve what they 
 so lately gloried in destroying ;* and above 
 all, the public appreciate and call for the good 
 old Gothic style, so that very beautiful new 
 churches can already, or at all events soon will, 
 be erected, perfectly in the spirit and details 
 of the best medieval models. This happy im- 
 provement in taste has been greatly promoted 
 by a number of excellent publications, among 
 
 * The condition of parish churches generally throughout 
 England is still very had, and often absolutely startling to any 
 one who knows what they ought to be, and what they were 
 once. Yet there is no comparison between their present state 
 and that which was commonly found twenty or even ten years 
 ago ! It has been a great point to make church desecration a 
 matter of notoriety and disgrace, and to awaken a feeling 
 which will everywhere revolt at its occurrence. While such 
 things were acquiesced in by all parties, there was sure to be 
 no lack of them. A few strong words and a little public in- 
 dignation have not been altogether thrown away in this 
 matter. 
 
22 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the first and most important of which may be 
 enumerated those by Mr. A. Welby Pugin, to 
 whom unquestionably belongs the distinguished 
 honour and privilege of having, both by precept 
 and practice, first held up the torch of truth and 
 right feeling to the benighted votaries of the 
 classic styles. 
 
 These works, with an increase of religious 
 reverence, and our own individual convictions 
 arising from personal research and a rational view 
 of the subject, are beginning to make us wonder 
 in our turn how our ancestors could possibly have 
 been induced to import a foreign style for pur- 
 poses which the wonderful versatility of the old 
 national Gothic was abundantly competent to 
 serve. Did they suppose that halls, and bridges,* 
 and market-houses, shops, dwelling-houses, and 
 street fronts, were not wanted in the middle ages 
 just as much as in their newly enlightened times'? 
 Yet there tvas but one style then known in the 
 country, and this style most admirably supplied 
 them all.t We all admit this now, and look 
 
 * The medieval builders, though admirable and even scien- 
 tific architects, were very bad engineers. The few ancient 
 bridges we have (there is a remarkably interesting, though 
 small one, at Bury S. Edmunds,) fully bear out this remark. 
 In fact, good engineering is as much the result of our civiliza- 
 tion as good architecture was of their religion. 
 
 + See Mr. Pugin’s very ingenious work, “ An Apology for 
 Christian Architecture,” “ Ecclesiologist,” vol. i. p. 161 ; ii. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 23 
 
 with apathy at least, if not with dislike, upon 
 great heathen piles, made up perhaps of cast 
 iron, sham marble, stuccoed brick-work, and 
 plaister of Paris ornaments, like the new Fitz- 
 william Museum at Cambridge, and heartily hope 
 such tasteless things will not any more disfigure 
 our fine country and our famous Universities.* 
 
 To the Gothic style then let us now turn our 
 attention. We are all deeply interested in it, 
 and all eager to know something about it, for 
 every body is now talking of it and going here and 
 there to look at old churches and ruins with the 
 
 p. 5, &c. ; iii. p. 37, &c.,and 123. See also the powerful and 
 eloquent arguments in chap. ii. of Mr. Pugin’s “ Contrasts.” 
 
 * It is difficult to say too much or speak too strongly on 
 this subject. Apathy and indifference are the very worst 
 enemies which a good cause ever had to contend with ; and 
 the Vandalisms committed on our finest old buildings are so 
 distressing and deplorable as fully to justify these remarks. 
 To take the single instance of the University of Cambridge : 
 the Museum, Library, Senate-house, Emmanuel, Downing, S. 
 Catherine’s Hall, parts of S. Peter’s, Caius, Christ’s, King’s, 
 and Queen’s Colleges, the Library of Trinity College, the 
 Chapel of Clare Hall, the interior of the chapels of Trinity, 
 Trinity Hall, Magdalene, Jesus and Queen’s Colleges, and of 
 Great S. Mary’s Church, have all been Italianized, besides 
 numerous other parts in various places ! It is impossible not 
 to see that the authors of these misconceived designs never 
 realized the palpable truth, that “ while Grecian and Italian 
 forms have little language for the Christian mind, the architec- 
 ture of the Church speaks out in every portion and in every 
 form.” (“ The Hours,” p. ix.) 
 
24 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 keenest curiosity. To know the general princi- 
 ples is by no means difficult ; and when these 
 are attained, and we have been told how to ex- 
 amine the old Gothic piles, and what are the 
 uses and meaning of all their parts and arrange- 
 ments, we have something definite to begin upon, 
 so that by sketching, noting, comparing, and 
 discovering, we may improve ourselves wonder- 
 fully by our own exertions. It may be that even 
 the seven editions of Mr. Bloxam’s admirable 
 manual have been inadequate to supply the de- 
 mand for information ; or at least that the li- 
 terary world is wide enough to hold one more 
 little book on Ecclesiology, without encroaching 
 upon a work which of its kind could hardly be 
 better than it is. 
 
 And first, it is surely one of the most interest- 
 ing parts of the science to be able to determine 
 the dates of buildings. For each of the medie- 
 val centuries has a certain style of its own, and 
 each style again has its minor peculiarities, ac- 
 cording as it was merging out of the preceding 
 or into the succeeding period. But not to an- 
 ticipate our proposed plan of treatment, let us 
 premise a few observations on the Gothic style 
 generally, considered as the Catholic representa- 
 tive and exponent of the Mind of the Church. 
 
 It must appear to any reasoning being both 
 natural and proper that the Church should have 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 25 
 
 gradually developed for herself a peculiar, cha- 
 racteristic, and symbolical architecture, at once 
 adapted for the celebration, and conveying to the 
 moral sense of the worshipper the awful and 
 mystic meaning, of her religious rites. Thus the 
 ingenuity of man and his zeal in the service of 
 God, as well as an innate tendency to the objec- 
 tive expression of his faith, led him to design 
 structures proportionate at once to the outward 
 requirements of worship, and to the wealth, and 
 peace, and prosperity of a Christian land. It 
 seems a principle inseparable from any healthy 
 and rational view of the Church and of Religion, 
 to set apart for divine worship certain buildings, 
 and to make these buildings so much the more 
 costly and elaborately beautiful than secular ones, 
 that is, than the mere habitations of man, as 
 their uses and objects are higher, purer, and 
 more exalted. It has ever been the natural tri- 
 bute of gratitude and adoration, due from man 
 to his Maker, to consecrate the best of His gifts 
 to His honour, by erecting temples to His glory, 
 as testimonies of their piety and faith. 
 
 Such, at least, were the recognised principles 
 of the Christian Church from very early ages 
 and those persons seem incapable of realizing 
 some of the highest and purest actions and emo- 
 
 * See the account of Constantine’s Churches in Eusebius 
 (Translation of the Life of Constantine, 1845, p. 141). 
 
26 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 tions of the human mind, who, in these later 
 times, consider them but as the workings of a 
 blind superstition, and would carry us back to 
 the humble sheds and upper rooms as fit models 
 for our own places of worship, simply because 
 they were the earliest which the Church ever 
 knew. They were wiser who thought that the 
 offerings on her altars should always be propor- 
 tioned to her increasing influence, and her out- 
 ward dress accord with her spiritual dignity. We 
 know that even the Saxon churches and monaste- 
 ries were rich in golden and other precious appur- 
 tenances for the service of the sanctuary, of which 
 frequent mention is made in history : in this re- 
 spect, indeed, they undoubtedly far surpassed the 
 churches of modern times, which in England at 
 least very seldom contain any moveable article of 
 any value, either in books, vestments, plate, paint- 
 ings, or other furnitures. We may be certain of 
 this ; that meanness and parsimony in religious 
 service, disguised as it sometimes is under the 
 specious advocacy of simplicity and purity of 
 worship, or of a return to the most primitive 
 times, is a sure sign of an unsound state and un- 
 real profession of religious principles. 
 
 Not, however, to dwell longer on a position 
 which the practice of these later days may have 
 rendered it unpopular to defend, but taking the 
 fact as we find it, that the Church of the Middle 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 27 
 
 Ages, did, by a gradual development and adap- 
 tation to its wants and usages, arrive at a pecu- 
 liar kind of architecture, of amazing cost and 
 magnificence, which was founded, indeed, on most 
 primitive models, hut created by and for itself : 
 let us proceed to trace the history of that deve- 
 lopment somewhat more in detail. 
 
28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NOMENCLATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 
 STYLES. — I. THE ANGLO-ROMANESQUE. 
 
 Many are the terms adopted,* and various the 
 periods assigned by recent writers in classifying 
 the styles of English Church Architecture. To 
 suggest new methods of arrangement, and new 
 terms to express them, perhaps only tends to con- 
 fuse and perplex the elements of the science ; and 
 some of those already proposed are sufficiently 
 appropriate. We shall, therefore, select such as 
 appear to us the best, adding the dates now 
 generally received on the authority of the first 
 ecclesiologists. 
 
 The ordinary classification is under the fol- 
 lowing heads : — 
 
 1. Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 2. Norman, 
 
 3. Semi-Norman, or Transition, 
 
 4. Decorated, 
 
 5. Perpendicular, 
 
 6. Debased ; 
 
 * See them enumerated at length in Britton’s “ Architec- 
 tural Antiquities,” vol. v. chap. i. p. 31, &c. ; “ Ecclesiolo- 
 gist,” vol. i. p. 192. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 29 
 
 and these are adopted from Rickman by Mr. 
 Bloxam.* But they are somewhat too general 
 and indefinite, requiring as they do extension and 
 sub-division, before they can be said to represent 
 fully and distinctively the characteristics of each 
 style ; since the varieties introduced into any one 
 of them in the course of a century, and the in- 
 termediate or Transition steps by which one was 
 blended into the other, should be separately con- 
 sidered. 
 
 We venture to propose a more explicit no- 
 menclature of the styles by the following table, 
 accompanied by dates. 
 
 I.— ANGLO-ROMANESQUE. 
 
 1. Early British or Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 2. Ante-Norman, from about 950 to the Con- 
 
 quest. 
 
 3. Norman, 1066 to 1170. 
 
 •4. Transition, 1170 to 1200. 
 
 II. — GOTHIC. 
 
 5. First Pointed, 1200 to 1240. ! 
 
 6. Late, or Florid First Pointed, 1240 to 
 1270. 
 
 7. Geometric Middle Pointed, 1270 to 1330. 
 
 8. Complete Middle Pointed, 1330 to 1380. 
 
 * P. 20, ed. 7. 
 
30 
 
 A MANUAL OP 
 
 9. Third Pointed, 1380 to 1485. f-en , d. 
 
 10. Florid Third Pointed, 1485 to 1546. 
 
 11. Debased, or semi-classic, 1546 to 1650. 
 
 To which might be added, (to complete the 
 cycle, by bringing church architecture round again 
 nearly to the point whence it started), 
 
 12. Revived Pagan, 1650 to 1840. 
 
 In this table First Pointed is what is generally 
 called Early English ; Geometric Middle Pointed 
 is Geometric or Early Decorated ; Complete Mid- 
 dle Pointed is Pure or Flowing Decorated ; Third 
 Pointed is Perpendicular ; Florid Third Pointed 
 is Tudor. 
 
 With respect to the dates of each, it is quite 
 impossible to lay down more than a very general 
 scheme. It must not be supposed that a new 
 style came in with a new reign ; for the progress 
 of the art was from the first gradual and con- 
 tinuous, nor was it at any time or place so suddenly 
 changed by foreign importations, as to be immedi- 
 ately and entirely superseded, though often influ- 
 enced by the employment of foreign architects. 
 
 Professor Willis* is of opinion that in each 
 
 * “ Architecture of the Middle Ages,” p. 8. Mr. Hope 
 p. 212) says, “ At whatever period there happened to be in 
 the sacred architecture, either at its fountain head, or on any 
 other point, any improvement or change, the knowledge and 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 31 
 
 style we must presume tlie existence of Imitation 
 and Transition specimens, and that at the same 
 period of time, and in the same country, buildings 
 may have been in progress, some in the old style, 
 some in the new, others in every possible grada- 
 tion between them. For when any new style 
 is invented in the country where it appears, 
 we shall inevitably trace it in transition ; wherever 
 it is brought in complete, and adopted in works 
 of considerable magnitude, it becomes as it were 
 a rival, and is likely to be more or less closely 
 followed by the native architects ; though many 
 of these, through preference of their old fashion 
 or ignorance of the new, may go on building in 
 a style half a century behind others. Thus it 
 must be expected that many perplexing anoma- 
 lies will occur to us in attempting to assign 
 dates, which in fact would be inexplicable on 
 any other theory. Still on the whole each 
 country had its characteristic development.* Eng- 
 
 the adoption of the same reached every other point so rapidly, 
 as almost to appear everywhere the effect more of a general 
 simultaneous inspiration than of a progressive advancement and 
 circulation.” But, if this were strictly true, we could not 
 account for the marked national varieties mentioned below. 
 
 * This is not sufficiently attended to by modern architects ; 
 even Mr. Pugin has set the dangerous example of foreignising 
 in his churches and their decorations. True it isi-hat in the 
 Middle Ages improvements were frequently borrowed from 
 the Continent. But this is worse than needless now, for we 
 
32 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 land adhered steadily to its own peculiar Third 
 Pointed, while France was running into vagaries 
 with its versatile Flamboyant, the contemporary 
 style. 
 
 Of course very great uncertainty exists with 
 rOspect to buildings presumed to be older than 
 the Conquest. In one or two instances only 
 does history supply definite information, * and 
 so few and partial remains are supposed to exist, 
 that our sources of observation, deduction, and 
 comparison, are much too limited to build any 
 certain theory upon. There are three causes to 
 which we might fairly attribute the general ex- 
 tinction of such early remains ; the ravages of 
 the Danes, the enterprise of the middle ages 
 in rebuilding and improving, and the remote- 
 ness of time ; for who could expect to find a 
 church still standing after the lapse of twelve 
 hundred years ? Nevertheless, we strongly in- 
 
 have better ancient models of our own to follow than can be 
 procured from abroad. This is admitted by Mr. Petit, “ Re- 
 marks,” &c. vol. i. p. 13. — See Rickman, p. 37. 
 
 * There is reason for assigning about the year a.d. 640 to 
 Brixworth, and the church by Dover Castle ; about a.d. 676 
 to the tower of Monkswearmouth, Durham ; and a.d. 681 to 
 part of the church of Jarrow in the same county. See Blox- 
 am, pp. 79, 80, and “ Companion to the Glossary of Architec- 
 ture ” for other instances. By adopting the term “ Early 
 British or Saxon,” the question of date is left, as it should be, 
 quite open. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 33 
 
 cline to believe in tbe existence of not a few 
 ante-Conquest buildings, and even to class such as 
 are at present known* under two beads. The 
 first we suppose to exhibit the style in use from 
 the departure of the Romans till, perhaps, the 
 reign of King Alfred ; the second, which we 
 have called ante-Norman, contains Norman rather 
 than either Roman or barbaric elements, but yet 
 appears, from extreme rudeness and simplicity 
 of workmanship, to claim a higher antiquity 
 than the Norman Conquest. By ante-N orman 
 we therefore mean, in fact, ante-Conquest, since 
 the Norman style was not established in England 
 till that period, though it is said to have been 
 first imported by Edward the Confesssor, who 
 had resided some time on the Continent.f 
 
 One reason for this opinion arises from the 
 consideration that what we call the Norman 
 style was fully developed in France and Ger- 
 many a century before it was generally adopted 
 in England.^ To suppose, therefore, that this 
 
 * Now amounting to about sixty -five. A list is given by 
 Mr. Bloxam, p. 81. 
 
 T Bard well’s “ Temples,” p. 133. 
 
 $ Dalla way’s Essay, p. 82 ; Whewell’s “ Notes,” p. 29. 
 Probably the statement of Matthew Paris, that Edward the 
 Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey, novo compositionis ge- 
 nere, in a new style, from which (he adds) others took the idea, 
 has led Antiquaries to the hasty conclusion, that it must have 
 been totally unknown in England before. See Bloxam, p. 86. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 style was entirely unknown in this country till 
 the time of the Conquest, notwithstanding the 
 frequent intercourse of neighbouring nations, and 
 that immediately after that period it arose in 
 all its grandeur and vigour, is antecedently 
 improbable. Again, it is at least as improbable 
 that we should have a vast quantity of eccle- 
 siastical remains of the century subsequent’ v to 
 the Conquest, and scarcely any at all of that 
 immediately preceding it, even though we should 
 allow the fullest scope to the reasons already 
 adduced to account for their paucity. Thirdly, 
 there are plain documentary proofs,* that prior 
 to the Conquest, elaborate and extensive build- 
 ings of carved stone were erected; and it is 
 remarkable how well the descriptions accord, in 
 some points, with what we consider Norman 
 work. It is, therefore, very probable that many 
 buildings remain, not clearly distinguishable from 
 Norman work, which nevertheless were erected 
 before the Normans had gained a footing in Eng- 
 land. However, it must be observed, first, that 
 buildings known to have been erected shortly 
 before a.d. 1100, are all of the rudest description, 
 and without ornament ; secondly, that the evi- 
 dences afforded by Saxon MSS., coins, paintings 
 
 * See Bentham’s “ Ely,” p. 17, &c. ; Bard well, p. 127 ; 
 Britton’s “ Architectural Antiquities,” vol. v. chap. ii. ; “ Ec- 
 clesiologist,” iii. p. 1 39. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 35 
 
 and sculptures,* seem rather to point to a very 
 primitive kind of designs, quite unlike the Nor- 
 man, though themselves in some instances not 
 of earlier date than the year 1000. Yet we 
 may fairly conclude, that even if the Norman 
 style was not then altogether unknown in 
 England, the great majority of churches, which 
 would of course supply the copyists with the most 
 familiar examples, were of the older Saxon 
 construction. 
 
 Some churches exist where Norman work is 
 joined into structures which are evidently of a 
 much earlier date. Thus at Clee, near Grimsby, 
 the church consists of three distinct periods ; 
 early First-pointed, Norman, and a very rude 
 and primitive tower. In this church a dedi- 
 cation inscription remains,! and with the date 
 1192, which evidently refers to the early pointed 
 work. Probably at this period the tower, earlier 
 by two styles, was a very ancient one. So also 
 
 * See the curious illustrations of the Saxon MS. of Caed- 
 mon in the “Archaeologia,” vol. xxiv. p. 329, &c. ; and in the 
 Benedictionale of S. iEthelwold, ibid. pp. 53, 57 ; also “Ar- 
 chaeological Journal,” vol. i. p. 25. There is an interesting 
 paper on Saxon churches by Mr. Rickman, “Archaeologia,” 
 vol. xxvi. p. 26. 
 
 T See “ Ecclesiologist,” vol. iii. p. 138. It is given, but 
 incorrectly represented, in the “ Companion to the Glossary of 
 Architecture,” ed. 2. p. 70. 
 
36 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 at Barnack, and Sompting,* Sussex. In such 
 cases no reasonable doubt can be entertained 
 that the oldest part of the fabric dates from 
 Saxon times ; for there is this argument to 
 confirm external evidence : that a church partly 
 pulled down in the Norman era was most pro- 
 bably at the time a very old one. 
 
 It must have occurred to ecclesiologists as an 
 extraordinary fact, that however rude and semi- 
 barbarous our Saxon remains appear to be, still 
 they have quite as well defined a character as 
 any other, and that the very same peculiarities 
 of construction occur in all the known existing 
 specimens, or nearly so. This circumstance shows 
 that even at that very early age church-building 
 was a systematized science ;f and we must infer, 
 from the remarkable similarity, in some points 
 at least, of all these specimens, either that they 
 are all pretty nearly contemporaneous, or that 
 the very same style continued in use for some 
 centuries. 
 
 * “Archaeological Journal,” i. p. 32. The singular gabled 
 roof of the tower at Sompting resembles that of the Roman- 
 esque church of the Apostles at Cologne (Petit, vol. i. chap, 
 iv.), and other German examples. 
 
 + Mr. Hope (p. 216) inclines to believe in the existence of 
 freemasonry as early as the seventh century. In the “Ar- 
 chaeologia,” vol. vi. p. 41, is an engraving of a Saxon inscrip- 
 tion at Aldborough Church, Yorkshire, which bears a Free- 
 mason’s mark. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 37 
 
 That such churches as Barnack, Earl’s Barton, 
 Barton on the Humber, Brixworth, Monkswear- 
 mouth, Jarrow, S. Benet’s, Cambridge, &c., are of 
 genuine Saxon date we do not entertain the slight- 
 est doubt, and we are rather surprised that their 
 age should have been so pertinaciously questioned.* 
 Why should they not be as old as this 1 They 
 are all of a style quite peculiar, quite distinct 
 from any other, rude, unscientific, primitive both 
 in construction and appearance. What we have 
 called ante-Norman bears more decided marks 
 of approach to the plain and heavy Horman 
 work in use shortly after the time of the Con- 
 quest, as the transepts of Ely Cathedral. To 
 this second period we incline to refer the tower 
 of S. Benet’s, Lincoln, the seven Lincolnshire 
 churches described and illustrated in the Eccle- 
 siologist, f S. Mary Bishophill Junior, York, % 
 Wittering, and Daglingworth, Gloucestershire. 
 We have a very strong suspicion that parts of 
 
 * The author of the article on this subject in the “ Glossary 
 of Architecture ” seems very desirous to prove that they are 
 not generally so ancient. Our own opinion is, that the evi- 
 dence is, on the whole, decidedly in favour of a very remote 
 antiquity. 
 
 f Vol. iii. p. 138. 
 
 J Ibid. vol. i. p. 190. These eight churches were first 
 pointed out as probably of ante-Norman date by the author of 
 this work. To these may be added the towers of Great Dunham 
 and Newton Churches, Norfolk, which are decidedly Saxon. 
 
38 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 churches of this era (say from the time of Alfred 
 to the Conquest,) are not quite so scarce as is ge- 
 nerally supposed. Arches and doorways, square- 
 edged and plain, without shafts, and having 
 only a rude and perhaps coarsely ornamented 
 impost, occur often enough. We have seen many 
 belfry arches of this kind — a portion of a church 
 which is likely to have been preserved in rebuild- 
 ing the rest of the tower. An example of this 
 
 
 DOORWAY, LTTTX-E ABUJODON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 
 
 sort of masonry occurs in the north doorway of 
 Little Abingdon church, Cambridgeshire. The 
 ornaments on the imposts are the star and the 
 billet-mouldings,* and therefore it is not Saxon 
 
 * Mr. Hope, p. 192, says that the ornaments we commonly 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 39 
 
 work properly so called. Nevertheless, there are 
 other marks about this edifice of a very early 
 period. The arch is semicircular, square-edged, 
 and rudely constructed in a thick wall. 
 
 Without insisting upon the early date of this 
 description of work, we would suggest that at- 
 tention should always he paid to it, in the hope 
 of finding collateral proofs of its antiquity in 
 other parts of the fabric. 
 
 The principal features of Saxon work have so 
 often and so fully been detailed that we shall 
 only briefly recapitulate them in this place. 
 
 1. Towers. — Without buttresses or staircase. 
 Usually divided into two stages by a square- 
 edged string-course. Distinguished by a pecu- 
 liar masonry called long-and-short work at the 
 angles, that is, by oblong quoins placed alter- 
 nately upright and horizontal. Sometimes inter- 
 sected vertically or transversely by stone ribs, 
 slightly projecting, apparently in imitation of 
 timber structures. Masonry of very coarse rag- 
 
 but improperly call Norman, the chevron, lozenge, cable, and 
 billet, are common to all Italian buildings of the seventh 
 century. This is a great argument in favour of our “ ante- 
 Norman ” theory. He has met with them all represented in 
 a Syriac MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence, written 
 a.d. 586 (p. 264). We may add that it has been stated 
 (“ Archseologia,” vol. xix. p. 314) that there was a consider- 
 able affectation of the Norman customs and language even 
 before the invasion of the Conqueror. 
 
40 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 stone, or flint, occasionally intermixed with Roman 
 brick. 
 
 2. Arches and Doorways. — Either triangular 
 or circular -headed with plain projecting imposts, 
 and sometimes a square-edged hood continued be- 
 low, as at Earl’s Barton. Belfry arches have rude 
 and unshapely imposts, either in the fashion of 
 Roman architraves, as at Barnack,* or cut into 
 
 8. BENE'l’s, CAMBRIDGE (INTERIOR). 
 
 a kind of capital, as at S. Benet’s, Cambridge. 
 A rib or strip supports them, generally based 
 on a heavy and rough plinth, or mass of rock. 
 
 3. Windows. — Small and rude, the narrowest 
 part in the centre of the wall, that is, splayed 
 
 * This bears a most striking resemblance to the impost of 
 a doorway in the Palace of Theodoric at Ravenna of the fifth 
 century. See Gaily Knight’s Italy, vol. i. plate 15. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 41 
 
 alike within and without. Belfry windows usu- 
 ally of two lights, the arch of each often of a 
 single stone, supported in the centre by a mid- 
 wall shaft or balluster,* as in S. Benet’s, Cam- 
 bridge, where it has rude annular mouldings. 
 This kind of belfry-window is the most striking 
 and frequently-occurring mark of Saxon date. 
 Sometimes, as at S. Mary Bishophill Junior, 
 York, and Monkswearmouth, a hood of square 
 rib-work, supported on jutting stone ends, is 
 carried quite round, as above described in cer- 
 tain doorways. Some arches, as at S. Michael’s, 
 S. Alban’s, and in part of the south choir aisle 
 at Bipon Cathedral, are plain semicircular, set 
 square in the wall, or slightly chamfered, and se- 
 parated from each other by a massive wall-pier, 
 with plain projecting imposts at the spring. 
 
 4. Ornaments or Sculptures. — Plain crosses 
 in relief, or stones with circular holes, intertwin- 
 ing foliage, or rude animals, worked in them, 
 built into the wall. Coarsely fluted imposts 
 occur in two or three instances. But the ab- 
 sence of all ornament is itself a presumption of 
 antiquity. 
 
 These five characteristics, Boman bricks, long- 
 and-short work, rib-work, balluster shafts, and 
 triangular-headed arches, may be considered the 
 
 * Professor Willis (Hist. Canterbury, p. 30) says these 
 balluster shafts are directly copied from the Roman Campanili. 
 
42 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 best criteria of Saxon structures. Ancient coat- 
 ings of stucco or rough-cast may conceal Saxon 
 features. 
 
 A portion of the Cathedral church of Ripon, 
 a small apsidal chapel above the charnel-house 
 or crypt, at the east end of the south aisle of 
 the choir, has been cited as a specimen of Saxon 
 work. It is possibly part of the original church 
 of S. Wilfrid, erected shortly before a.d. 700,* 
 though the style seems ante-Norman rather than 
 of the genuine Saxon kind.t 
 
 At the retired village of Heysham, a few 
 miles from Lancaster, is a craggy rock, jutting 
 into the sea. On its crest stands a small lonely 
 ruin — the chapel of Saxon ascetics a thousand 
 years ago. Such at least we would fain believe 
 it to be from the character of its masonry and 
 its singular doorway. On each side of it are 
 
 * Apsidal aisles are in themselves marks of very remote 
 antiquity; Whewell’s Notes, p. 62. The church of Mel- 
 bourne, Derbyshire, originally had three eastern apses (Ar- 
 chaeologia, xiii. p. 290.) 
 
 The singular subterranean crypt called S. Wilfrid's 
 Needle , which extends under the east end of the nave, is now 
 perhaps seldom visited. It is an awful winding passage or 
 catacomb, terminating in a small cell of truly penitential ap- 
 pearance, and divided by a partition stone with a hole in it, 
 to be drawn through which is popularly" considered to be a test 
 of virginity. There seems to have been a similar place in 
 Peterborough Cathedral. “ At the south end of this north 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 43 
 
 rows of stone coffins, or rather trenches hewn 
 in the solid rock, now bare and empty, and 
 startingly conspicuous to the view on the first 
 ascent to the summit. A solemn memorial this of 
 the discipline and penitential seclusion practised 
 in the early Church ! 
 
 Some of the round towers of Norfolk and Suf- 
 folk exhibit marks of great antiquity, especially 
 in the belfry arches. But we have met with 
 none decidedly anterior to the Conquest, and 
 the great majority of them are of a much later 
 era.* Their peculiar form is entirely owing to 
 the material of which they are composed, flint 
 and rubble, the circular masonry not requiring 
 quoins, which were evidently difficult to procure; 
 for the observer may notice in these churches 
 many ingenious methods of economising ashlar 
 in the construction of doorways and windows. 
 
 Isle (i. e. Transept), near the Quire, is a vault descending into 
 the ground by stairs of stone, and at the bottom a low arched 
 passage going under the church, wherein any might go some 
 five or six yards, and there find the way stopped with the fall 
 of the earth overhead ; but how far further this vault went, 
 or to what end it was first made, I could never learn. Haply 
 it might lead to some penitential purgatorian place ; or, like 
 Mortimer's hole at Nottingham , he a subterraneous passage to 
 some other buildings which are now perished.” Gunton's 
 “ History of Peterburgh,” p. 102. A similar crypt exists at 
 Hexham, also Bishop Wilfrid’s work. Bloxam, p. 71. 
 
 * See “ Archseologia,” vol. xxiii. p. 10. 
 
44 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Cylindrical roll-mouldings occur in the chancel 
 arch at Wittering, and in one or two other in- 
 stances, as Sompting. But this feature appears 
 characteristic of the ante-Xorman rather than 
 of Saxon work.* 
 
 The Norman style might conveniently be di- 
 vided into the Early and the Enriched, were it 
 not that the principles are the same in both 
 kinds, 1 and that the mere addition of ornament 
 is an accident rather than a characteristic dis- 
 tinction. Hence, although this style embraces 
 the very plainest and the very richest specimens 
 of work, from the low massive columns and 
 
 * By a mistake, this woodcut has been reduced from Mr. 
 Bloxam’s, instead of from an original drawing in elevation 
 made to a scale. 
 
 t Whewell’s “ Architectural Notes,” p. 280 
 
 CHANCEL ARCH, WITTERING, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 45 
 
 square-edged arches of Rochester and Ely Cathe- 
 drals, to the florid decoration of Kilpeck church, 
 Herefordshire, and from the plain arched aper- 
 ture in the wall to the seven-fold moulded orders 
 of the chancel arch at Tickencote, Rutland, — 
 still one description comprises alike the essential 
 features of both. 
 
 “ When the barbarous grandeur of the Romans 
 caused them, at the expense of simplicity, to 
 substitute the arch for the epistylium (or ar- 
 chitrave), they did not attempt to ornament 
 it appropriately , but only gave it the appearance 
 of a bent architrave * leaving to our Gothic 
 architects the full development of its powers. 
 The next step after the introduction of the 
 arch was the springing of semicircular arches 
 from the capitals of pillars without the inter- 
 vention of the epistylium, and here we recognise 
 the incipient Gothic. ”t 
 
 This breaking up of the horizontal line of en- 
 tablature surmounting the Grecian column, with- 
 out at the same time losing its interrupted out- 
 line, is in great measure what imparts that ap- 
 pearance of horizontality to Norman architec- 
 ture, which the pointing of the arch, the subor- 
 dination of the capitals, and the continuity of 
 
 * The sub-arches in recessed Norman archways are derived 
 from the fascice or overlapping courses of the classic architrave. 
 
 t Bardwell's “ Temples,” p. 147. 
 
46 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 mouldings from the base to the crown, convert- 
 ed into the directly opposite, the vertical, prin- 
 ciple. The prominence of the heavy abacus, and 
 the semicircular form of the arch, are not sug- 
 gestive of ascendancy. The thickness of the piers 
 only gives the notion of an isolated piece of wall, 
 and they do not, like the slender clustered column, 
 carry the eye involuntarily upwards. Their 
 breadth bears that proportion to their height, 
 that the latter idea does not particularly pre- 
 dominate over and subdue the former. Hence 
 the Norman style, retaining classical principles 
 without classical gracefulness of proportion, must 
 be considered a clumsy, unwieldly, undeveloped 
 conception ; ugly when very plain, barbaric 
 when much enriched ; grand in respect of 
 bulk, solidity, endurance ; heavy in respect of 
 component parts ; not pliant and versatile 
 like the Gothic, but stubborn and unyield- 
 ing in its nature for the necessities of com- 
 position The windows of the early period (there 
 are two or three in their original state in the 
 east wall of the north transept at Ely,) seem to 
 have been of the plainest description, simple 
 semicircular-headed apertures, slightly splayed 
 within. The addition of side shafts* and cen- 
 
 * Perhaps one of the earliest examples of this use is in the 
 clerestory of S. Sepulchre’s, Cambridge. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 47 
 
 tral or dividing column was not perhaps in- 
 troduced till after a.d. 1100, though the latter 
 alone occurs in Saxon windows. The addition 
 of jamb-shafts and a moulded archway either 
 within or without, or both, was a great improve- 
 ment, as in S. Mary’s chapel, Stourbridge, near 
 Cambridge. 
 
 The aperture of this window is unusually 
 narrow in proportion to its height. Many Nor- 
 man windows are little more than twice as high 
 as they are wide, which gives an unsightly ap- 
 
48 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 pearance, as at Waltham Abbey, Essex.* In 
 fact few things are uglier than a plain Norman 
 light of this kind. Those at Byland Abbey 
 are of immense size. At S. Cross Hospital the 
 jambs and arches are enriched with the chevron 
 both within and without, there being neither 
 shafts nor impost. 
 
 Nevertheless, Norman windows are always sub- 
 ordinate, and not primary features in the fabric, 
 as in the Middle and Third Pointed styles. 
 
 The chancel archway of S. Giles’ church, Cam- 
 bridge, is known to have been erected about a.d. 
 1090. It is simply an arched aperture set rect- 
 angularly in the wall, with a square hood or label 
 round the arch, and block imposts ornamented 
 with the star moulding. Ely, Lincoln, and 
 Winchester Cathedrals, South Lopham Church, 
 Norfolk, and Waltham Abbey, have portions 
 of Norman work about this date. 
 
 The single arch is usually a mark of very 
 early date. The thickness of Norman walls being 
 considerable, a concentric rib or sub-arch was 
 in most cases attached to the soffit of the first, 
 so that each side presented a graduated appear- 
 ance. The faces were, in the later style, often 
 ornamented with surface mouldings, or the edges 
 chamfered or worked in rolls, or the sub-arch 
 
 * Engraved in Brandon’s “Analysis,” part ix. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 49 
 
 rounded off into a semicircle.* The capital was 
 often notched out to suit the bearings of these 
 two orders. Rarely (as at S. Sepulchre’s, Cam- 
 bridge,) it was circular, like the shaft of the 
 column. 
 
 The florid Norman, t though almost equally 
 heavy in its composition, was frequently amaz- 
 ingly rich and elaborate in sculptured detail. 
 In many cases every part, especially in arches 
 and doorways, is quite covered with ornament, 
 even to the shafts, the capitals, and the soffits, 
 as in the ruined conventual church near Ely 
 Cathedral. It might be difficult to specify more 
 finished examples of rich Norman work than 
 the interior of S. Peter’s, Northampton, especi- 
 ally the belfry arch ; but very fine archways 
 remain at Tickencote, Rutland ; Stoneleigh, War- 
 wickshire ; Tutbury, Staffordshire; Heckingham, 
 Norfolk j J Malmsbury Abbey ; Middle Rasen and 
 Sempringham, Lincolnshire ; and Castle Ashby, 
 Northamptonshire. And a vast number of highly 
 elaborate doorways exist in different parts of 
 the kingdom, this part of a Norman church being 
 
 * See this more fully explained in the “ Manual of Gothic 
 Mouldings,” chap. ii. p. 17. 
 
 t Mr. Petit (yol. i. p. 19) says that the richest specimens of 
 Norman work are to be found in England. 
 
 X Engraved, with many other beautiful examples, in Cot- 
 man’s Architectural Etchings. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 usually the most gorgeously enriched, and per- 
 haps for this very reason the most carefully pre- 
 served and respected by the architects of the 
 succeeding ages. 
 
 Grotesque sculpture (whether symbolical or ca- 
 pricious it is very difficult to decide) forms 
 a conspicuous part of Norman decoration. In 
 fonts, capitals, corbel heads, door-jambs, &c., 
 almost every conceivable travestie of man, birds, 
 beasts, fish, reptiles, trees, and plants, may be found 
 quaintly represented.* Detached statuary scarce- 
 ly occurs ; but figures of Saints in relief are not 
 uncommon, especially over doorways, as at Adel, 
 Yorkshire; Hadiscoe, Norfolk ; Elstow, Bedford- 
 shire. Of this some good specimens remain at 
 Fletton near Peterburgh. In Caistor church, 
 not far from the same city, the capitals of the 
 columns supporting the tower have figures of 
 Norman warriors, hunters, and other devices. 
 But it would fill a volume to particularize 
 Norman ornaments. Those who are curious in 
 the subject cannot do better than consult Mr. 
 Lewis’s beautifully illustrated work on Kilpeck 
 Church. 
 
 Many Norman doorways have the arch filled 
 up by a solid stone, which is generally called 
 
 * The Sagittarius , or mounted archer, should particularly be 
 looked for, as it denotes that the fabric was built in the reign 
 of King Stephen. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 51 
 
 the tympanum , and is often adorned by sculp- 
 tures of the Saviour, Angels, Saints, or animals. 
 Sometimes the figure of our Lord is enclosed in 
 the oval form called the Vesica Piscis ,* (which 
 some have thought the origin of the pointed arch,) 
 more properly the aureole , t or glory surrounding 
 entire forms, as the nimbus surrounded the heads 
 of divine or sainted Beings. A doorway of this 
 kind remains at Essendine, Rutland, which has 
 often been engraved, and for the first time in 
 John Carter’s folio ; where it is represented in 
 a much more perfect state than it will now be 
 
 * This is a most ancient mystic figure. It is found in 
 Egyptian architecture (Bardwell’s Temples, p. 59), and is 
 represented in several basilican mosaics. We observe it in 
 Saxon MSS (Archaeologia, vol. xxiv. pp. 53, 57), and in 
 all periods of Christian architecture. The name Vesica Piscis 
 is an unmeaning one ; Mr. Hope (p. 163) calls it “the rough 
 outline of the fish.” In a singularly ingenious paper in the 
 Archaeologia, (vol. xix. p. 353, &c.) an attempt is made to 
 show that the principle of all Gothic composition was based on 
 the Vesica Piscis. 
 
 T See an excellent and interesting paper on this subject in 
 vol. i. of the Archaeological Journal, p. 73. We do not agree 
 with the writer in his opinion (p. 77) that the figure is not a 
 mystical one. The nimbus is often represented on Norman 
 sculptures, and the frequency of its occurrence in stained glass, 
 &c., may make it interesting to some of our readers to under- 
 stand its real origin. “ The Pagan fashion of protecting the 
 heads of deities, often, even in temples, exposed to the outer 
 air, from the insults of birds, each by a metal discus, had by 
 
52 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 found. At Ely is a very fine specimen on the 
 south side of the nave ; others are engraved in 
 the Archaeological Journal, vol. i. pp. 124, 233. 
 At Little Bytham, Lincolnshire, there are cocks 
 sculptured over the doorway. This bird symbol- 
 ises the Resurrection, and S. Peter’s Fall, whence 
 it has surmounted church towers, on their highest 
 point, for at least a thousand years, as we know 
 from Saxon MSS. It occurs on a Saxon sculpture 
 in the tower of Barnack church. Sometimes the 
 tympanum is perfectly plain, sometimes roughen- 
 ed with the hatched or scallop moulding. 
 
 Very fine specimens of Norman doorways with 
 sculptured tympana are figured in the Archaeolo- 
 gia, (vol. x. p. 128,) from Queenington church, 
 
 degrees so associated with that head-piece an idea of dignity, 
 that the Christians adopted the form in order to mark, even 
 in painting, the character of saintship : thence the nimbus 
 introduced over saints in the more ancient paintings and mo- 
 saics, so far from being intended to represent a mere aureole 
 or glory of intangible rays emanating from the wearer himself, 
 is only .-he representation of a solid platter of silver or gold, 
 often adorned with scrolls, foliage, gems, &c., fitting the skull.” 
 Hope, p. 155. Hence the origin of the diapered nimbus. It 
 is well known that the nimbus quartered with the cross is 
 properly confined to the figure of our Saviour, or that of the 
 other Divine Persons. Mr. Gilbert French, of Bolton-le- 
 Moors, ingeniously conjectures that this cross is the optical 
 appearance perceived on viewing a candle or other bright point 
 with half-closed eyes, as though the Divine countenance were 
 too shining for unveiled sight. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 53 
 
 Gloucestershire.* On one of these the Saviour 
 is represented crowning the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 A very curious doorway remains in S. Margaret’s 
 church, York, with the signs of the zodiac among 
 a variety of other ornaments. We annex a spe- 
 
 NORMAN DOORWAY, PAIGNTON. 
 
 cimen of a good parochial Norman doorway from 
 Paignton, Devonshire. 
 
 * Many more examples of the like kind are enumerated 
 and described by Mr. Bloxam, p. 93, &c., ed. 7. It is 
 rather interesting to remark that this doorway controverts the 
 statement of Mr. Bloxam, p. 143, that “we do not find at 
 this early period the image of S. Mary bearing in her arms 
 the infant Christ, or occupying a position over the entrance 
 into a church or elsewhere ; which, in the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries, more especially during the latter period, 
 we may observe her image to have possessed.” The Blessed 
 
54 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 The principal features of the Norman style 
 may he summed up generally in tlpe following 
 brief account: — Massive, low, heavy pillars, some- 
 times round, sometimes octagonal, frequently mere 
 masses of wall notched into angular recesses,* 
 each containing a detached shaft ; a vast variety 
 of surface sculpture, and of ornamental mould- 
 ings, as the chevron, or zig-zag,t the star, the 
 embattled, the indented, the billet, the cable, 
 the beak-head, for which the reader is requested 
 to consult the accurate engravings in Mr. Blox- 
 am’s workj and the Glossary of Architecture. 
 A general prevalence of horizontal rather than 
 
 Virgin and Child are sculptured on the Norman font at Scul- 
 thorpe, Norfolk, and altars were consecrated to her worship in 
 the middle of the eleventh century (Willis’s Canterbury, 
 p. 12); i. e. even at the time of the Conquest. 
 
 * “A common form is a square, with one or more rectan- 
 gular recesses at each corner, with a small circular shaft in 
 each, and a larger one, semicircular, on two (or on each) of 
 the faces.” — Glossary of Architecture, i. p. 285. 
 
 + This is the commonest moulding; in arches, every vous- 
 soir, or 'arch-stone, has one chevron worked on the face; so 
 that, when mitred together, the different widths of the stones 
 cause the moulding to run very irregularly. Mr. Hope (p. 
 263) shows that Norman mouldings are all imitated from the 
 patterns of early brick masonry, set in variously protuberant 
 and decorative courses. 
 
 X P. 135. It will be observed that many of the Norman 
 mouldings are purely heraldic, and there does not appear to 
 be any mystical or symbolical meaning in them. The uni- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 55 
 
 of vertical lines; arches considerably recessed, 
 each order having an edge-roll, as in the nave 
 of Peterburgh Cathedral, or with the scallop 
 or chevron moulding, &c., the latter sometimes 
 set with the points jutting outwards from the 
 wall or soffit ; capitals with ponderous square 
 abacus, often chamfered on the under side, and 
 with the edges ornamented ; the member next 
 below, the supporting block or cushion , va- 
 riously rounded or bevilled away to meet the 
 circular shaft. A very frequent use of ar- 
 cades, both within and without, often carried 
 in tiers, row above row, to a great height, even 
 to the parapet and clerestory, as in the tower 
 and south-west wing of Ely Cathedral. These 
 arcades sometimes intersect, distinctly suggest- 
 ing the pointed arch* in the segments resting 
 directly on the columns ; and very often the 
 columns or bearing shafts are set double, or even 
 triple, one behind the other, as at Castle Ris- 
 ing ; at other times they form mere panels, the 
 
 formity of their use in all parts shows how perfectly church 
 architecture was systematised at that early period. Even in 
 the Norman buildings of Sicily, the same ornaments are in 
 great measure preserved. See the beautiful folio of plates 
 illustrating Mr. Gaily Knight’s “ Normans in Sicily.” 
 
 * Not that there is any truth in the fanciful theory that this 
 was the origin of the form. Mr. Hope (p. 339) well remarks 
 that the use of the compasses in any architect’s study must, over 
 and over again, have suggested the shape of the pointed arch. 
 
56 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 great length of the shafts bearing no proportion 
 to the diminutive arches, which seem squeezed 
 together as if crowded as many as possible into 
 a narrow space, as in the Transepts at Norwich. 
 This principle continued in the First Pointed 
 
 row span, even by stilting the arch to a consider- 
 able degree, that is, by making it more than a 
 semicircle, or placing the capital below the centre. 
 
 In Norman arcades it was a favourite practice 
 to ornament each capital differently, as may be 
 observed in the choir of Bolton Abbey, or to 
 leave tlmm alternately plain, as at Canterbury. 
 Sometimes large structures, as entire fa£ades 
 and towers ( as that at Caistor, Northampton- 
 shire,) were enriched with arcades, circular ori- 
 fices, hatched or escalloped ornaments, &c., so in- 
 termixed with pilasters, shafted windows, strings, 
 and corbel tables, as to leave nothing plain. 
 The masonry was of small wide-jointed ashlar, 
 each piece not larger than a man might easily 
 
 ARCADE. ELY CATHEDRAL. 
 
 style, in which, however, 
 the extremely acute point 
 allowed a very narrow 
 arch to be carried up 
 to a height, and there- 
 fore to gain a prominence, 
 which of course could not 
 be obtained in the semi- 
 circular form with a nar- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 57 
 
 lift. Towers were roofed with pyramidal tiled 
 or shingled caps, with overhanging eaves, as at 
 Careby, Lincolnshire. But wooden spires covered 
 with lead seem also to have been used by the 
 Normans, as at East Meon, Hampshire ; Bourn, 
 Cambridgeshire, and formerly on the west tower 
 at Ely.* 
 
 Turrets were finished off with conical cappings 
 of stone, generally octangular, but also round 
 and square. These are of very imposing form, 
 and the origin of both the Gothic spire and the 
 pinnacle. At Worcester Cathedral they are so 
 light and lofty as to assume the character of 
 spires. But in a great many cases the stone 
 capping has been removed, as in the south-west 
 transept at Ely Cathedral, and battlements sub- 
 stituted, to the great detriment of the outline 
 and character of the building. Yery fine and per- 
 fect specimens of the Norman capped turret still 
 remain on each side of the apse of Peterburgh 
 Cathedral. 
 
 Buttresses were not yet introduced. In fact 
 there was not yet that necessity for them which be- 
 came manifest in later work. In place of them 
 shallow strips of projecting masonry, commonly 
 called pilasters, run up between doors and win- 
 dows, and generally sink at a level into the corbel 
 table or blocking-course below the parapet, thus 
 * Millers’ Ely, p. 37. 
 
58 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 dividing a wall into gigantic panels. These 
 pilaster-strips are often ornamented at the an- 
 gles by being rounded off into the semblance 
 of shafts ;* and they are broken into one or more 
 stages by plain, chevroned, or hatched string- 
 courses carried round them. (A specimen of 
 the latter is seen underneath the window in page 
 47.) To make up for the absence of buttresses, 
 a vast thickness of walling was adopted, but 
 very unsuccessfully for resisting the weight of 
 vaulting,'|' and for two reasons : first, because the 
 walls were never of solid ashlar within, but filled 
 up with loose rubble, gravel, flints, and coarse 
 mortar of very little adhesion ; secondly, because 
 buttresses, subsequently placed at the points of 
 thrust, relieved the entire line of walling from 
 the general stress, which often throws the whole 
 side of a Norman church out of the perpendicu- 
 lar, as the north aisle of the nave at Peterburgh. 
 
 * This was also done in the corners of rectangular build- 
 ings, as at Stourbridge and Hauxton, near Cambridge. 
 
 + The pressure of Norman vaulting is straight downwards 
 on the walls, that of pointed vaulting oblique, or lateral (See 
 Hope, p. 312). Yet, from bad construction, or other causes, 
 Norman vaults have a great tendency to push outwards the 
 supporting walls. The aisle of S. Sepulchre’s, Cambridge, 
 actually fell down from this cause just before its late restora- 
 tion. Thus some resistance has been proved by the result to 
 be wanting, though the want might not be known or suspect- 
 ed at the time. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 5 9 
 
 Corbel tables are ornamental fringes of ser- 
 rated projecting masonry, carried below the para- 
 pets or stages of any building. They assume 
 several forms, and 
 became highly en- 
 riched in the First 
 Pointed style. But 
 Norman corbel ta- 
 bles are usually 
 some variety of the 
 undy or wavy out- 
 line ; the annexed 
 specimen from one corbel table, eh. 
 
 of the monastic buildings at Ely is late in the 
 style, as appears from the trefoiled form.* 
 
 The plan of Norman churches seems to have 
 generally been cruciform, with central tower, 
 or longitudinal, nave and chancel with tower 
 between them, thus forming internally a triple 
 division, often without aisles in the smaller paro- 
 chial edifices, and in not a few instances apsi- 
 dal at the east end.f In a great many churches 
 
 * Mr. Hope (p. 230) refers to a MS. of the tenth century 
 in the library of Salisbury Cathedral, in which trefoiled arches 
 are represented alternately with triangular-headed or Saxon. 
 A Norman trefoil-headed doorway, from Nately Church, 
 Hampshire, is represented in Brandon’s Analysis, part ii. 
 
 + The apsidal form went almost entirely out of use in 
 parochial churches after the Norman era ; a fact which it 
 
60 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 portions of Norman walling, string-courses, win- 
 dows, and other details may be detected, where 
 the fabric has been so overlaid with subsequent 
 alterations as to entirely obliterate the original 
 character, as at Coton and Haslingfield, near 
 Cambridge. However, many little gems of Nor- 
 man architecture still remain in their perfect 
 state, or with but little alteration, as Barfreston, 
 Kilpeck, Stourbridge Chapel, near Cambridge, 
 Adel, Lastingham, and Goodmanham, Yorkshire, 
 Stewkley, Bucks, and Tickencote, till it was 
 spoiled by being nearly rebuilt half a century 
 ago. Others, as Iffley and Castle Rising, have 
 some considerable alterations of a later age. The 
 little Norman chapel at Shobdon, Herefordshire, 
 of the most curiously elaborate description, was 
 demolished as recklessly as that at Tickencote, in 
 the middle of the last century.* Very many 
 more churches have the external shell entirely 
 rebuilt, but retain within the most beautiful 
 Norman nave and chancel arches. When we re- 
 gard the evidences of existing remains, we are 
 
 seems hopeless to impress upon modern architects. A much 
 worse fault is terminating a church with an apse instead of a 
 chancel. The apse is an addition to, often a separate part of, 
 a chancel, as at Kilpeck and Birkin (Churches of York- 
 shire, No. vi). Early English apses occur at Eynsford, Kent, 
 and Tidmarsh, Berkshire. 
 
 * See an account and illustrations of the remains in the 
 Archaeological Journal, vol. i. p. 233. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 61 
 
 filled with wonder at the vast number of churches, 
 both small and great, which the Normans erected 
 in a single century. Then let us contrast the 
 total number of churches rebuilded or erected 
 between a.d. 1700 and 1800, and be ashamed, 
 as we justly may, at the comparison. 
 
 Vaults * form a most important subject for 
 study and observation in the Norman style, in 
 which instances are particularly numerous. 
 
 A vault is a stone roof to a church or other 
 apartment of any size or shape, constructed on 
 the principle of the arch, so as to be borne 
 aloft without the aid of intervening pillars.f 
 
 “ In a vaulted church we have in general one 
 vault which runs longitudinally along the church ; 
 and the upper windows open into the sides of 
 this longitudinal vault by shorter vaulted spaces, 
 which, running perpendicularly to the length 
 
 * The reader who would understand this complex subject 
 is particularly referred to the scientific but easily intelligible 
 accounts in the architectural works of Professors Whewell and 
 Willis. There is also a good introductory paper on vault- 
 ing by Charles Ellicott, M.A., in the Transactions of the Cam- 
 bridge Camden Society, part iii. p. 187, &c. 
 
 + Though systems of vaulting often spring from central 
 pillars, and with the finest effect. Let any unprejudiced person 
 compare the cloister under the dormitory of Fountains Abbey 
 with the not dissimilar alley under the Pagan library of Tri- 
 nity College, Cambridge, and say which he thinks the cleverer 
 and better design. 
 
62 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of the building, may be called transverse vaults.”* 
 Thus the intersection of the longitudinal and 
 transverse vaults may be compared to that of a 
 nave and transepts. 
 
 Now in covering a square or rectangular space 
 with a stone vault, the most simple of all methods 
 is to turn a semi-cylindrical arch resting on two 
 sides, like that of a drain, sewer, or tunnel. 
 This is called a barrel or waggon vault, and is the 
 most primitive form, though not much in use 
 in England. An example, however, occurs in 
 the early Norman building called the White Cha- 
 pel in the Tower of London. In a perfectly 
 square space it is obvious that such vaults 
 may spring from the opposite sides both ways , 
 cutting each other in the middle ; and thus the 
 single becomes a double or complex vault. This 
 method is called Roman Vaulting .t Here we 
 might begin the work by constructing stone 
 ribs, capable of supporting themselves on the 
 ordinary principles of the voussoirs of an arch, 
 
 * Whewell’s Architectural Notes, p. 52. 
 
 *)* Whewell, p. 53. A very ingenious method of vaulting, 
 by a series of transverse cylindrical compartments, the sides of 
 which spring from walls spanning the nave by arches from 
 pier to the opposite pier, is sketched by Mr. Petit, vol. i. p. 
 62, from the Abbey of Toumus on the Saone. The earliest 
 vaults have no groin-ribs, as in the aisles of Norwich 
 Cathedral. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 63 
 
 springing from the four corners of the square, 
 and meeting in the centre, where the common 
 keystone would be marked by some sculptured 
 pendant or surface ornament, called a boss. Then 
 these cells, or spaces between the ribs, are filled 
 up by a thin course of rag-stone, or brick, clunch, 
 tufa — any light and durable material — wedged 
 together, generally in a slightly bulging form, 
 so that each cell is in reality a second arch, 
 whose sides are supported by the ribs ; and of 
 course the ribs derive a mutual benefit by being 
 kept firmly in their places when every one of 
 the four cells or compartments is filled in with 
 rigid and adhesive masonry.* 
 
 In this case, when diagonal semicircular arches 
 are erected, it is obvious, that as the diagonal 
 is longer than any one side, and the span of 
 such arches greater than those which bound the 
 rectangular compartment on each side,t — as for 
 instance those which span the aisle or nave straight 
 across at regular intervals, — the crown (or boss) 
 
 * Any longitudinal vault may be regarded as a series of 
 rectangular compartments. The ancient term for every such 
 compartment was a severy, from ciborium , an altar canopy 
 or dome, b being turned into v by a well-known analogy, 
 as to have comes from habeo, &c. See Willis’ Canterbury, 
 p. 49. 
 
 f Mr. Ellicott calls these the entrance arches , in reference 
 to any single compartment, or severy (Transactions, &c. 
 p. 190). 
 
64 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of the diagonal and intersecting arches will stand 
 considerably higher than the crown of the side, 
 or rather end, arches of lesser span. Hence 
 when the vaulting cells are filled in with ma- 
 sonry, the interior will present a series of ir- 
 regular hill-and-dale ascents and descents ; and 
 this is exactly what may be seen in the aisles 
 of S. Sepulchre’s church at Cambridge. 
 
 Again, when the cross vault, or Roman me- 
 thod, is used, if the space to be vaulted is a 
 parallelogram, the semi-circular arched vault 
 running in the narrower, or longitudinal direction, 
 will not coincide with the other, because its crown 
 will not reach so high as that of the other. To 
 remedy these defects, the method of stilting the 
 arch of lesser span was adopted, that is, of raising 
 the centre of the arch so much above its impost or 
 capital as enabled it to coincide with the wider and 
 therefore higher arch. But very soon the pointed 
 arch (already suggested to the eye in a leaning 
 form by the transverse intersecting ribs) was 
 introduced, first in the narrower, then in both 
 directions. And this pointed form, suggested as 
 it were by a necessity of construction, is by far 
 the most probable theory* to account for the ge- 
 neral use of a feature, which almost immediately 
 changed the entire character of ecclesiastical 
 architecture. 
 
 * It is due, we believe, to Professor Whewell. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 65 
 
 “The Pointed arch contains within itself the 
 germ of the vertical principle, hut the germ lay 
 dormant, till it was observed by the genius of 
 the great Trans- Alpine architects of the thirteenth 
 century. It was they who perceived what the 
 pointed arch contained ; it was they who awak- 
 ened the latent principle, applied it to their build- 
 ings, taught all their parts to shoot upwards, 
 obtained elevation, lightness, grace, and in fact 
 created the Pointed style of the north.”* 
 
 We entirely agree with the view of Professor 
 Whewell,t that while other circumstances may 
 have suggested, vaulting must have caused the 
 general adoption of the pointed arch. When 
 pointed vaulting was invented, the windows were 
 pointed also to suit the main arches of the vaults, 
 and were thus a consequence, not a cause, of 
 the new style. In the Temple Church, of Tran- 
 sition date, there are pointed arches and vault- 
 ings, with semicircular headed windows.^ In a 
 word, from the pointed vault naturally arose both 
 
 * Gaily Knight’s Italy, Introduction, p. 9. 
 
 + See p. 56, See. 
 
 + Bardvvell’s Temples, p. 150. Whewell, p. 19. Hope, 
 p. 318. The pointed arch is only one element of the pointed 
 style, though it is the chief one. Yerticality, as opposed to 
 horizontality, was the real principle, and this seems to have 
 been suggested by the pointed arch. But the mere use of the 
 pointed arch alone would not make a Gothic building. See 
 Whe well’s Notes, pp. 10 and 51. 
 
 F 
 
GG 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 pointed pier-arch and pointed window; just 
 as we generally find Gothic windows adapted 
 to the height and shape of gables. In no other 
 way could a window be brought high up into 
 the vaulting cell, or made to harmonize with 
 the curve of its groin ribs. 
 
 Be it therefore observed, that it is of no use 
 whatever to search for the earliest* occurrence 
 of the pointed arch, since it seems to have been 
 known a long time before it was applied. It 
 is sufficient for us to follow out its use through 
 the Transition and Gothic styles. The sugges- 
 tion by the requirements of vaulting must force 
 itself upon the mind of every observer. Most 
 large Norman buildings retain considerable por- 
 tions of their original vaults ; and crypts, chap- 
 ter-houses, arched gateways, and chapels, afford 
 abundant specimens. It is remarkable, however, 
 
 * The pointed arch is, in fact, of almost equal antiquity 
 with any other. It occurs in Egyptian, Roman, Hindoo, and 
 Syrian architecture. Both Saracen and Norman possessed it ; 
 it is fou id at Damascus and Mecca. See Dallaway’s Essay, 
 p. 19, Bard well, p. 138, Hope, chapter xxxiii. In the crypt 
 of the church of S. Denis, finished A.D. 775, are some pointed 
 arches. See also Hope, p. 119, who thinks it suggested itself 
 first at Constantinople. In S. Mark’s, Venice, it occurs mixed 
 with round arches of A.D. 976. In a mosque at El-Haram, 
 near Jerusalem, it is found as early as 637, (Transactions of 
 the Cambridge Camden Society, III. p. 203.) However, we 
 have no desire to trouble our readers further with this purely 
 antiquarian question. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 67 
 
 that there is no example of a nave vaulted by 
 the Normans in this country.* The reader 
 must not suppose that the existence of vaulting- 
 shafts alone proves that a stone roof was ever 
 originally contemplated.t For these, when car- 
 ried to the top of the walls, were evidently in- 
 tended to support timbers, since the vault must 
 have sprung considerably lower down. It was 
 reserved for the present age to devise sham 
 vaults of papier mache , a ridiculous and con- 
 temptible specimen of which has been set up by 
 a modern architect % in the transepts of Ripon 
 Cathedral. Peterburgh Cathedral has some ex- 
 cellent Norman vaulting in the aisles and the 
 chapter-house. The nave roof, which is of paint- 
 ed wood, and generally considered of Norman 
 date,§ we do not think earlier than Edward I. 
 or II. Norman groin-ribs, in earlier work, are 
 square ; in later, ornamented with roll or zig-zag 
 mouldings. 
 
 We now pass to the Transition Period, — a short, 
 but prolific age of church-building, — which is 
 
 * That of Durham is of Transition date, 
 f See Whewell, p. 65. Dallaway, p. 37. It may be ob- 
 served that the chancels, &c. of small parochial churches, 
 were often vaulted in the Norman era, where wooden roofs 
 were always used in the later styles. The reverse is the case 
 in large edifices, 
 f Mr. Railton. 
 
 § Bloxam, p. 130. Dallaway, p. 36. 
 
68 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 characterised by the combination of tbe pointed 
 arcb* with the usual Norman detail. And here, 
 as first in order, we would especially point out 
 to the attention of our readers the very mag- 
 nificent work of this period in the great west 
 tower and south wing of Ely Cathedral. Per- 
 haps no finer specimen than this exists in the 
 kingdom. The pointed arch, the trefoiled head, 
 and other features of the next period, here just 
 begin to appear, though the whole aspect and 
 composition are decidedly Norman. The vast- 
 ness of the surfaces which are completely covered 
 by arcading and sculpture, both within and 
 without, from the ground to the very roofs, is 
 almost bewildering to behold. The date is 
 about a.d. 1170. Build was Abbey, in Shropshire, 
 has pointed nave-arches on Norman columns ; 
 so also has S. Cross Hospital church, near Win- 
 chester; and Malmsbury, Kirkstall, and Foun- 
 tains Abbeys, have this or other peculiarities of 
 the period. The church at New Shoreham, 
 Walsoken, Norfolk, and the west front of Croy- 
 land Abbey, are of this date. There are some 
 
 * Mr. Petit observes, (vol. i. p. 118.) “The truth is, 
 the pointed arch was found out to be, simply because it was, 
 the fittest for the style now expanding into perfection ; it had 
 been gradually familiarized to the eye, and thus, as the other 
 members of the system became ready for its reception, it as- 
 sumed its proper place, where it asserted and steadily main- 
 tained its sovereignty without an effort.” 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 69 
 
 chevroned pointed arches within the west front 
 of Peterburgh Cathedral, which are either of 
 this period or, if later, adapted to suit the cha- 
 racter of the rest of the nave. The chancel arch 
 at Essendine, Rutland, is pointed with the chev- 
 ron mouldings ; but it would seem to be of pure 
 Norman date. 
 
 A common mark of this style is a band in 
 the centre of shafts,* a feature so familiar to us 
 in First Pointed churches. The ruin called the 
 Conventual church at Ely, fondly considered 
 by some enthusiastic antiquaries to be Saxon, 
 has a banded shaft in its chancel arch. This 
 is also seen in the fine remains of S. Leonard’s 
 Hospital, near Stamford ; and at the west front 
 of the noble church of Ketton, Rutland ; as also 
 in the west doorway of Roth well church, Nor- 
 thamptonshire, of which Mr. Bloxam has given 
 an engraving in page 151. 
 
 At this time the span of arches became ge- 
 nerally greater, the columns higher and less 
 massive, the capitals to assume the octagonal 
 as well as the circular form, and to be orna- 
 mented with a kind of plain palm-leaf foliage, 
 curling at the points into minute volutes, or with 
 a sort of acanthus closely approximating to 
 
 * A very beautiful and valuable example is given in 
 Part 11. of Brandon’s Analysis, the Chancel arch of Codford 
 S. Mary, Wilts. 
 
70 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the Corinthian capital.* Becket’s Crown (as it 
 is commonly called) and the choir of Canterbury 
 Cathedral, illustrate these peculiarities. The co- 
 lumnst are frequently octagonal, often alternat- 
 ing with those of circular form.J The bases 
 usually stand on square plinths, the angles of 
 which are filled up by a tongue-like projection 
 of foliage, springing from the base mouldings. 
 Capitals of the smaller shafts are generally square, 
 with coarse foliage, or the cushion form, instead 
 of the undercut circular bell of the next style. 
 The use of bold roll-mouldings now generally 
 superseded the shallow surface ornaments of 
 the Norman kind. From the edges of the re- 
 ceding members or orders of arches, the deep 
 hollows and semicircular or pointed rolls were 
 extended to the entire archivolt ; and we now 
 first observe a small fillet along the outer edge 
 of these rolls, like a band or riband running 
 lengthways. The dog-tooth moulding now first 
 
 * See some beautiful illustrations of this semi-classic 
 foliage in Willis’s Canterbury, p. 59. 
 
 + The term piers would be more properly confined to 
 masses of wall between the arches, notched into angular re- 
 cesses for shafts, and bearing projecting semi-shafts from their 
 surfaces. 
 
 X This alternation is also found in very early Norman, as 
 at Sawston, near Cambridge, where the arches are square- 
 edged. Norman piers are not always low ; they are some- 
 times of almost extravagant height. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 71 
 
 appeared.* In its early form it is usually very 
 large and coarsely worked. It seems to be na- 
 turally derived from a double row of chevron 
 mouldings, meeting in a point on two rectan- 
 gular surfaces of an arch ; or perhaps an orna- 
 mental variety of the serrated form called the 
 nail-head. The north doorway of S. Mary’s, 
 Ely, and the nave arches at Soham, near that 
 city, have transition-Norman mouldings, sugges- 
 tive of the dog-tooth. 
 
 The semicircular arch continued in common 
 use throughout this, and even the First Pointed 
 style. In porches the outer archway is generally 
 pointed, the inner semicircular, as at Barnack. 
 The remains of Byland Abbey afford a peculiarly 
 valuable study of the earliest period of the First 
 Pointed style. Here the windows of the aisles 
 and choir are of remarkable size, with semicircu- 
 lar heads, and widely splayed in the interior. 
 The shafts have square capitals on the west front, 
 and two of the doorways have semicircular arches, 
 with Early-pointed mouldings. The third is tre- 
 foil-headed, and a fine and curious piece of ma- 
 
 * It occurs in combination with the Norman billet at Can- 
 terbury, (Willis, p. 90,) and at the angles of a Norman Font 
 at Tickencote. It is also found in the fine Transition door- 
 way at Orpington, Kent, (Brandon’s Analysis, Part I.,) and 
 in one of the same date at S. Peter’s, Cambridge, where it 
 has three leaves instead of the usual number, four. 
 
 Jk, 
 
72 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 sonry. Fountains Abbey retains some excellent 
 semicircular doorways of the same period. These 
 examples show a lingering love for the old form, 
 which seems to have been given up in despair 
 at its unfitness for the new principles. We 
 believe that for two centuries afterwards the 
 round arch was occasionally adopted, especially 
 in the nave-arches of parochial churches. Glas- 
 tonbury Abbey, especially the western, or S. 
 Joseph’s, chapel, has some curious instances of 
 the mixed round and pointed forms. Columns 
 now began to be clustered, by setting half-shafts 
 against the faces of a square or diamond-shaped 
 core. The idea arose from the attachment of 
 vaulting-shafts to the main pillar. At Foun- 
 tains Abbey,* S. Sepulchre’s church, Cambridge, 
 
 * See Sharp’s Architectural Parallels, Part II. The shaft, 
 though a decorative rather than a constructive feature, is one 
 of the most important elements in Gothic Architecture. We 
 first find it in Norman work, but its prototype is the square 
 rib supporting a hood or impost in many Saxon buildings. 
 We next find it in doorways, supporting a square or circular 
 subarch, and if there are several of these, an equal number of 
 shafts stand recessed in nooks in the jambs. In very early 
 Norman the shafts are only worked in the courses of ma- 
 sonry : afterwards they are separate upright stones. From 
 doorways they are transferred to Norman piers, both de- 
 tached, and added as half columns for vaulting, &c. in which 
 case they are always built in the bed of the masonry. In 
 the First Pointed style they were made to stand out from the 
 jamb or column, by a space of some inches behind them. In 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 73 
 
 and the Transepts at Ely, are curious instances of 
 one and two such parasitical excrescences. 
 
 this style only they were made of native marble. In the 
 after ages the isolation of the shafts was dropped, and they 
 were always engaged or adhering to the body against which 
 they seem to be placed. 
 
 BRIDLINGTON- PRIORY. 
 
74 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE POINTED OR GOTHIC STYLES. 
 
 After a.d. 1200, the powers of the pointed 
 and vertical principles began to be fully felt 
 and rapidly developed. The eye is carried up- 
 wards, beyond the crown of a pointed arch, and 
 is not brought round again, and down the oppo- 
 site side, as by the semicircular. The pointed 
 vault, high gable, slender vaulting-shaft, elongated 
 and narrow window, buttress and pinnacle and 
 spire, are all ascending lines, and nothing seems 
 to leave off bluntly or abruptly. Hence arose 
 that glorious architecture (commonly called, from 
 its almost exclusive prevalence in this country, 
 the Early English),* in which, perhaps, as large 
 a portion of our existing cathedrals, abbeys, and 
 parish churches was built as in any other. The 
 characteristics of this style are as numerous as 
 
 * Both this and the Third Pointed, or Perpendicular, 
 are peculiar to our country. The corresponding or syn- 
 chronous continental styles are the geometrical Decorated, 
 and the Flamboyant. But at Norrez and Ardenne, near 
 Caen, Professor Whewell found as perfect and genuine “ Early 
 English ” churches as our country can supply. (Architectural 
 Notes, p. 292.) 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 7 5 
 
 they are well defined. Now first appear clustered 
 columns (properly so called), long lancet windows, 
 either single or grouped, plain or shafted ; now 
 the capitals burst into uncontrolled and luxuriant 
 foliage ; spandril spaces are gorgeously relieved 
 by trefoiled and variously shaped apertures ; 
 vaulting-shafts spring high above the nave-arches, 
 or are corbelled off on flowery bosses to bear aloft 
 the branching vaulting-ribs ; deeply moulded 
 archways show their strong isolated lines of light 
 and shade ; detached banded shafts, united at 
 base and capital, and clustering round a central 
 pillar, seem to bear the distributed thrusts of 
 single vaulting-ribs or clusters of arch-mouldings ; 
 light trefoiled arcades, embossed with rows of 
 dog-tooth, and with spandrils pierced or sculp- 
 tured in bas relief, adorn the walls where lately 
 stood the clumsier Norman shaft with its dimi- 
 nutive and contracted arch ; now the lofty gable, 
 flanked by the conical pinnacle-turret, and deco- 
 rated by the richly foliated gable-window the 
 bold chamfered buttress, the light fretted corbel 
 table, the shining marble shaft, the gracefully 
 
 * The Vesica piscis forms the gable window at Skelton, 
 near York, and S. Leonard’s Hospital, Stamford. Gable 
 windows are less common after the Geometric middle pointed 
 age, when niches were substituted. In fact they became less 
 necessary as the main windows became larger and the pitch of 
 the roofs lower. 
 
76 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 overhanging capital, and the darkly undercut 
 label and string-course, present to the eye ever- 
 recurring yet ever-varying features. And now 
 the whole contour and composition of buildings is 
 changed from heavy to light, from low to lofty, 
 from horizontal to vertical — we might almost say, 
 from earthly to heavenly, from Pagan to Christian. 
 For it is curious to observe how anxiously the 
 First Pointed architects worked to clear them- 
 selves from every lingering detail and prin- 
 ciple of the Romanesque. In fact, in almost 
 every instance they ran into an extravagant 
 contrariety, which had to be tempered down 
 and reduced, rather than further developed, in 
 the after period. Thus the extreme depth and 
 multiplicity of moulding, pitch of roofs, acuteness 
 of arches, narrowness and length of windows, 
 slenderness and isolation of shafts, might be 
 called the excesses of Gothicisin, beyond which, 
 as seen in their earliest exhibition, it was im- 
 possible to go. It is curious, too, to notice how 
 Gothic architecture, in its latest form, prepared 
 itself, by a gradual assimilation of principles, 
 to fall away into the Renaissance , or revival of 
 that Classic style, from which the First Pointed 
 architects had recoiled as far as they could 
 possibly go. 
 
 “ As the habit of gazing on peculiar forms 
 by degrees begets a taste for them, and as those 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 77 
 
 which utility first demands, even when that 
 utility ceases, still are perpetuated by the inclina- 
 tion it produces, — as even consistency and taste 
 require the ornamental additions to harmonize in 
 their outline and character with the fundamental 
 ground-work, those essential forms, all slender, 
 and tall, and sharp ; those long thin pillars ; 
 those narrow and lofty interstices ; those pointed 
 arches, reduplicated laterally and over each other 
 in endless repetitions, and intersecting each other 
 in every way, were imitated and repeated, and 
 carried to interminable lesser and more minute 
 subdivisions in the mere ornamental parts, until 
 at last religious edifices, with their pinnacles, 
 and spires, and broaches, and cusps, and corbels, 
 and tabernacles, and tracery, and ridge-bands, 
 looked like a mass of net-work, or rather a 
 cluster of mere conductors.”* 
 
 An age of church-building zeal, of faith, piety, 
 and devotion, seems to have revelled and ex- 
 patiated in the luxury of the new pointed ele- 
 ments. There was a keen rivalry and ambition 
 in churchmen and religious houses, that each 
 one might boast of a nobler edifice, more costly 
 vestments, richer altars, than another. It may 
 truly be stated that the cost of many great 
 churches still existing in this style is almost 
 incalculable. And yet such was the versatility 
 * Hope, p. 319. 
 
78 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of the very same style, that the humblest and 
 plainest edifices never appear mean and starved 
 in proportion or details. A string, a moulding, 
 a trail of dog-tooth ornament, will set olf a whole 
 facade at a very trifling cost ; and a correct eye 
 will not disparage the design even by contrasting 
 it with the richest cathedral or abbatial eleva- 
 tion. And the reason of this property has been 
 made the subject of much anxious inquiry. It 
 is certain that geometry * lent its aid in the 
 planning and designing of buildings ; but very 
 little advance has yet been made in ascertaining 
 the methods of applying it, which were evidently 
 profound secrets in the keeping of the Freema- 
 sons. Probably the equilateral triangle was the 
 basis of most formations. The majority of arches 
 of all sizes will be found to exhibit this figure, 
 
 * There are two kinds of architectural geometry ; that of 
 construction , and that of design. In the first Dallaway (p. 
 153,) maintains that the ancient surpassed the modern 
 builders ; and, doubtless, little enough of the science is known 
 to many of our architects. But it is extremely curious to 
 remark how reckless the old masons were about accuracy of 
 measurement. Perhaps no two windows in a church will be 
 found exactly the same in height or width ; no two pier- 
 arches of equal span. (See this exemplified in the ground- 
 plans of Kirkstall and Fountains Abbeys, in Part III. of 
 Sharpe’s Architectural Parallels.) The other geometry (of 
 design) regulates by undiscovered laws the proportions of the 
 various members and details. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 79 
 
 or nearly so, if lines be drawn from the point to 
 the spring on both sides, and again across the 
 span. The theory of the vesica piscis * is of 
 course the same in effect. For instance, most of 
 the best Middle Pointed windows have equilateral 
 arches, and the same height in the mullions as 
 in the tracery ; that is, a vesica piscis circum- 
 scribed on two equilateral triangles, would mea- 
 sure the extent of the aperture in respect of 
 height and width. In trefoiled arches the cusps 
 or projecting points forming the trefoliation usu- 
 ally fall true upon the sides of the triangle.* 
 Spherical triangles also occur ; and various poly- 
 gonal figures may be developed by drawing lines 
 uniting the different points and centres. Much 
 is due to the authors of the invaluable “ Analysis 
 of Gothic Architecture” for having been among 
 the first to investigate and call attention to the 
 geometric formations of mouldings, tracery, and 
 other details of the earlier pointed styles. 
 
 Whether the same geometric principles were 
 applied in the composition of buildings which 
 
 * See above, p. 51. 
 
 + See Potter’s Monastic Remains, Plate IX., Tinterne 
 Abbey. Even the pyramidal outline, or grouping of buildings, 
 falls within a triangle. The constant occurrence of the tri- 
 angle itself in window tracery, and gable lights, and the 
 general triplicity of shafts, windows, mouldings, and foliations, 
 prove the universality of this one leading idea. 
 
80 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 certainly obtained in forming their details, seems 
 much more doubtful. An attempt has been made 
 by Mr. Billings* to show that the plan of Gothic 
 buildings was generally laid out by some such 
 rules ; and a very eloquent and ingenious writert 
 has gone so far as to suggest that some number 
 being taken as a base, the proportions not only of 
 buildings, but of all their parts, were regulated by 
 certain multiples of that number ; as by making 
 the half width of a church with aisles the normal 
 scale by which all the principal points in the 
 plan were adjusted. However, but a few in- 
 adequate proofs are adduced in favour of this 
 theory ; in fact, no one system seems to have been 
 discovered, which is not entirely overthrown by 
 applying it to some buildings, however well it 
 may appear to suit others. J 
 
 In truth, that primary law of Gothic Archi- 
 tecture, by which mere appearance seems always 
 to have given way to utility, is directly at 
 variance with the supposition, that any such 
 stringent rule was generally adopted. It is 
 scarcely probable that, had it really obtained, 
 
 * Attempt to define the Geometric Projection of Gothic 
 Architecture, London, 1840. 
 
 f English Review, No. IV. p. 404, &c. See this article 
 reviewed in the Ecclesiologist, vol. iv. p. 62. 
 
 J Some general laws of proportion are given by Dallaway, 
 p. 163, which seem not destitute of plausible grounds. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 81 
 
 alterations, curtailments, additions in height, 
 breadth, and length, should have been freely 
 made in even the purest ages, by which any 
 such geometrical symmetry must necessarily have 
 been destroyed. Much as has been said on the 
 subject of symbolism,* and undiscovered laws of 
 Gothic Architecture, we are strongly disposed to 
 attribute the almost unattainable perfection of 
 the medieval buildings to the unerring judg- 
 ment, fine taste, and intuitive feeling of the 
 artists, who built religiously, not coerced by utili- 
 tarian employers, and, above all, devoted exclu- 
 sively to the one style prevalent in their day, 
 without so much as the knowledge of any other, 
 and without any care to imitate their predeces- 
 sors in anything. It is the secularizing of the 
 profession which has destroyed the vitality of 
 pointed architecture. It is the offspring of re- 
 ligion, and cannot thrive without its fostering 
 protection. Why then should we be unwilling 
 to attribute the sublime perfection of ancient 
 buildings to higher influences than geometrical 
 or mathematical rules ? Do we not ourselves 
 see the failure of modern attempts singularly 
 
 * See chap. iv. of Mr. Poole’s “ Churches, their Structure, 
 Arrangement, and Decoration.” The philosophising theories 
 of the late translators of Durandus, and Mr. Lewis’s treatise 
 on this subject, seem to have much of fanciful and question- 
 able conjecture, amidst some undoubted truth. 
 
 G 
 
 Sr 
 
 ffxy 
 
82 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 coincident with modern principles, that is, with a 
 total and even a contemptuous repudiation of any 
 such sublimer conceptions of divine beauty ? The 
 fact is, the ancient builders working as a body, 
 not as individuals, cared less about personal profit 
 or celebrity, than about the good of the Church.* 
 If they had intended only to please ^ man’s 
 eye, we should not have had their finest works 
 stand alone in the midst of the marsh and the 
 moor. “ The elaborate and costly ornaments 
 which were lavished on architecture, were meant 
 to do God honour, though spending their beauties, 
 perhaps, on some remote and secluded wilderness, 
 to be witnessed only by the rude peasants of the 
 neighbourhood, and the birds that hovered about 
 the pinnacle.” + Such were the beautiful old ab- 
 beys, now ruined to rise no more. The eyes of few 
 but their peaceful inmates, the weary wanderers 
 or the houseless poor, could ever contemplate the 
 costly product of labour and pious pains. But 
 we must return to our First Pointed style, with 
 much apology for rambling so far away from it. 
 
 The most clearly marked characteristics of this 
 
 * See on this subject some admirable remarks in the Pre- 
 face to the translation of Durandus, p. xxii. “We do protest 
 against the merely business-like spirit of the modern pro- 
 fession, and demand from them a more elevated and directly 
 religious habit of mind.” 
 
 •f Blunt’s History of the Reformation, p. 76. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 83 
 
 era, as distinguished from all others, are found in 
 the mouldings, the foliage, the isolated marble 
 shafts, the windows, the sculptured ornaments ; 
 all which must therefore be studied as peculiar 
 and universal features of the style. Minor 
 details which generally , hut not invariably, mark 
 the period, are the buttresses, corbel-heads, parapets 
 and cornices ; pinnacles, chamfers, strings, and 
 weatherings. Some one or more of these features 
 will invariably determine the date of a church with 
 considerable certainty to a practised eye. Mould- 
 ings are principally developed in arches, capitals, 
 and bases. The first consist of a series of rolls 
 — round, pointed, and filleted in various ways, 
 apparently projecting between deep hollows of 
 three-quarters of a circle, but in reality lying 
 in the square graduated planes of the original 
 uncut block, in the surface of which the hollows 
 are always sunk. Very often, trails of the tooth- 
 moulding occur in the hollows of the arch and 
 between the shafts of the jamb, as at Barrings 
 ton, near Cambridge, or under the label or hood, 
 as at Grlinton, Northamptonshire. The ornament 
 commonly called the nail-head, (which is a small 
 kind of tooth-moulding, left in the solid pyramid 
 instead of being worked in four leaves,) is very 
 common round capitals and between arch-mould- 
 ings. And these mouldings are often repeated in 
 double and triple rows, imparting great richness 
 
84 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 to the design. Capitals* are either plain or 
 floriated. The upper member, called the abacus, 
 
 PI8CINA, CASTOR, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
 
 ■which projects over the rest, is undercut, with 
 a deep shadowy line on the lower side. It is 
 generally circular, though sometimes octagonal, 
 
 * Plans of piers of this and other styles, compared and 
 contrasted, are given in Mr. Sharpe’s Architectural Parallels. 
 The general principle is the arrangement of four or more iso- 
 lated and banded shafts round a central column. Some piers, 
 (as at Whitby Abbey) stand on a multangular plinth, and 
 consist of a series of engaged shafts standing thickly together 
 some plain semicircular, others filleted, others pointed, or (as, 
 Mr. Rickman expresses it) “ whose plan is a spherical triangle 
 with the edge [i. e. the apex] outwards.” On these pointed 
 shafts, which first occur in Transition Norman, see Manual of 
 Gothic Mouldings, p. 18. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 85 
 
 the latter much more rarely in small shafts than 
 in single columns. The member next below is 
 called the bell , which overhangs the shaft in the 
 same manner, and with the same undercut profile. 
 Then comes the neck moulding, a plain half 
 circle, or half hexagon.* The bases are very 
 peculiar and strongly marked ; but it must be 
 recollected that the same form occurs throughout 
 the Transition style. The base mouldings have a 
 very wide spread, and consist of a hollow, capable 
 of retaining water, between two filleted rolls. In 
 rich examples this is repeated, forming as it were 
 a double base ; and below are often added very 
 bold rings or annular rolls ; the whole standing 
 on a square or polygonal plinth. The elements 
 of this peculiar base occur even in Norman work. 
 It is, in fact, directly copied from the Attic base 
 with slight modifications. t Another form con- 
 sists of two plain rolls spreading outwards at the 
 foot of the shaft ; also used, and more commonly, 
 in the next style. Some shafts in this style are 
 corbelled off midway, often with foliaged brackets, 
 
 * In very richly moulded capitals of this style there is a 
 double bell, by which a great depth of effect is gained. 
 
 + The reader will find this subject more fully explained in 
 the “ Manual of Gothic Mouldings,” Section X. A plate 
 containing sections of capitals and bases, from the Transition 
 to the Middle Pointed era, is given in Sharpe’s Architectural 
 Parallels, Part III., and supplies a very valuable study. 
 
86 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 as at Teversham near Cambridge, or with a 
 series of base mouldings supported by a head, 
 
 either of which is a most 
 beautiful arrangement. 
 
 The origin of foliage 
 on capitals, whence it 
 was transferred to bosses, 
 corbels, window and door- 
 way arches and jambs, and 
 other positions, may be 
 distinctly traced through 
 the Romanesque to the 
 Classic, and especially 
 the Corinthian style. — 
 The form, however, of 
 the First Pointed foliage 
 consisting of a trefoiled 
 
 ' POLE BROOK, NORTHAMPTON, in • , I 1 1 • 
 
 leal with long curling 
 stalks (which is preserved with remarkable con- 
 sistency in all buildings of the same period,) is 
 either unreal and conventional,* or, as some will 
 have it, borrowed from the plant called geum , 
 
 * Some have thought it derived from the palm-leaves of 
 Palestine, brought over by Crusaders. It is remarkable that 
 even in MSS. and stained glass of this era, precisely the same 
 character is always given to the foliage, whether of real trees 
 and plants, or of architectural details, as in the very curious 
 MS. life of S. Edward and “ Liber Bestiarum,” in Cambridge 
 University library. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 87 
 
 Common Avens,. or Herb Benet.* Perhaps, the 
 secluded positions of the old abbeys amidst woods 
 and glens, clothed with 
 verdant herbage, na- 
 turally promoted its 
 imitation in stone, it 
 in fact, almost 
 * the only natural ob- 
 ject presented to the 
 eye. Hence, perhaps, 
 we so often find in 
 First Pointed capitals 
 figures of birds sitting amongst the sculptured 
 leaves, as well as of animals, men, as archers or 
 hunters, lizards and other reptiles.f 
 
 Foliaged capitals are always extremely beautiful, 
 from the free curling tendency of the leaves, 
 which spring upwards out of the neck mouldings, 
 and cling round, or shoot out far beyond, the 
 projecting abacus. At Ely, York, Wells, and a 
 great number of churches, large as well as small, 
 exquisite examples occur. More rarely the 
 capitals of single columns than of the smaller 
 
 * See, on the conventional forms of leaves, Mr. John 
 Browne’s History of the edifice of York Cathedral, Part IV., 
 where some curious suggestions are offered on the subject. 
 
 + A wonderful variety of this kind of mixed ornament in 
 the capitals of York Cathedral, maybe seen in Halfpenny’s 
 Gothic Ornaments. 
 
 ALL SAINTS, STAMFORD. 
 
88 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 shafts are thus decorated. At Great Casterton, 
 Rutland, are some fine specimens in the nave 
 pillars. 
 
 A remarkable feature of the First Pointed 
 style, which is scarcely found in any other,* is 
 
 the continuity and 
 extension of string- 
 courses and labels. 
 Thus, the abacus or 
 upper member of 
 capitals is frequent 
 ly carried across the 
 span of the arches 
 of an arcade, as at 
 All Saints and S. 
 Mary’s, Stamford ; 
 or, as in the flank- 
 ing towers at the 
 
 ARCADE, ALL SAINTS, STAMFORD. west front of Peter. 
 
 burgh Cathedral, a corbel capital ( i . e. without 
 a shaft) in the centre receives it. Similarly, 
 not only are basement mouldings carried round 
 the bases of shafts, but the shafts themselves 
 are banded, and as it were girded to the wall 
 and to each other, by midway horizontal strings. f 
 
 * The abacus of Norman capitals is sometimes continued in 
 a string-course. 
 
 *f* There is a joint at each band, and the band is built into 
 the wall, so that it really supports a portion of shaft as a 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 89 
 
 When shafts became, in the after styles, en- 
 gaged in the wall, this junction at the several 
 points was discontinued. Hood-mouldings of 
 lancet lights, and the string-course which is 
 usually carried below them, are continued round 
 buttresses and other projections, and they often 
 rise and disport themselves in graduated stages, 
 as if loth to be anywhere broken off, and seeking 
 by some adventurous leap to unite with another 
 by running this way and that to meet its position. 
 
 Buttresses are distinguished by having for the 
 most part chamfered edges, often acute triangular 
 
 bracket. When the pieces are of considerable length, they 
 are often dowelled to the wall by iron supporters at the back. 
 — It must be confessed that these details, with the capitals, 
 clustered columns, umbrageous vaults, and slender shafts, do 
 bear a most striking resemblance to the tied rods of wooden 
 structures, according to Sir James Hall’s theory. We have 
 seen stems of trees, (particularly of the yew) which closely 
 resembled clustered columns. And Sir James proves from 
 actual documents, that many of the earliest churches were 
 literally constructed of rods, wands, and wattled posts. Cer- 
 tain it is, that both the principles and the details of Grecian 
 architecture are wooden, so that there really is something to 
 be said for Sir James’s position, that all Gothic art is merely 
 stone wickerwork. The tracery of the famous window at 
 Dorchester actually imitates the climbing branches of a tree. 
 The great objection to his view is the lapse of some centuries, 
 and the intervention of the Romanesque architecture, between 
 the wattled churches of the earliest ages, and the richly de- 
 veloped stone-work of the Edwardian period. 
 
90 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 heads, and in most cases an overlapping undercut 
 member going round the three sides below the 
 head and the set-offs or weatherings. Very fine 
 examples are those in the choir of Ely, where 
 their contrast with others of Middle Pointed work 
 immediately adjoining them at the west end is 
 interesting. When there are flying buttresses, 
 the head of the buttress reaches above the para- 
 pet, as at Lincoln Minster. Otherwise the head 
 is often but a plain slope. One mark of First 
 Pointed buttresses is their position, not set 
 diagonally, but abutting the wall rectangularly, 
 two at every corner. But plain diagonal but- 
 tresses also occur, as at Long Stanton, near 
 Cambridge. In large buttresses the foot some- 
 times spreads out in a wide slope, as at Whitby 
 Abbey. And the chamfer is sometimes so large, 
 that not merely the edges of a square projection 
 are removed, but the projection itself becomes 
 almost a semi-octagon.* Many buttresses of this 
 style are very lofty and slender, and in fact very 
 little more than decorative adjuncts, as in the 
 tower of S. Mary’s, and the east end of All Saints, 
 Stamford, the Library near York Cathedral, and 
 at Beverley Minster. 
 
 Pinnacles are still, as in the Norman style, 
 heavy stone cappings of pyramidal form. They 
 
 * Such are those at Bridlington, (Architectural Parallels, 
 Part V.) 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 91 
 
 are not however nearly so common. There are 
 fine early examples on the noble church of Great 
 Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Their usual position is on 
 each side of a gable, as at the east end of Whitby 
 Abbey. (Architectural Parallels, Part I.) 
 
 Parapets are plain; neither pierced, nor pa- 
 nelled, nor crested with battlements. They ge- 
 nerally rise from a cornice or blocking-course of 
 rude heads or notch-heads at intervals, some- 
 times intermixed | with dog-tooth, or from a cor- 
 bel-table. But in parochial churches eave-roofs 
 were almost always used ; and in fact it is rather 
 rare to meet with an unmutilated parapet of this 
 date. There is a perfect one with its cornice at 
 Northborough, Northamptonshire. 
 
 A very intelligent and observant writer* has 
 remarked, that the occurrence of the single lancet 
 marks a period of incomplete Gothic, because it 
 was from the combination of two or more under 
 one arch that the window of several lights, that 
 essential characteristic of Gothic work, arose. 
 Hence it has seemed advisable to divide the 
 First Pointed period into two eras, the latter 
 commencing from the period when two and 
 three light windows were introduced. The first 
 might very appropriately be called the lancet , the 
 latter, (including early Middle Pointed, that is, 
 from about 1240 to 1320,) the geometric period. 
 
 * Mr. Petit, vol. i. p. 153. 
 
92 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 The latter, or Florid First Pointed, is rich 
 in the most exquisitely wrought detail, and often 
 possesses an amount of ornament unsurpassed by 
 any other style. We might instance, as a perfect 
 example of the work of this era, the choir or 
 presbytery of Ely Cathedral, and its western or 
 Galilee porch. The latter has been thought to 
 date as early as 1215, but this seems improbable. 
 The richness of the outer and inner doorways can- 
 not be surpassed, if they are equalled, by any- 
 thing of the kind in the kingdom. * The tran- 
 septs of York Minster, the north transept of 
 Whitby Abbey, the west front of Lichfield Ca- 
 thedral, are all exquisite works of this age. The 
 Abbeys of Westminster, Rieyaulx, Tintern, and 
 Netley, just verge into the earliest Middle Point- 
 ed. In parochial churches it might be dif- 
 ficult to name better compositions than the 
 towers of S. Mary’s at Stamford, and of its neigh- 
 bour at Ketton in Rutland. 
 
 Dripstones in this, and indeed generally in the 
 next, style were terminated by the peculiar or- 
 nament called the mask or notch-head ; a detail 
 of uncertain origin, but perhaps derived from the 
 Norman ornament called the double cone. Heads 
 
 * It must be observed that Middle Pointed tracery has 
 been inserted in the heads of both, which seem originally 
 to have been differently, and perhaps more elaborately, 
 finished. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 93 
 
 are sometimes used, and are generally rather large, 
 and more frequently of bishops, priests, or monks, 
 than in any other style. A specimen of a very fine 
 head occurs over the door of one of the conventual 
 buildings at Peterburgh. 
 
 In this age the use of 
 foliage greatly increased. 
 
 Strings and knots of 
 leaves sprouted forth from 
 the naked walls, ran round 
 archways, hung pendent 
 from door and window 
 jambs ; and chamfer- 
 heads, cusps, bosses, cor- 
 bels, spandrils, were all corbel-head, peterburgh. 
 clothed in their stonv verdure. The east eleva- 
 
 e/ 
 
 tion, viewed externally, of Ely Cathedral, is per- 
 fectly glorious ; we can name nothing to equal 
 it in the kingdom, from the extraordinary 
 efflorescence of the detail.* “Plain mural sur- 
 faces are incrusted over with ornaments very 
 minute and lavishly applied, yet producing an 
 effect of richness from mere exuberance, chiefly 
 of fruit and flowers. ’’f 
 
 * It is much to be feared that Mr. Blore, (whose restora- 
 tions of old buildings are in many cases any thing rather than 
 satisfactory,) is making an egregious mistake in designing 
 new pinnacles for this fine elevation in too advanced a style. 
 
 t Dallaway, p. 42. 
 
94 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Another method of enrichment, of great beauty, 
 which was now first introduced, was the diapering 
 plain surfaces with a kind of shallow four-leaved 
 flower. Specimens occur in many parts of West- 
 minster Abbey, and several are engraved in the 
 Analysis of Gothic Architecture.* But this was 
 even more frequent throughout the Middle Point- 
 ed era.t It may be seen behind the canopies in 
 the Lady Chapel at Ely. 
 
 Vaulting was still performed in a simple man- 
 ner ; lighter indeed than the Norman, yet in- 
 finitely less complex than that of the next style. 
 The two styles may be seen in their perfection and 
 in contiguity with each other in the choir and 
 aisles of Ely. The Middle Pointed is all rib- 
 work, and feathery boss, and intricate ramifica- 
 tions ; the earlier kind, towards the east end, is 
 plain quadripartite. Most First Pointed vault- 
 ing consists of semicircular diagonal ribs, and 
 pointed arches terminating the compartment on 
 each side. A rib, deeply moulded, runs hori- 
 zontally along the length of the church , X and 
 
 * Parts XX. and XXI. 
 
 + But it is most commonly found in the geometric period. 
 The base of the tower at Hingham, Norfolk, is beautifully 
 ornamented with strings of this flower. It also exists on the 
 Queen Eleanor Crosses, and at Chichester, and the screen at 
 Lincoln. There are several varieties of it, one with double 
 leaves. + But not always, as at Salisbury. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 95 
 
 transverse ribs cross it at right angles, forming 
 the crown of the cellular spaces on each side. 
 The groin-ribs have deep undercut mouldings, 
 often with dog-tooth, and the bosses have the 
 curling foliage of the style. The vaulting shafts 
 are often triple, and spring from a flowery corbel, 
 of which most exquisite specimens exist at Ely ; 
 more rarely they rest on the capital of the nave 
 pier, or are carried down to the ground, as in the 
 nave of Chichester Cathedral.'* 
 
 The use of native marble, chiefly from the 
 quarries of Petworth and Purbeck, must not be 
 overlooked, as it seems to have been nearlyf 
 confined to this style. The nature of this mate- 
 rial is so hard, and it has been found so tedious 
 and difficult to work in the late repairs of the 
 Temple Church, that we may well wonder at 
 the patience and expense of polishing hundreds 
 of shafts, and working out the intricate mould- 
 ings of thrice as many capitals, bands, and bases, 
 
 * Mr. Ellicott on Vaulting, Transactions of the Cambridge 
 Camden Society, Part III. p. 195. 
 
 f It is, however, used occasionally in Middle Pointed 
 work, as in the beautiful piers of the three western bays of 
 the choir at Ely, and in the Lady Chapel. Fonts were 
 sometimes made of it much later, as at All Saints, Stamford : 
 hut this is rare. It was often used for embedding brass 
 effigies, even as late as 1553, at Milton, near Cambridge. At 
 Wells a kind of blue lias, very similar in appearance, is ex- 
 tensively used. 
 
96 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 required for a single abbey church or cathedral. 
 In the Lady Chapel of Fountains Abbey, the very 
 strings and abacuses are of this marble, highly 
 polished, and even in the dark undercut hollows 
 as perfectly smoothed as on the exterior surfaces. 
 Those who have seen the newly restored Chapter 
 House of York Minster, will be able to judge of 
 the effect of such work when shining with new 
 and glossy brilliancy, in contrast with the sombre 
 coloured stone. Unhappily this kind of marble 
 is very perishable,* and not only loses its dark 
 colour with its polish, but is apt to become shat- 
 tered and ragged beyond the hope of restoration. 
 Various attempts have been made to renew it, by 
 the use of cement, boiled oil, and varnish, but 
 Avith no great success. The west doorways of 
 Peterburgh Cathedral are beautifully relieved 
 by the insertion of slender marble shafts in the 
 jambs ; and in the western porch at Ely are 
 some elaborate details in the same material. 
 Even in little village churches, as at Histon, 
 near Cambridge, the shafts of piscinae are of 
 
 * The process of decay in this marble is curious. It is a 
 calcareous oolite, of a flaky character, and is said to stand best 
 when laid in the direction of its bed in the quarry. Smooth 
 surfaces become marked with small speckled indentations, 
 and the decay spreads both deep and wide very rapidly. 
 Unlike other stone, its decomposition in the open air does not 
 seem quicker or more certain than in interior work. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 97 
 
 Purbeck marble. This is also the case in Jesus 
 College Chapel. Many churches of this century 
 have internal arcades of various degrees of rich- 
 ness, especially the transepts, even in small 
 parochial edifices, as at Histon, and Thurlby, 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 It is said that when struck smartly with a 
 stick, these columns often emit a musical note ; 
 and we have somewhere read of an arcade whose 
 shafts were attuned in regular progression.* 
 
 Generally this was the age of arches and shafts, 
 just as much as the next was of crockets and 
 canopies, and the third of panels and vertical 
 monial and tracery bars. Yet certainly there is 
 no more effective kind of decoration than this. 
 When the dividing buttress and pinnacle super- 
 seded the bearing-shaft and capital, and the 
 'vertical and continuous moulding took away 
 much from the distinctive character of the arcade, 
 a radical change, though unconsciously, was in- 
 troduced into the principles of Gothic art. 
 
 In working the difficult mouldings of bases and 
 capitals, we believe that the use of the lathe was 
 not unknown. It is certain that the art of turning 
 was practised in woodwork of the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries, and it seems very probable 
 that it was applied to stone and marble also. 
 
 * Thus the inventors of the “ Rock Band ” have been an- 
 ticipated in their singular contrivance. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 We find bases and capitals were always separately 
 formed, and afterwards affixed to the shaft, some- 
 times by an iron spike, sometimes by a socket 
 and moulten lead. Even the marks of tbe centre- 
 point from the process of turning may sometimes 
 be detected.* 
 
 Spires of stone first appear in this style, though 
 they are not very common. They are usually of 
 the broach form, that is, capping the tower with 
 an overhanging cornice, and having pyramidal 
 abutments extending from the corners of the 
 square to meet the octagonal plan. The dog-tooth 
 ornament is sometimes seen in the spire lights. 
 Examples are Etton, Northamptonshire; Ryhall, 
 North Luffenham, and Langham, Rutland; Carlby, 
 Wandsford, Downton, Duddington, and Warming- 
 ton, Northamptonshire; Frampton, in Holland, 
 and Sleaford, Lincolnshire. 
 
 Circular gable windows + were used in this 
 style, and even in the Transition period, as at 
 Barfreston, and Patricksbourne, Kent. These 
 
 * This is also attested by Gervase : “Willielmus Senon- 
 ensis, Vir admodum strenuus, in ligno et lapide artifex sub- 
 tilissimus, ad lapides formandos torneumata fecit valde in- 
 geniose.” Archaeologia, vol. ix. p. 1 13. The machines used 
 in raising stones and beams by the ancient builders, are repre- 
 sented in some fresco paintings and illuminated pictures. 
 
 T These are said to symbolize the passion of S. Catharine 
 (Preface to Durandus, p. 91 ) ; and hence the spokes, or radii, 
 with which they are filled. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 99 
 
 may be directly derived from the small circular 
 ornaments or apertures found in Norman and 
 even Saxon towers, as at S. Benets’, Cambridge; 
 Wenden, Essex, and Great Dunham, Norfolk. 
 Dallaway, however,* maintains that we had them 
 in their perfect state from the Continent. A 
 very large wheel window, now nearly demolished, 
 occupied the western gable of Byland Abbey. + 
 There are very rich, though small ones, in the 
 west front at Peterburgh. Other examples occur 
 in the transept, at York ; at Westminster, Can- 
 terbury, Chichester, Lichfield, Beverley, &c. There 
 is a large one filled with flowing tracery in the 
 south transept at Lincoln; but this fine feature 
 is much more common in Continental churches. 
 In France there are instances of wheel windows 
 measuring forty and fifty feet in diameter. % The 
 same thing in principle occurs, in combination 
 with other tracery, in the heads of geometric 
 Middle Pointed windows. 
 
 A few words only remain to be said on some 
 other characteristics of this style ; for, of its 
 
 * Discourses upon Architecture, p. 134. Perhaps the 
 earliest example of a Norman circular window is in the west 
 gable of Fountains Abbey. (Architectural Parallels, Part V.) 
 
 + This is the earliest, as well as the largest example in the 
 style. That at the Temple Church is a tine specimen, but 
 more of Norman detail. 
 
 J Dallaway, p. 92. 
 
100 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 lancet windows we shall have to speak in another 
 chapter. 
 
 Very high roofs and rather low walls are 
 peculiar to the smaller churches, as in the well- 
 known examples at Skelton, near York, and 
 especially to barns, gate-houses, and other Con- 
 ventual appendages. But the walls were not 
 always low in ordinary churches ; not a few be- 
 ing remarkably the contrary, as at Seaton and 
 Empingham, Rutland. The roofs were framed 
 of plain open timber, usually consisting of a 
 series of principal rafters* set closely together, 
 and tied with a collar and braces, or by tie- 
 beams.f Many original roofs of this date remain, 
 but mostly underdrawn and ceiled by modern 
 hands. 
 
 Several very fine First Pointed porches exist; 
 but they are sufficiently rare to make their occur- 
 rence notable. We may instance Great Grimsby, 
 
 * That is, spanning or striding across the wall in the 
 fashion cf compasses, the collar being a cross bar midway, the 
 tie-beam one joining the ends or feet, to prevent them spread- 
 ing apart, by w'hich the walls would be thrust from the per- 
 pendicular. 
 
 + See on this subject a paper in the Ecclesiologist, vol. iii. 
 p. 101. Very rarely were parochial buildings vaulted with 
 stone, as in fbe Norman style. Mr. Bloxam gives an en- 
 graving (p. 157,) of Kirkstead Chapel ; and the fine chancel 
 of Benington Church, Lincolnshire, exhibits the springing of 
 a stone vault, either destroyed or never completed. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 101 
 
 and Ruskington, Lincolnshire; Tansor,* War- 
 mington, Barnack, Glinton, Northamptonshire ; 
 Great Casterton, Oakham, Whitwell, and Ketton, 
 in Rutlandshire ; Great Tew and Middleton Stoney 
 in Oxfordshire. + The north porches at Wells and 
 Salisbury are very large and fine. 
 
 The arches mostly in use throughout this 
 period are seven in number : — L The Semicir- 
 cular; 2. the Equilateral Pointed; 3. the Acute 
 Pointed ; 4. the Obtuse Pointed ; 5. the Trefoiled ; 
 6. the Segmental, consisting of either one or two 
 curves ; 7. the Cinquefoiled. Of these, 2, 3, and 
 5, are the most characteristic of the style ; 6. 
 is much used in the interior of doorways, as at 
 Cherry Hinton and Waterbeach, near Cam- 
 bridge; 7. is sometimes found in piscinas, door- 
 ways, and arcades, as in the chancel of Cherry 
 Hinton Church. In small doorways, as those in 
 belfry staircases, the flat-headed trefoiled arch is 
 not uncommon ; but this is not, properly speak- 
 ing, an arch at all. 
 
 We now arrive at the era we have called 
 Geometric Middle Pointed, in which Gothic ar- 
 chitecture may be said to have attained the 
 
 * Bloxam. A very magnificent one at West Walton, 
 Norfolk, is given in Cotman’s Architectural Etchings, 
 vol. i. Plate xxxv. 
 
 + Glossary of Architecture. The porch at Ketton was 
 built in 1232, according to Rickman, p. 231. 
 
102 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 highest point of graceful proportion and luxuriant 
 beauty. This period includes the reigns of the two 
 
 8EDILIA AND P18CINA. YAXLEY, HUNT8. 
 
 first Edwards, that is, from about 1272 to 1326. 
 It is named from the form of the window tracery, 
 consisting of geometrical figures, circles, trefoils, 
 and triangles, as opposed to the flowing or wavy 
 lines of the succeeding age under Edward III. 
 Here we first find an element which exercised 
 the greatest influence over the art — the intro- 
 duction of crockets in canopies and pinnacles. 
 Canopies are derived from gables, of which they 
 are a diminutive variety ; crockets, (so called 
 from the crook , or pastoral staff, from the head 
 of which the earliest form is evidently borrowed, 
 as may be seen on Archbishop Gray’s monument 
 in York Cathedral,) are projecting knobs, run- 
 ning up the ridges of canopies and pinnacles, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 103 
 
 and terminating in a bunch, of leaves, com- 
 monly called a finial.* The earliest canopies 
 have no crockets, as in the Chapter House of 
 York Minster. In later work crockets assume an 
 infinite variety of forms, generally having the 
 character of leaves, but sometimes animals, birds, 
 grapes, &c., and always exquisitely beautiful. 
 Hence arose that fine and spiry termination of 
 
 * But incorrectly, as Professor Willis shows, Architectural 
 Nomenclature, p. 64. The finial anciently meant the entire 
 crocketed head, or termination of a buttress ; the bunch of 
 foliage at top was called the crope , or crop. Dallaway (p. 
 60,) says that the crope, or finial, represents a bunch of the 
 plant euphorbium. He might just as well have specified the 
 cabbage or the cauliflower. We may here remark the differ- 
 ence between a pinnacle, which rises from a buttress or the 
 angle of a tower, and a pinnacle turret, which flanks gable 
 elevations, especially east ends, as at Ely, Selby, Heckington, 
 &c. Also, that pinnacled buildings form quite a distinct class 
 from those with eave-roofs, capped towers, low walls, bold 
 and short buttresses, &c., where pinnacles never occur in any 
 part. Any observer will see how often modern architects err 
 from not having considered this. However, it may be stated 
 that the frequent use of parapet pinnacles was principally 
 confined to Third Pointed churches. In the fourteenth cen- 
 tury they were rather sparingly used, except in large and rich 
 buildings. The earliest form of pinnacles is octagonal. The 
 square head arose from the difficulty of cutting the crockets 
 in more than four angles ; hence a square head is sometimes 
 set on an octagonal shaft, as in the tower of Caythorpe 
 Church, Lincolnshire. Each face exhibits the principle of a 
 complete niche-canopy, and is in effect the very same thing. 
 
104 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 niches, which in early pointed work are little 
 more than plain recesses, as on the Galilee porch 
 and east end of Ely Cathedral, sometimes covered 
 by moulded trefoiled arches, as in the west front 
 at Wells, and sometimes having pedimental heads, 
 as in the north transept of Whitby Abbey. The 
 spiry and spiky outline of niche work is one 
 of the most prominent features of pure Gothic 
 architecture. 
 
 The application of crockets to pinnacles, coni- 
 cal turrets, even lofty spires, and gables, creeping 
 up them like so many living plants,* imparted 
 quite a new character and contour to architec- 
 ture, and this, the first period of their general 
 use, is by the very fact distinguished from Florid 
 First Pointed, though even in that style examples 
 do occur. 
 
 The choir of Lincoln Cathedral, — “the Angel 
 choir,” — which may without fear be pronounced 
 the most perfect structure, both within and with- 
 out, in England — is the study and model of the 
 Geometric Middle Pointed in its earliest form. 
 The Chapter-housesf of York, Salisbury, West- 
 
 * Sir James Hall, in his Essay, ingeniously derives crockets, 
 foliaged capitals, and pinnacles, from the sprouting buds of 
 wicker fabrics, and the green twigs inserted by way of orna- 
 ment at the extremities of long poles. 
 
 t So called, because a chapter from the rules of the order 
 was daily read therein to the assembled monks. (Whewell, 
 p. 190.) 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 105 
 
 minster, and Wells, are all of this period, and 
 
 CANOPY, NORTHBORC', NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
 
 each of them supplies invaluable specimens of the 
 peculiar and progressive detail. The exquisite 
 
106 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Queen Eleanor Crosses* at Waltham, Northamp- 
 ton, and Geddington, are also contemporaneous. 
 The Abbey of S. Mary at York, — that most me- 
 lancholy wreck of the very finest house of God 
 that delicate art and tender piety could rear, — 
 belongs to the same era. Stone church in Kent 
 is a very fine specimen of the earliest geometric 
 work. Several details and sections are accurately 
 given in W. Caveler’s “ Select Specimens.” But 
 the chapter-house and vestibule of York Minster, 
 remaining as it does entire, and lately restored in 
 excellent style, is the gem of Edwardian Gothic 
 work. 
 
 The enlarged size of the windows, which are 
 now of several compartments called lights or days , 
 divided by monials, and foliated in the heads and 
 tracery, gives a lightness and perviousness to the 
 fabric, which the sombre lancets failed to pro- 
 duce. Now we find one vast window occupying 
 a space which before was usually pierced by rows 
 of lancets ranged side by side in descending pro- 
 gression, ar d extending its yawning arch high into 
 the gable. Rarely in the preceding style were 
 lancets long enough to reach this entire length in 
 the greater buildings, as we see in the magnifi- 
 cent “Five Sisters,” in the north transept of York 
 
 * Engraved in Britton’s Architectural Antiquities. There 
 were originally ten, of which three only have survived the 
 violence of Protestant destructives. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 107 
 
 Cathedral. They were disposed in tiers placed 
 one above the other, as in the east ends at 
 Ely and Rivaulx Abbey. 
 
 There are three 
 marks by which 
 the work of Ed- 
 ward I. can gene- 
 rally be deter- 
 mined. One is a 
 peculiar undercut 
 abacus, differing 
 from the Eirst 
 Pointed in having 
 the scroll-moulding 
 or some variety of 
 it on the edge ; another is a label or hood, 
 with a deep circular hollow sunk under it into 
 the face of the wall; the third is the well- 
 known dripstone termination or corbel, called the 
 wimpled head-dress. 
 
 The flowing, or complete Gothic, besides the 
 peculiar characteristic of its windows already 
 noticed/* exhibits not a few distinctive features 
 
 * Flowing tracery, properly so called, is very rare in 
 clerestory and belfry windows. An example of the former is 
 Boston, Lincolnshire ; of the latter, Empingham, Rutland. 
 Very beautiful belfry windows of the geometric period occur 
 at Seaton, Rutland, and Threckingham, Lincolnshire. Cir- 
 cular windows are not uncommon in this style, as in the 
 
108 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 in its minor details. But the mouldings will be 
 found to afford the surest indication of date, since 
 in the geometric age they approach much more 
 nearly to the First Pointed forms than they do 
 in later work. A great profusion of canopy and 
 crocket, niche and arcaded panelling, with the 
 sides shafted, or buttressed and pinnacled \ in a 
 word, a general tendency to 'pyramidal rather than 
 vertical outline, and withal a singular gracefulness 
 and felicity in the relative proportion of parts, 
 to a degree observable in no other style, may be 
 noticed as characteristic of this. The mouldings, 
 in the early part still deep and shadowy, now ge- 
 nerally exhibit softer * lines of light and shade, 
 and the ogee curve becomes remarkably prevalent 
 in their profile, as well as in arches and projecting 
 canopies. Buttresses are enriched with triangular 
 heads and set-offs, cusped, crocketed, and even 
 pinnacled ; with sunken niches, or with deep 
 panels, as in the beautiful examples at Bot- 
 
 Tower of Haddenhaxn, near Ely, the gateway at Bury S. 
 Edmund’s, Stratford on Avon, and Leek, Staffordshire, (en- 
 graved in Bloxam, p. 228.) Also at Kentford and Bradwell, 
 Suffolk. 
 
 * It may be stated as a principle that First Pointed mould- 
 ings exhibit a predominance of concave , Middle Pointed of 
 convex , Third Pointed of sharp- edged members. The rounds 
 and hollows of the first are smaller and more frequent than 
 those in the second, where very large rolls with fillets two or 
 three inches in width often occur. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 109 
 
 tisham, Cambridgeshire.* Parapets are pierced in 
 trefoils, t quatrefoils, or wavy lines, or empa- 
 nelled, with bold gro- 
 tesque gargoyles in the 
 cornice, or sejant figures 
 upon the coping, as at 
 Selby Abbey, or with 
 animals scrambling down 
 the eaves or points of 
 gables. The windows 
 and door-jambs % are 
 sometimes studded with 
 little bosses or ’paterae 
 placed at short intervals, 
 particularly a kind of 
 open four- leaved flower ; 
 the ball-flower is often 
 thickly strewn upon cor- 
 nices and arches, and even all over the tracery of 
 windows, as at Grantham; Leominster, Hereford- 
 shire; Melton Mowbray ; Badgeworth, Gloucester- 
 shire; and Clipsham, Rutland. Columns are now 
 
 * Brandon’s Analysis, Part 17. There are fine niched 
 buttresses at Redgrave, Suffolk. 
 
 + Battlements unquestionably occur in this style, though 
 rarely, as at Northborough, Northamptonshire, the porches at 
 Ketton, Rutland, and Over, Cambridgeshire, and the tower of 
 Billingborough, Lincolnshire. 
 
 X As in the west doorway at North Mimms, Herts. 
 (Brandon’s Analysis, Part 21.) 
 
110 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 thickly clustered, the shafts being generally in the 
 form of a roll-and-fillet, but no longer isolated from 
 
 the central pillar. Very 
 
 beautiful examples occur 
 
 at Trumpington near 
 
 Cambridge.* Capitals 
 are of three kinds ; 
 moulded, floriated, and 
 pictorial. At Oakham 
 church, Rutland, and 
 
 West Real, Lincolnshire, 
 are series of subjects, 
 such as the Nativity, 
 Annunciation, &c., or the 
 fox and goose, and such- 
 like quaint representations. In many cases, 
 
 as in the Lady Chapel at Ely, heads, birds, 
 
 dragons combatant, monks, animals in ridiculous 
 
 * These are generally arranged diamond- wise. Slender 
 octagonal piers are not uncommon, as at Fletton and Stand- 
 ground, nea*' Peterburgh; and sometimes, as at Utterby, Lin- 
 colnshire, the faces are slightly hollowed after the manner of 
 shallow fluting. One of the commonest kinds of complex 
 columns in churches of the fourteenth century consists of four 
 half columns set on a square, the corners of which are just 
 visible between, and are usually worked into fillets or pointed 
 rolls. And it was by drawing out these shafts on the north 
 and south sides into elongated rolls-and-fillets, as at Attle- 
 boro’ Church, Norfolk, that the parallelogrammic plan of the 
 next style was suggested. 
 
 OLlPSRAM, RUTLAND. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 attitudes, are very curiously sculptured ; and they 
 often display immense genius as works of art. 
 
 In the Chapter-houses of York and Wells are 
 many extraordinary figures of this kind. “ There 
 appears to have prevailed at this period a school 
 of art both in architecture and sculpture, which 
 in graceful design and beauty of execution far 
 surpassed the works of any age, either anterior 
 or subsequent. The origin and gradual develop- 
 ment of the school we may trace to the thirteenth 
 century ; in the fourteenth it reached perfection ; 
 while in the fifteenth we perceive a marked de- 
 cline in sculpture as well as in architectonic art, 
 though somewhat concealed by an increased rich- 
 ness of detail.”* 
 
 The origin of grotesque sculpture, which pre- 
 vailed in Christian architecture from the very 
 earliest to the latest age, is one of the most mys- 
 terious of the many subjects which it presents 
 
 * Bloxam, p. 196. The unrivalled stone screens at York 
 and Canterbury, with their elaborate and delicate imagery, 
 will attest the excellence to which the art of the statuary was 
 carried in the fourteenth century. 
 
112 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 for investigation. We believe that emblematic 
 portraitures of virtue and vice, good and evil 
 spirits, the world and the church, were, for the 
 most part, really intended ; but that a kind of 
 license for caprice was given in this department 
 to the artists, whose taste was not invariably of 
 the most refined or chastened description. 
 
 The foliage of the capitals is profuse, but very 
 different from that of the preceding style. It is 
 
 much more crisp, knotted, bulbous, and minute, 
 and entwines itself horizontally or transversely 
 rather than vertically. Before, we had a succu- 
 lent plant growing upwards, as out of the ground ; 
 here we find a garland of oak-leaves thrown 
 round below the abacus. Sometimes we have a 
 kind of fern-leaf, as in the Chapter House at 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 113 
 
 Wells ; or a full-blown flower, as at Morton, 
 Lincolnshire ; or a small crisp foliage very minute- 
 ly wrought, as in the Lady Chapel at Ely.* The 
 octagonal capital is the most common for plain 
 single piers, the circular for shafts and clustered 
 columns. Some capitals of this date have battle- 
 ments at the top, some have the ball-flower below 
 the bell. But the point of distinction between 
 First and Middle Pointed capitals is this ; that 
 the abacus of the latter is generally less prominent 
 to the eye, and is no longer undercut in a dark 
 shadow, but consists of the scroll-moulding, that 
 is, of a cylinder whose lower half is as it were with- 
 drawn, leaving a projecting edge. This mould- 
 ing is of very frequent occurrence in all Edward- 
 ian architecture, whether in labels, string-courses, 
 arch-mouldings, or basements. It is almost in- 
 variable in capitals, and is frequently the only 
 point by which the date can be determined. It 
 is a very remarkable fact, and one not easily 
 explained, that the base and cap-mouldings of 
 
 * Floriated capitals of this age are uncommon in small 
 churches, and therefore interesting when discovered. At 
 Partney, Lincolnshire, and Standground, near Peterborough, 
 there are very elaborate specimens. Some very singular and 
 varied foliage of early Edwardian date, at Slymbridge Church, 
 Gloucestershire, is engraved in the Bristol Society’s “ His- 
 torical Notes,” &c. on that church, p. 38. Browne’s and Half- 
 penny’s Illustrations of York Cathedral supply abundant and 
 highly elaborate examples. 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the responds , or half-columns attached to the 
 east and west walls in naves, are generally of 
 an earlier character than the rest. 
 
 Bases consist of two or three plain roll-mould- 
 ings, of which the lowest is sometimes of the 
 scroll-form. But the various profiles cannot be 
 intelligibly explained without diagrams ; and the 
 reader is therefore again recommended to refer 
 to the “ Manual of Gothic Mouldings.” Shafts are 
 no longer detached, and of a different material, 
 but attached or engaged, and therefore built in 
 courses with the wall, and less deeply niched in 
 the jambs.* They are, however, often banded as 
 in the preceding style.t The heads of window 
 lights and canopies were very generally trefoiled, 
 though often cinquefoiled, and in ogee foils. The 
 peculiar process called double- feathering was first 
 introduced in this era, though it is more com- 
 monly found in the next. X If consists in 
 
 * “ The shafts do not in this style generally stand free, but 
 are parts of the sweep of mouldings ; and instead of being cut 
 and set up lengthways, all the mouldings and shafts are cut 
 on the archstone, thus combining great strength with all the 
 appearance of lightness.” Rickman, p. 72. 
 
 + The octagonal tower at Old Buckenham, Norfolk, of this 
 date, has banded shafts running up the angles from the base- 
 ment mouldings. At Empingham, Rutland, the buttresses are 
 thus ornamented at the edges, as in Norman work. The 
 latest example of banded shafts occurs in the piers of the nave 
 at Canterbury. 
 
 X A monument in East Harling Church, Norfolk, of A.n. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 115 
 
 recusping each point, or foliating each foil, by 
 which, especially in larger canopies, as those over 
 monuments, sedilia, &c., great additional rich- 
 ness is gained. An early example occurs in the 
 windows of Swavesey Church, near Cambridge. 
 
 DOG-TOOTH, FURNESS ABBEY. 
 
 The spandrils of the cusps* are very often filled 
 with sculptured leaves, as in the monument of 
 
 1435, lias cusps which are doubly double-feathered. Many 
 windows of the fourteenth century are doubly-feathered, as 
 the fine west window at Hingham, Norfolk ; and at Red-grave, 
 Suffolk. At Southburgh, near Hingham, there are some beau- 
 tiful examples of doubly-feathered windows, circa 1340. 
 
 * Called foliating- spaces by Professor Willis, p. 45. 
 
116 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Sir Roger de Trumpington, at Trumpington 
 Church. The points are sometimes tipped with 
 a ball-flower, or other ornament, as a small head, 
 a fleur-de-lis, or a leafy boss. 
 
 The dog-tooth moulding occurs, hut rarely, 
 in Middle Pointed work, and sometimes in com- 
 bination with the ball-flower, as on the tower 
 of Haddenham Church, near Ely. It is found 
 in the label of the chancel arch at Haslingfield, 
 near Cambridge; but it is probably confined to 
 
 BALL-FLOWER, 
 
 the Geometric period. The ball-flower-and-leaf 
 is also generally an evidence of early date.* In 
 
 * It is joined with the dog-tooth in the west doorway of 
 Bloxham Church, Oxfordshire. (Bloxam, p. 216.) The 
 ball-flower itself occurs in late First Pointed work. It ter- 
 minates the label of the south door of Slymbridge Church, 
 Gloucester, (engraved by the Bristol Society in their descrip- 
 tion, p. 47,) which, like the other details of this building, is 
 of a very unusual kind, probably not earlier than Edward I. 
 It is a curious fact, that the ball-flower-and-leaf occurs in or- 
 namental work known to be of the year 937? and on a capi- 
 tal of no less antiquity, as represented in Mr. Petrie’s Ec- 
 clesiastical Architecture of Ireland, pp. 242 and 333. Ed. 2. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 117 
 
 this case, a kind of creeping stalk is carried 
 alternately over and under each ball-flower. It 
 is most commonly seen in cornices, blocking- 
 courses, and under the overhanging capping-mould 
 of broach spires. The ball-flower is of very fre- 
 quent occurrence in the fine churches of Rutland- 
 shire. The four-leaved diaper, arranged in a 
 series of small squares, and already described, 
 still occurs, though it entirely vanished before 
 the establishment of the next style. It is rarely 
 found on fonts, as at Ewerby,* and Swaton,f Lin- 
 colnshire. 
 
 Porches are often very large and richly adorned. 
 Superior examples occur at Heckington, Sleaford, 
 Ewerby, and Boston, Lincolnshire ; Yarmouth, 
 Over near Huntington ; and Rougham, Suffolk. 
 Not a few are of wood, as at Berkswell, near 
 Coventry ; Stretham, near Ely ; Yardley, Wor- 
 cestershire ; J Brad well and Aldham, Essex ; § 
 Eversden, near Cambridge ; Warblington, Hamp- 
 shire ; and several others mentioned by Mr. 
 Bloxam. || In some cases the roofs are of stone, 
 
 * Van Voorst’s Baptismal Fonts. 
 
 *f* Simpson’s Fonts, p. 40. 
 
 X Instrumenta Ecclesiastica, Part IX. 
 
 $ Brandon’s Analysis, Part XIV. 
 
 || p. 220. See also Glossary of Architecture, p. 294, where 
 it is stated that wooden porches are only of one story in 
 height. This is generally true. The wooden parvise at 
 Berkswell is perhaps unique. 
 
118 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 supported by straight-sided ribs, as at Careby 
 and Benington, Lincolnshire ; and Chacombe 
 and Middleton Chersey, Northamptonshire. * 
 Doorways were often extremely rich, and on the 
 other hand often perfectly plain. They are either 
 shafted, or with continuous mouldings ; the latter 
 is by far the most common in parochial churches. 
 Of these we shall speak more at large in a subse- 
 quent chapter; we may mention as splendid ex- 
 amples those in the west front of York Cathedral, 
 where bands of the minutest foliage are car- 
 ried round between groups of mouldings. Some- 
 times niches adorn the impost or archivolt, as 
 at Adderbury, Oxfordshire ;+ and in the cloisters 
 at Norwich. The two side-doorways in the 
 screen of Lincoln Minster are wonderfully rich, 
 and of the most superb design and execution, 
 but they are early in the Geometric period. The 
 doorway leading into the Chapter House at 
 Rochester is one of the finest examples of Com- 
 plete Middle Pointed work.J 
 
 Among the richest and purest buildings of this 
 age must be enumerated the octagon, with its 
 three contiguous and coeval choir arches, § and 
 
 * These two and others are given by Mr. Bloxam. 
 
 t Engraved in Mr. Bloxam’s work, p. 216. 
 
 + It is given with sections and details in W. Caveler’s 
 “ Select Specimens.” 
 
 § The triforium has delicate flowing tracery, and is adapted 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 119 
 
 the Lady Chapel, and Prior Crauden’s Chapel, 
 at Ely. Nothing can surpass the beauty of 
 these, especially of the three choir arches, which 
 are most gorgeously decorated and most exqui- 
 sitely worked. Much excellent detail also exists 
 in Bristol Cathedral ; the nave of York Minster is 
 entirely of this period, varying in its parts from 
 early to late ; and we must not omit to mention 
 Bridlington, Guisborougb, and Selby Abbeys, 
 Yorkshire; the vast parochial churches at Boston, 
 Grantham, Heckington ;* Sleaford, Hull, Naven- 
 by (Lincolnshire) ; the chancel of Hawton church, 
 Nottinghamshire ;f the gateways at Canterbury, 
 
 in size to the earlier work with which it is connected. This 
 is perhaps the latest example of a distinct triforium, which 
 totally vanished in the succeeding period. In its earliest 
 form it is little more than a repetition of the nave arcade on a 
 smaller scale, as at Norwich Cathedral. The arch was after- 
 wards divided into two smaller compartments by a central 
 shaft, as at Ely. Then the shafts at the sides and centre 
 were clustered, and the space above the latter was pierced, 
 till the light and richly decorated examples at Ely, Whitby 
 Abbey, and Salisbury were produced. Towards the fifteenth 
 century this arrangement degenerated into a mere ornamental 
 parapet for the triforium passage, as in the choir of York 
 Cathedral. 
 
 * Between these three and the Redcliffe Church, Bristol, 
 lies the contest for the first place in the kingdom among 
 churches not abbatial, cathedral, or collegiate. 
 
 t Published in a magnificent folio volume by the Cambridge 
 Camden Society. 
 
120 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Norwich, Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and 
 Bury S. Edmunds ; the naves of Exeter and 
 Lichfield (both of the earliest kind) ; and, above 
 all others, the queen of Edwardian buildings, S. 
 Stephen’s, Westminster — now, alas ! to be num- 
 bered among the things that are past and gone. 
 The church of Hingham, Norfolk, is a remarkably 
 fine and large specimen of Middle Pointed work 
 throughout ; Howden, Yorkshire, especially its 
 Chapter-house, and Patrington in the same 
 county, are also noble edifices of the purest 
 period. Bottisham and Trumpington, near Cam- 
 bridge, and Dorchester, Oxfordshire, are very 
 good buildings of the earlier part of the style. 
 The chancel at Carlton Bode, Norfolk, is a very 
 fine structure of the same age. 
 
 A few words remain to be said on vaulting and 
 wooden roofs. The former, indeed, is of so com- 
 plex a character, that it is impossible to describe 
 it at length in a small and unscientific work like 
 the present. It is at once distinguishable by its 
 intricate -amifications, though in this respect, 
 and no other, it was even surpassed by that of 
 the next style. But most of the large vaults 
 now remaining, of the ramified kind, are of the 
 fourteenth century. The latest are in the naves of 
 Norwich, Canterbury, Winchester Cathedrals, and 
 the choir at York. Earlier and purer examples 
 are the Lady Chapel, and part of the choir of 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 121 
 
 Ely, the exquisite vaults at Wells (among the 
 finest in the kingdom),* the nave of York, the 
 cloisters of Norwich. In a few cases, as in York 
 Cathedral and Selby, the vaulting is of wood. 
 
 Vaults of this age have been divided into two 
 classes. Of the first, the wide and daring roof 
 of the choir at Lincoln is the best instance. In 
 the later and purer kind, the radiation of the 
 ribs is not directly across, as in the preceding 
 styles, but from the vaulting shafts to the lon- 
 gitudinal rib running along the centre, each 
 bulging bay of vaulting having, as it were, a 
 skeleton frame of diverging ribs, repeated in 
 every space between two windows on each side. 
 “ In the second, or late Decorated vaulting, bosses 
 begin to make their appearance to the right and 
 left of the longitudinal and transverse ridge- 
 beams upon the- diagonal and intermediate ribs : 
 short ribs, which we may conveniently call tie-ribs, 
 connected these with the bosses on the ridge : 
 and by these means simple and elegant figures 
 were traced on the shell of the vaulting. As 
 the Perpendicular style advanced, this kind of 
 vaulting was eagerly practised, and it gradually 
 proceeded from the simple figures on the vault 
 
 * The bosses are usually of extraordinary delicacy and va- 
 riety of design. In fact, they might form a complete study by 
 themselves. Those at S. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, are exceed- 
 ingly good, as are those at Wells, York, and Ely. 
 
122 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 over the nave at Winchester, to the more complex 
 in the nave of Canterbury, until the tie-ribs 
 wandered aimlessly over the vault, as in the 
 Lady Chapel at Gloucester, and finally all dis- 
 tinctions of ribs were lost amid the gorgeous 
 entanglement which adorns the roof of the Chap- 
 ter-house at Canterbury.”* 
 
 Of Fan-tracery vaults, one of the principal 
 characteristics of the latest style, King’s Chapel, 
 Cambridge, the cloisters at Gloucester, the Lady 
 Chapel at Peterburgh, S. George’s Chapel, Wind- 
 sor, are the finest examples. These resemble 
 a series of inverted semi-cones, ranged along 
 each side of the building, having their internal 
 surfaces quite covered with radiating panels. 
 Their complex construction is elaborately illus- 
 trated by Professor Willis, in his Essay on Vault- 
 ing, in the Transactions of the Institute of Bri- 
 tish Architects. 
 
 Timber roofs of this age we believe to be of 
 very frequent occurrence, only it is generally im- 
 possible to fix the date from extreme simplicity 
 and rudeness of construction. In fact, the idea 
 of constructing enriched wooden roofs was only 
 conceived towards the end of the style, and was 
 very partially carried out. Most early specimens 
 
 * Mr. Ellicott on vaulting. Transactions of the C.C.S., 
 Part III. p. 197. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 123 
 
 which remain (and these naturally bear hut- a 
 small proportion to the number of ancient 
 churches), have been underdrawn in later ages, 
 and covered with plaister and whitewash, from 
 their rough and barn-like appearance. It is 
 probable that the construction was generally the 
 same as in the First Pointed age, * though 
 moulded timbers occur in some cases. The roofs 
 of Adderbury church, Oxfordshire,! and By field, 
 Northamptonshire, are cited as examples of this 
 kind. We might add a considerable list of the 
 plainer sort, were it worth the while to enumerate 
 them. They are (with few exceptions) of an 
 acute pitch. Wherever a roof is seen, not lower 
 than the weather-moulding on the tower of a 
 
 * See the examples in the Ecclesiologist, vol. iii. p. 106. 
 
 ! Engraved in Bloxam, p. 209. The nave of Hingham 
 Church, Norfolk, has an excellent Middle Pointed roof, of 
 rather rich design. There is also an interesting example at 
 Polebrook, Northamptonshire. Neither of these are of acute 
 pitch. Many good aisle roofs remain of this date, as at S. 
 Cuthbert’s, Thetford, and Haslingfield, near Cambridge. The 
 adoption of the curved brace instead of the straight beam, or 
 strut, by giving scope to the pointed arch principle, led the 
 way to a more elaborate and decorative kind of roofing. But 
 this does not seem to occur in churches of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, though modern architects almost invariably adopt the 
 anachronism. The early roofs seem to have been regarded 
 merely as an apology for stone-vaulting, while those of later 
 date were made substitutes for it by their rich effect and orna- 
 mental character. 
 
124 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Middle Pointed church, ceiled within in a semi- 
 octagonal form, (and there are hundreds of this 
 sort,) it is pretty sure to be the original one, 
 formed of principals, or timbers sloping from the 
 sides to a point in the ridge, with collars, or 
 horizontal ties carried across half-way up, collar- 
 braces, transversely from these to the principals, 
 underneath the collar, and upright struts from 
 the wall-plate to another point in the principals 
 nearer to the foot. Cornices, or foot-hoards, con- 
 cealing the springing of the timbers from the 
 top of the wall, were not generally in use till the 
 fifteenth century, when they were often made of 
 great depth and richness. 
 
 A perfect Middle Pointed elevation consists of 
 the following distinct parts, taken regularly from 
 the ground upwards, in the order of their con- 
 struction : the vertical division by buttresses be- 
 ing into bays. 
 
 1. Basement, a table projecting somewhat 
 further than the superstructure, often weathered off 
 in elegant slopes and most elaborate moulded orders, 
 extending even six or seven feet above the ground, 
 as at South Luffenham and Wissendine, Rutland. 
 
 2. String-course, running immediately below 
 the windows, and raised so as to pass over door- 
 ways.* This defines the lower stage. 
 
 * If a doorway came in the way of a window, the ancient 
 architects did not hesitate either to make the latter shorter, or 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 125 
 
 3. Windows, above which runs a string-course 
 or cornice-string, set with gurgoyles, ball-flowers, 
 or other ornaments placed at intervals, and ter- 
 minating the second stage. 
 
 4. Parapet, pierced, panelled, embattled, or 
 plain, with moulded coping. 
 
 5. The Gable elevation will display delicate 
 gablets at the end of the eaves, or an elegant 
 finish, as a head, a rose, a ball-flower, or an ani- 
 mal ; details small and unobtrusive in character 
 and position, but always deserving of attention. 
 
 WOOTTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
 
 6. Gable Window, above the larger one im- 
 mediately underneath, generally circular, oval, 
 
 place it higher in the wall, or even to block up a portion of it, 
 as may be seen in the chancel at Chesterton, near Cambridge, 
 and at Hawton, Notts. Such expedients are not defects or 
 awkward bungling contrivances. They are true efforts of 
 genius working on right principles, and as such are highly to 
 be commended. At Tintern Abbey the gable of the door- 
 way rises into the window of the south transept. 
 
126 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 square, diamond-shape, or triangular, and foliated 
 or filled with tracery. 
 
 7. Gable-Cross, a most beautiful and appro- 
 priate termination of the highest point, especially 
 when its floriated arms of almost endless variety 
 are seen in strong isolated relief against the sky, 
 into which it seems to reach. A small turret, 
 designed to hold the host-bell, which in a few 
 cases yet remains, will often he noticed at the 
 highest extremity of the nave gable. This, as 
 at Fressingfield, Suffolk, may itself be terminated 
 with an elaborate cross. Some gable crosses re- 
 present the Crucifixion, for many interesting 
 examples of which see “ Churches of Cambridge- 
 shire,” part Y. p. 78. 
 
 The plan of churches of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, was rarely cruciform, except in very large 
 buildings, though the fine example of Trinity 
 church, Cambridge, is an exception. Central 
 towers are likewise rare ; in fact, the position of 
 the tower is now very seldom any other than at 
 the west end, the nave having spacious aisles, and 
 the chancel not unfrequently lateral chapels, or 
 aisles corresponding with those of the nave. The 
 establishment of Mortuary Chapels, with altars for 
 the celebration of private Masses, materially af- 
 fected the development of Gothic Architecture. 
 These are of three kinds, or rather in three dif- 
 ferent positions ; in transepts (which do not 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 127 
 
 appear to have been originally used for or- 
 dinary congregational purposes, as with us) ; at 
 the east ends of aisles ; and on each side of the 
 high altar, to the north and south, early examples 
 of which occur at Yaxley, Hunts, and Swavesey 
 near Cambridge. In the thirteenth century it 
 appears to have been the custom to place an 
 altar under an arch on the nave side of the 
 chancel arch, vestiges of which may yet be seen 
 at Castle Rising, and at Milton and Hauxton 
 Churches, Cambridgeshire. These mortuary 
 chapels * invariably contained a piscina, and 
 almost always a niche ; more rarely sedilia were 
 added, as at Yaxley and Boston. Even sacristies 
 will often be found to contain piscinae ; and 
 these sometimes occur in the cills of windows, 
 in the seats of sedilia, even towards the west 
 end of aisles, and in fact in almost any wall or 
 corner of a church. They are double for the 
 use of the high altar, single for chantry altars, 
 at least during the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 centuries. 
 
 “ Church Architecture in England, when it had 
 reached the zenith of excellence, very soon passed 
 beyond it. Simplicity, with its harmonious effect, 
 
 * Recumbent effigies will generally be found placed near 
 the high altar ; or in transepts or aisles, in or near their 
 Chantry Chapels, to represent, as it were, personal presence at 
 Mass. 
 
 j 
 
128 
 
 A MANUAL OP 
 
 was now superseded by an accumulation of minute 
 ornament, which invention and skill were employ- 
 ed to supply, and caprice frequently usurped the 
 place of beautiful construction.”* The style com- 
 monly called Perpendicular, peculiar to this coun- 
 try, has found many advocates and imitators, and 
 many unsparing vituperators, of whom the au- 
 thor of this little sketch would not be thought to 
 be one. With many evidences of debasement, and 
 of departure from the spirit and characteristic 
 genius of true Gothic, in its low arches, t flat 
 gables, battlemented parapets, overloaded orna- 
 ment, and repetition of meagre and little diver- 
 sified detail, a style in which such splendid 
 buildings as King’s College Chapel, S. George’s, 
 
 * Dallaway, p. 134. 
 
 f Gothic architecture was spoiled by the invention of the 
 four-centered arch, as it was reared by the use of the pointed. 
 It arose from the pointed segmental of the previous style, a 
 form adopted when a low archway was required, and there 
 was sufficient abutment to resist the directly lateral thrust, as 
 in gateways. In this case the arch dies into the jamb at an 
 angle. By r unding this angle, we obtain the lesser curve 
 above the capital of the four-centered arch. This is well 
 illustrated by the magnificent gateway of Wingfield Castle, 
 Suffolk, circa 1 37 0, where the outer archway is a doubly re- 
 cessed pointed segmental one, the inner and opposite, of the 
 same date, is four-centered, the height and bearing of both 
 being precisely the same. Moreover, the pointed segmental is 
 almost as common as the four-centered arch in Third Pointed 
 windows, which shows their close affinity. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 129 
 
 Windsor, the unequalled choir of Gloucester 
 Cathedral, the naves of Canterbury and Win- 
 chester (early), the magnificent parochial towers 
 of Boston, Louth, All Saints, Stamford, S. Mary’s, 
 Taunton, S. Neot’s, Huntingdon, with many other 
 fine fabrics, such as Lavenham and Long Melford, 
 Suffolk, Kettering, Northampton, the west front 
 of Beverley Minster, Saffron Walden, Essex, the 
 towers of Gloucester and Canterbury, Rotherham 
 Church, Yorkshire, the nave of Ripon Cathedral 
 — such a style cannot, with common taste or rea- 
 son, meet with other than very high admiration 
 for its own peculiar and manifold beauties. The 
 most marked feature, as indeed in every other 
 style, consists in the windows, whose great size 
 and vertical tracery-bars readily distinguish this 
 from all others. The heads are filled by smaller 
 compartments,* formed by upright pieces con- 
 tinued parallel from the monials, or mullions. 
 u In all the windows we remark an expanse 
 beyond all proportion when singly placed ; or 
 otherwise, that they are crowded into a very 
 inadequate space.”f Thus the entire spaces be- 
 tween the buttresses of King’s Chapel are nothing 
 but vast window apertures ; and clerestories es- 
 pecially, as generally in Norfolk and Suffolk, 
 
 * Anciently called batement lights. Willis’ Architectural 
 Nomenclature, p. 51. 
 
 L Dallaway, p. 134. 
 
 K • 
 
130 A MANUAL OF 
 
 look like glass houses, from (as Professor Whe- 
 well* happily expresses it,) their “diaphanous 
 workmanship.” This great size of the windows 
 rendered one or more transoms or cross-bars 
 absolutely necessary for the support of the mo- 
 
 EAST WINDOW, SWAVESEY. 
 
 nials, just as in First Pointed work bands were 
 requisite for holding erect the isolated shafts. 
 And here, as everywhere, the decoration of essen- 
 tial constructive features, by cusps, embattled 
 crests, or delicate open tracery, imparted great 
 richness together with real and apparent security 
 to the fabrics of large window-frames. These tran- 
 
 * Notes, &c. p. 126. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 131 
 
 soms are sometimes carried across the monials in 
 two points of their extreme length, as well as 
 across the tracery of the head. 
 
 Another striking peculiarity is the panelling 
 of walls on the very same principle, with upright 
 bars, cusped in the head — the substitute for the 
 more ancient and far more beautiful arcade. 
 Immense surfaces, both within and without, are 
 thus ornamented, as in the interior of Great S. 
 Mary’s, Cambridge. Even soffits of arches, vaults, 
 battlements, monuments, buttresses (as at Eve- 
 sham and Boston), and towers were thus enrich- 
 ed, whence it has been proposed to call it the 
 Empanelled* rather than the Perpendicular style. 
 A constant use of borders of quatrefoiled circles 
 in basements and parapetst must not be overlook- 
 ed. Arches of low form and double curvature, 
 commonly called four-centered, and (in accordance 
 with the shape of these, as the line of coping 
 generally forms a tangent to the window arch in 
 
 * “ The grand source of ornament in this style is panel- 
 ling ; indeed, the interior of most rich buildings is only a 
 general series of it.” Rickman, p. 98. 
 
 f At Kettering, Northamptonshire, a band of this kind is 
 carried in a square hood over the western door, and another 
 passes but a little above it. See Billing’s beautiful illustra- 
 tions of this church, Plate xii. In the Norfolk and Suffolk 
 churches a series of rich square panels of very diverse design 
 is carried round the base. Very curious and beautiful patterns 
 occur at Lavenham, Suffolk, and New Buckenham, Norfolk. 
 
132 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 all the styles,) low gables, and consequently low 
 roofs, scarcely appearing above the battlemented 
 parapets,* are now in constant use. Neverthe- 
 less, it is only in the latest or Florid era that four- 
 centered pier-arches are used, as at Comberton, 
 near Cambridge, and New Buckenham, Norfolk. 
 These continued of the usual pointed form till 
 long after doorways and windows had been gene- 
 rally built with four-centered heads. Doorways, 
 and sometimes, but much more rarely, windows, 
 have square labels or hoods, the spandrils being 
 generally filled with foliated circles and loops. 
 The ends of these labels terminate either in a 
 head or a half figure of an animal, or are support- 
 ed on slender shafts rising from the ground. A 
 kind of sharp, square-edged outline is observable 
 in the detail, and especially in the mouldings, 
 instead of the softer rounded forms of earlier work. 
 
 * The finest proportion for a roof of a church in the styles 
 of the thirteenth and fourteenth century, is the same elevation 
 as the wall from the ground. That is, from ground to parapet 
 or eave, equals the height from cave to ridge. This is well 
 illustrated in the perfectly proportioned chancel of Hawton, 
 published by the Camden Society, and it is also observable in 
 the Chancel of Fen Ditton, near Cambridge. The well known 
 chapel at Skelton, near Y ork, is twice as high in the roof as 
 the side walls. If architects would accept the above rule, it 
 will be found a safe one for effect and propriety. Nothing is 
 a more absurd burlesque on the ancient styles than detail with- 
 out the proper outline. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 133 
 
 This is particularly observable in capitals and 
 bases, which are almost invariably octagonal.* 
 The mouldings are shallow, meagre, and wiry; 
 they no longer follow the rectangular faces of the 
 sub-arches, but are arranged on the sloping plane 
 formed by cutting off the square edge of the open- 
 ing in the wall.f Two very characteristic mould- 
 ings are the double ogee, and a wide but shallow 
 cavetto or hollow in the centre of the group, of 
 which it occupies about one third in extent across. 
 This is a most certain and almost universal mark 
 of the style. Buttresses are now of greater height, 
 of more numerous stages, of greater projection in 
 proportion to their width ; the plan of earlier 
 buttresses being more nearly a square. The edges 
 are invariably left sharp, whereas they are com- 
 monly chamfered in the preceding styles, and 
 the heads and set-offs are usually triangular J or 
 
 * In capitals of the Transition between Middle and Third 
 Pointed, it will be found that the abacus is octagonal, the 
 members of the capital below it still circular, as in the pre- 
 ceding styles. 
 
 t See this more fully developed in the Manual of Gothic 
 Mouldings, p. 46. 
 
 J In buttresses of the fourteenth century the acute pitch of 
 the canopied heads and set-offs is very striking and beautiful 
 as in the west front of Y ork Minster. These are, generally, 
 filled with panelled tracery. In Third Pointed buttresses 
 the canopies have curved rather than straight sides, and are 
 usually cinque-foiled. The weatherings are rather curved and 
 
134 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 pedimental, with rich crockets. Some buttresses 
 of immense projection occur, as in King’s College 
 Chapel, S. Sepulchre’s, Northampton, and at the 
 east end of S. Michael’s, Coventry. In the later 
 period, instead of pinnacles, or rather jinialed 
 pinnacles, buttresses had flat terminations, form- 
 ing pedestals for figures at the top, as was the 
 case on the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, and 
 S. George’s, Windsor, and still is so in the Lady 
 Chapel at Peterburgh. The battlements are often 
 pierced, with cusped and pointed heads, as in the 
 last instance. Crests of the Tudor flower adorn 
 capitals, window cills, and even parapets, as at 
 Yaxley, Suffolk.* 
 
 Porches were now built of large size, and gene- 
 rally of two stories in height. The counties of 
 Norfolk and Suffolk contain a great many ex- 
 amples of the most elaborately decorated designs, 
 the panelling in flint masonry being executed 
 with wonderful minuteness and nicety. The porch 
 at Worlingworth, Suffolk, is of great beauty, and 
 
 overhanging, than straight graduated slopes. But the absence 
 of the chamfer is the most uniform mark. 
 
 * Hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiastical Architec- 
 ture and Antiquities, p. 13. It is to be observed that 
 the ornament commonly called Tudor flower is also found, 
 though rarely, in work of the fourteenth century, as on a 
 screen at Shelfanger, Norfolk. Its form is first seen in gable 
 crosses, and the floriated ends of brass crosses of this era. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 135 
 
 is covered with monograms and other patterns.* 
 It is very remarkable for having the hall-flower 
 ornament, though of decided Third Pointed cha- 
 racter. The roofs of porches are often groined in 
 this style, of which there are fine examples at 
 Great Shelford, Cambridge, Cotterstock, Northamp- 
 ton, Wymondham and Walsingham, Norfolk, 
 Stickney, Lincolnshire, t and at Canterbury Ca- 
 thedral. Niches often enrich the outer face above 
 or on each side of the entrance archway, as at S. 
 
 * An inscription, beautifully done in flint-work, is carried 
 round the porch and clerestory parapet at Long Melford, 
 Suffolk. The crowned M is constantly thus formed in these 
 counties, sometimes alternating with a crowned I H C, as at 
 Yaxley and Rickinghall, Suffolk, and Northrepps, Norfolk. 
 A few porches of moulded brick, of the fifteenth century, may 
 be found, as at Frenze, Norfolk, and Stuston, Suffolk. 
 
 Western porches are uncommon, as at Cromer and Wal- 
 singham, Norfolk, Swaffham, Cambridge, and Morton, Lin- 
 colnshire. Tower porches are also rare, though very beautiful 
 features. There are fine early examples at Hardingham, 
 Little Ellingham, West Bradenham, Wicklewood, and Scul- 
 thorp, Norfolk, where the tower occupies the usual position of 
 the porch, on the south side, and the entrance is through an 
 archway in the lower stage, which thus forms a porch. At 
 East Barsham, Norfolk, it stands on the north side. North 
 and south porches are sometimes found, as at Coton, near 
 Cambridge. Very rarely there is also one at the west end, as 
 at Bottisham, near Cambridge. In the octagonal tower at 
 Wickham Market, Suffolk, is a porch way ; and at Gum- 
 freston, Pembrokeshire, is a large western porch vaulted in 
 stone. (Ecclesiologist, Part X. new series, p. 153-4.) 
 
136 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Nicholas, Lynn. One very striking characteristic 
 is the frequent use of shields, either plain or bear- 
 ing arms, which are placed everywhere on battle- 
 ments, in spandrils, at the ends of labels, and on 
 the bosses of roofs. Angels with spread wings 
 are also peculiar to this style. They generally 
 occur as bearing up brackets or on wooden roofs. 
 
 String-courses and cornices are often studded 
 at intervals with diamond-shaped or square leafy 
 ornaments, or paterae. Figures with musical 
 instruments, ugly grinning faces, animals,* &c., 
 often occur in cornices, + at the heads of buttresses, 
 as gurgoyles, and as corbels supporting the tim- 
 bers of roofs. A good specimen of a mixed cor- 
 nice of this kind occurs at Ryliall, Rutland, early 
 in the style. 
 
 * At Gresford and Mold churches, Flintshire, the cornices 
 have “ a complete chase of cats, rats, mice, dogs, and a variety 
 of imaginary figures, amongst which various grotesque mon- 
 keys are very conspicuous.” Rickman, p. 96. 
 
 + Norman cornices often consist of rows of diabolical (some 
 think symbolical) heads, as at Tickencote and Kilpeck. It 
 seems that a rotched or serrated square edge suggested the 
 dog-tooth ; the dog-tooth was flattened into the four-leaved 
 flower, which in its turn gave rise to the square or diamond- 
 shaped patera ; an ornament remarkably characteristic of the 
 fifteenth century, and frequently carried round arches and 
 between shafts, as at Wingfield church, Suffolk. The origin 
 of the dog-tooth is most distinctly seen in the hood moulding 
 of a Norman arch in the chancel of the Conventual Church at 
 Ely. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 137 
 
 Flying buttresses are rare in this century, ex- 
 cept at the springing of spires, where they are 
 merely decorative. There are late examples at 
 Fotheringhay and Bath Abbey churches. Spires 
 are usually crocketed or ribbed at the angles ; and 
 they do not cap the tower, as before, but rise out 
 of the centre of it. 
 
 Wooden roofs were now constructed of the 
 richest and most ingenious mechanical design. 
 A volume might easily be written on wooden 
 roofs alone ;* and it is impossible to do more than 
 call attention to them in the present place. Nor- 
 folk and Suffolk are justly celebrated for pos- 
 sessing the most superb examples ; and we may 
 just mention S. Mary’s, Bury, Woolpit, Wy- 
 mondham, Keddington, East Harling, Capel S. 
 Mary, Grundisburgh, and Blakeney, in these two 
 counties. At Willingham, near Cambridge, there 
 is a remarkably fine oaken roof of high pitch, as 
 many of this date are. The general principle of 
 roofs of this age consists in cutting away the mid- 
 dle parts of tie-beams and collars (to speak fami- 
 liarly rather than correctly), and letting the ends 
 (called hammer-beams ) project, curved knees or 
 braces being morticed underneath them for their 
 
 * A work on this subject has lately been advertised by the 
 Messrs. Brandon. The great abundance of oak timber in 
 ancient times was very favourable to the general use of these 
 ponderous structures, the cost of which would now be enormous. 
 
138 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 support.* * * § The timbers are generally moulded, 
 and the cornices are very rich, being either fring- 
 ed with Tudor flower, as at Broom, Norfolk, or 
 sculptured with foliage, fish, animals, &c., as at S. 
 Neot’s, or embattled. These roofs have been call- 
 ed foliated , t from the form of the trusses, or prin- 
 cipals with their hammer-beams projecting, where- 
 by they assume a trefoiled or a cinquefoiled con- 
 tour, as at Worlingworth, Suffolk. 
 
 Roofs of this era are also coved, as at Stuston, 
 Norfolk, Fulbourne, Landbeach, Little Shelford, 
 Little Wilbraham, near Cambridge ; that is, 
 boarded in a semi-octagonal form,J and probably 
 in most instances painted in bright colours, 
 diapered or stencilled ; or embossed, i. e. decorated 
 with surface tracery attached to the boarded 
 panels, as at Wymondham, and in a side chapel 
 at All Saints’, Stamford ; or painted to represent 
 clouds, sky, and stars, as in the north transept at 
 Empingham, Rutland. § The eastern bay of the 
 
 * These generally exhibit spandrils of light open tracery, 
 of the most beautiful feathery effect. Some fine roofs of this 
 sort are engraved in vol. iv. of Weale’s Quarterly Papers. 
 
 t Transactions of the Cambridge Camden Society, Part 
 II. p. 105. 
 
 X A roof of this kind has been lately restored, with its 
 original gilding and painting, in Queen’s College Chapel, 
 Cambridge. 
 
 § Some roofs, as Wissendine, Rutland, and Over, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, have niches and figures carved in the wooden wall- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 139 
 
 nave roof, under which the great Rood was 
 placed, was generally coloured when the rest was 
 left plain ; a custom perpetuated in the Caroline 
 chapel of S. Peter’s College, Cambridge, above 
 the altar. This painting remains unusually per- 
 fect at Eye, Suffolk. * 
 
 As capitals and bases were octagonal, so octa- 
 gonal rood -turrets, t with battlements or stone 
 cappings, and even octagonal pinnacles are found. 
 The latter generally have panelled stems, an 
 embattled crest, and crocketed heads. Octagonal 
 
 pieces supported on the clerestory corbels. At S. Nicholas, 
 Lynn, there are rich stone niches in the clerestory, and the 
 same occur in the chancel at Bur well, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 * At Wingfield, Suffolk, the eastern bay of the open roof is 
 boarded and painted. 
 
 + These are rare before the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury. At Harlton, near Cambridge, is one which dates about 
 1370. Earlier churches sometimes have rood staircases in- 
 serted, to the serious mutilation of piers, walls, and capitals. 
 Examples of this occur in the First Pointed churches of 
 Thurlby, Lincolnshire, and Stretton, Rutland. At Bar- 
 holme, Lincolnshire, and Hauxton, near Cambridge, Norman 
 chancel arches have been mutilated by subsequent erections of 
 roods. The earliest remnants of rood-lofts we have met with 
 are at Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and Hull Lavington, 
 Wilts, where the wooden beams have the ball-flower and 
 tooth-moulding combined. The entrance to the rood-loft was 
 sometimes in the aisle, across which a wooden gallery was 
 thrown, traces of which exist in Wingfield Church, Suffolk, 
 and a perfect one remains at Thurlby, Lincolnshire. 
 
140 A MANUAL OF 
 
 fonts are nearly universal ; spires, lanterns, even 
 towers, as Cox wold, Yorkshire, assume this 
 favourite form. This was the age of rich wood- 
 work, such as stalls, carved open seats with 
 poppy-heads, screens, and tracery panels on doors, 
 pulpits, and wainscots. In the fourteenth century, 
 with the exception of some few rood-screens, and 
 the splendid stall-work in the choirs of Ely, Wells, 
 and some other places, carved wood-work is rare ; 
 and of the the thirteenth century scarcely a dozen 
 
 STALLS IN GRIMSTONE CHURCH. 
 
 specimens are known to exist. This therefore is 
 a characteristic of the fifteenth century, to employ 
 timber largely in decorative work, as in roofing 
 and church-fittings, where it was before a subordi- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 141 
 
 nate and disparaged material. The detail is 
 essentially the same as that of stone-work, though 
 its use and construction are of course essentially 
 different.* 
 
 The marks of transition from the Middle to 
 the Third Pointed style principally appear in 
 the windows and the mouldings. In the former, 
 we observe a singular combination of vertical and 
 flowing tracery, of which an early glimpse ap- 
 pears in the east window of the Lady Chapel, at 
 Ely. The east window of the chancel at Ufiing- 
 ton, near Stamford ; the Chantry chapel at 
 Maxey, Northamptonshire ; the church at Harl- 
 ton, and the north aisle at Sawston, near Cam- 
 bridge, have windows of this kind. We must 
 not omit to mention the desecrated pilgrim’s 
 chapel, at Houghton in the Yale, near Walsing- 
 ham, whose windows afford a good illustration of 
 the change of form in the tracery. f The nave 
 
 * The importance of considering this fact (which never 
 seems to have struck church-architects some years ago) may 
 be seen by noticing the organ screen at Ely Cathedral, erected 
 by Essex in the last century. Its construction is stone, 
 though the material is wood, and consequently the effect is 
 altogether bad. Similarly the roofs of King’s College Hall, 
 and Trinity Church chancel, Cambridge, are of wood coloured 
 to. imitate stone, whereas no such vaults could possibly have 
 been built in the latter material. 
 
 4 An eminent living architect well remarked of this little 
 building, the details of which are of extraordinary delicacy, 
 
142 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of Winchester Cathedral exhibits the earliest traces 
 of the change. It may be useful to observe, that 
 
 the head-dress of a square 
 form is a certain evidence 
 of the transition, and fixes 
 the date of a building; to 
 about the year 1375. The 
 nave and chancel of Ryhall 
 church, Rutland, are of this 
 style, and marked by this 
 peculiar dripstone termina- 
 
 HEAD-DRESS, CIRCA A.D. 1375 . _ % 
 
 The mouldings are marked by the absence of 
 the wide and shallow cavetto, which is almost 
 universal in the later style. The double ogee, 
 and the wavyt or undy moulding, with or with- 
 out a three-quarter hollow between the orders or 
 groups, are very frequent. The ball-flower was 
 but rarely used in the transition period, though 
 it may sometimes be found, as in the west door- 
 way at Little Walsingham, Norfolk. 
 
 The plan of the columns of this age is of three 
 kinds ; plain octagonal ; oblong, or parallelo- 
 
 that “ it deserved to be kept under a glass cover.” It is 
 deeply to be regretted that this unique building should con- 
 tinue in a desecrated state. ^ tj f'td&dz > 
 
 * It is not often found in brasses, but is seen in one of 
 ] 380, at Little Casterton, Rutland. 
 
 *J* See Manual of Gothic Mouldings, p. 40. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 143 
 
 grammic, set lengthways from north to south, 
 with the corners hollow-chamfered or moulded 
 continuously (i. e. round the arch also, without 
 the interruption of an impost,) generally with the 
 double ogee, and a half-shaft bearing the soffit 
 mouldings engaged in the eastern and western 
 faces ; * — or, thirdly, four half-shafts set on the 
 angles of a square diamond-wise, as at S. Mary’s, 
 Stamford, and Trinity church Cambridge.f The 
 capitals are generally very meagre, and seldom 
 present more than three or four plain angular 
 mouldings. The abacus is sloped off, not round- 
 ed , on its upper face, and its section frequently 
 resembles the letter S. There is no over- 
 hanging and undercut hell ; and the form is 
 invariably octagonal. Some capitals of this style 
 
 * This plan is peculiarly the mark of the period in the 
 piers of nave-arches, &c. The earliest example of it we have 
 met with is at Wood Ditton, near Newmarket, late in the 
 fourteenth century. Sometimes each cardinal face contains a 
 half-shaft, as at Great S. Mary’s, Cambridge. In this case 
 those to the north and south are generally carried up to sup- 
 port (decoratively) the roofs. The filleted shaft is not used in 
 this style. The pillars at Ensham Church, Oxfordshire, circa 
 1400, are early instances of the oblong plan. 
 
 + Or on each side of a square, the angles being hollowed out. 
 This is generally a mark of late work. It occurs at Kettering, 
 (Billing’s Illustrations, Plate IX,) at S. Michael le Belfry, 
 York, and at Lindfield, Sussex, (Brandon’s Analysis, Part 
 X.) See also the Manual of Gothic Mouldings, Plate III. 
 
144 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 are embattled, or crested with. Tudor flower, or 
 have diamond-shaped bosses or paterae above the 
 neck moulding.* Foliage is rare, and generally 
 of a very meagre description. The bases are 
 remarkable for the height at which they com- 
 mence above the ground, sometimes not less than 
 seven or eight feet, as under the western tower at 
 Ely. The form is usually bell-shaped, the bell 
 being circular like the shaft, and the octagonal 
 form commencing immediately below it.t 
 
 The predominant expression in the Third 
 Pointed style is the parallelogram, as seen in 
 panels, window tracery, plans of piers, square 
 hoods, compartments of roofs, projection of but- 
 tresses, and details of screen-work. At least there 
 is an absence of the pyramidal form, which in the 
 Middle Pointed strongly prevails, as in arcades, 
 canopies, pinnacle-turrets, spires, roofs, and arches. 
 In the thirteenth century "we have the trefoil, 
 or some other foliated outline, as exhibited in 
 almost every minor feature ; and in the Norman 
 the circle, as seen in the arches, forms of columns, 
 gable windows, vaultings, and cappings. It would 
 not be difficult to show how in every style the 
 mind of the medieval artists seized upon some 
 
 * Some capitals have angels with wings, as the belfry-arch 
 at Great Shelford, near Cambridge, and Wingfield Church, 
 Suffolk. 
 
 *f- See Manual of Gothic Mouldings, p. 67, and Plate XV. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 145 
 
 particular form as a leading idea, and adapted 
 their works to it, as a kind of key-note to the 
 harmonies of construction and design.* To take 
 a very few examples : in the Norman style we 
 have the round towers, round apses, round 
 churches, round mouldings, round turrets and 
 pilasters ; in the next, the number three in 
 windows, ground-plans, foliage, spandril orna- 
 ments, foliations, triplicity of shafts and mould- 
 ings, and the like ; in the Middle Pointed 
 churches frequent canopies and arcades, and this 
 even in glass, paintings, and brasses ; tombs, 
 piscinae, sedilia, gables, and arches. In the last 
 style we have every vertical line intersected rect- 
 angularly to a very remarkable extent; tran- 
 soms across windows, hoods over doors, square 
 windows, square battlements, square panellings, 
 and even a square-edged contour in mouldings, 
 and square, or diamond-shaped ornaments in the 
 paterae, the bands of sunken tracery ; the very 
 outline of niches becomes a parallelogram where 
 
 * Further than this, the Romanesque has the circle com- 
 bined with the square, as in capitals, plinths, the proportion 
 of towers, windows, doorways, compartments of vaulting, re- 
 cessed arches, &c. The Gothic styles generally exhibit the 
 triangle based on the parallelogram , of which an equilateral 
 nave-arch on tall columns is a representative. And this is 
 Hogarth’s definition of beauty of proportion. See Trans- 
 actions of the C.C.S. Part III. p. 241, 
 
14G 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 it was before a spiry pyramid, and towers' are 
 much more frequently constructed without spires 
 than in any other style.* 
 
 It is obvious that the low four-centered arch 
 is much better adapted to the parallelogrammic 
 expression than any other. In windows it allows 
 the tracery bars to rise higher, and furnishes less 
 subordinate or supplementary spaces to be filled 
 up, for which purpose the flowing tracery and 
 the equilateral arch were so well adapted. In 
 doorways the jambs can be carried much higher 
 before the spring of the arch commences. There 
 must have been some such principle at work, by 
 which window heads became quite square, and 
 gables quite flat, and even the foliations in the 
 heads of lights and under transoms omitted, in 
 the latest age ; in a word, some influence to 
 depress the pyramidal into the flat, a result which 
 is so universally and so strikingly observable in 
 the pitch of the roofs of the respective styles. 
 
 Even to the Normans the low segmental arch 
 was not unknown, as it distinctly occurs in the 
 chancel of S. Mary’s chapel, Stourbridge. Its 
 
 * Hence also the favourite octagonal form in bases, turrets, 
 &c., because a series of oblong faces is thereby presented to 
 the eye. It will be recollected that all towers in the thir- 
 teenth and fourteenth centuries are believed to have had, or 
 been intended to have, spires of stone or wood. (Churches of 
 Cambridgeshire, Part III. p. 47.) 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 147 
 
 occurrence (principally in the interior of door- 
 ways) in the First Pointed age has already been 
 noticed. In windows of the fourteenth century 
 it is extremely common, and even the square 
 head is by no means rare ; all which shews that 
 there was no more tendency in the flat arch 
 
 alone to debase Gothic architecture, than there 
 
 . i 
 
 was in the pointed arch alone to develope it. 
 
 The Late, or Florid Third Pointed works 
 are characterised by excessive ornament, as in 
 the chapels of Bishops Alcock and West, in Ely 
 Cathedral ; or by a meagre and wiry detail, as at j 
 Bath Abbey, and the great tower at Fountains 
 Abbey; by pendents and feathered flying but- 
 tresses, fan vaulting, large heraldic figures and 
 shields, by square-headed windows, by the rose 
 and portcullis ; by much panelling of buttresses 
 and walls, by domical cappings of pinnacles, by 
 four-centered pier-arches, as at S. Sepulchre’s and 
 S. Edward’s churches, Cambridge ; by continuous 
 arch-mouldings, as at Croyland Abbey, or by 
 their dying into piers and jambs without any 
 projecting capital or impost ; by the interpene- 
 tration of mouldings, as at King’s College chapel, 
 that is, by one member dying into, and reappear- 
 ing on the surface of another ; by more than one 
 embattled transom to large windows; by semi-cir- 
 cular headed windows, as in the Chantry chapel at 
 Barneck church, and the belfry windows of All 
 
148 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Saints, and S. Martins, Stamford ; by almost 
 flat wooden roofs, as in S. John’s and Trinity 
 College chapels, and S. Mary’s church, Cambridge; 
 by very low four-centered doorways, with square 
 hoods and large diamond-shaped returns,* and 
 by panelled soffits of arches, as in S. John's 
 College chapel, Cambridge. 
 
 In the towers of this style we notice two pecu- 
 liarities ; one is the character of the masonry, 
 which is of rather large and exceedingly fine- 
 jointed ashlar, so that the whole structure must 
 have appeared, when new, almost as if cut out 
 of a single mass ; and the other is the principle 
 of throwing the chief amount of conspicuous de- 
 coration into the upper stage, as in the celebrated 
 tower of Magdalen College, Oxford. Another 
 
 * The origin of the square hood must he looked for in the 
 string-course which in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 
 was stilted in rectangular steps so as to pass above the door- 
 way, which would otherwise have interrupted it ; and in this 
 case the arch has in addition its own concentric hood- mould. 
 A good illustration of this is the chancel door of Stanton S. 
 John, engraved in the “ Guide to the Architectural Antiqui- 
 ties in the neighbourhood of Oxford,” Part III. p. 227. 
 Afterwards the spandrils, or spaces between the two labels, 
 were decorated with shields and foliations. Sometimes a 
 square hood is formed to doors and windows by dropping the 
 side members from a string-course, or cornice, which passes 
 immediately above ; but this is not to be commended in prac- 
 tice. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 149 
 
 feature is the double belfry window in each face, 
 frequently with a pinnacle carried up between 
 them. Many of the towers of Somersetshire are 
 of this description, and there are fine examples 
 around Stamford and Grantham. A very fine 
 specimen of a tower with these characteristics, of 
 late Middle Pointed date, occurs at Exton, Rutland. 
 
 The debased Gothic, a deteriorated style in- 
 termingled with Italian details, is in itself so 
 worthless, so late in date, and so uninteresting 
 both in its associations and its architectural effect, 
 that we shall dismiss it with a very brief notice. 
 About the latter part of the reign of King Henry 
 VIII. a love for what is called the Antique began 
 to prevail, and we find in the screen and wood- 
 work of King’s College Chapel a decided depar- 
 ture from the Gothic detail, and a great admix- 
 ture of Italian forms and principles. The novelty 
 was contagious, and spread with fatal rapidity ; 
 nor was its career confined to unhappy England, 
 but all the countries which retained their allegi- 
 ance to the western Church became infected by it. 
 But it was long before the old Catholic style 
 was entirely discarded, and classic temples un- 
 blushingly erected, as we see them at the present 
 day. The Gothic still struggled with its adver- 
 sary, and succeeded in maintaining its ground, 
 partially at least, till about the time of Charles II., 
 when it was finally defeated, and the revived 
 
150 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Pagan gained a triumph worthy of a debased 
 and fallen church, and a spurious literary taste. 
 
 Italian doorways, balustered parapets, vases for 
 pinnacles, round balls for finials, window lights 
 without cusps, arabesque sculptures, semicircular 
 arches, and similar violations of the ancient laws 
 of composition, now generally mark ecclesiastical 
 and collegiate buildings. It is worthy of remark, 
 that Italian work first shewed itself in its un- 
 mixed form in constructing monuments ; and 
 certainly in no respect is its inferiority to pure 
 Pointed design more conspicuous than in this.* 
 Not a few attempts were made, in the partial 
 revival of Catholic feeling in the Laudian or 
 Caroline period, to return to Gothic designs ; but 
 the secrets of the art were then lost, and very 
 few buildings possess any real merit if tested by 
 true Pointed principles. Yet some edifices de- 
 serve attention as exhibiting a strong perception 
 of ancient laws of designing, combined with total 
 ignorance of detail. There is a church in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Wells, (Crosscomb is 
 its name,) and another at Apthorp, Northampton- 
 
 * One of the latest mural monuments is the magnificent 
 tomb in the Chancel of Hingham Church, Norfolk, (engraved 
 in Cotman’s Etchings,) erected shortly before the year 1500. 
 This noble specimen has very recently been cleaned and re- 
 stored with the most praiseworthy perseverance, by hands 
 little used to so severe a task. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 151 
 
 shire, which are highly interesting examples. 
 The tower and spire of Godmanchester church, 
 near Huntingdon, erected towards the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century, might deceive the eye 
 unless very closely inspected. There is also a 
 very tolerable Gothic church at Great Thurlow, 
 Suffolk, which seems to have been built at the 
 close of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The period of the Renaissance began with the 
 school of Wren, whose great talents and deserved 
 eminence added much to the popularity of the 
 new method. Many towers were rebuilt in this 
 style, as at Witham on the Hill, Lincolnshire, 
 Long Melford, Suffolk, that at Warwick, and one 
 
 ' A ■' S' # 
 
 at Deeping S. James, near Stamford. Some of 
 these carry spires of considerable height ; but 
 they mostly have pots, or vases, on the four cor- 
 ners, and baluster parapets. 
 
 The puritanical principle of extolling preaching 
 is visibly developed in the extraordinary number 
 of pulpits* erected in the arabesque or Jacobean 
 style. They are often very richly carved ; and 
 a close inspection will generally discover a date, 
 varying from 1600 to 1640, (but mostly about 
 1635,) under the canopied head or on one of the 
 panels. 
 
 * By a canon of 1603, every church was ordered to have 
 a pulpit. 
 
1 52 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Some pulpits* of this date bear inscriptions, as 
 at Yaxley, Suffolk, and Swarby, Lincolnshire, 
 where is written, 
 
 “ 0 God my Saviour be my sped, 
 
 To preach thy word men’s soulls to fed 
 
 and at Utterby, Lincolnshire, 
 
 “ Quoties conscendo, animo contimesco.” 
 
 With pulpits came reading-desks and pues — both 
 thoroughly puritanical innovations. Early pues, 
 after the fashion (and possibly use) of bedsteads, 
 
 * Considerable difficulty exists on the subject of pulpits, 
 from the extreme rarity of early examples. Perhaps sermons 
 were usually delivered from the altar steps, until rood-lofts 
 became general ; when, (the view and hearing having been 
 thereby impeded) pulpits seem to have been not uncommon, 
 as a great many examples occur of the fifteenth century. In- 
 stead of a canopy, or sounding-board, these earlier pulpits had 
 a kind of wooden niche, as at Fotheringay church, (engraved 
 in Barr’s Church Architecture, p. 91.) The earliest example 
 of a wooden pulpit we have met with occurs in Fulbourne 
 Church, near Cambridge, dating about 1330. It is engraved 
 with details in the Instrumcnta Ecclesiastica, Part VII. Many 
 magnificent stone pulpits still exist in the West of England, 
 and some few are of post-reformation date. Very rich and 
 interesting specimens from the churches of Harberton, Chittle- 
 hampton, and South Moulton, are engraved in the Exeter 
 Architectural Society’s Transactions, vol. i. Part II. At 
 Dinder, near Wells, is a stone pulpit, with the date 1621, 
 and the inscription “ Blessed are they that hear the word of 
 God and keep it and if we recollect aright, there is a very 
 similar one in Wells Cathedral. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 153 
 
 occur at Little Thurlby, Suffolk, Tibenham, Nor- 
 folk, and S. Mary Wiggenball, near Lynn. But 
 tbe good old open seats were sometimes, tbougb 
 very rarely, set up after tbe Beformation, as at 
 North Thoresby, Lincolnsbire, where tbe initials 
 of tbe occupants are engraved on tbe standards. 
 In this church there is also a remarkable early 
 pue, with a Latin inscription. Galleries were 
 natural concomitants of pues, and some instances 
 of rather early date occur, as at S. Michael’s, 
 Coventry. 
 
 CORBEL, REFECTORY, FURNESS ABBEY. 
 
154 
 
 ; 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF WINDOWS. 
 
 Windows are a subject of such importance and 
 interest that they deserve a separate and con- 
 secutive treatment. In fact their progress and 
 development is one of the most curious features 
 in the study of Gothic architecture, especially as 
 there is no department of the art upon which so 
 much pains and genius were expended, or which 
 affords such striking evidences of the changes and 
 transitions of the styles. 
 
 Between the Romanesque and the Complete 
 Pointed buildings there is this one grand dis- 
 tinction ; that in the former windows are en- 
 tirely a subordinate, in the latter a primary part 
 of design. And it was long before the idea of 
 making them a prominently ornamental feature 
 occurred to the Romanesque architects. 
 
 Of course the size and style of windows was 
 much affected by the difficulty or facility of pro- 
 curing glass. And those apertures, as belfry win- 
 dows, which were never intended to be glazed, 
 will naturally assume a different character to 
 the others. For instance, a shaft or column, 
 dividing an aperture into two compartments, like 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 155 
 
 the usual Saxon baluster lights, is obviously ill 
 adapted for receiving glass. Moreover those win- 
 dows which were not glazed, but were necessary 
 for the admission of light and air, must be 
 of small size to exclude the rain and snow. 
 
 The use of glass, even in the early Basilicas, 
 where the clerestory windows are of very insig- 
 nificant size, is probable.* Bede mentions its 
 manufacture for Saxon churches as early as the 
 year 680. Still we may suppose it to have been 
 not universally procurable, and perhaps many 
 church windows were fitted with lattice, or shut- 
 ters, or some other contrivance to keep out the 
 weather when necessary. 
 
 To pierce a wall for the admission of light must 
 have occurred to the builders of the very earliest 
 and rudest churches. And to arch this over, 
 for the support of the wall above, or to erect two 
 sloping stones meeting in a point, or, lastly, to 
 place a flat lintel across, forming a square aper- 
 ture, are methods dictated by obvious principles 
 of construction. The few examples we have of 
 Saxon windows are of the two first kinds, rudely 
 arched over with rubble, and splayed alike within 
 and without, as at Woodstone, near Peterburgh, or 
 left square-edged on the exterior, as in the belfry 
 
 * Hope, chap. x. Glass-making was first introduced into 
 England by Benedict Biscop, according to William of Malms- 
 bury. 
 
156 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 lights at Newton, near Castle Acre ; or triangular- 
 headed, which is the commoner form. 
 
 Another method was to cut an arch-head out of 
 a single stone, which is common in belfry-windows, 
 or even to work out an entire window by piercing 
 a large block, as in the north wall of the chancel 
 at Newton. That the true principle of the arch 
 was not always comprehended by Saxon builders, 
 might be inferred from the unscientific and in- 
 secure sections of the voussoirs in the belfry-arch 
 at Barnack. 
 
 Early Norman windows are plain, small, and 
 low, not much more than twice their breadth in 
 height. In the later or florid Norman period they 
 were much elongated, and approached the form of 
 the First Pointed lancet, except that they had 
 semicircular heads. Of this kind is the late Nor- 
 man triplet in the east end of Threckingham 
 church, Lincolnshire. At the east end of Build- 
 was Abbey the early short windows have been cut 
 through the heads and carried twice as high at a 
 later period.* Norman double windows, separated 
 by a shaft, occur principally in belfry stages. 
 This method of combining two smaller arches 
 under one larger one is best seen in Norman tri- 
 foria, as in S. Sepulchre’s, Cambridge ; and the 
 space between has only to be pierced to supply 
 the first elements of tracery. A double window 
 * Potter’s Monastic Remains, Plate VI. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 157 
 
 of this kind occurs in the ancient building com- 
 monly called Pythagoras’ School, at Cambridge. 
 
 The addition of a shaft on each side, corres- 
 ponding to, (though perhaps seldom found with,) 
 that in the centre, adds considerably to the effect. 
 And sometimes these are banded in the middle, as 
 at Buildwas Abbey, or have a small square por- 
 tion left in working them, as at S. Mary’s Stour- 
 bridge, near Cambridge. 
 
 The great thickness of Norman walls made it 
 necessary to splay or enlarge the aperture very 
 considerably, both for better effect and for the 
 more ready diffusion of light. This was always 
 done internally, as it seems to have been the 
 universal rule to set the glass as nearly flush with 
 the exterior wall as possible. Hence we never 
 see in Norman windows any recessed appearance 
 on the outside, and very partially so in First 
 Pointed lancets. But the custom of setting the 
 glass exactly in the middle of the wall, first 
 adopted by the Saxons, gradually gained ground 
 again in the Middle and Third Pointed ages. 
 
 Hitherto, it will be observed, neither cusps 
 nor tracery had suggested themselves in the de- 
 signing of windows, nor any mouldings beyond 
 borders of surface ornaments round the exterior 
 margin, as the zig-zag and beak-head at S. Cross’s 
 Hospital, Winchester. The First Pointed archi- 
 tects discovered the elements of the two former, 
 
158 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 if they cannot be said to have fully developed 
 them, as they certainly did the last. But they 
 were too fond of the graceful and slender single- 
 light lancet to carry the principle of combining 
 them under a common head of open-work very 
 far. When, however, two or more lancets were 
 placed very close together, forming couplets, 
 triplets, &c., comprised under one hood or arch,* 
 the narrow wall-piers between were gradually 
 reduced to mere monials, or rounded into shafts, 
 or both combined, the one niched into the other, 
 as in the chancel of Seaton church, Rutland ; and 
 the vacant space between the pointed upper arch 
 and the pointed heads of the lights was either 
 entirely cut out, or relieved with some aperture, 
 as a plain or foliated circle, or cusped into the 
 form of a quatrefoil.f Some extremely inter- 
 esting windows of this kind exist in an unknown 
 
 * An early method of combining single windows was to 
 recess them within a circumscribing frame, as the couplets in 
 the choir of Netley Abbey, (Architectural Parallels, Part IV.) 
 This example is prior to the further development of piercing 
 the space above the lights. 
 
 f Illustrations of all these stages are given in an article 
 by the author on Early Windows, in the Ecclesiologist, Vol. 
 iii. p. 65. Two or more lancets placed together, but not 
 under a common hood, with a circle or other foliated aperture 
 above them, are equally suggestive of tracery. There is a 
 fine specimen of a triplet surmounted by a foliated circle at 
 Sporle, near Swaffham, Norfolk. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 159 
 
 appendage to the conventual buildings, a little to 
 the south-east of Peterburgh Cathedral, now form- 
 ing part of a prebendal residence. Some lancet 
 windows are themselves divided by a shaft or 
 monial, as in the tower of Ketton church, Rut- 
 land, and the west front of Ripon Cathedral. 
 This must be distinguished from two separate 
 lancets placed in juxta-position. 
 
 Three, five, or even seven lancets, thus arrang- 
 ed and comprised under one hood-moulding or 
 arched head, obviously represent single windows 
 of as many lights ; and the shafts usually placed 
 in the jambs of single lancets being still retained, 
 we have almost all the essential requisites of a 
 geometric Middle Pointed window. To increase 
 the number of circles in the head, according to 
 the number of lancets set together, and then to 
 inclose in each circle a trefoil or a quatrefoil, 
 were the next progressive steps. Finally, to 
 reduce the thickness of the tracery-pieces, and to 
 recess the monials, which formerly stood flush 
 with, as being in fact part of, the wall, completed 
 the formation of the windows as seen in the 
 geometric period. Excellent illustrations of this 
 earliest stage of development occur in the eastern 
 wall of the south transept at Ely, and in the 
 east windows of Castle Bytham, Irnham, Rip- 
 pingale, and Grasby, Lincolnshire.* 
 
 * Some very interesting specimens, from Binstead Church, 
 
1G0 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 It has been pointed out by Professor Willis, * 
 that cusps, which constitute so essentia) a feature 
 in window tracery, arose from placing an arch 
 of one shape immediately behind another. This 
 is well and simply illustrated by the head of a 
 lancet light in the tower of S. Mary’s Clipsham, 
 Rutland. + Here the window consists of two 
 orders, that is, of two separate planes, the one as 
 it were sunk in the wall behind the other. The 
 outer order has a plain pointed, the inner a 
 trefoil-headed arch. The same may he seen in 
 the windows of Stanton S. John, Oxford. Who 
 
 Isle of Wight, are engraved in vol. iv. of Weale’s Quarterly 
 papers. Others may be seen in the Guide to the Architec- 
 tural Antiquities, near Oxford ; Part I. p. 12, from Charlton 
 on Otmoor, p. 52 ; from Hampton Poyle ; Part II. p. 117, 
 from Woodstock ; p. -162, from Northleigh ; Part III. p. 288 
 from Ileadington. 
 
 * Chapter V. of Architecture of the Middle Ages, where 
 it is shewn that foliation came with the pointed arch. A 
 Norman window in the ruins at Castle Rising is distinctly 
 cusped by pendent knobs projecting out of the arch. This 
 fretting of an irch was doubtless borrowed from the Saracens. 
 
 + Sir James Hall, whose vegetable theory of the origin 
 of architecture has before been noticed, will have it that 
 cusps were suggested by the curling up of dead bark, 
 dropping from a willow rod or post, ( Essay on the origin, &c. 
 of the Gothic arch, p. 33.) False as this notion is, the me- 
 thods of his induction are exceedingly ingenious : indeed, we 
 know no work, proceeding altogether on wrong grounds, in 
 which so strong a case is made out in support of the writer’s 
 views. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 161 
 
 does not perceive in this the germ of the tre- 
 foliated light ? But suppose, instead of a single 
 trefoiled lancet, several trefoiled or cinquefoiled 
 lights are comprised under one arch. Here also 
 we shall realise the elements of cusping, as in an 
 early window at Long Itchington, Warwickshire, 
 and as we find at Grasby, Lincolnshire (p. 169). 
 When two trefoiled lancets are thus combined, the 
 head is often filled with a large open trefoil, as at 
 Trumpington, Rippingale, Lincolnshire, and Carl- 
 ton Rode, Norfolk ; or 
 with a circle comprising 
 a sexfoil, or even a larger 
 number of foliating * 
 points, to the number of 
 .eight or ten. 
 
 Of this latter arrange- 
 ment very fine examples 
 occur in the eastern win- 
 dow of Netley, and the 
 western of Binham Ab- 
 bey, Norfolk. It is also 
 seen, though on a much 
 smaller scale, in the side 
 windows of the nave of 
 Tinterne Abbey. 
 
 The earliest cusps spring directly out of the 
 
 * The projecting points are called cusps, the arcs between 
 them are foils. 
 
 M 
 
 
 LONG ITCHINGTON. 
 
 ■F 
 
162 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 soffit, nearly on a plane with the glass, indepen- 
 dently of the mouldings of the tracery, and do 
 not rise imperceptibly, as it were, from the sloping 
 sides of the monials, only a little below its ex- 
 terior face or edge.* Thus they appear to the 
 eye rather as extraneous additions to, than as 
 
 integral parts of, the 
 monials. At first, these 
 cusps were flat planes, 
 neither pierced nor hol- 
 lowed out, and with 
 square or slightly cham- 
 fered edges. Moreover, 
 they were formed with- 
 out regard to the joint- 
 ing of the stones, as may 
 be observed in the win- 
 dows of the nave of Net- 
 ley Abbey, t and in the 
 following cut of a lancet 
 window from the neighbourhood of Winchester. 
 
 An excellent specimen of this early form of 
 cusp occurs in the large windows in the north 
 
 and south wings of the west front of Peter- 
 
 » 
 
 * That is, (to adopt the terms suggested in the Author’s 
 “ Manual of Gothic Mouldings,”) the earliest cusps spring 
 out of the soffit -'plane, the later kinds rise up from the cham- 
 fer plane, (p. 19.) 
 
 + Sharpe’s Architectural Parallels, Part III. 
 
 1 INTERNE A3BE1, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 163 
 
 burgh Cathedral. But it was soon found that the 
 size of the cusp admitted of its being pierced 
 right through., though its 
 length and projection was 
 considerably reduced after 
 the Geometric period, when 
 the minute subdivisions of 
 tracery afforded less room. 
 
 The points of early cusps 
 are either sharp, or (in the 
 case of foliated circles) cut 
 off square, as if forming a smaller circle in the 
 centre ; or they terminate in Jleurs de lis. % or in 
 long spear-like points, almost coming into contact 
 with each other. 
 
 Lancet windows with trefoiled heads formed by 
 soffit-cusps, as contrasted with such as are tre- 
 foiled in the construction of the arch-stones, t 
 
 * As in a curious sept-foiled sedile at Fulbourne, near 
 Cambridge. 
 
 f The former are properly called trefoliated , the latter tre- 
 foil arches. And it is most important not to confound two 
 very different things, the one being a constructive, the other 
 a decorative detail. Many First Pointed arches are tre- 
 foiled, cinquefoiled, &c., the whole course of the deep mould- 
 ings following the same sAveep, Avhich is hardly compatible 
 with the nature of a cusp. In this style some arches are 
 foiled only on one side, especially the lowest on each side of 
 a gable arcade, or one inserted under a bay of vaulting. 
 These generally have bunches of foliage at each point. 
 
SPECIMENS OF GOTHIC CUSPS. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 165 
 
 are of the later, or Florid First Pointed era. 
 They occur singly, or, more frequently, combined 
 two and three together under a label with the 
 notch-head termination. Interesting specimens 
 remain at West Deeping, Lincolnshire, North- 
 boro’, Northamptonshire, and Fletton, near Peter- 
 burgh. 
 
 Internally, single or double lancets are com- 
 prised under a wide obtuse arch commonly called 
 a hood , hollow in the head, that is, running up 
 into the wall higher than the top of the light. 
 These hoods are often supported internally by 
 shafts,* or they have a roll-moulding between two 
 deep hollows carried round, or they are made to 
 die into the jamb, or are corbelled off. Some 
 early windows have a kind of screen before them 
 on the inside, supported by the shafts of a contin- 
 uous arcade, of which a very fine specimen occurs 
 at Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge. Here the 
 lancets are couplets, and a cinquefoiled arcade 
 rises from long banded shafts, forming a kind of 
 feathered head to each light. There is a similar 
 arrangement at Stone church, Kent. 
 
 During the Geometric period, and even in the 
 Florid First Pointed style, very large windows of 
 
 * A very beautiful example, trefoiled, with the dog-tooth, 
 and triple shafts, from Hythe church, Kent, is given in 
 Brandon’s Analysis, Part XXII. 
 
166 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 many lights were constructed. * Thus the great 
 east window of Netley Abbey is of four lights, 
 with an eight-foiled circle in the head, and two 
 quatrefoiled circles at the sides. This window is 
 considered by Mr. Sharped to be a genuine First 
 Pointed one. Its composition is certainly Geo- 
 metric Middle Pointed ; but it may be observed 
 that the tracery is remarkably thick and wall-like, 
 and that the monials are constructed in ordinary 
 courses of jointed stone.£ The large east window of 
 Tinterne Abbey, dating about 1280, is too dilapi- 
 dated to judge of the form of the original tracery. 
 That at the west end, of the same date, would be 
 called “ early Decorated.” The east window at 
 Lincoln Cathedral is a fine and perfect specimen 
 on a large scale of the composition of this period. 
 The usual arrangement is to subdivide the tracery 
 into secondary arches, that is, to include two or 
 three lights on each side under an arch of their 
 own, which would form a perfect window in 
 
 * GeneraFy from the earliest Norman light to the latest 
 Third Pointed window, there was a regularly progressive in- 
 crease in the size. Iri the fourteenth century a window 
 occupied perhaps half the space between two buttresses, or 
 under a gable, while in the fifteenth it filled up nearly the 
 whole of it. 
 
 f In his Decorated Windows, where this example is en- 
 graved, as also in the Architectural Parallels. 
 
 X This is also the case in the very singular west window 
 of the Lady Chapel, Ely, of good Decorated date. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 167 
 
 itself, if taken out and detached from the larger 
 fabric. Or thus : as two lancets were combined 
 into one two-light window, so two of these 
 double windows were again combined under a 
 still larger arch, making a four-light window, and 
 so on. * 
 
 First Pointed windows, in their plainest form, 
 differ in nothing from the Norman, except that 
 the heads are slightly (seldom acutely) pointed, 
 and that they are longer and narrower. Thus, 
 in the transepts of Rivaulx Abbey, the original 
 Norman lights have been converted into pointed 
 lancets simply by rebuilding the heads. We 
 often find such lancets totally devoid of ornament, 
 neither hood-moulding f nor string-course enrich- 
 ing plain apertures in the wall. An interesting 
 
 * This was first pointed out by Mr. Rickman, p. 59. The 
 constant design of early geometrical windows is a circle in 
 the head resting on, and as it were carried by, two subordi- 
 nate arches. And it appears that this circle was foliated 
 even earlier than the heads of the lights. Sometimes, (as 
 at Grantham,) the primary circle is filled up with several 
 smaller ones, or with a series of foliated figures, especially 
 trefoils. In the Transepts at Peterburgh a pentagon is in- 
 scribed in each of three circles. 
 
 t This feature, which commonly surrounds the head of 
 windows, both within and without, is called by Mr. Rick- 
 man a dripstone. It may be questioned whether it is not in 
 all cases to be regarded merely as an architectural finish. It 
 appears to be a corruption of the external architrave mould- 
 ing of the Romans (Willis, p. 126). 
 
168 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 (because quite perfect) example of a lancet-lighted 
 and well-buttressed chancel of this simplest kind 
 still remains at Stetchworth, Cambridgeshire. 
 But when two or three lancets are placed together, 
 especially at the east ends of chancels, they are 
 often made extremely rich with banded shafts, 
 floriated capitals, deep mouldings, rows of dog- 
 tooth, and foliated spandril openings. These 
 ornaments sometimes occur in single lancets ; 
 but the triplet seems to have generally called 
 forth the highest elaboration, probably from the 
 superior importance of its position.* Most triple 
 lancets have separate hood-mouldings, each light 
 standing some distance apart from its neighbour. 
 When close together, under one arch, they pro- 
 perly become a single window of three lights ; 
 especially when recessed under a circumscribing 
 frame, as at Coton and Westley Waterless, near 
 Cambridge, and Grasby, Lincolnshire. Some trip- 
 
 * Triplets occur (in parochial churches,) principally at the 
 east end of the chancel ; but also at the north or south ends 
 of Transepts, as at Whitby, or in the side walls, as at Histon, 
 near Cambridge. The least usual position is the west end, 
 but examples occur even here, as at Peakirk near Peterbo- 
 rough, Little Abingdon, near Cambridge, Potterne and Bishop’s 
 Cannings, Wilts. See Ecclesiologist, vol. i. p. 170 ; ii. p. 65, 
 where we think the symbolical arguments adduced are un- 
 sound. Evident reasons, both of construction and propriety, 
 will account for the eastern window being generally superior 
 to the western. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 169 
 
 lets have independent tracery in the head of each, 
 as in a fine example at Yaxley, Hunts, where each 
 lancet has a pierced 
 trefoil in the head 
 and is trefoiled below 
 it.* The richer lancets 
 have deep mouldings 
 both within and with- 
 out, either stopped by 
 the capitals of jamb 
 shafts, at the spring 
 of the arch, or con- 
 tinued down to the 
 cill, or both, as in the 
 beautiful triplet at S. 
 
 Andrew’s Priory Cha- 
 pel, Barnwell, near Cambridge. One of the rich- 
 est triplets we have seen is at Castle Rising.! 
 
 Couplets of lancets are not very often found at 
 the east end of chancels. Examples are, Great 
 Casterton, Rutland ; Ludborough, Lincolnshire, 
 and S. Mary le Wigford, Lincoln. In this case it 
 is very proper to place a buttress between them. 
 
 * See a similar example from Raydon, Suffolk, in Bran- 
 don’s Analysis, Part X. 
 
 ! Beautiful specimens of triplets are given in Brandon’s 
 Analysis, Parts XI., XIV., and XVII., from Wiley Church, 
 Wilts, Barnwell, and S. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Sandwich. 
 Other examples, with measurements, are given in vol. iii. of 
 the Ecclesiologist, p. 72. 
 
170 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 All lancet windows ought to have a string- 
 course carried below them both within and with- 
 out. True it is, this important feature is often 
 omitted in very plain ancient examples ; but it is 
 very necessary to effect, and is too often neglected 
 in modern buildings of this style. 
 
 In some early three-light windows the monials 
 simply cross and intersect in the head, as at 
 Empingham, Rutland ; and this was often the case 
 throughout the earlier part of the Middle Pointed 
 period. Such windows are seldom foliated, but 
 some (as at Melton Mowbray) are made exceed- 
 ingly rich with ball-flowers. A few examples 
 have shafts in the jambs and monials, as at 
 Carlton Rode, Norfolk. 
 
 At Etton, Northamptonshire, all the original 
 two-light windows remain, those in the chancel hav- 
 ing a trefoiled, the others a plain circle in the head. 
 
 At first, both monial and tracery stood flush , i.e. 
 on the same plane, with the wall. It was a great 
 improvement to thrust them inwards, and cir- 
 cumscribe them with an outer order of mouldings, 
 as at West Deeping, Lincolnshire. And this was 
 the first step towards recessed jamb-mouldings.* 
 
 The trefoil, from its convenient shape for filling 
 
 * In Norfolk and Suffolk the monials and tracery of win- 
 dows, both of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, con- 
 stantly stand flush with the outer wall, which arises from 
 the difficulty of procuring stone for dressings. It has been 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 171 
 
 up spandril spaces in tracery, was very much used 
 in the Geometric period. A symbolical meaning 
 has been attached to it, and it seems very rea- 
 sonable to suppose that the number three was 
 prominently set forth throughout the thirteenth 
 century in many architectural details. We find 
 it exhibited in a very remarkable manner in 
 geometric window tracery. Thus, in the Chapter- 
 house of York Cathedral is a window of three 
 lights, ^-foiled in the heads, a tre-ioW. over each 
 side-light, and a ^re-foil in the spandril above. 
 In the centre is a circle containing three ^re-foiled 
 circles, and three intermediate tre- foils. Again, 
 the east window of Ripon Cathedral* is formed of 
 three compartments, one of three lights on each 
 side, and one light in the centre, all ^re-foiled in 
 the head. The tracery of the side compartments 
 contains three foliated circles, and the large central 
 circle has three pointed ^re-foils alternating with 
 three circular-foiled ones ; and again in the choir 
 
 observed by Sir James Hall, (Essay, p. 50,) that both 
 strength and the free admission of light required monials to 
 have an oblong section in the direction across the wall. But 
 in the earliest examples, before the principle of the monial 
 was fully developed, the section is equal or longer in the line 
 of the wall. This may be seen in a window of five lights at 
 Oundle, Northamptonshire, (engraved in Brandon’s Analysis, 
 Part VIII.) The oblong plan of Third Pointed columns fol- 
 lows the principle of monials. 
 
 * Sharpe’s Decorated Windows. 
 
172 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of Exeter Cathedral, * in a window of five lights, 
 we have £re-foiled lights, tre - foiled spandrils, three 
 small, and three large ^re-foils in the central circle. 
 At Temple Balsall, Warwickshire, t is a window 
 of three lights, £re-foiled, with three circles in the 
 tracery, each inclosing three pointed and three 
 circular-foiled ^re-foils. In the cloisters at Nor- 
 wich are some singular illustrations of this 
 undeniable peculiarity, where we also find three 
 shafts in each window jamb. % 
 
 It is singular that but few windows can be 
 found which distinctly exhibit the transition from 
 Geometric to what is called flowing tracery, the 
 principal characteristic of the Complete Gothic. 
 The difference between the two kinds consists in 
 this ; that the former is full of complete and 
 independent curves, whereas in the latter each 
 curve is continuous with, and as it were blended 
 into, some other. In other words, it was a change 
 
 * Sharpe’s Decorated Windows. 
 
 + Ibid. So also at Howden (Ibid.) are three-light win- 
 dows, trefoiled, with a trefoil above each side light, and a 
 central circle filled with three circular-foiled, and three pointed 
 trefoils. 
 
 £ These are of three trefoiled lights, -with three trefoiled 
 triangles in the head. At Besthorpe, Norfolk, are some 
 beautiful windows with trefoiled lights and three trefoils in 
 the head. Many other curious instances of this symbolism in 
 window tracery are given by the authors of the Preface to 
 the Translation of Durandus, p. 91. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 173 
 
 from entire circles * to segments of them, each 
 falling coincident with some other, or forming a 
 tangent rather than a secant; and from thence 
 wavy lines of reflex curvature, loops, ovals, and 
 foliated apertures of infinite variety, were intro- 
 duced. Now as there is no medium between 
 a secant and a tangent (for a line in contact with 
 a circle must be one or the other), so there is 
 properly no transition between the principle of 
 geometric and that of flowing tracery, unless in 
 windows whose tracery is made up partly of one 
 and partly of the other ; as in the east window 
 at Fen Stanton, near Huntingdon, Dunmow, Es- 
 sex, and Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, f 
 
 The extreme beauty, as well as the extraor- 
 dinary number and variety of designs, which are 
 
 * Foliated circles constitute the chief feature of Geometric 
 windows. But it is remarkable that these never intersect 
 one another, but are always placed in contact. On the other 
 hand, many of the curves in flowing tracery would, if pro- 
 duced, intersect some others. But the abrupt stoppage of 
 tracery lines was avoided as far as possible in the latter, 
 while it does not seem to have been regarded in the earlier 
 style. Flowing tracery seems to have an upward divergence 
 from out of the monials, while geometric tracery is a separate 
 formation, commencing in the head of the window, and 
 joined with the monials as well as could be managed. 
 
 + Sharpe’s Decorated Windows. We sometimes find geo- 
 metric windows obviously coeval with others of flowing tra- 
 cery, in the very same building. The south aisle of Sawston 
 church, near Cambridge, furnishes a curious illustration of this. 
 
174 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 observable in the windows of the Middle Pointed 
 age, have justly excited the wonder of all admirers 
 of Gothic architecture. That this was the result 
 of no small genius, and probably of endless ex- 
 periments, may be tested by any one, who, how- 
 ever conversant with, and in the habit of sketch- 
 ing, Gothic tracery, will try to compose from his 
 own invention ten or a dozen entirely different 
 combinations according to the ancient principle. 
 But some thousands* of patterns still exist in our 
 old churches, no one of which could be called 
 similar to another. The interesting series of 
 examples given in Mr. Sharpe’s excellent work, 
 the “ Decorated Windows,” are but a few select 
 illustrations of the general principles of com- 
 position, compared with the countless number of 
 ever-changing forms and combinations which 
 constantly occur to the architectural tourist, and 
 which seem to defy all attempts at classification 
 or description. 
 
 Some general principles of Middle Pointed 
 windows may here be laid down. 
 
 * Mr. Rickman says, (p. 75,) that “it is very difficult to 
 find two alike in different buildings.” The extraordinary 
 pliability of flowing tracery, and the infinity of curves it 
 displays, sometimes quite irregular, are not the least inte- 
 resting characteristics. The ingenuity often seen in subdi- 
 viding spaces, and filling up the subordinate parts in har- 
 mony with the general design, is truly admirable. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 175 
 
 1. That the best proportion in large windows 
 is for the tracery to occupy the same height as 
 the monials. * 
 
 2. The tracery should commence just where 
 the label terminates, at the point of the springing 
 of the arch. It is rare to find tracery carried 
 lower than this, as at Rickinghall Inferior and 
 Thelnetham, Suffolk, f 
 
 3. The arch, if plain pointed, must fall 
 in with the upright jamb, so that the latter 
 forms a tangent to the curve, and not at an 
 angle.J 
 
 4. The monials and tracery may stand on the 
 same plane as the wall, as at Uffington, Lincoln- 
 shire, § Over, Cambridgeshire, and frequently in 
 the Norfolk and Suffolk churches. If recessed, 
 
 * But in two-light windows the tracery is generally one 
 third of the entire length. In larger windows the space oc- 
 cupied by the monials should be as nearly as possible a square. 
 If this space is higher than its breadth, the window is pro- 
 bably late in the style. See an example of perfect propor- 
 tions from Stratford, Suffolk, in Part VI., of Brandon’s 
 Analysis. 
 
 f An example from Billingborough, Lincolnshire, is given 
 in Sharpe’s Decorated Windows. 
 
 It Walker’s Historical account of Stoke Golding Church, 
 p. 1 7. This remark is equally true of the spring of archways 
 above the capitals of columns. 
 
 § This is seen in a three-light window at Charlton Hore- 
 thorne, Somersetshire, engraved in Sharpe’s Decorated Win- 
 dows. All tracery may be regarded as a screen placed across the 
 
176 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the plain chamfered arch and jamb is perhaps 
 more usual than the richly moulded one. 
 
 5. The hood-moulding generally terminates on 
 each side in a head, and is rarely returned con- 
 tinuously, as in the preceding style. Many 
 dripstones of this and the preceding style leave 
 off abruptly, without any termination. But the 
 notch-head, a half-animal, a flowery boss, a ball- 
 flower, a love-knot, a shield, an initial letter, a 
 returned loop, are also found. Specimens are 
 given in Brandon’s Analysis, Part XVIII. When 
 hood-mouldings are returned, and continued from 
 
 window to window, which is usually a mark of 
 late work, they are seldom carried round the 
 buttresses, but die into them, and reappear on 
 the other side, as if running through them, as at 
 
 narrowest point of a large splayed aperture for the admission 
 of light, and therefore nearest to the plane of the outer wall. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 177 
 
 Little S. Mary’s, Cambridge, and in the chancel 
 of Hingham church, Norfolk. The two preced- 
 ing specimens illustrate the head-dresses of the 
 reign of Edward III. 
 
 6. The heads of the lights in early windows 
 are trefoiled ; in later the ogee trefoil is used ; 
 in the latest windows of the style the cinquefoil. 
 
 7. The tracery should always exhibit a central 
 pattern of geometric outline, as a triangle, circle, 
 or vesica piscis ; by filling up which, and the 
 subordinate spaces around it, the design is com- 
 pleted. The absence of this primary and central 
 design is a proof of late work. 
 
 8. Every subordinate or interstitial space 
 should be foliated : the points of the cusps 
 being exactly opposite to each other in the re- 
 gular figures, or one falling exactly in the 
 centre between two others, in irregular or 
 spandril spaces. 
 
 9. Every window of pure date ought to have 
 two planes or orders of tracery, one set of 
 mouldings being secondary or subordinate to 
 the other. When the tracery is arranged en- 
 tirely in one plane, the window is either late, or 
 of Flamboyant tendency. # 
 
 10. The jambs are constructed of stones of 
 irregular size and width. The joints of the 
 
 * Sharpe’s Decorated Windows, (Sleaford.) This remark 
 does not apply to Geometric windows. 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 form-pieces, or tracery, are always cut in a line 
 drawn from the centre of the curve. * 
 
 
 LUr 1 — !- - ! 1 ! i 1 ! _ M— I 
 
 MILDENHALL EAST WINDOW 
 
 The forms of arches, of which there are many 
 in the Middle Pointed period, extensively affect 
 * Pugin’s True Principles, p. 19. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 179 
 
 the kinds of tracery. The principal varieties are : 
 1. The pointed (including the acute or lanciform, 
 and the obtuse or drop arch) ; 2. the segmental, 
 or portion less than a semicircle ; 3. the pointed 
 segmental, or two arcs, meeting in a point, and 
 forming a very depressed arch ; * 4. the four- 
 centered, which, however, is almost confined to the 
 Third Pointed style ; 5 . the straight-sided, also 
 a rare form ; 6. the ogee.f Many windows of the 
 fourteenth century have square heads, and we 
 have met with such scarcely clear of the First 
 Pointed style, as at Helpstone, Northamptonshire, 
 and Barholme, Lincolnshire. These are apt to 
 deceive the eye, and will often be found of greater 
 antiquity than they would at first sight appear. 
 At Skipton, near Bolton Abbey, is a square- 
 headed window with very elegant tracery en- 
 closed in circles in the head. Square-headed 
 windows are most common about a.d. 1370. 
 
 Some Middle Pointed windows have rich 
 crocketed canopies above them, rising into a 
 finial, as in the Chapter-house at Wells. A beau- 
 tiful and very uncommon device occurs in the 
 
 * These two forms are generally marks of the very purest 
 age. In both cases the hood-moulding is returned some way 
 down the sides. 
 
 f As at Brix worth, and some other churches in Northamp- 
 tonshire. A specimen of this singular form is engraved in 
 Part IX. of the Archaeological Journal, p. 99. 
 
180 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 east window at Barnack, in which each light has 
 a canopy of its own, whose finial adheres to the 
 archivolt. 
 
 Boll-tracery is that in which a roll-moulding is 
 carried round the jambs and outer surface of the 
 tracery. This is common in geometric, and again 
 in Third Pointed windows, but less so in the 
 intervening period. 
 
 Net-tracery is a very common form, and has 
 little variety of detail. It consists of a series 
 of loops, resembling the meshes of an extended 
 net, each loop being quatrefoiled. Many large 
 windows of five and six lights are thus filled. A 
 beautiful modification of it occurs in the east 
 cloister of Westminster Abbey.* 
 
 Some of the large windows, especially of the 
 geometric kind, have shafts in the jambs and 
 monials,t with floriated or circular capitals. If 
 there are primary or larger monials, these will 
 carry a triple shaft. Some of the richest windows 
 of this kind occur at Heckington and Sleaford, 
 
 * Engraved in Caveler’s “ Select Specimens.” An excel- 
 lent instance of a large window filled with net-tracery, is 
 that at the east end of a chapel adjoining the western gate- 
 house in the precinct of Peterburgh Cathedral. The pecu- 
 liarity of this kind of tracery is, that it admits of no central 
 pattern, or principal geometric figure. 
 
 f The earliest have banded shafts, as in the west window 
 at Tinterne Abbey, and the eastern at Netley. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 181 
 
 Lincolnshire, of the flowing period. These, with 
 that finest of English windows, at the east end 
 of Carlisle Cathedral, are given in Mr. Sharpe’s 
 work, the “Decorated Windows.”* 
 
 Not many churches retain all their original 
 windows unaltered and unmutilated. When this 
 is the case, we generally find the designs varied ; 
 sometimes alternately, sometimes each one differ- 
 ent. At Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, all on one 
 side are of one form, while all on the opposite are 
 of another. It is clear that variety 'was intention- 
 ally aimed at, and that regularity and sameness 
 had fewer admirers of old than they seem to have 
 at the present day. 
 
 Two facts may here be mentioned as curious. 
 In churches of the fourteenth century, the east 
 windows of the aisles are often of earlier , f that of 
 the chancel of later , detail than the rest of the 
 church. Thus, at Sawston, near Cambridge, 
 
 * There is a noble east window, similar, and hardly in- 
 ferior to that at Heckington, at Redgrave, Suffolk ; a very 
 fine Middle Pointed edifice. 
 
 + So in the north aisle of Dorchester church, “the east 
 window, if taken by itself, might be considered Early En- 
 glish ; it has three foliated circles in the head, and its 
 mouldings, which are rather singular, differ much from the 
 rest of the windows, but there can be no doubt of its being 
 built at the same date.” Account of the Abbey church of 
 Dorsetshire, published by the Oxford Architectural Society, 
 P . 17 . 
 
182 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Deeping S. James, Lincolnshire, Kidlington, Ox- 
 ford, and Winfarthing, Norfolk, the east windows 
 in the south aisle are geometric, while the rest 
 have flowing tracery. * Again, at Over, near 
 Cambridge, the chancel is Middle Pointed, the 
 east window Transition to Third Pointed. Per- 
 haps chancel-windows were usually finished last. 
 Other instances of these peculiarities will readily 
 occur to an observer. 
 
 The Transition from the Middle to the Third 
 Pointed is very clearly defined. It is well known 
 that the characteristic of the latter is the perpen- 
 dicularity or vertical position of all the bars or 
 form-pieces t of which the tracery is composed. 
 In windows between the two styles, we find some 
 lines retaining the wavy form, others assuming 
 the vertical. This may be noticed in the large 
 though badly designed east window of the Lady 
 Chapel, Ely, and in a great many churches in 
 
 * But the two windows at the east ends, and in the north 
 and south wails adjoining them, of aisles, are very often of 
 later date, and larger size, the insertion having been made on 
 account of Chantry chapels being formed in these positions. 
 It may be remarked that some aisle-windows are set under 
 internal arches supported on columns, after the fashion of 
 nave-arches, as at Attleborough, Norfolk. In naves it is 
 sometimes difficult to say whether these were real aisle-arches 
 subsequently blocked ; but in this case they are generally 
 visible from the outside. 
 
 t Willis’s Architectural Nomenclature, p. 48. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 183 
 
 various parts of the kingdom. * Third Pointed 
 windows are much larger and more closely set 
 
 FRE3SINGFIELD, SUFFOI.K (INTERIOR.). 
 
 than in the preceding style, arising perhaps in 
 great measure from the extended use of stained 
 glass. The addition of a transom, or cross-bar 
 
 * The author is of opinion that Perpendicular tracery was 
 in common use as early as 1370, and was not unknown pre- 
 viously to the era of William of Wykeham, who has been con- 
 sidered the inventor of the Third Pointed style. Many 
 churches have mixed Decorated and Perpendicular windows 
 where it is impossible from the minutest examination to as- 
 sign any difference of date ; for instance, when the nave has 
 
184 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 midway, forming as it were upper and lower tiers 
 of lights, each with foliated heads, is a marked 
 characteristic of this style, being rather rare, 
 though not by any means unknown, in the pre- 
 ceding. * It was introduced for the purpose of 
 supporting the long and slender monials under the 
 great weight of the thick and closely leaded glass. 
 The smaller tracery-bars, or super-monials, divide 
 
 no aisles, and one wall has one kind, the other the latter, as 
 at Burgate, Suffolk. At Rickinghall, Suffolk, is a window 
 which must be considered a prodigy in Ecclesiology. It is 
 of five lights, with regular Perpendicular tracery, yet from 
 its details it is unquestionably coeval with the other Early 
 Geometric windows in the same fabric, of the age of Edward 
 I. or II. This is certainly a startling fact. The east win- 
 dow at Wingfield, Suffolk, is clearly coeval with the flowing 
 tracery windows on each side of it, though it has vertical 
 tracery. At Fressingfield, Suffolk, a similar window has 
 internal shafts with pure Decorated foliage, apparently about 
 1360, but with tracery principally vertical. The occurrence 
 of the transom may now be generally noticed, which is rarely 
 found in pure flowing windows, though early examples occur, 
 as at Dry Drayton, near Cambridge. Some windows have 
 transoms subsequently inserted, of which there is a curious 
 specimen in the south transept at Wissendine, Rutland. At 
 Over, near Cambridge, the late Decorated windows have 
 transoms of pierced tracery. At S wanton Morley, near Dere- 
 ham, is a beautiful doubly-feathered window with traceried 
 transom, of late Decorated date. 
 
 * The transoms in Middle Pointed windows are generally 
 plain, while in the next style the lights are almost invariably 
 foliated underneath it. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 185 
 
 the tracery into compartments half the width 
 of the lights (anciently called batement-lights *). 
 These are generally trefoiled, -while the principal 
 lights below are cinqnefoiled. The cusps are 
 either sharp at the points, or (more usually) the 
 foils being more than a half-circle, a kind of 
 diamond-shaped, or blunt wedge-like end, ter- 
 minates the cusp just where the point begins to 
 be widened between two foils. These cusps rise 
 out of the sloping 
 side, near the surface 
 of the monial, and 
 they are not pierced 
 through, but have a 
 triangular hole sunk 
 in them. Neither do 
 they project so far as 
 the earlier cusps, or, 
 like them, admit of 
 being moulded ; f a 
 plain hollow chamfer 
 being the usual finish. 
 
 In wood-work, the 
 cusps of this period 
 are very commonly 
 ornamented with a 
 small circular knob or flower. Double-feathered 
 
 * Willis’s Architectural Nomenclature, p. 51. 
 
 *t* The cusps of Middle Pointed windows often take part 
 
 FABCLOSE, SHOENB CHURCH, KENT. 
 
186 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 cusps sometimes occur in windows, as at Histon, 
 near Cambridge, but by no means frequently. 
 
 The four-centered arch is perhaps the common- 
 est form in Third Pointed windows, especially in 
 the Tudor or Florid period. But large windows 
 set under gables have generally the ordinary 
 pointed arch. Some of these, as at the east or 
 west ends, or in those of transepts, * are of a vast 
 size, and consist of as many as nine or ten lights. 
 The great east window in York Cathedral is per- 
 haps the finest in the kingdom, though not quite 
 so large as that at Gloucester.t The subdivisions 
 of these great windows by minor arches in the 
 tracery £ is generally effected by primary monials, 
 of considerably larger size and projection than the 
 secondary series, which carries the tracery in its 
 plane. The mouldings of both these monials 
 
 of the mouldings of the monials, as at Bottisham, (Brandon’s 
 Analysis, Part XXII.) 
 
 * In these positions the original windows of earlier build- 
 ings have generally been removed for insertions of the fifteenth 
 century, the gables being at the same time lowered and the 
 parapet embattled. 
 
 *H The York window is seventy-six feet high by thirty- 
 two wide. That at Gloucester is seventy-nine by thirty-five, 
 and contains nearly four thousand square feet of stained 
 glass. The cost of the latter was one hundred and forty 
 pounds. (Notes to Bentham’s History of Ely, p. 32.) It 
 would now cost about five thousand pounds. 
 
 J This peculiarity has been noticed as characteristic of 
 geometric windows. It is less frequent in flowing tracery. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 187 
 
 fall in with corresponding planes of mouldings 
 in the arch and jambs. The principle alluded to 
 may be seen in the great west window of King’s 
 College Chapel. Sometimes even tertiary monials 
 occur. In these cases the primary are very heavy, 
 and they are occasionally supported (decoratively 
 at least) by small buttresses rising from the cill, 
 which may be seen in the east window of King’s 
 Chapel, and in the western of Gloucester Cathe- 
 dral. 
 
 It would be a hopeless task to explain all the 
 gradations of form and composition in the tracery 
 of this period. We may class most of the va- 
 rieties under three heads : — 
 
 1. Transomed tracery, where a horizontal bar, 
 generally embattled, is carried across the whole or 
 a part of the window head. 
 
 2. Plain super-mullioned,* when a tracery-bar 
 rises from each monial (or mullion) and from the 
 crown of the separate lights. 
 
 3. Compound, when divided into secondary arch- 
 ed compartments by larger or primary monials.f 
 
 * It is a peculiar mark of the latest work to carry the tra- 
 cery-bars above, or the monials below, a window, as a con- 
 tinuous panelling. The former may be seen at Walden, 
 Essex, and the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick ; the latter in 
 King’s College Chapel, and S. Edward’s Church, Cambridge. 
 At Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire, the sedilia are formed by 
 mullions carried below the cill of the window above them. 
 
 + These arched compartments sometimes occupy less than 
 
188 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 In super-mullionecl windows the tracery-bars 
 are sometimes expanded midway into open loops : 
 in other words, a double tier of batement-lights is 
 formed, as in the east window of Swavesey church, 
 Cambridgeshire, in page 130. 
 
 We cannot conclude this subject without ex- 
 tracting the eloquent words of a well-known 
 writer, from an article on the Philosophy of Gothic 
 Architecture in the English Review.* 
 
 “ In the history of Gothic windows the progress 
 of this principle (the ‘ struggle for unity’) may be 
 traced in completeness. It commenced operation 
 the moment that the single, round-headed light, 
 simply perforated in the wall, had expanded, either 
 for ornament or use, into a double-headed win- 
 dow, divided by a pillar, of which there are 
 many specimens in our Norman buildings, and 
 even in the Early English. Plurality was thus 
 
 half the window, in which case the central light is super- 
 mullioned and transomed in the head, as in a window from 
 S. Peter’s Oxford, (Bloxam, p. 263 ;) sometimes more, in 
 which case the two secondary arches cross and intersect each 
 other above the central light, as at Ashbourne, Derbyshire 
 (Bloxam, p. 263). This is graphically explained by Rick- 
 man, p. 90. We may observe that Third Pointed windows 
 not unfrequently have internal jamb-shafts, but very rarely 
 do they occur externally. Some windows will be found in 
 which the tracery has been entirely altered in later times, 
 the window-frame remaining of the original and earlier de- 
 tail. * No. IV. p. 417. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 189 
 
 introduced in perfect accordance with the essen- 
 tial character of Gothic. Two parts were formed ; 
 and the mind, which cannot rest satisfied with 
 plurality, (?) endeavoured immediately to reduce 
 them into one. How was this to be effected ? 
 One mode strongly suggested itself. The artist 
 threw over both the twin arches of the window 
 one larger arch embracing them both. He thus 
 presented, to catch the eye, one grand external 
 figure, within which the others were sunk and 
 lost, (?) and so far attained his purpose by effect- 
 ing what may be termed the unity of inclusion, 
 as one ring fence gives unity to the fields of an 
 estate, and a common boundary-wall makes many 
 families and houses parts of one city. 
 
 “ But this was not sufficient. Between the 
 great arch and the two smaller ones, was included 
 a space lying, as it were, shapeless, and bare, 
 and uncultivated, — a sort of waste, which seemed 
 to have no connection with the other portions of 
 the figure, and which required to be filled up 
 with some corresponding details. The window 
 still wanted another kind of unity, which may be 
 termed the unity of completeness. The included 
 surface was not filled up. It presented a blank, 
 on which the eye rested with disappointment, and 
 longed to occupy it. And how was this attempt 
 to be made ? By recurring first to a third kind 
 of unity, which has been mentioned before, 
 
190 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the unity of repetition, by which, in a body com- 
 posed of many members, the whole number are 
 preserved from discordance or incongruity by 
 repeating in each portion one and the same type 
 or figure. Upon this principle the artist took the 
 form of the original single light, * and introduced 
 it into the vacant space. A specimen of this 
 stage of the transition may be seen in the tower 
 of S. Giles’ church, Oxford, and is a remarkable 
 illustration of the fact. Still this third window 
 failed to occupy the whole space : corners were 
 left and blanks, irregular and unconnected ; 
 and, for a time, the artist endeavoured to fill them 
 up with other apertures, some circular, some 
 irregularly curved, some elliptical. And when 
 even these could not be fitted accurately into the 
 space, sculptures of heads and leaves were in- 
 troduced, as if in despair, and with a want of 
 ingenuity which later art repudiated ; when, in 
 its perfection of skill and purity, it refused to 
 employ any ornament which was not intrinsically 
 and fundamentally useful. Beautiful as the spe- 
 cimens are of this description in the Early Eng- 
 lish, as in the windows of the Chapter-house of 
 Christ’s church, Oxford, we must not lose sight of 
 the grand principle of Gothic and of all true art, 
 and admire them in themselves. Ornament mere- 
 ly for the sake of ornament, for which no reason 
 * We doubt tbe correctness of this as a general statement. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 191 
 
 can be assigned but that of pleasing the eye, is 
 not worthy of a grand design. 
 
 “To effect more perfectly the occupation of 
 the whole space of the window with an uniform 
 framework, the artist next introduced a regular 
 tracery in the whole of this upper compartment. 
 He drew geometrical figures, circles, and triangles 
 and ellipses ; and adjusted their ribbings and 
 outlines till no bare surface was left uncovered : 
 and this is the first stage of the Decorated 
 English ; beautiful in itself, as compared with 
 former tracery, but still deficient in another spe- 
 cies of art, which may be termed the unity of 
 continuousness. The upper geometrical tracery 
 was connected with the lower mullions only by 
 juxta-position : they touched, but did not flow 
 into each other. There were still two distinct 
 compartments, though each was filled with tracery : 
 and the next effort was to meet and fuse these 
 into one. From the central germ of the upper 
 portion filaments were therefore thrown out, 
 curling down into the lower arches ; and at the 
 same time the lower arches shot themselves up to 
 meet the descending lines. But the attempt was 
 vain : no perfect unity of organization can be 
 developed from two centres. And till the upper 
 centre was abandoned, and the whole process of 
 crystallization was carried on continuously from 
 the lower limbs, the nisus or struggle for unity 
 
192 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 was baffled, and only produced beautiful abor- 
 tions. But with this abandonment the effort took 
 effect. All the trunks of the mullions, springing 
 out of one base, rose up to a certain height, and 
 then shot themselves out into ramifications of 
 the most intricate and delicate net-work, ex- 
 hibiting a variety of combinations which baffles 
 enumeration — the branches climbing and twist- 
 ing one into the other in a maze full of entangle- 
 ment, yet without confusion ; and the whole 
 composition, in its utmost licence and seeming 
 extravagance of fancy, capable of being subjected 
 to strict and inviolable laws of primary truth.” 
 
 LANCET, OP.EAT CASIIRTON, RUTLAND. 
 
193 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF DOORWAYS. 
 
 The various kinds of Doorways may be classed 
 under the following beads : 
 
 1. Shafted doorways, where the section below 
 the impost is different from that above it, i.e. the 
 jamb from the arch. 
 
 2. Banded, where the section is the same, 
 with a projecting impost moulding at the 
 spring. * 
 
 3. Continuous, where there is no such impost. 
 
 4. Discontinuous, where the arch-mouldings 
 die into the jamb at the impost, or spring of the 
 arch. 
 
 5. Foliated, where the arch is trefoiled, cinque- 
 foiled, &c. 
 
 6. Canopied, where a projecting gable or 
 crocketed and finialed hood-moulding is carried 
 over the archway. 
 
 7. Double-arched, when divided by a central 
 shaft, or when a lower and smaller archway is set 
 under a wider and higher one. 
 
 8. Panelled, when the jambs, archivolt, or 
 
 * See on this subject Professor Willis’s remarks, p. 31, &c. 
 
 0 
 
194 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 soffit contain niches, panellings, or sunken tracery 
 work. 
 
 9. Spandril doorways, when the hood-mould- 
 ing is of a different shape from the arch, as 
 in the square-headed Third Pointed examples. 
 
 Shafted doorways are almost invariable, (at 
 least the exceptions are rare) in Norman and 
 First Pointed examples. The number of the 
 shafts varies from one to four or five, or even 
 more, in each jamb, and the arch-mouldings are 
 abruptly stopped by the capitals. In Middle 
 Pointed doors the outer mouldings are frequently 
 continuous, while the inner side has a shafted 
 segmental hood, as in the west door at Trump- 
 ington.* 
 
 Discontinuous doorways are generally of Third- 
 Pointed date, but examples occur of the fourteenth 
 century, as at Overstrand, near Cromer. At 
 Besthorpe, Norfolk, one kind of mouldings dies 
 away at the impost, while the jambs have another 
 kind. Foliated doorways are very elegant, though 
 by no means of common occurrence.t The tre- 
 foiled head is found in the west front of Byland 
 
 * Third Pointed doorways have generally a shaft bearing 
 the soffit mouldings, the rest being continuous ; while ex- 
 actly the reverse is the case in First Pointed. Manual of 
 Gothic Mouldings, p. 56. 
 
 t The unrivalled First Pointed doorways at the west en- 
 trance of Ely Cathedral are very richly foliated with flowery 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 195 
 
 Abbey, in a Norman door at Nately, Hants, and 
 in several of Middle Pointed date. There are 
 instances at Elsing, Norfolk, Yaxley, Hunts, 
 Hunstanton, * Affpuddle, Dorsetshire, f Dun- 
 church, Warwickshire ; and of multifoil Third 
 Pointed at Ryhall, Rutland. A beautiful fea- 
 thered arch of this sort occurs in Maxey church, 
 Northamptonshire, opening into a chantry - 
 chapel. % 
 
 Canopy doorways occur in Transition and First 
 Pointed work, where the doorway, for the sake 
 of being more deeply recessed, is set in a quasi- 
 porch, or projecting pilaster, terminated by an 
 acute gabled head. Such doorways occur at 
 S. Giles’, Cambridge, (Transition,) at Skelton, 
 near York, Kirkstall Abbey, Grantham (First 
 Pointed), the Norman Tower, Bury S. Edmunds, 
 Adel, Yorkshire, and Sempringham, Lincoln- 
 shire^ Later than this we find crocketed 
 
 cusps. The very fine trefoiled west doorway at Warming- 
 ton, Northamptonshire, is engraved in Part XXIII. of Bran- 
 don’s Analysis. 
 
 * Engraved in Cotman’s Architectural Etchings, vol. i. 
 Part II. Plate xxvii. 
 
 + Engraved in Barr’s Anglican Church Architecture, p. 34. 
 Ed. 3. 
 
 £ There is a fine trefoiled First Pointed doorway at 
 Wrangle church, in Holland, Lincolnshire, engraved in Mor- 
 ton’s Lincolnshire Churches. 
 
 § The usual proportion of Norman doorways is about two 
 
196 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 canopies, especially in Third Pointed doorways, 
 as at King’s Chapel. At Milton Church, Kent, 
 is a fine specimen with panelled gable.* 
 
 Double-arched doorways are of a very fine 
 effect, though rather rare. At Empingham, 
 Wissendine, and Oakham, Rutland, are fine ex- 
 amples. In these cases there is a lofty moulded 
 arch carried high above the actual doorway, 
 and sometimes the space between the lower and 
 upper arches is pierced with tracery. Double 
 doorways with central division are not uncom- 
 mon in the First Pointed style, though very 
 rare in the Third, as at S. Margaret’s Chapel, 
 
 squares in height, the same as that of windows. (Rickman, 
 p. 48.) The excessive depth of mouldings in First Pointed 
 doorways, sometimes extending several feet in the section of 
 the archivolt, caused the outer lines to become nearly semi- 
 circular when struck from the same centres as the innermost 
 mouldings, or the soffit, which was generally formed on an 
 equilateral triangle. If the outer moulding is made equilateral, 
 and the inner lines successively struck from the same centres, 
 the last or inmost will be excessively acute, or a lancet arch. 
 
 * Engraved in Brandon’s Analysis, Part XII. Mr. Pe- 
 trie, in his Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, p. 209, Ed. 
 2, gives a sketch of a doorway with a rude pointed canopy 
 and chevron ornaments from a round tower near Kildare, 
 probably earlier than the year 800 ; and in p. 285 is a more 
 perfect instance, circa 1100. The dividing shaft is either 
 single, as at Peterburgh, or clustered, as at Ely ; and the space 
 immediately above is generally pierced with an ornamental 
 aperture, as a quatrefoil, or Vesica Piscis. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 197 
 
 Lynn. A double foliated doorway of this kind 
 exists at S. Cross, near Winchester,* and in the 
 Chapter-house, Salisbury. 
 
 Panelled doorways may be illustrated by the 
 fine Erpingham gateway, at Norwich. This class 
 includes all such as have pendent niches or 
 sculptured figures in the jambs. Such is the 
 famous doorway leading into the Chapter House 
 at Rochester, t The beautiful western doorway 
 at Cromer comes under this head. 
 
 A great many examples of very ancient wooden 
 doors still exist J and not a few of Norman date, 
 which may be generally distinguished by rude 
 and heavy iron work. At Castor, Northamp- 
 tonshire, the Norman doorway still retains its 
 original door, with lock and even key. Hound 
 the outside edge an inscription is carved, “ Ri- 
 cardus Beby, Hector ecclesite de Castre, fieri 
 fecit.” Now over the chancel door of this church 
 is an inscription, stating its dedication in the 
 
 * Engraved in Barr’s Anglican Church Architecture, p. 
 136. Chapter Houses seem generally to have had double 
 doorways, as at Wells, Tinterne, York, &c. 
 
 f A singular kind of doorway, very common in Lanca- 
 shire, generally of the seventeenth century, deserves to be 
 mentioned. It consists of a fantastic and often ungraceful 
 kind of pendent or graduated foliations, of very curious de- 
 tail, which is scarcely capable of description. The date, and 
 initials of the builder are commonly sculptured over the 
 centre. f Rickman, p. 58. 
 
198 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 year 1124. But we know that in 1133 Richard, 
 Priest of Castre, took the habit of Monk in 
 Peterburgh Abbey,* in the beginning of the 
 abbacy of Martin de Bee. This therefore was 
 but a few years after the dedication, and coin- 
 cides with his tenure of the said Rectory. 
 
 The great western doors of Peterburgh Ca- 
 thedral are the original ones, and exhibit the 
 toothed moulding on the interior framework. t 
 
 We may remark, in connexion with this sub- 
 ject, Professor Willis’ classification of shafts, 
 which is as follows. 
 
 1. Bearing-shafts, which wholly sustain a 
 weight, as when placed in the middle of a door- 
 way or window. 
 
 2. Sub-shafts, which bear a sub-arch, or one 
 projecting from the soffit. 
 
 * Gunton’s History of Peterburgh, p. 277. 
 
 *t* These venerable doors are of course generally made of 
 oak. But in the case of two very ancient doors, both covered 
 with iron scroll-work — those in the Chapter-House at York 
 and at Sompringham Abbey church — we have been sur- 
 prised at finding the material deal. The exquisite enrich- 
 ment, by tracery, niches, figures, and crocket-work, of Gothic 
 doors might alone demand a separate chapter. A great many 
 good specimens still exist, some of which are given in Bran- 
 don’s Analysis. One of the most beautiful we ever saw is 
 that which till lately stood in Bishop Alcock’s Chapel at Ely, 
 whence it has lately been removed, it not having originally 
 belonged to that place. A very beautiful traceried door is 
 also lying useless in the Chapter- House at Peterburgh. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 199 
 
 3. Face-shafts, sustaining arches which have 
 their back, united to the wall, and which stand 
 prominently against the line of walling, as in 
 an arcade. But these are of infrequent occur- 
 rence, except in the latter case, where they also 
 perform the office of hearing-shafts. 
 
 4. Edge-shafts, which support arches whose 
 outer face and soffit only are visible, the other 
 two sides being engaged in the wall. Thus 
 the shaft in the jamb of a Norman window 
 (see p. 47) is an edge-shaft. 
 
 5. Nook-shafts stand in an interior angle or 
 recess, as in the jamb of a Norman doorway, 
 or a wall-pier. The various kinds of shafts are 
 seen in close combination in the triforium of 
 the choir in Norwich Cathedral.' 55 ' 
 
 In the larger mouldings of windows and door- 
 ways, a small quasi-base was sometimes worked 
 at the lower commencement, but without any 
 corresponding capital. This occurs in several 
 windows early in the fourteenth century, as at 
 Whitby Abbey.f It is often found in doorways 
 of the fifteenth century ; and even when a small 
 octagonal capital is added, the moulding above 
 
 * Other terms are convenient, as engaged shafts, semi- 
 shafts, filleted shafts, pointed shafts, angle-shafts, hood-shafts 
 (supporting window hoods and labels,) and wall-shafts, (bear- 
 ing vaults or arches thrown across.) 
 
 + Sharpe’s Decorated Windows, Part III. 
 
200 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the impost continuing the same, it is properly 
 called a quasi-shaft. Perhaps the doorways con- 
 structed towards the close of the fourteenth 
 century are the finest in rich detail and lofty 
 proportions. There are very fine specimens at 
 the west ends of Fakenham, Aylsham, New Buck- 
 enham, and Wymondham churches, Norfolk. 
 Heraldic devices, or a series of shields, generally 
 fill the spandrils, as at Uffington, near Stam- 
 ford, or figures in bas relief, of which there is 
 a most singular instance in the north porch at 
 Yaxley, Suffolk. 
 
 Hence the devices which the earliest archi- 
 tects placed over the arch, the Middle Pointed 
 artists transferred to the jambs and archivolt, 
 and the latest of all to the spandrils. 
 
 Many doorways, as well as windows, of the 
 earlier styles are flanked on each side by blank 
 arches, on a somewhat smaller scale, in the 
 fashion of an arcade. This may be seen in the 
 west doorways of S. Leonard’s Priory, Stamford, 
 of Ketton church, Rutland, of Tinterne Abbey, 
 and in that leading to the Chapter-house at 
 Buildwas.* But it is a peculiarly elegant de- 
 vice in First Pointed and Geometric windows 
 to have either an alternate blank panel, as at 
 
 * Potter’s Monastic Remains, Plate xiii. In this case 
 the side-arches become properly windows adjusted in con- 
 tinuation of the central door. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 201 
 
 Jesus College chapel, and Great Wilbraham, near 
 Cambridge, or, as in the aisles at Selby and S. 
 Mary’s Abbey, York, to be internally enriched 
 by a smaller and more acutely pointed side-arch, 
 filling up the unoccupied width of the bay.* 
 
 Of the earliest kinds of doorways we have 
 said nothing in this place, Norman character- 
 istics having been already briefly discussed, and 
 the supposed Saxon examples being of so plain 
 and rude a construction that it is difficult to 
 classify them. The existence of long or flat 
 bricks, square-rib work,t rude imposts, or tri- 
 
 * From these blank windows Professor Willis, (Architec- 
 tural Nomenclature, p. 54,) considers that the frequent pa- 
 nelling of the Third Pointed age was derived, the medieval 
 term for such panels being orbs , i.e. blank windows. This 
 principle may be traced to Norman work, in which (as in the 
 clerestory of S. Peter’s, Northampton,) an arcade was pierced 
 at intervals. 
 
 f Since writing the first part of this book, the author has 
 visited the remarkable church at Bessingham, Norfolk ; one 
 of the most decidedly Saxon structures he has yet seen. The 
 tower is circular, but not composed of flints, as usual in that 
 district, but of very coarse rag-stone. The belfry-arches are 
 triangular, with a central baluster shaft, and with a most sin- 
 gular and primitive rib-work of small projecting stones, carried 
 not only round the arch, but down the sides ; a feature which 
 has been already noticed as one of the most certain proofs of 
 Saxon work. Not only the tower, but the whole of the north 
 side of this church appears to be of the same date, which can 
 hardly be later than Edward the Confessor, and may be much 
 earlier. 
 
202 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 angular heads, will generally determine the early 
 date of doorways. In the west wall of the tower 
 of Wenden church, Essex, (to he added to the 
 list of Ante-Norman towers hitherto discovered) 
 
 DOORWAY, WENDIN ESSEX. 
 
 is a doorway with solid plain tympanum, and 
 a doubly recessed arch composed entirely of 
 bricks, Avhich, if original, as it appears to he, 
 must be considered as one of the most complete 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 203 
 
 specimens of this kind of masonry hitherto dis- 
 covered. 
 
 In that extremely interesting work, the Ec- 
 clesiastical Architecture of Ireland, by Mr. Petrie, 
 a great number of doorways are engraved, which 
 the author gives the strongest reasons for sup- 
 posing to belong to the sixth, seventh and eighth 
 centuries. Many of these are of a form hitherto 
 undiscovered in England, namely, of Egyptian 
 or Greek outline, with sloping sides and a flat 
 lintel above. Others approach much more closely 
 to the opus Romanum of our Saxon examples. 
 Although in some respects these doorways have 
 peculiarities of their own, yet they generally 
 much resemble what we have called Ante- Nor- 
 man remains. Many of them have the chevron 
 moulding and other ornaments, which are gener- 
 ally called Norman. A perusal of Mr. Petrie’s 
 work will probably establish the important fact, 
 that a large class of buildings, now considered 
 (from their style) necessarily of later date than 
 the Conquest, may, in all probability, be safely 
 referred to a period very long before that event.* 
 
 * The chevron moulding is generally supposed to mark a 
 considerably later era than the Conquest, and it certainly is 
 remarkable that it scarcely occurs in English buildings knoivn 
 to be of about that date. Yet its very remote antiquity is 
 certain. Mr. Petrie says, (p. 232 ) that it is represented as 
 an arch ornament in a MS. copy of the Gospels of the sixth 
 century. 
 
204 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 And if this can be predicated of Irish Ecclesiasti- 
 cal remains, there can he no valid reason ad- 
 duced why it should not be allowed in the archi- 
 tecture of the sister Isle. 
 
 The solid tympanum, which occurs in the 
 Wenden doorway, and is a marked character- 
 istic of Ante-Norman work when plain, of Nor- 
 man when sculptured in relief, is evidently de- 
 rived from the square doorway, above the lin- 
 tel of which an arch was constructed to bear 
 the superincumbent weight, the space between 
 the lintel and arch being filled with masonry.* 
 
 * A very curious illustration of this is given in p. 181, of 
 Mr. Petrie’s work, from Bristway church, county of Cork, 
 and in p. 255, from Glendalough. A third instance, in p. 
 434, from S. Kevin’s House, in the last named place, is 
 considered by Mr. Petrie to be as old as the year 600. 
 
 CORBEL-HEAD, HERNE CHURCH, KENT. 
 
205 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OF THE UNIFORMITY AND PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER 
 OF THE GOTHIC STYLES. 
 
 One of the most remarkable facts connected 
 with medieval architecture is its invariably pro- 
 gressive, and never retrospective course. Another, 
 and a still more striking one, is the uniformity 
 which prevailed throughout the kingdom, and 
 even in some sort throughout all the countries 
 which adopted these styles, in the details of 
 each, so long as it was in vogue. Both these 
 are so entirely different from the principles of 
 modern science, that their causes seem to de- 
 mand a brief consideration. 
 
 “ Contrary to the practice of our own age, 
 which is to imitate every style of architecture 
 that can be found in all the countries of the 
 earth, it appears that in any given period and 
 place our forefathers admitted but of one style, 
 which was used to the complete exclusion of 
 every other during its prevalence. After en- 
 during for about a century, this style gradually 
 gives way, and another makes its appearance, 
 which in turn assumes the exclusive privilege, 
 and is in turn superseded, so that the build- 
 
206 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 ings of every country may be distributed under 
 two general heads ; those that exhibit the dis- 
 tinct features of an established style, and those 
 that contain a mixture of the features of two 
 consecutive styles, which are commonly called 
 Transition specimens.”* 
 
 No architect of the present day is fettered 
 by any other rules or conditions than those 
 imposed by his employers, in regard to the choice 
 of a style. He may copy that of any nation 
 and any period, and he may alter, combine, 
 detract from, or add to it, as he pleases. In- 
 deed he must do so more or less, because no 
 one recognised and distinctive national archi- 
 tecture, either ecclesiastical or secular, exists 
 at the present day. It is all copied, and none 
 of it is, properly speaking, original or self-de- 
 veloped. It has ceased to be inventive, at least 
 in any favourable sense. 
 
 But the case was very different in the mid- 
 dle ages, when freemasonry was a craft in the 
 hands of a corporate ecclesiastical confraternity, 
 the members of which seem to have been bound 
 down to certain rules, and yet to have had 
 almost unlimited licence in carrying those rules 
 into effect ; precisely in the same way as if the 
 alphabet of a language were given to any one, 
 
 * Willis’s Architecture of the Middle Ages, p. 7. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 207 
 
 and he were allowed to combine the letters 
 into words as he pleased, hut not to introduce 
 any new forms or symbols. This seems exactly 
 to illustrate the position in which the ancient 
 freemasons stood. They had certain hinds of 
 mouldings, foliage, window tracery, &c., which 
 were, with comparatively trifling modifications 
 and exceptions, repeated in all buildings of the 
 same era, only very arbitrarily combined, ar- 
 ranged, or applied. For example, in the age 
 of the Complete Gothic or Flowing Decorated, 
 all window tracery was designed on one fixed 
 principle ; it was neither geometric, nor rigidly 
 vertical, as in the next style, but it was, with 
 surprisingly few exceptions, of wavy and curved 
 lines. Yet each architect seems to have had 
 full liberty to adapt this principle to his own 
 taste ; and thus we find thousands of different 
 patterns. Again in mouldings ; some ten or a 
 dozen forms being employed by all with in- 
 flexible exactitude, their grouping , or positions 
 in relation to each other, as well as their ap- 
 plication, seems to have been the result of in- 
 dividual caprice.* And herein is the glory of 
 the Gothic styles, that they attained by these 
 means perfect uniformity combined with almost 
 infinite variety. There is no monotony, no weari- 
 
 * See Hope’s Essay, p. 213. 
 
208 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 some repetition ; every detail has some fresh- 
 ness ; yet all are strictly subjected to certain 
 laws of composition. Hence that charm of never- 
 ceasing interest created by perpetual novelty ; 
 for this in reality is a much more enduring 
 gratification than either the magnificent effect 
 or the exceeding aggregate beauty of some 
 buildings, both which impressions are rather 
 those of first sight, while the minute detail of 
 any one building might engage the attention 
 for months, or even years. 
 
 Little or nothing has ever transpired of the 
 secret system which the freemasons adopted in 
 building, nor of the organization of their body, 
 except that it was ecclesiastical, and under the 
 jurisdiction and benediction of the Pope. It is 
 certain that they were a very numerous, ener- 
 getic, and talented class, whose genius was chast- 
 ened and ennobled by all the enthusiasm of a 
 grand religion, and whose efforts were aided 
 by the supply of almost unlimited resources. 
 They nmst have had the entire monopoly of both 
 domestic and ecclesiastical architecture ; though 
 perhaps the distinction is vain, for everything 
 in the middle ages was ecclesiastical. The 
 symbolic marks of the old builders, which often 
 bear a considerable affinity to that spurious 
 kind of heraldic badge called Merchants’ Marks, 
 may sometimes be found incised on walls, pillars, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 209 
 
 &c.j and the author is assured by a member 
 of the present body which perpetuates the name, 
 that they are identical with those still in use ; 
 though he may be allowed to doubt whether his 
 informant really ever saw an ancient one, for 
 in England they are extremely rare. A con- 
 siderable collection of them has been engraved 
 in vol. xxxi. of the Archseologia, chiefly from 
 foreign churches. 
 
 Constant communication must have been kept 
 up between all the members of this numerous 
 and widely-extended body. For if we consider 
 the immense number of churches built in every 
 reign from the Conquest to the overthrow of 
 the ancient religion, and the perfect uniformity 
 of style in all of the same period, we shall per- 
 ceive how complete the intercourse must of ne- 
 cessity have been. Perhaps the following is a 
 plausible scheme of their constitution. Those 
 whom we now call architects seem to have been 
 designated “ Masters,” as we read that “ the 
 Master” did so and so, in ancient accounts, 
 where it is clearly equivalent to “ the Archi- 
 tect.” These “ Masters” must have been trained 
 in one and the same school, just as our clergy 
 are trained in the universities, and they seem 
 either to have been sent about to different sta- 
 tions, or to have been attached to some mother 
 church or Cathedral, or even to have taken up 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 their permanent residence in certain localities, 
 since we often find several churches in a particular 
 neighbourhood which clearly exhibit the same 
 hand in their design. 
 
 Though we may in most of the arts attribute 
 a good deal to mere fashion, which might former- 
 ly (it may be said) admit of as little variety in 
 architecture as it now does in the shapes and 
 materials of costume, still this is quite insuf- 
 ficient to account for the positive identity of 
 coeval capitals, bases, foliage, windows, &c., in 
 the two opposite extremities of the kingdom. 
 We suppose therefore there was either some 
 central school whence all such details emanated 
 
 5 
 
 or, which is the same thing, the “ Masters” went 
 about as so many missionaries, disseminating what 
 they had learnt or developed together. How 
 this adherence to rule for a long period can be 
 reconciled with the phenomena of sudden changes 
 in, and eventually complete revolutions of, style, 
 or who had the boldness to suggest, or the 
 authority to enforce, novelties in the masonic 
 art, must be matters of mere conjecture. In 
 England indeed the employment of foreign artists 
 will account for many new introductions ; but 
 the question remains the same, — whence did these 
 foreign artists themselves derive them 1 How- 
 i ever such changes were first introduced, they 
 were quickly adopted semper, ubique, et ab omnibus. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 211 
 
 William of Sens is the first known master 
 mason whose works are extant. The masons 
 were not incorporated in England till the thir- 
 teenth century ; yet there is at least as much 
 uniformity of detail observable in the Norman 
 and (as before observed) even in the Saxon styles. 
 An oath of secrecy is said to have been tendered 
 to all novitiates.* They appear to have been 
 convened and held secret meetings at certain 
 times and places. The name Free-masons is 
 a corruption of Freres masons, or fraternity.f 
 A presumptive proof how exclusively the de- 
 tails of the art were in their keeping may be 
 derived from the blundering attempts at draw- 
 ing them, which are always found in MSS., 
 stained glass, brasses, and fresco paintings. The 
 master masons were generally foreigners, incor- 
 porated by Royal authority. When a large 
 building was contemplated, the masons removed 
 in great numbers to the spot ; hence they have 
 been well described as a kind of “ nomade race.”;j; 
 How they were paid, or how maintained during 
 their sojourn, is not certainly known. Perhaps 
 the masters did not so much design, as carry out 
 the designs of powerful and munificent ecclesi- 
 
 * See Dallaway’s Historical Account of Master and Free- 
 masons. Also Hope’s Essay, pp. 203 — 220. 
 
 + Dallaway, p. 434. 
 
 X Blunt’s History of the Reformation, p. 83. 
 
212 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 astics.* * * § A good deal, too, of actual handy- 
 work was done by the ecclesiasticsj* them- 
 selves, which will account for any of those 
 touches of the satirical in the way of droll 
 portraits, which seem so pointedly directed 
 against rival clerics.! But when we read of re- 
 pairs and buildings executed by abbats, bishops 
 or monks, we must generally understand the 
 expression to mean that they promoted them, 
 but that masons were employed in carrying 
 them out.§ 
 
 “ The old builders possessed nothing but the 
 sound intelligence of sensible men, and an apt- 
 ness in practice exercised from earliest youth. 
 They lived more at the building place than at 
 home ; thought of little else and did little else ; 
 and thus they evidently succeeded much better 
 than our well-grounded sages, who often bring 
 into the world their left-handed productions, or 
 tamely written pamphlets, and would fain su- 
 perintend the erection of buildings from their 
 writing-desk.” || 
 
 One thing is quite clear, and admitted by 
 
 * Dallaway, p. 156. 
 
 t Maitland’s Dark Ages, p. 58. 
 
 X There are good specimens in the beautiful Middle 
 Pointed chancel at Southrepps, Norfolk. 
 
 § Willis’ Canterbury, p. 120. 
 
 || Whewell’s Notes, &c., p. 182. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 213 
 
 all ; that the masons of the time being were 
 absolutely restricted to one style. They never 
 thought of going backwards, under any circum- 
 stances whatever, and seem to have contemned 
 the very idea of copying older work, however 
 incongruous would be the result of the new, 
 in additions to, or alterations of, a pre-existing 
 edifice. In fact, they thought they could im- 
 prove upon it. Of this principle many of the 
 most interesting illustrations might very easily 
 be adduced, did space allow their insertion. 
 Scarcely ever did they compose a single detail 
 even with a view of suiting the older work ; 
 for in truth they had a thorough contempt for 
 uniformity. They placed traceried windows of 
 many lights in juxta-position with single lancets, 
 pointed with semicircular arches, and complex 
 Gothic columns with plain and heavy Roman- 
 esque piers. A good example occurs in the 
 choir of Ely Cathedral, the western portion of 
 which was rebuilt in the Middle Pointed style, 
 nearly a century later than the rest of the same 
 fabric ; and the difference between the earlier 
 and later buttresses, triforia, mouldings, vault- 
 ing, parapets, and all the other details, is most 
 strikingly seen. The only assimilation is in the 
 size of the triforia, and the terminations of the 
 earlier buttresses, which were reconstructed : and 
 this is perhaps more than will generally be found. 
 
214 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 A singular instance on a small scale may be 
 quoted from Quy church, near Cambridge, where 
 one half of a clustered pillar is of the First, 
 the other of the Middle Pointed style, and the 
 capital and base mouldings on the two sides of 
 the same pillar are strictly characteristic of their 
 respective dates. The only instance we remem- 
 ber to have seen of a decided imitation of earlier 
 work is in the three eastern arches of Ripon 
 Cathedral, which were added in the Middle 
 Pointed age with so close a resemblance to the 
 earlier part of Pointed Transition, that it re- 
 quires a close examination to detect the difference 
 of moulding between the earlier and the later 
 work.* Now and then the arches on one side 
 of a nave were rebuilt after the model of the 
 other side, as at Little Casterton, Rutland, where 
 there are semicircular arches of the fourteenth 
 century evidently suited to others of the twelfth. 
 But the same principle, or rather, perhaps, feel- 
 ing , which made an architect of the reign 
 of Edward I. purposely place windows of dif- 
 ferent sizes and shapes on opposite sides and 
 ends of his churches, thus deliberately eschewing 
 uniformity, induced his successor of Edward III. 
 
 * Dallaway says (Essay, p. 158) that imitation by pro- 
 vincial masons of earlier work in parochial churches may in 
 some cases be proved by dated documents, but he does not 
 specify them. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 215 
 
 to disregard any degree of difference and incon- 
 gruity in altering or enlarging his work. This 
 system of steadily rejecting the imitation of earlier 
 styles gave rise to a very extensive admixture 
 of totally different kinds of work in the same 
 buildings ; an admixture which adds very greatly 
 to their interest, if not positively to their effect, 
 as well as affords the most curious instances of 
 mechanical ingenuity and boldness in the junc- 
 tion of the new with the old. Thus few of our 
 Cathedrals or large churches are built entirely 
 of one style ; and some exhibit every variety 
 from Saxon to Florid Third, as may be seen, 
 each in great perfection, at Barneck. From this 
 very circumstance arises the importance as well 
 as the interest of quickly discriminating the de- 
 tails of each style, so as to be able at the first 
 glance, as it were, to disentangle the apparently 
 incongruous mass, and assign each portion, whe- 
 ther of the fabric or of its ornamental adjuncts, 
 to its proper date. 
 
 It is very possible that the masons them- 
 selves, in always using the style of their day, 
 desired to stamp an imperishable evidence of 
 date upon the works they were executing. 
 
 Even windows were often filled with tracery 
 of a much later date. Thus at Peterborough 
 Cathedral, Berkin, Yorkshire,* and the west 
 * Churches of Yorkshire, No. vi. p. 12. 
 
216 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 front of Kirkstall Abbey, Norman windows have 
 been filled with Perpendicular tracery. 
 
 In altering churches, the parts most generally 
 preserved were doorways, nave piers and arches, 
 north-west aisle windows (for some unexplained 
 reason), sedilia, piscinae, fonts. The parts most 
 commonly innovated were windows, aisle walls, 
 clerestories, roofs, porches, chantry chapels. 
 
 It is very singular to observe how even the 
 slightest changes and turnings of style were regu- 
 larly adopted in the progress of such large build- 
 ings as required a great number of years for their 
 completion. For example, the west elevation of 
 York Cathedral exhibits early Middle Pointed 
 work in its lower part, while the belfry windows, 
 battlements, and pinnacles are finished of pure 
 Third Pointed detail.* These changes we may 
 attribute to the succession of new master masons, 
 each of whom could or would design only in the 
 details of his day. 
 
 Every master mason must have been able at 
 all times to command the sendees of workmen 
 well acquainted with and accustomed to the 
 working of his plans. Perhaps these operatives 
 ( confreres ) accompanied him from place to place ; 
 certainly they must generally have devoted their 
 lives to the work ; for the exquisite chiselling 
 
 * Exeter Cathedral was, however, carried out on a uniform 
 plan for fifty years by Bishop Quivil. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 217 
 
 of the boss, and floriated capital, or the statuary 
 and canopy work of such a place as the Lady 
 Chapel at Ely, could never have been attained 
 without intense and zealous application, aided 
 
 by great taste and artistic feeling, and long 
 practice. Probably the few modern architects 
 to whose lot it has fallen to carry out work of 
 this description, would verify this from their own 
 experience. It is one thing to design, another 
 
 y<7 W'p tef JksMrl. 
 
218 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 to find workmen capable of executing accurately 
 the more minute and difficult details. That such 
 workmen did anciently exist, and in great num- 
 bers too, is proved by the works they have left 
 behind them as monuments of their skill. It 
 is probable that they worked by drawings, as at 
 present ; or the plans were laid out for them 
 by the master’s hand, as occasion required ; of 
 which perhaps the diagrams and geometric marks 
 sometimes found on the stones of disjointed build- 
 ings may be taken as examples. Yet there are 
 parts occasionally to be met with which must 
 be called “ botches,” and which are clearly the 
 results of extemporary constructive ingenuity 
 without any pre-arranged plan. 
 
 Nevertheless, neither the ready means nor a 
 sufficient number of workmen could be procured 
 to execute any large work with anything like the 
 celerity with which in our times we have seen 
 that vast pile, the new Houses of Parliament, 
 erected. A little more than a century ago S. 
 Paul’s Cathedral took forty years in building ; 
 and probably an ancient Cathedral sometimes 
 was a whole century in being erected, or at 
 least saw the expiration of that period before 
 it could be called finished.* Perhaps no such 
 
 * The tower of Strasburgh Cathedral was one hundred and 
 sixty-two years before its spire (530 feet above the ground) 
 Avas finished. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 219 
 
 large building ever was really finished : it was 
 always being built, and enlarged, and improved, 
 just as now York and Lincoln Cathedrals, and 
 poor desecrated Westminster Abbey, are under 
 perpetual repair. 
 
 There must have been, for centuries previous 
 to the change of religion, a constant, untiring, 
 incessant zeal for church building, a zeal which 
 is more striking, when contrasted with the dead 
 apathy, or at least the almost exclusive plunder- 
 ing and demolishing, which from first to last 
 has characterized the new system. Only let the 
 reader contemplate the vast quantity of ancient 
 ecclesiastical work we still have left, taking into 
 account the enormous destruction of the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, and the unceasing 
 havoc of the combined causes of neglect, avarice, 
 and profanation, which have been in active opera- 
 tion for three hundred years ! When we think 
 of some towns having anciently had forty or fifty 
 great churches, where not more than ten or a dozen 
 now appear, all the rest having long ago been 
 razed to their very foundations ; of a thousand 
 abbeys and religious houses, of which scarcely one 
 hundred shattered ruins now remain, though 
 some of them were fully as large and splendid 
 as our first-rate Cathedrals, — Glastonbury, Head- 
 ing, Bury S. Edmund’s ; when we know fully 
 what we have lost, in comparison with what we 
 
 x 
 
220 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 have left, — we shall be indeed amazed at the al- 
 most superhuman efforts of the medieval church ! 
 It has been computed that each one of these vast 
 Cathedrals or conventual edifices would cost, in 
 our times and with our much greater facilities, 
 from five to eight hundred thousand pounds.* A 
 million of money must have been expended on the 
 fabric of some of our greatest churches ; and if we 
 may credit the accounts of the vast wealth stolen 
 by Henry VIII. from Canterbury and Lincoln 
 Cathedrals, and include all the vestments, plate, 
 and other furnitures, the stained glass, pictures, 
 tombs, silver statues, and shrines, we are justified 
 in doubling that sum.t How inadequate a no- 
 
 * Bardwell’s “ Temples,” p. 139. 
 
 + See Willis’ Canterbury, p. 112. Though the plate and 
 goods of the large abbeys had been for the most part sold in 
 anticipation of Henry’s visitations (Blunt’s Hist, of the Refor- 
 mation, p. 138), yet the inventories of his commissioners ex- 
 hibit vast accumulated wealth. Peterburgh possessed four 
 silver and jewelled processional crosses, (see Frontispiece to 
 this volume^ ; four great candlesticks gilt ; three censers, eleven 
 chalices ditto ; twelve very costly altar-cloths ; about three 
 hundred and ten albes ; forty rich embroidered vestments ; 
 sixty copes ; besides gilt images, frontals, superaltaria, lamps, 
 paintings, &c. (See Gun ton’s History.) And this was the 
 noble abbey, that on certain anniversaries provided food for 
 three hundred poor ; on others gave alms at once to one 
 thousand poor, and for six days following to five hundred 
 daily ! (Gunton, p. 298. See Maitland’s Dark Ages, p. 
 348.) 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 22 1 
 
 tion do our present bare, dilapidated, and rifled 
 structures afford, of the amount which religion 
 once bestowed on the Church, and which irre- 
 ligion has sacrilegiously taken from her ! 
 
 CORBEL-HEAD, CIRCA 1270. 
 GREAT CASTERTON, RUTLAND. 
 
222 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF GOTHTC COMPOSITION, CON- 
 STRUCTION, AND EFFECT. 
 
 These points may be said to involve tlie whole 
 theory of Gothic architecture; decoration, how- 
 ever prominent a part, being entirely a subordin- 
 ate, and by no means a necessary accessory, even 
 to a perfect building. Thus the amount of en- 
 richment bestowed upon it does not essentially 
 affect that correct and pleasing ideality of a 
 Gothic structure, which is really due to outline, 
 proportion, and harmony of parts. 
 
 The following may be laid down among the 
 principal canons of Gothic composition. 
 
 1. To make uniformity of design entirely sub- 
 servient and secondary to utility. For instance, 
 never to insert a useless window or an unneces- 
 sary buttress in one place solely to fill up or re- 
 lieve a blank space, or because it occurs in another 
 corresponding place : but to pile together, to in- 
 sert, to add, with any degree of fearless irregulari- 
 ty whatever. Ignorance of this leading principle 
 has been the cause of half the failures in modern 
 designs. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 223 
 
 2. To use decoration only as a means of re- 
 lieving necessary constructive features ; and never 
 to add any detail adventitiously, for its own sake, 
 solely for effect, and irrespectively of position, 
 meaning, and propriety. Thus, to make a blank 
 window or doorway, to set up an unmeaning 
 niche without a statue in it, to erect sham gables, 
 block off buttresses midway, because the lower 
 part is not seen (!) as at the Pitt Press, Cam- 
 bridge, or insert canopies with nothing for them 
 to enshrine, are examples of false principles. Al- 
 most all architects of the last generation com- 
 mitted these errors. They saw niches, and tur- 
 rets, and odd-looking excrescences in old churches, 
 without ever knowing what they once contained, 
 or why they were erected. 
 
 Hence we may deduce two further rules : first, 
 to make construction and propriety of composi- 
 tion the primary, decoration the secondary object, 
 and not to decorate at all until a substantial and 
 durable fabric shall have been fully provided for ; 
 secondly, to regard reality and truthfulness before 
 mere show, and to conceal nothing from a fancied 
 impropriety of appearance. 
 
 3. To attend exclusively to utility, and to let 
 effect take care of itself. Thus, if there is any 
 reason for part of a window to be encroached 
 upon, as at Hawton, Notts, or one pinnacle to be 
 larger than another, as in the tower at Grant- 
 
224 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 ham, or one angle of a tower to be propped with 
 a larger buttress, as at Horningsea, near Cam- 
 bridge, or an arch to be contracted or widened to 
 any extent, — to obey the demand fearlessly and 
 without hesitation. Modern men often adopt the 
 most awkward expedients to avoid what is really 
 a great beauty instead of a blemish. 
 
 4. To create ideal extent by multiplicity of 
 parts, by distribution of thrusts, division verti- 
 cally and horizontally by buttresses and string- 
 courses, repetition of features and compartments of 
 continuous vaults and roofs ; and ideal height by 
 narrowness combined with length, which are the 
 conditions of the most efficient perspective. 
 
 5. To attain infinite variety, both of details 
 and arrangement, even to the extravagant in- 
 dulgence of caprice, by combining, adapting, and 
 diversifying given elements, as mouldings, arches, 
 shafts, panellings, tracery, &c. 
 
 6. To make extreme simplicity and extreme 
 richness of workmanship compatible with the 
 same true principles, by always regarding the 
 latter as merely the luxury of art, and the legiti- 
 mate scope for ingenuity, expenditure, and gradual 
 execution. 
 
 7. To regulate the exterior plan solely by the 
 internal requirements. 
 
 8. To aim at apparent lightness, combined 
 with actual strength; and at the same time to 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 225 
 
 satisfy the eye by giving the idea of security from 
 each part having its own peculiar support. 
 
 Let us now observe how completely every one 
 of these principles has been inverted in modern 
 practice, and we shall have obtained some clue in 
 tracing the causes of modern failures. 
 
 Modern principles are : 
 
 1. To make buildings uniform by equal and 
 similar wings, corresponding doorways, windows 
 of the same size and kind, level and regular ele- 
 vations, not broken up into parts of greater or 
 less prominence and height. Every Gothic new 
 building in Cambridge exhibits these faults, 
 which are the certain result of the same hand 
 composing in two contradictory styles, Classic and 
 Gothic. 
 
 2. To add unnecessary and unmeaning orna- 
 ment in conspicuous positions to attract the eye 
 and produce a showy appearance, leaving the less 
 exposed parts bare and naked in the contrast. 
 
 3. To place effect before utility, as by building 
 an inconvenient or unnecessary feature because it 
 is supposed to look well. Hence we have doors 
 which afford no entrance, turrets with no available 
 interior, and chimneys which do not emit smoke. 
 
 4. To erect buildings whose primary idea is 
 that of a large unbroken area, without columns 
 and arches, with wide roofs, and without distinct 
 component parts. Such were the great majority 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of the modern churches, which often had neither 
 buttress, nor string-course, nor arch in the whole 
 design ; in short, nothing Gothic about them 
 except the minor details. 
 
 5. To use usque ad nauseam a few hackneyed 
 Gothic details, copied from celebrated churches or 
 cathedrals, or borrowed from books ; and to apply 
 these without sufficient regard to difference in the 
 kinds and character of buildings. 
 
 6. To sacrifice solidity and strength to unneces- 
 sary and adventitious ornament, and to impoverish 
 the fabric to obtain the greatest possible amount 
 of conspicuous but needless decoration. 
 
 7. To arrange exterior elevations without re- 
 gard to the nature of the interior, or to force the 
 latter to suit the former ; as to give the outward 
 appearance of nave and aisles where there are no 
 columns or arches inside ; of three gabled roofs 
 where there is but one flat ceiling within ; of 
 pinnacles or gable-crosses which are but chim- 
 neys. Hence the custom of building masks either 
 to hide necessary parts which do exist, or to 
 give the idea of those which do not. 
 
 8. To be satisfied with actual weakness with- 
 out even apparent lightness, as by the use of 
 plaistered timber to imitate stone, and by the 
 omission of essential constructive details, such as 
 shafts, mouldings, and the visible resistances of 
 lateral thrusts. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 227 
 
 All might be summed up in very few words. 
 The ancient churchmen built for God, not for 
 man ; for the church, not for private interest ; 
 for religion, not for fame ; for endurance, not by 
 contract ; for devotion, not in a spirit of eco- 
 nomy ; pro salute animce , non pro crumena. 
 
 The general principles of Gothic construction 
 (which is the carrying out of designing) are as 
 follows : — A decided predominance of vertical 
 over horizontal lines, both external and internal, 
 as buttresses, 'which cut through string-courses 
 and parapet, and stand in relief against the sky ; 
 spires, vaulting-shafts, window-monials and tra- 
 cery. A pyramidal outline, seen not only in sin- 
 gle parts, as in gables and canopies and flying 
 buttresses, but in the general contour of a build- 
 ing, by the disposition of the principal points 
 within the limits of an equilateral or acute- 
 angled triangle, with more or less accurate adap- 
 tation. Thus the graduated diminution of but- 
 tresses, the stages of towers, the vaultings, imply 
 extension at the base with a convergent upward 
 tendency. This is caused by the circumstance 
 that oblique or lateral pressures imply inclined 
 lines of support ; * and as Grecian buildings are 
 horizontal masses sustained by vertical props, so 
 the pointed-arch principle everywhere introduced 
 the lateral abutment in place of the direct bear- 
 * Whewell’s “ Notes,” p. 20. 
 
228 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 ing pillar. Again, a piling of repeated parts one 
 above the other, as in tiers of windows, arcades, 
 and tower-stages, is directly at variance with the 
 horizontal extension of the Classic styles. To sus- 
 tain all superincumbent weights by arches, and 
 the rejection of all horizontal entablature, and 
 consequently the use of none but small stones, 
 was another essential Gothic feature. But one of 
 the most striking and universal is that pointed 
 out by Professor Willis,* and called by him de- 
 corative construction. He observes that the eye 
 desiderates the idea of perfect stability, and of 
 due support to every weight, and that this effect 
 is gained by apparent supports where the real one 
 is concealed, or not of striking prominence. Thus, 
 small columns seem to bear up the mouldings of 
 an arch, which really depend upon their being 
 bedded in the wall ; vaulting-shafts seem to sup- 
 port roofs and vaulting-ribs which really rest 
 upon the clerestory walls ; clustered pillars seem 
 to have a real use in distributing divergent thrusts 
 and weights, which in reality are concentrated 
 on the mass itself, in or near to which these 
 shafts are placed. Inconsistent as this principle 
 may at first sight appear with the essential doc- 
 trine of reality already alluded to, we must re- 
 gard it as founded on true philosophical princi- 
 ples of effect. For there can be no unworthy 
 * Architecture, &c. p. 15. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 229 
 
 deceit in supplying that, the absence of which 
 would be a serious detriment to the idea of com- 
 pactness, unity, and security. In fact this is that 
 all-pervading element of Gothic composition 
 which makes every label seem to rest on corbel- 
 heads ; every bracket to be borne aloft on the 
 expanded wings of a supporting angel ; every 
 canopy to spring from an independent shaft and 
 buttress ; every clustered pillar to be tied to- 
 gether at base and capital, and often midway, 
 by bandages of coalescent mouldings, or garlands 
 of intertwining leaves ; every interrupted arch to 
 be corbelled off, or carried by a half-shaft against 
 the face of the wall ; every roof of wood or stone 
 to have its bays and severeys propped from below. 
 Let any one notice the palpable defect of a re- 
 cessed doorway, from which the jamb-shafts have 
 been removed, and he will see how much the 
 eye misses the idea of adequate and complete 
 support, even where the reason informs us of its 
 real existence. 
 
 To climb daringly hundreds of feet into the 
 air ; to taper away to nothingness in almost eva- 
 nescent fineness, as the top of a pinnacle and 
 spire ; to pile stage upon stage, arch above arch, 
 window above window ; to excite surprise, awe, 
 amazement, by achievements of matchless skill, as 
 in spanning a broad space by a heavy vault of 
 stone, far above the reach, almost out of the ken, 
 
230 
 
 A MANUAL OP 
 
 of the spectator below ; to delight the eye with 
 distant unattainable sculptures of exquisite and 
 tantalizing delicacy ; to exhibit something ever 
 new, yet nothing inharmonious ; to expatiate in 
 the vista and the retiring perspective of roof 
 and columned row ; to terminate nothing ab- 
 ruptly, allow of no grovelling horizontality, or 
 allow it only to set off the predominance of the 
 contrary lines ; such are among the conceptions 
 which matured Gothic architecture. Cradled 
 as it was in the very opposite school of art — 
 in the half-pagan Romanesque — it burst through 
 the trammels of its education, and essayed to 
 attain its own heaven-born tendencies almost 
 before it had cast off the details of its proto- 
 type. For no sooner was the pointed arch in- 
 troduced, than the change was at work, and 
 the struggle began. Whilst yet Norman features 
 and ornaments hung heavily upon it, as loth 
 to leave it, it showed symptoms of impatient 
 advance ; till suddenly shaking off the last ves- 
 tige of classic proportion and classic detail, it 
 burst forth at once into all the luxuriance and 
 gracefulness of the First Pointed, or Early Eng- 
 lish style ; a style so transcendently beautiful, so 
 perfect in itself, that it may well be questioned 
 if ever a parallel to it has existed in any age or 
 country ; or if the hands that reared, and the 
 minds that conceived the choirs of Ely and Lin- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 231 
 
 coin Cathedrals, the Abbeys of Whitby and West- 
 minster and Rivaulx, have not achieved that, 
 which, as unsurpassed by former ages, so future 
 generations shall never see equalled again. 
 
 From the Romanesque to the latest Pointed, 
 the principle of the arch was undergoing a re- 
 gular and progressive change, by gradually losing 
 its prominence as a constructive feature. For 
 whereas the great characteristic of the former, 
 including the First Pointed style, which (in some 
 respects rightly) has been called, “ only Roman- 
 esque improved,” was to have numerous arcades 
 supported by actual bearing-shafts ; in the se- 
 cond, or Complete Gothic, only parts or members 
 of complex recessed arches were borne by shafts ; 
 and as the one was attached to the wall, and not 
 visibly separable from it, so the shaft also be- 
 came engaged, and then degenerated into a mere 
 bowtell with a little decorative capital just to 
 mark the impost line. The Third Pointed style 
 was brought about by a complete surrender of 
 the principle of the arch, and by substituting 
 entirely new kinds of surface ornament. The 
 arcade totally vanished, and even where the arch 
 was of necessity retained, it was corrupted into 
 the four-centered form, which is incapable of 
 suggesting either the aspiring majesty or the 
 secure proportions of the equilateral and lancet 
 shapes. 
 
232 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 “Gothic Architecture has always the charm 
 of mystery ; it does not exhibit itself naked 
 and bare like a Greek temple, perched on a 
 rock ; but it appeals to the imagination, veil- 
 ing itself with walls, and screens, and towers ; 
 inducing fancy to supply the deficiencies of the 
 material scene ; it delights in bold, striking, 
 and picturesque irregularities, and always appears 
 larger than its actual dimensions : the mould- 
 ings, the pillars, the arches, always create re- 
 ceding shadows, and to the eye, the idea of 
 space arises from the succession of ideas.”* 
 
 * Bard well’s “ Temples,” p. 3. 
 
 s. Margaret’s chapel, herts. 
 
233 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF THE PARTS OF CHURCHES. 
 
 We may divide the parts of churches into 
 three principal heads : Ground Plan, Elevations, 
 and Arrangements. 
 
 The first of these should occupy our earliest 
 attention in the examination of ancient buildings. 
 The simplest plan of a complete church consists 
 of three parts, usually placed longitudinally from 
 east to west ; chancel, nave, and tower. 
 
 But there are also lateral extensions, consisting 
 of transepts, aisles, porches, and chapels, which 
 are attached towards the north and south, and 
 often give considerable complexity to these pri- 
 mary and essential parts. 
 
 The Cross form is the most common in early 
 churches, in which case the tower usually stands 
 upon four arches at the intersection. Double 
 transepts are peculiar to very large churches, 
 as at York and Lincoln. Eastern transepts occur 
 at Durham, and Fountains Abbey : western at Ely. 
 
 The tower stands, in England, in any position, 
 either attached or isolated, except the east end ; 
 and of this examples occur on the Continent. 
 
234 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 The elevations comprise the walls as seen at 
 one view from any given point. Thus, the south 
 elevation would exhibit chancel, nave, aisle, clere- 
 story, porch, and tower, with their respective 
 roofs, viewed without regard to perspective, that 
 is, in an impossible or conventional aspect. 
 
 The internal elevations are more commonly 
 termed Sections, because they show the arches 
 and other constructive features of the inside, by 
 an imaginary removal of the entire half of the 
 building nearest to the spectator. 
 
 Arrangements comprise all the fixtures, which 
 are added as fittings to the fabric ; such as seats, 
 screens, altars, font, &c.; and these might be sub- 
 divided into decorations, as glass, pictures, brasses ; 
 and furnitures, as pulpit, font, lettern, &c. 
 
 Let us now place ourselves in the light of 
 visitors about to inspect an ancient church. 
 
 First, we draw, or take notes, of the ground 
 plan. Here my companion has already found 
 something to interest him, and calls my attention 
 to a mutilated capital in the north transept 
 arch. 
 
 a. Why have the Puritans been thus wantonly 
 chopping away these exquisite Decorated Mould- 
 ings ? There was nothing Popish in them, surely. 
 
 b. Be not in haste to accuse the Puritans. 
 That was done long before them or their re- 
 forming predecessors. Transepts were only mor- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 235 
 
 tuary chapels, and never used, as with us, for 
 congregational purposes. They were screened off 
 with carved wooden parcloses, and are hence 
 called Trans-septa , or cross enclosures, exactly as 
 chancels were called from their cancelli, or screens. 
 The capital was injured by the insertion of the 
 screen. Observe the piscina in the corner near 
 the eastern pillar — respond we should call it — 
 and see the square hole in the northern wall, the 
 aumbrye, or locker, for the chalice, and the other 
 vessels used at private Mass. See also the evi- 
 dent marks of a stone altar having stood under 
 the window in the eastern wall. Look carefully 
 on the pavement, and you may very possibly 
 find the altar-stone, which you will readily 
 recognise by its five little crosses, though some 
 of them will perhaps be obliterated. 
 
 a. Here it is. But how is this % it seems to 
 have had an inscription round the edge in Lom- 
 bardic characters. 
 
 b. A singular and interesting example of a 
 usage I have now and then seen, of marking a 
 monumental stone with the same sacred emblems 
 as the altar. But do not imagine this has ever 
 been the consecrated altar-stone. At S. John’s, 
 Stamford, there is a grave-stone thus marked ; 
 and in one of the parish churches at York, (I 
 cannot recollect which) is a slab marked with 
 four cross crosslets, with this inscription, 
 
236 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 4* WILLIAM FOX GIST ICY DEUN 
 E S A ALME EYT MERCY, AMEN. 
 
 The clerk tells you it is a Roman altar. But 
 here is the stone altar, too, or rather a fragment 
 of it, of which one of the corner crosses yet 
 remains 
 
 a. Are these commonly found ? I have been 
 used to regard the discovery as one of great 
 interest. 
 
 b. They are very common. I think I have my- 
 self seen nearly a hundred, and I could give you 
 a long list of churches in which they may be 
 found, were it of sufficient interest. 
 
 a . But no instances of stone altars yet standing 
 are known to ecclesiologists ? 
 
 b. Nearly thirty; and this is probably about 
 the extent of the number still remaining. By 
 far the greater part of these are chantry altars. 
 
 a. They are all of late date I suppose ; what 
 
 our friend the rector of would call “ popish 
 
 innovations.” 
 
 b. It is sufficient to answer, that an altar- 
 stone was lately discovered not far from Lynn, 
 which had Norman ornaments upon it. It argues 
 very great ignorance and presumption to talk so 
 rashly about “ innovations.” There is scarcely 
 a usage or ceremony of the medieval church 
 which cannot be traced to a very remote anti- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 237 
 
 quity. For instance, those splendid vestments 
 of the Roman Catholic Bishop which so scanda- 
 lized your friend Miss Simple, are to he seen in 
 sculptures of a thousand years old ; nay, in the 
 mosaics of the most ancient Basilicas at Rome ! 
 
 a. What is this little square stone with a hol- 
 low in the centre, lying in the corner here ? 
 
 b. A very interesting as well as rare object. 
 It is a reliquary, and no doubt once contained 
 some bone, or heart of a departed saint. There 
 are very few of these now to be found. I re- 
 member one at Brixworth, near Northampton, 
 and I suspect another would be found under the 
 east window of Tinwell Church, Rutland. Here 
 
 RELIQUARY", YAXI,EY W 
 
 is a sketch I took of one lately found in the 
 wall of the north transept at Yaxley, near Peter- 
 burgh. The wooden box was placed in a 
 
238 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 hollow in the stone, and contained some dust, 
 doubtless of the heart you see held up on the 
 outside. What is very singular, a painting on 
 the interior of the wall exactly represented the 
 reliquary afterwards discovered immediately be- 
 hind it. Hearts were often thus preserved. In 
 the crypt at Wells Cathedral you are shown a 
 stone coffin, in the side of which is a hollow, and 
 in it was found a copper vessel, containing a heart 
 in clear liquor. Both the vessel and the liquor 
 are still preserved and exhibited. 
 
 a. You say transepts are only mortuary chapels; 
 do you mean that this was the case in Norman 
 churches, which are more commonly cruciform 
 than any other ? 
 
 b. We have no direct evidence of their use ; 
 but chapels began to be added to churches as 
 early as the ninth century, according to the 
 statement of Mr. Gaily Knight,* when they were 
 usually of apsidal form. Perhaps in Norman 
 times the transepts were rather for symbolism 
 than for use. In very large churches the tran- 
 septs had aisles on one or both sides, but gene- 
 rally towards the east, which formed a series of 
 small private chapels, as at Peterburgh. But 
 a few examples occur, as at Oakham, Rutland, 
 where the transept is bisected by a row of arches 
 in the centre. At Kegworth, Derbyshire, there 
 
 * Architecture of Italy, on Plate I. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 239 
 
 is a transept projecting laterally, like a second 
 aisle ; and something like this occurs at Trum- 
 pington, near Cambridge, where there are chapels 
 forming quasi-transepts projecting from the aisles. 
 
 a. Then most of our parochial churches had 
 several altars ? 
 
 b. Almost all : some of them had four or five, 
 some more. But where there are transepts, aisle 
 chapels, otherwise the commonest, are rare. By 
 aisle chapels I mean a portion screened off from 
 the east end of one or both aisles, which often 
 slightly projects to the north and south, as at 
 Harston and Quy churches, near Cambridge. 
 There is almost invariably a piscina in this part, 
 though it is frequently blocked up. 
 
 a. Then a Chantry Priest was attached to the 
 church for the express purpose of saying private 
 Masses, I presume. 
 
 b. Yes ; a capellanus, who enjoyed a separate 
 endowment for this purpose. The Parvise, or 
 room over the porch, served for his private 
 oratory, or study, as we should call it. A piscina 
 is sometimes found even here. 
 
 a. Is the use of this slanting hole from the 
 transept into the chancel known ? 
 
 b. Yes : of its use there can be no doubt ; 
 and its existence is a decisive proof that this was 
 a Chantry chapel. It was meant to afford a view of 
 the elevation of the Host at the High Altar. I 
 
240 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 think my note-book contains an extract which 
 throws some light upon it. Here it is, from Gun- 
 ton’s History of Peterburgh Cathedral, page 99. 
 
 “ Overhead,” (of the now demolished lateral 
 Lady-chapel,) “were two chambers, which com- 
 mon tradition hath told to have been the habi- 
 tation of a devout lady, called Agnes, or Dame 
 Agnes, out of whose lodging-chamber there was 
 a hole made askew in the window, walled up, 
 having its prospect just upon the Altar in the 
 Ladies Chappel and no more.” At Wingfield 
 Church, Suffolk, precisely such a chamber as that 
 here described, still exists, and it likewise has one 
 of these apertures, which have been called 
 hagioscopes .* 
 
 a. Lychnoscopes I think you call the low 
 western chancel-windows, of which yonder is a 
 fair specimen. I have read somewhere that 
 nothing is known about them. 
 
 b. Some very improbable theories on the sub- 
 ject have been put forth, and among them I fear 
 we must reckon that which suggested the name 
 you have mentioned. A still more fanciful inter- 
 pretation has lately been given, that they are 
 symbolical of the Wound in our Lord’s side, 
 and it has been proposed to call them, on that 
 
 * In this chamber the remains of a “ pair of organs,” such 
 as was used in churches till the middle of the sixteenth century, 
 are preserved. The largest pipe is about five feet long, of wood. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 241 
 
 account, vulne-windows ; but I confess I think the 
 idea* however ingenious, utterly untenable. I 
 would call them Offertory windows, since that was 
 probably their real use. It appears that they 
 originated from an order of Recluses, or solitarii, 
 who had their oratories contiguous to, or adjoin- 
 ing churches, and who, not being allowed to 
 communicate with any assembly of men, had 
 these little windows constructed ut per fenestram 
 possent ad missas per manus sacerdotum oblationes 
 
 * See Martene de Antiquis Ecclesise Ritibus, Lib. i. cap. 
 iii. art. IX. § 7, on the offertory, or oblations of the Faithful. 
 
 t Mention is made of these Recluses in the History of 
 King Artlnir. See “ The Church Restorers,” a tale, p. 140. 
 
 But the practice was 
 doubtless extended from 
 them to the general use 
 of the laity, as very scan- 
 ty notice can be found 
 of such recluses, and a 
 great number of anci- 
 ent churches, from the 
 twelfth to the fifteenth 
 century, have such Of- 
 fertory-windows, f It will 
 be found, however, that 
 windows of the thir- 
 teenth century have more 
 
 OMBTOBY-W1HBOW, OAKINaTOH. 
 
242 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 frequently been altered and enlarged for the ad- 
 mission of such apertures, than they have had 
 them constructed from the first. Thus, at Oak- 
 ington, Cambridgeshire, a small low double win- 
 dow has been inserted just below the original 
 south-western lancet light in the Chancel. 
 
 These windows are usually either barred, or 
 closed with a wooden shutter, though the latter 
 
 TJFFINGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 very seldom remains. Some two-light windows 
 have their western light alone transomed, as at 
 Comberton, Cambridgeshire. In some instances, 
 as Essendine, Rutland, there is a pierced foliated 
 circle. At Carlton Rode, Norfolk, is a most singu- 
 lar example, a portion of the internal cill of the 
 south-western chancel-window having been cut 
 downwards, and splayed away, for the Offertory 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 243 
 
 window immediately beneath it. At Crownthorpe, 
 Norfolk, there is a lancet thus enlarged under- 
 neath, in the unusual position of the south-east 
 end of the nave. At Uffington, near Stamford, 
 there is a late hut very good specimen of this sin- 
 gular feature, apparently circa 1370, and very 
 perfect with the exception of its being blocked 
 and mutilated on the lower part \ a fate which but 
 few examples have escaped. 
 
 At Little Welnetham, 
 
 Suffolk, the iron bars re- 
 main perfect. Frequently 
 vestiges of internal hinges 
 may be seen ; and at Hart- 
 ley, Kent, the wooden shut- 
 ter itself still remains. 
 
 They are sometimes found 
 on the north, and not un- 
 frequently on both sides 
 of the chancel, as at Ufford, 
 
 Northamptonshire ; * West 
 Deeping, Lincolnshire. 
 
 a. Your note-book supplies not a little fund 
 both of illustration and scraps of Ecclesiology. 
 I wish I had some system like that you seem 
 to have adopted, for registering the examples I 
 meet with. 
 
 * A great number of examples has been collected and 
 described by the translators of Durandus, in their Introduction. 
 
 HARTLEY CHURCH, KENT. 
 
244 A MANUAL OF 
 
 • 
 
 b. I never visit churches, or read works con- 
 nected with the subject, without sketching in my 
 note-book any remarkable details, and writing 
 down memoranda of useful or interesting facts. 
 Every church you visit should supply something 
 for your pencil. It is impossible to understand 
 architecture without learning to draw its details. 
 
 a. What are the principal objects of your ob- 
 servation in systematically examining an ancient 
 church ? 
 
 b. The following may always he looked for ; 
 and unless you have your attention directed to 
 them, you will generally overlook them. 
 
 1. Whether there are any 
 stone altars, or altar slabs on 
 the pavement. 
 
 2. The Piscina ; whether 
 double, as it generally was 
 in the thirteenth, and not 
 unfrequently in the four- 
 teenth century, or single ; 
 its position, — in the east 
 wall, which is rare ; on the 
 
 ground, which is still more so ; in an angle, * or 
 window sill ; with or without canopy, &c. 
 
 * Piscinae occur both in exterior and interior angles. At 
 Southburgh, Norfolk, there is a double piscina, composed of a 
 single one, set in the southern, and another close to it in the 
 eastern wall. Norman piscinae are very rare, but a few un- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 245 
 
 3. Ambry, or locker ; a square bole, generally 
 in the north wall of the Chancel, hut common in 
 every position, anciently used 
 for keeping the sacred ves- 
 sels, cruets, tapers, and other 
 articles of that description. 
 
 Those which retain their 
 original doors, shelves, and 
 other internal fittings, are 
 noticeable. There is a good 
 specimen at Barrington, 
 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 4. Sedilia ; the recessed 
 seats, generally triple, often graduated, in the 
 south wall. These were for the priest and dea- 
 cons, and they are often very richly ornamented, 
 with lofty foliated canopies, as at Hawton and 
 Heckington churches. 
 
 5. Bood-screens and Rood-lofts ; what remains 
 there are of the latter, which sometimes, as at 
 Upper Sheringhauou Norfolk, may be found quite 
 perfect ; paintings of Saints upon the lower panels, 
 such as the gorgeous examples at Eye, and Yaxley, 
 
 AMBRY, LWERBY, 
 LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 doubted examples are known. A “ curious and beautiful 
 Norman piscina ” was lately found at Pytchley Cburch, 
 Northamptonshire. (Archasological Journal, No. X. p. 109.) 
 The reader need not now be informed that its use was for 
 pouring off the water after rinsing the chalice. The purpose 
 of the wooden or stone shelf across the interior is uncertain. 
 
246 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Suffolk ; Beeston Regis,* Trimmingham, and Carl- 
 ton Rode, Norfolk ; remains of tracery, which 
 will often he found lying useless, or applied to 
 some other purpose for which its exquisite deli- 
 cacy is but little adapted ; rood doors and stair- 
 cases \ whether of stone or wood. 
 
 PAN Eli, EYE CHURCH, SUFFOLK. 
 
 6. Parcloses or chapel-screens, which some- 
 times, but rarely, had lofts or galleries as well as 
 rood-screens. At Sawston, near Cambridge, a 
 part of a parclose-loft remains, and at Denning- 
 ton, Suffolk, they are all quite perfect.t 
 
 7. Church chest, which is often extremely 
 curious either for its antiquity or its elaborate 
 workmanship. These are often of cedar wood, 
 and sometimes contain very interesting carvings, 
 or paintings and stencilled diapers both within 
 
 * In this church a fine specimen of an ancient silver paten 
 still belongs to the communion plate. 
 
 4 f It is very rare to find the Host-bell , or Sancte-bell , still 
 attached to the rood-screen. This was commonly placed in 
 a small turret on the east gable of the nave, where it still 
 remains in a few instances, as at Tallington, near Stamford. 
 
 V :• y 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 247 
 
 and without. At Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridge- 
 shire ; Fersfield, Suffolk ; Empingham, Rutland ; 
 Burgate, Suffolk ; there are such cedar chests 
 with paintings on them. Some are enormously 
 massive, even eight or ten feet in length, and 
 clamped impenetrably with iron.* Others are 
 elaborately enriched with panels and tracery, 
 and a good many exist of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 8. Fonts ; f the variety and devices of which 
 are almost infinite. Those of Norman date are 
 square, circular, or (more rarely) octagonal, and 
 sometimes have a central stem with surrounding 
 shafts. The next style will generally be known 
 by the mouldings of the detached supporting 
 shafts, which are seldom wanting ; the next by 
 engaged shafts and flowing tracery panels ; the 
 latest by the invariably octagonal form, panelled 
 stems, and foliated circles, inclosing shields or 
 roses, on the bason. Rich specimens of the 
 
 * The church chest should be opened where it is permitted, 
 for it sometimes contains loose brasses, old books, antique plate, 
 vestments, or curious paintings. But the uses to which they 
 are too often put are extremely discreditable. 
 
 F Several examples remain of early leaden fonts : perhaps 
 the finest is one of Norman date, in the romantic chapel of 
 Llancat, or Lancourt, on the banks of the Wye, in Gloucester- 
 shire. The details are of the most exquisite delicacy, and 
 this specimen appears to be little known to ecclesiologists, 
 though given in vol. xxix. p. 19, of the Archseologia. 
 
248 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are rather 
 rare, and always interesting. Painting and gild- 
 ing may sometimes be traced upon them. At 
 Gresham, Norfolk, and Gorleston, Suffolk, the 
 seven sacraments are sculptured, and adorned 
 with colours which yet remain almost perfect. 
 
 Fresco-paintings, ornamental metal-work, en- 
 caustic tiles, stained glass, sepulchral crosses, 
 effigies,* and arched recesses, should he noticed ; 
 and the arms and heraldic bearings on them 
 compared with sculptured stone shields on the 
 exterior, by which the date of the fabric may 
 often be ascertained, as for instance at Felbrigg, 
 Norfolk. 
 
 9. Monuments of all kinds, but especially 
 those exquisite canopied niches which enshrine 
 recumbent effigies or floriated crosses, deserve 
 our best attention. A great number of the most 
 beautiful designs still lurk unheeded, often plais- 
 tered or boarded up, or nearly hacked to pieces, 
 in even humble village churches. Pathetic re- 
 cords they are, amidst all the present wretched- 
 ness and desolation of our old churches, of times, 
 
 0 how much more reverential than our own ! 
 
 1 remember finding one of the most gorgeous 
 and elaborate designs I ever saw at Irnham, 
 Lincolnshire. When you meet with these, pass 
 them not by with merely a hasty glance. Their 
 
 * These are sometimes of carved oak. 
 
 1 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 249 
 
 sculpture is always of tlie best description. The 
 canopies, with their delicate crockets and clus- 
 tering finials, are ever varied, and generally ex- 
 quisitely chaste. I will shew you a specimen 
 of a crocket of the most common occurrence in 
 the fifteenth century, as regards shape and cha- 
 racter, though you will never find two exactly 
 alike. 
 
 10. Masonry ; with a 
 view especially to Long- 
 and-Short work, the 
 great criterion of Saxon 
 structures. This should 
 be looked for with es- 
 care, because it 
 is highly probable that 
 a great many portions 
 of Saxon churches still 
 remain, though the great- 
 er part of a fabric may 
 have been rebuilt in 
 later times. At Hem- 
 ington, Debenham, Gos- 
 beck, and Layston, all in 
 Suffolk, I am told that traces of this peculiar 
 masonry may be observed, but I have not visited 
 them myself. 
 
 Churchyard Crosses ; of which several very 
 beautiful examples still remain uninjured, and 
 
 WEST DOORWAY, BRIDLINGTON, 
 CIRCA 1470, 
 
a fine and perfect one at Higham Ferrers, and 
 a First Pointed one at Great Grimsby. 
 
 Yew-trees. A few of these venerable appurte- 
 nances to Church-yards may be found of very 
 great antiquity, as at Tinterne, where they are 
 probably as old as the neighbouring Abbey. 
 
 250 A MANUAL OF 
 
 a very great many have the steps, the base, or 
 part of the stem, yet in existence. There is 
 
 OHURCH-YARD CROSS, JEFFRESTON, PEMBROKESHIRE. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 251 
 
 They seem to have been planted to supply the 
 “ palms” used according to the Catholic ritual 
 for Palm Sunday, as they are still put to this 
 use in some parts of Ireland. The church-yards 
 of Totteridge and Enfield, Middlesex, and Win- 
 wick, Lancashire, have fine yew-trees. 
 
 a. The interest of Ecclesiology seems to con- 
 sist in this, that by it you can classify and dis- 
 tinguish parts, as well as interpret their uses and 
 assign their dates. Place an ordinary spectator 
 before the finest old church in Christendom, and 
 he would only tell you in general terms, that 
 it looked very handsome, or very old, or very 
 ornamental. 
 
 b. Just so ; and the consequence would be, 
 that however correct his taste, or keen his per- 
 ception of real beauty, he could not enter into 
 the details, or understand why this was curious 
 and that peculiarly instructive as a specimen of 
 its kind. All would be a blank, from inability 
 to divide and particularize. He would regard it 
 only as a whole. 
 
 a. This is what I have heard frequently ex- 
 pressed, and indeed what I felt myself, till you 
 directed my attention to such minutiae as the 
 mouldings of arches and columns, the construc- 
 tion of roofs, the development of window-tracery, 
 and similar things. And I now see why any 
 
 column or window is of interest to one who 
 
252 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 knows exactly tlie place it holds in the process 
 of formation, that is, from what it arose, and into 
 what it afterwards passed. 
 
 b. It is, I think, certain, that if the clergy 
 and the public generally knew something more 
 about their churches, we should have less of 
 apathetic acquiescence in their desecrated con- 
 dition, and of misuse in their application, than 
 we now have to deplore. Much indeed has been 
 done since the late movement in favour of archi- 
 tectural restorations commenced, simultaneously, 
 it may be said, in the Roman Catholic and the 
 Anglican Church, and doubtless through the 
 influence of the same Catholic feeling in both. 
 But I think the members of the latter com- 
 munion have begun to suspect, that the adop- 
 tion of the architecture and arrangements of 
 the former, without their uses, is but a pitiable 
 inconsistency. Much as I honour their zeal 
 and piety, I greatly question the permanent 
 result of their good intentions. — Do you observe 
 yonder stone parclose, or chapel screen, with 
 beautiful diaper upon it ? This, I suppose, we 
 must attribute to the date of Edward II., for 
 the four-leaved diaper is generally confined to 
 that period, or at least to an age hut little 
 removed from it either way. It is rather rare. 
 Let us make a sketch of it, and we will see which 
 of us succeeds the best. Here is mine in a very 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 2o3 
 
 few minutes. Why you have only done a sin- 
 gle leaf. I should recommend you to draw it 
 
 SQUARE- LEAVED DIAPER, CIRCA 1320. 
 
 of a larger size. Precisely the same pattern 
 occurs on the tomb of Aylmer de Valence, 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 I will now shew you how to draw capitals and 
 bases in the most practical way ; and I think 
 this church will supply good examples of all 
 the styles, which we will place thus close 
 together in order to compare their respective 
 peculiarities. Observe especially the upper mem- 
 ber, or abacus, of each. It will generally be 
 found the most characteristic mark. 
 
 a. How do you account for the poor and late 
 style of the clerestory windows in so elaborate 
 a church as this 1 
 
254 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 b. Clerestories are decidedly rare before tbe 
 fifteenth century ; most churches previous ,to that 
 time having had high-pitched roofs rising im- 
 mediately above the nave arches, vestiges of 
 which will generally be observed on the eastern 
 
 FIRST POINTED. 
 
 MIDDLE POINTED. 
 
 wall of the tower. Norman clerestories (in pa- 
 rochial churches) are extremely rare. In the 
 thirteenth century they were very low, and lighted 
 with lancets or with foliated circles ; of the 
 first of which Darlington church, Durham, of 
 the latter, Etton, Northamptonshire, are exam- 
 ples. In the fourteenth, the same form prevailed, 
 as at Trumpington and Elsworth, Cambridgeshire. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 255 
 
 At Upper Sheringham, Norfolk, there are foliated 
 circles alternately with plain two-light windows 
 — an interesting and perfect example. At Rough- 
 ton, in the same neighbourhood, there are large 
 Decorated windows, with internal jamb-shafts 
 
 supported on projecting 
 heads. And at Cley there 
 are doubly feathered qua- 
 trefoils alternating with 
 trefoiled lancets. The 
 windows are generally 
 placed above the crowns 
 of the pier-arches, and 
 not above the columns. 
 
 a. Church towers ap- 
 pear to me the most dif- 
 ficult to reduce to any- 
 thing like a systematic 
 classification. Yet they 
 are among the most 
 interesting parts of a 
 church, and generally the oldest. 
 
 b. Their antiquity is very great. The extant 
 continental Romanesque campaniles are still nu- 
 merous, and many of them of great height and 
 size. There can be little doubt that they were 
 designed for the reception of bells. 
 
 A perfect Gothic tower generally stands at the 
 west end. It is divided into stages ; and angular 
 
 THIRD POINTE D . 
 
256 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 buttresses, gradually tapering off towards the 
 upper extremity, combine with the surmounting 
 spire to give a slightly pyramidal outline to the 
 whole structure, which is not observable in the 
 Romanesque examples. 
 
 An elaborate doorway, and a spacious window 
 above it, occupy the first and second stages on 
 the western side. The others are generally left 
 blank, or are pierced with a small single lanci- 
 form light. 
 
 The middle stage often contains a beautiful 
 little window of square or circular form, foliated 
 or filled with tracery. One of the most elaborate 
 tracery occurs at Cromer. There is a singular 
 cruciform design at Han worth, Norfolk. 
 
 The upper stage has large belfry- windows, in 
 the earlier instances divided by a shaft, and 
 filled with louvre boards or slates instead of glass, 
 to emit freely the sound of the bells. These 
 windows extend to all the four faces, though 
 that on the eastern side is often interfered with 
 by the ridge of the roof, or is of smaller and 
 plainer design. Later towers have two such win- 
 dows on each side, with one or two transoms. The 
 tower is finished above in various ways, either 
 by a pyramidal overlapping cap, which is the 
 earliest, as in the Saxon tower at Sompting, or 
 a flat parapet, embattled, or otherwise enriched, 
 or by a lofty spire of wood or stone. The corner 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 257 
 
 buttresses, when carried to the top, are often 
 surmounted by rich pinnacles, square, octa- 
 gonal, or even pentagonal, as at Morton and 
 Heckington, Lincolnshire. 
 
 The earliest spires are of wood, covered with 
 lead disposed in scales or spirally attached. 
 At Bourn, Ickleton, Triplow, near Cambridge, 
 Walsingham, Norfolk, Wickham Market, Suffolk, 
 Sutton, in Holland, Lincolnshire, and Chester- 
 field, are good specimens still remaining. Lincoln, 
 Ely, Peterburgh, and Old St. Paul’s Cathedrals, 
 as well as Tewkesbury and Malmsbury Abbey 
 churches, had similar spires, as we know either 
 from documents or existing engravings. Early 
 spires form cappings* to the substructure, which 
 changes from the square to the octagonal by 
 broaches , or semi-pyramidal abutments at the base, 
 
 * At Stanion, Northamptonshire, is a Third Pointed 
 tower with a broach-spire ; almost a unique example, unless 
 that of S. Alkmund, Shrewsbury, can be quoted. Properly 
 speaking, spires are only acute roofs or weatherings to towers, 
 originating early in the Romanesque period, but so changed 
 in principle by subsequent developments, that their true 
 character was entirely lost. As soon as the broach or capping 
 spire gave place to that rising out of the middle of the tower, 
 the primary notion was effectually dropped. The earliest 
 example of the latter kind with which the author is ac- 
 quainted, is at Langtoft, near Market Deeping, which is about 
 the date of Edward II. There is a plain corbelled parapet, 
 and no angular pinnacles. The spires on the west front of 
 Peterburgh Cathedral are of similar kind, and little later. 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 while later spires rise from behind the parapet, as 
 it were out of the middle of the tower, especially 
 in work of the fifteenth century, with small flying 
 buttresses from the four pinnacles extended to the 
 corresponding faces. Crockets often decorate the 
 spire, by being disposed along the angular ribs 
 from the base to the capping-stone, which is 
 generally worked into a bold crope, or finial. 
 
 Spire-lights are disposed in tiers, on alternate 
 faces. They have acutely-pointed crocketed heads 
 with crosses. The larger, or lower tier, is set 
 in the cardinal faces. Some spires have three 
 tiers. At Grantham there is a circlet of eight 
 spire-lights, forming a mid-way crest of great 
 beauty. A similar effect is gained, as at Salis- 
 bury, by a band of ornamental work, or by pan- 
 nelling, as at St. Michael’s, Coventry. Some 
 spires are perfectly plain, without any windows, 
 as at All Saints, Pavement, and S. Mary Castle- 
 gate, York.* Many are ribbed at the angles, but 
 without crockets. Some spring from lanterns, of 
 octagonal form, of which there is a First Pointed 
 example at Barneck. That at Exton, Rutland, 
 (now unfortunately taken down,) was one of the 
 
 * As spires advanced in style, the spire-lights became 
 uniformly less in size and projection, so as ultimately not to 
 interfere with the pyramidal outline of the spire. In early 
 examples the lower tier is often very large, and the head very 
 acutely pointed, without crockets. The lower tier is of two 
 lights, the others usually of one. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 259 
 
 finest,* late in the Middle Pointed period. That 
 at S. Michael’s, Coventry, is of remarkably slender 
 and airy proportions. 
 
 Some towers have light open lanterns without 
 spires, of which there are most elegant specimens 
 at York. At Howick, Northamptonshire, and 
 Boston, Lincolnshire, are fine examples. 
 
 The construction of our best spires is extreme- 
 ly fine and ingenious.-j' The masonry averages 
 from six to nine inches in thickness, and in some 
 cases it is not more than five, as at Moulton, near 
 Spalding. In fact, spires are thin and light 
 shells of cut stone, protected from the effects of 
 the wind by the spire-lights, which for this 
 reason are disposed at all the points of the com- 
 pass, and are left open (as is generally thought) 
 to present the less obstacle to the violent currents 
 of air. With all this, their durability seems some- 
 thing wonderful, and it is really astonishing that 
 their destruction by lightning is so rare. The 
 capping-stone, which is generally very large and 
 heavy, and necessarily so, having to sustain the 
 
 * At Wilby, Northamptonshire, is a singular example of a 
 quasi-lantern and spire, of Third Pointed date. 
 
 t A slight entasis, or swell, will be found in most, but by 
 no means in all spires. The reason of this is, that a really 
 straight line looks concave to the eye from a distance ; which 
 accounts for the same fact in classical columns. At Glinton, 
 Northamptonshire, this bulge is very remarkable, as are the 
 proportions of the spire, nearly twice the height of the tower. 
 
260 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 iron rod and weathercock, is sometimes kept in 
 its place by a rod running some way down the 
 interior of the spire, with a balance-stone or 
 weight at the lower end, as at S. Mary’s, Shrews- 
 bury, or inserted into a cross beam, which is the 
 modern practice. 
 
 Many spires are after- works of a much later 
 period, as at S. Mary’s, Stamford. And many 
 towers will be found to have squinches, or corner 
 arches for the reception of stone spires which were 
 never erected, though contemplated, or at least 
 provided for, as at S. Martin’s and S. John’s, 
 Stamford. 
 
 Towers are ascended by ladders or staircases, 
 the latter enclosed in a turret of internal or ex- 
 ternal projection. More rarely they are of wood, 
 as at Wenden, Essex, Horningsea and Histon, 
 Cambridgeshire, or even, in late towers, of wat- 
 tled boughs, or laths covered with plaster. When 
 the turret projects externally, of square or poly- 
 gonal plan, it gives a very satisfactory variety 
 to the structure, and is generally managed with 
 great gracefulness and ingenuity. At Paston, 
 near Peterburgh, it terminates in a capping which 
 merges into the broach of the spire. Sometimes 
 it rises above the parapet, and carries the vane, as 
 at Cavendish, Suffolk, hut generally is weathered 
 off below it. One of the belfry windows is fre- 
 quently thrust out of the centre by the position 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 261 
 
 of the belfry-turret, as at Oakham and Grantham, 
 Rutland. 
 
 Some western towers stand upon three arches, 
 which is the case when the aisles extend flush with 
 the western face. Examples are very numerous ; 
 Trinity church, Cambridge ; Great Casterton and 
 Clipsham, Rutland ; Coton, Fen Ditton, Girton, 
 Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire ; Swans wick, 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 Some towers stand externally on arches to admit 
 roadways through them, as at All Saints Cam- 
 bridge, Metton and Diss, Norfolk. At Cranbrook, 
 Kent, there is an entrance on one side into the 
 tower, instead of at the western end ; and this is 
 not very uncommon in early examples.* Isolated 
 or detached towers are not very uncommon, as at 
 East Dereham and West Walton, Norfolk. 
 
 The plan of towers is generally a square ; 
 sometimes an octagon, or a square changing to 
 an octagon, of which there is a fine Middle Pointed 
 specimen at Helpstone, Northamptonshire. At 
 SwafFham, near Cambridge, an octagon changes 
 
 * The extraordinary beauty of Third Pointed towers, es- 
 pecially those of Somersetshire, must not be passed over with- 
 out notice, as many of these are among the purest and best 
 specimens of Gothic architecture of any age. Taunton, Huisch- 
 Episcopi, Langton, Shepton Mallet, Glastonbury, S. Cuth- 
 bert’s, all in Somersetshire; S. Neot’s, Huntingdon, Great 
 Ponton, near Grantham, are all superb edifices of the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries. 
 
262 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 into a polygon upwards. Oblong towers are very 
 rare, as S. George’s, Stamford. Some have gabled 
 roofs, as Tinwell, Rutland, or each face gabled? 
 as at Deopham, Norfolk, which, however, is rare. 
 
 Some towers are vaulted in stone in the lower 
 stage, as at Uffington, Lincolnshire, a circular 
 aperture being left in the crown for the ascent 
 and descent of the bells. The Saxon tower at 
 Barneck has a First Pointed vault thrown across 
 its lower part by plain cross-springers. But this 
 is most commonly the case when the tower stands 
 in the centre of a cross church. There is a rich 
 lantern vault at Morton, Lincolnshire, of early 
 Third Pointed date. Many Norman examples 
 exist. 
 
 A picturesque and rather singular substitute 
 for a tower is found in one or two villages in 
 Norfolk, of which Southburgh, near Hingham, is 
 one. Here there is a low thatched shed erected in 
 the church-yard, something after the fashion of a 
 lich-gate, for the reception of the bells, which are 
 suspended within a foot or two of the ground. 
 The effect is good ; at least there is something 
 interesting in the very peculiarity and ingenuity 
 of the contrivance. 
 
 a. I must thank you for your long lesson, 
 which is not beyond the memory of a novice 
 in Ecclesiology, such as I must profess myself 
 while in your company. But I intend to tax 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 263 
 
 you much further. See, we were unconscious of 
 this shower while examining the interior of the 
 Church. So let us take rest and shelter in this 
 fine Decorated porch, while you read me your 
 long-promised lecture on monumental brasses. 
 
 FONT, SWATON CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE, CIRCA, 1310. 
 
264 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MONUMENTAL BRASSES. 
 
 The application of engraved metal to monu- 
 mental purposes appears to have been introduced 
 at least as early as the commencement of the 
 thirteenth century, both in our own country, and 
 on the Continent. The art itself was by no 
 means a new one : the engraving of metals for 
 ornaments, plate, &c., had been practised with 
 success for many ages ; so that Brasses will be 
 found to shew no gradual development from 
 rude and coarse beginnings, but, on the contrary, 
 may be said to have been in perfection at their 
 first introduction, and to have slowly declined at 
 the close of the fifteenth century, till they became 
 utterly debased, both in design and execution, in 
 the seventeenth. The origin of this kind of 
 monument may probably be found in the effigies 
 in low relief, common in the previous century, 
 which may have been gradually relinquished for 
 flat metal plates from motives of convenience ; as 
 the latter, forming part of the pavement, would 
 be no encumbrance in a church, and be less liable 
 to be effaced by footsteps. By this supposition, 
 it is evident that the canopies so frequently found 
 in Brasses are the retention of the architectural 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 265 
 
 accessories to the figure in relief, and might 
 therefore, he expected from the very first. In 
 France, before the Revolution, there were nume- 
 rous specimens, both of the enamelled works, called 
 “ opus de Limogia,” from their being chiefly 
 manufactured at Limoges, (which were introduced 
 from the East in the twelfth century, and attained 
 to much celebrity), and also of flat and relieved 
 effigies, dating from the thirteenth century down- 
 wards ; but these were all, almost without excep- 
 tion, destroyed for the sake of their material ; 
 and England is now the only country in which 
 monuments of this kind are to be found to any 
 extent. The study has, therefore, an additional 
 claim on our interest, as being peculiarly a na- 
 tional one. But England has by no means es- 
 caped all plunder of this sort during the last 
 three centuries ; if it had, there would scarcely 
 be a church without its Brass, and the floors of 
 our Cathedrals would still shine with the glitter- 
 ingmetal. The pavement of York Minster alone 
 contained in the year 1612 one hundred and 
 twenty Brasses, of which one hundred and nineteen 
 have since disappeared ; and a glance at that of 
 Lincoln or Westminster will shew the effigies of 
 knights and bishops and the magnificent crosses 
 we have lost. However, we are fortunate in 
 having more than two thousand remaining, to 
 record the taste, skill, and piety of our ancestors. 
 
266 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 Considered as works of art, the earlier Brasses 
 especially partake of the beautiful simplicity and 
 religious feeling observable in the architecture 
 and general system of design at the time. In 
 some cases, the drawing is not anatomically cor- 
 rect ; but the drapery is usually deserving of high 
 praise, and where chain-mail or minute orna- 
 ments are employed, they are executed with such 
 care, that the labour and patience expended must 
 have been very great. 
 
 In speaking more particularly of Brasses them- 
 selves, it may be necessary, for the sake of those 
 who have not hitherto paid any attention to the 
 subject, to explain first what kind of monument 
 “Brasses” are. They may be defined to be en- 
 graved metal plates fixed into a cavity in a stone 
 slab, either forming part of the pavement of a 
 church, or placed upon an altar-tomb, and usually 
 representing by their shape and incised lines the 
 figure of the person deceased. The material of 
 which they are made is that anciently called 
 latten or laton, a hard mixed metal similar to 
 what is now technically called “ cock-brass,” and 
 used for the cocks of casks and cisterns. As 
 there was no manufacture of brass plate in Eng- 
 land till the year 1639, the “ Cullen plate,” made 
 at Cologne and in the Low Countries, was pro- 
 bably used ; but it does not therefore follow, as 
 some have supposed, that the Brasses we now 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 267 
 
 possess were incised by the Flemings, and im- 
 ported into England ; on the contrary, there is 
 every reason to believe that they are the w T ork of 
 English artists, inasmuch as there is a great and 
 characteristic difference between our own and 
 those still remaining in Belgium. In the latter 
 the whole design is contained in one large sheet 
 of metal, generally set off by diapered ground- 
 work, but unbroken by the stone in which it is 
 imbedded ; while ours are composed of detached 
 pieces placed in separate cavities, the slab form- 
 ing the back-ground. The much greater propor- 
 tion of Brasses to be found in the eastern counties 
 than in the west has been accounted for by the 
 same theory, that they were brought over from 
 Flanders, and chiefly used in the parts lying near- 
 est the Continent ; while others have imagined 
 it to be in consequence of the greater wealth of 
 these manufacturing districts ; but this is more 
 likely to have produced high-tombs with rich 
 canopies and sculptured figures, than simple 
 plates of brass. It seems reasonable to suppose 
 that the real cause was the great scarcity of stone 
 in this part of England, of which we see proofs in 
 the very extensive use of flint in building churches ; 
 in the rarity of spires ; in the frequent absence 
 of buttresses ; as well as in the form and construc- 
 tion of the round towers : this may have been 
 one cause why effigies of metal were more ge- 
 
268 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 nerally used than those of stone. The counties 
 in which the greatest number of Brasses remain 
 are Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent ; they are 
 also very numerous in Cambridgeshire, Northamp- 
 tonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hert- 
 fordshire, Middlesex, Surrey, and Sussex ; but in 
 the western counties they are comparatively rare. 
 There are very few in Gloucestershire, Worces- 
 tershire, and Shropshire ; and scarcely any in Staf- 
 fordshire : and in Wales we know of none worth 
 mentioning, except at Llanwryst, Swansea, and 
 Whitchurch. Glasgow Cathedral is said to pos- 
 sess the only example in Scotland, and in Ire- 
 land there are none but two of late date in Dub- 
 lin Cathedral. On the Continent there are some 
 very fine specimens at Bruges, similar to those of 
 Flemish work at Lynn, Newark, &c. ; a few at 
 Aix la Chapelle ; some in Meissen Cathedral, 
 and perhaps in other parts of Germany ; one at 
 Seville in Spain ; also a few in Funchal Cathedral, 
 Madeira, and an interesting one in Constance 
 Cathedral, of the year 1416, to Bishop Hallum, 
 which is said to have been brought from England, 
 and resembles our own in every respect ; a further 
 proof that a manufacture of them existed in this 
 country. These, with some which are believed to 
 remain in Denmark, of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, are all the foreign Brasses we can men- 
 tion. Italy is entirely without them. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 269 
 
 It appears from examination, that the incised 
 lines were filled with pitch or some resinous com- 
 position, either black or otherwise, by which the 
 design was rendered more apparent. Coats of 
 arms, the apparels of ecclesiastical vestments, and 
 official robes were very generally coloured ; and 
 accordingly, where the colour is gone, we find the 
 surface hatched in cross lines. The red pigment 
 was a substance very similar to sealing-wax, and 
 required coarse hatching for its reception ; it was 
 poured into the matrix when in a liquid state 
 and left to harden ; a cheaper process than 
 enamelling, but more perishable. Where the 
 heraldic argent was to be used, a mixed metal 
 resembling pewter was employed, for which the 
 matrix was scored away to a flattish surface, and 
 appears cut in perpendicular lines. The colour was 
 easily effaced by being constantly trodden upon, 
 and there are but few good specimens of coloured 
 Brasses remaining ; but many will be found to 
 possess traces of their ancient decoration. One 
 of the most perfect occurs at Little Easton, Essex, 
 engraved in Part XIV. of Messrs. Waller’s very 
 valuable series, (which may be recommended as by 
 far the most accurate and instructive work on the 
 subject that has yet appeared, and one that should 
 be in the possession of every archaeologist) ; others 
 exist at Broxbourne,* Herts; Standon,f Herts; 
 
 * Waller’s Brasses, Part V. f Ibid. Part IX. 
 
270 
 
 A MANUAL OP 
 
 Allhallows, Barking,* London ; Ketteringham, 
 Norfolk ; and the Quay Church, Ipswich. 
 
 Enamel was used but sparingly ; for brass is 
 not capable of sustaining the intense heat re- 
 quired ; and therefore, either a copper plate was 
 employed instead, or the enamel was first inserted 
 on a thin lamina of copper, and the whole laid on 
 the brass, as is the case in the shield of Sir John 
 D’Abernoun,t at Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey. The 
 surface of the metal was sometimes, though rarely, 
 burnished or gilded, as in the Beauchamp Brass 
 at Warwick,}: which is also remarkable for having 
 the heraldic charges on the figures pounced with a 
 beautiful diaper pattern ; probably an unique 
 example of such decoration. 
 
 It has been questioned whether these memorials 
 were intended for likenesses of the deceased. In 
 the earlier Brasses, the countenances bear so great 
 a similarity to one another, that they can scarcely 
 be believed to be portraits. There are, however, 
 examples which are undoubtedly so ; there is 
 often a marked resemblance between persons of 
 the same family, as may be observed in the Brass 
 of Alderman Feld and his son, at Standon, Herts ; 
 and where successive generations are represented, 
 the likenesses are generally perceptible, though 
 the artists must have been different ; but if a 
 
 * Waller’s Brasses, Part VI. 
 
 £ Ibid. Part VI. 
 
 t Ibid. Part III. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 271 
 
 stranger becomes connected with the family, his 
 features will be found entirely dissimilar : this 
 is illustrated by the Brasses in Hatley Cockayne 
 Church, Bedfordshire. We may add that in Aider- 
 man Walter’s tomb, in York S. Crux, the inscription 
 asserts that the figure is “ his true portraicture.” 
 
 The earliest Brass of which we have any record 
 was at S. Paul’s Bedford, to Simon de Beau- 
 champ, who died before 1208 ; there were others 
 at Wells, 1242; at Lincoln, 1253 (existing when 
 Leland wrote); Rochester, 1277 ; and at York, 
 1279 (described by Brake). In Salisbury Cathe- 
 dral may still be seen the indent of a cross with 
 a demi-figure, to Bishop Bingham, 1247. At pre- 
 sent, the earliest known Brass is that of Sir John 
 B’Abernoun, 1277, at Stoke B’Abernon, Surrey ; 
 and the two next are Sir Roger de Trumpington, 
 1289, Trumpington, Cambridgeshire; and Sir 
 Robert de Bures, 1302, Acton, Suffolk. Several of 
 this early date were apparently executed by the 
 same hand, as they shew great similarity in some 
 minute points. The artist’s mark is affixed to the 
 Brass of Sir John de Creke, 1324, at Westley 
 Waterless, Cambridgeshire, which is evidently by 
 the same hand as that of Sir John B’Abernon, 
 Junior, at Stoke B’Abernon, Surrey, as they are 
 nearly facsimiles of one another. 
 
 We will now proceed to describe the costume 
 which prevailed during the three centuries in 
 
272 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 which Brasses are chiefly to be found ; but in this 
 we must confine ourselves to such as is usually 
 seen in the monuments of the period : referring 
 those readers who may desire further acquaintance 
 with the fashions of our ancestors, to Planche’s 
 History of British Costume, and Hartshorne’s 
 Sepulchral Monuments of Northamptonshire.* 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. 
 
 The vestments in which the clergy are com- 
 monly represented may be divided into two kinds ; 
 the Eucharistic, consisting of the amice, albe, 
 stole, maniple, and chasuble, used at the celebra- 
 tion of Mass ; and the Processional, consisting of 
 the cassock, surplice, almuce, and cope, used in 
 processions, and at Vespers, and the ordinary ser- 
 vices. Besides these, there are the tunic for the 
 subdeacon, and the dalmatic for the deacon ; which 
 are also worn, together with the mitre, gloves, 
 sandals, pastoral staff, and ring, by Bishops ; and 
 with the crozier and pall by Archbishops. 
 
 The amice (amictus), the first of the Eucha- 
 ristic vestments put on, was a square white linen 
 
 * Since the above was written, a valuable work on costume 
 has appeared by F. W. Fairholt, Esq. F.S.A. It is, unfor- 
 tunately, somewhat incorrect with respect to the ecclesiastical 
 vestments ; for instance, the chasuble is confounded with the 
 cope, and the amice considered as the collar of the former. 
 The coped priest at S. Cross, Winchester, is described as wear- 
 ing the alb and stole , both which are Eucharistic vestments. 
 
 
 I 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 237 
 
 cloth, placed round the neck in such a manner 
 that the apparells sewed on to one of the sides met 
 in front, while the rest might he made to cover 
 the head as a veil. It is generally taken to 
 represent the “helmet of salvation;” but many 
 different meanings have been assigned to it, ac- 
 cording to its application to the head, shoulders, 
 throat, neck, &c., (for which, and for other similar 
 points, see Pugin’s Glossary of Ecclesiastical Orna- 
 ment and Costume.) It was introduced about 
 the eighth century. 
 
 The albe (alba) was a linen garment, with 
 tight sleeves, reaching to the heels. It was fas- 
 tened round the waist with a girdle, and always 
 ornamented with apparells at the wrists and feet. 
 In the earliest ecclesiastical Brasses, (Oulton, Suf- 
 folk ; Kemsing, Kent,) the apparells are con- 
 tinued entirely round the wrists ; but from the 
 middle of the fourteenth century this was reduced 
 to a small square on the upper side. It has 
 many significations, but is generally taken as a 
 symbol of purity. It is a vestment of great anti- 
 quity, and the origin of the surplice and rochet. 
 
 The stole (orarium, from ora, the edge of a 
 robe,) was originally a robe, with stripes of em- 
 broidery in front ; but it was much reduced in 
 early times, so that the stripes are the only part 
 retained. It consists of a long strip of linen, 
 usually with fringed ends, placed round the 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 neck, and reaching below the knees. It is worn 
 by deacons over the left shoulder only, tied under 
 the right arm ; by priests, over both shoulders, 
 crossing on the breast, and passing through the 
 girdle at the waist ; and by bishops, over both 
 shoulders, but not crossed. As the chasuble 
 covers all but the two ends, the crossed part is not 
 usually visible ; but it is shewn when worn with 
 the cope, which is very rarely the case. An exam- 
 ple, however, occurs in a Brass at Horsham, Sus- 
 sex, (Waller’s Brasses, part X.) At Sudborough, 
 Northamptonshire, is a group of small figures ; 
 one of which, a priest, has all the Eucharistic 
 vestments except the chasuble, and of course shews 
 the stole crossed. 
 
 Its first use was that of a handkerchief, to wipe 
 the face ; but it afterwards became too highly 
 ornamented, and was retained as a decoration. 
 
 The maniple (manipulus) was also, at first, a 
 handkerchief, as its name implies. As represented 
 in Brasses, it is a strip of linen, similar to the stole, 
 but muoh smaller, and worn over the left arm. 
 
 The chasuble (casula) is the last and outermost 
 of the Eucharistic vestments. In its primitive 
 form, it was perfectly round ; but in the middle 
 ages, of an oval shape. It is without sleeves, 
 and has an opening in the centre for the head. It 
 is usually ornamented with orphreys, either round 
 the edge or in front, and probably always behind. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 275 
 
 The oldest form of orphrey is in the shape of a 
 pall, of which there is an example at Wensley, 
 Yorkshire, The collar round the neck is gene- 
 rally concealed by the amice ; but it is shewn in 
 the Brass of Sir Peter Legh, at Winwick, Lan- 
 cashire. The chasuble was in use in the sixth 
 century ; and is symbolical of Charity, of the 
 Church, &c. 
 
 The dalmatic was a vestment worn in very early 
 times by deacons, and also by civil personages ; 
 and is still retained by the English sovereigns, 
 at their coronation. It was a long robe of white 
 silk, with full sleeves ; and partly open at both 
 the sides, always fringed. It was worn by bi - 
 shops below the chasuble, and above the tunic, 
 which was a somewhat similar garment, but with 
 smaller sleeves, and not open at the sides. 
 
 Of the Processional vestments, the cassock was 
 the undermost, and was a long garment reaching 
 to the ground, with short narrow sleeves. It was 
 probably the ordinary habit of the clergy,* when 
 out of the church, as Brasses of ecclesiastics are 
 sometimes met with, which represent them in 
 this vestment only. 
 
 The surplice was a linen robe, frequently plait- 
 ed, with very large sleeves ; and similar to the 
 modern dress of the same name, but not open in 
 front. 
 
 * As it still is with Roman Catholic Priests. 
 
276 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 The almuce (almutium) was a cape or tippet 
 of white fur, covering the shoulders, with long 
 lappets in front. In Brasses, it -was filled with 
 white metal, which but seldom remains. It was 
 worn externally by canons , as a mark of dignity. 
 
 The cope (cappa) also called pluviale, was 
 originally a protection against rain. Its name 
 “ cappa,” is derived from the hood fixed to the 
 back of it, which, until the fourteenth century, 
 was a real hood, but after that time became 
 merely an ornamental appendage. Its shape is 
 an exact semi -circle, with a border on the straight 
 side, frequently very rich with figures of saints; 
 and sometimes the whole garment is covered with 
 diaper-work. The morse, or clasp, which fastens 
 it in front, is often of very beautiful design ; some- 
 times with the owner’s monogram (Balsham, Cam- 
 bridgeshire), or arms (Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire), 
 and sometimes with a subject from Sacred History. 
 
 Of the additional portions of costume belonging 
 only to persons of episcopal rank, the mitre is 
 a cap of silk or linen, ornamented with em- 
 broidery or precious stones, having infulce, narrow 
 strips of linen, hanging behind. It does not 
 appear to have been introduced till the eleventh 
 century, and was at first a plain round cap. The 
 addition of a circle of leaves to the mitre of an 
 arc/dbishop is modern : there was also no distinc- 
 tion from mitred abbats, — although Pope Clement 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 277 
 
 IV. ordered precious stones to be restricted to 
 bishops ; but the rule was not observed. 
 
 The gloves (chirothecce) were usually ornamented 
 with a device in a circle or square, at the back. 
 They were anciently used by priests also. 
 
 The sandals were the coverings for the feet, and 
 generally appear worked with a stripe. 
 
 The 'pastoral staff was originally a simple 
 crook, and emblematical of the pastoral office of 
 a bishop over his flock. The upper end is curved 
 and the lower pointed, to shew the authority of 
 the Church over the obedient and disobedient, 
 according to the Latin line : 
 
 “ Curva trahit mites, pars pungit acuta rebelles.” 
 
 It is sometimes bound with a vexillum, or 
 banner of the Cross, as in the Brasses of Abbat 
 Estney, 1498, Westminster Abbey ; and Bishop 
 Goodrich, 1553, Ely Cathedral. Mitred abbats 
 are properly distinguished from bishops either by 
 holding the staff in the right hand, and giving the 
 benediction with the left j or by having it in the left 
 hand with the crook turned inwards. This rule, 
 however, will be found to have as many excep- 
 tions as examples ; the Brass of Abbat Estney is in 
 all respects like that of a bishop • and the effigy of 
 a bishop in the Temple Church has the crook of 
 his staff turned inwards. 
 
 The crozier is a staff ending in a cross instead 
 
278 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 of a crook, and belongs to none below the rank of 
 archbishop. Examples occur at York, 1315 ; 
 Westminster, 1397 ; New College, Oxford, 1417. 
 
 The ring is worn on the second finger of the 
 right hand, and symbolizes the temporal dignity 
 of the bishop, as well as his spiritual wedding 
 with the Church. 
 
 The pall, (pallium,) the distinctive mark of 
 an archbishop, or pontiff, is a scarf of peculiar 
 shape, made of white wool, and embroidered with 
 purple crosses. It was granted as a mark of 
 dignity by Pope Gregory to S. Augustine of 
 Canterbury, and still forms part of the arms of 
 that see. 
 
 The above are the vestments which are most 
 commonly found in ecclesiastical Brasses, but there 
 are also others, peculiar to the rank or office 
 which the person commemorated may have held. 
 Examples of canons and deans are not unfre- 
 quently to be met with, as at Great Hasely, Ox- 
 fordshire ; sometimes of masters or members of a 
 college, as at New College, Oxford ; Kings’ Col- 
 lege, Cambridge ; and of monks in the dress of 
 their respective orders, (generally a surplice or 
 rochet, and a hood,) as at Cottenham, Yorkshire ; 
 Cowfold, Sussex ; S. Laurence’s, Norwich, &c. 
 We are not aware that any Brass exists which 
 represents a deacon, unless the curious palimpsest 
 at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, be excepted, where 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 279 
 
 the back of part of the canopy shews the frag- 
 ments of a figure in a dalmatic. 
 
 Having thus attempted to describe the several 
 habits of ecclesiastics, it will now be necessary to 
 explain the manner in which these, as well as the 
 changing costume of the military and civil classes, 
 were represented on their monuments. For this 
 purpose we shall divide the time into centuries, 
 and endeavour to point out the peculiarities which 
 help to determine the dates of Brasses in each, 
 and mention such remaining examples as are 
 most worthy of notice. 
 
 FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Ecclesiastical . — -At first sight it may appear 
 a very difficult thing to assign a tolerably correct 
 date to an ecclesiastical Brass, where there is no 
 variety of costume, no change of fashion to be our 
 guide. A little practice, however, will shew that 
 there are other marks besides this, which will 
 answer the purpose almost as well, and are by no 
 means to be overlooked ; peculiarities belonging, 
 in many cases, to the artist, and to the conven- 
 tional method prevalent at the time, but easy to 
 be remembered, and recognized at a glance when 
 once understood. 
 
 The earliest ecclesiastical Brass is probably 
 that of Adam Bacon, at Oulton, near LowestofF, 
 Suffolk. The date of this is about 1310, and it 
 
 4 ~ 5 CiftA’v • 
 
 * * a 
 
280 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 represents a priest in the Eucharistic vestments, 
 with his feet on a lion. There is also a demi- 
 figure of a priest, about the same date, at Merton 
 College Chapel, Oxford ; and another at Kemsing, 
 Kent ; to which may be added the Brass of Arch- 
 bishop Grenfeld, 1315, in York Minster ; and 
 the curious cross to Nichol de Gore, circa 1320, 
 at Woodchurch, Kent. The peculiarities obser- 
 vable in these are, deeply cut lines, usual in all 
 Brasses of the first half of this century ; the 
 chasuble fitting closely to the body, and evidently 
 of thin materials ; drapery judiciously arranged, 
 and represented by a few bold lines ; the hair 
 long and flowing behind the ears (which are large 
 and prominent) ; the amice lying loosely round 
 the neck, and not, as in late Brasses, like a stiff 
 collar ; the neck itself usually broad and thick ; 
 the stole and maniple wider at their ends ; and the 
 apparels at the wrists of the albe continued entirely 
 round , a practice probably discarded before 1337, 
 the date of the fine priest at Higham Ferrers, 
 Northamptonshire; but to be seen in the curious 
 Brass of John de Grofhurst, c. 1330, at Horsmon- 
 den, Kent.* 
 
 Of the ornaments in the embroidery of this 
 century, a peculiar kind of cross called th o fylfot 
 is to be noticed : it occurs in the amice of the 
 
 * Engraved in the Illustrations of Monumental Brasses, 
 published by the Cambridge Camden Society, p. 195. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 281 
 
 Kemsing priest, and in that of a curious demi- 
 figure at Ockham, Surrey, (circa 1330,) as well 
 as in some military Brasses. It is said to have 
 been in use as a religious emblem long previous to 
 the Christian era. It does not appear to have 
 been the custom to represent priests in the Pro- 
 cessional vestments till the latter half of this cen- 
 tury ,+ the earliest we can mention is at Bothwell, 
 Northamptonshire, 1361 ; after this period, they 
 became common ; examples occur at Fulbourne, 
 Cambridgeshire, c. 1370 ; S. Cross, Winchester, 
 1382, &c. Of the magnificent Flemish Brasses 
 which remain of this date, three are ecclesiastical ; 
 S. Albans ; North Mimms, Herts ; and Wensley, 
 Yorkshire ; in addition to their peculiarity of 
 being on large unbroken plates, they are distin- 
 guished by the elaborate character of the em- 
 broidery and ornaments, and the rich diapers and 
 architectural accessories surrounding them. The 
 great breadth of some of the lines may also be 
 noticed as characteristic. 
 
 The latter half of this century affords numerous 
 examples of ecclesiastics in both kinds of vest- 
 
 t This has been the cause of a strange mistake in Carter’s 
 chapter on Costume in Fosbrooke’s British Monachism. He 
 appears to have been ignorant that there were two distinct 
 upper vestments, and supposes that a change of fashion took 
 place about this time, by which the chasuble was worn open 
 in front. 
 
282 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 ments, whose dates, where not known, may be 
 fixed with tolerable accuracy, after a little practice, 
 chiefly by the flowing hair, (not extending below 
 the ears, as in the early part of the century,) the 
 arrangement of the amice ; and the graceful folds 
 of the drapery in general. Examples, — Shottes- 
 brooke, Berks, c. 1370 ; Watton, Herts, c. 1370 ; 
 Northfleet, Kent, 1375 ; Bishop Trellyck, 1360, 
 Hereford Cathedral ; Brundish, Suffolk, c. 1360. 
 
 Military . — The first among the military Brasses 
 which claims our notice, is that of Sir John 
 H’Aubernoun, at Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey, of the 
 date of 1277 ; in this, the costume is of the same 
 kind as that of Sir Roger de Trumpington, 1289, at 
 Trumpington, Cambridgeshire ; Sir Robert de 
 Bures, 1302, Acton, Suffolk ; and Sir Robert 
 Septvans, 1306, Chartham, Kent. The three last 
 are cross-legged. The costume of these figures is 
 very similar, and of simple character ; they all 
 wear the hauberk or coat of mail covering the 
 whole body, with the coif-de-mailles for the head, 
 and cho asses for the legs and feet, surmounted by 
 a plain surcoat, without sleeves, fastened round 
 the waist with a girdle. The shield is of a con- 
 vex form, and is supported at the left arm by a 
 guige or strap passing over the right shoulder ; 
 the sword is suspended across the body by a 
 leathern belt ; the knees are protected by genouil- 
 leres ; and prick-spurs are fastened by a strap to 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 283 
 
 the heels. The last mentioned example differs from 
 the others in having the head and hands un- 
 covered, (shewing the flowing hair common at the 
 period,) and in hearing arms on the surcoat ; it 
 also has, as well as that at Trumpington, the addi- 
 tion of ailettes, square pieces fixed on to the hack 
 of the shoulders, to protect the neck, usually 
 hearing the arms of the wearer. A curious little 
 Brass of this date (c. 1300) occurs at Busling- 
 thorp, Lincolnshire ; and represents the demi-figure 
 in mail of Sir Bichard de Buslingthorp ; this 
 has heen engraved in Waller’s Brasses, Part X. 
 
 It will not he necessary here to mention 
 the various kinds of mail in use at this period? 
 as there is hut little variety in Brasses, and they 
 are already well described in Hartshorne’s Sepul- 
 chral Monuments of Northamptonshire (page 32). 
 The banded mail, consisting of rows of mail and 
 leather alternately, appears to have been preva- 
 lent after 1300 ; and may be seen in the demi- 
 figure of a knight at Croft, Lincolnshire, c. 1310 ; 
 and in the cross-legged figure of Sir - — Bacon, c. 
 1320, Gorleston, Suffolk, &c. In the reign of 
 Edward II. we find a gradual change from mail 
 to the use of plate ; commencing with roundels , 
 circular pieces to protect the arm-pits and elbows 
 (Gorleston, Suffolk ; Pebmarsh, Essex, c. 1320) ; 
 to which were added greaves , for the front part of 
 the legs ; brassarts from the shoulder to the 
 
284 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 elbow ; vambraces, from the elbow to the wrist ; 
 and sollerets for the feet ; the gauntlets also are 
 now divided into fingers. (Westley Waterless, 
 Cambridgeshire, 1324 ; Minster, Isle of Sheppy, 
 c. 1330. Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey, 1327.) 
 At this period there was a much greater num- 
 ber of garments worn over and under the 
 hauberk ; as the haketon, cyclas, Ac. all de- 
 scribed in Ilartshorne’s Sep. Mon., and Planche’s 
 British Costume. In this reign, also, the 
 rowel spur is used, and the bascinet, a conical 
 steel helmet, worn on the head. In the 
 succeeding reign the change to entire plate was 
 nearly completed ; the great alteration is the adopt- 
 ing a jupon, a tight fitting linen garment, with 
 the baudrick or military belt, which always 
 accompanies it, in place of the cumbrous clothing 
 hitherto used ; this is sometimes ornamented with 
 the wearer’s arms, and the lower edge is often 
 escalloped, shewing the shirt of mail beneath it. 
 On the neck is worn a camail, a tippet of mail 
 attached to the bascinet ; on the thighs cuisses or 
 sometimes pourpoint ; on the elbows coutes ; and 
 on the shoulders, epaulieres ; the gauntlets have 
 cufis, and knobs on the finger-joints called gad- 
 lings; the sword is hung on the left side, (the scab- 
 bard often highly ornamented,) a small dagger, 
 called the anelace, or misericorde, on the right ; 
 and frequently the head rests on a tilting helmet 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 28 5 
 
 and crest. This change seems to have taken 
 place about 1350, hut the extreme rarity of any 
 Brasses during the first thirty years of Edward 
 III. renders it difficult to assign a precise date. 
 Good examples of this reign occur at Elsing, Nor- 
 folk, 1347 ; Wimbish, Essex, c. 1350; Cohham, 
 Kent; Mereworth, Kent, c. 1360 ; Horseheath, 
 Cambridgeshire, c. 1360 ; Watton, Herts, 1361 ; 
 Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks, 1368, and 1375 ; 
 Aveley, Essex, (Flemish) 1370; Chrishall Es- 
 sex, c. 1370 ; Broughton, Lincolnshire, c. 1370. 
 From this time until the early part of the next 
 century, there was but little further change in 
 the military costume ; handed mail, (for the 
 camail,) is still occasionally seen ; as at Wood- 
 Ditton, Cambridgeshire, 1393. Brasses of this 
 date are not uncommon. Examples, — Acton Bur- 
 nell, Shropshire, 1382 ; Little Casterton, Rut- 
 land, 1381 ; Calbourne, Isle of Wight ; South- 
 acre, Norfolk, 1384 ; Irnham, Lincolnshire, 1390 ; 
 Etchingham, Sussex, 1387. 
 
 Civil. — The earliest brass effigy of this class 
 that we can mention is that of a lady at Trotton, 
 Sussex, 1310 ; the costume is much the same as 
 in the figure of Lady Cohham, at Cobham, Kent, c. 
 1320 ; and in those at Westley Waterless, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, 1324; and Minster, Kent, c. 1330. 
 
 The chief characteristic is the wimple , a hand- 
 kerchief round the neck and chin; a long robe 
 
286 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 covers the whole body, shewing the tight sleeves 
 of an under garment, and sometimes surmounted 
 by a mantle. At East Wickham, Kent, is a 
 curious little Brass to John de Bladingdoun and 
 wife, c. 1325, representing two demi-figures within 
 a floriated cross. The male costume of Edward 
 the Third’s reign was either a jupon with its belt, 
 or a straight robe reaching to the feet, under a 
 mantle buttoned on the right shoulder : fre- 
 quently a hood is seen round the neck ; the 
 beard is long and pointed, and the hair flowing. 
 From about 1350, the female dress is a 
 tight-fitting gown with half sleeves, having long 
 pendent lappets attached to them (as at Bray, 
 Berks, c. 1370 ; and Chrishall, Essex, c. 1370) ; 
 the head-dress is either a veil or a peculiar net, 
 confining the hair round the forehead. At about 
 1380, the hair is sometimes seen braided in a 
 square plait on each side ; as at Little Casterton, 
 Rutland, 1381 ; Southacre, Norfolk, 1384 : this 
 is probably the same as the square head-dress so 
 frequently seen in churches of this date, to sup- 
 port a dripstone, Ac. A remarkable fashion, pre- 
 valent at this time, and also in the next century, 
 is a garment with the sides cut away, so as to 
 shew the kirtle beneath it, at the hips : a long 
 flowing mantle is generally the outer covering, 
 fastened across the breast by a cord with pendent 
 tassels ; the shoes, like those of the men, are 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 287 
 
 sharply pointed, and the sleeves of the kirtle have 
 rows of small buttons up to the wrists. The 
 custom of placing dogs at the feet of female 
 figures was still generally practised ; they were 
 probably intended as emblems of fidelity and 
 affection, as the lions at the husband’s feet shewed 
 his courage and generosity. In some cases, these 
 animals were also part of the arms or the crest of 
 the family ; in others they appear to have repre- 
 sented favourites belonging to the deceased. 
 Cushions are frequently placed under the head 
 of the lady, and the tilting-helmet under that 
 of the knight ; these are sometimes supported by 
 angels. Brasses of civilians are not by any means 
 common in this century ; the fine ones at Lynn. 
 Norfolk, 1349, 1364, are among the earliest; and 
 others occur at Great Berkhampstead, Herts, 1357 ; 
 Shottesbrook, Berks, c. 1370 ; Cirencester, Glou- 
 cestershire, c. 1360 ; Stoke, Fleming, Devon; 
 Busper, Sussex ; Wimmington, Beds, &c. 
 
 Crosses, Canopies, Inscriptions, <foc. Perhaps 
 the most beautiful, and certainly one of the rarest 
 kinds of monuments are the brass crosses, formerly 
 to be seen in almost every village chancel. The 
 frequent occurrence of the large slabs which once 
 contained them will not fail to have been noticed 
 by all church visitors, as much as the absence of 
 the brass itself will have excited their regret. 
 
 In no case did puritan zeal more signally 
 
288 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 defeat its own purpose than in this ; for by leaving 
 the indented stone to shew the extent of their 
 devastations, so far from raising in us any feel- 
 ings similar to their own, they have only in- 
 creased our admiration for those who laid such 
 appropriate memorials down, and our indigna- 
 tion against those who tore them up. They 
 appear to have been more common in the 14th 
 than the 15th century, very many having been 
 surrounded by inscriptions in Lombardic letters. 
 They usually consisted of a long straight stem 
 W'ith leaves sprouting from it, resting on steps 
 or some religious symbol, extending at the head 
 into a floriated quatrefoil containing either a 
 figure of the deceased or of a saint. Probably 
 the earliest of which there are any remains is 
 that in Merton College Chapel, Oxford, c. 1310, 
 of which the demi-figure of a priest is almost all 
 now existing. Another, of about 1320, occurs 
 at Woodchurch, Kent, of which a cut is given ;* 
 this consists of a quatre-foiled circle, with fleur-de- 
 lis forming the arms, enclosing a figure of a priest : 
 the inscription is in Lombardic characters ; 
 “ Mestre Nichol de Gore : gist en ceste place ; 
 Jhesu Crist prioms ore : Qe merci lui face.” 
 
 Others of this century remain at East Wick- 
 ham, Kent, c. 1325 ; Merton Chapel, c. 1350. 
 Wimbish, Essex, c. 1350; Taplow, Bucks, c. 
 
 * See page vi. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 289 
 
 1330; Buxted, Sussex, c. 1370.* At Horsted 
 Parva, Sussex, was, until a few years ago, a 
 fine early cross, which was allowed to be stolen 
 for the sake of the metal. It is needless to re- 
 fer to examples of their matrices, as almost every 
 cathedral and very many parish churches con- 
 tain them : they are sometimes of enormous 
 length, as in the north aisle of the choir at Ely. 
 
 The canopies so frequently found above effi- 
 gies, and adding so greatly to the beauty of the 
 monument, are of too much importance in de- 
 ciding the date of a Brass to be left unnoticed. 
 There are but very few remaining of the early 
 part of the 14th century, but their matrices are 
 occasionally to be found, as at Gorleston, Suf- 
 folk, c. 1320 ; Pebmarsh, Essex, c. 1320; Stoke by 
 Nayland, Suffolk; and Bottisham, Cambridgeshire. 
 They were usually of a triangular form, with 
 foliations, crockets, &c. ; the pinnacles are sup- 
 ported on slender shafts, sometimes banded. The 
 earliest still existing is probably that of Lady 
 Cobham, at Cobham, Kent, c. 1320, which is of 
 this character. The ogee form came into use 
 
 * This beautiful Brass has been engraved by the Cambridge 
 Camden Society, in their “ Illustrations of Monumental 
 Brasses,” but very incorrectly ; the leaf terminating the lower 
 arm of the cross being entirely omitted. It is to be regretted 
 that most of the other Brasses given in that work are liable 
 to the same charge of inaccuracy. 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 about this time ; an early example is in the 
 Brass of Sir John D’Aubernoun, Jun. 1327, 
 Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey. Figures of saints are 
 found, now as in later times, in small compart- 
 ments, as in the splendid Brasses at Higham 
 Ferrers, Northampts, 1337, and Elsing, Norfolk, 
 1347. In the Flemish Brasses the canopies are 
 excessively rich, and filled with tracery and 
 diaper of the most elaborate description. During 
 the latter half of this century the cusps are 
 frequently terminated by trefoil ornaments, as at 
 Fulbourne, Cambridgeshire; Cottingham, York- 
 shire ; Chrishall Essex ; and groining is sometimes 
 though seldom used. 
 
 With regard to the inscriptions of this century, 
 the earliest are those composed of distinct capital 
 letters running round the four sides of the stone; 
 these were formerly filled with brass, but the 
 metal very rarely remains. They are sometimes 
 in Latin, but more commonly in French. The 
 simplest form is merely the name and the prayer 
 for mercy, as Sire : Johan : Daubernoun : 
 Chivaler : gist : ici : Deu : de : sa : alme : 
 evt : mercy. They are generally made to rhyme 
 either in two or four lines ; in the latter case, 
 the two last lines are frequently these, 
 
 KI : PUR : LALME : PRIERA : QUARANTE : JOURS : 
 
 DE : PARDUN : AVERA : 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 291 
 
 A narrow fillet of brass was sometimes used at 
 tbis time ; there are remains at Stoke D’Abernon, 
 Surrey. The capital letters were discontinued 
 about the middle of the century, and inscriptions 
 then began to be placed below the feet of the 
 figure. Inscribed scrolls are sometimes found, 
 ’ but not so commonly as in the next century* 
 They are placed at the mouths or hands, and 
 sometimes borne on the breast, and consist of 
 sentences such as the following. “ Jhu mcy. 
 ladye helpe.” “ mcy, ihu, and gramcy.” “ Jhu 
 fili dei, miserere mei.” “ mater sancta dei, memen- 
 to mei.” “ Sancta Trinitas, unus deus, miserere 
 nobis,” &c. English epitaphs were but rarely 
 used as yet ; perhaps the earliest instance is at 
 Wanlip, Leicestershire, 1393. French was very 
 generally discontinued at the close of this cen- 
 tury ; several examples of it, however, may be 
 found as late as 1420. 
 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Ecclesiastical. The early part of the fifteenth 
 century affords a great variety of Brasses of all 
 kinds ; ecclesiastics are perhaps more generally 
 represented in copes than in chasubles : the or- 
 phreys of these are usually highly ornamented, 
 either with figures of saints, or with the letters 
 of the wearer’s name alternately with embroi- 
 dery. Good examples occur at Boston, Lincoln- 
 
292 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 shire, c. 1400; Castle Ashby, Northampts, 1401 ; 
 Balsham, Cambridge, 1401 ; Great Shelford, 
 Cambridge, 1411. Such vestments as these were, 
 doubtless, intended to represent those which the 
 same persons wore when living. A beautiful 
 Brass of a priest in the chasuble, of the date of 
 1432, occurs at Great Bromley, Essex. A great 
 prevalence of small foliage is observable in the 
 embroidery of this time : the general lines are 
 narrower, and less deeply cut ; the hair is still 
 worn flowing. Of kneeling priests, good exam- 
 ples occur at Upper Hardres, Kent, 1405 ; Exe- 
 ter Cathedral, 1413. Demi-figures of priests are 
 very common in this century ; and the ciborium 
 is frequently carried in the hands. 
 
 From about the middle of the century a con- 
 siderable difference and gradual debasement is 
 perceptible : the lines of the hair become less 
 flowing, and quite straight by the end of the 
 century. The amice is evidently of much stifler 
 materials, and does not hang round the neck 
 in the graceful manner of earlier times : the 
 chasuble also is thick, and accordingly de- 
 void of the marked folds produced by a thin 
 vestment drawn tightly over the figure. The 
 practice of shading at the sides to gain a per- 
 spective effect, (which so completely destroyed 
 all beauty in the Brasses of the next century,) 
 was now introduced ; but this must not be con- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 293 
 
 founded with the slight shading seen at the 
 curl of a fold, as this is no mark of debasement, 
 but merely a convenient method of representing 
 the sunken surface. Fine examples of ecclesi- 
 astical Brasses of this century occur at New 
 College Chapel, Oxford, 1417 ; Cowfold, Sussex, 
 * 1442 ; Warbleton, Sussex, 1432 ; Balsham, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, 1462 ; Westminster Abbey, 1498. 
 
 Military. Until about 1410, the military cos- 
 tume continued much the same as during the 
 last thirty years of the previous century. Excel- 
 lent examples occur at Wisbeach, Cambridge, 
 1401 ; Hurstmonceaux, Sussex, 1402 ; Grunby, 
 Lincolnshire, c. 1405 ; Stoke by Nayland, Suf- 
 folk, 1408. In some there is already a change 
 towards complete plate, either in the introduc- 
 tion of taces, (the camail being still retained,) 
 as Lingfield, Surrey, 1403, and the sword-belt 
 worn diagonally, as at Spilsby, Lincolnshire, c. 
 1405. The interesting and splendid Brass at 
 Little Horkesley, Essex, to Sir Robert Swinburne 
 and his son, who died respectively in 1391 and 
 1412, shews the armour of both periods together, 
 and proves that it was the custom to represent 
 this class, as well as that of ecclesiastics, in the 
 particular dress they wore when living. As 
 early examples of complete plate, we may men- 
 tion Wixford, Warwickshire, 1411, and Digswell, 
 Herts, 1415. One of the latest Brasses in which 
 
294 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 the camail is seen, is at Theddlethorpe, Lincoln- 
 shire, 1425. We now find a gorget of plate or 
 hausse-col , used over or instead of the camail ; the 
 jupon is relinquished for a cuirass or breast-plate, 
 with depending plates overlapping one another, 
 called taces : and the sword belt is disposed diag- 
 onally. The arm-pits, and sometimes the elbow- 
 joints, are protected by circular pieces, called pcil- 
 lettes, which sometimes contain heraldic bearings ; 
 the legs and feet remain as before. Examples of 
 this period occur at Trotton, Sussex, 1419 (one 
 of the finest Brasses existing); Wiston, Sussex, 
 1425 ; Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, 1420, &c. 
 
 The circular form for the pallettes is scarcely 
 ever found after 1430; from this time to about 
 1455 they are usually seen in a shape some- 
 what resembling a small shield. The coutes have 
 frequently a fan-like appearance ; and a hook on 
 the right side, for a lance-rest, is now first found ; 
 the spurs are now screwed on to the heel instead 
 of being held by a leathern strap round the 
 foot, as before ; a circlet of leaves, termed an 
 orle, is occasionally seen round the bascinet ; but 
 from about this time the head is more usually 
 bare, and the hair worn very short ; moustaches 
 are seldom seen after 1430. A tabard, or coat 
 embroidered with armorial bearings, both on the 
 body and sleeves, is common in this century : a 
 good example occurs at Childrey, Berks, 1444. In 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 295 
 
 a Brass at Quy, Cambridgeshire, are twelve kneel- 
 ing children, all in tabards. The first appearance 
 of tuiles, plates buckled on to the taces and cover- 
 ing the thighs, may be dated at about the middle 
 of the reign of Henry YI. ; an early example of 
 them occurs at Cople, Bedfordshire, 1435. 
 
 A considerable change had taken place by 
 about 1460 : the breast-plate is of very globular 
 form ; pauldrons protect the shoulders ; the 
 coutes are very large and sharply pointed, and 
 often fastened with spring-pins ; the sword hangs 
 diagonally from the middle, instead of the side, 
 crossing the left knee ; the lower part of a shirt 
 of mail generally appears underneath the tuiles, 
 and a gorget of the same round the neck ; the 
 genouilleres are usually of great length ; and the 
 head and hands bare. Hood examples of this 
 period occur at Cirencester, Gloucestershire ; Ash- 
 by Ledgers, Northampts ; Hildersham, Cambridge- 
 shire ; Winwick, Lancashire. From 1480 — 1500 we 
 find a few more changes to be noticed. Bounded 
 shoes, called poulains, cover the feet ; pass-guards, 
 plates rising perpendicularly from the shoulders, 
 protect the side of the neck ; the hair is worn 
 long again ; and the coutes generally smaller. 
 Collars of S S. are not unfrequently found in 
 military Brasses ; also collars of suns and roses, 
 the badge of the Yorkists (used first in 1461), 
 as at Broxbourne, Herts. Quartering arms was 
 
296 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 first practised by Edward III. Supporters to 
 shields were first used by Richard II. The 
 blazonry of the arms of France was semee of 
 fleurs-de-lis until the reign of Plenry V. ; after 
 that time it was three fleurs-de-lis. 
 
 Civil. The male costume at the commencement 
 of this century is the full-sleeved gown and mantle 
 as before ; a good example occurs at Dartford, 
 Kent, 1402. From about 1420, the mantle is less 
 frequently worn, (except by civic functionaries,) 
 and the gown with its girdle is the usual outer 
 garment. On the girdle is generally hung the 
 gypciere , or purse, and the rosary, and sometimes 
 an anelace , or dagger. The shoes are sharply 
 pointed, and the hair cut short. But little change 
 is observable during the rest of this century : from 
 about 1460, the sleeves are much narrower, and of 
 the same width throughout ; the hair is worn long 
 again, and the shoes rounded. Examples of this 
 century occur at Lin wood, Lincolnshire, 1419 and 
 1421; Graveney, Kent; Beddington, Surrey, 
 1432; Cbarwelton, Northampts. Judges are re- 
 presented with a coif of fur on their heads : as 
 at Gunby, Lincolnshire, 1419 ; Gosfield, Essex, 
 c. 1430; notaries have an ink-horn and pen-case. 
 Founders of churches sometimes hold a church 
 in their hands, as at Cowthorpe, Yorkshire ; 
 North Oreake, Norfolk. Emaciated figures, with 
 or without winding sheets, are common. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 297 
 
 The female head-dress of the reigns of Henry I Y. 
 and Y. is one that frequently occurs and will gene- 
 rally be found to he before the year 1420 ; it has 
 been called the crespine , and is of a square shape, 
 the hair being gathered into a caul on each side, 
 and partly covered with a veil, which hangs down 
 ' to the shoulders. The dress for the rest of the per- 
 son is a tight-fitting kirtle with close sleeves below 
 a mantle fastened with a cord across the breast, 
 the tassels of which usually depend in front. Ex- 
 amples occur at Gunby, Lincolnshire, c. 1405 ; 
 Burgate, Suffolk, 1409 ; Sawtry, Hunts ; Wix- 
 ford, Warwickshire, 1411, &c. At about 1420 the 
 common female attire is a loose robe covering 
 the feet, with full sleeves, and very short waist ; 
 the hair is gathered into a large caul on each side, 
 over which a veil hangs, the upper part being 
 either of a flat or peaked shape ; East Anthony, 
 Cornwall ; Horley, Surrey. This dress continued 
 to be worn throughout the reign of Henry YI. ; 
 but with several variations, particularly in the 
 head-dresses, which are now very numerous, but 
 usually of a lunar or heart-shape. The kirtle and 
 mantle, however, still continued to be worn, as also 
 the sideless garment described under the last cen- 
 tury ; a fine example occurs at Enfield, Middlesex, 
 1446. A heart-shaped head-dress is very common 
 about 1460 : at this time also the sleeves are not 
 worn so full, and the waist is longer. 
 
298 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 A considerable change took place about 1470. 
 From this time till about 1490 the butterfly 
 head-dress is the one commonly worn, in which 
 the hair is confined in a caul at the back of 
 the head, and covered with a kerchief stiffened 
 out to resemble a pair of wings. The sleeves are 
 now generally tight, and with fur cuffs. Good 
 examples occur at Isleham, Cambridgeshire, 1483. 
 At the close of this century a triangular head-dress 
 called the kennel came into fashion, and is very 
 commonly seen in the Brasses of the period. The 
 gown is often cut square to the neck, and a long 
 pendant hangs from the girdle, with a pomander 
 or scent-box at the extremity of it. The distin- 
 guishing garment of a widow is a barbe, or gorget, 
 at the chin. Unmarried females wear long hair 
 flowing over the shoulders. A mantle embroi- 
 dered with arms is often worn over the other 
 garments. The children are usually represented 
 in groups below the parents, during the latter half 
 of this century, and afterwards. Their dresses vary 
 according to their stations in life ; at Wenden 
 Lofts, Essex, there is a small figure in episcopal 
 vestments among the children. Shrouded figures 
 and infants in swaddling clothes also occur. 
 
 Crosses, Canopies, Inscriptions, &c. There are 
 a few crosses of this century of a different kind 
 to those previously described. These are plain 
 ones, not floriated in the head, but having the 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 299 
 
 arms terminated by fleurs-de-lis, or the Evan- 
 gelistic symbols : examples occur at Higham 
 Ferrers, Northampts, 1400 ; Cassington, Oxford- 
 shire, c. 1420 ; Broadwater, Sussex, 1446. There 
 are also several fine floriated crosses, as at New- 
 ton, Northampts, 1400 ; Stone, Kent, 1408 ; Hil- 
 dersham, Cambridgeshire, 1408 ; Grainthorpe, 
 Lincolnshire, c. 1480. 
 
 The canopies of about the date of 1420 are 
 readily distinguished by a peculiarity which is 
 observable to the same extent at no other period. 
 The spandrils formed by the cusps and centre- 
 pieces are generally filled with small tracery and 
 minute foliage of three or four leaves ; the centre- 
 pieces are often of a very rich pattern. Good 
 examples occur at Gunby and Linwood, Lincoln- 
 shire ; Trotton, Sussex ; Great Shelford, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, <fec. A very beautiful canopy of the 
 date of 1432 remains at Warbleton, Sussex. Cano- 
 pies of all sizes are now very common ; they are sin- 
 gle, double, triple, and even quadruple, as at 
 Thornton, Bucks. Groining is of frequent occur- 
 rence in them ; there is a fine example at Castle 
 Donington, Leicestershire. At the close of the 
 century, a gradual debasement may be observed 
 in this as well as in the other parts of Brasses ; 
 there is more attempt to produce an effect of 
 perspective, and the crockets and other details 
 have less beauty in design. 
 
300 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 The inscriptions at the commencement of this 
 century are frequently in hexameter verse, and 
 very long ; but without any merit of composition. 
 There are some sentences, applicable to all classes, 
 which are very often met with. Such are the 
 passage from Job, “ Credo quod Redemptor, &c. 
 and the following, “ Es testis, Christe, quod non 
 jacet hie lapis iste Corpus ut ornetur, sed spiritus 
 ut memoretur.” “ Quisquis eris, qui transieris, 
 sta, perlege, plora : Sum quod eris, fueramque quod 
 es, pro me, precor, ora.” Latin and English are 
 the languages used ; those in the former usually 
 beginning “ Hie jacet,” &c. or “ Orate pro anima,” 
 &c. and ending with “cujus anima propicietur 
 Deus.” The letters at the end of the century are 
 generally less bold than those of earlier times, and 
 the capitals are no longer of the Lombardic form. 
 The Evangelistic symbols at the angles of mar- 
 ginal legends are common throughout the cen- 
 tury.* Small scrolls are occasionally seen scat- 
 tered over the whole slab, with such legends as 
 
 * [The object of these seems to have been a tutelary invo- 
 cation, as we may infer from the following child’s prayer, still 
 very commonly in use among the less educated village poor : 
 
 “ Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
 
 Bless the bed that I lay on ; 
 
 Four corners to my bed, 
 
 Four angels round my head, 
 
 God within and God without, 
 
 Blessed Jesus all about.” — Ed.] 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 301 
 
 Jhu mcy, &c. ; the most perfect example of this 
 is at Wiston, Sussex. 
 
 SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Ecclesiastical. There is no great peculiarity 
 which distinguishes the ecclesiastical Brasses of 
 the sixteenth century, except the more extensive 
 use of shading, and an increased degree of coarse- 
 ness in general. There is less taste shewn in the 
 orphreys and apparells ; the chasuble usually 
 hangs with a sharp point and in thick folds ; the 
 hair is worn straight and long ; and the shoes 
 are very much rounded. There are a few Brasses 
 after the Beformation representing ecclesiastics in 
 their ancient vestments, hut they are not com- 
 mon. The most remarkable are those of Bishop 
 Goodrich at Ely, 1553 ; of Bishop Pursglove at 
 Tideswell, Derbyshire, 1579 ; and of Archbishop 
 Harsnett at Chigwell, Essex, 1631. Other Brasses 
 of the clergy of this period represent them in a 
 plain gown or cassock, and sometimes holding a 
 book ; or in their academical dress, as at Battle, 
 Sussex. 
 
 Military. There is not much change observable 
 in the armour of Henry YIII’s time, from that 
 of the close of the preceding century. A shirt of 
 mail, worn under the tuiles, and divided in front, 
 becomes more conspicuous now ; the hair is worn 
 very long, and every part of the armour shaded. 
 
302 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 A fine example occurs at Wivenhoe, Essex, 1507. 
 Towards the close of this century, and afterwards, 
 the armour frequently extends no farther than 
 the hips ; the legs being covered with hose, often 
 pulfed out and ribbed. The morion now came 
 into extensive use, but it is not often seen in monu- 
 ments. Good examples of the armour of the 17th 
 century occur at East Sutton, Kent ; Middleton 
 Lancashire; S. Sepulchre, Northampton, &c. 
 
 Civil. The civil costume of the first half of 
 this century is not more remarkable for variety 
 than the military. The female dress continued 
 much the same as before : a fine example occurs 
 in the brass of the Countess of Oxford, at Wiven- 
 hoe, Essex, 1537. After the Reformation we find 
 the costume which is familiar to us in the por- 
 traits of Elizabeth and of Mary Queen of Scots. 
 The gown consists of a long stomacher, extending 
 into the var ding ale or hoop, with sleeves puffed 
 out at the shoulders ; a ruff is worn round the 
 neck, and a bonnet or a high-crowned hat on the 
 head. In the male costume we see a doublet and 
 trunk hose, covered with a mantle and standing 
 collar, as well as a ruff and hat. This dress, with 
 many variations, continued during the next cen- 
 tury. The Brasses of this period are so unin- 
 teresting from the coarseness of their design, that 
 it will not be necessary to describe the minute 
 changes observable in them. Some of the latest 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 303 
 
 Brasses existing, until the present revival of them, 
 are at Cray S. Mary, Kent, 1773. Fine canopies 
 of the sixteenth century remain at Wivenhoe, 
 Essex. Crosses remain at Flore, Northampts, and 
 Penshurst, Kent ; the latter only thirteen inches 
 long. Modern Brasses of great excellence have 
 been put down by the Messrs. Waller at Windles- 
 ham, Surrey ; Michel Dean, Gloucestershire ; 
 Gresford, Denbighshire ; Fen-Drayton, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, &c. 
 
 Palimpsest Brasses are those in which the same 
 plate has been used over again, either on the 
 same side as the original design, as at Waterpery, 
 Oxfordshire, or on the reverse ; cases of the latter 
 kind are not very uncommon ; a curious one oc- 
 curs at Burwell, Cambridgeshire. 
 
 The first impressions of Brasses were taken by 
 Craven Ord, Sir John Cullum, and the Bev. 
 Thomas Cole, about the year 1780. These were 
 effected by using damped paper and printing ink ; 
 a process which affords a very distinct impression 
 of the Brass, but is too dirty and tedious for 
 general use. There are several methods now in 
 use, of which the best appears to be with heel- 
 ball, or pouch- ball, manufactured by Ullathorne, 
 Gate St., Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Large cakes are 
 the most convenient for use ; and the softer kind 
 for deeply cut Brasses, and the harder kind for 
 hot weather and for fine work. The best paper 
 
304 
 
 A MANUAL OF 
 
 for this method is the lining-paper used by paper- 
 hangers, the whitest that can be procured, and 
 not too thin. Three sizes of this paper may be 
 had at Jones’s, Leadenhall Street, or Trollope’s, 
 Parliament Street. The widest yet manufactured 
 is that sold by Limbird, 143, Strand, w r hich is 
 four feet seven inches wide. Another method 
 now frequently used is with black paper and the 
 metallic rubber, invented by Mr. Richardson of 
 Greenwich, by wdiich a fac-simile of the Brass in 
 colour is obtained ; but the contrast produced by 
 the old plan is much greater than in this, which 
 is not therefore recommended to those who wish to 
 study costume by Brasses. For the purpose of an 
 engraving , the clearest impressions may be taken 
 by a mixture of the finest black lead with linseed 
 oil ; these should be executed with a rubber of 
 wash-leather, on very thin paper ; double double 
 crown tissue paper is the best. Rubbings may 
 also be taken wdtk pieces of black leather on thin 
 paper. 
 
 A list of the Monumental Brasses remaining in 
 England, which has just been published, will be 
 found of use to tourists. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : S, & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. 
 
London , December , 1845, 
 
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