English Gothic architecture facts for kids
English Gothic is the name of the architectural style that was very popular in England from about 1180 until about 1520. As with the gothic architecture of other parts of Europe, English Gothic is defined by its pointed arches, vaulted rooves, buttresses, large windows, and spires.
Contents
Features of the Gothic style
- Pointed arches
- Very high towers, spires and rooves
- Clustered columns: tall columns that looked like a group of thin columns bundled together
- Ribbed vaults: arched ceilings made of stone. In the Gothic style they were held up by stone ribs.
- A skeleton of stonework with big glass windows in between.
- Tracery: carved stone lace in the windows and on the walls
- Stained glass: richly coloured glass in the windows, often with pictures telling stories
- Buttresses: narrow stone walls jutting out from the building to help hold it up
- Flying buttresses: buttresses that help to hold the vault up. They are made with an arch that jumps over a lower part of the building to reach the outside wall.
- Statues: of saints, prophets and kings around the doors
- Many sculptures, sometimes of animals and legendary creatures. Gargoyles spout water from the roof.
Stages
The various styles are seen at their best in the cathedrals, abbey churches and college buildings. It is a distinctive characteristic of the cathedrals of England that all but one of them show great stylistic diversity and have building dates that range over 400 years. The exception, Salisbury Cathedral, was built in 38 years.
- Early English (roughly 1010−1019)
- Decorated (roughly 1250−1350)
- Geometric (1250–90)
- Curvilinear (1290–1350)
- Perpendicular (roughly 1350−1520)
Early English
Examples: Salisbury Cathedral, Whitby Abbey, the nave and transept of Wells Cathedral (1225—1240).
Characteristics
The clearest sign of the Early English period was the pointed arch known as the lancet. Pointed arches were used for nave arcade, the doorways and lancet windows. The windows are narrow by comparison to their height and are without tracery. Lancet arches are a sign of the style.
The Lancet openings of windows and arcades are often grouped in twos or threes. This is seen throughout Salisbury Cathedral where there are groups of two lancet windows lining the nave and groups of three lining the clerestory. At York Minster there are, in the north transept, a cluster of five lancet windows known as the Five Sisters, each fifty feet high and still have their ancient glass.
Romanesque (Norman architecture) builders generally used round arches. Compared with the rounded Romanesque style, the pointed arch of the Early English Gothic looks more elegant and, more importantly, is better at distributing the weight of the stonework above it. This makes it possible to span higher and wider gaps using narrower columns.
Instead of being massive, solid pillars, the columns were often composed of clusters of slender, detached shafts surrounding a central pillar.
By using the pointed arch, walls could become less massive and window openings could be larger and grouped more closely together. This gave a more open, airy and graceful building. The high walls and vaulted stone roofs were often supported by flying buttresses: half arches which transmit the outward thrust of the superstructure to supports or buttresses, usually on the outside of the building.
At its purest the style was simple and austere, emphasizing the height of the building, as if aspiring heavenward.
Decorated gothic
Examples: the east ends of Lincoln Cathedral and Carlisle Cathedral, and the west fronts of York Minster and Lichfield Cathedral. Much of Exeter Cathedral is built in this style.
Characteristics
Decorated architecture has window tracery. Elaborate windows are subdivided by closely-spaced parallel mullions (vertical bars of stone). The mullions then branch out and cross, intersecting to fill the top part of the window with a mesh of elaborate patterns called tracery. The style was geometrical (more straight lines) at first and flowing (curves) in the later period. This evolution of decorated tracery is often used to subdivide the period into an earlier "geometric" and later "curvilinear" period.
Perpendicular gothic
Some of the earliest examples of the "perpendicular period", from 1360, are found at Gloucester Cathedral. The masons of the cathedral seem to be far in advance of those in other towns; the fan-vaulting in the cloisters is particularly fine. Also noteworthy are the Quire and tower of York Minster (1389–1407); the nave and western transepts of Canterbury Cathedral (1378–1411). Bath Abbey, Eton College Chapel and King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1515) are also examples.
Characteristics
Calle perpendicular because of its emphasis on vertical lines. This is particularly obvious in the design of windows, which became very large, sometimes of immense size, with slimmer stone mullions than in earlier periods. This allowed more scope for stained glass craftsmen. Buttresses and wall surfaces are likewise divided up into vertical panels. Another major development of this period was fan vaulting.
Some of the finest features of this period are the magnificent timber rooves. Hammerbeam rooves, like those of Westminster Hall (1395), and Christ Church Hall, Oxford, appeared for the first time. In areas of southern England elaborate decoration in flint was used, especially in the wool churches of East Anglia.
Images for kids
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Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1258) (Tower and spire later.)
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Salisbury Cathedral choir
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Temple Church choir
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Southwell Minster choir
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Worcester Cathedral nave
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Beverley Minster transept
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York Minster south transept
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Hereford Cathedral (1079–1250) Lady chapel
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Peterborough Cathedral west front
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Wells Cathedral west front
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Wells Cathedral nave
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Lincoln Cathedral nave
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Worcester Cathedral choir
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Winchester Cathedral Lady chapel
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Lancet window, Fountains Abbey
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Rievaulx Abbey choir
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Lanercost Priory west front
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Durham Cathedral east transept
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Choir of Canterbury Cathedral rebuilt by William of Sens and William the Englishman (1174–1184)
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The three levels of the nave (1192–1230) of Wells Cathedral, the first in England to use pointed arches exclusively in the ceiling vaults, the windows of the clerestory and arcades of the triforium, and the arcades on the ground floor.
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The Dean's Eye Window, a rare English rose window, at Lincoln Cathedral (1220–1235)
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Early four-part rib vaults at Salisbury Cathedral, with a simple carved stone boss at the meeting point of the ribs (1220–1258)
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Lancet windows in the north transept of Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1258)
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Westminster Abbey north transept rose window
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Westminster Abbey chapter house
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The vault of the chapter house at Salisbury Cathedral (1275–85)
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Salisbury Cathedral chapter house and cloisters
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Wells Cathedral chapter house
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York Minster chapter house
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Chichester Cathedral Lady chapel
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Wells Cathedral choir
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Exeter Cathedral choir
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York Minster nave
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Ripon Cathedral east end
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St Mary's Abbey, York, nave
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Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, west front
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Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire, chapter house
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Hereford Cathedral north transept
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Howden Minster, East Yorkshire, nave
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Howden Minster south transept
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St Augustine's Abbey, Kent, gatehouse
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Hull Minster chancel
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St Mary's Church, Nantwich, east end
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Ely Cathedral Lady chapel (1321–1351)
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Lichfield Cathedral choir
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Ely Cathedral choir
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Ely Cathedral crossing and lantern
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Wells Cathedral Lady chapel
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Carlisle Cathedral choir
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Prior Crauden's Chapel, Ely
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Old Grammar School, Coventry, east end
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Bolton Abbey choir
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Chester Cathedral south transept window
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Selby Abbey choir
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Church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, south aisle west window
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Bury St Edmunds Abbey gateway
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Decorated ornament on the west porch of Lichfield Cathedral (1195–1340)
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Tracery, diapering and sculptural decoration on Exeter Cathedral (1258–1400)
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Early buttresses, topped by pinnacles, at Lichfield Cathedral (1195–1340)
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Pinnacles on the roof of Ely Cathedral (1321–1351)
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East window of Carlisle Cathedral, with curvilinear tracery (about 1350)
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Floral boss joining the ribs of the vaults of Exeter Cathedral (1258–1400)
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transverse arches in the aisle of Bristol Cathedral (1298–1340)
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The octagon and lantern, Ely Cathedral, rebuilt following the collapse of the central tower in 1321
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The great west window of York Minster (1338–39), featuring a motif known as the Heart of Yorkshire
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Winchester Cathedral west front
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Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–), with Perpendicular tracery and blind panels.
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Edington Priory west front: Decorated and Perpendicular
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Beauchamp Chapel, Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
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Manchester Cathedral chancel
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Hall of Christ Church, Oxford
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Hull Minster nave
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Gloucester Cathedral, choir and chancel
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Bath Abbey chancel
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York Minster chancel, looking west
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Canterbury Cathedral nave
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Winchester Cathedral nave
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The Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–) painted by Canaletto
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York Minster crossing tower
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Evesham Abbey bell tower
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Bridlington Priory west front
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Gloucester Cathedral east end (1331–1350), with a four-centred arch window
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Canterbury Cathedral crossing tower and transepts
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Wells Cathedral crossing tower
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Beverley Minster west front
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Norwich Cathedral spire and west window
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Chichester Cathedral spire
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The choir of Gloucester Cathedral conveys an impression of a "cage" of stone and glass. Window tracery and wall decoration form integrated grids.
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Gloucester Cathedral cloisters (1370–1412)
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Worcester Cathedral cloister: mullions are reinforced with horizontal transoms (1404–1432)
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Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (completed 1519)
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King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1515)
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Fan vaulting outside the great hall of Christ Church, Oxford (c. 1640)
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Hammerbeam timber roof of Westminster Hall (1395)
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Dining Hall of King's College, Cambridge, with a hammerbeam roof
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Vaults of St Katharine Cree, London
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Mob Quad, Merton College, Oxford (1288–1378)
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Balliol College, Oxford front quad (1431)
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Tudor arch window at King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1531)
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East range of First Quad, Oriel College, Oxford (1637–1642)
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Second Court, St John's College, Cambridge
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Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol (1915—1925)
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Palace of Westminster, rebuilt by Barry and Pugin 1840–1876
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St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (1868—1928)
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Manchester Town Hall, (1868–1877)
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Tower Bridge, London, (1886–1894)
See also
In Spanish: Arquitectura gótica inglesa para niños