English Gothic architecture

Historical • Edward the Confessor fostered monasticism and founds Westminster Abbey • 1066 and all that. Angevin Dynasty, building of castles • Well-organised social structure. Limitations on land-ownership by nobles maintains the king's power base. Written laws established so that system could be maintained when King was away in France • 1154–89 Henry II, through his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, became ruler of about half of France • 1277–83 conquest of Wales resulted in castle building • Founding of universities • 14th–15th centuries, English wool in great demand • 1477 Caxton introduced printing to England, boosting education and the founding of University colleges and schools • 1485 Henry VII fostered education and the legal profession • 1515–30, under Henry VIII, Lord Chancellor Cardinal Wolsey fostered the arts and built palaces and founded colleges ---> == Early English Gothic (late 12th–late 13th centuries) ==

File:SalisburyCathedral-wyrdlight-EastExt.jpg|Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1258) (tower and spire later) File:1023581-Cathedral Church of St Mary (12).jpg|Salisbury Cathedral choir File:Temple Church 1, London, UK - Diliff.jpg|Temple Church choir File:Southwell Minster Choir and High Altar, Nottinghamshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Southwell Minster choir File:Beverley minster 018.JPG|Beverley Minster transept File:SW York Minster 061215 (cropped).JPG|York Minster south transept File:Hereford cathedral 002.JPG|Hereford Cathedral (1079–1250) lady chapel File:Peterborough Cathedral Exterior 1, Cambridgeshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Peterborough Cathedral west front File:Wells Cathedral West Front Exterior, UK - Diliff.jpg|Wells Cathedral west front File:Wells Cathedral 17 (9320456934).jpg|Wells Cathedral nave File:Lincoln Cathedral Nave 1, Lincolnshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Lincoln Cathedral nave File:Worcester Cathedral choir, Worcestershire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Worcester Cathedral choir File:The first bay of the Lady Chapel (c.1220-30s), Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, England - Flickr - Spencer Means.jpg|Winchester Cathedral lady chapel File:Whitby Abbey image.jpg|Whitby Abbey choir File:Rievaulx Abbey (206163907).jpeg|Rievaulx Abbey choir File:Lanercost Priory, West Front, Cumbria.JPG|Lanercost Priory west front File:Durham Cathedral - England P1200693 (13335758425).jpg|Durham Cathedral east transept Early English Gothic predominated from the late 12th century until midway to late in the 13th century. It succeeded Norman architecture, which had introduced early great cathedrals, built of stone instead of timber, and saw the construction of remarkable abbeys throughout England. The Normans had introduced the three classical orders of architecture, and created massive walls for their buildings, with thin pilaster-like buttresses. The transition from Norman to Gothic lasted from about 1145 until 1190. In the reigns of King Stephen and Richard I, the style changed from the more massive severe Norman style to the more delicate and refined Gothic. Early English was particularly influenced by what was called in English "The French style". The style was imported from Caen in Normandy by French Norman architects, who also imported cut stones from Normandy for their construction. It was also influenced by the architecture of the Ile-de-France, where Sens Cathedral had been constructed, the first Gothic cathedral in France. The chancel of Canterbury Cathedral, one of the first Early English structures in England, was rebuilt in the new style by a French architect, William of Sens. The Early English style particularly featured more strongly-constructed walls with stone vaulted roofs, to resist fire. The weight of these vaults was carried downwards and outwards by arched ribs. This feature, the early rib vault, was used at Durham Cathedral, the first time it was used this way in Europe. Another important innovation introduced in this early period was the buttress, a stone column outside the structure that reinforced the walls against the weight pressing outward and downward from the vaults. This evolved into the flying buttress, which carried the thrust from the wall of the nave over the roof of the aisle. The buttress was given further support by a heavy stone pinnacle. Buttresses were an early feature of the chapter house of Lichfield Cathedral. Early English is typified by lancet windows, tall narrow lights topped by a pointed arch. They were grouped together side by side under a single arch and decorated with mullions in tracery patterns, such as cusps, or spear-points. Lancet windows were combined similarly pointed arches and the ribs of the vaults overhead, giving a harmonious and unified style. Characteristics File:Canterbury Cathedral Choir 01.JPG|Choir of Canterbury Cathedral rebuilt by William of Sens and William the Englishman (1174–1184) File:Wells cathedral nave clerestory.JPG|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 File:Lincoln Cathedral, Dean's Eye window (N.31) (21975539699).jpg|The Dean's Eye Window, a rare English rose window, at Lincoln Cathedral (1220–1235) File:Salisbury Cathedral Detail Bosses.jpg|Early four-part rib vaults at Salisbury Cathedral, with a simple carved stone boss at the meeting point of the ribs (1220–1258) File:Catedral de Salisbury, Salisbury, Inglaterra, 2014-08-12, DD 35-37 HDR.JPG|Lancet windows in the north transept of Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1258) • The vertical plan of early Gothic cathedrals had three levels, each of about equal height; the clerestory, with arched windows which admitted light on top, under the roof vaults; the triforium a wider covered arcade, in the middle; and, on the ground floor, on either side of the nave, wide arcades of columns and pillars, which supported the weight of the ceiling vaults through the ribs • The most distinctive element of this period was the pointed arch, (also known as the lancet arch, which was the key feature of the Gothic rib vault, The original purpose of rib vault was to allow a heavier stone ceiling, to replace the wooden roofs of the earlier Norman churches, which frequently caught fire. They also had the benefit of allowing the construction of higher and thinner walls. They appeared first in an early form in Durham Cathedral. • Square east end. The typical arrangement for an English Gothic east end is square, and may be an unbroken cliff-like design as at York, Lincoln, Ripon, Ely and Carlisle or may have a projecting lady chapel of which there is a great diversity as at Salisbury, Lichfield, Hereford, Exeter and Chichester • Sculptural decoration. Unlike the more sombre and heavy Norman churches, the Gothic churches began to have elaborate sculptural decoration. The arches of the arcades and triforium were sometimes decorated with dog tooth patterns, cusps, carved circles, and with trefoils, quatrefoils, as well as floral and vegetal designs. Simple floral motifs also often appeared on the capitals, the spandrels, the roof boss that joined the ribs of the vaults • The clustered column. Instead of being massive, solid pillars, early Gothic columns were often composed of clusters of slender, detached shafts, which descended the vaults above. These were often made of dark, polished Purbeck "marble", surrounding a central pillar, or pier, to which they are attached by circular moulded shaft-rings. One characteristic of Early Gothic in England is the great depth given to the hollows of the mouldings with alternating fillets and rolls, and by the decoration of the hollows with the dog-tooth ornament and by the circular abacus or tops of the capitals of the columns Examples • the east end of Canterbury Cathedral (1174–1184) rebuilt by French masons following a fire • transept, nave and west front of Wells Cathedral (1176–1260; western towers added in the Perpendicular period, 1365–1435) • clerestory and vaults of Chichester Cathedral (1187–1199) • retro-choir at Winchester Cathedral (1189–1193; not including the lady chapel) • Lincoln Cathedral and chapter house (1192–1255; not including the "Angel Choir", south transept, towers, and cloisters) • east end and transept of Rochester Cathedral (1200–1227) • west front of Peterborough Cathedral (1200–1222) • the east end of Worcester Cathedral (1202–1218) • at Hereford Cathedral; the lady chapel (1217–1225) and upper part of the choir (1235–1240) • Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1266; not including decorated central tower, 1334–1380 and Perpendicular crossing arches, 1388–1395) • great transept of York Minster (1226–1255) • east end of Southwell Minster (1234–1250) • east end of Ely Cathedral (1234–1254) • presbytery of St. Albans Cathedral (1235–1250) • the chapter house at Lichfield Cathedral (1239–1249) • Chapel of Nine Altars at Durham Cathedral (1242–1280) • at Chester Cathedral; the chapter house (1249–1265) and lady chapel (1265–1290) • Whitby Abbey • Rievaulx Abbey == Decorated Gothic (late 13th–late 14th centuries) ==

The second style of English Gothic architecture is generally termed Decorated Gothic, because the amount of ornament and decoration increased dramatically. It corresponded roughly with the Rayonnant period in France, which influenced it. It was a period of growing prosperity in England, and this was expressed in the decoration of Gothic buildings. Almost every feature of the interiors and facades was decorated. File:Salisbury Cathedral Chapter House roof.jpg|The vault of the chapter house at Salisbury Cathedral (1275–1285) File:Salisbury Cathedral (St. Mary) (14651659629).jpg|Salisbury Cathedral chapter house and cloisters File:Wells Cathedral Chapter House, Somerset, UK - Diliff.jpg|Wells Cathedral chapter house File:York Minster Chapter House, Nth Yorkshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|York Minster chapter house File:Lady chapel, Chichester Cathedral.jpg|Chichester Cathedral Lady chapel File:Exeter Cathedral Quire, Exeter, UK - Diliff.jpg|Exeter Cathedral choir File:York Minster Nave 1, Nth Yorkshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|York Minster nave File:Merton College Chapel Interior 1, Oxford, UK - Diliff.jpg|Merton College Chapel File:Ripon cathedral (25443844272).jpg|Ripon Cathedral east end File:Newstead Abbey Church 03.jpg|Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, west front File:Southwell Chapter House1.jpg|Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire, chapter house File:Cathedral antiquities (1814) (14769063331).jpg|Hereford Cathedral north transept Historians sometimes subdivide this style into two periods, based on the predominant motifs of the designs. The first, the Geometric style, lasted from about 1245 or 50 until 1315 or 1360, where ornament tended to be based on pointed arches, cusps and circles, followed by the Curvilinear style (from about 1290 or 1315 until 1350 or 1360) which used gracefully curving (ogee) lines. File:Hull Minster south view.jpg|Hull Minster chancel File:St Marys, Nantwich.jpg|St Mary's Church, Nantwich, east end File:St.Andrew's church, Heckington - geograph.org.uk - 183007.jpg|St. Andrew's Church, Heckington File:Ely Cathedral Lady Chapel, Cambridgeshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Ely Cathedral Lady chapel (1321–1351) File:Lichfield Cathedral Choir 2, Staffordshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Lichfield Cathedral choir File:St.Botolph's nave - geograph.org.uk - 992285.jpg|St Botolph's Church, Boston, nave File:Ely Cathedral Choir, Cambridgeshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Ely Cathedral choir File:Ely Cathedral Octagon Lantern 1, Cambridgeshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Ely Cathedral crossing and lantern File:Wells Cathedral Lady Chapel, Somerset, UK - Diliff.jpg|Wells Cathedral Lady chapel File:Carlisle Cathedral Choir, Cumbria, UK - Diliff.jpg|Carlisle Cathedral choir File:Chester Cathedral - interior, view of south transept window with glass by Heaton Butler and Bayne.jpg|Chester Cathedral south transept window File:Stained glass window, St Mary Magdalene church, Newark (20507030626).jpg|Church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, south aisle west window File:Abbeygate Bury St Edmunds.jpg|Bury St Edmunds Abbey gateway Additions in the Decorated style were often added to earlier cathedrals. One striking example is found at Ely Cathedral; the architect Thomas Witney built the central tower from 1315 to 1322 in Decorated style. Soon afterwards another architect, William Joy, added curving arches to strengthen the structure, and made further extensions to join the Lady Chapel to the Choir. In 1329–1345, he created an extraordinary double arch in the decorated style. Characteristics • Lierne vaulting. Vaulting became much more elaborate in this period. The rib vault of earlier Early Gothic usually had just four compartments, with a minimum number of ribs which were all connected to the columns below, and all played a role in distributing the weight and outwards and downwards. In the Decorated architecture period, additional ribs were added to the vaulted ceilings which were purely decorative. They created very elaborate star patterns and other geometric designs. Gloucester Cathedral and Ely Cathedral have notable lierne vaults from this period The buttress became more common in this period, as at Lichfield Cathedral. These were stone columns outside the walls which supports them, allowing thinner and high walls between the buttresses, and larger windows. The buttresses were often topped by ornamented stone pinnacles to give them greater weight. • • Tracery. Decorated architecture is particularly characterised by the elaborate tracery within the stained glass windows. The elaborate windows are subdivided by closely spaced parallel mullions (vertical bars of stone), usually up to the level at which the arched top of the window begins. The mullions then branch out and cross, intersecting to fill the top part of the window with a mesh of elaborate patterns called tracery, typically including trefoils and quatrefoils. The style was geometrical at first and curvilinear, or curving and serpentine, in the later period, This curvilinear element was introduced in the first quarter of the 14th century and lasted about fifty years A notable example of the curvilinear style is the East window of Carlisle Cathedral, (about 1350). Another notable example of decorated curvilinear is the west window of York Minster (1338–39) • Sculpture also became more ornate and decorative. The ball flower and a four-leaved flower motif took the place of the earlier dog-tooth. The foliage in the capitals was less conventional than in Early English and more flowing, Another decorative feature of the period was diapering, or creating multi-colour geometric patterns on walls or panels made with different colours of stone or brick File:West porch Lichfield by Francis Frith.jpeg|Decorated ornament on the west porch of Lichfield Cathedral (1195–1340) File:Exeter cathedral 002.jpg|Tracery, diapering and sculptural decoration on Exeter Cathedral (1258–1400) File:Lady.Chapel.Lichfield Cathedral (exterior 5).jpg|Early buttresses, topped by pinnacles, at Lichfield Cathedral (1195–1340) File:26-Ely-005.jpg|Pinnacles on the roof of Ely Cathedral (1321–1351) File:Carlisle Cathedral Tracery, Cumbria, UK - Diliff.jpg|East window of Carlisle Cathedral, with curvilinear tracery (about 1350) File:Exeter cathedral 010.jpg|Floral boss joining the ribs of the vaults of Exeter Cathedral (1258–1400) File:Bristol Cathedral south choir aisle.jpg|transverse arches in the aisle of Bristol Cathedral (1298–1340) File:York Minster West Window, Nth Yorkshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|The great west window of York Minster (1338–39), featuring a motif known as the Heart of Yorkshire Examples • Westminster Abbey (transitional; 1245–1272, east end, transept and chapter house; 1376–1400, nave) • choir of Carlisle Cathedral (1245–1398; the outer walls are Early English and predate a fire in 1292) • at Hereford Cathedral; north transept (transitional; 1245–1268) and central tower (1300–1310) • at Lincoln Cathedral; the Angel Choir and east end (1256–1280), cloisters (), central tower (1307–1311), and upper part of the south transept, including the Bishop's Eye window (–1330) • at Lichfield Cathedral; the nave and west front (1265–93), central tower () and Lady Chapel (1320–36) • Little Wenham Hall, Suffolk (1270–80) • St Wulfram's Church, Grantham (1280–1350) • Merton College chapel, Oxford (1289–96; tower and ante-chapel added 1424–50) • at York Minster; the chapter house (1260–96), nave and west front, including the Heart of Yorkshire window (1291–1375) • at Wells Cathedral; the chapter house (1275–1310), east end (1310–19, Lady chapel; 1329–45, choir and retro-choir), central tower (1315–22) and strainer arches (1415–23) • the chapter house at Salisbury Cathedral (1275–85) • east end of Bristol Cathedral (1298–1340) • at Southwell Minster; the chapter house (1293–1300), and pulpitum (1320–35) • the Lady chapel at St. Albans Cathedral (1308–26) • the chapel of Alnwick Castle (1309–50) • the nave and west front at Worcester Cathedral (1317–95) • at Ely Cathedral; the Lady chapel (1321–49; east window, 1371–74) and the octagon, lantern and west bays of nave (1322–62) • the nave and west front at Exeter Cathedral (1328–42; Image Screen added 1346–75) ==Perpendicular Gothic (late 13th to mid-16th century)==

File:WinchesterCathedral-west-wyrdlight.jpg|Winchester Cathedral west front File:St. Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle (2).jpg|St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (1475–) File:Sherborne abbey.jpg|Sherborne Abbey, Dorset File:MK17792 Eton College Chapel.jpg|Eton College Chapel File:Chapel and Cloisters, New College.jpg|New College Chapel, Oxford File:Collegiate Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Katherine & All Saints, Edington (14642630549).jpg|Edington Priory, Wiltshire, west front: Decorated and Perpendicular File:Warwick, St Mary's church, Beauchamp chapel (36583800662).jpg|Beauchamp Chapel, Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick File:Manchester Cathedral Choir.jpg|Manchester Cathedral chancel File:1 christ church hall 2012.jpg|Hall of Christ Church, Oxford File:HullMinster43.jpg|Hull Minster nave File:St. Giles church, Wrexham.jpg|St Giles' Church, Wrexham File:Merton College Chapel from just north of the Meadow.jpg|Merton College Chapel tower File:Bath Abbey Eastern Stained Glass, Somerset, UK - Diliff.jpg|Bath Abbey chancel File:York Minster, York (13451378175).jpg|York Minster chancel, looking west File:Canterbury Cathedral Nave 1, Kent, UK - Diliff.jpg|Canterbury Cathedral nave File:Winchester Cathedral Nave 2, Hampshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Winchester Cathedral nave File:Canaletto - The Interior of Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.JPG|The Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–) painted by Canaletto File:Magdalen College Tower.jpg|Magdalen Tower, Oxford File:York Minster (8406).jpg|York Minster crossing tower File:St Mary Magdalene Taunton.jpg|St Mary Magdalene, Taunton File:Evesham Abbey Bell Tower.jpg|Evesham Abbey bell tower File:Canterbury Cathedral 10.JPG|Canterbury Cathedral crossing tower and transepts File:Beverley Minster (49792708446).jpg|Beverley Minster west front File:St James's Church, Louth - spire - geograph.org.uk - 8042205.jpg|The tower and spire at St James' Church, Louth The Perpendicular Gothic (or simply Perpendicular) is the third and final style of medieval Gothic architecture in England. It is characterised by an emphasis on vertical lines, and is sometimes called rectilinear. The Perpendicular style began to emerge in about 1330. The earliest example is the chapter house of Old St Paul's Cathedral, built by the royal architect William de Ramsey in 1332. The early style was also practised by another royal architect, John Sponlee, and fully developed in the works of Henry Yevele and William Wynford. Walls were built much higher than in earlier periods, and stained glass windows became very large, so that the space around them was reduced to simple piers. Horizontal transoms sometimes had to be introduced to strengthen the vertical mullions. Many churches were built with magnificent towers including York Minster, Gloucester Cathedral, Worcester Cathedral, and St Botolph's Church, Boston, St Giles' Church, Wrexham, St Mary Magdalene, Taunton. Another outstanding example of Perpendicular is King's College Chapel, Cambridge. The interiors of Perpendicular churches were filled with lavish ornamental woodwork, including misericords (choir stalls with lifting seats), under which were grotesque carvings; stylized "poppy heads", or carved figures in foliage on the ends of benches; and elaborate multicoloured decoration, usually in floral patterns, on panels or cornices called brattishing. The sinuous lines of the tracery in the Decorated style were replaced by more geometric forms and perpendicular lines. The style was also affected by the tragic history of the period, particularly the Black Death, which killed an estimated third of England's population in 18 months between June 1348 and December 1349 and returned in 1361–62 to kill another fifth. This had a great effect on the arts and culture, which took a more sober direction. The perpendicular Gothic was the longest of the English Gothic periods; it continued for a century after the style had nearly disappeared from France and the rest of the European continent, where the Renaissance had already begun. Gradually, near the end of the period, Renaissance forms began to appear in the English Gothic. A rood screen, a Renaissance ornament, was installed in the chapel of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. During the Elizabethan Period (1558–1603), the classical details, including the five orders of classical architecture, were gradually introduced. Carved ornament with Italian Renaissance motifs began to be used in decoration, including on the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. The pointed arch gradually gave way to the Roman rounded arch, brick began to replace masonry, the roof construction was concealed, and the Gothic finally gave way to an imitation of Roman and Greek styles. Characteristics File:Gloucester Cathedral High Altar, Gloucestershire, UK - Diliff.jpg|The choir of Gloucester Cathedral conveys an impression of a "cage" of stone and glass. Window tracery and wall decoration form integrated grids File:The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral.jpg|Gloucester Cathedral cloisters (1370–1412) File:Worcester Cathedral Cloister, Worcestershire, UK - Diliff.jpg|Worcester Cathedral cloister: mullions are reinforced with horizontal transoms (1404–1432) File:Great Gate, Trinity College, Cambridge (inside).jpg|Gate of Trinity Great Court, Cambridge, with a four-centred arch File:Westminster abbey colonne.jpg|Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (completed 1519) File:Kings College Chapel 2018 002.jpg|King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1515) File:Christ Church Oxford-6166605366.jpg|Fan vaulting outside the great hall of Christ Church, Oxford () • Towers were an important feature of the perpendicular style, though fewer spires were built than in earlier periods. However, the tallest parish church spire of all was constructed at Louth, c.1455-1515. Important towers were built at Boston Church, Canterbury Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, York Minster, Worcester Cathedral, and on many smaller churches. Towers were generally crenellated, with or without spires, and the battlements were formed of openwork tracery. • Fan vaulting appeared late in the Decorated. Unlike the lierne vault, the fan vault had no functional ribs; the visible "ribs" are mouldings on the masonry imitating ribs. The structure is composed of slabs of stone joined into half-conoids, whose vertices are the springers of the vault. The earliest extant structural example, from 1373, is found in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, though Tewkesbury Abbey has an earlier ornamental one in a tomb, and the destroyed chapter house at Hereford Cathedral may have had one. Lierne vaults also continued in use, with notable examples at Gloucester, Canterbury, Winchester, St George's Chapel (Windsor) and Norwich. • Windows became very large, sometimes of immense size, with slimmer stone mullions than in earlier periods, allowing greater scope for stained glass craftsmen. The mullions of the windows are carried vertically up into the arch moulding of the windows, and the upper portion is subdivided by additional mullions (supermullions) and transoms, forming rectangular compartments, known as panel tracery. The Tudor Arch window was a particular feature of English Gothic • Buttresses and wall surfaces were divided into vertical panels • Gloucester Cathedral; the choir and transepts (1330–1374, remodel of Norman work), cloisters (1370–1412), west front, western nave vaults, and south porch (1421–1437), tower (1450–1467) and Lady chapel (1457–1483) • King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1515) • St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham • Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford • Magdalen College, Oxford (1474–1490, including old library, chapel, cloisters, and founder's tower; Magdalen Tower, Oxford, built 1492–1509) • Manchester Cathedral (1422) • New College, Oxford (1380–1400; including chapel, hall, Great Quad, cloisters and bell-tower) • Norwich Cathedral; the clerestory of the presbytery (1362–1369; transitional in style), and vaults (1446–1472, nave; 1472–1499, presbytery; 1501–1536, transepts) • The retro-choir (the New Building) at Peterborough Cathedral (1496–1508) • Old Court, hall and chapel of Queens' College, Cambridge (1448–49) • First Court (1511–1520, including hall) and Second Court (1598–1602), St. John's College, Cambridge • Sherborne Abbey: choir (1475 – c. 1580), tower and nave • South Wingfield Manor • Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Tattershall, Lincolnshire (1440s-80s) and Tattershall Castle (1440s) • The tower of St Mary Magdalene, Taunton (1503–1508, rebuilt in 1858-62) • Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–1509; heavily restored in the 1860s) • Westminster Hall (a remodelling of a Norman hall) • Winchester Cathedral; the west front (1346–1366), nave (1399–1419, remodel of Norman work) and presbytery (1493-1500), as well as a fine set of chantry chapels • Worcester Cathedral, the central tower (1374) and cloisters (1375–1438) • Winchester College, Hants. (1387–1394) • St Giles' Church, Wrexham • York Minster; the east end (1340–1408), central tower (1420–1472), Kings' Screen (1420–1422) and west towers (1433–1472) ==Roofs==

File:Trad-queen-post.png|A queen-post truss File:Microcosm of London Plate 094 - Westminster Hall edited.jpg|Hammerbeam timber roof of Westminster Hall (1395) File:Chambers 1908 Hammerbeam.png|Section of a hammerbeam timber roof File:St Albans Cathedral - Choir roof - geograph.org.uk - 5022989.jpg|Timber vaulting, St Albans Cathedral The pitched Gothic timber roof was a distinctive feature of the style, both in religious and domestic architecture. It had to be able to resist rain, snow and high winds of the English climate, and to preserve the integrity of the structure. A pitched roof was a common feature of all the Gothic periods. During the Norman period, the roofs normally were pitched forty-five degrees, with the apex forming a right angle. With the arrival of the pointed rib vault, the roofs became steeper, up to sixty degrees. In the late perpendicular period, the angle declined to twenty degrees or even less. The roofs were usually made of boards overlaid with tiles or sheet-lead, which was commonly used on low-pitched roofs. The simpler Gothic roofs were supported by long rafters of light wood, resting on wooden trusses set into the walls. The rafters were supported by more solid beams, called purlins, which were carried at their ends by the roof trusses. The tie-beam is the chief beam of the truss. Later, the roof was supported by structures called a King-point-truss and Queen-post truss, where the principal rafters are connected with the tie beam by the head of the truss. The King-Point truss has a vertical beam with connects the centre of the rafter to the ridge of the roof, supported by diagonal struts, while a Queen-Post truss has a wooden collar below the pointed arch which united the posts and was supported by struts and cross-braces. A Queen-Post truss could span a width of forty feet. Both of these forms created greater stability, but the full weight of the roof still came down directly onto the walls. Gothic architects did not like the roof truss systems, because the numerous horizontal beams crossing the nave obstructed the view of the soaring height. They came up with an ingenious solution, the Hammerbeam roof. In this system, the point of the roof is supported by the collar and trusses, but from the collar curved beams reach well downward on the walls, and carry the weight downward and outwards, to the walls and buttresses, without obstructing the view. The oldest existing roof of this kind is found in Winchester Cathedral. The most famous example of the Hammerbeam roof is the roof of Westminster Hall (1395), the largest timber roof of its time, built for royal ceremonies such as the banquets following the coronation of the King. Other notable wooden roofs included those of Christ Church, Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Crosby Hall, London. A similar system, with arched trusses, was used in the roof of Wrexham Cathedral. ==University Gothic==

File:Merton College, Oxford (Mob Quad).jpg|Mob Quad, Merton College, Oxford (1288–1378) File:New College Oxford (8167834299).jpg|Front Quad at New College, Oxford. The chapel is on the centre-right, while the smaller window on the far-right belongs to the hall. File:Balliol front quad.jpg|Balliol College, Oxford front quad (1431) File:St John's College Second Court, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|Second Court, St John's College, Cambridge File:Oriel College First Quad.jpg|Gothic Survival at the east range of First Quad, Oriel College, Oxford (1637–1642) The Gothic style was adopted in English university buildings, due in part to the close connection between the universities and the church. At this time Oxford and Cambridge were the only universities in the country. The oldest existing example of University Gothic in England is probably the Mob Quad of Merton College, Oxford, constructed between 1288 and 1378. The late 14th century work of bishop William of Wykeham and his master mason William Wynford was crucial in creating an architectural form for colleges, at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. These foundations were built around regular courtyards, with imposing gate towers, and the hall and chapel end-to-end. This form became the norm for collegiate architecture, with colleges growing round 'quads' in Oxford and 'courts' in Cambridge. Henry VI's joint foundations at Eton and King's would have far outshone Wykeham's, but he was deposed before either could be completed. Variations emerged between Cambridge and Oxford, with Cambridge adopting brick in the 15th century (notably at Queens') and favouring tall turreted gatehouses reminiscent of the mansions of East Anglia, whereas Oxford favoured stone and developed a T-shaped form of chapel, where the ante-chapel ran transeptally, as at New College. The Gothic survived at Oxford well into the 17th century, long after it had fallen from fashion elsewhere. ==Gothic Revival (19th and 20th centuries) ==

File:Wills building from Cabot Tower 2.JPG|Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol (1915–1925) File:Westminster palace.jpg|Palace of Westminster, rebuilt by Barry and Pugin 1840–1876 File:Manchester Town Hall from Lloyd St.jpg|Manchester Town Hall, (1868–1877) File:Tower Bridge from Shad Thames.jpg|Tower Bridge, London, (1886–1894) The Perpendicular style was less often used in the Gothic Revival than the Decorated style, but major examples include the rebuilt Palace of Westminster (i.e. the Houses of Parliament) and Bristol University's Wills Memorial Building (1915–1925). ==See also==