OF THE FLORID OR PERPENDICULAR ENGLISH STYLE.
Q. When may this style be said to have commenced, and how long did it
prevail?
A. We find traces of it in buildings erected at the close of the reign of
Edward the Third (circa A. D. 1375); and it prevailed for about a century
and half, or rather more, till late in the reign of Henry the Eighth
(circa A. D. 1539).
Q. Whence does it derive its appellation?
A. From the multiplicity, profusion, and minuteness of its ornamental
detail, it has by some received the designation of FLORID; by others, from
the mullions of the windows and the divisions of ornamental panel-work
running in straight or perpendicular lines up to the head, which is not
the case in any earlier style, it has been called and is now better known
by the designation of the PERPENDICULAR[121-*].
Q. In what respects did it differ from the style which immediately
preceded it?
A. The beautiful flowing contour of the lines of tracery characteristic of
the Decorated style was superseded by mullions and transoms, and, in
panel-work, lines of division disposed vertically and horizontally; and in
lieu of the quarter-round, semi and tripartite roll and small hollow
mouldings of the fourteenth century, angular-edged mouldings with bold
cavettos became predominant.
Q. Of what kind are the arches of this style?
A. Although, in this style, pointed arches constructed from almost every
radius are to be found, the complex four-centred arch, commonly called
the Tudor arch, was almost peculiar to it; and the cavetto or wide and
rather shallow hollow moulding, a characteristic feature of this style,
often appears in the architrave mouldings of pier arches, doorways, and
windows, and as a cornice moulding under parapets.
[Illustration: Window, St. Mary’s Church, Oxford.]
[Illustration: Mullion, Burford Church, Oxfordshire.]
Q. How are the piers of this style, which support the clerestory arches,
distinguished from those of an earlier period?
[Illustration: Capital, Piddleton Church, Dorsetshire.]
A. The section of a pier, which is common in this style, may be described
as formed from a square or parallelogram, with the angles fluted or cut in
a bold hollow, and on the flat face of each side of the pier a
semicylindrical shaft is attached. The flat faces or sides of the pier and
the hollow mouldings at the angles are carried up vertically from the base
moulding to the spring of the arch, and thence, without the interposition
of any capital, in a continuous sweep to the apex of the arch; but the
slender shafts attached to the piers have capitals, the upper members of
which are angular-shaped. The base mouldings are also polygonal. Piers and
arches of this description are numerous, and occur, amongst other
churches, in St. Thomas Church, Salisbury; Cerne Abbas Church, Bradford
Abbas Church, and Piddleton Church, Dorsetshire; Yeovil Church,
Somersetshire; and Burford Church, Oxfordshire. In some churches a very
slender shaft with a capital is attached to each angle of the pier, which
is disposed lozengewise, the main body of the pier presenting continuous
lines of moulding with those of the arch, unbroken by any capital: as in
the piers of Bath Abbey Church, rebuilt early in the sixteenth century. In
small country churches we frequently find the architrave mouldings of the
arch continued down the piers, which are altogether devoid of any
horizontal stop by way of capital. The churches of Brinklow and
Willoughby, in Warwickshire, afford instances of this kind. Piers somewhat
different to those above described are also to be met with, but are not so
common.
Q. What else may be noted respecting some of the piers and arches in this
style?
A. The face of the sub-arch or soffit is sometimes enriched with oblong
panelled compartments, arched-headed and foliated; and these are
continued down the inner sides of the piers. The arches of the tower of
Cerne Abbas Church, Dorsetshire, and some of the arches in Sherborne
Church, in the same county, may be instanced as examples.
[Illustration: Panelled Arch, Sherborne Church, Dorsetshire.]
Q. How may we distinguish the doorways and doors of this style?
A. Many doorways of this style, especially during its early progress, were
surmounted by crocketted ogee-shaped hood mouldings, terminating with
finials. In the most common doorway of this style, however, the depressed
four-centred arch appears within a square head, and in general a
rectangular hood moulding over; and the spandrels or spaces between the
spring and apex of the arch and angles of the square head over it are
filled with quatrefoils, panelling, foliage, small shields, or other
sculptured ornaments. Sometimes the depressed four-centred arch appears
without any hood moulding, and we occasionally meet with a simple pointed
arch described from two centres placed within a rectangular compartment.
Doorways in this style are often profusely ornamented; and it is common to
see doors covered with panel-work boldly recessed, the compartments of
which are sometimes filled in the heads with crocketed ogee arches, which
produce a rich effect.
[Illustration: Doorway, All Souls College, Oxford.]
Q. Are there many fine porches of this style?
A. More than in any other style, and they are often profusely enriched,
the front and sides being covered with panel-work, tracery, and niches for
statuary. The interior of the roof is frequently groined, sometimes with
fan tracery, but generally with simple though numerous ribs; and in many
instances a room is constructed over the groined entrance or lower story
of the porch, but so as to be in keeping with and form part of the general
design. The south porch of Gloucester Cathedral, the south-west porch of
Canterbury Cathedral, the south porch of St. John’s Church, Cirencester,
and the south porch of Burford Church, Oxfordshire, may be noticed as
examples of rich porches of this style; many others might also be
enumerated, as they are very numerous and various in detail. Some porches
are comparatively plain, as the south porch of the church of
Newbold-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.
Q. How are the windows distinguished?
[Illustration: Window, New College Chapel, Oxford.]
A. The chief characteristic in the windows of this style, and which
renders them easily distinguished from those of an earlier era, consists
in the vertical bearing of the mullions, which, instead of diverging off
in flowing lines, are carried straight up into the head of the window;
smaller mullions spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus
the upper portion of the window is filled with panel-like compartments.
The principal as well as the subordinate lights are foliated in the heads;
and in large windows the lights are often divided horizontally by
transoms, which are sometimes embattled. From the continued upright
position of the mullions and tracery-bars is derived the term
PERPENDICULAR, as applied to this style. The forms of the window-arches
vary from the simple pointed to the complex four-centred arch, more or
less depressed. The windows of the clerestory are sometimes arched, but
oftener square-headed; and some large windows of the latter description
nearly cover the sides of the clerestory walls of Chipping Norton Church,
Oxfordshire.
Q. What do we frequently observe in buildings of this style?
A. The interior walls of churches are often completely covered with
panel-work tracery, arched headed and foliated, from the clerestory
windows down to the mouldings of the arches below. The walls of Sherborne
Church, Dorsetshire, present in the interior a surface almost entirely
covered with panel-work. Several large churches in this style have also
long ranges of clerestory windows, set so close to each other that the
whole length of the clerestory wall seems perforated: we may enumerate as
examples the churches of St. Michael, Coventry; Stratford-upon-Avon,
Warwickshire; and Lavenham and Melford, Suffolk. Walls covered on the
exterior with panel-work are also far from uncommon: the Abbots’ Tower,
Evesham, the tower of the church of St. Neot’s, Huntingdonshire, and of
Wrexham, Denbighshire, and many other rich towers, (especially those of
the churches in Somersetshire, where rich specimens in this style abound,
more so perhaps than in any other county,) are thus decorated. The
exterior of many rich structures in this style are also covered with
panel-work, as the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, the west front of Winchester
Cathedral, and Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.
[Illustration: Parapet, St. Peter’s Church, Oxford.]
Q. How are the vaulted roofs of this style distinguished?
A. They are in detail more complicated than those of earlier styles, and
in plain as distinguished from fan-tracery vaulting the groining ribs are
more numerous. The ribs often diverge at different angles, and form
geometrical-shaped panels or compartments; and the design has, in some
instances, been assimilated to net-work. Plain vaulting of this style
occurs in the nave and choir, Norwich Cathedral; the Lady Chapel and
choir, Gloucester Cathedral; the nave, Winchester Cathedral; the Beauchamp
Chapel, Warwick; and a very late specimen in the choir, Oxford Cathedral.
A very rich and peculiar description of vaulting is one composed of
pendant semicones covered with foliated panel-work, and, from the design
resembling a fan spread open, called _fan-tracery_. Of this description of
vaulting an early instance appears in the cloisters, Gloucester Cathedral.
The roofs of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and Henry the Seventh’s
Chapel, Westminster Abbey, are well-known examples; and portions of
several of our cathedrals and many small chantry and sepulchral chapels
are thus vaulted.
Q. What may be observed of the wooden roofs of this style?
[Illustration: Wooden Roof, south aisle, St. Mary’s Church, Leicester.]
A. They are far more numerous than those we meet with in all the previous
styles; and we frequently find churches of early date in which the
original roofs, having perhaps become decayed, have been removed and
replaced by roofs designed in that style prevalent during the fifteenth
century. The slope or pitch of the roof is much lower than before, and the
form altogether more obtuse, and sometimes approaching nearly to flatness.
The exterior is on this account often entirely concealed from view by the
parapet. Many roofs of this style are divided into bays or compartments
by horizontal tie-beams faced with mouldings, and apparently supported by
curved ribs springing from corbels, and forming spandrels filled with open
worked tracery; and the spaces between the tie-beam, the king-post, and
the sloping rafters of the roof, are filled with pierced or open-work
tracery. The sloping bays or compartments of the roof are divided by rib
mouldings into squares or parallelograms of panel-work, which are again
often subdivided into similar-shaped panels by smaller ribs with carved
bosses at the intersections. Some roofs are nearly flat, and simply
panelled. On many roofs traces of painting and gilding may still be
discerned, more especially in that part which was over an altar, and where
the roof often bears indications of having been more ornamented than other
parts. Roofs painted of an azure colour and studded with gilt stars are
not uncommon. Sometimes the roof is coved, and the boards are painted in
imitation of clouds. A great variety of wooden roofs is to be met with in
this style, many of them exceeding rich; whilst the cornice under the roof
is sometimes elaborately carved and enriched. Some roofs are much plainer
in construction than others; and it was, during this era, a part of the
church on the enrichment of which no small expense and attention were
bestowed.
Q. What may be noted respecting the parapets of this era?
[Illustration: Parapet, St. Peter’s Church, Dorchester.]
A. Many embattled parapets are covered with sunk or pierced panelling, and
ornamented with quatrefoils or small trefoil-headed arches; and they have
sometimes triangular-shaped heads, as at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge,
and at the east end of Peterborough Cathedral. We also find horizontal or
straight-sided parapets, covered with sunk or pierced quatrefoils in
circles. A plain embattled parapet, with the horizontal coping moulding
continued or carried down the sides of the embrasures, and then again
returning horizontally, as at St. Peter’s Church, Dorchester, Dorsetshire,
is also common. A bold but shallow cavetto or hollow cornice moulding is
frequently carried along the wall just under the parapet.
Q. Was the panelled or sunk quatrefoil much used in decorative detail?
A. In rich buildings of this style the base, the parapet, and other
intermediate portions were decorated with rows or bands of sunk
quatrefoils, sometimes inclosed in circles, sometimes in squares, and
sometimes in lozenge-shaped compartments.
[Illustration: Rose and Foliage, Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.]
Q. What other ornamental detail is peculiar to this style?
A. The rose, which, differing only in colour, was the badge both of the
houses of York and Lancaster, and as such is often to be met with. Rows of
a trefoil or lozenge-shaped leaf, somewhat like an oak or strawberry leaf,
with a smaller trefoil more simple in design intervening between two
larger, was frequently used as a finish to the cornice of rich
screen-work, and is known under the designation of _the Tudor Flower_. It
is also common to find the tendrils, leaves, and fruit of the vine carved
or sculptured in great profusion in the hollow of rich cornice mouldings,
especially on screen-work in the interior of a church.
[Illustration: Vine Leaves and Fruit, Whitchurch Church, Somersetshire.]
Q. In what respect do the mouldings of this style differ from those of
earlier styles?
A. In a greater prevalence of angular forms, which may be observed in
noticing the section of a series of mouldings, and in the bases and
capitals of cylindrical shafts. A large and bold but shallow hollow
moulding or cavetto, in which, when forming part of a horizontal fascia or
cornice, flowers, leaves, and other sculptured details are often inserted
at intervals, is a common feature; and such moulding, without any
insertion, is frequent in doorway and window jambs. A kind of double ogee
moulding with little projection, is, in conjunction with other mouldings,
also of common occurrence.
[Illustration: Window, St. Peter’s Church, Oxford.]
Q. Of what particular description of work do we find the existing remains
to be almost entirely designed and executed in this style of
ecclesiastical art?
A. Of the numerous specimens of rich wooden screens, composed as to the
lower part of sunk panelling, with open work above, which we often find
separating the chancel from the body of the church, supporting the
rood-loft, and inclosing chantry chapels in side aisles, comparatively few
now remaining are of an earlier date than the fifteenth century[137-*].
Q. What do we find in large buildings erected late in this style?
A. Octagonal turrets, plain or covered with sunk panelling, and surmounted
with ogee-headed cupolas, which are adorned with crockets and finials. In
Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, Westminster, they are used as buttresses. We
also find them at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge; at St. George’s
Chapel, Windsor; and at Winchester Cathedral.
Q. Have we any coeval documents which contain particulars relating to the
erection of churches?
A. The contract entered into A. D. 1412, for the building of Catterick
Church, Yorkshire, and the contract entered into A. D. 1435, for
rebuilding, as it now stands, the collegiate church of Fotheringhay in
Northamptonshire, or copies of such, have been preserved; as have
particulars also from the contracts entered into A. D. 1450, for the
fitting up of the Beauchamp Chapel, St. Mary’s Church, Warwick. In the
will of King Henry the Sixth, dated A. D. 1447, we find specific directions
given for the size and arrangement of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge;
and no less than five different indentures are preserved, (the earliest
dated A. D. 1513, the latest A. D. 1527,) containing contracts for the
execution of different parts of that celebrated structure. The will of
King Henry the Seventh, dated A. D. 1509, contains several orders and
directions relating to the completion of the splendid chapel adjoining the
abbey church, Westminster.
Q. Mention some of the earliest buildings of this style, the dates of the
erection of which have been clearly ascertained?
A. The tower of St. Michael’s Church, Coventry, the building of which
commenced A. D. 1373 and was finished A. D. 1395[140-*], is an early and
fine specimen; the beautiful and lofty spire was, however, an after
addition, like that at Salisbury Cathedral, and was not commenced till
A. D. 1432. Westminster Hall[140-†], the reparation or reconstruction of
the greater part of which by King Richard the Second was commenced A. D.
1397 and finished A. D. 1399, has a fine groined porch, the front of which
exhibits the square head over the arch of entrance; and the spandrels are
filled with quatrefoils, inclosing shields and sunk panel-work. The large
window above the porch, and that at the west end, are divided into
panel-like compartments by vertical mullions, and a transom divides the
principal lights horizontally. The wooden roof is of a more acute pitch
than we usually find in buildings of this style, and is remarkable as a
specimen of constructive art and display. The spaces between the arches
and rafters are filled up to the ridge-piece with open panel-work
ornamentally designed; and this is perhaps the earliest specimen we
possess of the perpendicular wooden roof.
Q. What complete structures are there in this style of a late date, the
periods of the erection of which are ascertained?
A. The design for the rebuilding of the Abbey Church, Bath, was planned
and the reconstruction thereof commenced, by Bishop King, A. D. 1500; and
after his death the works were carried on by Priors Bird and Hollowaye;
but the church was not completed when the surrender of the monastery took
place, A. D. 1539. The foundation of Henry the Seventh’s Chapel,
Westminster Abbey, was laid A. D. 1502, but the chapel was not completed
till the reign of Henry the Eighth. It is the richest specimen, on a large
scale, of this style of architecture, and is completely covered, both
internally and externally, with panel-work, niches, statuary, heraldic
devices, cognizances, and other decorative embellishment. The church at
St. Neot’s, Huntingdonshire, is a fine large parochial edifice, all built
apparently after one regular design, and consists of a tower covered with
panel-work and ornament, with crocketed pinnacles at the angles and in
front of each side; a nave, north and south aisles and chancel, and two
chantry chapels, forming a continuation eastward of each aisle. It has a
fine wooden roof, the cornice under which is in different parts curiously
carved in relief. This church is said to have been erected A. D. 1507. But
one of the most perfect specimens of a late date, on a smaller scale, is
the church of Whiston, Northamptonshire, built A. D. 1534, by Anthony
Catesby, esquire, lord of the manor, Isabel his wife, and John their son:
it consists of a tower encircled with rows of quatrefoils and other
decorative embellishment, and finished with crocketed pinnacles at the
angles; a nave divided from the north and south aisles by arches within
rectangular compartments, the spandrels of which are filled with sunk
quatrefoils and foliated panels; these arches spring from piers disposed
lozengewise with semicylindrical shafts at the angles; there are no
clerestory windows, and the windows of the aisles and chancel have
obtusely-pointed four-centred arches. The wooden roof is a good example of
the kind.
Q. What district is noted for the number of rich churches in this style?
[Illustration: St. Stephen’s Church, Bristol.]
A. Somersetshire contains a number of fine churches, erected apparently
towards the close of the fifteenth or very early in the sixteenth
century; and many of these churches have much of carved woodwork in
screens, rood-lofts, pulpits, and in pewing. The towers are, in
particular, remarkable for their general style of design, and are often
divided into stages by bands of quatrefoils; the sides are more or less
ornamented with projecting canopied niches for statuary, and in many of
these niches the statues have been preserved from the iconoclastic zeal
which has elsewhere prevailed. The belfry windows are partly pierced,
sometimes in quatrefoils, and partly filled with sunk panel-work. The
parapets, whether embattled or straight-sided, are pierced with open work;
and at each angle of the tower, at which buttresses are disposed
rectangular-wise, is finished with a crocketed pinnacle, which is also
often to be met with rising from the middle of the parapet. Towers similar
in general design to those which may be said to prevail in Somersetshire
are not unfrequently met with in other counties, but do not exhibit that
provincialism which is the case in that particular county.
[Illustration: King Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.]
FOOTNOTES:
[121-*] Mr. Rickman, from whom this appellation is derived, has been
since generally followed in his nomenclature.
[137-*] In Compton Church, Surrey, is, or until recently was, the
remains of a wooden screen of late Norman character. Between the chancel
and nave of Stanton Harcourt Church, Oxfordshire, is an early wooden
screen in the style of the thirteenth century: the lower division is of
plain panel-work, whilst the upper division consists of a series of
open-pointed arches, trefoiled in the heads, and supported by slender
cylindrical shafts with moulded bases and capitals, and an annulated
moulding encircles each shaft midway up. In Northfleet Church, Kent, is
a wooden screen which approximates in general design that at Stanton
Harcourt, but is in a more advanced stage of art, being of the Early
Decorated style: the lower portion of this is of plain panelling, while
the open work forming the upper division above consists of a series of
pointed arches, with tracery and foliations in and between the heads,
supported by slender cylindrical shafts banded round midway with moulded
bases and capitals, and these arches support a horizontal cornice.
Specimens of decorated screen-work, some much mutilated, others in a
more perfect state, are existing in the churches of King’s Sutton,
Northamptonshire; Croperdy, Oxfordshire; Beaudesert, Warwickshire; and
in St. John’s Church, Winchester. A characteristic distinction between
screen-work of an earlier date than the fifteenth century and
screen-work of that period will be found to consist in the slender
cylindrical shafts, often annulated, sometimes not, with moulded bases
and capitals which pertain to early work of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, and the mullion-like and angular-edged bars, often
faced with small buttresses, which form the principal vertical divisions
in screen-work of the fifteenth century.
[140-*] This stately monument of private munificence was erected at the
sole charges of two brothers, Adam and William Botnor: it was twenty-one
years in building, and cost each year 100_l._
[140-†] Though not an ecclesiastical structure, it is here noticed as an
example of the style in an early stage.
[Illustration: Window, Duffield Church, Derbyshire.]