Our Decorated tour was brought to a close by viewing the glass of that
period in Merton College at Oxford. Not only shall we be able to begin
our new tour in that same city, by inspecting the fully developed
Perpendicular windows at All Souls', but we are also afforded an
opportunity, thanks to the transition character of the New College
windows (1386), to learn the intermediate steps through which the change
of style was effected. On leaving Oxford, we will betake ourselves to
the famously glazed church at Fairford, and thence journey, _via_
Cirencester, to Gloucester. The next point will be Great Malvern and its
neighbour Little Malvern, and then over the bold uplift of the Malvern
Hills to Ross. A northerly _detour_ will take us first to Warwick and
then to Coventry, which will probably conclude this tour, for although
York appears as the last of this series, it is so placed for the sake
of regularity, and only for those who may not have taken the first or
second tours. York was visited on both of those, and occasion was given
to inspect the Perpendicular glass which there abounds.
[Illustration: MAP OF PERPENDICULAR TOUR]
In addition to the places just mentioned there are three so situated as
to make it inconvenient to include them in this tour--Salisbury,
Winchester, and St. Neot (Cornwall). Salisbury has already been visited
on our Early English tour. Winchester lies well to the south near
Southampton, while St. Neot is off in the west, a few miles beyond
Plymouth. These two towns should, however, be on no account omitted,
even though each require a separate trip.