THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.
Towards the close of the XIVth century a great change came over English
Gothic architecture, a change which was to a certain extent a return to
classical ideas. The curvilinear tracery gave place to a rigid vertical
and horizontal form, with the result that windows and panels instead of
being filled with curved bars of stone, were sub-divided by straight
perpendicular bars and transoms or cross-bars.
This style of architecture is popularly known as Perpendicular, but as
the horizontal lines are quite as distinct a feature as are the vertical,
it would perhaps be more correct to speak of it as Rectilinear. This
change in architectural form made its appearance towards the close of
the XIVth century, although it was by no means generally introduced at
that period, for the old methods and styles were carried on side by side
with the new for many years. For example, the eastern end of the choir
of York Minster (1361-99) possesses a window the traceries of which
contain both curvilinear and rectilinear lines, while Shottesbrook
Church in Berkshire (1387), and Wimmington Church, Bedfordshire (1391)
are examples of village churches neither of which has any feature of the
Perpendicular style.
[Illustration: Yeovil Parish Church (A.D. 1376).
Early Perpendicular in style, without a clerestory, and called,
for its large window area, the "Lantern of the West."]
In its earlier stages the Perpendicular style presented an effect at
once good and bold; the mouldings, though not equal to the best of the
Decorated style, were well defined, the enrichments effective, and the
details delicate without extravagant minuteness. Subsequently the
style underwent a gradual debasement; the arches became depressed; the
mouldings impoverished, the details crowded and coarsely executed, and
the whole style became wanting in the chaste and elegant effects for
which the Decorated stands unapproached and unapproachable. The flowing
contours and curved lines of the previous style now gave place in the
windows to mullions running straight up from the bottom to the top, and
crossed by transoms. As the arch became more and more depressed the
mouldings became shallower and less effective. In early buildings of
this period the drop arch is very prevalent, but as the period advanced
a form known as the Tudor arch began to be used. It is an arch in which,
as a rule, the centres of the upper portion lie immediately below those
of the lower, but this is not always the case. Sometimes the whole of
the upper portion uniting the arcs of the ends is struck from one centre,
in which case the arch becomes a three-centred one, being, in fact, half
an ellipse. Towards the close of the style the curvature of the upper
portion is so slight that it can hardly be distinguished from a straight
line, and as the debasement progressed it became really straight. Ogee
arches are also found at this period, and foiled arches are very frequent.
When the Tudor arch was not used, we generally find the low drop arch,
these three last being mostly used for small openings.
[Illustration: A Fine Parish Church showing Rich Perpendicular Work.
Terrington St. Clement, Norfolk. _Photograph Dexter & Son._]
The peculiar characteristics of the windows--the perpendicular
mullions and horizontal transoms--we have already alluded to.
[Side note: Perpendicular Windows.]
The window heads, instead of being filled with flowing tracery, have
slender mullions running from the heads of the lights between each
mullion, and these again have smaller transoms, until the whole surface
of the window becomes divided into a series of panels, the heads of
which being arched, are trefoiled or cinquefoiled. In the later windows
the transoms at the top are often furnished with a small ornamental
battlement, causing the mullions to present a concave outline.
[Illustration: A Perpendicular Doorway.
Merton College Chapel. _Drawn by E. M. Heath._]
The plans of churches in this style differ from all others in that they
are more spacious, the columns more slender and wider apart, the windows
much larger, and the walls loftier and thinner. Panelling is used most
abundantly on walls, both internally and externally, and also on
vaulting, while some buildings, as Henry the Seventh's Chapel at
Westminster, are almost entirely covered with it. Fan tracery vaulting,
a feature peculiar to this style, is almost invariably covered with
panelling.
The mouldings of this period are essentially different from those which
preceded them. As a general rule they are cut on a slanting or chamfer
plane, the groups of mouldings being separated by a shallow oval-shaped
hollow, entirely different from those of the Decorated period.
[Side note: Perpendicular Doorways.]
The doorways of the early portion of this period had two-centred arches,
but the characteristic form is the four-centred, enclosed in a square
head, formed by the outer mouldings with a hood mould of the same shape,
the spandrels being filled with quatrefoils, roses, shields, etc.
[Side note: Perpendicular Capitals.]
Perpendicular capitals are either circular or octagonal, but the necking
is usually of the former shape, and the upper members of the abacus of
the latter form. The bell portion is mostly plain, but is often enriched
with foliage of a very conventional character, shallow and formal,
without either the freedom or the boldness of the Early English, or the
exquisite grace of the Decorated periods. A distinguishing feature in
the ornamentation of this period is that called panel-tracery, with
which the walls and vaulted ceilings are covered. The patterns are found
in a variety of forms, as circles, squares, quatrefoils, etc.
[Side note: Fan Vaulting.]
The rich vaulting called fan vaulting previously alluded to, is composed
of pendant curved semi-cones, covered with foliated panel-work, which
bears some resemblance to a fan spread open.
[Side note: Perpendicular Ornament.]
Another very characteristic ornament is the Tudor flower. It is formed
by a series of flat leaves placed upright against the stalk. It was
much used in late buildings as a crest or ornamental finishing to
cornices, etc., to which it gave an embattled appearance. Cornices and
brackets were frequently ornamented with busts of winged angels called
angel-brackets, and angel-corbels. The portcullis and the Tudor
rose--both badges of the house of Tudor--also figure prominently among
the ornaments of the period. The crockets for the most part partake of
the squareness which pervades all the foliage of this style. _See page
64._
[Side note: Perpendicular Buttresses.]
The buttresses are very similar to those preceding them in their plainer
forms, but, in richer examples the faces are covered with panel work
and are finished with square pinnacles sometimes set diagonally and
terminated with a crocketed spire, or finished with an animal or other
ornament. Parapets with square battlements are very common at this period,
but they too are frequently panelled or pierced with tracery, or with
trefoils or quatrefoils inserted in square, circular or triangular
compartments.
[Side note: Perpendicular Roofs.]
The roofs of this period, both in ecclesiastical and secular buildings,
are very magnificent, and have the whole of the framing exposed to view;
many of them are of high pitch, the spaces between the timbers being
filled with tracery, and the beams arched, moulded and ornamented in
various ways; and frequently pendants, figures of angels, and other
carvings are introduced. The flatter roofs are sometimes lined with
boards and divided into panels by ribs, or have the timbers open, and
all enriched with mouldings and carvings, as at Cirencester church,
Gloucestershire.
The gradual decline of the Gothic style is very evident in late
Perpendicular churches, especially in those erected at the beginning
of the XVIth century. The elements of Gothic architecture became much
degraded and led to that mixture of features called the Debased Gothic
in which every real principle of art and of beauty was lost.
[Illustration: A Perpendicular Porch.
S. Nicholas, King's Lynn. _Photograph Dexter & Son._]
The chief characteristics, then, of the Perpendicular style are the
vertical mullions, and the general flattening of arches, mouldings and
carvings. Should there be no other guide, a Perpendicular church carries
its style and period stamped upon its carvings. The plants represented
are, almost without exception, the vine with or without grapes, and
the oak with or without acorns. The leaves are generally full blown and
crumpled. The earliest building showing the Perpendicular style is the
beautiful little priory church of Edington, in Wilts, erected by William
Edington, Bishop of Winchester. The same style, but more fully developed,
is seen in the nave of Winchester Cathedral, at New College, Oxford, and
at Winchester College.
It is generally admitted that the Perpendicular style was, to a certain
extent, a return to classical ideas, for Gothic architecture in its
aspiring grace and feeling for motion was becoming a little unsteady in
construction, and although the movement was started by Bishop Edington,
it was left to William of Wykeham to save our English Gothic architecture
from developing into the flamboyant[1] style so characteristic of the
late Gothic buildings of France and Germany.
It is little less than astounding that William of Wykeham, at once Prime
Minister, diplomatist, scholar and energetic churchman, should have found
time to introduce such far-reaching reforms into the art of building,
and whatever his fame may be in other directions he will always be
remembered by posterity as one of the most remarkable geniuses of the
Middle Ages, a man of giant mind and immense physical energy, who
carried into all his work a large and dignified character, stamping it
with the unmistakable personality of a master mind.
[Side note: Perpendicular Towers.]
As builders and designers of church towers the masons of the
Perpendicular era have never been approached, and all our finest English
towers are of this style and period.
[Illustration: A Fine Perpendicular Tower.
St. Mary, Taunton. _Photograph H. Montague Cooper._]
Considerations of space will only allow a few of these towers to be
mentioned, but among the finest are those at Boston, Lincolnshire;
Wrexham, Denbighshire; Wymondham, Heigham and S. Clement's in Norfolk;
Southwold Church in Suffolk; Manchester Cathedral, S. Nicholas' Church,
Newcastle, and S. Mary's Church, Taunton. Of Perpendicular date and
style, also, are the great lantern towers of Worcester, Bristol,
Gloucester, York and Durham Cathedrals, in addition to the fine
bell-tower of Evesham Abbey.
[Side note: Perpendicular Spires.]
The spire, although less commonly used than formerly, was by no means
abandoned, and beautiful examples of Perpendicular spires are those at
S. Michael's, Coventry, and Rotherham Church, Yorkshire. Although
nearly all our cathedrals have some portion of their fabric in the
Perpendicular style, chantries, chapels, cloisters, vaulting, screens,
etc., it was in our parochial churches that Perpendicular architecture
reached its highest and finest development. Just as the XIIIth century
was the great age for cathedral building, so the latter end of the XIVth
and earlier half of the XVth centuries was the period to which we owe
some of the most beautiful of our parish churches, as S. Michael's,
Coventry (fin. 1395); S. Nicholas, Lynn (fin. 1400); Manchester
Cathedral (formerly a collegiate church), (1422); Fotheringay Church,
Northants (fin. 1435); Southwold Church, Suffolk (1440), and S. Mary
Redcliffe, Bristol (about 1442). A little later came, among others,
Wakefield Church, Yorkshire (1470), S. Stephen's, Bristol (1470), S.
Mary's, Oxford, and its namesake at Cambridge (both in 1478) and Long
Melford Church, Suffolk (1481).
Apart from the actual buildings the Perpendicular architects, masons and
sculptors have left us some beautiful work in the form of timber roofs,
screens, stalls and seats. Among the more notable roofs of this period
are those at S. Peter's, S. Andrew's and S. Mary's, Norwich, the one at
Morton Church in Somerset, those at Saffron Walden and Thaxted, Essex,
and a particularly fine one at S. David's Cathedral in Wales. Among the
remarkable domestic roofs in this style are those at Westminster Hall
and Eltham Palace.