OF THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

Q. During what era did the Early English style prevail?

A. It may be said to have prevailed generally throughout the thirteenth century86-*.Q. How is it distinguished from the Norman and Semi-Norman styles?

A. The semicircular-headed arch, with its peculiar mouldings, was almost entirely discarded, and superseded by the pointed arch, with plain chamfered edges or mouldings of a different character. The segmental arch, nearly flat, was still however used in doorways, and occasionally the semicircular also, as in the arches of the Retrochoir, Chichester Cathedral.

Q. Of what three kinds were the pointed arches of this era?

A. The lancet, the equilateral, and the obtuse-angled arch.

Q. Which of these arches were most in use?

A. In large buildings the lancet and the equilateral-shaped arch were prevalent, as appears in Westminster Abbey, where the lancet arch predominates, and Salisbury Cathedral, where the equilateral arch is principally used; but in small country churches the obtuse-angled arch is most frequently found. All these arches are struck from two centres, and are formed from segments of a circle. In large buildings the architrave is faced with a succession of roll mouldings and deep hollows, in which the tooth ornament is sometimes inserted. In small churches the arches, which are double-faced, have merely plain chamfered edges.

Q. What was the difference of the piers between this and an earlier era?

A. Instead of the massive Norman, the Early English piers were, in large buildings, composed of an insulated column surrounded by slender detached shafts, all uniting together under one capital; these shafts were divided into parts by horizontal bands or fillets; but in small churches a plain octagonal pier, which can, however, scarcely be distinguished from that of a later style, predominated.

Q. How are the capitals distinguished?

A. They are simple in comparison with those of a later style, and are often bell-shaped, with a bead moulding round the neck, and a capping, with a series of mouldings, above; a very elegant and beautiful capital is frequently formed of stiffly sculptured foliage. The capital surmounting the multangular-shaped pier is also multangular in form, but plain, with a neck, and cap mouldings, and is difficult to be discerned from that of the succeeding style; the cap mouldings are, however, in general not so numerous as those of a later period.

Q. How are the doorways of this style distinguished?

A. The small doorways have generally a single detached shaft on each side, with a plain moulded bell-shaped capital, which is sometimes covered with foliage; and the architrave mouldings consist of a few simple members, with a hood moulding or label over, terminated by heads. We also find richer doorways with two or more detached shafts at the sides, and architrave mouldings composed of numerous members. Large doorways of the Early English style were sometimes double, being divided into two arched openings by a shaft, either single or clustered; and above this a quatrefoil was generally inserted, but sometimes the head was filled with sculptured detail. Examples of the double doorway occur in the cathedrals of Ely, Chichester, Wells, Salisbury, Lincoln, and Lichfield; also at Christchurch and St. Cross, Hants; Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire; and in other large churches in this style.

Q. What kind of windows were prevalent?

St. Giles's Oxford. St. Giles's Oxford.

Ely cathedral. Ely cathedral.

A. In the early stages of this style the lancet arch-headed window, very long and narrow, was prevalent; frequently two, three, or more of these were connected together by hood mouldings, the middle window rising higher than those at the sides; sometimes they were unconnected, and without hood mouldings. In the east wall of Early English chancels three lancet windows, thus arranged, are frequently displayed. At a later period a broader window, divided into two lights by a plain mullion, finished at the top with a lozenge or circle, was used; and sometimes a window divided into three lights, the middle one higher than the others, and comprised under one hood moulding, was in use; windows of four and even five lancet lights, thus disposed, are to be met with, but are not common; the sides of the windows were in general simply splayed, without mouldings, and increased in width inwardly, but slender shafts were sometimes annexed; and we also find, in the interior of rich buildings of this style, detached shafts standing out in front of the stonework forming the window jambs, and supporting the arch of the window. Towards the close of this style the windows assumed a more ornamental cast, and became much larger, being frequently divided into two or four principal lights, with one or three circles in the heads; both the lights and circles are foliated, and these evince the transition in progress to the next, or Decorated style. Beneath the windows a string-course is generally carried horizontally along the wall; and a roll moulding, similar to the upper members of the string-course of Merton College Chapel, Oxford, is most commonly met with, as the string-course.

Q. How is the buttress of this age distinguished?

A. In general by its plain triangular or pedimental head, its projecting more from the building than the Norman buttress, and from its being less in breadth. It is also sometimes carried up above the parapet wall. The edges of the buttresses are sometimes chamfered; and plain buttresses in stages finished with simple slopes are not uncommon. We very rarely find buttresses of this style disposed at the angles of buildings, though such disposition was common in the succeeding style; but two buttresses placed at right angles with each other, and with the face of the wall, generally occur at the angles of churches in this style. Flying buttresses were sometimes used to strengthen the clerestory walls of large buildings, and have a light and elegant effect.

Q. Were the walls differently built?

A. They were not so thick as those of an earlier period, which occasioned the want of stronger buttresses to support them.

Pottern, Wilts. Pottern, Wilts.

Hartlepool, Durham. Hartlepool, Durham.

Q. Were the Early English roofs of a different construction from those of a later style?

A. The Norman and Early English roofs were high and acutely pointed. The original roofs of most of our old churches, from their exposure to the weather, have long since fallen to decay, and been replaced by others of a more obtuse shape; but in general the height and angular form of the original roof may be ascertained by the weather moulding still remaining on the side of the tower or steeple. The interior vaulting of stone roofs was composed of fewer parts and ribs, which were often not more numerous than those of Norman vaulting, and does not present that complexity of arrangement which occurs in the vaulting-ribs of subsequent styles. In the cathedral of Salisbury also in the nave of Wells Cathedral are simple and good examples of Early English vaulting. A curious groined roof, in which the ribs are of wood—plain, cut with chamfered edges—and the cells of the vaulting are covered with boards, is to be met with in the church of Warmington, Northamptonshire, a very rich, perfect, and interesting specimen of this style.

Q. Was not the spire introduced at this period?

A. Yes, many spires were then built; among which was that of old St. Paul’s Cathedral, more than five hundred feet high, and which was destroyed by fire, A.D. 1561. The spire of Oxford Cathedral is also of this style. Early English spires are generally what are called Broach spires, and spring at once from the external face of the walls of the tower, without any intervening parapet.

Q. Whence did the spire take its origin?

A. It appears to have been suggested by the Norman pinnacle, which, at first a conical capping, afterwards became polygonal, and ribbed at the angles, thus presenting the prototype of the spire.

Q. What ornament is peculiar, or nearly so, to this style?

A. That called the tooth or dog-tooth ornament, a kind of pyramidal-shaped flower of four leaves, which is generally inserted in a hollow moulding, and, when seen in profile, presents a zig-zag or serrated appearance. The tooth moulding appears to have been introduced towards the close of the twelfth century; and an early instance where it occurs is on a late Norman doorway, at Whitwell Church, Rutlandshire: we do not, however, meet with it in buildings of a later style than that of the thirteenth century. It is sometimes found used in great profusion in doorways, windows, and other ornamental details; but many churches of this style are entirely devoid of this ornament. The ball-flower, though introduced in the thirteenth century, is not a common ornament until the fourteenth, to which era it may be said more particularly to belong; we find it in cornice mouldings, and sometimes on capitals.

Q. What may be observed of the sculptured foliage of this style?

A. As applied to capitals, bases, crockets, and other ornamental detail, we find the general design and appearance of the sculptured foliage of this style to be stiff and formal compared with that of the succeeding style, when the arrangement of the foliage more closely approximated nature, and a greater freedom both in conception and execution was evinced.

Q. How are the parapets distinguished?

A. They are often plain and embattled; but sometimes a simple horizontal parapet is used, supported by a corbel table, as in the tower of Haddenham Church, Buckinghamshire, and on that of Brize Norton Church, Oxfordshire. At Salisbury Cathedral the parapet is relieved by a series of blank trefoil headed pannels, sunk in the face.

Q. What may be said in general terms of the style of the thirteenth century, in comparing it with the styles which immediately preceded and followed it?

A. In comparison with the Norman style, with its heavy concomitants and enrichments, the style of the thirteenth century is light and simple, and the details possess much elegance of contour. These, in small buildings, are generally plain; but in large buildings they exhibit numerous mouldings, combined with a certain degree of decorative embellishment. This style is, however, far from presenting that extreme beauty of outline and tasteful conception, combined with the pure and chaste ornamental accessories, which prevail in the designs of the fourteenth century.

Q. What particular structures may be noticed as belonging to this style?

A. Salisbury Cathedral, built by Bishop Poore between A.D. 1220 and 1260, is perhaps the most perfect specimen, on a large scale, of this style in its early state, with narrow lancet windows; the nave and transepts of Westminster Abbey, commenced in 1245, exhibit this style in a more advanced stage; whilst Lincoln Cathedral is, for the most part, a rich specimen of this style in its late or transition state. The west front of Wells Cathedral, erected by the munificence of Bishop Joceline, between A.D. 1213 and A.D. 1239, is covered with blank arcades and a number of trefoil-headed niches, surmounted by plain pedimental canopies, which contain specimens of statuary remarkable for their extreme beauty and freedom of design.

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