English architecture, medieval

The White Tower, the oldest part of the Tower of London, on the banks of the Thames River, London. This tower was constructed from 1078, by the followers of William the Conqueror, and the remainder of the fortress was built around it by succeeding monarchs.

During the Middle Ages (11th-mid-16th centuries), two styles dominated English architecture: Norman, or Romanesque, (11th-12th centuries) and Gothic (late 12th-mid-16th centuries).

Norman, or Romanesque, architecture After the Norman Conquest William (I) the Conqueror began an enormous building programme; 50 castles were constructed in England between 1066 and 1086. Surviving buildings of the 11th-12th centuries consist almost entirely of churches, cathedrals, and castles. Norman buildings have massive walls for structural integrity, round arches (although trefoil (clover-shaped) arches are sometimes used for small openings), huge cylindrical columns, and small windows. The resulting interiors are dark. The buttresses that support the walls only project slightly, and the roof vaults are barrel-shaped. Examples include the White Tower (1078), which forms the original keep of the Tower of London, and parts of the cathedrals of Chichester, Gloucester, and Ely. At Durham Cathedral (1093-c. 1130) the rib vaults demonstrate an important invention in the development of the Gothic style.

Gothic architecture Gothic style was used for all secular buildings as well as for cathedrals, churches, and monasteries. English Gothic architecture is divided into three overlapping phases - Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular - characterized by differences in their window design, and by the development of a complicated system of vaulting and buttressing to support the roof. The thick walls, heavy barrel-vaults, flat buttresses, and narrow windows of the 12th century came to be replaced by bolder buttresses with thinner walls between them, and thinner roof vaults supported on stone ribs. As the walls no longer had to carry the main weight of the roof, they could be pierced with numerous openings, so windows became larger and filled with tracery. Gothic features also include vertical lines of tall pillars and spires, and pointed arches.

Early English style (late 12th-late 13th century) has simple, elongated lancet windows (windows topped by pointed arches), with deeply carved mouldings, and slender, contrasting shafts of black Purbeck marble. The style began with the French east end of Canterbury Cathedral, built in the mid 1170s by William of Sens (died c. 1180), and reached a peak in the cathedrals of Wells, Lincoln, and Salisbury.

Decorated architecture (late 13th-14th century), as found at Exeter Cathedral, introduced a greater richness in carving, and features such as the ogee arch (pointed with S-shaped curves), and elaborate window tracery. Vault ribs were woven into star patterns, as in the Lady Chapel at Ely and the Angel Choir at Lincoln.

Perpendicular architecture (14th-mid-16th century), with its dramatic gridded and panelled arrangement of windows, made buildings into cages of light. A dramatic contrast to Decorated architecture, they often convey an impressive sense of unity, space, and power, although they lack the richness and invention of the 14th century. The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral is early Perpendicular; Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, is late Perpendicular.