FIG. 136.—FAN-VAULTING, HENRY VII.’S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
PLANS. English church plans underwent, during the Gothic Period, but little change from the general types established previous to the thirteenth century. The Gothic cathedrals and abbeys, like the Norman, were very long and narrow, with choirs often nearly as long as the nave, and almost invariably with square eastward terminations. There is no example of double side aisles and side chapels, and apsidal chapels are very rare. Canterbury and Westminster (Fig. 137) are the chief exceptions to this, and both show clearly the French influence. Another striking peculiarity of the English plans is the frequent occurrence of secondary transepts, adding greatly to the external picturesqueness. These occur in rudimentary form in Canterbury, and at Durham the Chapel of the Nine Altars, added 1242–1290 to the eastern end, forms in reality a secondary transept. This feature is most perfectly developed in the cathedral of Salisbury ([Fig. 128]), and appears also at Lincoln, Worcester, Wells, and a few other examples. The English cathedral plans are also distinguished by the retention or incorporation of many conventual features, such as cloisters, libraries, and halls, and by the grouping of chapter-houses and Lady-chapels with the main edifice. Thus the English cathedral plans and those of the great abbey churches present a marked contrast with those of France and the Continent generally. While Amiens, the greatest of French cathedrals, is 521 feet long, and internally 140 feet high, Ely measures 565 feet in length, and less than 75 feet in height. Notre Dame is 148 feet wide; the English naves are usually under 80 feet in total width of the three aisles.
FIG. 137.—EASTERN HALF OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY. PLAN.
a, Henry VII.’s chapel.
PARISH CHURCHES. Many of these were of exceptional beauty of composition and detail. They display the greatest variety of plan, churches with two equal-gabled naves side by side being not uncommon. A considerable proportion of them date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and are chiefly interesting for their square, single, west towers and their carved wooden ceilings (see below). The tower was usually built over the central western porch; broad and square, with corner buttresses terminating in pinnacles, it was usually finished without spires. Crenelated battlements crowned the upper story. When spires were added the transition from the square tower to the octagonal spire was effected by broaches or portions of a square pyramid intersecting the base of the spire, or by corner pinnacles and flying-buttresses.
FIG. 138.—ROOF OF NAVE, ST. MARY’S, WESTONZOYLAND.