WOODEN CEILINGS. The English treated woodwork with consummate skill. They invented and developed a variety of forms of roof-truss in which the proper distribution of the strains was combined with a highly decorative treatment of the several parts by carving, moulding, and arcading. The ceiling surfaces between the trusses were handled decoratively, and the oaken open-timber ceilings of many of the English churches and civic or academic halls (Christ Church Hall, Oxford; Westminster Hall, London) are such noble and beautiful works as quite to justify the substitution of wooden for vaulted ceilings (Fig. 138). The hammer-beam truss was in its way as highly scientific, and æsthetically as satisfactory, as any feature of French Gothic stone construction. Without the use of tie-rods to keep the rafters from spreading, it brought the strain of the roof upon internal brackets low down on the wall, and produced a beautiful effect by the repetition of its graceful curves in each truss.
CHAPELS AND HALLS. Many of these rival the cathedrals in beauty and dignity of design. The royal chapels at Windsor and Westminster have already been mentioned, as well as King’s College Chapel at Cambridge, and Christ Church Hall at Oxford. To these college halls should be added the chapel of Merton College at Oxford, and the beautiful chapel of St. Stephen at Westminster, most unfortunately demolished when the present Parliament House was erected. The Lady-chapels of Gloucester and Ely, though connected with the cathedrals, are really independent designs of late date, and remarkable for the richness of their decoration, their great windows, and elaborate ribbed vaulting. Some of the halls in mediæval castles and manor-houses are also worthy of note, especially for their timber ceilings.
MINOR MONUMENTS. The student of Gothic architecture should also give attention to the choir-screens, tombs, and chantries which embellish many of the abbeys and cathedrals. The rood-screen at York is a notable example of the first; the tomb of De Gray in the same cathedral, and tombs and chantries in Canterbury, Winchester, Westminster Abbey, Ely, St. Alban’s Abbey, and other churches are deservedly admired. In these the English love for ornament, for minute carving, and for the contrast of white and colored marble, found unrestrained expression. To these should be added the market-crosses of Salisbury and Winchester, and Queen Eleanor’s Cross at Waltham.
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. The mediæval castles of Great Britain belong to the domain of military engineering rather than of the history of art, though occasionally presenting to view details of considerable architectural beauty. The growth of peace and civic order is marked by the erection of manor-houses, the residences of wealthy landowners. Some of these houses are of imposing size, and show the application to domestic requirements, of the late Gothic style which prevailed in the period to which most of them belong. The windows are square or Tudor-arched, with stone mullions and transoms of the Perpendicular style, and the walls terminate in merlons or crenelated parapets, recalling the earlier military structures. The palace of the bishop or archbishop, adjoining the cathedral, and the residences of the dean, canons, and clergy, together with the libraries, schools, and gates of the cathedral enclosure, illustrate other phases of secular Gothic work. Few of these structures are of striking architectural merit, but they possess a picturesque charm which is very attractive.
Not many stone houses of the smaller class remain from the Gothic period in England. But there is hardly an old town that does not retain many of the half-timbered dwellings of the fifteenth or even fourteenth century, some of them in excellent preservation. They are for the most part wider and lower than the French houses of the same class, but are built on the same principle, and, like them, the woodwork is more or less richly carved.
MONUMENTS: (A. = abbey church; C. = cathedral; r. = ruined; trans. = transept; each monument is given under the date of the earliest extant Gothic work upon it, with additions of later periods in parentheses.)
Early English: Kirkstall A., 1152–82, first pointed arches; Canterbury C., choir, 1175–84 (nave, 1378–1411; central tower, 1500); Lincoln C., choir, trans., 1192–1200 (vault, 1250; nave and E. end, 1260–80); Lichfield C., 1200–50 (W. front, 1275; presbytery, 1325); Worcester C., choir, 1203–18, nave partly Norman (W. end, 1375–95); Chichester C., 1204–44 (spire rebuilt 17th century); Fountains A., 1205–46; Salisbury C., 1220–58 (cloister, chapter-h., 1263–84; spire, 1331); Elgin C., 1224–44; Wells C., 1175–1206 (W. front 1225, choir later, chapter-h., 1292); Rochester C., 1225–39 (nave Norman); York C., S.
trans., 1225; N. trans., 1260 (nave, chapter-h., 1291–1345; W. window, 1338; central tower, 1389–1407; E. window, 1407); Southwell Minster, 1233–94 (nave Norman); Ripon C., 1233–94 (central tower, 1459); Ely C., choir, 1229–54 (nave Norman; octagon and presbytery, 1323–62); Peterborough C., W. front, 1237 (nave Norman; retro-choir, late 14th century); Netley A., 1239 (r.); Durham C., “Nine Altars” and E. end choir, 1235–90 (nave, choir, Norman; W. window, 1341; central tower finished, 1480); Glasgow C., (with remarkable Early English crypt), 1242–77; Gloucester C., nave vaulted, 1239–42 (nave mainly Norman; choir, 1337–51; cloisters, 1375–1412; W. end, 1420–37; central tower, 1450–57); Westminster A., 1245–69; St. Mary’s A., York, 1272–92 (r.).
Decorated: Merton College Chapel, Oxford, 1274–1300; Hereford C., N. trans., chapter-h., cloisters, vaulting, 1275–92 (nave, choir, Norman); Exeter C., choir, trans., 1279–91; nave, 1331–50 (E. end remodelled, 1390); Lichfield C., Lady-chapel, 1310; Ely C., Lady-chapel, 1321–49; Melrose A., 1327–99 (nave, 1500; r.); St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, 1349–64 (demolished); Edington church, 1352–61; Carlisle C., E. end and upper parts, 1352–95 (nave in part and S. trans. Norman; tower finished, 1419); Winchester C., W. end remodelled, 1360–66 (nave and aisles, 1394–1410; trans., partly Norman); York C., Lady-chapel, 1362–72; churches of Patrington and Hull, late 14th century.
Perpendicular: Holy Cross Church, Canterbury, 1380; St. Mary’s, Warwick, 1381–91; Manchester C., 1422; St. Mary’s, Bury St. Edmunds, 1424–33; Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, 1439; King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, 1440; vaults, 1508–15; St. Mary’s Redcliffe, Bristol, 1442; Roslyn Chapel, Edinburgh, 1446–90; Gloucester C., Lady-chapel, 1457–98; St. Mary’s, Stratford-on-Avon, 1465–91; Norwich C., upper part and E. end of choir, 1472–99 (the rest mainly Norman); St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, 1481–1508; choir vaulted, 1507–20; Bath A., 1500–39; Chapel of Henry VII., Westminster, 1503–20.