radiating shafts and trefoiled arch heads. Out of these two forms there gradually arose a simple kind of tracery towards the close of the period. The trefoiled head of the lancet is also a distinct evidence of early pointed work. The doorways are deeply recessed, and have generally free shafts in the jambs, with mouldings between. The arch mouldings are usually in square orders and boldly cut. In the interior the piers of the arches are much less massive than the Norman piers, and are often composed of clustered shafts standing free, and set round a circular or octagonal pillar. The Norman square abacus continued to
Fig. 22.—Lincoln Cathedral. Compartment of the Nave, Exterior and Interior. (From Britton’s Chronological History of English Architecture.)
be used in transition and early first pointed work; but later, in England, the caps of each shaft have a round abacus, and the cap itself usually consists of mouldings, with a bell-shaped form beneath. When foliage is employed it is invariably of the conventional form above referred to; but in France the cap-à-crochet is almost universal. The arch mouldings are deeply cut, and their lighter form is easily distinguished from the heavy Norman rolls.
The ornaments of the mouldings are also very distinctly marked, the dog-tooth being conspicuous in all early pointed work.
Tall towers and spires supersede the more massive and lower towers of the Normans. In the vaults, the ribs are simple—only the cross springers and diagonal ribs being used—a longitudinal and transverse ridge rib is, however, occasionally employed.
FIRST POINTED STYLE IN SCOTLAND.
In Scotland, as might be expected, from its remoteness from the centre of origin, and from the fact that the pointed style was imported into this country through England, pointed architecture is not only somewhat later in appearing, but is to some extent modified in its developments. The main characteristics of the early pointed style of this country are, however, founded on those of England, and show no traces of any direct influence from France.