How to Visit the English Cathedrals

by Esther Singleton

The transition from the Early English to the Decorated was very gradual. It took place during the reign of Edward I. The transepts of Westminster Abbey are held up as models of this transition and contain some of the most beautiful work that can be found anywhere. The crosses erected by Edward I. at all places where the body of Queen Eleanor had rested, on the march from Lincolnshire to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried, are usually regarded as fine early examples of the Decorated style. Easy attitudes and graceful draperies characterise the sculpture of human figures.

The Decorated Period dates from 1300 to 1377. It is also called the Middle Pointed, Geometrical Pointed and the Flowing, or Curvilinear, and also the Edwardian, because it covers the reigns of Edward I., II. and III.

Exeter Cathedral is a superb example of this style. The nave of York Minster and the lantern of Ely are also noteworthy illustrations.

“The general appearance of Decorated buildings is at once simple and magnificent; simple from the small number of parts, and magnificent from the size of the windows, and the easy flow of the lines of tracery. In the interior of large buildings we find great breadth, and an enlargement of the clerestory windows, with a corresponding diminution of the triforium, which is now rather a part of the clerestory opening than a distinct member of the division. The roofing, from the increased richness of the groining, becomes an object of more attention. On the whole the nave of York, from the uncommon grandeur and simplicity of the design, is certainly the finest example; ornament is nowhere spared, yet there is a simplicity which is peculiarly pleasing.”—(Rickman.)

“The Decorated style is distinguished by its large windows divided by mullions, and the tracery either in flowing lines, or forming circles, trefoils and other geometrical figures, and not running perpendicularly; its ornaments are numerous and very delicately carved, more strictly faithful to nature and more essentially parts of the structure than in any other style. There is a very fine window with reticulated tracery and richly moulded in the south walk of the cloisters at Westminster. No rule whatever is followed in the form of the arch over windows in this style; some are very obtuse, others very acute and the ogee arch is not uncommon. Decorated tracery is usually divided into three general classes—geometrical, flowing and flamboyant; the variety is so great that many sub-divisions may be made, but they were all used simultaneously for a considerable period. The earliest Decorated windows have geometrical tracery; Exeter Cathedral is, perhaps, on the whole, the best typical example of the early part of this style. The fabric rolls are preserved, and it is now evident that the existing windows are, for the most part, of the time of Bishop Quivil, from 1279 to 1291. In some instances windows with geometrical tracery have the mouldings and the mullions covered with the ball-flower ornament in great profusion, even to excess; these examples occur chiefly in Herefordshire, as at Leominster; and in Gloucestershire, as in the south aisle of the nave of the Cathedral at Gloucester: they are for the most part, if not entirely, of the time of Edward II. What is called the netlike character of tracery, from its general resemblance to a fisherman’s net, is very characteristic of this style at its best period, about the middle of the Fourteenth Century. Square-headed windows are very common. Windows in towers are usually different from those in other parts of the church. In the upper story, where the bells are, there is no glass; in some parts of the country there is pierced stonework for keeping out the birds, but more usually they are of wood only. These are called sound-holes. Clerestory windows of this style are often small, and either circular with quatrefoil cusps, or trefoils or quatrefoils; or the spherical triangle with cusps, which forms an elegant window. The clever manner in which these windows are splayed within and especially below, to throw down the light, should be noticed.”—(J. H. P.)

The large rose-window, so conspicuous a feature on the Continent, is rarely seen in England. When it does occur it is usually found in the transept ends.

The East Front generally consists of one large window at the end of the choir, flanked by tall buttresses. A smaller buttress appears at the end of each aisle. The arrangement of the West Front is the same, with a doorway beneath the central window. The towers of the Decorated style are usually placed at the west end and are, as a rule, similar to the Early English. The spires differ slightly from those of the Early English, except that there are generally more spire-lights and small windows at the bases and sides of the spire. Lichfield Cathedral is one of the best examples of the exterior of a perfect church of the Decorated style. Its three spires are perfect.

The ogee arch is frequently used in small arcades and in the heads of windows. The dripstones, or hood moulds, are generally supported by heads and are frequently enriched with crockets and finials. The arcades that ornament the walls and those over the sedilia are characteristic features of the style. Pillars are clustered and arches richly moulded; they often have the hood-moulding over them. Very often they have what is called a stilted base. The capitals are ornamented with beautiful foliage: each leaf is copied from nature and often arranged round the bell of the capital. The ornamental sculptures in the hollow mouldings are numerous, but there are two which require more particular notice; they are nearly as characteristic of the Decorated style as the zigzag is of the Norman, or the tooth-ornament of the Early English. The first is the ball-flower, which is a globular flower half opened, and showing within a small round ball. It is used with the utmost profusion in the mouldings of windows, doorways, canopies, cornices, arches, etc. The other ornament is the four-leaved flower. This has a raised centre, and four petals cut in high relief; it is frequently much varied, but may be distinguished by its being cut distinctly into four petals, and by its boldness: it is sometimes used abundantly, though not quite so profusely as the ball-flower. In some instances the centre is sunk instead of being raised. The battlement, as an ornamental feature in the interior of buildings, is frequently used in this style, although it is more common in the Perpendicular.

The foliage in this style is more faithfully copied from nature than in any other: the vine-leaf, the maple and the oak with the acorn, are the most usual. The surface of the wall is often covered with flat foliage, arranged in small squares called diaper-work, which is believed to have originated in an imitation of the rich hangings then in general use, and which bore the same name.

The groined roofs or vaults are distinguished from those of the preceding style, chiefly by an additional number of ribs, and by the natural foliage on the bosses. Many fine examples of these remain, as in the Cathedral of Exeter and at York in the chapter-house; at Norwich in the cloisters; at Chester the vault is of wood with stone springers.