Windows.—The most distinctive features of the Decorated style are its large windows and its mouldings. The windows are the chief glory of the 14th century Gothic. They vary very considerably in size, in form and in intricacy.
As the window arches became broader, mullions or vertical bars of masonry were required for their support, dividing the windows into lights, and the upper portions of these mullions were developed into tracery, forming circles, trefoils, or other geometric figures, and, afterwards, flowing lines.
It has been shown how the grouping of lancet-shaped windows and the piercing of the space above them, under the arched dripstone, had produced “plate tracery.” As the piercings became larger, narrow and irregularly shaped surfaces of stone were left. These were pierced, and the intervening piers of stone came to be shaped like the mullions; in fact, became a continuation of the mullions. This development, which was reached before the middle of the 13th century, is called “bar tracery.” At first, this bar tracery was plain; then “cusps” (Pl. [40], Fig. 5), or projecting points, were introduced on the inner edge of the mullions, and added greatly to the rich effects. The earliest Decorated windows have tracery on a purely geometric basis. Exeter Cathedral is considered the best typical example of the early part of this style, and the existing windows were constructed at the end of the 13th century. The Chapter-houses at York and Southwell are other rich examples. Windows with flowing tracery are, in general, later than those with geometrical patterns, though they are sometimes contemporaneous in the same building.
No rule is followed in the form of the arch over windows in this style. Some are very obtuse, others very acute, and the ogee, or double-curved arch, is not uncommon.
Square-headed windows are very common in this style, in many parts of the country, especially in Leicestershire and Oxfordshire. This form of window was so very convenient that its use was never discontinued, though it was more commonly used in houses and castles than in churches, and windows with a flat curved top are frequently used. Circular or “Rose” windows in churches and cathedrals are also a fine feature of this style. Notable among these are the windows at the end of the south transept in Lincoln and Westminster.
Pillars.—In ordinary parish churches the pillars are frequently as plain as in the Early English Period, and are generally octagonal in cross sections, but in richer churches they are clustered, and no longer have detached shafts. The bases of the columns are often lozenge-shaped, or a square set diagonally, to allow the light to penetrate better into the body of the building. The capitals are frequently octagonal or bell-shaped, and sometimes they are merely moulded or decorated with the “ball flower” (Pl. [49], Fig. 9) and the “four-leaved flower” (Pl. [49], Fig. 10). In the preceding style a conventional form of foliage was employed to decorate the capitals. But in the richer examples of this style they are decorated with beautiful foliage, more faithfully copied from Nature; the vine leaf, the maple leaf, the oak leaf with acorns, the rose, and the ivy being most commonly imitated. The foliage is twisted horizontally round the bell-shaped head, and does not shoot up vertically from stiff or upright stems, as in the Early English. The bases are usually moulded only, consisting of two or three rounds or roll-moulds, and stand upon a plinth, the height of which varies very much.
Mouldings.—The mouldings of this style differ from those of the Early English mainly in not having the rounds and hollows so deeply cut—a characteristic feature being the introduction of fillets or small flat bands. The deepest hollows, too, are found, not between each member, but between groups of members.
They are always very effective, and are so arranged as to produce a pleasing contrast of light and shade, which is softer and more blended than in the Early English mouldings. (Pl. [41], Fig. 10.)
A moulding peculiar to this style is the “roll moulding” (Pl. [41], Fig. 7), in which the upper half projects over the lower. The hollows are frequently enriched with running foliage or with flowers at intervals, particularly the “ball-flower” and the “four-leaved flower,” which are typical ornaments of this period.
The surface of the interior walls is often covered with flat foliage, arranged in small squares, called diaper work. (Pl. [9], Fig. 11.) This kind of ornament is found in the Early English choir at Westminster Abbey, but belongs more commonly to the decorated style.