Cloisters, Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1360.
There is a very fine window, with reticulated tracery and richly molded, 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. (See [p. 141].)
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. The windows all have geometrical patterns, and some of these are identical with those of Merton College Chapel, Oxford. The chancel of Haseley Church, Oxon, is a good example of the early Decorated style of Edward I. One of the windows in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, p. 137, and the aisles of the choir of Dorchester Abbey Church, Oxon, p. 136, are also excellent examples.
The buildings of the time of Edward the First have geometrical tracery in the windows. In Merton College Chapel the side windows still retain the original painted glass, with the kneeling figure of the donor several times repeated, with the inscription “Magister Henricus de Mannesfeld,” recorded by Wood as of A.D. 1283.
Many windows of this style, especially in the time of Edward I., have the rear-arch ornamented with cusps, with a hollow space over the head of the window in the thickness of the wall, between the rear arch and the outer arch.
Great Milton, Oxon, c. A.D. 1350.
Windows with flowing tracery, as at Great Milton, and in the church of the Austin Friars; also those with reticulated, or net-like forms, are in general somewhat later than the geometrical patterns; at least, they do not seem to have been introduced quite so early; but they are very frequently contemporaneous, and both classes may often be found side by side in the same building, evidently erected at the same time. An early instance of this occurs at Stoke Golding, in
