Part of the Vaulting of the Cloisters over the Lavatory,
Abbot Litlington’s Work,
Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1376-1386.
transition is the church of Edington, Wiltshire, built by William de Edington, Bishop of Winchester: the first stone was laid in 1352, and the church was dedicated in 1361. It is a fine cruciform church, all of uniform character, and that character is neither Decorated nor Perpendicular, but a very remarkable mixture of the two styles throughout. The tracery of the windows looks at first sight like Decorated, but on looking more closely the introduction of Perpendicular features is very evident. The west doorway has the segmental arch common in Decorated work; over this is the usual square label of the Perpendicular, and under the arch is Perpendicular panelling over the heads of the two doors: the same curious mixture is observable in the moldings, and in all the details. This example is the more valuable from the circumstance that it was Bishop Edington who commenced the alteration of Winchester Cathedral into the Perpendicular style; he died in 1366, and the work was continued by William of Wykeham, who mentions in his will that Edington had finished the west end, with two windows on the north side and one on the south: the change in the character of the work is very distinctly marked. Bishop Edington’s work at Winchester was executed at a later period than that at Edington, and, as might be expected, the new idea is more fully developed; but on a comparison between the west window of Winchester and the east window of Edington, it will at once be seen that the principle of construction is the same; there is a central division carried up to the head of the window, and sub-arches springing from it on each side: it may be observed that whenever this arrangement of the sub-arches occurs in Decorated work, it is a sign that the work is late in the style. Before the death of Bishop Edington the great principles of the Perpendicular style were fully established. Those chiefly consist of the Perpendicular lines through the head of the window, and in covering the surface of the wall with panelling of the same kind. These features are as distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent building, or as they well could be.
The next great work of Wykeham was New College Chapel, Oxford, certainly one of the earliest, perhaps the first, building erected from the foundations entirely in the Perpendicular style; and a finer specimen of the style does not exist. The first stone was laid in 1380, and it was dedicated in 1386. Winchester College, built immediately after New College, is of precisely the same character with it, as might have been expected: they are both excellent specimens for the study of the Perpendicular style. Another very remarkable and valuable example of the transition from Decorated to Perpendicular is the choir of York Minster, commenced by Archbishop John de Thoresby in 1361, and completed in 1408; the general appearance of this magnificent work is Perpendicular, but there is great mixture in all the details. The chancel of St. Mary’s Church at Warwick, rebuilt by Thomas Beauchamp, second Earl of Warwick, between 1370 and 1391, has more of the Perpendicular, being covered with panelling like Winchester, but the moldings are quite of mixed character. King’s Sutton Church, Northamptonshire, deserves notice as a specimen of this transition. In some instances, as at Charlton-on-Otmoor, the perpendicular line of the molding is carried on straight through the flowing lines of the tracery to the arch.
East Window, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Oxon, c. 1380.
The nave and western transepts of Canterbury Cathedral were rebuilt between 1378 and 1411, but the Perpendicular style was then so fully established that there are scarcely any signs of transition. Chipping-Camden Church, Gloucestershire, was rebuilt by William Greville, a rich wool-stapler, who is buried in the chancel with his wife, and there is a fine brass to their memory; he died in 1401. This church is almost entirely of transitional character. The glorious chapter-house of Howden, and Gisburne Priory Church, in Yorkshire, are of this period, and very fine examples of early Perpendicular work. The roof and the casing of the walls of Westminster Hall belong also to the close of this century, 1397-99. The gatehouse of Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire, is another splendid example of this transition. The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral are decided Perpendicular in the fan-tracery of the vaults, but are partly of earlier date and character.