At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged and lost in the Perpendicular which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows. They are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are carried straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows are broken up into panel-like compartments, very different from the beautiful curves of the Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still in use, but gradually they become flattened; and the arch, commonly known as the Tudor arch, is a peculiar feature of this style. In village churches the mouldings of the arch are often continued down the piers without any capital or shaft.
Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft. The base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor arch having a square head over it. The doors are often richly ornamented. There are a large number of square-headed windows, and so proud were these builders of their new style of window that they frequently inserted Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier date. Hence it is not always safe to determine the age of a church by an examination of the windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part of the interior walls is a distinctive feature of this style.
