Perpendicular Gothic

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King's College Chapel, Cambridge, Great East Window (four-centred arch, straight
mullions and transoms)

The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral (c. 1337–1357)

Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed)
architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed
in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows,
four-centred arches, straight vertical and horizontal lines in the tracery, and
regular arch-topped rectangular panelling.[1][2] Perpendicular was the prevailing
style of Late Gothic architecture in England from the 14th century to the 17th
century.[1][2] Perpendicular was unique to the country: no equivalent arose in
Continental Europe or elsewhere in the British Isles.[1] Of all the Gothic
architectural styles, Perpendicular was the first to experience a second wave of
popularity from the 18th century on in Gothic Revival architecture.[1]

The pointed arches used in Perpendicular were often four-centred arches, allowing
them to be rather wider and flatter than in other Gothic styles.[1] Perpendicular
tracery is characterized by mullions that rise vertically as far as the soffit of
the window, with horizontal transoms frequently decorated with miniature
crenellations.[1] Blind panels covering the walls continued the strong straight
lines of verticals and horizontals established by the tracery. Together with
flattened arches and roofs, crenellations, hood mouldings, lierne vaulting, and fan
vaulting were the typical stylistic features.[1]

The first Perpendicular style building was designed in c. 1332 by William de

Ramsey: a chapter house for Old St Paul's Cathedral, the cathedral of the bishop of
London.[1] The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral (c. 1337–1357) and its latter 14th-
century cloisters are early examples.[1] Four-centred arches were often used, and
lierne vaults seen in early buildings were developed into fan vaults, first at the
latter 14th-century chapter house of Hereford Cathedral (demolished 1769) and
cloisters at Gloucester, and then at Reginald Ely's King's College Chapel,
Cambridge (1446–1461) and the brothers William and Robert Vertue's Henry VII Chapel
(c. 1503–1512) at Westminster Abbey.[1][3][4]

The architect and art historian Thomas Rickman's Attempt to Discriminate the Style
of Architecture in England, first published in 1812, divided Gothic architecture in
the British Isles into three stylistic periods.[5] The third and final style –
Perpendicular – Rickman characterised as mostly belonging to buildings built from
the reign of Richard II (r. 1377–1399) to that of Henry VIII (r. 1509–1547).[5] From
the 15th century, under the House of Tudor, the prevailing Perpendicular style is
commonly known as Tudor architecture, being ultimately succeeded by Elizabethan
architecture and Renaissance architecture under Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603).[6]
Rickman had excluded from his scheme most new buildings after Henry VIII's reign,
calling the style of "additions and rebuilding" in the later 16th and earlier 17th
centuries "often much debased".[5]

Perpendicular followed the Decorated Gothic (or Second Pointed) style and preceded
the arrival of Renaissance elements in Tudor and Elizabethan architecture.[7] As a
Late Gothic style contemporary with Flamboyant in France and elsewhere in Europe,
the heyday of Perpendicular is traditionally dated from 1377 until 1547, or from
the beginning of the reign of Richard II to the beginning the reign of Edward VI.
[8] Though the style rarely appeared on the European continent, it was dominant in
England until the mid-16th century.[9]

Chapter house by William de Ramsey (c. 1332) at Old St Paul's Cathedral (by

Wenceslaus Hollar)

Four-centred arch west window of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

Tomb of Edward II in Gloucester Cathedral

History
In 1906 William Lethaby, Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey, proposed that
the origin of the Perpendicular style was to be found not in 14th-century
Gloucester, as was traditionally argued, but in London, where the court of the
House of Plantagenet was based at Westminster Palace beside Westminster Abbey.[10]
The cathedral of London, the episcopal see of the third-most senior bishop in the
Church of England, was then Old St Paul's Cathedral. According to the architectural
historian John Harvey, the octagonal chapter house of St Paul's, built about 1332
by William Ramsey for the cathedral canons, was the earliest example of
Perpendicular Gothic.[11][12] Alec Clifton-Taylor agreed that St Paul's chapter
house and St Stephen's Chapel at Westminster Palace predate the early Perpendicular
work at Gloucester.[13] In the early 21st century the outline of the foundations of
the chapter house was made visible in the redeveloped south churchyard of the
present 17th-century cathedral.[14]

The chapter house at St Paul's was built under the direction of William de Ramsey,
who had worked on earlier phases of the still-unfinished St Stephens's Chapel.
Ramsey extended the stone mullions of the windows downwards on the walls. At the
top of each window he made a four-centred arch which became a distinctive feature
of Perpendicular.[11][9] Along with rest of Old St Paul's, the chapter house was
destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Elements of early Perpendicular are also known from St Stephen's Chapel at

Westminster Palace, a palatine chapel built by King Edward I following the model of
Sainte-Chapelle at the Palais de la Cité in medieval Paris.[11] It was built in
phases over a long period, from 1292 until 1348, though today only the crypt
exists. The architect of the early building was Michael of Canterbury, followed in
1323 by his son Thomas. One of the original decorative features was a kind of blind
tracery; blank vertical panels with cusped, or angular tops in the interior; and,
on the exterior, thin stone mullions or ribs extending downward below the windows
creating perpendicular spaces. These became the most characteristic feature of the
style.[9]

The earliest Perpendicular in a major church is the choir of Gloucester Cathedral

(1337–1350) constructed when the south transept and choir of the then Benedictine
abbey church (Gloucester was not a bishopric until after the Dissolution of the
Monasteries) were rebuilt in 1331–1350. It was likely the work of one of the royal
architects, either William de Ramsey, who had worked on the London cathedral
chapter house, or Thomas of Canterbury, who was architect to the king when the
transept of Gloucester Cathedral was begun. The architect preserved the original
11th-century walls, covering them with Flamboyant mullions and panels. The east
window of Gloucester choir has a Tudor arch, filling the wall with glass. The
window tracery matches the tracery on the walls.[15]

The Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey is a major example of the late
Perpendicular style, with its walls of glass and elaborate fan vaults. Another
important example is St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, begun in 1475. The vault
of the chapel was contracted to the master-mason John Aylmer in 1506.[16]

Gloucester Cathedral lady chapel

Characteristics
Towers were exceptionally tall, and frequently had battlements. Spires were less
frequent than in earlier periods. Buttresses were often placed at the corners of
the tower, the best position for providing maximum support. Notable Perpendicular
towers include those of York Minster and Gloucester Cathedral, and the churches of
Boston, Warwickshire[clarification needed] and Wrexham, Taunton.[17]
Stained glass windows were so large that the walls between were reduced to little
more than piers. Horizontal mullions, called "transoms", often had to be added to
the windows to give them greater stability.[18]
Tracery was a major feature of decoration. In the larger churches, the entire
surface from ground to summit, including the battlements, was covered with panels
of tracery composed of thin stone mullions. It also appeared frequently in the
interior, and often carried the designs in the window tracery down to the floor.
[17]
Roofs were frequently made of lead, and usually had a gentle slope, to make them
easier for walking. The roof timbers on the interior were often exposed to view
from below, and had ornamental supports.[17]
Vaults of stone were frequently elaborate and highly decorative such as fan
vaulting. The increased weight of the vaults caused by the ornament was countered
by larger buttresses on the exterior.[17]
Columns were generally circular in section, with octagonal bases and capitals. The
capitals were usually decorated with moulded or carved oak leaves, or with corbels
of shields or armorial symbols, or with the Tudor rose.[19]
Fourth-centred arches or Tudor arches were commonly used in windows and tracery and
for vaults and doorways.
The interiors had richly carved woodwork, particularly in the choir stalls, which
often featured carved grotesque figures on the bench ends called "poppy heads",
from French: poupée, lit. 'doll'. [19]
Gallery
Winchester Cathedral west front
Winchester Cathedral west front

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (1475–)

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (1475–)

Sherborne Abbey
Sherborne Abbey

Eton College Chapel

Eton College Chapel

Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–), with Perpendicular tracery and blind
panels.
Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–), with Perpendicular tracery and blind
panels.

New College Chapel, Oxford

New College Chapel, Oxford
Edington Priory west front: Decorated and Perpendicular
Edington Priory west front: Decorated and Perpendicular

Beauchamp Chapel, Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick

Beauchamp Chapel, Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick

Manchester Cathedral chancel

Manchester Cathedral chancel

Hall of Christ Church, Oxford

Hall of Christ Church, Oxford

Hull Minster nave

Hull Minster nave

St Giles' Church, Wrexham

St Giles' Church, Wrexham

Merton College Chapel tower

Merton College Chapel tower

Gloucester Cathedral, choir and chancel

Gloucester Cathedral, choir and chancel

Bath Abbey chancel

Bath Abbey chancel

York Minster chancel, looking west

York Minster chancel, looking west

Canterbury Cathedral nave

Canterbury Cathedral nave

Winchester Cathedral nave

Winchester Cathedral nave

The Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–) painted by Canaletto

The Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–) painted by Canaletto

Magdalen Tower
Magdalen Tower

York Minster crossing tower

York Minster crossing tower
St Mary Magdalene, Taunton
St Mary Magdalene, Taunton

Evesham Abbey bell tower

Evesham Abbey bell tower

Bridlington Priory west front

Bridlington Priory west front

Gloucester Cathedral east end (1331–1350), with a four-centred arch window

Gloucester Cathedral east end (1331–1350), with a four-centred arch window

Canterbury Cathedral crossing tower and transepts

Canterbury Cathedral crossing tower and transepts

Wells Cathedral crossing tower

Wells Cathedral crossing tower

Beverley Minster west front

Beverley Minster west front

Norwich Cathedral spire and west window

Norwich Cathedral spire and west window

Chichester Cathedral spire

Chichester Cathedral spire