After 1300 the structure of stone buildings began to be overlaid with
ornament, the window tracery and vault ribs were of intricate patterns,
the pinnacles and spires loaded with crocket and ornament. This later
style is known as "Decorated," and came to an end with the Black Death,
which stopped all building for a time.
With the changed conditions of life the type of building
changed. With curious uniformity and quickness the style called
"Perpendicular"--which is unknown abroad--developed after 1360 in all
parts of England and lasted with scarcely any change up to 1520. As
its name implies, it is characterised by the perpendicular arrangement
of the tracery and panels on walls and in windows, and it is also
distinguished by the flattened arches and the square arrangement of
the mouldings over them, by the elaborate vault-traceries (especially
fan-vaulting), and by the use of flat roofs and towers without spires.
The mediaeval styles in England ended with the dissolution of the
monasteries (1530-1540), for the Reformation checked the building of
churches. There succeeded the building of manor-houses, in which the
style called "Tudor" arose--distinguished by flat-headed windows,
level ceilings, and panelled rooms. The ornaments of classic style
were introduced under the influences of Renaissance sculpture and
distinguish the "Jacobean" style, so called after James I. About this
time the professional architect arose. Hitherto, building had been
entirely in the hands of the builder and the craftsman.
Much of the stone used in Berkshire is of local origin, as has already
been mentioned in Chapter 12, but a great deal has also been brought
from a distance. Thus it is recorded that when the Abbot of Abingdon
in 1100 rebuilt the conventual buildings as well as much of the
abbey church, the materials were brought from Wales, six waggons,
each drawn by twelve oxen, being engaged in the work. A great deal
of Bath stone will be found in Berkshire buildings and some has even
been brought from Caen in Normandy. Pillars and tombstones of Purbeck
marble are common in the churches. In the south wall of the Dean's
Cloisters at Windsor (temp. Henry III) there are clusters of columns
and one column in each is of Purbeck marble.
The tower of the church at Wickham, north-west of Newbury, is of
a very early style of architecture, showing a variety of "long and
short" work. Two of the belfry windows are double with a pillar in
the middle, and are characteristic of this early work. The walls are
very thick. The remainder of the church has been rebuilt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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