=Liernes.=--During the Decorated Period of the fourteenth century a new set of ribs were introduced, which were known as _Liernes_--holding or binding ribs. The name was applied to any rib, other than the ridge rib, that did not spring from an abacus. They were ornamental rather than constructional and were freely employed to form a network of geometric pattern over the vaulting. Meanwhile, although they increase the apparent complexity of the vaulting, the actual constructive plan of the latter is not affected and may be simply four part. Such multiplication of ribs reduced the size of the intervening spaces or panels, whence this kind of vaulting is sometimes called _rib and panel_. It is also named _stellar_ vaulting from the star-shaped patterns produced by the ribs. Examples are to be found in the choirs of =Gloucester=, =Wells=, =Ely=, the nave of =Tewkesbury Abbey=, and the vaulting of =Winchester Cathedral=, as rebuilt by William of Wykeham (1390). =Fan Vaulting.=--The development of the Perpendicular Period or Fifteenth Century is that of _Fan Vaulting_, examples of which occur in =Henry VII’s Chapel=, =Westminster=; =Divinity Schools=, =Oxford=; =King’s College Chapel=, =Cambridge=; the =retro-choir=, =Peterborough=; =Gloucester Cathedral=, and =St. George’s Chapel=, =Windsor=. In this type of vaulting the ribs are all of equal curvature, and separated from one another by equal angles, terminating at the top in a circular ridge, which leaves a series of flat lozenge-shaped spaces. =Pendant Vaulting.=--A further development, often used in connection with “Fan Vaulting,” as in Oxford Cathedral and Henry VII’s Chapel, is the device known as _Pendant_ vaulting. It was at first adopted to sustain the flat spaces of the vaulting and consisted of a stone support suspended from an arch concealed above the vaulting. It was, in effect, a prolonged keystone, and its lowest part formed a base from which to build up. For by this time the old method of constructing ribs and laying panels upon them had been abandoned, and the vaulting was constructed of parts, interlocking like a Chinese puzzle. A beautiful feature of English vaulting occurs in the polygonal Chapter Houses, in which the ribs radiate from a central column to the sides and angles of the polygon. “If these vaults are less majestic than domes of the same diameter, they are far more decorative and picturesque, while the Chapter Houses themselves were the most striking and original products of English Gothic. Every feature was designed with strict regard for the structural system determined by the admirable vaulting and the Sainte Chapelle was not more logical in its exemplification of Gothic principles.” (Hamlin.) Among the finest examples are those of =Westminster=, =Wells=, =York=, =Lincoln=, and =Salisbury=.