At _Claypole_ and _Althorpe_ the central shaft is carried down much below
the spring of the ogees, and ends on a four-centred arch. _East Kirkby_
has two ogees on an ogival arch beneath. At _Saxilby_ the central feature
takes the form of a round-headed arch in a square-headed bay with the
spandrils filled with circles, surmounted by seven small bays, each
containing a crocketed ogee terminating in a finial. At _Barrow_ there is
a pointed arch, with pierced spandrils. At _Benniworth_ there is a large
ogee with curious tracery over it (? modern), entirely different from the
lateral bays. At _Ewerby_, already mentioned, this bay has on the inner
side of each ogee a beautiful wheel; on the outer side a fine network of
tracery. At _Folkingham_ the centre arch is carved and crocketed with
grapes and vine-leaf ornament. At _Scrivelsby_, between two ogees is a
large wheel of tracery, with two smaller ones filling in the spaces on
each side.
All screens probably had a door or doors, though but few of these are
left in Lincolnshire. At _Westborough_ the original doors exist; they are
square-headed, with tracery above and panelling below, similar to that
of the side bays. _Cotes_, _Spalding_, _Theddlethorpe_, _East Kirkby_,
_Moulton_, _Helpringham_, _Thorpe St. Peter’s_, and _Barton_ still retain
their doors, but only the lower panels are left.
Also slender buttresses have been mentioned above, as being moulded out
of the uprights. Occasionally there were to the front (western face) of
these uprights, especially on each side of the central doorway, flying
buttresses with crocketed attachments. Remains of these are still to
be seen at _East Kirkby_, _Moulton_, _Fishtoft_, _Thorpe St. Peter’s_,
_Bratoft_, _Croft_, _Legbourne_, _Crowland_, and _Mumby_. At _Grimoldby_,
where the lower half of the screen exists, two buttresses project some
way westward and are well panelled. The extreme form of these, where the
upright part of the buttresses was fashioned into a candlestand, may be
exemplified by Ranworth screen (Norfolk), where the buttresses, panelled
as to their lower two-thirds, separate the central passage from an altar
on either side.
The intervening spaces between the ogee and the confining arch will be
filled in with delicate tracery, varying of course in style with the
age and locality of each particular screen. Whatever the faults of
Perpendicular work may be in stone, the repetition of similar forms,
the richness of the detailed ornament, and the lightness of the tracery
make Perpendicular _wooden_ screens, more perhaps than any others, the
best representatives of the _Cancelli_ (lattice-work), and very valuable
portions of the furniture of a church.
In some churches, as at Laughton-en-le-Morthen, there was a low _stone_
screen, buttressed, which would carry a lighter screen of wood. Instances
of a similar arrangement may be seen at Nantwich and _Morton-by-Bourne_,
and there is a preparation for it at _Wellingore_ and _Boston_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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