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Architecture of the United Kingdom

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An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures ) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction , building materials used, form , size, structural design , and regional character.

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125-540: The architecture of the United Kingdom , or British architecture , consists of a combination of architectural styles , dating as far back to Roman architecture , to the present day 21st century contemporary . England has seen the most influential developments, though Ireland , Scotland , and Wales have each fostered unique styles and played leading roles in the international history of architecture . Although there are prehistoric and classical structures in

250-419: A "protection against chaos". The concept of style was foreign to architects until the 18th century. Prior to the era of Enlightenment , the architectural form was mostly considered timeless, either as a divine revelation or an absolute truth derived from the laws of nature, and a great architect was the one who understood this "language". The new interpretation of history declared each historical period to be

375-699: A Member of Parliament from the Highlands and Islands who served as one of Britain's Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty , was involved in the financial and political structure of the Kingdom of Great Britain; his increased wealth allowed him to build his own mansion in Scotland. Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain , output from the Royal Society and other English initiatives combined with

500-459: A broad section of the wall and conversely a narrow section. He argues that plans changed during construction of the wall, and its overall width was reduced. Broad sections of the wall are around nine and a half feet (2.9 metres) wide with the narrow sections two feet (61 centimetres) thinner, around seven and a half feet (2.3 metres) wide. Some of the narrow sections were found to be built upon broad foundations, which had presumably been built before

625-516: A defensive structure made to keep people out, the wall also kept people within the Roman province . Movement would be channeled through the gates in the wall, where it could be monitored for information , prevented or permitted as appropriate, and taxed. The wall would also have had a psychological impact: For nearly three centuries, until the end of Roman rule in Britain in 410 AD, Hadrian's Wall

750-674: A diminution in the Antonine period when the garrison moved north to the Antonine Wall, and recovery in the later 2nd and early 3rd centuries. After Hadrian's death in 138, Emperor Antoninus Pius left the wall occupied in a support role, essentially abandoning it. He began building the Antonine Wall about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, across the isthmus running west-southwest to east-northeast. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles, or about 60.8 km (37.8 mi), and had more forts than Hadrian's Wall. This area later became known as

875-558: A few feet higher at its formation. Along the length of the wall there was a watch-tower turret every third of a mile, also providing shelter and living accommodation for Roman troops. Hadrian's Wall extended west from Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne , via Carlisle and Kirkandrews-on-Eden , to the shore of the Solway Firth , ending a short but unknown distance west of the village of Bowness-on-Solway . The route

1000-469: A few specific crossing points (and possibly at specific times of year). One such traditional point may be indicated by the concentration of Roman-period metal objects near Great Whittington , about 2 kilometres north along a Roman road from the Portgate on the wall. The coins, mostly silver rather than bronze and suggesting high-value transactions, indicate activity in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries,

1125-457: A few years, the fort was surrounded by Roman camps and bombarded by Roman missiles. It was finally abandoned by about 140. Other sites may have been managed by native groups, probably for the management of livestock and possibly to supply Roman requirements. Pollen evidence suggests that the landscape immediately north of the wall remained generally open, without forest regeneration until the end of Roman rule. At Castle O'er an Iron Age hillfort

1250-549: A height of seven courses. The best example of the Clayton Wall is at Housesteads. After Clayton's death, the estate passed to relatives and was soon lost to gambling. Eventually, the National Trust began acquiring the land on which the wall stands. At Wallington Hall , near Morpeth, there is a painting by William Bell Scott , which shows a centurion supervising the building of the wall. The centurion has been given

1375-404: A historical epoch ( Renaissance style ), geographical location ( Italian Villa style ), or an earlier architectural style ( Neo-Gothic style ), and are influenced by the corresponding broader artistic style and the "general human condition". Heinrich Wölfflin even declared an analogy between a building and a costume : an "architectural style reflects the attitude and the movement of people in

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1500-522: A number of styles which have acquired other names. Architectural styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. For instance, Renaissance ideas emerged in Italy around 1425 and spread to all of Europe over the next 200 years, with the French, German, English, and Spanish Renaissances showing recognisably

1625-470: A numerous and widespread nobility; the lower orders lived in groups of round houses that left much less archaeological trace. The wall probably cut across a coherent cultural area, and it was planned and built at a time of serious warfare in Britain, which required major Roman reinforcements from outside Britannia. A tablet from Vindolanda describes a centurio regionarius who exercised direct military rule from Carlisle , some 30 years after Roman conquest of

1750-664: A place in history that is independent of its author. The subject of study no longer was the ideas that Borromini borrowed from Maderno who in turn learned from Michelangelo , instead the questions now were about the continuity and changes observed when the architecture transitioned from Renaissance to Baroque . Semper, Wölfflin, and Frankl, and later Ackerman, had backgrounds in the history of architecture, and like many other terms for period styles, "Romanesque" and "Gothic" were initially coined to describe architectural styles, where major changes between styles can be clearer and more easy to define, not least because style in architecture

1875-480: A propaganda statement as a functional facility". There is some evidence that Hadrian's Wall was originally covered in plaster and then whitewashed: its shining surface would have reflected the sunlight and been visible for miles around. Hadrian ended his predecessor Trajan 's policy of expanding the empire and instead focused on defending the current borders, namely at the time Britain. Like Augustus, Hadrian believed in exploiting natural boundaries such as rivers for

2000-549: A rampart. Bede obviously identifies Gildas's stone wall as Hadrian's Wall, and he appears to have believed that the Vallum was the rampart constructed by Severus. Many centuries would pass before just who built what became apparent. In the same passage, Bede describes Hadrian's Wall as follows: "It is eight feet in breadth, and twelve in height; and, as can be clearly seen to this day, ran straight from east to west." Bede by his own account lived his whole life at Jarrow , just across

2125-523: A set of maps of England and Wales by county at the start of the 17th century. He describes it as "the Picts Wall" (or "Pictes"; he uses both spellings). A map of Newecastle (sic), drawn in 1610 by William Matthew, describes it as "Severus' Wall", mistakenly giving it the name ascribed by Bede to the Vallum. Matthew's maps for Cumberland and Northumberland show the wall as a major feature and are ornamented with drawings of Roman finds together with (in

2250-421: A solution to their problems that remained relevant for centuries. The primary purpose of the wall was as a physical barrier to slow the crossing of raiders, people intent on crossing its line for animals, treasure, or slaves, and then returning with their loot. The Latin text Historia Augusta states: (Hadrianus) murumque per octoginta milia passuum primus duxit, qui barbaros Romanosque divideret. (Hadrian)

2375-491: A spate of new building, both public and private, during the 18th century. Scotland produced "the most important British architects of this age": Colen Campbell , James Gibbs and Robert Adam were Scots interpreting the first phase of Classical forms of ancient Greece and Rome in Palladian architecture . Edinburgh 's New Town was the focus of this classical building boom, resulting in the city being nicknamed "The Athens of

2500-414: A stage of growth for the humanity (cf. Johann Gottfried Herder 's Volksgeist that much later developed into Zeitgeist ). This approach allowed to classify architecture of each age as an equally valid approach, "style" (the use of the word in this sense became established by the mid-18th century). Style has been subject of an extensive debate since at least the 19th century. Many architects argue that

2625-1127: A vast scale from the 11th century onwards in England, Wales and Ireland in the form of castles, such as the White Tower at the heart of the Tower of London , and Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim , as well as Gothic churches and cathedrals, to help impose Norman authority upon their dominions. The Norman penetration of the Scottish nobility resulted in Scoto-Norman and Romanesque architecture too, examples being Dunfermline Abbey , St. Margaret's Chapel and St. Magnus Cathedral . Throughout Britain and Ireland, simplicity and functionality prevailed in building styles. Castles, such as Alnwick Castle , Caernarfon Castle and Stirling Castle served military purpose and their battlements and turrets were practical solutions to medieval warfare. Under

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2750-513: A zone of its population, as they are known to have done on the Rhine and for ten Roman miles beyond the Danube frontier. Some sites were still occupied; the fort of Burnswark Hill , previously in ruins, was re-occupied about the time that the wall was built. Possibly this represents a short-lived Roman attempt to establish a cooperative authority on this main route further north to Caledonia . Within

2875-405: Is a building; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture" ( Nikolaus Pevsner , 1943). Nonetheless, the traditional and popular approach to the architectural history is through chronology of styles, with changes reflecting the evolution of materials, economics, fashions, and beliefs. Works of architecture are unlikely to be preserved for their aesthetic value alone; with practical re-purposing,

3000-636: Is a casual term. It is sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture , that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe, between the Great Fire of London (1666) and the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Queen Anne Style architecture flourished in England from about 1660 to about 1720, even though the Queen's reign covered only the period 1702–1714. Buildings in

3125-465: Is a depressing affair indeed". According to James Elkins "In the later 20th century criticisms of style were aimed at further reducing the Hegelian elements of the concept while retaining it in a form that could be more easily controlled". In the middle of the 19th century, multiple aesthetic and social factors forced architects to design the new buildings using a selection of styles patterned after

3250-615: Is a large stone-built neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney . Nicknamed the "British Pompeii ", Skara Brae is Europe 's most complete neolithic village and the level of preservation is such that it has gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1999. Celtic tribes during the Bronze Age left few physical remnants of their dwellings, but stone Christian monuments and Celtic crosses have endured erosion. Protohistorical Scotland during

3375-414: Is easier to replicate by following a set of rules than style in figurative art such as painting. Terms originated to describe architectural periods were often subsequently applied to other areas of the visual arts, and then more widely still to music, literature and the general culture. In architecture stylistic change often follows, and is made possible by, the discovery of new techniques or materials, from

3500-763: Is found throughout Northern Ireland, as well as monastic sites, gravestones, abbeys, round towers and Celtic crosses. Northern Ireland has some of the largest and finest castles in Ireland , the earliest of which date back to the Norman invasion of Ireland . Examples of Norman architecture in Northern Ireland include Carrickfergus Castle . Other medieval castles include Greencastle , Jordan's Castle , Dunluce Castle , Dundrum and Harry Avery's Castle . Enniskillen Castle dates back to early modern Ireland . Fortified homes and bawns continued to be built well into

3625-561: Is revived, it is different. The Spanish mission style was revived 100 years later as the Mission Revival , and that soon evolved into the Spanish Colonial Revival . Early writing on the subjects of architectural history, since the works of Vitruvius in the 1st century B.C. , treated architecture as a patrimony that was passed on to the next generation of architects by their forefathers. Giorgio Vasari in

3750-482: The Anglo-Scottish border , though it is sometimes loosely or colloquially described as such. The length of the wall was 80 Roman miles, equivalent to 73 modern miles; or 117 kilometres (1 Roman mile is equivalent to 1,620 yards; or 1,480 metres). This traversed the entire width of the island, from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west. Not long after construction began,

3875-736: The Armagh Observatory and the city's Georgian quarter; the Catholic St Patrick's Cathedral and Anglican St Patrick's Cathedral are two landmarks in Armagh. During the Victorian era , Belfast flaunted its economic prowess with "splendid" Victorian architecture , among them Belfast City Hall , Queen's University Belfast , Belfast Castle , the Belfast Botanic Gardens , Albert Memorial Clock , and

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4000-597: The English Renaissance that followed facilitated development of new artistic styles for domestic architecture: Tudor style , English Baroque , Queen Anne Style , and Palladian . Georgian , Scots Baronial and Neoclassical architecture advanced after the Scottish Enlightenment , and since the 1930s various modernist forms appeared, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support from Charles, Prince of Wales . Beyond

4125-632: The Norman base there was also castles , palaces , great houses , universities and parish churches . Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th century Tudor style ; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch , was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the Renaissance , the English Baroque style appeared, which architect Christopher Wren particularly championed. English Baroque

4250-634: The Roman Wall , Picts' Wall , or Vallum Aelium in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia , begun in AD ;122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian . Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England , it was a stone wall with large ditches in front and behind, stretching across

4375-549: The Scottish Enlightenment to create innovations in the arts, sciences and engineering. This paved the way for the establishment of the British Empire , which became the largest in history. Domestically it drove the Industrial Revolution , a period of profound change in the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of Britain, with architecture adapted to industrial use . Georgian architecture in Britain

4500-572: The Scottish Lowlands , sometimes referred to as the Central Belt or Central Lowlands . Antoninus was unable to conquer the northern tribes, so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and reoccupied Hadrian's Wall as the main defensive barrier in 164. In 208–211, Emperor Septimius Severus again tried to conquer Caledonia and temporarily reoccupied the Antonine Wall. The campaign ended inconclusively, and

4625-537: The Solway Firth ). Part of the central section of the wall follows natural cliffs on an escarpment of the Whin Sill rock formation. Although the curtain wall ends near Bowness-on-Solway, this does not mark the end of the line of defensive structures. The system of milecastles and turrets is known to have continued along the Cumbria coast as far as Risehow, south of Maryport . For classification purposes,

4750-571: The Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1947 . Within the United Kingdom are the ruins of prehistoric structures and ancient neolithic settlements. The architecture of ancient Rome penetrated Roman Britain with "elegant villas, carefully planned towns and engineering marvels like Hadrian's Wall ". After the Roman departure from Britain in around the year 400, Romano-British culture flourished but left few architectural remnants, partly because many buildings were made of wood, and partly because

4875-641: The Union of the Crowns (the accession of James VI, King of Scots , to the throne of England) and the Protestant Reformation . Although Britain became more unified and stable, it became more isolated from continental Europe . Catholic monasteries were closed, and their lands were redistributed, creating new "rich and ambitious" landowners. The architecture of Britain this period reflects these changes; church building declined dramatically, supplanted by

5000-607: The United Kingdom , British architectural history effectively begins with the first Anglo-Saxon Christian churches, built soon after Augustine of Canterbury arrived in Great Britain in 597. Norman architecture was built on a vast scale throughout Great Britain and Ireland from the 11th century onwards in the form of castles and churches to help impose Norman authority upon their dominions. English Gothic architecture , which flourished between 1180 until around 1520,

5125-510: The Vallum . The Vallum and the wall run more or less in parallel for almost the entire length of the wall, except between the forts of Newcastle and Wallsend at the east end, where the Vallum may have been considered superfluous as a barrier on account of the close proximity of the River Tyne . The twin track of the wall and Vallum led many 19th-century thinkers to note and ponder their relation to one another. Some evidence appears to show that

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5250-562: The feudal system that dominated Britain, fitness for purpose characterised domestic structures, particularly for the lower classes. For many, houses were "dark, primitive structures of one or two rooms, usually with crude timber frames, low walls and thatched roofs. They weren't built to last. And they didn't". Although primarily homes, manor houses of the Late Middle Ages , were designed with achieving respect and maintaining status through their hospitality and lordship rather than

5375-618: The landed gentry include Castle Ward and Hillsborough Castle ; for many however, domestic life was restricted to "humble cottages". The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum maintain and conserve farm and village buildings of historical interest, including many of the ancestral homes of the 17-plus Presidents of the United States who have Ulster ancestry. The city of Armagh has Georgian architecture by way of

5500-629: The 16th century shifted the narrative to biographies of the great artists in his " Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects ". Constructing schemes of the period styles of historic art and architecture was a major concern of 19th century scholars in the new and initially mostly German-speaking field of art history . Important writers on the broad theory of style including Carl Friedrich von Rumohr , Gottfried Semper , and Alois Riegl in his Stilfragen of 1893, with Heinrich Wölfflin and Paul Frankl continued

5625-572: The 17th century, a result of the Plantation of Ulster ; examples include Benburb Castle , Castle Caulfield , Monea Castle , and Castle Balfour . Much of the architecture of Derry dates from the Plantation of Ulster, including its defensive walls . St. Columb's Cathedral .... Northern Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries produced two varieties of architecture, constructed along the divide of societal privilege; "sumptuous" manor houses of

5750-493: The 3rd and possibly 4th centuries), and it may similarly have been mainly concerned with livestock management and delivery. In general, and as with other Roman frontier lines, Roman coins and pottery did not move across the wall, and the wall seems to have been an effective barrier to trade. A few elite centres continued to import Roman goods, such as the post-160 samian found at Traprain Law . Ongoing exchange may have been managed at

5875-555: The Floral Hall at Bellevue. Many of Belfast's oldest buildings are found in the Cathedral Quarter . Prominent Northern Irish architects include R S Wilshere and McGeogh, cinema architect James McBride Neil, and Dennis O’D Hanna, part of the "Ulster Unit" group of self-consciously modern artists and craftspeople, promoted by poet and curator John Hewitt . Prehistoric architecture is found throughout Scotland. Skara Brae

6000-470: The Gothic rib vault to modern metal and reinforced concrete construction. A major area of debate in both art history and archaeology has been the extent to which stylistic change in other fields like painting or pottery is also a response to new technical possibilities, or has its own impetus to develop (the kunstwollen of Riegl), or changes in response to social and economic factors affecting patronage and

6125-616: The Norman conquest in 1066 various Castles in England were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the Tower of London , Warwick Castle , Durham Castle and Windsor Castle amongst others. Throughout the Plantagenet era an English Gothic architecture flourished—the medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral , Westminster Abbey and York Minster are prime examples. Expanding on

6250-572: The North" on account both of its intellectual output from the Scottish Enlightenment and the city's neo-classical architecture. Together with Edinburgh's Old Town , it constitutes one of the United Kingdom's World Heritage Sites . Christian architecture in Scotland has a distinct style; The Royal Institute of British Architects have stated that "Scottish churches are peculiarly plain, low and often quite humble buildings". The Scottish Reformation revolutionised church architecture in Scotland, because

6375-528: The Queen Anne style are strongly influenced by Dutch domestic architecture: typically, they are simple rectilinear designs in red brick, with an undemonstrative charm. Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival

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6500-497: The River Tyne from the eastern end of the wall at Wallsend, so as he indicates, he would have been very familiar with the wall. Bede does not mention a walkway along the top of the wall. It might be thought likely that there was, but if so it no longer exists. In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline and military coups loosened the empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the estimated end of Roman rule in Britain ,

6625-582: The Roman Empire was, unlike the rest of Great Britain, broadly untouched by the Romans, but there are the remains of Roman forts at Trimontium and Inchtuthil . Scotland is known for its "dramatically placed castles, fused onto defensive ridges and rocky islands". Many of these date from Scotland in the Middle Ages . In contrast to England, which embarked on Elizabethan houses , Scotland saw

6750-456: The Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. Archaeologists have revealed that some parts of the wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. It has been suggested that some forts continued to be garrisoned by local Britons under the control of a Coel Hen figure and former dux . Hadrian's Wall fell into ruin, and over

6875-419: The Roman equivalent of barbed wire , a measure to delay an enemy attack and hold the attackers within range of the missiles of the defenders. The curtain wall was not mainly a continuously-embattled defensive line, rather it would deter casual crossing and be an observation point that could alert Romans of an incoming attack and slow down enemy forces so that additional troops could arrive for support. Besides

7000-610: The Romanesque-revival Penrhyn Castle near Bangor , a design by Thomas Hopper that blended Norman, Regency and early-Victorian architecture for an English MP who had inherited a vast Welsh estate. Contemporary architecture has appeared in Wales from Cardiff Bay to Caernarfon , and has a tradition of mixing traditional Welsh materials in to modern construction techniques. Architectural style Architectural styles are frequently associated with

7125-418: The Romans eventually withdrew to Hadrian's Wall. The early historian Bede , following Gildas , wrote ( c.  730 ): [the departing Romans] thinking that it might be some help to the allies [Britons], whom they were forced to abandon, constructed a strong stone wall from sea to sea, in a straight line between the towns that had been there built for fear of the enemy, where Severus also had formerly built

7250-449: The Romans' definition of their territory. In 1936, further research suggested that the Vallum could not have been built before the wall because the Vallum avoided one of the wall's milecastles. This new discovery was continually supported by more evidence, strengthening the idea that there was a simultaneous construction of the Vallum and the wall. Other evidence still pointed in other, slightly different directions. Evidence shows that

7375-761: The Scottish Calvinists rejected ornamental places of worship and few churches escaped their attention. This tradition of geometric purity became prominent in Scottish architecture thereafter, but never became popular in England. Similarly, Scotland has produced some of the most idiosyncratic of architects such as James , John and Robert Adam , Alexander Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh , which all relate to popular trends in Scottish architecture; all however created Scottish stylistic interpretations and often deliberately injecting traditional Scottish forms into their work. The Adam brothers were leaders of

7500-491: The United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. A listed building is a building or other structure decreed as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance; it is a widely used status, applied to around half a million buildings in the UK, enacted by provisions in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and

7625-625: The United Kingdom, the influence of British architecture is evident in most of its former colonies and current territories across the globe. The influence is particularly strong in India , Bangladesh and Pakistan the result of British rule in India in the 19th and 20th centuries. The cities of Lahore , Mumbai , Kolkata , Dhaka and Chittagong have courts, administrative buildings and railway stations designed in British architectural styles. In

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7750-541: The Vallum preceded sections of the Narrow Wall specifically; to account for this discrepancy, Couse suggests that either construction of the Vallum began with the Broad Wall, or it began when the Narrow Wall succeeded the Broad Wall but proceeded more quickly than that of the Narrow Wall. From Milecastle 49 to the western terminus at Bowness-on-Solway, the wall was originally constructed from turf, possibly due to

7875-538: The absence of limestone. Subsequently, the turf wall was demolished and replaced with a stone wall. This took place in two phases; the first (from the River Irthing to a point west of Milecastle 54 ) during the reign of Hadrian, and the second following the reoccupation of Hadrian's Wall after the abandonment of the Antonine Wall (though it has also been suggested that this second phase took place during

8000-462: The antiquarian John Clayton . He trained as a lawyer and became town clerk of Newcastle in the 1830s. He became enthusiastic about preserving the wall after inheriting Chesters from his father. To prevent farmers taking stones from the wall, he began buying some of the land on which the wall stood. In 1834, he started purchasing property around Steel Rigg near Crag Lough . Eventually, he controlled land from Brunton to Cawfields. This stretch included

8125-457: The area. In 150, a discharge certificate was issued to Velvotigernus, son of Maglotigernus, after 26 year's service in the classis Germanica . It was found near (not in) the Roman fort of Longovicium . Presumably Velvotigernus was from the upper echelons of British society (his father's name means 'Great master'); he chose to settle near Lanchester some 27km south of the wall. This suggests the rapid development of elements of Roman culture both by

8250-523: The best known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England. Another well-preserved example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset . Early Medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno – Saxon monasticism , to Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After

8375-501: The borders of the empire, for example the Euphrates , Rhine and Danube . Britain, however, did not have any natural boundaries that could serve the purpose to divide the province controlled by the Romans from the Celtic tribes in the north. With construction starting in 122, the entire length of the wall was built with an alternating series of forts, each housing 600 men, and manned milecastles, operated by "between 12 and 20 men". It took six years to build most of Hadrian's Wall with

8500-402: The builder. The concept of architectural style is studied in the architectural history as one of the approaches ("style and period") that are used to organize the history of architecture (Leach lists five other approaches as "biography, geography and culture, type, technique, theme and analogy"). Style provides an additional relationship between otherwise disparate buildings, thus serving as

8625-648: The building of castles and fortified houses continue well into the 17th century, and many were constructed in a building-boom following the Scottish Reformation. The most distinctive Scottish fortification at this time was the tower house . The grandest medieval Scottish castles are composed of a series of courtyards, with a keep at their centre, but the lone keep-towers were more common, particularly amongst Scottish feudal barons . Some of Scotland's most famous medieval fortifications include Castle Stalker and Stirling Castle . More recent, Jacobean era castles include Edinburgh Castle and Craigievar Castle . The arrival of

8750-469: The cannon made high-walled castles defensively impractical and obsolete, but the fortification genre evolved into a style in its own right; Scots Baronial Style architecture has an emphasis on turrets and strong vertical lines drawn from tower houses, and constitutes one of Scotland's "most distinctive contributions to British architecture". The new political stability, made possible by the Act of Union, allowed for renewed prosperity in Scotland, which led to

8875-442: The case of the Cumberland map) a cartouche in which he sets out a description of the wall. Much of the wall has now disappeared. Long sections of it were used for roadbuilding in the 18th century, especially by General Wade to build a military road (most of which lies beneath the present day B6318 " Military Road ") to move troops to crush the Jacobite rising of 1745 . The preservation of much of what remains can be credited to

9000-531: The centuries the stone was reused in other local buildings. Enough survived in the 7th century for spolia from Hadrian's Wall (illustrated at right) to find its way into the construction of St Paul's Church in Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey , where Bede was a monk. It was presumably incorporated before the setting of the church's dedication stone, still to be seen in the church, dated 23 April 685. The wall fascinated John Speed , who published

9125-482: The conditions of the artist, as current thinking tends to emphasize, using less rigid versions of Marxist art history. Although style was well-established as a central component of art historical analysis, seeing it as the over-riding factor in art history had fallen out of fashion by World War II, as other ways of looking at art were developing, and a reaction against the emphasis on style developing; for Svetlana Alpers , "the normal invocation of style in art history

9250-563: The construction of mansions and manor houses . Clergyman William Harrison noted in his Description of England (1577), "Each one desireth to set his house aloft on the hill, to be seen afar off, and cast forth his beams of stately and curious workmanship into every quarter of the country." A greater sense of security led to "more outward-looking buildings", as opposed to the Medieval, inward facing buildings constructed for defence. However, owing to troublesome relations with Catholic Europe,

9375-483: The debate into the 20th century. Paul Jacobsthal and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in time and space. This type of art history is also known as formalism , or the study of forms or shapes in art. Wölfflin declared the goal of formalism as German : Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe , "art history without names", where an architect's work has

9500-459: The eastern half's width was therefore reduced from the original ten Roman feet to eight, with the remaining stones from the eastern half used for around 5 miles (8.0 kilometres) of the turf wall in the west. This reduction from the original ten Roman feet to eight created the so-called "Narrow Wall". Just south of the wall there is a ten-foot (three-metre) deep, ditch-like construction with two parallel mounds running north and south of it, known as

9625-650: The elements strived for in British Georgian architecture. The Palace of Westminster , a UNESCO World Heritage Site , houses the Parliament of the United Kingdom . A collaboration in the Perpendicular Gothic style between Augustus Welby Pugin and Sir Charles Barry , it is described by Linda Colley as "the building that most enshrines Britain's national and imperial pre-tensions". Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during

9750-433: The established narrative over how much of a threat the inhabitants of northern Britain presented to the Romans, and whether there was any economic advantage in defending and garrisoning a fixed line of defences like the wall, rather than conquering and annexing what has become Northumberland and the Scottish Lowlands and then defending the territory with a looser arrangement of forts. Hadrian and his advisers however produced

9875-401: The face of John Clayton (above right). In 2021 workers for Northumbrian Water found a previously undiscovered 3-metre section of the wall while repairing a water main in central Newcastle upon Tyne . The company announced that the pipe would be "angled to leave a buffer around the excavated trench". Hadrian's Wall was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and in 2005 it became part of

10000-667: The first phase of the classical revival in the Kingdom of Great Britain . Cromlechs and other prehistoric architecture exits in Wales. Examples include Bryn Celli Ddu a neolithic site on the Isle of Anglesey , and Parc Cwm long cairn on the Gower Peninsula . As stated by Sir Simon Jenkins , "Wales has a very long and porous border with England", which had a major influence upon the architecture of Wales. Many Welsh landmark buildings were designed and built by Englishmen, such as

10125-425: The footings, and some segments display a few courses of modern masonry reconstruction. Many of the excavated forts on or near the wall are open to the public, and various nearby museums present its history. The largest Roman archaeological feature in Britain, it runs a total of 73 miles (117.5 kilometres). Regarded as a British cultural icon , Hadrian's Wall is one of Britain's major ancient tourist attractions . It

10250-416: The foundation, quickly becoming much shallower. Above the stone curtain wall's foundations, one or more footing courses were laid. Offsets were introduced above these footing courses (on both the north and south faces), which reduced the wall's width. Where the width of the curtain wall is stated, it is in reference to the width above the offset. Two standards of offset have been identified: Standard A, where

10375-473: The free exchange of ideas was difficult meaning new Renaissance architecture was generally slow to arrive in Britain. Increasingly isolated from the continent, landowners relied on new architectural books for inspiration, as well as surveyors to interpret designs. This allowed for much more in the way of the ornamental facades of Italianate architecture to penetrate the architecture of Great Britain; room sizes were increased (as an expensive commodity), and there

10500-533: The full quota of 756 Belgae troops were present, the rest being sick or otherwise absent. By about 200 BC, long before the Romans arrived in Britannia, the zone on both sides of what would become the wall, from Lothian to the north and the River Wear to the south, had become dominated by rectilinear enclosures. These were the nuclei of extensive farming settlements at a high level of the social hierarchy,

10625-490: The grandeur of their buildings. In the Kingdom of England, Perpendicular style gained preference for civic and church structures throughout much of the Middle Ages. King's College Chapel in Cambridge , which started in 1446 and was completed in 1515, marks the period of transition between Perpendicular and Tudor style architecture . Between 1500 and 1660 Britain experienced a social, cultural and political change owing to

10750-603: The historical ones (working "in every style or none"), and style definition became a practical matter. The choice of an appropriate style was subject of elaborate discussions; for example, the Cambridge Camden Society had argued that the churches in the new British colonies should be built in the Norman style , so that the local architects and builders can go through the paces repeating the architectural history of England. Hadrian%27s Wall Hadrian's Wall ( Latin : Vallum Hadriani , also known as

10875-469: The latter". However, soldiers from the three British legions outnumbered the auxiliaries, which goes against the assertion that legionaries would not be used on such detached duties. Further information on the garrisoning of the wall has been provided by the discovery of the Vindolanda tablets just to the south of Hadrian's Wall, such as the record of an inspection on 18 May 92 or 97, when only 456 of

11000-512: The local upper classes and by immigrants either attracted by commercial possibilities or officially encouraged to settle. Northwards a very different picture emerges. A large area of what is now southern Scotland as far as Lothian, and the Northumbrian coastal plain, lost its monumental building tradition of substantial timber roundhouses and earthwork enclosures. Very little late Roman pottery has been found there. The Romans may have cleared

11125-414: The majority of the people of Great Britain however, domestic buildings were of poor design and materials, meaning few examples from the early modern period have survived. Most buildings remained tied to the locality, and local materials shaped buildings. Furthermore, the buildings of the 16th century were also governed by fitness for purpose. However, more stable and sophisticated houses for those lower down

11250-466: The milecastles west of Bowness-on-Solway are referred to as Milefortlets . Hadrian's Wall was probably planned before Hadrian 's visit to Britain in 122. According to restored sandstone fragments found in Jarrow which date from 118 or 119, it was Hadrian's wish to keep "intact the empire", which had been imposed on him via "divine instruction". On Hadrian's accession to the imperial throne in 117, there

11375-494: The notion of "style" cannot adequately describe the contemporary architecture, is obsolete and ridden with historicism . In their opinion, by concentrating on the appearance of the building, style classification misses the hidden from view ideas that architects had put into the form. Studying history of architecture without reliance on styles usually relies on a " canon " of important architects and buildings. The lesser objects in this approach do not deserve attention: "A bicycle shed

11500-433: The offset occurs above the first footing course, and Standard B, where the offset occurs after the third (or sometimes fourth) footing course. It is thought that following construction and when fully manned, almost 10,000 soldiers were stationed on Hadrian's Wall, made up not of the legions who built it but by regiments of auxiliary infantry and cavalry drawn from the provinces. Following from this, David Breeze lays out

11625-552: The original intent of the original architect, sometimes his very identity, can be forgotten, and the building style becomes "an indispensable historical tool". Styles emerge from the history of a society. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. The new style is sometimes only a rebellion against an existing style, such as postmodern architecture (meaning "after modernism"), which in 21st century has found its own language and split into

11750-568: The ornate Crown Liquor Saloon . Early 20th century landmarks include a number of schools built for Belfast Corporation in the 1930s by R S Wilshere . Notables include the severe, sturdy, 1936 brick built Belfast School of Music on Donegall Pass and the Whitla Hall at Queen's University Belfast, designed by John McGeagh. Belfast has examples of art deco architecture such a such as the Bank of Ireland and Sinclair's department store on Royal Avenue and

11875-423: The period concerned. The 21st century construction uses a multitude of styles that are sometimes lumped together as a " contemporary architecture " based on the common trait of extreme reliance on computer-aided architectural design (cf. Parametricism ). Folk architecture (also "vernacular architecture") is not a style, but an application of local customs to small-scale construction without clear identity of

12000-453: The plans changed. Based on this evidence, Collingwood concludes that the wall was originally to be built between present-day Newcastle and Bowness-on-Solway, with a uniform width of 10 Roman feet, all in stone. On completion, only three-fifths of the wall was built from stone; the remaining western section was a turf wall, later rebuilt in stone. Plans possibly changed due to a lack of resources. In an effort to preserve resources further,

12125-461: The prehistoric period, amongst the best known are Stonehenge , Devil's Arrows , Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg . With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas , baths , amphitheatres , triumphal arches , villas , Roman temples , Roman roads , Roman forts , stockades and aqueducts . It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps

12250-595: The region. Nevertheless, the settlement pattern in the area did not change immediately after the wall was built, and the groups who fought the Romans may have been from previously pacified tribes to the south, or from far north of the wall. The Roman soldiers of the garrison, with their families and other immigrants, may have amounted to some 22-30% of the population of the region. They could not have been supplied entirely from local resources, although any local surpluses would have been taxed or requisitioned. Military conscripts may also have been levied from nearby groups. To

12375-470: The reign of Septimius Severus ). The line of the stone wall follows the line of the turf wall, apart from the stretch between Milecastle 49 and Milecastle 51 , where the line of the stone wall is slightly further to the north. In the stretch around Milecastle 50TW , it was built on a flat base with three to four courses of turf blocks. A basal layer of cobbles was used westwards from Milecastle 72 (at Burgh-by-Sands) and possibly at Milecastle 53 . Where

12500-401: The route of the wall was shifted to avoid the Vallum, possibly pointing to the Vallum being an older construction. R. G. Collingwood therefore asserted in 1930 that the Vallum was built before the wall in its final form. Collingwood also questioned whether the Vallum was an original border built before the wall. Based on this, the wall could be viewed as a replacement border built to strengthen

12625-666: The same style, but with unique characteristics. An architectural style may also spread through colonialism , either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. One example is the Spanish missions in California , brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style . After an architectural style has gone out of fashion, revivals and re-interpretations may occur. For instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism . Each time it

12750-412: The scale and design of the wall was novel for Roman military construction, "there was a long tradition of wall-building in the ancient (Mediterranean) world upon which he could have drawn for inspiration without the inconvenience of traversing whole continents in search of a prototype." In recent years, despite the overwhelming evidence over its 400 year manned presence, some scholars have disagreed with

12875-414: The sites of Chesters, Carrawburgh , Housesteads , and Vindolanda . Clayton carried out excavation at the fort at Cilurnum and at Housesteads, and he excavated some milecastles. Clayton managed the farms he had acquired and succeeded in improving both the land and the livestock. He used the profits from his farms for restoration work. Workmen were employed to restore sections of the wall, generally up to

13000-541: The social scale gradually appeared, replacing timber with stone and, later, brick. The arrival of Flemish people in the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Protestant craftsmen and pattern-books from the Low Countries that also prompted the multiplication of weavers' cottages . The 18th century has been described as "a great period in British Architecture". The Acts of Union 1707 put into effect

13125-455: The society had passed into the Dark Ages . Similarly, Anglo-Saxons brought a "sophisticated building style of their own" to Britain, but little physical evidence survives because the principal building material was wood. The Norman conquest of England , which began in 1066, marked the introduction of large-scale stone-block building techniques to Britain. Norman architecture was built on

13250-420: The soldiers on Hadrian's Wall. One, these soldiers who manned the milecastles and turrets on the wall came from the forts near it; two, regiments from auxiliaries were specifically chosen for this role; or three, "a special force" was formed to man these stations. Breeze comes to the conclusion that through all the inscriptions gathered there were soldiers from three, or even four, auxiliary units at milecastles on

13375-527: The south, between the wall and the River Tees , Roman-style settlements appear in the early 2nd century, very shortly after the wall was built. This is earlier than Roman villas in Yorkshire further south. Mortaria stamped with the name ANAVS were produced at Faverdale , some 80 kilometres south of the wall, and most of those found have come from the fort of Coria . Anaus was probably an immigrant to

13500-485: The terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union between the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain . This union meant that Scottish politicians tended to spend most of their time in London to attend the Parliament of the United Kingdom ; the tendency was that these individuals became very wealthy. For example, Sir William Dundas ,

13625-447: The two basic functions for soldiers on or around Hadrian's Wall. Breeze says that soldiers who were stationed in the forts around the wall had the primary duty of defence; at the same time, the troops in the milecastles and turrets had the responsibility of frontier control. Evidence, as Breeze says, for soldiers stationed in forts is far more pronounced than the ones in the milecastles and turrets. Breeze discusses three theories about

13750-410: The underlying ground was boggy, wooden piles were used. At its base, the turf wall was 6 metres (20 feet) wide, built in courses of turf blocks measuring 46 cm (18 inches) long by 30 cm (12 inches) deep by 15 cm (6 inches) high, to a height around 3.66 metres (12.0 feet). The north face is thought to have had a slope of 75%, whereas the south face is thought to have started vertical above

13875-526: The wall as a departure from traditional Roman military architecture as typified by the Roman limes has been seen as noteworthy and has led to exceptional suggestions of influence by some scholars, for example D.J Breeze and B. Dobson suggest "Hadrian may have been influenced by travellers' accounts of the Great Wall of China , built some two hundred years before." This proposal has been challenged by other scholars like Duncan Campbell who argues that, though

14000-406: The wall's width was reduced from the originally planned 10 feet (3.0 m) to about 8 feet (2.4 m), or even less depending on the terrain. Some sections were originally constructed of turf and timber, eventually replaced by stone years or decades later. Bede , a monk and historian who died in 735, wrote that the wall stood 12 feet (3.7 metres) high, with evidence suggesting it could have been

14125-467: The wall. These units were " cohors I Batavorum , cohors I Vardullorum , an un-numbered Pannonian cohort, and a duplicarius from Upper Germany ". Breeze adds that there appears to have been some legionaries as well at these milecastles. Breeze states that evidence is "still open on whether" soldiers who manned the milecastles were from nearby forts or were specifically chosen for this task, and he adds that "the balance [of evidence] perhaps lies towards

14250-503: The whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts , smaller milecastles , and intervening turrets . In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts. Hadrian's Wall Path generally runs close along the wall. Almost all the standing masonry of the wall was removed in early modern times and used for local roads and farmhouses. None of it stands to its original height, but modern work has exposed much of

14375-465: The work coming from three Roman legions – the Legio II Augusta , Legio VI Victrix , and Legio XX Valeria Victrix , totalling 15,000 soldiers, plus some members of the Roman fleet. The building of the wall was not out of the area of expertise for the soldiers; some would have trained to be surveyors, engineers, masons, and carpenters. R. G. Collingwood cites evidence for the existence of

14500-528: Was also a general move towards balanced and symmetrical exteriors with central entrances, all used as statements of wealth. Medieval Gothic architectural forms were gradually dropped, and mansions and other large domestic buildings became "varied and playful". Ultimately drawing upon ancient Hellenistic art , Inigo Jones is credited as Britain's first classically inspired architect, providing designs as "sophisticated as anything being built in Italy", such as Queen's House and Banqueting House , both in London. For

14625-404: Was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The turf-built Antonine Wall of 142 in what is now central Scotland , which briefly superseded Hadrian's Wall before being abandoned, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2008. Hadrian's Wall marked the boundary between Roman Britannia and unconquered Caledonia to the north. The wall lies entirely within England and has never formed

14750-446: Was given an annexe and a network of ditched and banked boundaries. The sites at Pegswood Moor and St. George's Hospital, Morpeth , also show probable stock enclosures and droveways, far less substantial than the massive Iron Age sites in the area. The site at Huckhoe is the only one in this area to produce evidence of post-Hadrianic domestic residence (Roman coarse pottery, probably containers of high-prestige imported food, as late as

14875-465: Was initially imported from France , but quickly developed its own unique qualities. Throughout the United Kingdom, secular medieval architecture has left a legacy of large stone castles , with a concentration being found lining both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border , dating from the Wars of Scottish Independence of the 14th century. The invention of gunpowder and cannons made castles redundant, and

15000-853: Was launched—in addition to this around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace . Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places. The first known dwelling in Northern Ireland are found at the Mount Sandel Mesolithic site in County Londonderry and date to 7000 BC. Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone are especially rich in Stone Age archaeology. Early Christian art and architecture

15125-469: Was slightly north of Stanegate , an important Roman road built several decades earlier to link two forts that guarded important river crossings: Corstopitum ( Corbridge ) on the River Tyne and Luguvalium (Carlisle) on the River Eden . The modern A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall from Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle , then along the northern coast of Cumbria (south shore of

15250-401: Was the clearest statement of the might, resourcefulness, and determination of an individual emperor and of his empire. The wall was also a symbolic statement of Rome's imperial power, marking the border between the so called civilized world and the unconquered barbarian wilderness. As British archaeologist Neil Faulkner explains, "the wall, like other great Roman frontier monuments was as much

15375-435: Was the first to build a wall, eighty miles long, to separate the Romans from the barbarians . The defensive characteristics of the wall support interpretation, including the pits known as cippi frequently found on the berm or flat area in front of the wall. These pits held branches or small tree trunks entangled with sharpened branches. These would make an attack on the wall even more difficult. It might be thought of as

15500-596: Was the term used for all styles of architecture created during its reign by the House of Hanover . These included Palladian , neo-Gothic and Chinoiserie . Initially, Georgian architecture was a modifications of the Renaissance architecture of continental Europe. It was a variation on the Palladian style, which was known for balanced façades, muted ornament, and minimal detailing. Simplicity, symmetry, and solidity were

15625-537: Was unrest and rebellion in Roman Britain and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the empire, including Egypt , Judea , Libya and Mauretania . These troubles may have influenced his plan to construct the wall, as well as his construction of frontier boundaries now known as limes in other areas of the empire, such as the Limes Germanicus in modern-day Germany. The novelty of

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