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. Perpendicular was the prevailing style of Late Gothic architecture in England from the 14th century to the 17th century. Perpendicular was unique to the country: no equivalent arose in Continental Europe or elsewhere in the British-Irish Isles . 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 .
31-619: Great George may refer to: England's ninth-largest bell, hung in the Wills Memorial Building , University of Bristol A badge of the Order of the Garter See also [ edit ] Great George Street, Hong Kong Great George Street , Westminster, London Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
62-657: A knighthood that year in recognition of his work on the building. In 1940, during the Bristol Blitz of the Second World War , the Great Hall with its hammerbeam roof was badly damaged by a German bomb-blast. It was restored in the 1960s to Oatley's original design; at the same time the adjoining wing was enlarged by Ralph Brentnall. The alleged connection of the Wills family to historical slavery via
93-608: A Tudor arch, filling the wall with glass. The window tracery matches the tracery on the walls. During the reign of Edward III the style began to dominate at the Court, especially at the redevelopment of Windsor Castle, where John Sponlee designed the buildings to house Edward's neo-Arthurian fancies. Of these the Dean's Cloister and Aerary Porch survive and exhibit early Perpendicular blind tracery and lierne vaults. The style attained maturity under Henry Yevele and William Wynford in
124-470: A cathedral) and King's College chapel. These were both straightforward fan vaults , but pendant vaulting also reached its apogee with those over St Frideswide's Priory (now Oxford Cathedral ) and the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey, a major example of the late Perpendicular style. Another important example is St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle , begun in 1475. The vault of the chapel
155-472: A design in the Perpendicular Gothic style, to evoke the famous university buildings of Oxford and Cambridge . The building was funded through the fortunes which the Wills family made through tobacco. Oatley later claimed that his inspiration for the building came from a dream where he saw a tower on a hill, with shields around it. Construction started in 1915 but was halted in 1916 due to
186-509: A palatine chapel built by King Edward I following the model of Sainte-Chapelle at the Palais de la Cité in medieval Paris . 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
217-741: Is a landmark building of the University of Bristol that currently houses the School of Law and the Department of Earth Sciences , as well as the Law and Earth Sciences libraries. It is the fourth highest structure in Bristol , standing at 215 ft (65.5 m). Many regard the building as synonymous with the University of Bristol. It is the centrepiece building of the university precinct and
248-460: Is over twice the height of the nearby Cabot Tower . It is 16 metres square and ornamented with heraldic shields. It is topped by an octagonal lantern which houses Great George (England's ninth-largest bell , weighing over 9.5 tonnes) which strikes on the hour. In addition to the Great Hall there is a General Library, Reception Room and Council Chamber, and a further 50 rooms including some teaching space such as seminar rooms and lecture theatres. In
279-525: Is used by the university for degree ceremonies and examinations, which take place in the Great Hall. Architecture commentator Nikolaus Pevsner described it as: " a tour de force in Gothic Revival, so convinced, so vast, and so competent that one cannot help feeling respect for it. " It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building and serves as a regional European Documentation Centre . The Wills Memorial Building
310-627: 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
341-574: The Divinity School, Oxford . In the later 15th century, the pendulum swung back towards elaboration, especially under the Tudors. John Harvey considered this change to be significant enough to merit Tudor Gothic being considered as a separate style, with greater continental influence, but this position is not widely held. At this period many of the most dazzling vaults were constructed, such as those by John Wastell at Peterborough Abbey (now
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#1732802438112372-601: The Wills Memorial Tower or simply the Wills Tower ) is a neo-Gothic building in Bristol, England, designed by Sir George Oatley and built as a memorial to Henry Overton Wills III by his sons George and Henry Wills . Begun in 1915 and not opened until 1925, it is considered one of the last great Gothic buildings to be built in England. Standing near the top of Park Street on Queens Road, it
403-425: The soffit of the window, with horizontal transoms frequently decorated with miniature crenellations . 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. The first Perpendicular style building
434-733: The British Isles into three stylistic periods. 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 ). 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 ). Rickman had excluded from his scheme most new buildings after Henry VIII's reign, calling
465-581: The Entrance Hall are two ceremonial staircases. The building is also used as a conference venue. In 2006, cleaning work began on the Wills Memorial Building costing £750,000. Cleaning on the building revealed the engraving "IO TRIVMPHE" intended as a tribute to the architect of the building Sir George Oatley. The engraving had remained hidden for over 80 years and recognises the role of Sir Isambard Owen (then Vice-Chancellor) in
496-474: The U.S. tobacco industry attracted controversy in the 2010s, with some students petitioning the University of Bristol to rename the building in March 2017. In 2018, the university published a response and consultation on how to address the issue, including (amongst others) the suggestion of renaming university buildings and changing the coat of arms. On 28 February 2022 the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building
527-599: The beginning of the reign of Richard II to the beginning the reign of Edward VI . Though the style rarely appeared on the European continent, it was dominant in England until the mid-16th century. 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
558-498: The continuation of the First World War . Work resumed in 1919, and the Wills Memorial Building was finally opened on 9 June 1925 by King George V and Queen Mary , having cost a total of £501,566 19s 10d. The building was opened with a Royal Salute of 21 chimes from 'Great George', the nine-and-a-half ton bell within the octagonal belfry of the tower, which is tolled on the death of a monarch or chancellor. Oatley received
589-458: The court of the House of Plantagenet was based at Westminster Palace beside Westminster Abbey . 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 ,
620-418: 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. 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
651-453: The later 14th century. Yevele designed works for the King and Court, such as Westminster Hall , Portchester Castle and the naves of Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral , while Wynford predominantly worked for Bishop Wykeham of Winchester on the nave of the cathedral itself as well as his educational foundations of New College, Oxford and Winchester College . By c.1400 the style
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#1732802438112682-535: 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 . 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
713-487: The realisation of Oatley's plans. Harry Patch , a veteran of the First World War who also worked on the building, re-unveiled the now clean building. Perpendicular Period The pointed arches used in Perpendicular were often four-centred arches , allowing them to be rather wider and flatter than in other Gothic styles. Perpendicular tracery is characterized by mullions that rise vertically as far as
744-670: The style of "additions and rebuilding" in the later 16th and earlier 17th centuries "often much debased". Perpendicular followed the Decorated Gothic (or Second Pointed) style and preceded the arrival of Renaissance elements in Tudor and Elizabethan architecture. 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
775-634: The title Great George . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_George&oldid=1087253969 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Wills Memorial Building#Description 51°27′22″N 2°36′16″W / 51.45611°N 2.60444°W / 51.45611; -2.60444 The Wills Memorial Building (also known as
806-575: 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. 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,
837-441: Was commissioned in 1912 by George Alfred Wills and Henry Herbert Wills , the magnates of the Bristol tobacco company W. D. & H. O. Wills , in honour of their father, Henry Overton Wills III, benefactor and first Chancellor of the university who donated £100,000 to the university. Sir George Oatley, who also worked on a number of other buildings for the university, was chosen as architect and told to "build to last". He produced
868-404: 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 . The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral ( c. 1337–1357 ) and its latter 14th-century cloisters are early examples. Four-centred arches were often used, and lierne vaults seen in early buildings were developed into fan vaults , first at
899-573: Was occupied by a group of students. The student occupiers barricaded themselves in the Great Hall in solidarity with ongoing industrial action by the University and Colleges Union which represents many teaching and professional services staff at the University. The building's dominant feature is the Wills Tower, built in reinforced concrete faced with Bath and Clipsham stone , with carving designed in collaboration with Jean Hahn of King's Heath Guild, Birmingham. At 215 ft (65.5 m) high it
930-412: Was the earliest example of Perpendicular Gothic. 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. 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. The chapter house at St Paul's
961-579: Was widespread across the country, from Melrose in Scotland to Wells in Somerset. Under the pious Henry VI the official style of the Court became relatively austere, as seen at the chapels of King's College, Cambridge and Eton College . However, the original intentions at both buildings are now obscured as the building work continued long after the King was overthrown, with design changes resulting in increasing ornamentation. The same process occurred at