Early English Style

Early English Style, The, in the history of English architecture followed the Norman Style, and prevailed for about a century (between 1185 and 1300). It first appears during the building of Canterbury cathedral, and the choir and transepts of Rochester cathedral are an early instance. As compared with the Norman Style, it exhibits great lightness; long, narrow lancet-shaped windows and sharply-pointed arches take the place of the Norman round arch, and slender pillars (often formed of a cluster of shafts bound together at intervals) take the place of the thick heavy Norman pillars; while the vaulting is much lighter, and there is a marked prevalence of vertical lines. Flying buttresses, bold, rounded mouldings, and crockets (ornaments resembling a shepherd's crook) are also among the characteristics of the style. The lancet-headed windows of the earliest examples are modified later on by the introduction of tracery, usually in the form of circles. The choir and apse of Westminster Abbey, much of Wells cathedral and the bishop's palace, the choir of Worcester cathedral and the Temple church, London, and the nave of Lincoln Cathedral are among the best-known examples of this style, but Salisbury cathedral is its leading type.