Part 8 (1/2)

Probably the most beautiful feature of a Gothic church is the spire, raising its tapering form far above the town or village and forming a prominent landmark, denoting the location of the House of G.o.d. Although found occasionally in other styles, the spire is essentially Gothic, and one of the most marked characteristics of this period. Spires are generally of two kinds, those constructed of timber and covered with slates, lead, tiles or s.h.i.+ngles, and those built of stone or brick.

Examples of both kinds are very numerous on the continent and in England, while s.h.i.+ngle spires are especially common in Suss.e.x.

The spire is generally acknowledged to have originated from the small pyramidal roof so frequently found on Saxon and Norman towers. This gradually became elongated, and the towers were sometimes gabled on each side, as is the case with the remarkable Saxon church at Sompting, Suss.e.x.

This shows us very clearly the angles of the spire resting upon the apex of each gable, so that the spire itself is set obliquely to the square of the tower.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The best example of a Saxon Spire or Pyramidal Roof.

Sompting, Suss.e.x. _Drawn by George Pearl._]

Saxon and Norman spires are very rare in England, Sompting being our best example of the former and those on the eastern transepts of Canterbury Cathedral of the latter.

Of Early English spires we have, fortunately, some good examples, among which are those at Oxford Cathedral, Wilford and Wansted, in the same county, and a very graceful one at Leighton Buzzard. These 13th century spires are very common in France, as at Chartres and S. Pierre, Caen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leighton Buzzard Church.

With Early English Tower and Spire. _Photograph H. A. Strange._]

Of fourteenth century, or Decorated, spires, we have many examples, of which perhaps the best is the beautiful spire of Salisbury Cathedral, although the equally fine one at S. Mary's, Oxford, runs it close for premier position. The triple group at Lichfield Cathedral belong to this period, as do the spires of Ross, Heckington, Grantham, S. Mary's, Newark, King's Sutton, Bloxham and Snettisham, Norfolk. A peculiarity of the Salisbury spire is that it never formed part of the original design of the cathedral, being added seventy years later. It is the loftiest spire in England--404 feet--about 40 ft. higher than the cross of S. Paul's. It speaks well for the Gothic builders that such a vast superstructure as this tower and spire could be imposed upon walls and piers never intended to bear it. At an early period it was found to have deflected twenty-three inches from the perpendicular, but there has been no sign of any further movement. Barnack Church, in Northamptons.h.i.+re, has a curious spire showing the transition from Norman to Early English.

It will be noticed that the sides of a church spire are slightly curved, so that they swell out a little in the centre. This is called the entasis of the spire, and belongs to the study of optics in architecture.

Where the spire has no entasis the same effect is produced by the introduction of small projecting gables, bands of carving, or a little coronal of pinnacles.

One of the most clearly marked differences between English and continental spires is that the latter are much shorter than the towers which support them, the towers, as a rule, being twice as high as the spires. In England, on the contrary, the spire is generally very much loftier than the tower. At Shottesbrook, Berks, and Ledbury, Herefords.h.i.+re, the spires occupy as much as three-fifths of the total elevation, and the usual rule in England is for the tower to be a little less in height than the spire.

The masons lavished an extraordinary amount of care and skill on their spires. So much is this the case that there is hardly a mediaeval spire in the country which can be called ill-designed or displeasing.

Church spires are very common in some counties and very rare in others.

There are, of course, exceptions, but it is in the flat counties that spires are most frequent, the most beautiful ones being found in Northamptons.h.i.+re, Leicesters.h.i.+re, Lincolns.h.i.+re, Warwicks.h.i.+re, Staffords.h.i.+re, Nottinghams.h.i.+re and Oxfords.h.i.+re.

The top of the spire is usually capped with a weather vane terminating in a c.o.c.k. The custom of using a c.o.c.k as the flag of the vane is of very early date, for Wolfstan, in his Life of S. Ethelwold, written towards the end of the 10th century, speaks of one which surmounted Winchester Cathedral. In the Bayeux Tapestry one is shown on the gable of Westminster Abbey, and one of the early Popes ordained that every church under the papal jurisdiction should be surmounted by a c.o.c.k as emblematical of the sovereignty of the church over the whole world.

CHAPTER XI.

STAINED GLa.s.s.

The use of coloured gla.s.s in the windows of buildings devoted to religious purposes appears to have been employed as early as the ninth century, but no examples remain of anything like so old a date, and we have only illuminated missals and primitive drawings by members of the conventual bodies to guide us in determining the earliest styles of coloured glazing. It appears to have consisted of more or less primitive representations of the human form, with strong black lines to indicate the features and folds of the drapery. The backgrounds were generally ma.s.ses of deep blue or red, and in the rare instances where landscapes were introduced positive colours only appear to have been used. Our oldest specimens in England are those in the choir aisles of Canterbury Cathedral, which appear to be of the 12th century, and it is thought that they are the remains of the original glazing that was put in when this part of the building was rebuilt after a fire in 1174. The general design is composed of panels of various forms, in which are depicted subjects from Holy Scripture, with backgrounds of deep blue or red; the s.p.a.ces between the panels are filled with mosaic patterns in which blue and red colours predominate, and the whole design is framed in an elaborate border of leaves and scroll-work in brilliant colours.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Parish Church with a s.h.i.+ngle Broach Spire.

(_See page 99_). Edenbridge, Kent. _Homeland Copyright._]

Of thirteenth century windows we have some magnificent examples --unfortunately few unmutilated--as at York, where is the five-light lancet window situated in the north end of the transept, known as the Five Sisters of York. Of this date, also, are the large circular window of Lincoln Cathedral, and the windows at Chetwode, Bucks; Westwell, Kent; West Horsley, Surrey; and Beckett's Crown, Canterbury.

A little later, in the Decorated period, we get the great east window of York Cathedral, 75 ft. high and 32 ft. broad; the east window of Gloucester Cathedral, 72 ft. high and 38 ft. broad; and other fine windows at Tewkesbury Abbey; Merton College, Oxford; Wroxhall Abbey, Warwicks.h.i.+re; and the churches of Chartham, Kent; Stanford, Leicesters.h.i.+re; Ashchurch, Glous.; Cranley, Surrey; Norbury, Derbys.h.i.+re, and others. Salisbury Cathedral has retained portions, but very lovely portions, of the glazing of its west windows, and enough is left to show that it was little inferior to the great windows of York and Gloucester.

Carlisle Cathedral, too, has preserved fragments of the original gla.s.s in the tracery of the great east window, but the lower part of the glazing is modern. Windows in the Decorated style continued to be arranged in panels, with the s.p.a.ces between them filled with flowing patterns of foliage, in which the vine and ivy leaves predominate.

Single figures are more common than in the previous style, and when used are generally shown beneath a simple pediment or canopy. In the early examples they only occupy a portion of the window light, but later they are found occupying nearly the whole of the surface and are surmounted by large and elaborate canopies. Quarries are much used in this style, sometimes quite plain, but more often with leaves or rosettes painted on them in black lines, or painted with the vine and ivy leaves so arranged that they form a repeating pattern over the whole window. At this period, too, heraldry began to be employed in the decoration of the windows to which it is always an appropriate and artistic adjunct, and many authentic and valuable examples of our national heraldry have thus been preserved for posterity.

With the advent of the Perpendicular style the glazing became more uniform in character, the gla.s.s was thinner and lighter, the tints paler, and the whole effect more brilliant and transparent. The paintings for the most part consist of large figures under elaborate canopies, frequently occupying an entire light, and in the patterns and smaller decorations there is a greater freedom of design, and the whole treatment is more harmonious and artistic than in any other period. The use of heraldry became very common, and inscriptions on long narrow scrolls were frequently employed. Among the best examples of this period are the windows at S. Margaret's Church, Westminster; King's College Chapel, Cambridge; Fairford Church, Gloucesters.h.i.+re; and Morley Church, Derbys.h.i.+re.