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Excerpt from A Glossary of Terms Used in English Architecture
by Thomas Dinham Atkinson, Algrove Publishing – Classic
Reprint Series, 2004. (Originally published in 1906.)
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Fig.
189 - Intersecting arches |
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| Fig.
190 - Norman ornament |
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NORMAN
PERIOD. The name given by [Thomas] Rickman [1776-1841,
architect] to a phase of English architecture during the
time of the Norman kings; it is without definite limits,
but considered by him to begin at 1066 and to end about
1189. Its chief characteristics are as follows: The construction
is massive; the masonry is rough with thick joints; the
arches are round, or in some of those of small span are
trefoil; the walls are often decorated by small arcades
of various forms, in some of these the adjoining arches
intersect in a peculiar way (fig. 189); the parapet often
projects and is carried on a corbel table; the buttresses
are very wide and of slight projection; doorways are often
very highly decorated; columns are round, or are rectangles
either simple or with recesses at the angles containing
small shafts, or are a combination of these forms; the
bases are low and insignificant; the capitals are of various
forms; vaults are either barrel-shaped or groined; large
buildings generally had wooden roofs of the 'trussed-rafter'
form; the mouldings are few and simple; the enrichments
(fig. 190) are various and elaborate, the commonest being
the zigzag, billet, chevron, bird's beak, star, nail-head. |
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