English Gothic Architecture - Perpendicular Gothic

The Perpendicular Gothic period (or simply Perpendicular) is the third historical division of English Gothic architecture, and is so-called because it is characterised by an emphasis on vertical lines. An alternative name, the Rectilinear, was suggested by Edmund Sharpe, and is preferred by some as more accurate, but has never gained widespread use.

The Perpendicular style began to emerge c. 1350. Harvey (1978) puts the earliest example of a fully formed Perpendicular style at the chapter house of Old St Paul's Cathedral, built by William Ramsey in 1332. It was a development of the Decorated style of the late 13th century and early 14th century, and lasted into the mid 16th century. It began under the royal architects William Ramsey and John Sponlee, and fully developed in the prolific works of Henry Yevele and William Wynford.

In the later examples of the Decorated Period the omission of the circles in the tracery of windows had led to the employment of curves of double curvature which developed into flamboyant tracery: the introduction of the perpendicular lines was a reaction in the contrary direction. The style grew out of the shadow of the Black Death which killed about half of England's population in 18 months between June 1348 and December 1349 and returned in 1361–62 to kill another fifth. This had a great effect on the arts and culture, which took a decidedly morbid and pessimistic direction. It can be argued that Perpendicular architecture reveals a populace affected by overwhelming shock and grief, focusing on death and despair, and no longer able to justify previous flamboyance or jubilation present in the Decorated style. The style was affected by the labour shortages caused by the plague as architects designed less elaborately to cope.