ARCHITECTURE ECCLESIASTICAL 115 walls, no buttresses, small semi-circular or triangular arches, and square towers with what is termed "long- and-short work" at the quoins or corners. It survives almost solely in portions of small churches. The Norman Conquest started a widespread building of massive churches and castles in the continental style called Romanesque, which in England has got the name of " Norman." They had walls of great thickness, semi- circular vaults, round-headed doors and windows, and massive square towers. From 1150 to 1 200 the building became lighter, the arches pointed, and there was perfected the science of vaulting, by which the weight is brought upon piers and buttresses. This method of building, the "Gothic," originated from the endeavour to cover the widest and loftiest areas with the greatest economy of stone. The first English Gothic, called " Early English," from about 1 1 80 to 1250, is characterised by slender piers (commonly of marble), lofty pointed vaults, and long, narrow, lancet- headed windows. After 1250 the windows became broader, divided up, and ornamented by patterns of tracery, while in the vault the ribs were multiplied. The greatest elegance of English Gothic was reached from 1260 to 1290, at which date English sculpture was at its highest, and art in painting, coloured glass making, and general craftsmanship at its zenith. After 1300 the structure of stone buildings began to be overlaid with ornament, the window tracery and vault ribs were of intricate patterns, the pinnacles and spires loaded with crocket and ornament. This later style is 82
