THE DEVEI.OPMKXT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 183 



carried out, and' English Gothic then began nts downward career, 

 and from this time until the time of Henry \^II. it had entered the 

 period known as the Perpendicular period. 



The general i)eculiarities of this period are as follows : 



1. The general adoption of the square head to doorways, with 

 four centred arches underneath, the spandrils being filled in with 

 carving. 



2. The window mullions run up perpendicularly into the arches, 

 hence the name. 



3. The piers of anhcs are very much divided, and sometimes 

 the first shaft of pier is carried up to receive principal of roof. 



4. The openings of window lights are wider than heretofore. 



5. The whole front of the building is often panelled, and, in fact, 

 the windows form a series of glazed panels. 



6. The introduction of fan-tracery. 



No doubt the architects of this period were impressed with the 

 importance of dealing architecturally with the whole surface of the 

 external walls of their buildings. Hitherto the Gothic architects had 

 been content w^ith dealing with the architecture of the windows and 

 doors as so many distinct features ; but now the idea seems to have 

 been to make the windows and doors subordinate to the architecture 

 of the whole building, until, in Henry VH.'s Chapel at Westminster, 

 King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, 

 we find that the whole surface of the external, and even internal 

 walls are enriched with panelling and tracery, and the windows really 

 become pierced openings in the tracery. 



Very beautiful is all this work, but not. in my opinion, so chaste 

 as that of the time of the Edwards. 



Of churches of the Perpendicular period we have several 

 e.xamples. Amongst the most notable are those of — 



Saffron Walden Church. 

 Thaxied Church. 

 Coggeshall Church. 

 Chelmsford Church. 

 Uedham Church. 



Upon and even previous to the death of Henry VHL, Gothic 

 architecture had been on the decline, and it had lost its hold for a 

 time upon the English mind. The irruption of Italian artists had 

 its effect, and Italian details had been mixed up with (rothic 

 outlines, so that in effect the architecture of the time extending from 

 the death of Henry VIII. to the time of James I. had been a mix- 



