Architecture of England
The architecture of England is the architecture of the historic Kingdom of England up to 1707, and of England since then, but is deemed to include buildings created under English influence or by English architects in other parts of the world, particularly in the English overseas possessions and the later British Empire, which developed into the present-day Commonwealth of Nations.
Apart from Anglo-Saxon architecture, the major non-vernacular forms employed in England before 1900 originated elsewhere in western Europe, chiefly in France and Italy, while 20th-century Modernist architecture derived from both European and American influences. Each of these foreign modes became assimilated within English architectural culture and gave rise to local variation and innovation, producing distinctive national forms. Among the most characteristic styles originating in England are the Perpendicular Gothic of the late Middle Ages, High Victorian Gothic and the Queen Anne style.
Prehistoric architecture
The earliest known examples of architecture in England are the megalithic tombs of the Neolithic, such as those at Wayland's Smithy and the West Kennet Long Barrow. These cromlechi are common over much of Atlantic Europe: present day Spain; Brittany; Great Britain; and Ireland. Radiocarbon dating has shown them to be, as historian John Davies says, "the first substantial, permanent constructions of man and that the earliest of them are nearly 1,500 years older than the first of the pyramids of Egypt." The Neolithic henges of Avebury and Stonehenge are two of the largest and most famous megalithic monuments in the world. The structure is an annual calendar, but the reason for the massive size is unknown with any certainty, suggestions include agriculture, ceremonial use and interpreting the cosmos. With other nearby sites, including Silbury Hill, Beckhampton Avenue, and West Kennet Avenue, they form a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites.Numerous examples of Bronze Age and Iron Age architecture can be seen in England. Megalithic burial monuments, either individual barrows or occasionally cists covered by cairns, are one form. The other is the defensive earthworks known as hill forts, such as Maiden Castle and Cadbury Castle. Archaeological evidence suggests that British Iron Age domestic architecture had a tendency towards circular dwellings, known as roundhouses.
Roman architecture
The Roman period brought the construction of the first large-scale buildings in Britain, but very little survives above ground besides fortifications. These include sections of Hadrian's Wall, Chester city walls and coastal forts such as those at Portchester, Pevensey and Burgh Castle, which have survived through incorporation into later castles. Other structures still standing include a lighthouse at Dover Castle, now part of a church. In most cases, only foundations, floors and the bases of walls attest to the structure of former buildings. Some of these were on a grand scale, such as the palace at Fishbourne and the thermae at Bath. The more substantial buildings of the Roman period adhered closely to the style of Roman structures elsewhere, although traditional Iron Age building methods remained in general use for humbler dwellings, especially in rural areas.Medieval architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Architecture of the Anglo-Saxon period exists only in the form of churches, the only structures commonly built in stone apart from fortifications. The earliest examples date from the 7th century, notably at Bradwell-on-Sea and Escomb, but the majority from the 10th and 11th centuries. Due to the systematic destruction and replacement of English cathedrals and monasteries by the Normans, no major Anglo-Saxon churches survive; the largest extant example is at Brixworth.The main material is ashlar masonry, sometimes accompanied by details in reused Roman brick. Anglo-Saxon churches are typically high and narrow and consist of a nave and a narrower chancel; these are often accompanied by a west tower. Some feature porticus to the west or to the north and south, creating a cruciform plan. Characteristic features include quoins in "long-and-short work" and small windows with rounded or triangular tops, deeply splayed or in groups of two or three divided by squat columns. The most common form of external decoration is lesene strips, typically combined with blind arcading. Notable examples of this exist at Earls Barton, Bradford-on-Avon and Barton-upon-Humber.
Norman architecture
In the 11th century the Normans were among Europe's leading exponents of Romanesque architecture, a style which had begun to influence English church building before 1066, but became the predominant mode in England with the huge wave of construction that followed the Norman Conquest. The Normans destroyed a large proportion of England's churches and built Romanesque replacements, a process which encompassed all of England's cathedrals. Most of the latter were later partially or wholly rebuilt in Gothic style, and although many still preserve substantial Romanesque portions, only Durham Cathedral remains a predominantly Romanesque structure. Even Durham displays significant transitional features leading towards the emergence of Gothic. Romanesque churches are characterised by rounded arches, arcades supported by massive cylindrical piers, groin vaults and low-relief sculptural decoration. Distinctively Norman features include decorative chevron patterns.In the wake of the invasion William I and his lords built numerous wooden motte-and-bailey castles to impose their control on the native population. Many were subsequently rebuilt in stone, beginning with the Tower of London.
There are also a very small number of domestic Norman buildings still standing, for example Jew's House, Lincoln; manor houses at Saltford and Boothby Pagnall; and fortified manor houses such as Oakham Castle.
File:Gloucester Cathedral 11.jpg|left|thumb|Perpendicular Gothic lady chapel of Gloucester Cathedral
Gothic architecture
The major buildings of the Late Middle Ages and the first centuries of the Early Modern Period were constructed in the predominant late medieval European style of Gothic architecture. Art-historical periodisations are Early English or First Pointed, Decorated Gothic or Second Pointed, and Perpendicular Gothic or Third Pointed. The architect and art historian Thomas Rickman's Attempt to Discriminate the Style of Architecture in England, first published in 1812, divided Gothic architecture in the British Isles into three stylistic periods. Rickman identified the period of architecture from William the Conqueror to Henry II as Norman; from Richard the Lionheart to Edward I as Early English; the reigns of Edward II and Edward III as Decorated, and from Richard II to Henry VIII as Perpendicular.From the 15th century, under the House of Tudor, the prevailing Gothic style is commonly known as Tudor architecture, being ultimately succeeded by Elizabethan architecture and Renaissance architecture under Elizabeth I. Rickman excluded from his scheme most new buildings after Henry VIII's reign, calling the style of "additions and rebuilding" in the later 16th and earlier 17th centuries "often much debased". Architect and art historian Edmund Sharpe published in 1851 The Seven Periods of English Architecture, in which he identified a pre-Gothic Transitional Period after the Norman period, in which pointed arches and round arches were employed together. Focusing on the windows, Sharpe dubbed Rickman's first Gothic style the Lancet Period ; divided the second into first the Geometrical and then the Curvilinear ; and named the third style Rectilinear.
This last Gothic style was typified by large windows, four-centred arches, straight vertical and horizontal lines in the tracery, and regular arch-topped rectangular panelling. Perpendicular was the prevailing style of Late Gothic architecture in England from the 14th century to the 17th century. Perpendicular was unique to the country: no equivalent arose in Continental Europe or elsewhere in the British Isles. Of all the Gothic architectural styles, Perpendicular was the first to experience a second wave of popularity from the 18th century on in Gothic Revival architecture.
Vernacular architecture
Little survives of the vernacular architecture of the medieval period due to the use of perishable materials for the great majority of buildings. Most domestic buildings were built on timber frames, usually with wattle and daub infill. Roofs were typically covered with thatch; wooden shingles were also employed, and from the 12th century tile and slate came into use in some areas. Also around the 12th century, the cruck frame was introduced, increasing the size of timber-framed vernacular buildings. Typically, larger houses of this period were based around a great hall open from floor to roof. One bay at each end was split into two storeys and used for service rooms and private rooms for the owner. Even quite high up the social scale houses were small by modern standards, except for the very wealthy.Buildings surviving from this period included moated manor houses of which Ightham Mote is a notable late medieval example, and Wealden hall houses such as Alfriston Clergy House. Tintagel Old Post Office is a 14th-century manor house in a part of the country where stone was the typical building material for better houses. Little Moreton Hall, a large manor house begun in 1504-08 and later extended, is a famous showpiece of decorative half-timbering. Near the dangerous Scottish border, the peel tower was a type of tower house or small castle; in Scotland they were even more common. The bastle house was a two-storey version, continuing what had been a common form of house for the better-off across the country in the late Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods.