BRITISH ROMANESQUe

1. BRITISH ROMANESQUE
ARCHITECTURE
SILVA V T & BHAVANA JHON
ROLL NO: 28 & 05
S4 A BATCH
HOA

2. British Romanesque
• In Britain, the Romanesque style
became known as “Norman”
because the major building scheme
in the 11th and 12th centuries was
instigated by William the
Conqueror, who invaded Britain in
1066 from Normandy in northern
France.
Map of the Anglo-Norman World

3. • Durham and Gloucester Cathedrals and Southwell Minster are excellent
examples of churches in the Norman, or Romanesque style.
• The Normans imported a type of architecture, ecclesiastical as well as
military.
• The starting point for the new architecture was clearly in Normandy.
Durham Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral Southwell Minster

4. • The important characteristic of the Norman Romanesque is
its reliance on sheer bulk. Everything is larger, more solid.
• The very simple style of Norman Romanesque may be
attributed to the fact that the builders had to utilize
untrained Saxon labour; labourers who had a tradition of
building in wood, not stone.
• Hollow core columns : The piers are simple brick or masonry
shells, with a hollow interior filled with rubble.
• Early Norman Romanesque builders used barrel vaulting.
The distance which could be spanned by barrel vaulting was
not great.
• Windows were kept small, in part for defensive purposes,
and in part to avoid weakening the walls.
• Buttresses were extremely simple, little more than a
thickening of the outer walls in places.
Cross-section of a
Romanesque pier

5. • Decorative elements were
few in the 11th century; the
most distinctive being the
Norman chevron (zigzag)
pattern, most frequently
found on the recessed
orders framing doors and
windows. Other decoration
also relies on simple
geometric patterns.
Norman chevron (zigzag) pattern

6. • In the 12th century,
more elaborate
decoration appearing,
such as four- pointed
stars, lozenges, and
Billet shapes.
• These decorative
elements were carved
in shallow relief; it is
only as the 13th
century nears that
deeply cut carvings
appear.
Billet lozenges four-pointed stars

7. • The major innovations were:
1. development of compound pier: with the number of half columns
and nook shaftsmultiplying and rising up to articulate the whole
elevation.
Interior view of Durham Cathedral

8. 2. The tripartite clerestory bay: first used at Winchester, with the
internal face, in front of the wall passage, transformed into a three arch
composition supported on columns.
Peterborough Cathedral Winchester Cathedral

9. • The introduction of the cushion capital: which was unknown in
Normandy before the conquest.

10. • The introduction of architectural sculptures: about 1100 high quality
carving began to be used for capitals and portals. The work being
attributed to Anglo-Saxon sculptors. New ornamental motifs such as
chevron and beak-head appeared
chevron
beak-head

11. • The introduction of rib vault.
Interior view of Durham Cathedral

12. Durham’s Cathedral (1093-1133)
• The most definitive example of the Romanesque
style in England may be seen at Durham
Cathedral, where the Norman work is largely
unaltered by later additions .

13. • It was founded as a monastic cathedral built to house the shrine of St
Cuthbert, replacing an earlier church constructed in his honour.

15. • Plan of the Cathedral: The building takes the form of a Latin cross,
centered on the four great piers of the crossing.
• The choir extended four bays to the east and originally terminated
with a short bay which lead into a semicircular apse ((some remains
of which were recovered in nineteenth-century excavations).

16. • The transepts, which extend north and south for four bays, are
furnished with an aisle on the eastern side. Stair turrets project at the
north-west and south-west angles.
• The aisled nave is eight bays long, and terminates at the west in two
towers. Throughout the building there is an alternating system of
major and minor piers.

17. Durham is built with a three storey elevation, comprising an arcade,
gallery and clerestory.

18. • Norman work in choir transepts and western towers among the finest
in England
western towers choir transepts

19. • The vaults of the eastern arm are probably
the earliest essays in ribbed vaulting
outside Italy.
• The first attempts at ribbed vaulting which
would later evolve into the full- blown
Gothic style in the 13th century.
Groin vault Ribbed vault
Ribbed vault
ribbed vaulting in eastern arm

20. • The naves are the earliest to incorporate pointed transverse arches.
The pointed arch was successfully used as a structural element for the
first time here in this building.
transverse arch : the rib that crosses the
nave at a 90 degree angle

21. The gallery opens to the nave through a sub- divided arch. Single
round headed windows provide illumination at clerestory level.

22. • Alternating compound and circular piers, the circular piers with
impressive grooved decoration.
The minor cylindrical piers are furnished with
incised decoration—spiral patterns, zig-zags,
lozenges and flutes.
Compound pier
Circular pier
grooved decoration on
piers

23. The main arches, which are supported alternately on cylindrical
(minor) and compound (major) piers, have their soffits (under
surfaces) decorated with roll mouldings.