Perpendicular Style

Refers to the last phase of Gothic architectural style in England, as coined by English architect and antiquarian, Thomas Rickman, in the early 19th century. The term originally referred primarily to window tracery from the late 14th century, but now is applied more generally to the broader style and to a wider time frame, roughly from 1330 to the 17th century. The style is characterized by density of pattern, the fan vault, the loss of bulky convex pier profiles to favor elements composed of a network of elegant, flat lines, the use of vertical mullions and regular horizontal divisions in window tracery, these same designs continued into the adjoining masonry, and the general effect in interior spaces of a delicate cage lodged inside a sturdy framework.