| MEDIEVAL 1066 - 1485 |
Medieval buildings can be identified
from typical features illustrated in these listed buildings
Use this glossary
from the 'Looking at Buildings' website to check the meanings of unfamiliar
words.
The Normans brought their building style, based on
Roman architecture, to Britain in 1066. They constructed many buildings
designed both to defend themselves and to show their strength and power
to the conquered people of Britain. A number of their stone built castles,
churches and cathedrals have survived all over the country but virtually
no domestic buildings.
From the thirteenth century until the end of the period religious architecture
is often described as 'Gothic'; windows and arches
were typically pointed. Walls became thinner with larger windows as
the weight of the building was supported by buttresses rather than by
the exterior walls. Church interiors which had been very dark were flooded
with light and stained glass became a major art form .Gothic forms are
also found in domestic buildings and castles.
A number of domestic buildings have survived. Castles and grand manor
houses were usually built of stone whereas other houses, in towns and
in the countryside, were of timber. The centre of domestic life was
a room called the hall, generally open to the roof and heated by an
open hearth. |
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St Nicholas Parish Church, Studland, Dorset, eleventh/twelfth
century
A small Norman church largely unaltered.
Features include; plain appearance; thick solid walls; few, small,
round-headed windows; short, central tower; flat pilaster buttresses
on tower; decorated corbel at the eaves. |
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Rochester Castle Keep, Kent, 1127
Norman stone keep for defence and living accommodation surrounded
by defensive wall around the bailey entered through a secure gatehouse.
Re-built after damage in 13th and 14th centuries.
Features include; impressive size emphasised by position on mound;
square with corner towers; small windows; roof below level of parapet. |
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Yanwath Hall Cumbria, early/mid fifteenth century
A regional hall house built of local sandstone blocks with defensive
features, such as the tower.
Features include; central hall with large projecting windows to
allow light into raised area for the lord and his family; private
living accommodation for lord in the battlemented tower block; kitchen
and service area in the right hand block with chimneys.
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Church of St Ancients, St Neots, Cornwall,
fifteenth century
A parish church built in Gothic style.
Feature include; walls thinner and supported by buttresses; large
number of windows with pointed gothic arches filled with tracery;
decorated parapet with finials; tower at west end; enclosed south
porch.
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Old Wool Hall, Lavenham, Suffolk, fifteenth century
A fine hall house with cross wings, typical of less lawless regions
with no defensive features.
Features include; lavish timber framing and bracing; hall in centre
with high end lit by large windows to right; jettied upper storey
chambers in flanking wings; leaded casement windows; no chimney
stack on hall. |
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Lower Brockhampton Herefordshire, late fifteenth century
Gatehouse to the fourteenth century Brockhampton House built as
an expression of wealth and status rather than for defence.
Features include; timber frame; jettied first floor. |
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Monks Kirby, Rugby, Warwickshire, late fifteenth/early
sixteenth century
A late medieval cottage with more recent additions to the right
hand side.
Features include; Exposed cruck timbers [pointed arch shape] see
glossary;
steeply pitched roof originally thatched; one storey with attic;
large chimney stack. |
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| Please note Teachers are advised
that not all listed buildings are open to the public and that if you
or your students wish to focus on a private building issues of privacy
and access must be considered.
Visit the Weald
and Downland Museum website for further information about Medieval
buildings.
Visit the
TimeRef website for more information on church architecture.
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