Churches and cathedrals

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 500.

The church and church hall, a building used for meetings and Sunday School, were formerly the centre of the community. Many cathedrals were built as part of a monastery, for example Durham was started in the XI c. by Benedictine monks. Some of these cathedrals are called minsters, e. g. York Minster, and they were originally centres for teaching Christianity.

In Britain churches are usually built of stone, with a tower or spire at the west end. Cathedrals are large churches, built in a shape of a long cross with a central tower. Older cathedrals are often in a quiet grassy cathedral close.

The earliest stone churches date from the Anglo-Saxon period (VI c.). Norman churches, from XI-XII c., are massive structures. Rounded arches over doorways and windows are a distinctive feature of Norman architecture.

The English Gothic style of the XIII-XV c. is characterized by pointed arches and increasingly ornate designs for the vault. Windows were tall and narrow in the Early English period (XIII c.), in the Decorated period had tracery at the top. In the Perpendicular period (XV c.) they were greatly increased in size and filled with stained glass. Ceilings with elaborate fan vaults are supported by flying buttresses that lean at an angle from the wall and form an arch.