THE DATE OF THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DECORATED STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE INTO ENGLAND.
ILLUSTRATED BY EXTRACTS FROM THE BURSAR'S ACCOUNTS OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD, FROM 1277 TO 1310.
Window of Chapel. A D 1277
The following particulars extracted from the bursar's accounts, which comprise expenses incurred during the building of various parts of Morton college, have been kindly furnished by the Rev. E. Hobhouse, fellow of that college, and relate to the chapel or church of St. John the Baptist. The first extract records the dedication of the high Altar in the year 1277, proving that the work was then sufficiently advanced to allow of the services of the church being performed, although subsequent entries shew that it was not completed. The date thus verified is of considerable interest and importance, being one of the turning points in the history of Architecture in this country. The same date was assigned to this building several years ago, in the Glossary of Architecture: the conclusion then drawn from other considerations, has been much disputed, but is now confirmed by the discovery of this document in the archives of the college.
String in the Choir. |
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Plan of Window. |
The building is in the early Decorated style, with geometrical tracery in the windows, which is commonly said to have been introduced into England after the commencement of the fourteenth century, although examples are known on the continent twenty, or thirty years earlier. It now appears certain that it was adopted in England in the very beginning of the
