Lierne vaulting, Tewkesbury Abbey

The complex lierne vaulting  above the choir of Tewkesbury Abbey dates from the 1330s. It features unusually bright red and blue paintwork alongside more traditional cream. The bosses are gilded. The central ring of suns were the emblems of the Yorkists and are said to have been added by Edward IV after the defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. This was the last important battle of the Wars of the Roses.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Crossing vaulting, Malvern Priory

The point at which the nave and chancel of a church cross the transepts is called "the crossing". When, as is the case here, at Malvern Priory, Worcestershire, the crossing has a tower above it, the crossing has vaulting, much of which directs some of the tower's weight outwards to the main arches and the vertical walls. In the vaulting above some of the ribs do not do this "spreading" work. These are the short "lierne" ribs that give this style of vaulting its name.The period of the crossing at Malvern is Perpendicular i.e. broadly of the c15. It is a particularly fine example of crossing vaulting, one I've photographed quite a few times over the years.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Nave vaulting, Hereford Cathedral

Hereford's Saxon cathedral was rebuilt in 1030-1040 but in 1055 was burnt down by the Welsh. The Normans set about building the cathedral again, and it was consecrated between 1142 and 1148. Thereafter the cathedral was added to down the centuries. However, the building was also subject to a number of collapses and restorations and consequently care is needed to distinguish original from renewed. The nave, for example, has some original, rebuilt Norman columns (though eight bays were reduced to seven), an Early English style gallery (but late C18) by Thomas Wyatt and vaulting, also by Wyatt, made of lath and plaster.The paintwork of the vaulting dates from c.1850 and is by  N.J. Cottingham. George Gilbert Scott, who led a restoration in the later nineteenth century, called it "offensive". Most people today, I think, would not agree with his judgement, seeing in it a subtle richness.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Vaulting, Salisbury Cathedral

One of the finest views in any cathedral is that seen when you stand underneath the crossing tower and look upwards. What grabs the eye are the patterns of rib vaulting that are used to transfer the weight of the roof to the columns and piers of the arcades in the nave, chancel and transepts. The patterns chosen vary with the period in which they were built - fashions changed as architectural skills developed. At Salisbury Cathedral quadripartite rib vaults were used throughout, giving uniformity to the interior. Under the tower, in the 1400s, lierne vaulting replaced the earlier work and here the greater complexity makes the tower a focus for the eye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Reredos and vaulting, Worcester Cathedral

In the 1870s George Gilbert Scott undertook a major restoration of Worcester Cathedral. This included the reredos and vaulting seen in today's photograph. It is customary in larger English churches for the amount of decoration in the choir to increase until it reaches a climax at the high altar. Scott's work reflects this tradition with the massed angels of the vaulting above the altar replacing the delicate foliage scrolls and roundels with saints elsewhere.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10