Gothic and Norman Churches essay

Architecture played a very important role for the church in Medieval England. The splendid architecture of the churches stood for greater faith in God. Medieval churches and cathedrals were superbly built. They cost a lot of money, which was collected in the form of taxes by the church.

Medieval England had two main architectural styles of churches. They were Norman and Gothic architecture. Norman architecture was dominated by a round shape style. The Normans used barely skilled Saxons as laborers and the tools they used were limited to axes, chisels etc. The churches and cathedrals built by the Normans tended to use large stones because they considered the Saxons not skilled enough to cut the stones to shape.

Stone was on the outside and rubber on the inside of Norman walls and pillars. Pillars were effectively hollow until the central core was filled with rubble. This method of building was not particularly strong, so they made their walls much thicker than later styles of building made of cut stone that fitted together with the blocks surrounding it thus creating its own strength.

Decorative doorways with concentric arches decorated Norman churches. Windows were built in a similar way but they remained small and let in little light because the walls with large window spaces could not hold up the weight of the roofs. That was the reason they had large pillars too.

Norman churches and cathedrals also had vaulted ceilings. These vaults allowed the weight of the roof to be evenly distributed throughout the pillars and walls as the main points of the vaults rested on the tops of the pillars. The Normans used three styles of vaulting: barrel, rib and
cross. The architecture used by the Normans must have been
successful as so many of their churches and cathedrals still
exist.

Gothic churches, on the other hand, are fundamentally different from Norman buildings. Gothic churches and cathedrals have large towers and spires. In fact, Gothic architecture developed from Norman architecture. Gothic churches were built with shaped stones and they had solid walls and pillars and were much larger than Norman ones.

Pointed arches helped to strengthen the walls. This shape allowed a much greater weight to be carried when compared to a Norman rounded arch. Gothic cathedral had much larger roofs compared to Norman roofs. Therefore, they were a lot heavier. To ensure that the walls and pillars could take such a weight, the architects in this era developed what were known as buttresses. These were additions to the main part of the cathedral that allowed the extra weight to be transferred to additional parts of a cathedral rather than run alongside the nave and then down into the foundations. The architects simply spread the weight to other points in the building.

Flying buttresses could easily resist the outward pressure of the massive roofs. Thus, Gothic architects could use larger windows. The Normans had been limited to using small slit windows. Now cathedrals and churches could have large stained glass windows.

Norman architecture is seen as being 'dumpy' due to their more limited knowledge of building, whereas Gothic architecture is a marked improvement on the Norman architecture. However, both Gothic churches and Norman churches are distinct styles reflective of Medieval England.

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