Innovation in English Gothic Architecture: Risks, Impediments, and Opportunities

Abstract

This essay considers some of the practical and human situations that affected innovation in English medieval architecture. These included the scale of the Norman inheritance, the process of incremental construction, and the personal relationships that existed between masons and patrons. Particular attention is given to structural risk and occasions when structural failure provided opportunities for innovation. One of the striking points that emerges from this discussion is the inability of medieval masons and their patrons to learn from past failures when constructing crossing towers.

Keywords

• wells cathedral
• medieval architecture
• ely cathedral
• architecture
• history of architecture