1052 I'RACTICE OF

ARCHITECTURE.
Boi III.
small
columns on the fall towards the nave, or the single
column on that towards ti.e side
aisles, the first of which projects
61 inches, and the latter
4
inches.
The mouldings
around the windows and their muUions are shown at the side of the
pier in their proper position.
Division
of
the Nave
of
St. George's
Chapel The mouldings set around the plan of
the pier are continued up to the vaulting of the roof, without any other mterruption
except where they are mitred round the arches.
Bath Ahheij Church is 89 feet 5 in. wide from face to face
of the buttresses to the
nave: whose clear
width is 29 feet 10 in., or one-third oftlie whole; and each of
the side aisles is a trifle more than the half of the width of the nave, being 15 feet
8
inches:
the walls and piers added together are not quite equal to a third, as they amount only to 14
feet 2 inches on each side, or together to 28 feet 4 inches, the difference being given to
increase the side aisles.
The section of this beautiful building presents
to us all the
improvements made in vaulting, and the
right proportions as well as directions to be given
to the flying buttresses: in the first application of
those supports, as at Salisbury, they are evidently
misapplied, but in the example before us we find
that the constructors had arrived at a knowledge
of the principles of the catenarian curve, which
is traceable through the solid masses of the section ;
it was by slow degrees that the fr. emasons arrived
at a knowledge of the peculiar properties of this
figure ; had it been known at the first commence-
ment of the introduction of flying buttresses, we
should have had a better application of them
;
in
several instances we find them adopted where no
advantage, or very little, could be derived from
them.
Division in Bath Ahbey Church differs from all
other examples of this period, by the height given
to the clerestory and the omission of the triforium :
the judicious and excellent arrangement of the
flying buttresses permits of the greater display
of glass, which in the sixteenth century had arrived
at its most gorgeous state, rich in every colour, and
beautiful from the drawing of the patterns, and
figures with which it was covered.
Bishop King commenced this building about the
year 1500, on an entirely new site, near the old
church : from the centre of one pier to that of the
other is 20 feet 1 inch ; the thickness of the outer
buttresses 3 feet, and their projection 4 feet; one
severy of building contains 1650 feet, and the area
of the points of support is 275 feet, or one-sixth.
The pillars are square, though set diagonally, their
width from nortli to south and from east to west
being 5 feet, and the Ojjening oftlie arches between them 15 feet 1 inch
;
h;i!f their plan
and base is shown at fig. 1320. : the height from
the pavement to the top of the capitals,
where the sculptured angel is placed, is 56 feet 3 inches, and to the top of the vaulting
73 feet 6 inches, within 7 feet as much as the clear width between the outer walls.
Fig. 1321. shows the plan of the stone vaulting, which is perfectly geometrical in its
setting out ;
the cloisters at Gloucester, the aisle at the east end of Peterborough cathedral,
and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, have vaults of a similar kind.
The thickness of the stone which compiises the vaults of fan tracery varies according to
its position, but in no instance is it considerable, or more than absolutely necessary to resist
crushing. The spire of Salisbury, 180 feet in height, of an octangular form, looasures from
east to west internally 33 feet 2 inches, and from north to south 6 Incnes more
;
the
thickness of the spire at bottom is only 2 feet, or the area of its base is half tliat of the
void, the void containing two parts, and the solid around it one
;
this spire diminishes In
thickness for the first 20 feet, after which it is 9 inches in thickness throughout ; at about
30 feet from the summit is a hole, by which an exit from the interior may be made, and
liy means of the crockets and irons on the outside the top of the spire may be attained: in
1816 the writer examined the position of the vane, and the manner in which the ca)ipiiis
stone was placed, and descended astonished at the perfection of the masonry,
and the
thinness of the stone with which it was constructed.
Fig. 1317. BATH ABBEY CHURCH.