Styles of Vault
Barrel Vault
The barrel vault is the earliest and most primitive form of vault. It is effectively a continuous series of adjacent arches, combining to form a tunnel effect. Before the development of the pointed arch, this type of vault was commonly used in Romanesque-period churches, but was rendered almost obsolete by the introduction of the cross vault. A resurgence in its popularity coincided with the Renaissance, when many old architectural forms underwent a revival. Early barrel vaults were constructed in the shape of a semi-circle, creating problems resolving the thrust of the large outward forces induced. These forces effectively restrict the span of barrel vaults to no more than 10 metres in width, and require either substantial buttressing or extremely thick adjacent walls. Barrel vaults also have a requirement for continuous lateral walls, which creates difficulties in adequately lighting the interior. Later examples of barrel vaults, such as the 16th-century vault at Ladykirk, Berwickshire, use pointed arches, reducing the outward thrust of the vault, although this is still less efficient than the groin vault where forces are converged directly onto the piers. Groin Vault The groin vault was developed during the Romanesque period as a more load- and labour-efficient method than the barrel vault. It is essentially formed by crossing two perpendicular barrel vaults. The ridges along which the vaults intersect are known as groins, and these form the major load paths for the vault. By channelling the weight of the vault along the groins, masons were able to concentrate the loads into the four corners of the vault, ending the need for continuous lateral walls along the sides of the church. The main challenge in constructing groin vaults was in accurately centring the groins, as well as finding a suitable formwork. This resulted in many groin vaults appearing warped and twisted, or requiring heavy plastering to cover up inaccuracies. Ribbed Vault Masons soon realised that a good way to solve the problems in constructing groin vaults was the introduction of ribs. At first these diagonal, round-arched, stone shafts were added after the vault had been built, to conceal the rough lines of intersection at the groins. However, it soon became clear that if the ribs were set up first, they could be used as centring frames for the webs, as well as helping to support them. Early rib vaults were 'quadripartite': simple cross vaults with two transverse arches, two diagonal ribs, and two wall ribs, dividing each vault into four sections. The earliest diagonal rib vaults in England were used in the choir aisles at Durham Cathedral, completed in 1096. For the narrow aisles of a church, the vaults were generally square in plan, as the aisle width was approximately equal to the length of the bay; however, the much wider main span over the nave and choir meant that the vault had to be spread over two bays in order to make a square compartment. This resulted in problems with flexure distorting the web surface, with the intermediate pier contributing little to the stability of the structure. One solution to this was the 'sexpartite' vault, first used in northern France in the 12th century. This essentially meant introducing an additional transverse rib across the square vault, thus dividing the vault into six compartments, and distributing the loads more evenly between the main and intermediate piers. The introduction of the pointed arch from c. 1150 was one of the most important developments in the history of church architecture. Pointed ribs were much simpler to construct, as they lacked the geometrical constraints of the rounded arch and meant that ribs of varying curvatures could be used to meet along the ridge of the vault. The first consistent use of the pointed profile can again be found at Durham Cathedral, in the nave of 1128-1133. It can be noted that only the transverse ribs are actually pointed, while the diagonals were still in the form of a long rounded arch. This improvement of the form allowed for a whole range of new developments in vault technology. Tierceron Vault The evolution of the ribbed and pointed quadripartite vault was only the start of almost three centuries of experimental advancement of Gothic vaults, much of which was strikingly original. The first major breakaway from intersecting diagonals was in the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, where the famously irregular 'crazy vault' was constructed in 1208. There were two major innovations: the introduction of a ridge rib running along the apex of the vaults; and also 'tierceron' ribs which rose to a third point along the ridge in between the diagonal centre and the apex of the transverse vaults. When the nave of Lincoln Cathedral was built from 1225 to 1235, the role of the tierceron rib was augmented so that they sprang up to both transverse and longitudinal apexes, creating a decorative star-like pattern. This is one of the first examples of ribs being used independently of the vault ridges and groins, and it moved the aesthetic emphasis away from the web surfaces to the increasingly elaborate configuration of ribs. A longitudinal ridge rib was also used, and this technique was soon recognised to be a useful way of covering the often rough joint at the intersection along the ridge. Indeed when the nave vault at Exeter Cathedral was finished in 1309, ridge ribs were used not only along the longitudinal apex but also the transverse ridges. Lierne Vault The next development came in the early 1300s with the introduction of ‘lierne’ ribs, which instead of springing from the supports, formed short links between the tierceron ribs, helping both structurally to distribute the load more evenly, and aesthetically to shift the focus from the concentration of ribs converging at the piers back towards the crown of the vault. This formed a decorative grid spread equally across the span of the vault. One of the earliest examples is in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral, built from 1321 to 1349, with other lierne vaults following at Wells Cathedral, Tewkesbury Abbey, and Gloucester Cathedral among others. Vaults became increasingly elaborate and sophisticated, whilst simultaneously freeing the vault from the strict bay layout of early rib vaults. Lierne vaults continued to be constructed well into the 1500s. Fan Vault The final major innovation in medieval Gothic vaults came with the fan vault. The first major example of this form still in existence is the cloister of Gloucester Cathedral, built around 1370. Here the ribs were reduced from being separate structural elements, and were instead cut from flaring conoid shells of stone which divide the vault into bays. Although the cloister at Gloucester is relatively small in scale, fan vaults were later applied to major spans such as those at Sherbourne Abbey (1475-1490) and St George’s Chapel, Windsor (1506-1511). Possibly the pinnacle of medieval vault technology came with the ‘hanging’ vault in the Henry VII chapel of Westminster Abbey, where the fan vault was combined with hung ‘pendants’ to provide a spectacular, apparently gravity-defying display of late Gothic extravagance. Sources: Acland (1972); Fitchen (1961). |
All photos are the property of Michael Scott or James Sanderson unless otherwise stated.
© 2013 James Sanderson and Michael Scott | All rights reserved.
School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh
© 2013 James Sanderson and Michael Scott | All rights reserved.
School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh