Question

How did the English adaptation of the Gothic style differ from the typical French Gothic cathedrals?

Answer 1

How did the English adaptation of the Gothic style differ from the typical French Gothic cathedrals?

Answer 2

“GOTHIC IN ENGLAND: A BRITISH ACCENT. Gothic style came to England in 1174 from France, when canons hired the French architect William of Sens to rebuild Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury and Westminster Abbey remain the truest to the French model, but afterward English builders gave structures their own distinctive flair. By the thirteenth century, English Gothic was at the forefront in innovation.

"British Gothic flourished until the sixteenth century, then was revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its characteristics were low, broad proportions and a rambling layout, rather than the French unified plan. Facades were richly decorated, with sculpture in horizontal bands for a layered effect. Doubled transepts projected much farther than in French models, and often not only did front portals of British cathedrals boast towers but the crossing supported a tall central tower. To the east, the apse was squared rather than rounded at the end. Most notably, English ceilings displayed an unprecedented degree of fantasy, with ribs twirling over vaults in nets, stars, or fan shapes. Finally English cathedrals were not the cynosure of cities by were located on spacious greens in rural settings.”
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“The fan vault was a dazzling English invention. A cluster of nonstructural, thin ribs radiates from each column like an inverted semi-cone to create a whirlpool of lines. The trend was away from simplicity towards a more artful, decorative effect, so British carvers could demonstrate their virtuosity in wood and stone. Some ceilings are so extreme in their mesh of lines, they resemble a knight’s chain-mail armor.”