Gothic Vaults:

Introduction
The roofing of wide spaces presented a challenge to
the medieval builder which resulted in some of the
most impressive creations of the middle ages.
The architecture of ancient Rome had provided
precedents for different types of stone vaulting.
Vaults continued to be constructed over small spaces,
but in England in the early middle ages large spans
had timber roofs, developing the practices known to
have been established as early as the 7th century for
the great timber halls of the Anglo-Saxons.
Timber roofs achieved great sophistication in the 14th
and 15th centuries, using a variety of techniques to
cover wide spans.

Gothic Vaults
Stone Vaulting
The introduction of stone vaulting below the timber roof revolutionised
the appearance of major churches.
Stone vaults had the advantage of being fireproof
From the 11th century onwards, as major churches were rebuilt on an
increasingly ambitious scale, they sought to recapture the grandeur of
the ancient Roman basilica, and the principle of the vaulted sacred
space was extended to the whole building.
The invention of the `t, combined with the pointed arch, made it
possible for the vault to be carried on walls pierced by large openings, as
the ribs directed the thrust to the corners of each bay and flying
buttresses helped to stabilise the weight of the heavy masses of
masonry.
From the 13th century onwards Gothic stone vaults were elaborated to
produce complex patterns by the addition of extra ribs and elaborately
carved and painted bosses at their intersections.
 Groin Vaults
VAULTS are formed from two intersecting
.
barrel vaults (the groins are the edges of
the intersections).
They are built of heavy rubble masonry
and so need adequate support.
They were used in the large crypts
introduced by the Normans below their
new abbeys and cathedrals, where the
Canterbury Cathedral, Kent., Crypt
space was divided into a series of small
bays by numerous columns, as at
Canterbury, Worcester and Gloucester
Rib Vaults

In the RIB-VAULT the main thrust is carried by

masonry ribs to the corners of each.
The ribs of cut stone form a framework, so that
lighter material can be used to fill the cells in
between.
The adoption of the stronger and more
adaptable pointed arch, a concept borrowed
from the eastern Mediterranean, made it
possible to vault awkwardly shaped spaces
while keeping the vault to a more or less even
height.
Rib Vaults

From the later 13th century most

major churches aspired to stone
vaults.
Although such costly additions
were not always carried out, and
sometimes a timber
vault simulating stone was
provided instead.
 Tierceron & Lierne Vaults
The TIERCERON VAULT has additional
ribs (tiercerons, from tierce, third)
springing from wall shaft or pier at the
corner of each bay to the ridge ribs
along the apexes of the vault. Gloucester Cathedral,
The type was developed from the 13th Choir

to early 14th centuries; examples of

Tierceron vault
increasing richness can be seen in the
cathedrals of Lincoln, Ely, Exeter and
Wells Cathedral Chapter House.
Although the tiercerons are not
structurally essential, they are given the
same thickness as the principal diagonal
.
ribs; as a result the visual division of the
vault into quadrangular bays disappears.
LIERNE VAULTS
LIERNE VAULTS have short linking ribs
(liernes , from French lien to bind) in
the crown of the vault between the main
ribs.
They provide the opportunity for
additional carved bosses at the junctions.
At its most elaborate, such
a vault resembles a net stretched below
the roof, creating a pattern which ignores
the tradition of individual bay divisions.
LIERNE VAULTS
During the period of the Decorated Style there was
an increase and elaboration of intermediate ribs
(tiercerons), ridge ribs, and a new set of ribs known
as Lierne ribs, from the French lien to bind or
hold. The name "lierne" is applied to any rib, except
a ridge rib, not springing from an abacus.
In the early plain-ribbed vaulting each rib marked a
groin, i.e., a change in the direction of the vaulting
surface, but lierne ribs were merely ribs lying in a
vaulting surface, their form being determined
independently of such surface, which, however,
regulated their curvature.
These liernes, by their number and disposition,
often give an elaborate or intricate appearance to a
really simple vault, and in consequence of the star-
shaped pattern produced by the plan of such vaults,
it is often called " Stellar" vaulting.
Fan Vaults
The FAN VAULT is a sophisticated form of barrel
vault built of cut stone, consisting of inverted
conoids decorated with a fan of purely
decorative surface ribs, often with pendant
bosses.
Fan vaults appear at first over small spaces, the
earliest known structural examples are those of
the 14th century in the cloister of Gloucester
Cathedral.
On a large scale the fan vault remained
exceptional, associated with especially
prestigious buildings in the Perpendicular style
of the end of the 15th and early 16th centuries