Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/160

 130 Architecture in Great Britain. are slight, lofty, and acutely pointed ; the piers generally consist of a central shaft surrounded by several smaller ones, with a clustered base and foliaged capital (Fig. 58). The triforium, or gallery over the aisles, the clerestory, or row of nave windows above the triforium, the high pointed roofs and vaulted ceilings, exhibit a degree of lightness combined with solidity which removes all appearance of ponderous weight. The line along the apex (i. e. summit) of the vault is generally decorated with raised mouldings. There are not any existing specimens of roofs of this era, Fig. 68. — Clustered pillar in the nave of Wells Cathedral. with the open carved timber-work described by various writers ; but in the church of Warmington, in Northamp- tonshire, there is a groined roof in which the ribs (i. e. bands running along the groins or intersecting lines) are of wood, and the cells (i. e. surfaces) of the vaulting are covered with boards. The general roofing of this period is groined vaulting, of which the roofs of Salisbury Cathe- dral, and of the choir and transepts of Westminster Abbey, are fine specimens. In Wells Cathedral and the Temple