Architectural Style in Medieval Ireland
Early Gothic
A veiw of St. Canice's cathedral from the south west. There are lots of key elements of Gothic church design here - pointed windows, a tower, a porch, small 'quatrefoil' windows that look like four petal flowers.
This east window of Kilmallock Domincan friary is made up of 5 great lancets. A lancet is a single pointed window. They can appear alone, or in groups of two, three, five or even seven.
A capital sits at the top of a shaft or column and forms a link with the arch above. This one is decorated with clumps of bushy leaves known as 'stiff-leaf' which was a favourite motif through much of the early Gothic period. In some cases human heads were carved peering out between the leaves.
Ofen a projecting arch runs around the top of a window or door. These are know as hood mouldings or labels. They terminate with an element called a 'stop'. These are frequently carved with a human head or a ball of foliage.
The west doorway of St. Canice's, Kilkenny. We are going to replace this with the west door of Athassel which is a bit more typical.