page_title: Tracery
section_title: Geometric Gothic (England)
hierarchical_section_title: Tracery / Blind and open tracery / Arches, windows and tracery / Geometric Gothic (England)
caption_attribution_description: English: Barsham church, Suffolk, from the NE, showing the east gable and window with fretty tracery and flushwork, possibly representing the heraldic bearing of the Echyngham family.
context_page_description: In architecture, tracery is an architectural device by which windows are divided into sections of various proportions by stone bars or ribs of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the glass in a window. The term probably derives from the tracing floors on which the complex patterns of windows were laid out in late Gothic architecture. Tracery could also be found on the interior of buildings and the exterior.
  There are two main types: plate tracery and the later bar tracery. The evolving style from Romanesque to Gothic architecture and changing features, like the thinning of lateral walls and enlarging of windows lead to the innovation of tracery. The earliest form of tracery, called plate tracery, began as openings that were pierced from a stone slab. Bar tracery was then implemented, having derived from the plate tracery. However, instead of a slab, the windows were defined by moulded stone mullions, which were lighter and allowed for more openings and intricate designs.
  Pointed arch windows of Gothic buildings were initially lancet windows, a solution typical of the Early Gothic or First Pointed style and of the Early English Gothic.
context_section_description: The Equilateral Arch lends itself to filling with tracery of simple equilateral, circular and semi-circular forms. In France, windows of clerestorys, and other larger windows were commonly divided into two lights, with some simple Geometric tracery above, a circle or a cinquefoil or sexfoil. This style of window remained popular without great change until after 1300.
  In England there was a much greater variation in the design of tracery that evolved to fill these spaces. The style is known as Geometric Decorated Gothic and can be seen to splendid effect at many English cathedrals and major churches, where both the eastern and the western terminations of the building may be occupied by a single large window such as the east window at Lincoln and the west window at Worcester Cathedral. Windows of complex design and of three or more lights or vertical sections, are often designed by overlapping two or more equilateral arches springing from the vertical mullions.
caption: Unusual fretwork tracery, Barsham, Suffolk parish church, east end
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L31", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX L31    V1.0", "Image DateTime": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "57346", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2941", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "23/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "57214", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}