The architectute of grat Britain

The British have always been known as great art collectors. During the colonial times the aristocracy and rich merchants filled their houses and castles with valuable paintings, furniture and ornaments which they brought back from their travels abroad. So their collections can be seen today in places and castles, country houses and, of course, in museums and various picture galleries.

Architecture is the art of building in which human requirements and construction materials are related so as to furnish practical use as well as an aesthetic solution, thus differing from the pure utility of engineering construction. As an art, architecture is essentially abstract and nonrepresentational and involves the manipulation of the relationships of spaces, volumes, planes, masses, and voids. Time is also an important factor in architecture, since a building is usually comprehended in a succession of experiences rather than all at once. In most architecture there is no one vantage point from which the whole structure can be understood. The use of light and shadow, as well as surface decoration, can greatly enhance a structure.

The architecture of Great Britain has a long history, and over that history architecture has ranged from the simplest hovel to the most elaborate palace. The analysis of building types provides an insight into past cultures and eras. Behind each of the greater styles lies not a casual trend nor a vogue, but a period of serious and urgent experimentation directed toward answering the needs of a specific way of life. Climate, methods of labor, available materials, and economy of means all impose their dictates. Each of the greater styles has been aided by the discovery of new construction methods. Once developed, a method survives tenaciously, giving way only when social changes or new building techniques have reduced it. That evolutionary process is exemplified by the history of modern architecture, which developed from the first uses of structural iron and steel in the mid-19th century.

Until the 20th century there were three great developments in architectural construction—the post-and-lintel, or trabeated system; the arch system, either the cohesive type, employing plastic materials hardening into a homogeneous mass, or the thrust type, in which the loads are received and counterbalanced at definite points; and the modern steel-skeleton system. In the 20th century new forms of building have been devised, with the use of reinforced concrete and the development of geodesic and stressed-skin (light material, reinforced) structures.

ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN GREAT BRITAIN

The history of the peoples of Britain go back a very long way, and indeed, this is particularly evident from the number of our cherished ancient monuments that am be found all over the British countryside.

Causewayed camps - these are some of the oldest remains in the English landscape, dating from around 3500 B.C. They consist of a series of from one to four concentric rings of banks and ditches enclosing an area up to 9 hectares. T he ditches are bridged by ramps of earth, or causeways, in several places, sometimes with corresponding gaps in the banks to form an obvious place of entry. In a masterful attempt at confusion, archaeologists have named these enclosures " camps", which they aren't.

What were they used for, then? Probably as a multi-purpose gathering place, combining the functions of livestock pen, trading centre, church, feasting area, and ceremonial arena.

Long barrows - these are Neolithic (New Stone Age) tombs which are roughly contemporary with the causewayed camps. There are two main types of long barrows: those made entirely of earth, called, earthen long barrows, and those made with a chamber of large stones, called megalithic or chambered long barrows. The main thing to remember about long barrows is that they were communal tombs, holding from one to fifty adults and children.

Passage graves - really another type of long barrow, these arc Neolithic tombs begun a few centuries after the barrows, consisting of a central chamber reached by a narrow, low passage, all of stones. Most passage graves are surmounted by a round mound of earth rather than a tapering barrow. I he best preserved is Bryncelli Ddu, in Gwynedd.

Stone circles - the French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohan in his book Le Monde des Megalithes described the unusual concentration of stone circles in the British Isles as follows: " British Isles megalith ism is outstanding in the abundance of standing stones and the variety of circular architectural complexes of which they formed a part...strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe - strongly supporting the argument that the builders were independent.” Beginning as early as 3300 B.C. standing stones, often in the form of a circle or flattened oval, began to be erected around the British Isles. At least 900 of them still exist, though many more must have been destroyed in the march of 'progress'. The most famous, though not the most moving or impressive, is Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Hill figures - here and there throughout England, usually on the slopes of the chalk hills of the south, are incised figures of huge proportions cut into the earth. Often visible for miles around, these hill figures give off an air of ancient sanctity. Many of the hill figures we see are recent copies, laid out in the past 150 years. Of the legitimate hill figures, the most famous are, unfortunately, of an indeterminate age. The Giant of Cerne Abbas, in Dorset, and the Long Man of Wilmington, in East Sussex, have defied the best efforts of archaeologists to date them. Conjecture ranges from the Iron Age to Saxon times. The White Horse of Uffington has recently been dated to 2000 B.C., a good millennium older than had been thought.

Henges - basically a simple bank and ditch enclosing an area of land. The bank is outside the ditch, so they would not have been defensive enclosures, but were more likely a form of religious and ceremonial gathering place. The henges are younger than causewayed camps, with the oldest built about 3300 B.C. The largest henges enclose up to 12 hectares. Some, though not all henges have stone circles within them, while others show remains of wooden rings. The first phase of Stonehcngc belongs to this class of monument, though it has now been overshadowed by the famous standing stones which were added at several later dates. Other henges to visit include Avebury, Durrington Walls, and Woodhenge, all in Wiltshire, and Arbor Low in Derbyshire.

Barrow mounds - these are the most numerous of the prehistoric monuments we are likely to encounter (there are over 6000 in the West Country alone). On Ordnance Survey maps these are often marked as " tumuli". Though most tumuli are Bronze Age, this burial form remained in use into the Iron Age and even reappeared in the Dark Ages. Barrows were a new form of tomb brought to England by the Beaker People around 2200 B.C.

Hill forts - dating from the Iron Age (approximately 700 B.C. to 50 A.D.) these hilltop enclosures are the youngest of the prehistoric remains to be seen. They are defensive structures enclosing high places with rings of ditches and banks. Often there were wooden or stone walls atop the banks as a further barrier. In some cases a series of concentric ditches and banks were built. The hill forts do not seem to have been places of permanent settlement, but may have been emergency assembly points for tribes, or the case of the smaller forts, even single families. There are thousands of hill forts throughout the British Isles in various stages of repair, though the most spectacular is without a doubt Maiden Castle in Dorset, while Uffington in Oxfordshire is well worth a visit.

THE ROMANS AND THEIR ARCHITECTURE

Roman Britain can refer to those portions of island of 'Great Britain' ruled by the 'Roman Empire’ during the fourth century AD. This province was called 'Britannia' by the Romans. Before the invasion of the Roman Empire, 'Iron Age Britain' had eсоnоmic and cultural links with 'Continental Europe’. Novel developments in urbanization, agriculture, architecture and industry were introduced by the invaders. They had left behinds a legacy which is prevalent till date.

The architecture of the Roman occupation of Britain (AD 43 around 410): excluding primitive hut dwellings, and such prehistoric monuments as Stonehengc and Maiden Castle, the oldest buildings in England were erected during this period. Features were similar to Roman architecture in other provinces of the Empire, being less ambitious and elaborate than those of the city of Rome.

Most examples are to be found in certain of the larger Roman towns. Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans), Aquae Sulis (Hath). Callcva Atrebatum (Silchester), Viroconium (Wroxeter). and Isca Silurum (Caerwent). Other important towns such as Londinium (London), Eboracum (York), Ratae (Leicester). Lindum (Lincoln), Glevum (Gloucester), and Corinium (Cirencester) have yielded comparatively few remains; usually because later building has smothered or destroyed the Roman work, or because they have not yet been thoroughly excavated.

Public buildings were generally grouped round the forum or market place, as at St Albans. Notable remains include the amphitheatre at Caerwent; the theatre at St. Albans.

Domestic town houses are best studied at St. Albans, where the streets form a chess board pattern; the houses were centrally heated by hot air, equipped with baths, and provided with mosaic floors. Larger dwellings include palaces, such as Fishboume near Chichester, and villas or country houses from which farming was carried on, some of them having over 50 rooms. Roman Architecture was responsible for the development of:

1) Basilicas

2) Baths

3) Amphitheaters

4) Triumphal arches

5) Villas

6) Roman Temples

7) Roman Roads

8) Roman Towns and Stockades

9) Roman Towns like Londinium

10) Aquaducts

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Art in the Middle ages was inseparable from religion. Ii was infused with spiritual symbolism and meaning. The purpose оf art was to awe and inspire the viewer with the grandeur of God. It also served to symbolize what people believed. Pope Gregory the Great, he of the Gregorian chants, said, " painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who read." He might have added that sculpture could serve the same purpose. Architecture is about evolution, not revolution. It used to be thought that once the Romans pulled out of Britain in the fifth century, their elegant villas, carefully- planned towns and engineering marvels like Hadrian's Wall simply fell into decay as British culture was plunged into the Dark Ages. It took the Norman Conquest of 1066 to bring back the light, and the Gothic cathedral-builders of the Middle Ages played an important part in the revival of British culture.

Style of architecture used in England in the 11th and 12th centuries, also known as

Romanesque. Norman buildings are massive, with round arches (although trefoil arches are sometimes used for small openings). Buttresses are of slight projection, and vaults are barrel roofed. Examples in England include the Keep of the tower of London and parts of the cathedrals of Chichester, Gloucester, and Ely.

The Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London (and historically as The Tower), is a historic monument in central London. England, on the north bank of the River Thames. It is located within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and is separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill.

The Tower of London is often identified with the White tower, the original stark square fortress built by William the Conqueror in 1078. However, the tower as a whole is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls nut a moat.

The tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I), It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office, an observatory, and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the UK.

After a lull in church building during the 8th and 9th centuries, (mainly due to Danish invasions), it recommenced early in the 10thcentury, and between that date and the Norman conquest of England in 1066 a number of churches were erected. They used to be called Saxon, but because they represent only a cruder form of Continental Romanesque, whereas those built after 1066 are called Conquest Romanesque.

Surviving buildings of the Post Conquest Romanesque or Norman period (1066-1200), consist almost entirely of churches and castles.

Gothic architecture in Britain has been neatly divided into 4 periods, or styles.

The term " Gothic" itself needs some explaining. The original style of building - one might call it a philosophy of architecture - sprang up in the lie de France, and w as known during the Middle Ages as " the French Style".

Quick Reference:

Norman Gothic 1066-1200

Early English Gothic 1200-1275

Decorated Gothic 1275-1375

Perpendicular Gothic 1375 - 1530

Gothic architecture emphasized strong vertical lines, high vaulted ceilings, minimal wall space, pointed window and door openings, and buttressed walls. But these characteristic Gothic themes did not spring into being overnight.

The Tudor style

Tudor style descriptive of the English architecture and decoration of the first half of the 16th century, prevails during the reigns (1485-1558) of Henry VII. Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. It is the first of the transitional styles between Gothic Perpendicular and Palladian architecture, the other two being Elizabethan and Jacobean The rise of new trading families to wealth and the enrichment of court favorites by Henry VIII with lands and riches derived from his suppression of monasteries resulted in the building of many manor houses. In these the fortified character of earlier times gave way to increased domesticity and privacy. Although the great hall still remained the focus of the establishment, its importance now decreased with the introduction of other rooms such as parlors, studies, bedrooms in greater number, and quarters for dining. Rooms frequently were fitted with oak paneling, often of linen-fold type; walls and ceilings received rich plaster relief ornament; and articles of furniture came into greater use. Domestic exteriors exhibited Perpendicular features in modified form, notably square-headed. mullioned windows and arched openings of the four-centered or so-called Tudor type. Other characteristics were the use of brickwork combined with half-timber, high pinnacled gables, bay or oriel windows, and numerous chimneys of decorative form. Principal Tudor examples are parts of Hampton Court Palace, begun in 1515, many colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, countrv manors include Sutton Place, Surrey; Layer Mamey, Essex; and the splendid Compton Wynyates, Warwick.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE XVII-XX CENTURIES

The history of English architecture in the l9th century is more complicated than in any century that preceded it, because it includes more than one ‘revival’ of earlier styles beginning with a lengthy competition between the Classic and Gothic schools. As long before as 1753 Horace Walpole had built an ornate and picturesque villa m the 'Gothic' style (Strawberry Hill). A passion for romance and the days of chivalry arose about the same time, and rich noblemen erected sham ruins ('Gothic’ as well as 'Roman’) as ornamental features in their parks. Here and there a belated specimen of Gothic church architecture was built; but it was not until 1818, when Parliament voted a million pounds for building new Anglican churches, that the real Gothic boom began. Out of 214 churches provided under the Act, no less than 174 were in a Gothic or near Gothic style. One of the best specimens is St.Luke's, Chelsea, London (1820-1824).

The House of Parliament

The Palace of Westminster, also called as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (The House of Lords and the House of commons) meet. The palace lies on the north bank of the River Themes in the London borough of the City of Westminster, close to the goventment buildings of Whitehall.

The palace contains around 1, 100 rooms, 100 staircases and 4.8 kilometres (3mi) of corridors. Although the building mainly dates from the 19th century, remaining elements of the original historic buildings include Westminster Hall, used today for major public ceremonial events.

The Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is an arts venue situated in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941.

The Royal Albert Hall is one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, recognisable the world over. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on its stage. Each year it hosts more than 350 performances including classical concerts, rock and pop, ballet and opera, tennis, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and lavish banquets.

The Hall was originally supposed to have been called The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences, but the name was changed by Queen Victoria to Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences when laying the foundation stone as a dedication to her deceased husband and consort Prince Albert.