Many Perpendicular churches are rich in ornamental woodwork: choir stalls with lifting seats (misereres), under which are grotesque carvings; poppy-heads (Fr. _poupée_, a doll), the bench-end ornaments which sometimes carried a small carved figure among foliage; panelled screens crowned with brattishing (Plate VIII., Fig. 5), and other ornaments. The term _brattishing_ is also applied to the open tracery of some battlements of the Perpendicular period.
The Perpendicular is the longest of the English Gothic periods. In it Gothic construction attained its climax; ornamentation declined from a refined realism to coarse conventionalism, coinciding with the decline of spiritual life in the Church. Cathedrals and churches increased in all dimensions, and everything showed the tendency towards the renaissance of classic art which was flourishing on the Continent. Classic mouldings were imitated, and carved ornament of pure Italian design was applied to decorate Gothic forms--notable instances being the tomb of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey, and the Salisbury Chantry in Christchurch Priory near Bournemouth. Both were the work of Torregiano, a contemporary of Michael Angelo.
The English people clung to their Gothic style for a century after the same had almost disappeared from the Continent, and in the Elizabethan period, 1558-1603, classic details, including the _five orders_, were completely incorporated into Gothic design. The pointed arch disappeared; the Roman semicircle took its place. Brickwork superseded masonry, roof construction was concealed, and all kinds of shams were introduced. Then came a period of close imitation of Greek and Roman temples, until the Gothic revival under its pioneer, A. W. Pugin (_b._ 1812, _d._ 1852), whose literary works are very instructive and interesting reading. The present-day (1922) tendency is towards a revival of Byzantine architecture.
Next in importance to the construction of substantial walls comes the necessity of weather-proof and storm-proof roofs, such as should preserve the stability of the walls, or their disintegration would be hastened by that which should be their protection.
The nature of the covering and the action of weather are the principal factors affecting their design and construction. The rigours of the English climate require a covering to be such as to prevent the penetration of rain, and their support to be strong enough to resist the pressure of snow and the hurricane. The high-pitched roof (of steep inclination) is common to all periods of English Gothic. The average Norman roof was _pitched_ about 45°, its apex being about a right angle composed agreeably with the semicircular arches in the gables. The higher-pitched roofs came simultaneously with the introduction of the pointed arch, sometimes at a pitch of 60°, ultimately declining to about 20° or less in the late Perpendicular period. The outer covering is generally of boards overlaid with tiles or sheet-lead, the latter being imperative in the low-pitched roofs. The whole of the covering is carried by _common rafters_ or _spars_ rising from the walls to the apex of the roof.