Period & Description
The Decorated style (often referred to as Dec) is the second of the three main Gothic styles (Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular) described in these pages. It developed at the end of the 13th century and continued into the later 14th century, and covers the flowering of bar tracery, and a maturing of Gothic architecture in terms of elaboration, elegance and grace. The style was also used during more recent times as part of the Gothic revival – examples below are drawn from medieval and later periods.
Tracery features – see next page Decorated Styles 2 for more features
Window tracery during the Decorated period took many forms. Local examples of the main types are shown below:
Y-tracery (Images 1 and 2); intersecting (Images 3 and 4); reticulated (Images 5); Kentish tracery (Image 6)
For further details please consult the Features section.
