Yes, many spires were then built; among which was that of old St.
Paul's Cathedral, more than five hundred feet high, and which was
destroyed by fire, A. D. 1561. The spire of Oxford Cathedral is also of
this style. Early English spires are generally what are called Broach
spires, and spring at once from the external face of the walls of the
tower, without any intervening parapet.

Q. Whence did the spire take its origin?

A. It appears to have been suggested by the Norman pinnacle, which, at
first a conical capping, afterwards became polygonal, and ribbed at the
angles, thus presenting the prototype of the spire.

[Illustration]

Q. What ornament is peculiar, or nearly so, to this style?

A. That called the tooth or dog-tooth ornament, a kind of
pyramidal-shaped flower of four leaves, which is generally inserted in a
hollow moulding, and, when seen in profile, presents a zig-zag or serrated
appearance. The tooth moulding appears to have been introduced towards the
close of the twelfth century; and an early instance where it occurs is on
a late Norman doorway, at Whitwell Church, Rutlandshire: we do not,
however, meet with it in buildings of a later style than that of the
thirteenth century. It is sometimes found used in great profusion in
doorways, windows, and other ornamental details; but many churches of this
style are entirely devoid of this ornament. The ball-flower, though
introduced in the thirteenth century, is not a common ornament until the
fourteenth, to which era it may be said more particularly to belong; we
find it in cornice mouldings, and sometimes on capitals.

Q. What may be observed of the sculptured foliage of this style?

A. As applied to capitals, bases, crockets, and other ornamental detail,
we find the general design and appearance of the sculptured foliage of
this style to be stiff and formal compared with that of the succeeding
style, when the arrangement of the foliage more closely approximated
nature, and a greater freedom both in conception and execution was
evinced.

[Illustration: Boss of Sculptured Foliage, Warmington Church,
Northamptonshire.]

Q. How are the parapets distinguished?

A. They are often plain and embattled; but sometimes a simple horizontal
parapet is used, supported by a corbel table, as in the tower of Haddenham
Church, Buckinghamshire, and on that of Brize Norton Church, Oxfordshire.
At Salisbury Cathedral the parapet is relieved by a series of blank
trefo