A lancet window is a narrow, tall window closed by a lancet arch, with no tracery filling the head. It is the window form of the early Gothic, roughly the first half of the thirteenth century.
Characteristics
- Strongly vertical proportion. The height is a multiple of the width; ratios of 4:1 or steeper are normal.
- No tracery. The window is a single opening, at most divided by a plain mullion. That distinguishes it from the later traceried window.
- Grouped. Lancets are rarely used alone. They appear in groups of two, three, five or seven, with the central light often the tallest and the outer ones stepping down. The best-known group of all is the five-light range known as the Five Sisters at York Minster.
- Deep reveals. The wall is thick; the opening runs inwards through moulded jambs.
Development
A narrow lancet lets in little light. Builders therefore set the openings closer and closer together, until the masonry between them was reduced to slender shafts and finally to tracery. In this way the group of lancets grew into the wide traceried window of the High Gothic. The lancet window is consequently a well-datable feature.
Application
Lancet windows are found in chancel ends, transept gables and church towers. Nineteenth-century Gothic Revival reused them extensively, not only in churches but in villas, schools and railway buildings.
Points to watch in restoration:
- Saddle bars are essential. Tall, narrow leaded panels bow under wind pressure. Horizontal saddle bars at roughly 60 to 80 cm centres keep the panel flat; without them the lead eventually bellies out.
- Jambs weather first. The moulded stonework of the reveal catches the driving rain; check the joints and the cill.
- Do not insert tracery that was never there. Filling an originally plain head changes the date the building appears to carry.
Related terms
- Lancet arch
- Gothic
- Gothic Revival
- Window
- Stained glass
- Reveal
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