ntly almost flat. They were always relied
upon to add to the effectiveness of a building, and were enriched
sometimes by variegated tiles or other covering, sometimes by the
introduction of small windows, known as dormer windows, each with its
own gablet and its little roof, and sometimes by the addition of a
steep sided roof in the shape of a lantern or a "fleche" on the ridge,
or a pyramidal covering to some projecting octagon or turret.

All these have their value in breaking up the sky-line of the
building, and adding interest and beauty to it. Still more striking,
however, in its effect on the sky-line was the spire, a feature to
which great attention was paid in English architecture.

_Spires._

The early square towers of Romanesque churches were sometimes
surmounted by pyramidal roofs of low pitch. We have probably none now
remaining, but we have some examples of large pinnacles, crowned with
pyramids, which show what the shape must have been. They were square
in plan and somewhat steep in slope.

The spire was developed early in the E. E. period. It was octagonal
in plan, and the four sides which coincided with the faces of the
tower rose direct from the walls above a slightly masked eaves course.
The four oblique sides are connected to the tower by a feature called
a broach, which may be described as part of a blunt pyramid. The
broach-spire (Fig. 24) is to be met with in many parts of England, but
especially in Northamptonshire. The chief ornaments of an E. E. spire
consist in small windows (called spire-lights or lucarnes) each
surmounted by its gablet.

[Illustration: FIG. 24.--EARLY ENGLISH SPIRE. CHURCH OF ST. MARY
MAGDALENE, WARBOYS, LINCOLNSHIRE.]

In the Dec. period it was common to finish the tower by a parapet, and
to start the spire behind the parapet, sometimes with a broach, often
without. Pinnacles were frequently added at the corners of the tower,
and an arch, like that of a flying buttress, was sometimes thrown
across from the pinnacle to the spire. Spire-lights occur as before,
and the surface of the spire is often enriched by bands of ornament at
intervals. The general proportions of the spire were more slender than
before, and the rib, which generally ran up each angle, was often
enriched by crockets, _i.e._ tufts of leaves arranged in a formal
shape (Fig. 25).

[Illustration: FIG. 25.--DECORATED SPIRE. ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, OAKHAM,
RUTLANDSHIRE.]

Towers were frequ