ulting called fan vaulting previously alluded to, is composed
of pendant curved semi-cones, covered with foliated panel-work, which
bears some resemblance to a fan spread open.

[Side note: Perpendicular Ornament.]

Another very characteristic ornament is the Tudor flower. It is formed
by a series of flat leaves placed upright against the stalk. It was
much used in late buildings as a crest or ornamental finishing to
cornices, etc., to which it gave an embattled appearance. Cornices and
brackets were frequently ornamented with busts of winged angels called
angel-brackets, and angel-corbels. The portcullis and the Tudor
rose--both badges of the house of Tudor--also figure prominently among
the ornaments of the period. The crockets for the most part partake of
the squareness which pervades all the foliage of this style. _See page
64._

[Side note: Perpendicular Buttresses.]

The buttresses are very similar to those preceding them in their plainer
forms, but, in richer examples the faces are covered with panel work
and are finished with square pinnacles sometimes set diagonally and
terminated with a crocketed spire, or finished with an animal or other
ornament. Parapets with square battlements are very common at this period,
but they too are frequently panelled or pierced with tracery, or with
trefoils or quatrefoils inserted in square, circular or triangular
compartments.

[Side note: Perpendicular Roofs.]

The roofs of this period, both in ecclesiastical and secular buildings,
are very magnificent, and have the whole of the framing exposed to view;
many of them are of high pitch, the spaces between the timbers being
filled with tracery, and the beams arched, moulded and ornamented in
various ways; and frequently pendants, figures of angels, and other
carvings are introduced. The flatter roofs are sometimes lined with
boards and divided into panels by ribs, or have the timbers open, and
all enriched with mouldings and carvings, as at Cirencester church,
Gloucestershire.

The gradual decline of the Gothic style is very evident in late
Perpendicular churches, especially in those erected at the beginning
of the XVIth century. The elements of Gothic architecture became much
degraded and led to that mixture of features called the Debased Gothic
in which every real principle of art and of beauty was lost.

[Illustration: A Perpendicular Porch.
S. Nicholas, King's Lynn. _Photograph Dexter & Son._]

The chief ch