Sexpartite Vaulting

Banister F. Fletcher

Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen

Source: A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method (5th ed), plates 112E & F (p. 286)

A great advance was made by the introduction of the pointed arch, which was used firstly for the transverse and wall ribs only, the diagonal ribs (i.e. those with the longest span) remaining semi- circular. Norman vaulting was either cylindrical or barrel vaulting, as at the Tower of London; groined cross vaulting in square bays; other shapes in which the narrower vaulting arches were stilted, or, in the later period, were pointed; Sexpartite (six part) vaulting as in the choir at Canterbury Cathedral, rebuilt by William of Sens in A.D. 1174. — p. 287

Scanned image and text by George P. Landow (2007)

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