Loftiness is a special trait of the Perpendicular period. Walls were carried to a greater height than previously. The external roof was frequently covered with lead, and inclined at an angle easy to walk upon. The roof-timbers were supported by ornamental principals exposed to view from the interior, or there was a stone-vaulted internal roof of rich design, the increased thrusts upon the walls being counteracted by larger buttresses.
Tall towers were built, such as those of York Minster, Gloucester, Worcester, and the churches of Boston (Lincolnshire), Wrexham, Taunton, and many others of magnificence. Plate IX., Figs. 1 and 3, give varieties of smaller parish church towers. In these the Tudor arch and square-headed window are shown. Spires are not so common as in the preceding periods. _Buttresses_ were placed _diagonally_ at all corners, scientifically the best position (Plate IX., Figs, 1 and 2).
In large churches external wall surfaces were enriched with panelling, covering in some cases the whole from ground to summit, and combined with open tracery in the battlements. In the interior the same kind of decoration prevailed, and in some cases the window tracery was carried below the glass down to the floor as panelling.
Plate IX., Figs. 4A and 4B, gives the comparative shape of _battlements_.
Arch-mouldings (Plate VIII., Fig. 12) generally included the large hollow also common in the window jambs. The plane of the arch-mouldings was inclined to the vertical 45° (Plate VIII., Fig. 12). The usual dripstone (d.s.) and some of their _corbels_ are shown in Plate VIII., Figs. 1 and 3. Piers (Plate VIII., Fig. 11) were of the simple form shown with columns at the angles, single, or in groups, as Plate VIII., Fig. 13, the general contour of the pier being a rhombus or lozenge in plan.
The _ogee_ arch with crockets and finial was continued from the Decorated period.
The _Tudor_ or _four-centred_ arch (Plate IX., Figs. 1 and 6) belongs to the late Perpendicular period.
Plate VIII., Fig. 4, shows a common form of Tudor door-head with the _label_ or _square dripstone_ and carved _spandril_ (a triangular space). Columns were circular, with octagonal bases and capitals, the latter moulded or carved with oak-leaf foliage or conventional ornament, resembling that in Plate VIII., Fig. 9. Corbels with shields (Plate VIII., Fig. 9), armorial bearings, and the Tudor rose (Plate VIII., Fig. 2), frequently occur.