Spire light ( Fr. ''lucarne''), the term given to the windows in a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

which are found in all periods of English

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

, and in French spires form a very important feature in the composition. There is an early example in the spire of the cathedral at Oxford; they are not glazed, and have occasionally, if of large size, transoms to strengthen the

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

s. The term ''lucarne'' is used in France to mean "dormer window". They take many different forms which distinguishes the form of small roof above the window: "à chevalet" (straight lucarne), lucarne avec saillie and lucarne "à la capucine" (or with receding roof).

References

Architectural elements {{Architecture-stub