Topic summary
Decorated Period
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Decorated Gothic.
Military architecture
As well as new forms, the Decorated period saw the culmination of ideas developed in the 13th century, such as symmetry, concentric fortification, round towers and twin-towered gatehouses. The most innovative centres were those of the King's works and the de Clare earls of Gloucester, who held major castles in south Wales and at Tonbridge in Kent. Henry III's ill-fated works of the 1240s at the Tower of London probably inspired the innovative Clare gatehouse at Tonbridge, in which the gatehouse became a powerful self-contained fortress and residence. This form of gatehouse was much-copied, and is known as the Tonbridge-style gatehouse or gatehouse-keep. For instance, it was used at Gilbert de Clare's mighty lake-surrounded concentric castle at Caerphilly, and then in Edward I's castles of Aberystwyth, Harlech and Beaumaris. The largest mural towers dated from this period, such as Roger Bigod's mighty portcullis-protected Marten's Tower at Chepstow, which accompanied a lavish new domestic range.