7 Comments
User's avatar
Faith Spotts's avatar

I don’t know how you’re able to get such a fantastic photo of the gable (#11) but mannnn am I thankful you did. Powerful image.

Expand full comment
Ben Loomis's avatar

Thanks! The iPhone 15, which I bought last year, has a 5x zoom and that makes a huge difference with detail shots of things like the gable and high up stained glass, etc, ceiling paintings, etc.

Expand full comment
Annie Robinson's avatar

Hi Ben, Wow, you captivated me in figure 1 and 2 this is indeed a wonderful example of gothic. I am still recovering from your putting Kings College Cambridge below this lovely church in your list. I can’t wait to see what will be coming up next!

Expand full comment
Ben Loomis's avatar

Thanks! This place, KCC, and the next place I will show are all kinda tied in my mind, and the exact placement had as much to with my aim for thematic and regional variety as anything else. KCC is spectacular but not that big, and a lot of it (the stained glass and choir/rood screen) are really Renaissance, not Gothic, which pushed it lower in my list. If the choir and stained glass had been made a few decades earlier in the Gothic style, I probably would have ranked it in the 30s

Expand full comment
Annie Robinson's avatar

Yes, indeed and I looked back again at KCC and see that yes it is relatively small space and yes the fan vaults are exquisite but the whole KCC in away just serves to glorify the glass (renaissance) and from thence to glorify the founders and their dynastic descendants… I don’t think the rood screen really elevates it into the 30s either!

Expand full comment
Annie Robinson's avatar

PS I also loved your side bar on the Dutch Barrel vault ceilings. So very practical and very Dutch Maritime in outlook!

Expand full comment
Ben Loomis's avatar

I hadn't even made the maritime connection with the barrel vaulting, nice catch!

Expand full comment