The dating found here is based on the work of John James, and is meant on this site to serve as a starting point. James' dating is derived from a system that uses his interpretation of the development of capitals over time as the basis for chronology, among other factors. His goal is to refine the dating to within years rather than decades. I have not fully embraced James' methodology, and will be developing this page from its current state to one which is admittedly more conservative. The relative expenditure values found in the Timeline are also based on James' work, and I believe these to be reasonably reliable. They are intended only to give a sense of the amount of work involved in each decade.

I have added the idea of the "project" as a way of separating work in buildings. In my mind, a "project" is a discrete section of work in a building that resulted from the one-time acquisition of funding. "Projects" are generally separated by at least a decade where no work was being done. It is my view that it would have been unwise to start a "project" that could not be finished and protected from the elements, and as such a "project" usually involved a wing or multiple wings of a building, from floor to roof. Rural churches, which could only secure small amounts of funding at irregular intervals, often were the result of many small projects, while the great churches, which benefitted from relatively consistent funding, may have involved only a few large projects.

10

240

300

833

466

235

608

48

1060s

1070s

1080s

1090s

1100s

1110s

1120s

1130s

1140s

1150s

1160s

1170s

1180s

1190s

1200s

1210s

1220s

1230s

1240s

1250s

Crossing and eastern nave lower aisle

W9 to north door

Choir eastern chapels, capitals covered but the vault is clear; and first two bays of nave; there would have been a campaign over the chapel vaults, probably just below the corbels for the cross arches; bases for crossing piers not designed for ribs, had to be fitted over one of the respond shafts later, showing an intention for a wooden roof

The apse arches to the side windows mark a junction as the capitals are frozen in design as in the Bishops chapel.

Choir upper widows, and clerestory vaults; the capitals probably included the vaults and the windows though this joint in the north steps down under the corbels to NE2 and lower on the north to where the corner shaft gets thinner and then to the tower base; on the south to 1c below SE1-e window sill (setback on edge of jamb) and down to below corbel SE2, but maintains height because capitals show includes the start of the vault over Ws1 and extension of wall into Ws2.

W2 aisle bay vaulted, showing this side ahead of n under the towers.

Towers I

Crossing caps extended upwards for taller interior and rib shafts added for crossing.

Transepts gallery, W1-2aisles caps and vault, rib shafts are en delit with rings and possibly an afterthought

Tower II

Complete W1-3aisles to vaults, nave aisles 4-9

Nave clerestory

Transept rose windows, flyers

Nave vaults

Trans vaults