English Medieval Architectural Gaffes

Durham Cathedral, eastern transept of the Nine Altars, begun 1242, probably vaulted in late 1250s, possibly into 1280s.

James Alexander Cameron pokes fun at mistakes in English Medieval architecture.

I’ll come clean, Prior, when we measured up that copy of the eastern transept at Fountains Abbey for you, we didn’t take into account that your church is kind of a completely different width.

Is this going to be a problem?

Well when we put the vault on there might be a teensy teensy mistake.

Is anyone going to notice?

We’ll carve a ring of really nice angels to cover it up.

Ah, distracting surface ornament, good job.

Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.