Architectural development of the eastern end of cathedrals in England and France

The larger medieval churches of France and England, the cathedrals and abbeys, have much in common architecturally, an east–west orientation, an external emphasis on the west front and its doors, long arcaded interiors, high vaulted roofs and windows filled with stained glass.

In Southwell, Rochester and Ely, there was no processional path or ambulatory round the end; in Carlisle no eastern chapels; and in Oxford only one central apse.

This is demonstrated by the number of apsidal chapels in various churches: Double aisles round the choir, of which there are no examples in England, are found in the cathedrals of Paris, Bourges and Le Mans.

The Cathedral of St. Peter in Poitiers has been referred to as an example of a square east end, but a compromise has been made by the provision of three segmental apses, and there are no windows in the east front; the most remarkable divergence from the usual design is found here in the absence of any triforium or clerestory, because the vault of the aisles is nearly as high as that of the nave, so that it constitutes an example of what in Germany (where there are many) are called Hallenkirchen; the light being obtained through the aisle windows only gives a gloomy effect to the nave.

Another departure from the usual plan is that found in Albi Cathedral (1350), in which there are no aisles, their place being taken by chapels between the buttresses which were required to resist the thrust of the nave vault, the widest in France.

The cathedral of Angouléme consists of a nave covered with three domes, a transept of great length with lofty towers over the north and south ends, and an apsidal choir with four chevet chapels.

In Notre Dame at Paris the triforium was nearly as high as the aisles; in large towns this feature gave increased accommodation for the congregation, especially on the occasion of great fetes, and it is found in Noyon, Laon, Senlis and Soissons cathedrals, built in the latter part of the 12th century; later it was omitted, and a narrow passage in the thickness of the wall only represented the triforium; at a still later period the aisles were covered with a stone pavement of slight fall so as to allow of loftier clerestory windows.