Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained glass.

Combined, these features allowed the creation of buildings of unprecedented height and grandeur, filled with light from large stained glass windows.

The Gothic style was introduced from France, where the various elements had first been used together within a single building at the choir of the Abbey of Saint-Denis north of Paris, completed in 1144.

[9] Rickman excluded from his scheme most new buildings after Henry VIII's reign, calling the style of "additions and rebuilding" in the later 16th and earlier 17th centuries "often much debased".

According to James Stevens Curl, the revival of Gothic architecture was "arguably, the most influential artistic phenomenon ever to spring from England".

The Normans had introduced the three classical orders of architecture, and created massive walls for their buildings, with thin pilaster-like buttresses.

The chancel of Canterbury Cathedral, one of the first Early English structures in England, was rebuilt in the new style by a French architect, William of Sens.

[18] Another important innovation introduced in this early period was the buttress, a stone column outside the structure that reinforced the walls against the weight pressing outward and downward from the vaults.

Lancet windows were combined similarly pointed arches and the ribs of the vaults overhead, giving a harmonious and unified style.

One striking example is found at Ely Cathedral; the architect Thomas Witney built the central tower from 1315 to 1322 in Decorated style.

Soon afterwards another architect, William Joy, added curving arches to strengthen the structure, and made further extensions to join the Lady Chapel to the Choir.

The earliest example is the chapter house of Old St Paul's Cathedral, built by the royal architect William de Ramsey in 1332.

[28] The early style was also practised by another royal architect, John Sponlee, and fully developed in the works of Henry Yevele and William Wynford.

Walls were built much higher than in earlier periods, and stained glass windows became very large, so that the space around them was reduced to simple piers.

[30] The interiors of Perpendicular churches were filled with lavish ornamental woodwork, including misericords (choir stalls with lifting seats), under which were grotesque carvings; stylized "poppy heads", or carved figures in foliage on the ends of benches; and elaborate multicoloured decoration, usually in floral patterns, on panels or cornices called brattishing.

Carved ornament with Italian Renaissance motifs began to be used in decoration, including on the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey.

During the Norman period, the roofs normally were pitched forty-five degrees, with the apex forming a right angle, which harmonised with the rounded arches of the gables.

[36] The simpler Gothic roofs were supported by long rafters of light wood, resting on wooden trusses set into the walls.

[36] Gothic architects did not like the roof truss systems, because the numerous horizontal beams crossing the nave obstructed the view of the soaring height.

Other notable wooden roofs included those of Christ Church, Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Crosby Hall, London.

The oldest existing example of University Gothic in England is probably the Mob Quad of Merton College, Oxford, constructed between 1288 and 1378.