christ church cathedral, oxford

nave detail, late c12, just creeping towards gothic in the clerestory. the exact dates are not known, but the priory church must have been built fairly quickly, as there are few differences between the earlier choir and this. the designer was conservative, only showing in some crocket capitals and octagonal piers that he is aware of change blowing through his romanesque world. elsewhere, gothic has naturalised and become truly early english: here we could almost be in the mid c12 still.