A fan vault is a form of
vault used in the
Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a
fan. The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with
England.
The fan vault is peculiar to England. The
lierne vault of the cathedral of
Barbastro in northern Spain closely resembles a fan vault, but it does not form a perfect
conoid.
John Harvey (1978) suggests
Catherine of Aragon as a possible source of English influence in
Aragon.[3]
Birth of the fan vault
The fan vault is attributed to development in
Gloucester between 1351 and 1377,[3] with the earliest known surviving example being the east cloister walk of
Gloucester Cathedral.[4]Harvey (1978) hypothesises that the east cloister at Gloucester was finished under Thomas de Cantebrugge from the
hamlet of
Cambridge, Gloucestershire, who left in 1364 to work on the
chapter house at
Hereford Cathedral (also thought to have been fan vaulted on the basis of a drawing by
William Stukeley).[5] The other three parts of the cloister at Gloucester were begun in 1381, possibly under Robert Lesyngham.
Other examples of early fan vaults exist around Gloucester, implying the activity of several 14th century master masons in that region.[citation needed]
Structure
The ribs of a fan vault are of equal curvature and rotated at equal distances around a central (vertical) axis, forming the conoid shape which gives rise to the name. In between sequences of conoids, flat central
spandrels fill the space. According to Leedy (1980), the fan vault was developed in England (as opposed to France and other centres of
Gothic architecture) due to the manner in which English
rib vaults were normally constructed.[6] In an English rib vault, the courses are laid perpendicular to the rib while in France they are laid perpendicular to the wall.
Buildings with fan vaulting
Medieval and Early Modern
Gloucester Cathedral, cloisters, earliest fan vaulting begun 1373 by Abbot Horton