Gothic Architecture

The style of architecture prevalent in Europe from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. The chief distinguishing feature is the pointed arch. A revival of gothic architecture began in England in the last half of the eighteenth century, but it did not achieve popularity until the nineteenth century. An early advocate of the gothic revival was Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852). The Cambridge Camden Society, founded in May 1839, quickly popularized the movement through its monthly periodical, The Ecclesiologist. In the mid-nineteenth century most new Anglican churches were built in the gothic style.