In England, the characteristics of what came to be known as English Gothic architecture and design is best illustrated by the Cathedral of Salisbury, built between 1220 and 1260 a.D. In order for this building to appeal to the citizens, the architects decided to construct it in a park, surrounded by verdant lawns and great stately trees. Unlike cathedrals and churches in France, this building does not reach high into the sky and makes little use of what are called flying buttresses or "inclined supports set in a series of arches which help to maintain the stability of the outer walls" (Saalman, 176). Certainly, the Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary is composed of unattached shafts of Purbeck marble which "seem to tether the billowing Gothic vaults high overhead rather than support them" (Saalman, 177). Not to far from this enormous chapel, one can find a single, huge window...
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