British architecture

Apart from some ancient churches, the oldest buildings you will see in Britain are castles. They are dotted all over the country, with many beautiful examples in Scotland and Wales. They were first built by the Normans after their invasion of England in 1066. The Tower of London dates from about 1078. Because of the Normans' desire to control the population, they started to build castles everywhere, but especially in the more restless regions. For example, King Edward I built a series of massive castles in Wales at the end of the 13th century; his aim was to keep the lawless Welsh under English rule.

As the dominance of the English crown was established, the need for castles diminished. Then the use of gunpowder meant that they could no longer resist attack. So by the 15th century the castle-building age was over. Many Scottish castles are from a later period, but these are not military buildings; they are aristocratic family houses that imitated older styles.

Since the Middle Ages, architecture in Britain (as in most of Europe) has been based on three major styles: Gothic, classical, and modern. The great early cathedrals and churches are in Gothic style - tall, with pointed arches and highly decorated; they are covered in sculptures of people, animals and plants. The buildings are fantastic engineering achievements., constructed with very little machinery and designed by architects whose names have been forgotten. The tallest spire in Britain, at Salisbury Cathedral, is 123 metres high and was built in the 1330s. It is incredible that such size and perfection were achieved without a single crane or computer!

After the Gothic period, architectural fashion looked back to the classical age of Greece and Rome for its inspiration. So we see columns and triangular pediments as on Greek temples; round arches, domes and perfect Latin lettering as on Roman public buildings. Many of the finest London churches are in this style; St Paul's Cathedral (built by Sir Christopher Wren between 1675 and 1710) is the biggest and most celebrated, but there are many more all over the city.

Not only churches were in the classical style. Rich aristocrats built huge and impressive houses surrounded by parkland; they are on such a grand scale that it is difficult to imagine that they were once private homes, but of course they had dozens and sometimes hundreds of servants.

Many of the most beautiful parts of British cities consist of houses in this style. The period of kings George I to George IV is known as the Georgian period, and cities such as London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Bath still today have large numbers of elegant Georgian houses, which give the streets a striking sense of unity and design.

In the 19th century, during the Victorian age (taking its name from Queen Victoria), architects went back to medieval Gothic ideas for their inspiration. At first sight it is sometimes difficult to tell whether a Victorian church is 100 or 500 years old! At the same time, classical styles did not disappear

altogether. In fact, there was a "Battle of the Styles" between classical and Gothic. The British Museum (1823) was a victory for the classical, and the Houses of Parliament (1836) for the Gothic. There was also debate about the use of iron and steel: should these new materials be visible, as in the new bridges and railway stations, or hidden, as in the Natural History Museum, London, where the metal frame is covered by coloured brick and stonework?

From the 1920s on, new ideas were transforming art and music, and architecture, too, was caught up in the modernising culture. People wanted buildings which were not just copies of the past. Having abandoned both classical and Gothic styles, the challenge was to create - to invent -something really new. Luckily, this change in attitude came at the same time as exciting new engineering materials were becoming available.

With concrete and steel together, and new types of glass, it was possible to escape from the traditional forms. For the first time in history, architects were free to make almost any shapes they liked.

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