Lierne
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The lierne vault boss in the nave at Tewkesbury Abbey features angels playing musical instruments. |
The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture (third edition) was published in 1980. It was created for Penguin Reference and compiled by John Fleming, Hugh Honour and Nikolaus Pevsner. It defines lierne as ‘a tertiary rib, that is, one which does not spring either from one of the main springers or from the central boss. A lierne vault is a ribbed vault with liernes.'
Lierne ribs have no specific structural function. Lierne vaulting is a late 13th century development that became more common in the 14th century as a feature of English Perpendicular architecture.
In the Pevsner Architectural Guide on Churches (published in 2016 by the Yale University Press and written by Simon Bradley), a lierne is described as ‘a shorter type of rib that can connect the main and secondary ribs at any point, thus liberating the mason to create multiple variants of star- and cross-shaped patterns.'
For this reason, lierne vaults are sometimes referred to as stellar vaults.
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