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Llandaff cathedral, Glamorgan

Ornament plays an important part in defining the character of work of different periods. Sculptors were sensitive to changing fashion, and as a result decorative detail can provide useful evidence toward dating different parts of a building. C12 English RomanesqueGlossary Term (or NormanGlossary Term) architecture made use of distinctive mouldings to decorate the recessed ordersGlossary Term around the round-headedGlossary Term archGlossary Term. BilletGlossary Term mouldingGlossary Term, a series of little rolls like a dotted line, and chevronGlossary Term, or zigzagGlossary Term mouldingGlossary Term were widely used.

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Stiffleaf carving

In the early C13 the often angular forms of RomanesqueGlossary Term ornament gave way to more fluid and lively carving.

For a brief period around 1300, English sculptors, imitating French precedent, became interested in depicting naturalistic plant forms.

'BallflowerGlossary Term' was a fashion of the earlier C14, expecially in the western counties.

Openwork filigree decoration and delicate carved detail, is found in some of the most lavish PerpendicularGlossary Term work of the early C16.