ball flower

{{Short description|Architectural ornament}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

File:Ballflower Gloucester.jpg]]

File:St Mary, Bloxham, Oxon - Capital - geograph.org.uk - 1606470 (cropped).jpg
in St Mary's Church, Bloxham, in Oxfordshire]]

The ball-flower (also written ballflower) is an architectural ornament in the form of a ball inserted in the cup of a flower. It came into use in the latter part of the 13th century in England and became one of the chief ornaments of the 14th century,{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Ball-flower|volume=3|page=270}} in the period known as Decorated Gothic.{{cite book|last=Gibbs|first=W. J. R.|title=English History Notes from the Earliest Times to the League of Nations|year=1931|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=55}}

Ball-flowers were generally placed in rows at equal distances in the hollow of a moulding, frequently by the sides of mullions. Examples are found in many churches of the period including Gloucester Cathedral; St Mary's Church, Bloxham; St. Michael's Church, Swaton ({{circa}} 1300);Gardner 1922, p. 216 and Tewkesbury Abbey ({{circa}} 1330).Gardner 1922, p. 177 The presence of ball-flowers on the west part of Salisbury Cathedral has helped date this facade to the 14th century.{{cite book |title=Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Salisbury |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23668/23668-h/23668-h.htm |author=Gleeson White |date= 898 |edition=2nd |via=Project Gutenberg}}