William de Ramsey (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1323 – 1349) was an English Gothic

master mason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who worked on and probably designed the two earliest buildings of the

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

style of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

. William Ramsey is thought to have been one of the originators of the Perpendicular style which was to dominate Gothic architecture in England for three centuries "and, if so, he was one of the most influential architects England has ever produced".

Life

The son of John de Ramsey, Master of Works at

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Norwich and the mother church of the dioc ...

and probable builder at

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 67 ...

(1324–30), William Ramsey began his career in the 1320s, working with his father on the

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

s at Norwich and probably on the chapel above the St Ethelbert's Gate to the cathedral close. In 1323 he was working on

St Stephen's Chapel St Stephen's Chapel, sometimes called the Royal Chapel of St Stephen, was a chapel completed around 1297 in the old Palace of Westminster. After the death of Henry VIII until 1834, the building served as the chamber of the House of Commons of E ...

(since destroyed) at the old

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

. He was also a consultant ('Visiting Master') at Norwich's Cathedral between 1326 and 1331. In 1332 he designed the

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

(since destroyed) at

Old St Paul's Cathedral Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of London, Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Paul of Tarsus, Saint Paul ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1337 he was consulted on the design of the presbytery of

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Chad in Lichfield, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Lichfield, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lichfield and the principal church of the diocese ...

and was charged with supervising building at Stephen's Chapel the same year. The chapter house at St Paul's and St Stephen's in Westminster are known from existing fragments and contemporary illustrations to have been in Perpendicular style, the first buildings to have been built this way. In 1335 he was one of four commissioners responsible for a report on the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

. The following year, he was made Chief Mason of the Tower and Chief Surveyor of the King's Works there and for all castles south of the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

, a lifetime appointment. The

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

and other parts of

Penshurst Place Penshurst Place is a historic building near Penshurst, Kent, south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poets and courtiers, siblings Mary Sidney and Philip ...

(1341–48) were probably his work. William de Ramsey was a scion of the de Ramsey family of master masons whose work, according to John Harvey, can be found at

Ramsey Abbey Ramsey Abbey was a Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire), England. It was founded about AD 969 and Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolved in 1539. The site ...

, Norwich Cathedral,

, and possibly also in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Ramsey died of plague in 1349, during the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

. William Ramsey's daughter, Agnes Ramsey, carried on his workshop after his death.

Works

* Chapter House of St. Paul's Cathedral,

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, Greater London *

Penshurst Penshurst is a historic village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Weald, Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, Kent, River Eden, within the Seveno ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

* St Margaret's Church, Cley next the Sea,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

* St Ethelbert's Gate,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, Norfolk

References

Bibliography

* * Year of birth missing 1349 deaths 14th-century English architects Gothic architects English stonemasons 14th-century deaths from plague (disease) {{England-architect-stub