The ball-flower is a decorative detail in stone masonry that came to Britain with the Normans. Ball-flowers are unique; no two are identical. They were carved largely freehand, often quite crudely, and so are as individual as the mason's own handwriting. Though based on a standard pattern of three petals surrounding a central ball, some rogue four-petalled examples occur. This reproduction is actual size. The picture to the right shows ball-flowers in place on Gloucester Cathedral.