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THE  CHARM  OF 

THE  ENGLISH 
m  VILLAGE 


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THE  CHARM  OF 

THE  ENGLISH 
VILLAGE 


BYEH.D1TCHFIELDAK 
ILLUSTRATED  BY 
SYDNEY  R.  JONES 


CONTENTS 


\ 


I  PAGE 

THE    VILLAGE  ......         i 

II 
THE    VILLAGE    CHURCH    -  -  -  -  -       23 

III 
MANORS,    FARMS,    AND    RECTORIES       -  -  -       H 

IV 
COTTAGE    ARCHITECTURE  -  -  -  -       +7 

V 

DETAILS,  DECORATION,  (5^- INTERIORS  OF  COTTAGES       72 

VI 
VILLAGE    GARDENS  -  -  -  -  -       83 

VII 
INNS,   SHOPS,   AND    MILLS  -  -  -  -  -       95 

VIII 
ALMSHOUSES    AND    GRAMMAR    SCHOOLS        -  -     iii 

IX 
VILLAGE    CROSSES,    GREENS,    AND    OLD-TIME 

PUNISHMENTS  -  -  -  -  -     119 

X 

BARNS    AND    DOVECOTES  -  -  -  -  -     LH 

XI 
OLD    ROADS,    BRIDGES,    AND    RIVERS    -  -  -142 

XII 
SUNDIALS    AND    WEATHERCOCKS  -  -  -     iS' 

INDEX     --------     161 


THE    CHARM 
OF  THE   ENGLISH  VILLAGE 


THE    VILLAGE 

NO  country  in  the  world  can  boast  of  possessing 
rural  homes  and  villages  which  have  half  the 
charm  and  picturesqueness  of  our  English 
cottages  and  hamlets.  Wander  where  you  will, 
in  Italy  or  Switzerland,  France  or  Germany,  and  when  you 
return  home  you  will  be  bound  to  confess  that  in  no  foreign 
land  have  you  seen  a  village  which  for  beauty  and  interest 
can  compare  with  the  scattered  hamlets  of  our  English  land. 
These  others  may  be  surrounded  by  grander  scenery  and 
finer  landscapes.  The  monotonous  blue  sea  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean may  lave  their  feet  ;  lofty,  snow-clad  mountains  may 
tower  above  chalets  and  homesteads  ;  the  romance  of  the 
Rhine,  the  vine-clad  slopes,  may  produce  a  certain  amount  of 
attractiveness  ;  but  when  you  return  to  England  and  contrast 
our  peaceful  homely  villages  with  all  that  you  have  seen,  you 
will  have  learned  to  appreciate  their  real  charm.  They  have 
to  be  known  in  order  that  they  may  be  loved.  They  do  not 
force  themselves  upon  our  notice.  The  hasty  visitor  may 
pass  them  by,  and  miss  half  their  attractiveness.  They  have 
to  be  wooed  in  varying  moods  in  order  that  they  may  display 
their  charms,  when   the  blossoms  are   bright   in    the   village 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

orchards,  when  the  sun  shines  on  the  streams  and  pools  and 
gleams  upon  the  glories  of  old  thatch,  when  autumn  has 
tinged  the  trees  with  golden  tints,  or  when  the  hoar-frost 
makes  their  bare  branches  beautiful  again  with  new  and 
glistening  foliao;e.  Not  even  in  their  summer  garb  do  they 
look  more  beautiful. 

One  of  the  causes  of  the  charm  ot  an  English  village 
arises  from  the  sense  of  their  stability.  Nothing  changes  in 
our  country  life.  The  old  tower  of  the  village  church  that 
has  looked  down  upon  generation  after  generation  of  the 
inhabitants  seems  to  say,  "  J e  suis^  je  reste.  All  things 
change  but  I.  I  see  the  infant  brought  here  to  be  christened. 
A  few  years  pass  ;  the  babe  has  grown  to  be  an  old  man  and 
is  borne  here,  and  sleeps  under  my  shadow.  Age  after  age 
passes,  but  I  survive."  One  of  the  most  graceful  of 
English  writers  tells  tenderly  ot  this  sense  of  the  stability 
of  our  village  life  : — "  On  the  morning  of  Charles  I's  exe- 
cution,— in  the  winters  and  springs  when  Elizabeth  v/as 
Queen, — when  Becket  lay  dead  on  Canterbury  steps, — when 
Harold  was  on  his  way  to  Senlac, — that  hill,  that  path  were 
there — sheep  were  climbing  it,  and  shepherds  were  herding 
them.  It  has  been  so  since  England  began — it  will  be  so 
when  1  am  dead.  We  are  only  shadows  that  pass.  But 
England  lives  always — and  shall  live."^ 

Another  charm  of  our  villages  is  their  variety.  There 
are  no  two  villages  exactly  the  same.  Each  one  possesses  its 
own  individuality,  its  own  history,  peculiarities,  and  architec- 
tural distinction.  Church,  manor-house,  farm  and  cottage, 
differ  somewhat  in  each  village.  You  never  see  two  churches 
or  two  houses  exactly  alike,  just  as  the  Great  Architect  scarcely 
ever  has  framed  two  faces  exactly  similar.  It  is  true  that 
the  style  is  traditional,  that  each  son  learned  from  his  sire 
how  to  build,  and  followed  the  plans  and  methods  of  his 
forefathers  ;     but    he    never   slavishly    imitated    their    work. 

^  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward,  The  Testing  of  Diana  Mal/ory. 

2 


WEOI?LK^■,     HKREI ORDSHIRK 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

He  introduced  improvements  devised  by  his  own  ingenuity 
and  skill,  created  picturesque  effects  which  added  beauty  to 
the  building.  Sometimes  his  purse  was  full  with  the  price 
ot  his  rich  fleeces,  and  he  could  afford  to  adorn  his  home 
with  more  elaborate  decoration  ;  sometimes  res  angusta  domi^ 
when  times  were  bad,  compelled  him  to  aim  at  greater 
simplicity  with  no  less  satisfactory  results. 

Another  cause  of  variety  in  the  appearance  of  our  village 
buildings  is  the  different  nature  of  the  materials  used  in  their 
construction.  Geology  plays  no  small  part  in  the  production 
ot  various  styles  ot  village  architecture.  In  the  days  of  our 
forefathers,  in  Elizabethan  or  Jacobean  times,  there  were  no 
railroads  to  transport  slates  from  Wales,  or  dump  down 
wagon-loads  of  bricks  or  beams  of  timber  in  a  country  that 
possessed  good  stone-quarries.  They  were  obliged  to  use  the 
materials  which  nature  in  their  own  district  afforded.  This 
was  the  great  secret  of  their  success.  Nature's  productions 
harmonise  best  with  the  face  of  nature  in  the  district  where 
they  are  produced.  Alien  buildings  have  always  an  un- 
satisfactory appearance  ;  and  if  we  modern  folk  would  build 
with  good  effect,  we  must  use  the  natural  material  provided 
by  the  quarries,  or  woods,  or  clay-pits  indigenous  to  the 
district,  and  not  transport  our  materials  from  afar. 

There  is^  an  immense  variety  in  the  building  stone  of 
England.  There  are  the  sandstones  ;  the  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone of  Cheshire,  Shropshire,  and  Herefordshire,  which 
cannot  long  resist  the  weather,  but  is  a  beautiful  material 
and  harmonises  well  with  the  surrounding  scenery  ;  the 
New  Sandstone  of  Tunbridge  Wells  and  many  places  in 
Yorkshire,  and  is  extremely  durable  ;  the  Reigate  variety, 
the  best  of  the  fircstones  which  the  old  builders  used 
for  the  stately  castle  of  Windsor,  Hampton  Court,  and 
other  palatial  buildings  round  London.  Then  there  are 
the  limestone  quarries,  which  yield  the  best  of  material 
for  building.      You   see  splendid  edifices  all  along  the  course 

4 


FARI.EK.H     HUNT,  FR FORD,     SOMERSET 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

of  this  formation  extending  from  Somerset  through  the 
Midlands  to  the  dales  of  Yorkshire.  Chilmark  supplied 
the  grand  stone  for  Salisbury  Cathedral  and  Wilton  Abbey  ; 
Tottenhoe  in  the  Midlands  gave  us  Dunstable  Church  and 
Woburn  Abbey  and  Luton  ;  Belvoir  and  Chatsworth  de- 
rived their  stone  from  Worksworth,  Derbyshire  ;  Ancaster 
in  Lincolnshire  has  yielded  material  for  many  good  buildings  ; 


BERRYNARF.OR,     DEVON 


and  Tadcaster  has  built  York  Minster,  Beverley,  and  Ripon. 
Kentish  rag  found  near  Maidstone  is  as  hard  as  iron,  but  is 
good  for  rough  walling.  Then  there  is  the  great  division  of 
oolitic  limestone,  of  which  the  Barnack,  Bath,  and  Portland 
oolites  are  the  best.  All  these  quarries  have  yielded  material 
for  great  buildings  as  well  as  for  the  humbler  village  churches, 
cottages,  and  manor-houses  which  it  is  our  pleasure  to  visit. 
Where   stone   is  scarce  and  forests   plentiful   our   builders 

6 


[.I 


4 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

made  use  of  timber,  especially  in  the  south-eastern  district, 
where  halt-timbered  houses  form  a  wondrous  charm  to  all 
who  admire  their  beauties.  Now  we  get  our  timber  from 
Russia,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  America  ;  but  our  ancestors 
loved  nothing  more  than  good  old  English  oak,  and  oak 
abounded  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  in  the  south-eastern 
counties,  Herefordshire,  Shropshire,  Cheshire,  and  Lanca- 
shire, where  some  grand  timber  houses  may  be  found.  Brick 
and  flint  are  the  principal  substances  of  East  Anglia  building 
and  in  many  other  parts  ot  England  ;  and  houses  built  of 
the  dark,  dull,  thin  old  bricks,  not  of  the  great  staring  modern 
varieties,  are  very  charming,  especially  when  they  are  seen 
against  a  backo-round  ot  wooded  hills. 

Cornish  cottages  are  built  of  granite  and  cling  to  the 
valley  sides,  so  that  one  can  hardly  distinguish  between  the 
living  rock  and  the  built  wall.  The  moor-side  dwellings  on 
the  rugged  hills  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  are  also 
constructed  of  granite  and  roofed  with  slate,  and  look  lonely 
and  desolate  in  their  bleak  surroundino-s. 

There  is,  therefore,  an  endless  variety  in  the  style, 
architecture,  and  appearance  ot  our  villages  which  is  one 
of  their  chief  charms.  Our  artist  transports  us  to  various 
parts  of  England,  and  his  drawings  show  the  immense  variety 
in  the  appearances  of  our  villages.  He  has  travelled  through 
many  counties,  sketching  with  skilful  pen  each  beautiful 
view,  each  characteristic  building.  We  journey  with  him 
to  the  West  and  note  the  fine  "black  and  white"  houses 
in  Weobley  village,  Herefordshire  (p.  3),  the  picturesque 
village  of  Farleigh  Hungerford  (p.  5),  six  miles  from  Bath,  and 
some  old  cottages  at  Berrynarbor,  Devon.  Fishing  villages 
on  the  sea-coast  have  a  style  of  their  own  with  their  little 
harbours,  wooden  piers,  and  their  fishing  boats.  An  example 
of  one  of  these  quaint  old  ports  is  shown  in  the  sketch  of 
Porlock  Weir,  Somerset.  Northwards  we  fly  to  picturesque 
Derbyshire,    where  high   towering  peaks  and  lovely  scenery 


^•s^ 


STANTON- IN-THE-PEAK,     DERBYSHIRE 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

add  again  another  element  of  variety  to  the  appearance  of  the 
villages  that  nestle  among  the  hills,  and  where  good  building 
stone  affords  a  fine  material  for  the  erection  of  village 
dwellintj- places.  We  see  the  little  village  of  Stoney 
Middleton  encircled  by  rocks  and  hills,  and  Stanton-in-the 
Peak,  a   pretty   glimpse  of  a   village  street.     Northampton- 


""1  n 


STOXEY    MIDDLETON,     DERBYSHIRE 


shire,  too,  has  some  grand  stone  for  building  purposes.  No 
county  is  richer  than  this  one  for  its  noble  churches.  A 
typical  Northamptonshire  village  is  Moreton  Pinkney,  of 
which  a  sketch  is  shown. 

The   three   counties  which  compose   the   Oxford  diocese, 
Berks,  Bucks,  and  Oxfordshire,  have  many  pretty  villages. 

lO 


''X^^F'^"""'' 


y^^{^^'^:^-'^;g:;^^^W. 


-xwr^^m 


'■'  1 


THE   VILLAGE 


Sutton  Courtney,  Berks,  reminds  us  of  the  monks  of 
Abingdon  who  had  a  grange  there,  and  of  the  noble  family 
of  the  Courtneys  who  held  one  of  the  manors  and  possessed 
a  manor-house,  which  retains  a  Norman  doorway  and  the 
chapel.    West  Wycombe,  Bucks,  is  a  picturesque  village  (p.  14) 


WATLINGTON,    OXON 


Stretching  along  the  main  road  towards  Stokenchurch,  famous 
for  its  extraordinary  church  built  in  1763  by  Lord  le 
Despencer,  Francis  Dashwood,  one  of  the  Medmenham 
"  monks  "ot  evil  fame.  The  building  shown  on  the  right 
of  the  sketch  has  a  projecting  clock  and  is  known  as  the 
church-loft.  Beneath  it  are  labourers'  cottages.  Watlington 
is  a  small  market-town,  scarcely  larger  than  a  village.     The 

13 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

sketch  shows  the  old  market-house  built  in  1664  by  Thomas 
Stonor,  standing  at  the  meeting  of  four  cross-roads.  It  is 
not  unlike  that  of  Ross  on  the  Wye,  and,  with  its  mullioned 
windows,  high  pointed  gables,  and  dark  arches,  is  a  favourite 
subject  for  artists. 

A   good    example    of   a    Suffolk    village    is    shown    in    the 
sketch    of  Cavendish  (p.    17),   with   its  church   and   cottages 


WEST    WYCOMBK,     BUCKS 


clustering  round  it  like  children  holding  the  gown  of  their 
good  mother,  and  in  the  foreground  the  village  green,  the 
scene  of  many  a  rural  revel.  Biddenden,  Kent,  reminds  us  of 
the  famous  maids  who  left  a  bequest  for  the  distributing 
of  doles  of  bread  and  cheese  on  Easter  Sunday,  and  of  the 
remarkable  cakes,  each  stamped  with  a  representation  of  the 
foundresses  of  the  feast,  who  are  supposed  to  have  been 
linked   together  like   the    Siamese   Twins.      This    quiet   and 

14 


SELBORNE,    HANTS,     FROM     THE    HANGER 


.       THE   VILLAGE 

remote  village  possesses  some  charming  half-timbered  cottages, 
as  the  sketch  shows. 

A  pleasing  sketch  of  historic  Selborne,  Hants,  the  village 
immortalised  by  Gilbert  White,  is  shown,  and  the  beauties 
of  Ringwood  stand  revealed  when  viewed  in  the  subdued 
light  of  a  stormy  sunset.  The  Isle  of  Wight  abounds  with 
fine  specimens  of  picturesque  villages  and  prettily  situated 
cottages.      A  view  of  Carisbrook  taken  from  the  castle  hill 


i'»»J'>-«'-         5 


CAVENDISH,    SUFFOLK 


is  shown   (p.   21),  and  of  Godshill   village   (p.    19),  with   its 
thatched  cottages  and  good  church  tower. 

In  spite  of  the  endless  variety  of  our  villages  it  is  not 
difficult  to  note  their  main  characteristics,  and  to  try  to 
describe  a  typical  example.  We  see  arising  above  the  trees 
the  village  church,  the  centre  of  the  old  village  life,  both 
religious,  secular,  and  social.  The  building  has  been  altered 
and  added  to  at  various  times,  and  now  shows,  writ  in  stone, 
its  strange  and  varied  history.  The  work  ot  Norman 
masons  and  of   the  builders   of  subsequent  periods  can   be 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

seen  in  its  walls  and  sculptures,  and  also  the  hand  of  "  re- 
storers "  who  have  dealt  hardly  with  its  beauties,  and  in 
trying  to  renovate  have  often  destroyed  its  chief  attractions. 
We  will  examine  it  more  particularly  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Nestling  amid  the  trees  we  see  the  manor-house,  the 
abode  of  the  squire,  an  ancient  dwelling-place  of  Tudor  or 
Jacobean  design,  surrounded  by  a  moat,  with  a  good  terrace- 
walk  in  front,  and  a  formal  garden  with  fountain  and  sun- 
dial and  beds  in  arabesque.  It  seems  to  look  down  upon 
the  village  with  a  sort  of  protecting  air.  Near  at  hand  are 
some  old  farm-houses,  nobly  built,  with  no  vain  pretension 
about  them.  Carefully  thatched  ricks  and  barns  and  stables 
and  cow-sheds  stand  around  them. 

There  is  a  village  inn  with  its  curiously  painted  sign- 
board which  has  a  story  to  tell  of  the  old  coaching  days, 
and  of  the  great  people  who  used  to  travel  along  the  main 
roads  and  were  sometimes  snowed  up  in  a  drift  just  below 
"  the  Magpie,"  but  could  always  find  good  accommodation 
in  the  inn,  beds  with  lavender-scented  sheets,  plain,  well- 
cooked  English  joints,  and  every  attention.  Perhaps  the 
village  can  boast  of  an  ancient  castle  or  a  monastery,  the 
ruins  of  which  add  beauty  and  picturesqueness  to  its  ap- 
pearance. 

An  old  almshouse,  a  peaceful  retreat  for  the  aged  and 
infirm,  built  by  some  pious  benefactor  in  ages  long  gone 
by,  attracts  our  gaze,  a  beautiful  Jacobean  structure,  perhaps, 
with  the  chapel  in  one  wing  and  the  master's  house  in  the 
■other.  Nor  did  the  good  people  of  former  days  forget  the 
advantages  of  education.  There  is  an  old  school  which  modern 
Government  inspectors  can  scarcely  be  persuaded  to  allow 
to  live,  because  it  is  not  framed  according  to  modern  plans 
and  ideas.  Some  villages  can  boast  of  a  grammar  school, 
too — Secondary  Schools  they  call  them  now — the  buildings 
ot  which  are  not  the  least  attractive  features  of  the  place. 

The  village  green  still  remains  to  remind  us  of  the  gaiety 


fi^4S« 


CARISHROOK    FROM    THli    CASTLIi     HILL,    ISLE    OF    WIGHT 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

of  old  village  lite,  where  the  old  country  dances  were  in- 
dulged in  by  the  villagers,  and  the  merry  May-pole  reared. 
There  they  held  their  rural  sports,  and  fought  bouts  of 
quarter-staff  and  cudgel-play,  and  played  pipe  and  tabor  at 
many  a  rustic  feast. 

No  country  in  the  world  has  so  many  beautiful  examples 
cf  cottao-e  architecture  as  EnMand.  We  will  examine,  with 
the  aid  of  our  artist,  many  of  these  old  buildings  with  the 
thatched  roofs  and  general  comeliness.  The  old  village 
crosses,  too,  will  arrest  our  attention,  and  much  else  that 
interests  us,  as  we  walk  through  the  streets  and  lanes  of  an 
English  village.  With  our  artist's  aid  we  will  examine  each 
feature  of  the  village  more  particularly.  We  need  not  con- 
cern ourselves  now  with  the  buried  treasure  of  old  village 
history,  though  these  constitute  some  of  its  chiefest  at- 
tractions. It  will  be  enough  for  us  to  use  our  eyes  and  note 
each  beauty  and  perfection,  and  thus  try  to  learn  something 
of  the  charm  of  an  English  village. 


II 

THE    VILLAGE    CHURCH 

IN  the  centre  of  the  village  stands  the  church,  always 
the  most  important  and  interesting  building  in  the 
place.  It  appears  in  several  of  our  illustrations  of 
typical  English  villages.  In  the  view  of  King's 
Norton,  with  the  village  green  in  the  foreground  and  the 
half-timbered  houses,  the  lofty  spire  of  the  church  rises 
high  above  the  trees  and  whispers  a  sursiim  corda.  Ditcheat 
Church  (p.  27)  stands  in  a  region  famous  for  its  noble  ecclesi- 
astical edifices  and  fine  towers.  It  is  mainly  fifteenth-century 
work.  We  will  inspect  an  ordinary  village  church  which  has 
not  been  too  much  "  restored  "  or  renovated,  and  observe  its 
numerous  interesting  features. 

First,  at  the  entrance  of  "  God's  acre "  stands  the  lych- 
gate,  the  ga^e  of  the  dead,  usually  protected  by  a  broad 
overspreading  gable  roof  in  order  that  those  who  accom- 
pany the  bodies  of  the  faithful  to  their  last  resting-place  may 
meet  before  going  to  the  church,  and  may  be  protected  from 
the  weather.  The  gate  at  Clun,  Shropshire  (p.  26),  is  shown 
in  our  illustrations,  a  graceful  four-gabled  structure  with 
tiled  roof.  The  well-known  gate  at  Bray,  Berkshire,  has  a 
room  over  it.  Entering  the  churchyard  we  recall  Gray's 
poem,  and  note  the  place  wherein 

The  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep, 

too   often   left   uncared   for,   like    that   shown    in    the  sketch 
at  Shere  (p.  29).    The  quaint  inscriptions  on  the  gravestones, 

23 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

the  curious  productions  of  a  rustic  muse,  excite  interest,  and 
the  sombreness  of  the  scene  is  relieved  by  many  a  touch  of 
strange  humour,  such  as  the  lines  in  memory  of  a  parish 
clerk  in  Shenley  churchyard,  who  was  also  a  bricklayer  : 

Silent  in  dust  lies  mouldering  here 
A  Parish  clerk  of   voice  most  clear. 
None  Joseph  Rogers  could  excel 
In  laying  bricks  or  singing  well ; 
Though  snapp'd  his  line,  laid  by  his  rod, 
We  build  for  him  our  hopes  in  God. 

The  church  itself  is  an  ancient  structure.  It  consists  of 
a  nave  and  chancel,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  aisles  have  been 
added  to  the  nave,  or  a  chantry  chapel  built  on  the  north 
or  south  side  of  the  chancel  containing  the  tombs  and 
monuments  of  some  illustrious  family  connected  with  the 
place.  Many  Norman  churches  are  cruciform,  with  a  low 
tower  rising  at  the  intersection  of  the  nave  with  the  tran- 
septs. Frequently  the  tower  stands  at  the  west  end.  Various 
kinds  of  towers  exist.  We  have  the  low  Norman  tower, 
frequently  raised  in  subsequent  periods  and  surmounted 
with  a  spire,  the  weight  of  which  has  sorely  tried  the  early 
Norman  building,  and  has  often  caused  it  to  collapse  ;  round 
towers,  towers  highly  enriched  with  turrets  and  parapets  and 
crowned  with  a  lofty  spire.  The  external  buttresses  which 
support  the  walls  indicate  very  clearly  the  period  of  the 
building.  Norman  buttresses  extend  very  little  from  the 
walls,  which  were  so  strong  that  they  needed  little  external 
support.  As  the  builders  strove  after  lightness  and  increased 
the  size  of  the  windows,  larger  and  more  extended  buttresses 
were  needed,  until  we  get  to  flying  buttresses,  i.e.  those  of 
an  outer  wall  connected  by  an  arch  to  those  of  an  inner, 
producing  very  graceful  and  beautiful  effects.  Niches  for 
statues  are  often  carved  on  the  buttresses.  Curious  gro- 
tesquely carved  heads  and  figures  look  down  upon  us  from 
the  gutters  of  the  roofs — called  gargoyles.     The  style  and 

24 


king's    NORTON     FROM    THE     GREEN,    WORCESTERSHIRE 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

period  of  the  windows  are  no  indication  of  the  age  of  the 
walls  in  which  they  appear.  Very  frequently  windows  of  a 
later  style  were  inserted  in  place  of  others  of  an  older  age. 
Thus  Norman  walls  frequently  have  Perpendicular  windows. 
The  porch  is  a  large  structure  with  a  gable  having  barge- 
boards  similar  to  those  seen   in   old   houses.      It  is  built   of 


LYCH     GATE,    CLUN,    SHROPSHIRE 


wood  and  roofed  with  tiles.  There  are  seats  on  either  side 
the  porch.  Sometimes  we  have  stone  porches  with  a  room 
above,  called  a  parvise,  which  occasionally  has  a  piscina, 
showing  that  there  must  have  been  an  altar  there.  This 
chamber  was  used  as  a  priest's  room,  or  by  the  custodian  of 
the  church  who  guarded  its  treasures  ;  in  some  cases  as  an 
anchor-hold,  or  room   set  apart  for  the  use  of  an  anchorite 

26 


'7. 


5-_    V, 


:^|f^'^iif*--;ii|iiiiil(iih„ 


3^/ 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

or  recluse.  The  doors  of  churches  are  an  interesting  study. 
Here  in  this  typical  village  church  we  find  a  doorway  em- 
bellished with  curious  Romanesque  carving,  the  only  remains 
of  the  old  Norman  church,  except  that  the  wall  in  which  it 
is  placed  is  probably  of  the  same  date,  though  it  is  pierced 
by  a  lancet  and  two  Perpendicular  windows.  This  doorway 
has  a  succession  of  receding  semicircular  arches  enriched 
with  a  variety  of  sculptured  mouldings,  zigzag,  cable,  star, 
embattled,  and  beak-heads.  These  last  are  monsters  with 
long  beaks,  meant  to  represent  the  devil  and  his  angels  ready 
to  pounce  upon  the  souls  of  those  who  come  to  church  in 
a  heedless  and  irreverent  spirit.  The  door  itself  is  the 
original  one  with  large  elaborate  crescent-shaped  hinges  and 
a  triple  strap  ornamented  with  scrolls  and  foliage,  like  that 
at  Stillingfleet.  These  strong  doors  were  intended  to  pro- 
tect the  church  from  marauders,  from  northern  pirates,  and 
such-like  folk.  Above  the  door  is  the  tympanum  on  which 
is  carved  the  Agnus  Dei.  A  great  variety  of  subjects  appear  on 
these  tympana — Adam  and  Eve,  St.  George  and  the  Dragon, 
the  Tree  of  Life,  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  and  very  many  other 
symbolical  representations.  Above  the  doorway  is  a  niche, 
now  shorn  of  its  image,  but  probably  once  containing  the 
statue  of  our  Lord  or  the  Virgin.  You  will  notice  on  the 
stones  of  the  doorway  rude  crosses  scratched  with  a  knife 
which  are  votive  crosses  made  hundreds  of  years  ago  by 
persons  who  had  made  some  vow,  or  desired  thus  mutely 
to  express  their  thankfulness  for  some  special  and  private 
mercy. 

On  entering  the  church  we  see  the  font,  an  old  Norman 
one,  decorated  with  mouldings  and  sculpture.  It  is  lined  with 
lead,  and  on  the  sides  are  rudely  carved  the  four  evangelists 
with  their  symbols.  The  roof  is  much  flatter  than  an 
earlier  one  which  once  spanned  the  church,  as  the  marks  on 
the  tower  show.  This  one  was  erected  in  the  fifteenth 
century   with    tie-beams   extending   from   wall    to   wall,   and 

28 


GOU  S    ACRE,       SHERE,    SURREY 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

resting  on  uprights  placed  on  corbels,  and  underneath  the 
beams  are  curved  bracing-ribs  which  meet  in  the  centre  of  the 
beam  and  form  an  arch.  Above  the  centre  of  the  beam  is 
a  king-post,  and  the  vacant  space  is  occupied  by  pierced 
panels.  This  sloping  portion  of  the  roof  is  divided  into 
squares  by  pieces  of  timber  called  purlins,  which  are  adorned 
with  mouldings  and  bosses  at  their  intersections. 

The  nave  is  now  filled  with  pews  ;   most  of  them  are  quite 
new,  but  in  one  corner  we  find  a  few  of  the  old  seats  richly 


HOUR-GLASS    BRACKET,     SOUTH 
STOKE    CHURCH,    OXON 


carved  with  poppy-heads,  which,  1  need  not  say,  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  flower.  Happily  all  the  old-fashioned  high 
square  pews  which  once  disfigured  the  church  have  been 
removed,  and  these  modern  seats  are  somewhat  like  the  more 
primitive  models. 

There  is  a  very  fine  Jacobean  pulpit  similar  to  that  at 
Little  Hadham  Church,  Hertfordshire,  though  not  quite  so 
elaborate.  In  1603  churchwardens  were  ordered  to  provide 
in  every  church  a  "  comely  and  decent  pulpit,"  and  although 
some  few  mediaeval  examples  remain,  most  of  our  pulpits  have 

30 


LITTLE     HADHAM    CHURCH,     HERTFORDSHIRE 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

been  erected  since  the  first  year  of  King  James  L  A  neces- 
sary accessory  to  the  pulpit  in  the  days  of  long  sermons  was 
the  hour-glass,  which  a  merciless  preacher  would  sometimes 
turn  and  "  have  another  glass."  Very  few  of  the  actual  glasses 
remain,  but  we  have  numerous  examples  of  beautiful  iron- 
work brackets  which  once  supported  the  preacher's  timepiece. 
A  fine  specimen  is  shown  in  our  illustrations.  It  is  in  the 
church  of  South  Stoke,  Oxfordshire,  and  at  Hurst  and 
Binfield  in  Berkshire  we  have  some  magnificent  examples  of 
elaborate  ironwork  hour-orlass  stands. 

o 

The  church  of  Little  Hadham  retains  its  screen.  Very 
many  have  been  destroyed.  Our  typical  church  has  a  richly 
carved  example  painted  and  gilded,  and  on  the  north  of  the 
chancel  arch  is  a  staircase  which  once  led  to  the  rood-loft, 
where  was  a  crucifix  with  the  images  of  the  Virgin  and  St.  John 
on  each  side.  The  old  stone  altar  marked  with  its  five  crosses 
has  disappeared.  It  was  destroyed  at  the  Reformation,  but 
there  is  a  good  modern  altar  with  a  fine  old  reredos  richly 
ornamented  with  niches  which  formerly  held  statues.  These 
have  all  disappeared.  The  east  window  contains  some  good 
decorated  glass.  The  piscina  and  sedilia  with  their  fine  carv- 
ings all  merit  attention,  and  the  aumbries  now  shorn  of  their 
doors  wherein  the  church  plate  was  formerly  kept.  The 
Easter  sepulchre,  the  wooden  stalls  with  their  quaintly  carved 
misereres    (this    church    of    ours    was    once    attached    to    a 

monastic  cell  connected  with  the  great  abbey  of  A ),  must 

all  be  noticed,  and  the  verger  will  tell  you  that  these  were 
ingenious  traps  for  sleepy  monks,  who  when  the  heavy  seat  fell 
down  with  a  loud  bang,  were  detected  in  slumber  and  were 
forced  to  do  penance  ;  but  if  you  are  wise,  you  will  not 
believe  him.  He  will  also  tell  you  that  a  little  low  side 
window  was  really  a  leper's  window,  through  which  the  poor 
afflicted  one  could  view  the  elevativJii  of  the  host  ;  and  again, 
if  you  are  wise,  you  will  not  believe  him,  as  you  know  the 
lepers  were  not  even  allowed  to  enter  the  churchyard. 

32 


THE    VILLAGE    CHURCH 

Some  curious  old  mural  paintings  have  recently  been  dis- 
covered beneath  layers  of  whitewash,  and  we  notice  the 
figure  of  St.  Nicholas  raising  to  life  the  three  youths  thrown 
into  a  tub,  and  a  huge  St.  Christopher,  a  very  favourite 
subject,  as  a  glance  at  him  would  secure  the  observer  trom 
violent  death  throughout  the  day,  and  protect  him  from 
wandering  thoughts  during  the  service. 

Then  there  are  the  brasses  to  examine,  the  beautiful 
monuments  of  old  knights  and  warriors,  fine  ladies  with 
great  ruffs  praying  at  faldstools  opposite  their  husbands  with 
a  crowd  of  children  beneath  them,  and  gigantic  monuments 
of  great  ladies  who  possessed  every  imaginable  virtue. 
Some  of  the  knights  have  their  legs  crossed,  and  the  vicar 
or  the  verger  will  tell  you  that  they  had  fought  in  the 
crusades.  That  one  whose  feet  are  crossed  at  the  ankles 
went  to  one  crusade  ;  that  other  one  whose  feet  are  crossed 
at  the  knees  fought  twice  in  the  Holy  Land  ;  and  the  third 
knight  with  feet  crossed  at  the  thighs  fought  three  times  in 
the  Holy  Wars.  Again  you  will  not  believe  him,  if  you  are 
wise,  because  you  know  that  these  interpretations  of  a  curious 
fashion  are  fallacious,  that  some  knights  who  fought  in  the 
crusades  are  not  so  represented,  and  that  others  who  never 
left  England  have  their  feet  crossed.  It  was  a  passing  whim 
or  fashion  and  has  no  particular  signification. 

The  bells  with  their  quaint  Inscriptions,  if  you  have  a  mind 
to  ascend  the  belfry  tower,  may  interest  you,  and  the  church 
plate,  and  the  contents  of  the  Parish  Chest,  invite  inspection. 
The  chest  itself,  with  its  elaborate  lock  and  iron-bound  sides, 
is  a  great  treasure.  One  of  the  chief  charms  of  an  English 
village  is  to  ransack  this  chest  and  examine  carefully  the 
registers,  the  churchwardens'  accounts,  the  briefs,  and  many 
an  Old  document  that  Time  has  failed  to  destroy.  But  this 
would  lead  us  into  too  wide  a  field,  and  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  but  a  hasty  survey  of  the  village  church  and  all 
the  varied  beauties  and  interesting  objects  which  it  contains. 

"  3  3 


Ill 

MANORS,    FARMS,    AND    RECTORIES 

ALMOST  every  village  has  its  giants  as  well  as  its 
dwarfs,  its  tritons  as  well  as  its  minnows.  You 
see  its  grander  and  finer  specimens  of  English 
domestic  architecture  as  well  as  the  humbler  dwell- 
ings of  the  poor.  We  will  endeavour  to  examine  in  this 
chapter  the  former,  the  manor-house,  the  rectory  or  vicarage, 
and  the  farm-houses,  three  styles  of  houses  which  have  much 
in  common,  though  they  maintain  their  own  characteristics. 

Some  villages  possess  a  great  and  important  mansion, 
wherein  some  noble  family  resides,  a  glorified  manor-house, 
Elizabethan  or  Jacobean  perhaps,  more  commonly  a  Palladian 
structure  built  in  the  Italian  manner,  which  has  supplanted 
an  earlier  house  and  not  improved  upon  the  old  English 
model.  There  was  at  one  time  a  fashion  for  pulling  down 
old  Tudor  or  Elizabethan  houses  and  rearing  these  Italian 
mansions.  Very  grand  they  are  and  ornate,  but  not  over 
comfortable  to  live  in.  A  great  wit  advised  the  builder  of 
one  of  these  mansions  to  hire  a  room  on  the  other  side  of 
the  road,  and  spend  his  time  looking  at  his  Palladian  house, 
but  to  be  sure  not  to  live  there.  But  our  typical  village 
does  not  possess  a  mansion  ;  no  Longleat  or  Haddon,  no 
Lacock  or  Hardwick  add  to  its  importance  ;  nor  is  it  fortu- 
nate enough  to  have  a  castle.  Its  charm  would  be  mightily 
increased  if  it  could  boast  of  such  a  venerable  building, 
though  the  castle  were  but  a  ruin,  a  memorial  of  ancient 
state  and  power.     Our  artist  has  depicted  one  such   castle, 

34 


HURSTMONCEUX    CASTLE,    SUSSEX 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

that  of  Hurstmonceux,  in  Sussex,  which  was  at  one  time 
the  largest  and  finest  of  the  commoners'  houses  in  the  county, 
and  was  built  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  was  built  of  hard 
Flemish  brick,  with  windows,  door-cases,  and  copings  of 
stone.  The  brickwork,  sometimes  said  to  be  the  earliest  in 
England,^  has  long  worn  a  greyish  tint.  The  sketch  shows 
the  entrance  gateway  flanked  by  two  towers  with  machiola- 
tions  and  pierced  with  embrasures  tor  bowmen.  The  two 
towers  are  crowned  by  turrets,  named  the  watch  and  signal 
turrets.  A  moat  surrounds  the  castle,  and  was  spanned  by 
a  drawbridofe,  the  vertical  slits  on  each  side  of  the  central 
recessed  window  being  fitted  with  levers  for  raisins:  and  lower- 
ing  the  bridge.  Over  the  archway  are  the  arms  of  the 
Fiennes  family,  a  wolf-dog  with  its  paws  on  a  banner  and 
three  lions  rampant.  If  we  were  to  pass  through  this  gate 
we  should  find  the  ruins  of  an  immense  castle,  a  veritable 
town.  Grouped  round  the  green  court,  which  is  girt  by  a 
cloister,  we  see  the  remains  of  the  great  hall,  a  noble  room, 
the  postern  gate  with  chapel  over  it,  prison,  pantries,  bird 
gallery,  armour  gallery,  ale-cellar,  a  grand  staircase,  with 
drawing-room,  great  parlour,  bedchambers  sufficient  to 
lodge  a  garrison,  and  ladies'  bower  ;  while  from  the  Pump 
Court  we  see  the  laundry,  brewhouse.  bakehouse,  and  a 
vast  kitchen,  still-room,  confectioner's  room,  and  countless 
other  apartments.  The  castle  was  indeed  a  noble  and  hos- 
pitable mansion  in  olden  time.  The  castle  was  built  in  the 
days  of  transition,  when  the  strong  uncomfortable  fortress 
-vvas  giving  place  to  a  more  luxurious  mansion,  though  the 
necessity  of  strong  walls  and  gates  had  not  quite  passed 
.-away.  We  need  not  concern  ourselves  with  its  history. 
Its  name  preserves  the  memories  of  two  ancient  families, 
De  Hurst  and  De  Monceaux,  and  was  built  in  1440  by  Sir 
Roger  Fiennes,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Agincourt  and  treasurer 

1    Little  Wcnham   Hall,  Suffolk,  built  of  brick   in   the  time  of  Henry  III, 
is  older  than  Hurstmonceux,  and  also  the  chapel  of  Little  Coggeshall,  Lssex. 

36 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

of  Henry  VL  His  descendants  had  the  title  of  Lord  Dacre 
conferred  upon  them,  and  the  last  became  Earl  of  Sussex, 
marrying  a  natural  daughter  of  Charles  II,  and  being  im- 
pecunious sold  the  property.  Its  subsequent  history  does 
not  concern  us.  The  ghosts  of  its  great  owners  seem  to 
haunt  the  scene  of  their  former  splendour,  and  one  noted 
uneasy  spirit  inhabited  Drummer's  hall,  and  marched  along 
the  battlements  beating  a  devil's  tattoo  on  his  drum.  But 
perhaps  he  was  only  a  gardener  in  league  with  the  smugglers, 
and  used  this  ghostly  means  for  conveying  to  them  a  needful 
signal.  Ghosts  often  frequent  the  old  houses  of  England, 
and  our  artist's  sketch  of  the  haunted  house,  Harvington 
Hall,  Worcestershire,  which  looks  delightfully  picturesque 
in  the  moonlight,  certainly  suggests  the  appearance  of  a 
ghostly  resident  or  visitor.  We  know  of  such  a  house  in 
Lancashire,  which,  like  Harvington  Hall,  is  encircled  by  a 
moat.  It  contains  a  skull  in  a  case  let  into  the  wall  of  the 
staircase.  This  skull  has  been  cast  into  the  moat,  buried  in 
the  ground,  and  removed  in  many  other  ways  ;  but  terrible 
happenings  ensue  :  storms  rage  and  lightnings  flash,  and 
groans  are  heard,  until  the  skull  is  brought  back  to  its  niche, 
when  peace  ensues.  Some  say  the  skull  is  that  of  a  Roman 
priest  beheaded  at  Lancaster  ;  others  that  it  once  graced  the 
body  of  Roger  Downes,  the  last  heir  of  the  house,  one  of 
the  wildest  courtiers  of  Charles  II.  These  ancient  traditions, 
ghosts  and  legends,  add  greatly  to  the  charm  of  our  old 
houses. 

Leaving  the  mansions  of  the  great,  we  will  visit  the 
usual  chief  house  of  the  village,  the  m^anor-house,  where  the 
lord  of  the  manor  lived  and  ruled  in  former  days,  adminis- 
tered justice,  and  was  the  friend  and  benefactor  of  every  one 
in  the  village.  In  times  gone  by  the  squire  was  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  village  commonwealth.  His  place  was  at 
home  in  the  old  manor-house,  and  he  was  known  by  every 
one   in   the  village.      Son   succeeded  father   in   manor,  farm- 

3S 


MOOR     HALL,     HUMPHRIES     END,     NEAR    SIROUD,     GLOUCESTER 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

house,  and  cottage,  and  the  relationship  of  landlord  to 
tenant,  employer  to  labourer,  was  intimate  and  traditional. 
Agricultural  depression  has  told  heavily  on  the  race  of  old 
squires.  Times  are  changed.  Young  squires  love  the  ex- 
citement of  towns  and  travel.  The  manor-house  is  often 
closed  or  let  to  strangers,  and  village  life  is  different  now 
from  what  it  was  a  century  ago. 

But  the  manor-house  remains,  though  frequently  it  is 
used  as  a  farm-house,  and  has  lost  its  ancient  prestige.  It 
forms  a  charming  feature  in  the  landscape.  It  is  old  and 
weather-beaten,  set  in  a  framework  of  pines  and  deciduous 
trees,  with  lawns  and  shrubberies.  Look  at  the  beautiful 
illustration  of  Moor  Hall,  near  Stroud,  with  its  high  gables, 
tiled  roofs,  and  muUioned  windows,  and  compare  it  with  any 
foreign  building  of  the  same  size,  and  you  will  respect  the 
memories  of  our  English  builders.  The  manor-house  at 
Wool,  Dorset,  a  county  very  rich  in  such  buildings,  is  also 
very  attractive,  approached  by  a  fine  stone  bridge,  and  sur- 
rounded by  trees  and  farm  buildings. 

Most  of  the  old  manor-houses  have  given  place  to  Tudor 
or  Elizabethan  structures,  but  there  is  a  perfect  fourteenth- 
century  example  at  Little  Hempton,  near  Totnes.  It  con- 
sists of  a  quadrangle  with  a  small  central  court,  into  which 
all  the  windows,  except  that  of  the  hall,  look  from  sunless 
rooms.  The  hall  was  heated  by  a  brazier  in  the  centre — at 
least,  the  heat  might  have  been  sufficient  to  thaw  numbed 
fingers.  A  gloomy  parlour  with  a  fire-place  in  it,  kitchen, 
porter's  lodge,  cellar,  and  stable,  and  upstairs  one  long 
dormitory  complete  the  building,  which  was  none  too  com- 
fortable. 

Some  villages  have  two  manor-houses,  and  others  were 
divided  into  several  manors.  In  Berkshire,  at  Sutton 
Courtney,  there  are  two  houses — one  formerly  attached  to 
the  abbey  of  Abingdon,  the  other  to  the  Courtney  family. 
The  great  feature  was  a  large  hall ;  at  one  end  was  an  entrance 

40 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

passage  separating  the  hall  from  the  buttery  or  store-room, 
and  above  this  the  ladies'  bower.  A  chapel  was  also  attached, 
sometimes  placed  at  one  end  of  the  loft  above  the  hall. 
From  this  elementary  plan  subsequent  manor-houses  have 
been  developed. 

The  tradition  of  the  central  hall  lingered  on  for  centuries, 
and  can  be  seen  still  in  manor-house,  farmstead,  and  cottage. 


FARM-HOUSE    NEAR     K.NOWLE,    WARWICKSHIRE 

The  central  hall  with  wings  at  each  side,  and  barns  and  stables 
and  cow-sheds  completing  a  quadrangle — this  was  the  ideal 
plan  of  the  squire's  house,  and  yeoman-farmer  and  cottagers 
copied  the  buildings  of  their  betters.  The  illustration  of  the 
farm-house  near  Knowle,  Warwickshire,  is  picturesque  in 
every  detail,  and  shows  the  maintenance  of  the  tradition  of 
the  central  hall.  Sometimes  there  is  only  one  wing,  as  in 
the  view  of  the  beautiful  old  farmstead  at  Sutton  Green, 
Oxfordshire,  roofed  with  thatch  and  covered  with  creepers. 
The   half-timbered  farm-house  at  Rowington,  Warwickshire, 

42 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

is  an  old  dwelling  of  early  date,  probably  about  the  sixteenth 
century,  which  has  the  same  original  plan,  but  has  taken  to 
itself  an  addition  at  some  later  period. 

It  is  beyond  our  purpose  to  sketch  the  growth  of  domestic 
architecture  and  trace  the  evolution  of  the  modern  mansion 


> 

•-— ^'Vr^^-^*^^-- 

^'^-'- 

N. 

"*^i.,        ... 

FARM-HOUSE,     ROWIXGTOX,    WARWICKSHIRE 


from  the  Saxon  hall.  But  there  are  many  old  farm-houses 
in  England,  once  manor-houses,  which  retain,  in  spite  of 
subsequent  alterations,  the  distinguishing  features  of  mediaeval 
architecture.  The  twelfth  century  saw  a  separate  sleeping- 
chamber  for  the  lord  and  his  lady.  In  the  next  century 
they  dined  in  a  room  apart  from  their  servants. 

This   process   of  development   led   to   a   multiplication  of 

44 


MANORS,    FARMS,    AND    RECTORIES 

rooms  and  the  diminution  of  the  size  of  the  great  hall.  The 
walls  were  raised,  and  an  upper  room  was  formed  under  the 
roof  for  sleeping  accommodation.  In  smaller  houses,  during 
the  fifteenth  century,  the  hall  disappears,  and  corridors  are 
introduced  in  order  to  give  access  to  the  various  chambers. 
Some  of  these  houses  are  built  in  the  form  of  the  letters  E 
and  H,  which  fanciful  architectural  authorities  interpret  as 
the  initials  of  Henry  VIII  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  But  the 
former  plan  is  merely  a  development  ot  the  hall  with  wings 
at  each  end  and  a  porch  added,  and  the  H  is  a  hall  with  the 
wings  considerably  extended. 

The  beautiful  Tudor  and  Elizabethan  manor-houses  and 
palaces  built  at  this  time,  when  English  domestic  architecture 
reached  the  period  of  its  highest  perfection,  are  too  grand 
and  magnificent  for  us  who  are  considering  humbler  abodes. 
But  the  style  of  their  construction  is  reflected  in  the  farm- 
houses and  cottao-es.  We  see  in  these  the  same  beautiful 
gables  and  projecting  upper  storeys,  the  same  lattice  case- 
ments, irregular  corners  and  recesses  which  present  themselves 
everywhere,  and  add  a  strange  beauty  to  the  whole  appear- 
ance. Such  common  features  link  together  the  cottage, 
farm,  and  manor-house,  just  as  the  English  character  unites 
the  various  elements  of  our  social  existence  and  blends 
squire,  farmer,  and  peasant  into  one  community  with  common 
feeling  and  interests  and  a  mutual  respect. 

The  old  rectory  is  an  important  house  in  the  village,  and 
ranks  next  to  the  manor-house.  It  is  usually  a  picturesque 
building,  and  several  fourteenth-century  parsonages  remain, 
thou2;h  some  have  been  so  altered  that  only  small  portions 
of  the  old  house  exist.  Mediaeval  parsonages  survive  still 
at  West  Dean,  Sussex  ;  King's  Stanley  and  Notgrove, 
Gloucestershire  ;  Wonstone,  Hants  ;  Helmsley,  Yorkshire  ; 
Shillingford,  Berks  ;  and  at  Alfriston,  Sussex.  This  last 
example  follows  the  usual  type  of  fourteenth-century  house, 
and    consists    of   a    fine    hall,    the    lower    part    divided    off 

45 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

by  a  screen,  a  solar  of  two  storeys  at  one  end,  and  a 
kitchen  at  the  other.  It  is  built  of  oak  framework,  filled 
in  with  wattle  and  daub.  These  old  houses  show  that  the 
duty  of  entertaining  strangers  and  travellers  was  duly  recog- 
nised by  the  clergy.  There  were  rooms  set  apart  for  guests, 
and  the  large  stables  attached  to  rectories  and  vicarages  were 
not  for  the  purpose  of  providing  accommodation  for  the 
rector's   hunters,  but  for  the  steeds  of  his  visitors. 

The  interior  of  the  rectory  speaks  of  learning  and  books. 
Books  line  the  walls  of  the  study  ;  they  climb  the  stairs  ; 
they  overflow  into  dining-room  and  drawing-room.  The 
light  that  shines  from  the  study  window  is  always  there. 
Country-folk  retire  early  to  bed,  and  the  village  lights  are 
soon  extinguished  ;  but  that  study  light  is  always  burning 
far  into  the  night,  and  is  scarcely  put  out  before  the  approach 
of  dawn  calls  the  labourer  from  his  couch  to  begin  his  daily 
toil. 


46 


IV 
COTTAGE    ARCHITECTURE 

THE  building  of  beautiful  cottages  is  almost  a  lost 
art,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  hideous  examples 
which  modern  builders  are  accustomed  to  rear 
amidst  beautiful  scenery  that  claimed  exemption 
from  such  desecration.  "  Cottage-building  does  not  pay," 
is  the  dictum  of  both  farmer,  squire,  and  ierry-builder. 
"  You  cannot  get  m.ore  than  two  per  cent  on  your  money 
spent  in  erecting  dwellings  for  the  poor."  Hence  people  are 
accustomed  to  build  as  cheaply  as  possible,  and  to  destroy 
the  beautiful  earth  and  many  a  rustic  paradise  by  the  erection 
of  these  detestable  architectural  enormities.  It  has  been  said 
that  villas  at  Hindhead  seem  to  have  broken  out  upon  the 
once  majestic  hill  like  a  red  skin  eruption.  There  is  a 
sad  contrast  between  these  unsightly  edilices  with  their 
glaring  brick  walls,  their  slate  roofs,  their  little  ungainlv 
stunted  chimnevs,  and  the  old-fashioned  thatched  or  tiled 
dwellings  that  torm  so  charming  a  feature  ot  English  rural 
scenerv. 

With  the  aid  of  our  artist  we  hope  to  visit  manv  ot  the 
humbler  examples  of  English  domestic  architecture.  It  is 
well  that  they  should  be  sketched,  inspected,  admired,  and 
noted  at  once,  as  year  by  year  their  numbers  are  decreasing. 
Every  year  sees  the  destruction  of  several  of  these  old 
buildings,  which  a  little  care  and  judicious  restoration 
might    have    saved.       Ruskin's    words    should    be    writ    in 

47 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

bold    big    letters    at    the    head    of   the    bye-laws    of   every 
District  Council  :-  — 

"Watch  an  old  building  with  anxious  care;  guard  it  as 
best  you  may,  and  at  any  cost,  from  any  influence  of  dilapi- 
dation. Count  its  stones  as  you  would  the  jewels  of  a 
crown.  Set  watchers  about  it,  as  if  at  the  gate  of  a  besieged 
city  ;  bind  it  together  with  iron  when  it  loosens  ;  stay  it 
with  timber  when  it  declines.  Do  not  care  about  the  un- 
sightliness  of  the  aid  —better  a  crutch  than  a  lost  limb  ;  and 
do  this  tenderly  and  reverently  and  continually,  and  many 
a  generation  will  still  be  born  and  pass  away  beneath  its 
shadow." 


COTTAGES  AT  WINSON,  GLOUCESTERSHIRE  (cOLN  VALLEy) 


If  this  sound  advice  had  been  universally  taken  many  a 
beautiful  old  cottage  would  have  been  spared  to  us,  and  our 
eyes  would  not  be  offended  by  the  wondrous  creations  of 
estate  agents  and  local  builders  who  have  no  other  ambitions 
but  to  build  cheaply. 


COTTAGE   ARCHITECTURE 

How  different  are  the  old  cottages  of  England.  Here  is 
an  admirable  description  of  an  ideal  rural  dwelling  written 
more  than  a  century  ago  : — ^ 

"  I  figure  in  my  imagination  a  small  house,  of  odd, 
irregular  form,  with  various  harmonious  colouring,  the  effects 
of  weather,  time,  and  accident,  the  whole  environed  with 
smiling  verdure,  having  a  contented,  cheerful,  inviting  aspect, 
and  a  door  open  to  receive  a  gossip  neighbour,  or  weary, 
exhausted  traveller.  There  are  many  indescribable  some- 
things that  must  necessarily  combine  to  give  to  a  dwelling 
this  distinguishing  character.  A  porch  at  entrance  ;  Irregular 
breaks  in  the  direction  of  the  walls,  one  part  higher  than 
the  other  ;  various  roofing  of  different  materials,  thatch 
particularly,  boldly  projecting  ;  fronts  partly  built  of  brick, 
partly  weather-boarded,  and  partly  brick-nogging  dashed  ; 
casement  window  lights,  are  all  conducive  and  constitute  Its 
features." 

Such  Is  a  cottage  which  the  poet  and  the  painter  loves,  a 
type  which  is  happily  not  extinct  in  modern  England — 

Its  roof  with  reeds  and  mosses  covered  o'er, 
And  honeysuckles  climbing  round  the  door  ; 
While  mantling  vines  along  its  walls  are  spread, 
And  clustering  ivy  decks  the  chimney  head. 

Its  garden  Is  rich  with  old-fashioned  English  flowers,  and 
amongst  them  we  notice  roses,  pansies,  peonies,  sweet- 
williams,  and  London  Pride,  which  flourish  In  the  herbaceous 
borders  that  line  the  approach  to  the  cottage  door.  It  is  set 
in  a  framework  that  enhances  its  beauties.  Dark  woods 
form  the  background.  In  front  there  Is  the  village  green, 
the  centre  of  the  amusements  of  old  village  life,  whereon 
children  are  seen  disporting  themselves  ;  the  old  church  is 
nigh  at  hand  with  its  lofty  spire.  Other  graceful  dwellings 
cluster  round  the  green,  and  the  rude  pond,  wild  hedgerows, 
and  Irregular  plantations  complete  the  picture. 

1  Jn  Essay  on  British  Cottage  Jrchitccturc,  by  James  Malton,  1791^'. 

E  49 


i     THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

Of  such  a  cottage  the  poet  sings  : — 

Close  in  the  dingle  of  a  wood 
Obscured  with  boughs  a  cottage  stood  ; 
Sweetbriar  decked  its  lowly  door, 
And  vines  spread  all  the  summit  o'er  ; 
An  old  barn's  gable  end  was  seen 
Sprinkled  with  nature's  mossy  green, 
Hard  on  the  right,  from  whence  the  flail 
Of  thrasher  sounded  down  the  vale — - 
A  vale  where  many  a  flow'ret  gay 
Sipt  a  clear  streamlet  on  its  way — 
A  vale  above  whose  leafy  shade 
The  village  steeple  shews  its  head. 

Such  is  the  pleasing  picture  of  a  rural  home,  the  peculiar, 
beautiful,  and  picturesque  feature  of  English  rural  scenery, 
where  dwell 

Those  calm  delights  that  ask  but  little  room. 

The  illustrations  show  many  such  a  gem  of  cottage  archi- 
tecture gathered  from  many  counties.  The  builders  of  these 
used  no  alien  materials.  They  built  surely  and  well  with 
substances  best  suited  for  their  purpose  which  the  neigh- 
bourhood afforded.  Stone,  timber,  flint,  all  were  made  to 
serve  their  purpose.  In  the  region  of  good  stone  quarries 
of  Gloucestershire  and  Somerset  we  find  the  beautiful  cottages 
at  Winson,  and  the  charming  bay  in  a  cottage  at  Montacute. 
This  latter  house,  with  its  armorial  bearings  carved  beneath 
the  upper  window,  has  doubtless  seen  better  days,  and  was 
probably  a  house  of  some  pretensions.  Kent  and  Essex, 
where  good  building  stone  is  scarce,  furnish  fine  examples 
of  half-timbered  cottages. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  these  timber  houses  were 
built.  The  materials  were  inexpensive  and  easily  procurable. 
The  surrounding  woods  supplied  plenty  of  oak  timber,  and 
earth  and  sand,  straw  or  reeds  were  all  that  was  needed. 
Sometimes  a  solid  foundation  of  stone  or  brick  was  built  in 


COTTAGE   ARCHITECTURE 

order  to  protect  the  woodwork  from  the  damp  earth,  and 
on  this  were  placed  horizontal  beams.  At  the  corners  of  the 
house  very  stout  upright  posts  were  erected,  which  were 
formed  from  the  trunk  of  a  tree  with  the  root  left  on  it,  and 


L  V 


A  COTTAGE  BAY,  MOXTACUTE,  SOMERSET 


placed  upward,  this  root  curving  outwards  so  as  to  form  a 
support  for  the  upper  storey.  A  curious  and  important 
feature  of  these  old  houses  is  their  projecting  storeys.  I 
have  never  heard  a  satisfactory  reason  given  for  this  strange 
construction.      I   can   understand  that  in   towns  where  space 


''■^o; 


COTTAGE   ARCHITECTURE 


was  scarce  it  would  have  been  an  advantage  to  be  able  to 
increase  the  eize  of  the  upper  rooms,  but  when  there  was  no 
restriction  as  to  the  ground  to  be  occupied  by  the  house  and 
land  was  plentiful,  it  is  difficult  to  discover  why  our  fore- 
fathers constructed  their  houses  on  this  plan.      Possibly  the 


PART    OF    A     HOUSE    AT    NEWPORT,     ESSEX 

fashion  was  first  established  of  necessity  in  towns,  and  the 
traditional  mode  of  building  was  continued  in  the  country. 
Some  say  that  by  this  means  our  ancestors  tried  to  protect 
the  lower  part  of  the  house  from  the  weather  ;  others  with 
some  ingenuity  suggest  that  these  projecting  storeys  were  in- 
tended to  form  a  covered  walk  for  passengers  in  the  streets,  and 

53 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

to  protect  them  from  the  slops  which  the  careless  housewife  of 
Elizabethan  times  cast  recklessly  from  the  upstairs  windows. 
Projecting  upper  storeys  are  not  earlier  than  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth.     Their  weight  necessitated  a  strong  foundation. 

We  have  constructed  our  foundations,  horizontal  timber 
base,  and  corner  posts,  the  roots  of  the  trunks  being- 
cut    into    brackets    both    on    the    outside    and    inside   of  the 


POUNDSRRIDGE,     KENT 


house.  These  strong  and  massive  angle-posts  were  often 
richly  carved  and  moulded.  Other  upright  posts  were 
erected  along  the  base  about  seven  feet  apart.  These  hori- 
zontal timbers  were  fastened,  socketed,  or  mortised  into 
the  upright  beams  so  as  to  form  square  openings,  which 
were  divided  into  smaller  squares  by  less  stout  timbers. 
Then  the  foundations  of  the  floor  of  the  upper  rooms  were 
constructed  by  beams  laid  across  the  tops  of  the  upright 
beams.     The  floor  of  this  upper  section  of  the  house  pro- 

5+ 


-^N---r 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 


CONSTRUCTION    OF    KOOF 


jected  about  two  feet  beyond  that  of  the  lower.  Sometimes 
the  projection  was  confined  to  one  or  two  sides  of  the  houses, 
but  frequently  it  extended  on  all  the  sides.  The  upper  storey 
was  constructed  in  an  exactly  similar  fashion,  and  the  timbers 
of  the  roof  were  then  placed  in  position.  Usually  beams 
^^^  spanned     the     upper 

<;^^*^/^^^s.  storey,     and     at     their 

centre  an  upright  post, 
called  a  "king- post," 
^  was  erected,  which  sup- 
ported a  cross-beam 
which  was  held  in  posi- 
tion by  braces  and  fastened  at  the  ends  to  the  slanting  beams 
of  the  roof. 

A  pleasing  characteristic  of  some  of  the  Kent  cottages  and 
farm-houses  is  the  sunken  central  bay.  The  two  outer  bays 
have  projecting  upper  storeys  ;  the  central  bay  has  not.  The 
eaves  of  the  roof  extend  the  whole  length  of  the  building, 
and  that  portion  over  the  central  bay  is  supported  by  curved 
braces. 

Mr.  Ellis,  a  practical  and  experienced  craftsman,  suggests^ 
there  were  three  types  of  these  half-timbered  houses,  to  which 
he  has  given  the  names  Post  and  Pan,  Transom  Framed,  and 
Intertie  Framed  work.  Frequently  these  types  are  varied 
and  sometimes  combined  in  the  same  building.  The  Post 
and  Pan  style  is  the  earliest,  and  consists  of  a  post  and  a 
panel  placed  alternately  and  equally  spaced.  Upright  posts 
were  placed  between  the  horizontal  ground  sill  and  the  head- 
beam  which  supported  the  roof,  the  spaces  between  these 
vertical  posts  being  filled  with  clay  or  wattle  and  daub. 
These  posts  at  first  were  fixed  close  together,  but  by  degrees 
the  builders  obtained  confidence,  set  their  posts  wider  apart, 
and  held  them  together  by  transoms.  This  led  them  to 
adopt  the  Transom  Frame  construction,  the  walls  being  now 

^    In  Modern  Practical  Carpentry,  by  George  Ellis  (Batsford,  1906). 

56 


COTTAGE   ARCHITECTURE 


composed  of  vertical  and  horizontal  timbers  forming  larger 
square  or  oblong  openings.  Some  of  them  were  used  for 
doors  and  windows,  and  the  others  filled  in  with  interlaced 
hazel-sticks  covered  with  plaster  or  with  brick-nogging. 
In  order  to  strengthen  the  framework  straight  or  curved 
beams  were  introduced  at  the  angles,  the  latter  being  formed 
from  the  large  limbs 
of  trees  sawn  in  two. 
Intertie  Framework 
was  a  kind  of  re- 
versal of  the  Tran- 
som style.  Strong 
uninterrupted  hori- 
zontal beams  were 
its  foundation,  the 
vertical  posts  being 
f  r  a  m  e  d  between 
them.  Much  skill  ts^iieM' 
and  ingenuity  were  0^.(^3^^<lS^ 
displayed  in  the 
decoratinor     ot     the 

o 

panels. 

A  good  example 
of  cottages  built  in 
the    manner    which 

I  have  described  is  given  in  the  illustration  of  the  houses 
at  Brenchley,  Kent  (p.  52),  a  county  famous  for  its  half- 
timbered  dwelling-places.  We  notice  the  overhanging  upper 
storey,  the  upright  timbers  placed  close  together,  a  sign  of 
early  building,  the  sunken  central  bay,  tiled  roof,  and  the 
little  dormer  windows  jutting  out  therefrom,  which  break 
the  long  expanse  of  roof  and  add  to  its  picturesqueness. 
The  portion  of  the  house  shown  in  the  illustration  is  built 
in  three  bays.  A  bay  was  the  standard  of  architectural 
measurement,  and  houses  were  sold  or  let  by  the  bay.     A 

57 


VARIETIES    OF    WALLING    FROM     HANTS 
AND    DORSET 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

bay  measured  roughly  sixteen  feet,  and  was  the  length  re- 
quired in  farm  buildings  for  the  standing  of  two  pairs  of 
oxen.  The  view  of  part  of  the  cottage  at  Newport,  Essex 
(p.  S3))  shows  a  very  fine  example.  The  complete  house  is  an 
early  example  of  the  Kentish  type  of  sunken  central  bay,  as 
already  described  (p.  ^6),  of  which  the  upper  storey  projects 
considerably  beyond  the  lower.     The  upright  timbers  placed 


BRICK    AND     FLINT    COTTAGES,    READING    STREET,     KENT 


close  together  again  point  to  an  early  date,  and  it  will  be 
noticed  that  the  interstices  are  filled  in  with  thin  bricks  or 
tiles  arranged  in  herring-bone  fashion,  like  the  stones  of 
Saxon  buildings.'  There  is  a  cottage  at  Lyme  Regis  where 
this  arrangement  is  seen,  and  in  Kent  there  are  numerous 
instances  of  this  pleasing  variety.  The  grey  oak  and  the 
red    brick    harmonise    well    together.      Flint    and    stone    in 

1    Herring-bone   work   was  formerly   considered  a   characteristic   of  Saxon 
architecture,  but  it  can  be  seen  also  in  Norman  walls. 

-.8 


^^^H  I 


MANSELL    LACY,     HEREFORDSHIRE 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

It- 
chequered  squares  are  not  uncommon  in  the  latter  county. 
The  panelled  window  in  the  upper  storey  of  the  Newport 
cottage  retains  some  Gothic  features,  and  beneath  it  there 
is  a  curious  carving  of  a  king  and  queen  sitting  and  startled 
by  the  strains  of  a  celestial  choir.  One  angel  is  playing  on 
a  harp  and  the  other  apparently  on  an  organ. 

Another  fine  Kentish  example  is  shown,  a  cottage,  now  an 
inn,  at  Poundsbridge  (p.  54).  The  initials  of  the  builder 
are  recorded,  and  also,  happily,  the  date  of  its  construction, 
1593.  It  is  an  excellent  example  of  a  half-timbered  house.  The 
cottage  at  Great  Chesterford  (p.  ^  ^)  is  remarkable  for  the  elabo- 
rate decoration  of  the  plaster  which  was  accomplished  in  1692, 
and  is  probably  later  than  the  house  itself.  This  ornamentation 
is  called  Pargetting,  to  which  we  shall  refer  again  presently. 

The  appearance  of  our  cottages  has  been  much  altered 
since  they  left  the  hands  of  the  sixteenth-century  craftsman. 
One  peculiarity  of  the  oak  timbers  is  that  they  often  shrink. 
Hence  the  joints  came  apart,  and  being  exposed  to  the 
weather  became  decayed.  In  consequence  of  this  the  build- 
ings settled,  and  new  methods  had  to  be  devised  in  order 
to  make  them  weatherproof.  In  order  to  keep  out  the  rain 
the  villagers  sometimes,  especially  in  Surrey,  hung  the  walls 
with  tiles  which  have  various  shapes,  a  common  one  being 
semicircular.  Artists  love  to  depict  these  tile-hung  houses, 
to  which  age  imparts  a  beautiful  colour.  Other  methods  for 
preserving  these  timber-framed  cottages  were  to  cover  them 
with  deal  boarding  or  to  plaster  the  walls.  Hence  beneath 
an  outer  coating  of  tile  or  plaster  or  boards  there  remains 
an  old  timber-framed  house,  the  construction  of  which  we 
have  tried  to  describe. 

The  mortar  used  in  these  old  buildinofs  is  very  stronor  and 
good.      An  old  poet  tells  of 

The  morter  is  maked  so  well, 
So  mai  no  man  hit  brcke 
Wiz  no  stele. 
60 


-^^.'^Vvv 


"^ 


^-*i^ 


■ri 


/ 


ARROTS    MORTON,    WORCESTERSHIRE 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

In  order  to  strengthen  the  mortar  used  in  old  Sussex  and 
Surrey  houses  and  elsewhere,  the  process  of  "  galleting  "  or 
"garneting"  was  adopted.  The  bricklayers  used  to  decorate 
the  rather  wide  or  uneven  mortar  joint  with  small  pieces  of 
black  ironstone   stuck  into  the  mortar.     "Galleting"  dates 


HINXTON,    CAMBRIDGESHIRE 


back  to  Jacobean  times,  and  is  not  to  be  found  in  sixteenth- 
century  work. 

There  is  often  a  great  variety  of  walling  in  the  southern 
counties.  Stone  is  combined  with  brick  and  brick  with  flint 
in  a  remarkable  manner.  Examples  of  this  are  shown  in 
our  illustrations  (p.  57),  noticed  by  our  artist  in  Hants  and 
Dorset.  At  Binscombe  there  are  cottages  built  of  rough 
Bargate  stone  with  brick  dressings.     In  the  neighbourhood  of 

62 


COTTAGE    ARCHITECTURE 

Petworth  you  will  see  brick  used  for  the  label-mouldings  and 
strings  and  arches,  while  the  walls  and  mullions  and  door- 
ways are  constructed  of  stone.  Our  artist  has  sketched 
some  remarkable  examples  of  brick  and  flint  cottages  at 
Reading  Street,  Kent  (p.  58). 


r^-r. 


COTTAGE     TORCH,    UPTON    SNODSBURY,    WORCESTERSHIRE 


Sussex  houses  are  often  whitewashed  and  have  thatched 
roofs,  but  sometimes  Horsham  stone  is  used.  This  stone 
easily  flakes  into  plates  like  thick  slates,  and  forms  large  grey 
flat  slabs  on  which  "the  weather  works  like  a  great  artist  in 
harmonies  of  moss,  lichen,  and  stain.  No  roofing  so  com- 
bines dignity  and  homeliness,  and  no  roofing,  except  possibly 
thatch  (which,  however,  is  short-lived),  so  surely  passes  into 

65 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 


the  landscape."'  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  stone  is  no 
longer  used  for  rooting-.  The  slabs  are  somewhat  thick  and 
heavy,  und  modern  rafters  are  not  adapted  to  bear  their 
weight.  If  you  want  to  have  a  roof  of  Horsham  stone,  you 
can  only  accomplish  your  purpose  by  pulling  down  an  old 
house  and  carrying  off  the  slabs.  Perhaps  the  small  Cotswold 
stone  slabs  are  even  more  beautiful.    Like  the  Sussex  stones, 


S  -c.  J 


COTTAGE    AT    BEAU  LIEU,    HANTS 


these  "  Stonesfield  slates,"  as  they  are  called,  have  un- 
fortunately fallen  into  disuse  for  new  buildings,  but  a  praise- 
worthy effort  is  now  being  made  to  quarry  them,  and 
again  render  them  available  for  building  purposes.  Old 
Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  cottages  have  heavy  stone  roofs 
which  somewhat  resemble  those  fashioned  with  Horsham 
slabs. 

Very    lovely  are    these    country    cottages  ;    peaceful,   pic- 

^  Hig/Kvays  aitd  Byzvays  in  Sussex,  by  E.  V.  Lucas. 
64 


COTTAGE    ARCHITECTURE 

turesque,  pleasant,  with  their  graceful  gables  and  jutting 
eaves,  altogether  delightful.  What  could  be  more  charming 
than  that  view  of  a  group  of  cottages  at  Mansell  Lacy, 
Herefordshire  (p.  59),  in  its  framework  of  dark  trees,  or 
the   old  half-timbered  house  at  Abbots   Morton,  Worcester- 


•""-^ 


MARSTON    SICCA,    GLOUCESTERSHIRE 


shire  (p.  61).  Even  the  flat,  monotonous  country  of  Cam- 
bridgeshire is  relieved  by  picturesque  humble  dwellings  such 
as  those  drawn  by  our  artist  at  Hinxton  (p.  62). 

We  have  seen  several  examples  of  tiled  roofs.  An  old 
English  red-tiled  roof,  when  it  has  become  mellowed  by  age 
with  moss  and  lichen  growing  upon  it,  is  one  ot  the  great 
charms  of  an  English  landscape. 

Nothing  shows  better  the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  the  old 
builders  than  the  means  they  adopted  to  overcome  peculiar 

F  65 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

difficulties.  The  roofs  ot  cottages  usually  slope  steeply  in 
order  that  the  rain  may  flow  off  easily.  But  these  Sussex 
masons  found  that  the  heavy  Horsham  slates  strained  and 
dragged  at  the  pegs  and  laths,  and  fell  and  injured  the  roof. 
So  they  decreased  the  slope  of  the  roof,  and  the  difficulty 
was  obviated.     However,  as  the  rain  did  not  flow  off  very 


COTTAGES    AT    GREAT    TEW,    OXON 


well,  they  were  obliged  to  use  cement  and  stop  with 
mortar. 

There  is  a  great  variety  in  old  ridge-tiling,  but  the 
humbler  abodes  usually  have  simple  bent  tiles  or  the  plain 
half-round  as  a  finish  to  the  roof. 

The  ends  of  the  gables  are  often  adorned  with  barge- 
boards.  A  simple  but  effective  example  is  shown  in  the 
illustration  of  the  cottage  porch  at  Upton  Snodsbury,  in 
Worcestershire,  on  page  62.    Early  examples  have  their  edges 

66 


COTTAGE   ARCHITECTURE 

cut  into  cusps,  or  pierced  with  tracery  in  the  form  of  trefoils 
or  quatrefoils.  In  Jacobean  times  the  builders  placed  a  finial 
at  the  ridge  and  pendants  at  the  eaves,  and  the  perforated 
designs  were  more  fantastic.    Even  poor-looking  houses  have 


^1^^ 


£-1?/    ^ 


THATCHING    AT    CODFORD    ST.     PETER,    WILTSHIRE 


elaborately  carved  or  moulded  bargeboards.  In  old  houses 
the  bargeboards  project  about  a  foot  from  the  surface  of  the 
wall.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  when  weather-tiling  was 
introduced,  the  distances  between  the  wall  and  the  barge- 
boards was  diminished,  and  ultimately  they  were  placed  flush 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

with  it.     Elaborately  carved  boards  were  discarded,  and  the 
ends  of  the  gables  moulded. 

The  most  picturesque  mode  of  roofing  is  thatch,  and  its 
glories  and  beauties  have  often  been  sung  by  poets  and 
depicted  by  artists.  It  is  charming  in  its  youth,  maturity, 
and  decay.    Thatch  is  not  so  usual  as  it  was  formerly.    Good 


CALBOURNE,    ISLE    OF    WIGHT 


Straw  is  not  so  plentiful.  Farmers  grow  less  corn,  and  the 
straw  broken  by  thrashing  machines  is  not  so  good  tor 
thatching  as  that  thrashed  by  the  flail.  The  skill  of  the  old 
thatcher  produced  most  artistic  effects.  The  author  of  an 
article  on  the  "Old  Thatched  Rectory"  bids  us  to 

"  notice  the  exquisitely  neat  finish  of  the  roof-ridge,  the 
most  critical  point  of  the  whole  :  the  geometrical  patterns 
formed  by  the  spars  just  below,  which  help,  by  their  grip,  to 
hold  it  in  its  place  for  years  :   the  faultless  symmetry  of  the 

68 


COTTAGE    ARCHITECTURE 


slopes,  the  clean-cut  edges,  the  gentle  curves  of  the  upper 
windows  which  rise  above  the  'plate'  ;  and,  better  still,  the 
embrace  which,  as  with  the  encircling  arms  of  a  mother, 
it  gives  to  the  deep-planted,  half-hidden  dormer  window 
in  the  middle  /f  the  roof,  nestling  lovingly  within  it,  and  by- 
its  very  look  inviting  to 
peacefulness  and  repose. 
Noie,  too,  the  change  of 
colouring  in  the  work  as 
time  goes  on  ;  the  rich  sun- 
set tint,  beautiful  as  the  locks 
of  Ceres,  when  the  work  is 
just  completed  ;  the  warm 
brown  ot  the  succeeding 
years  ;  the  emerald  green, 
the  symptom  of  advancing 
age,  when  lichens  and  moss 
have  begun  to  gather  thick 
upon  it  ;  and  '  last  scene  of 
all,  which  ends'  its  quiet,  un- 
eventful history,  when  winds 
and  rain  have  done  their 
work  upon  it,  the  rounded 
meandering  ridges,  and  the 
sinuous  deep -cut  furrows, 
which,  like  the  waters  of  a 
troubled  sea,  ruffle  its  once 
smooth  surface."^ 


The  varied  beauties  of 
thatch  are  well  seen  in  the 
illustrations.  Noticethe  lovely 
cottage   at   Beaulieu  (p.    64), 

with  its  thatch  encirclins:  the  little  dormer  windows  and  the 
beautiful  curves  of  the  roof.  The  humbler  dwelling  at 
Marston  Sicca  (p.  65)  has  a  finely  wrought  thatch  ingeniously 
extended  to  embrace  the  shed.      Great  Tew  has  the  credit  of 

'    "The   Old   Thatched    Rectory  and   its   Birds"  {N'uirtrrnth   Cenfury),   by 
R.  Bosworth  Smith. 

69 


CAVENDISH,    SUFFOLK 


COTTAGE   ARCHITECTURE 

being  one  of  the  prettiest  villages  in  England.  It  lies  amongst 
the  steep,  well-timbered  hills  in  Mid-Oxfordshire.  All  the 
cottages  are  built  of  a  local  stone,  which  has  turned  to  a  grey 
yellow  or  rich  ochre,  and  are  either  steeply  thatched  or  roofed 
with  thinnish  slabs  of  the  same  yellowish  grey  stone,  about  the 
size  of  slates,  and  called  by  the  vulgar  "slats."  The  illustra- 
tion (p.  66)  shows  some  of  these  delightful  dwellings.  The 
diamond-paned  windows  have  stone  muUions  with  drip-stones 
over  them,  and  over  the  doors  are  stone  cornices  with  span- 
drels. No  one  cottage  repeats  another.  There  is  no  slate  or 
red  brick  in  the  village.  Honeysuckle,  roses,  clematis,  ivy, 
japonica  beautify  the  cottage  walls,  in  front  of  which  are 
bright,  well-kept  gardens  behind  trim  hedges.  The  old 
stocks  still  stand  on  the  village  green,  as  they  stood  when 
Lord  Falkland  rode  from  his  home  here  to  fight  for  King 
Charles  and  die  at  the  battle  of  Newbury. 

Other  examples  of  thatched  cottages  are  shown  :  a  grace- 
fully shaped  thatch  at  Codford  St.  Peter  (p.  67),  a  street  of 
Isle  of  Wight  cottages  at  Calbourne  (p.  68),  and  the  charming 
little  dormer  window  of  a  cottage  at  Cavendish,  Suffolk  (p.  69). 

Burwash  is  a  pretty  Sussex  village  in  a  region  famous 
for  good  cottages.  It  has  memories  of  smugglers,  of  a 
genial  rector  who  wrote  a  book  about  Sussex  folk  and 
Sussex,  and  of  a  learned  poetical  curate  who  became  Pro- 
fessor ot  Poetry  at  Oxford.  Our  artist  has  given  us  a  sketch 
of  the  village  street  with  its  broach-spired  church.  The 
house  on  the  right  is  superior  to  the  others,  and  possesses 
the  appearance  of  a  Queen  Anne  building.  It  was  built 
in  1699,  '^''^'^  has  inside  some  fine  plaster-work,  with  grace- 
fully modelled  birds,  over  the  staircase. 


71 


DETAILS,    DECORATION,    AND    INTERIORS 
OF    COTTAGES 

THERE    is    much    else    that    may  he    noted    in    the 
details  of  cottage  architecture  which  deserves  to 
be  recorded.     Our  village  builders  were  not  con- 
tent to  leave  the  humble  dwellings  bare  and  un- 
ci 

adorned,  but  loved  to  add  to  them  ornamental  details  such 
as  their  good  taste  suggested.  This  is  especially  noticeable 
in  the  decoration  of  the  plaster-covered  panels  framed  by 
the  timbers  that  formed  the  framework  of  their  houses. 
The  men  of  the  seventeenth  century  set  themselves  to 
embellish  that  which  we  moderns  are  content  to  leave  per- 
fectly blank.  Pargetted  work  and  plaster  work  are  especial 
features  of  timber-framed  houses.  The  usual  method  was 
to  press  the  plaster  into  a  concave  mould  and  then  transfer 
it  to  the  plastered  surface  when  still  moist.  Our  artist  has 
made  some  sketches  of  these  external  plaster  details  taken 
from  houses  in  Hertfordshire,  Essex,  and  Suffolk.  It  is  well 
that  all  such  pargetting  work  should  be  carefully  drawn  and 
recorded,  as  much  of  it  is  fast  perishing  or  being  destroyed. 
Some  simple  examples  found  in  Berkshire  are  shown  (p.  75). 
These  consist  simply  of  straight  or  circular  lines,  and  no 
pressing  frame  or  special  apparatus  was  required  for  their  pro- 
duction ;  but  the  effect  is  produced  by  the  contrast  of  rough- 
cast and  smooth  plaster,  and  shows  the  pride  which  the 
builders  took  in  their  work  and  their  endeavour  with 
ordinary  tools  to  produce  somic  attempt  at  ornamentation. 
They  loved  also   to   stamp  their  work  with   their  initials, 

72 


i>»>>. 


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2' A" 


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EXTERNAL    PLASTER     DETAILS    (pARGETTING)    FROM     HERTS, 
ESSEX,    AND     SUFFOLK 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 


and  very  many  houses  have  carved  in  stone  the  date  of  their 
construction    and    the    initial    letters    of   the    names   of  the 

builders.  Heraldic  arms  also  are 
sculptured  on  the  fine  stone  buildings 
in  the  regions  of  good  quarries,  and  we 
give  an  illustration  of  a  good  coat-of- 
arms  found  on  a  house  at  Winch- 
combe,  whence  the  famous  "Jack 
of  Newbury,"  the  rich  clothier  of 
Henry  VII  I's  time,  derived  his 
family  name.  Over  the  door  of  a 
substantial  house  at  Stanton-in-the- 
Peak,  Derbyshire,  we  see  the  initials  "  E.  G.  L."  with  the  date 
1664  (p.  76).  It  is  a  fine  door  worthy  of  a  mansion,  with  its 
flight  of  steps  and  handsome  tympanum 
and  hood-moulding.  There  is  much 
dignity  and  solid  work  about  many  of 
these  cottage  doors.  They  retain  the 
Gothic  spirit,  with  their  Tudor  arches 
and  Perpendicular  hood-moulding.  Possi- 
bly the  doorways  at  Croscombe  (p.  77)  and 
Marston  Magna,  Somerset  (p.  79,  formerly  a  window)  are 
early  sixteenth-century  work,  and  belong  to  buildings  which 

have  seen  better  days. 

Cottage  doors  are  always  open 
and  invite  us  to  enter.  We  may 
still  see  ingle-nooks  and  open  fire- 
places. Our  artist  has  discovered  some 
charming  examples  of  these  attrac- 
tive features.  That  one  at  Garnacott,  near  Bideford  (p.  78),  is 
very  characteristic  with  its  cauldron  and  kettle  and  dogs. 
A  beam  runs  along  the  top  of  the  fire-place,  stretching  across 
the  opening  from  which  a  short  curtain  hangs.  This  repre- 
sents the  typical  kind  of  cottage  fire-place  which  is  already 
rare  and  is  rapidly  becoming  extinct,  for  though  picturesque, 

74 


DETAILS,    DECORATION    AND    INTERIORS 

it  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  modern  housewife,  who 
greatly  prefers  the  iron  "kitchener"  or  range  for  her  cook- 
ing. This  example  shows  the  old  cloth  above  the  mantel- 
piece, and  the  seat  and  rush-bottomed  chair  in  harmony  with 
the  rest  of  the  fittings.  Above  this  is  a  shelf  blackened  by 
the  smoke  of  ages  whereon  some  of  the  cottager's  treasures 
repose,  kettles  and  cooking-pots,  and  possibly  modern  nick- 
nacks,  cups  bearing  inscriptions  "  A  Present  from  Brighton  " 


;-|^  "^^B  '\^  m  l^  lM  i^'  '  ' 


3-.  V^ 


'    ^ 

1 

-4. 

ifli 

PARGETTING     IN     BERKSHIRE 


or  "For  a  Good  Girl,"  in  conjunction  with  impossible  milk- 
maids, shepherds,  and  shepherdesses,  and  dogs  and  cats  with 
great  staring  eyes,  and  miniature  dolls'  houses,  and  mugs 
and  pigs  of  divers  patterns.  The  window  at  the  back  of 
the  fire-place  is  curious,  and  is  occasionally  found  opening 
out  of  the  ingle-nook.  Frequently  these  old  fire-places 
communicate  with  a  small  oven  built  out  from  the  house. 
This  is  often  semicircular  and  ingeniously  roofed  with  tiles 
or  slates.      It  was  a  custom  almost  universal  in  former  times 


75 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

for  the  cottagers  to  bake  their  own  bread,  and  it  is  still 
practised  in  remote  districts,  such  as  Shropshire  and  in  the 
Welsh  hills,  where  even  modern  cottages  are  sometimes 
built  with  ovens. 


"A*"^  ' 


jT  ^' 


STANTON-IN-THE-PEAK,     DERBYSHIRE 


Miss  Jekyll  has  made  a  wonderful  collection  of  objects 
discovered  in  country  cottages  in  West  Surrey,  and  has 
presented  them  to  the  museum  of  the  local  archaeological 
society  at  Guildford.  Her  book  Old  fVest  Surrey  is  a  faithful 
and   valuable  guide    to   the    contents   of  cottages.      She   has 

-6 


DETAILS,    DECORATION    AND    INTERIORS 

found     cooking     implements  •".  -- 

pierced    with    crosses,    which     js 


probably  came  from  some  / 
monastic  house,  and  count- 
less objects  far  too  numerous 
to  mention.  Our  illustration 
of  the  Marston  Magna  ingle- 
nook  (p.  80)  shows  a  good 
specimen  of  the  chimney- 
crane  and  hanger,  which  ex- 
hibit the  splendid  work  of 
the  local  blacksmith.  The 
crane  turns  on  its  pivot.  The 
hanger  moves  along  the  top 
bar  of  the  crane,  and  can  be 
raised    or    lowered,    and    on 

1         ,  1  1        .1  COTTAGE     DOORWAY,    CROSCOMBE, 

its  hook   rests   the   kettle  or  ' 

SOMERSET 

cooking-pot.       One     of    our 

illustrations  reveals  the  primitive  method 
of  illumination,  the  rushlight,  which  was 
used  lonor  after  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Rushes  were  peeled  and  then 
drawn  through  melted  grease,  and  then  left 
to  dry.  The  rushlight  holders  have  a 
movable  jaw  at  the  top  and  a  fixed  one. 
The  movable  jaw  has  a  knob  at  the  end. 
In  one  of  the  illustrations  given  this 
knob  has  been  converted  into  a  candle- 
'  socket.  Many  are  the  other  curious  im- 
plements which  old  cottages  disclose. 

We  glance  at  a  delightful  window  in 
the  quaint  old  town  of  Burford  (p.  81).     I 
dare  not  call  it  a  village,  though  it  is  but 
a  small  place  ;  but  it  has  had  a  great  his- 
RusHLiGHT  HOLDERS    tory,  and  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque 

11 


COTTAGE    FIRE-PLACE,    GARNACOTT    (nEAR     BIDEFORD),    NORTH     DEVON 


DETAILS,    DECORATION    AND    INTERIORS 


and  interesting  little  towns  in  England.  That  "windowed 
niche"  looks  very  attractive  with  its  muUions  set  in  a 
curved  bay.  Not  less  lovely  is  the 
cottage  window  at  Spratton,  North-  J^Jf^- 
ants  (p.  82),  viewed  from  outside,  "^j 
adorned  with  comely  creepers,  stone  ; 
mullions,  and  diamond  panes  ;  and 
there  is  an  interesting  cottage  window 
at  Sutton  Courtney,  Berkshire  (p.  82), 
which  is  of  a  classical  Renaissance 
character,  and  makes  us  wonder  how 
it  managed  to  get  into  this  rather  re- 
mote Berkshire  village. 

A  great  deal  may  be  said  about 
farm-house  and  cottage  chimneys, 
their  construction  and  development. 
An  immense  amount  of  ingenuity 
was  exercised  in  their  construction. 
In  the  older  houses  there  is  often  a  ^ 

COTTAGE    DOORWAY,  MARS- 

great   central   chimney,   and    all    the     ^on   magna,  somerset 

flues   are    placed    together,   crowned 

by  the  shafts.  A  good  example  is  shown  on  page  69.  The 
builders  did  not  aim  at  utility  alone, 
but  strove  to  add  beauty  and  diversity 
by  using  moulded  bricks,  numerous 
angles  and  projecting  courses.  The 
thinness  ot  the  old  bricks  and  the 
thickness  of  the  mortar  assisted  them  in 
producing  a  picturesque  effect. 

The  most  common  form  of  cottage 
chimney  is  that  which  is  placed  at  the 
end  or  side  of  a  house,  and  is  usually  a 
large  structure.  If  the  broad  part 
reaches  above  the  height  of  the  ceiling 

of  the    ground    floor   you   will    probably   find   a   bacon-loft, 

79 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

wherein  some  sides  of  bacon  are  being  smoked.  The 
chimney,  beginning  with  its  straight  upright  base,  has 
a   steep   slope,   sometimes  covered   with    tiles,   then   another 

/.  -.  -      - 


MARSTON     MAGNA,    SOMERSET 


straight  piece,  then  an  arrangement  of  brick  steps,  repeated 
again  until  the  chimney  is  ready  for  its  shaft  with  its  pro- 
jecting courses,  and  finished  with  a  comely 
pot,  or  a  "bonnet"  fashioned  ot  red  tiles. 
Great  pains  was  often  taken  to  adorn  the 
|\  head,  and  the  effect  is  wonderfully  fine,  the 
p-^  means  employed  natural  and  simple  and 
unaffected. 

A  coTSWOLD  The   illustration  (p.   79)  shows  the  stack 

GABLE   FiNiAL      of  a   Cotswold   cottage    retaining    traces   of 

80 


DETAILS,    DECORATION   AND    INTERIORS 

Gothic   influence.      It   has   an    octagonal    shaft    pierced    with 
quatrefoil   openings   and   the  remains   ot   a  pyramidal   roof. 


— ^^"^^  .4 


A    COTTAGE    WINDOW,     BURFORD,    OXON 


The   chimney  cornices  in   the  Cotswolds  often    have  elabo- 
rately decorated    architrave  and    frieze,  enriched   with    sunk 
patterns,  raised  diamonds  or 
The 


^,   other    devices. 


w 


hole 


district   abounds    with    grand 
stone-built   houses,   beautiful 
types  of  building,  simple  yet 
strong,  which    owe   their  origin    to    the    wealth 

G  8l 


..- ■■ 

M'' 

i  WE 

\  I7I0 ; 

i 

THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 


and  skill  of  the  great 
clothiers  and  woolmen 
who  flourished  here  in 
olden  days.  We  admire 
§  '_  their  fine  stone  porches 
~"         and    tour-centred    arched 


^11*%. 


c^ 


A    COTTAGE    WINDOW,    SPRATTON, 
NORTHANTS 


doorways,  the  curious  and 
splendidly  wrought  iron- 
work of  hinge  and  latch, 
handle  and  casement- 
fasteners,  the  mullioned 
bay  and  oriel  windows 
with  their  lead  lattice 
glazinof  and  diamond 
panes,  the  decorated 
gables,    and    many    other 

attractive  features.    A  whole  chapter  would  not  record  all  their 

beauties,  and  the  reader 

who     seeks     additional 

information  is  referred 

to     Mr.    Dawber     and 

Mr.    Davie's    book    on 

the  OM  Cof/cjges,  Farm- 
houses^   and   other    Stone 

Buildings  in  the  Cotswohi 

District^  wherein  he  will 

find  all  that  he  needs. 
We     have     ling-ered 

perhaps  too   long  amid 

the  cottages,  and  must 

now  pass  on  to  observe 


other    interesting    fea- 
tures  of  our  village. 


A    COTTAGE    WINDOW,   SUTTON    COURTNEY, 
BERKSHIRE 


VI 
VILLAGE    GARDENS 

WE  have  some  noble  gardens  in  our  village. 
The  squire's  garden  was  once  visited  by  that 
great  garden-lover,  John  Evelyn,  who  states 
that  "  the  .o-ardens  and  waters  are  as  elegant 
as  'tis  possible  to  make  a  flat  by  art  and  Industrie  and  no 
meane  expense,  my  Lady  being  extraordinarily  skill'd  in  the 
flowery  part,  and  my  Lord  in  diligence  of  planting."  He 
praises  the  delicious  and  rare  Iruit,  the  flne  timber,  and  goes 
on  to  tell  of  the  o-arden  "  so  beset  with  all  manner  of  sweete 
shrubbs  that  it  perfumes  the  aire.  The  distribution  also 
of  the  quarters,  walks,  and  parterres  is  excellent  ;  the  nur- 
series, kitchen-garden  full  of  the  most  desirable  plants  ;  two 
very  noble  orangeries,  well  furnished,  but  above  all  the 
canall  and  fish  ponds  ...  in  a  word  all  that  can  make  a 
country  seate  delightful."  Happily  this  beautiful  garden  has 
escaped  the  devastation  of  such  wretches  as  Capability  Brown, 
Kent,  and  such  desecrators,  who  in  cultivating  the  taste 
of  landscape  gardening  destroyed  more  than  half  the  old 
gardens  in  England,  and  scarcely  left  us  a  decent  hedge 
or  sheltered  walk  to  protect  us  from  the  east  winds. 

The  old  rectory  garden  is  worth  visiting,  with  its  fine 
terrace,  and  paths  sheltered  with  high  and  thick  box  hedges, 
herbaceous  borders,  and  old  trees.  Utility  mingles  itself 
with  beauty,  and  the  kitchen-garden  blends  itself  with  the 
flower-beds  wherein  many  old  English  plants  find  a  home. 
The  grouping  for  colour  cflx:ct  is  especially  noticeable  in   this 

83 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

moderately  sized  garden,  which  tells  that  the  rector  or  his 
lady  are  not  unskilled  in  floriculture. 

But  the  cottage  gardens  constitute  one  of  the  chief  charms 
of  the  village.  They  show  what  wonderful  results  can  be 
obtained  on  a  small  plot  of  ground  with  simple  flowers.  It 
was  Charles  Dickens  who  said  that  "  in  the  culture  of  flowers 
there  cannot,  by  their  nature,  be  anything  solitary  or  ex- 
clusive. The  wind  that  blows  over  the  cottage  porch  sweeps 
over  the  garden  of  the  nobleman,  and  as  the  rain  descends  on 
the  just  and  on  the  unjust,  so  it  communicates  to  all  gardens, 
both  rich  and  poor,  an  interchange  of  pleasure  and  enjoy- 
ment." 

Poets  in  many  ages  have  sung  sweetly  of  the  beauty  of 
our  cottage  gardens,  and  none  more  sweetly  than  the  late 
Poet  Laureate,  who  tells  their  praises  thus  :  — 

One  look'd  all  rose  tree,  and  another  wore 

A  close-set  robe  of  jasmine  sown  with  stars  ; 

This  had  a  rosy  sea  of  gilliflowers 

About  it ;  this  a  milky  way  on  earth, 

Like  visions  in  the  Northern  Dreamer's  heavens, 

A  lily  avenue  climbing  to  the  doors  ; 

One,  almost  to  the  martin-haunted  eaves, 

A  summer  burial  deep  in  hollyhocks  ; 

Each  its  own  charm. 

When  we  return  from  visiting  other  lands,  we  notice  with 
gratified  eyes  these  wayside  homely  gardens,  which  are 
peculiarly  English.  Englishmen  have  always  loved  their 
gardens,  and  all  classes  share  in  this  affection.  It  is  not 
so  with  other  European  nations.  You  do  not  find  abroad 
those  flowers  in  cottage  windows  cherished  so  carefully 
through  the  winter  months  ;  you  do  not  see  the  thrifty 
Frenchman  or  German  stealing  from  his  potato  ground  or 
onion  bed  a  nice  broad  space  for  the  cultivation  of  flowers. 
Whereas  in  England  you  will  scarcely  find  a  cottage  garden 
that   is   not   gay   and  bright   with   beautiful   flowers,   or  the 

84 


VI  --"        ' 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 


poorest  labourer,  however  large   his   tamily  may  be,  willing 
to  sacrifice  the  plants  in  which  he  takes  so  great  a  pride. 

At  all  seasons  of  the  year  these  cottage  gardens  look 
beautiful.  Snowdrops  and  crocuses  seem  to  rear  their  heads 
earlier  in  the  springtime  in  their  village  plots  than  in  the 
gardens  of  the  great.      Yellow  and  purple  crocuses  are  there, 

and  then  a  little  later  dog- 
tooth, white  and  purple 
violets,  and  yellow  daffo- 
dils. My  villagers  have 
given  me  bunches  ot  vio- 
lets  long  before  they  grew 
in  the  rectory  garden,  save 
those  Neapolitan  ones  that 
flourish  in  a  frame.  Prim- 
roses transplanted  from  the 
neiorhbourino[  woods  are  not 
despised.  A  few  stray 
tulips  begin  to  show  them- 
selves, immensely  prized 
by  the  cottager,  and  soon 
the  wallflowers  are  in  bloom 
filling  the  air  with  beauti- 
ful scent,  and  forget-me- 
nots  reflect  the  blueness 
of  the  sky.  Villagers  love 
the  simple  polyanthus,  and 
soon  on  the  wall  of  the  cottage  is  seen  the  red  japonica 
in  full  flower.  Then  the  roses  come  into  bloom,  and  many 
a  cottage  can  boast  of  its  fine  Gloire  de  Dijon  or  Marechal 
Niel  or  strong-growing  crimson  rambler.  Clematis  plants 
of  various  hues  are  seen  on  many  a  cottage  wall,  and 
ivy  "  that  creepeth  o'er  ruins  old"  loves  to  cling  to  rustic 
dwelling-places,  and  sometimes  clothes  walls  and  thatch  and 
chimney  with  its  dark  green  leaves.      The  honeysuckle  is  a 

86 


A    GARDEN    ENTRANCE,    CHALE- 
GREEN,    ISLE    OF    WIGHT 


VILLAGE    GARDENS 

favourite  plant  for  climbing  purposes.  It  covers  the  porch 
and  sheds  its  rich  perfume  around,  nor  in  the  warmer  parts 
of  England  is  the  vine  unknown. 

The     southern     counties     of    England     afford    the    most 
luxuriant  examples   of  cottage   gardens   which   form   a  con- 


^N^"V^V-.-~~-~-.y- ^-.•v^,^^^  , 


COTTAGE    GARDEN     ENTRANCE,    STRETTON     SUGWAS,     HEREFORDSHIRE 


spicuous  charm  of  our  villages.  Our  artist  discovered  a 
delightful  old  garden  at  Trent,  Dorset  (p.  85),  wherein  count- 
less flowers  have  found  a  home  and  give  a  glowing  patch  of 
colour  to  the  landscape.  The  Isle  of  Wight  with  its  warm 
climate  abounds  in  beautiful  gardens.  The  illustration  of  a 
garden  entrance  at  Chalegreen  looks  inviting,  and  we  should 
like  to  mount  the  steps  shaded  by  luxuriant  yew  and  see  all 
that  lies  beyond.    We  know  of  another  beautiful  little  garden 

87 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

at  Shalfleet  in  the  island,  where  there  is  a  charming  well- 
trimmed  edging  of  box  which  surrounds  a  little  path  and 
central  bed,  wherein  stocks  and  a  carefully  tended  standard  rose 
raises  its  beautiful  head.     Cottage  garden  paths  are  usually 


SOUTH    WARNBOROUGH,    HANTS 


made  of  gravel.  In  Sussex  they  are  paved  with  large  flat 
Horsham  slabs  of  stone.  Box-edgings  are  not  uncommon, 
than  which  nothing  can  be  more  handsome  or  suitable. 

Nor  are  the  flowers  confined  to  the  garden.  You  will 
scarcely  find  a  cottage  that  has  not  some  plants  in  the  window 
which  are  tended  with  the  greatest  care,  and  are  watered 
and    washed    so    religiously    that     they    flourish    famously. 

88 


^^)t^^¥^?;«f^ 


■"•7 


A    COTTAGE     ENTRANCE,    SULGRAVE,    NORTHANTS 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

The  favourite  flowers  for  window  gardens  are  geraniums, 
hydrangeas,  fuchsias,  an  occasional  cactus  or  begonia,  musk 
and  balsam,  and  many  others  which  obscure  the  light  of  day 
and  make  the  cottage  dark,  but  the  peasant  cares  not  for  that 
it  he  can  see  his  flowers. 

Old-fashioned  flowers  are  the  chief  charm  ot  the  cottage 
garden,  and  are  prized  by  the  true  garden-lover  far  higher 
than  bedding-out  plants  or  the  ordinary  annuals.  Nowhere 
do  they  flourish  better  than  in  the  peasant's  rustic  pleasure- 
ground.  As  the  summer  advances  we  see  the  lilacs  and 
laburnums,  sweet-williams  and  tall  white  Madonna  lilies, 
gillyflowers  and  love-lies-bleeding,  the  larkspur  and  the 
lupin,  pinks  and  carnations,  the  ever-constant  wallflowers, 
and  the  Canterbury  bells.  The  everlasting-pea  is  ever  wel- 
come in  its  cottage  home,  and  dahlias  are  greatly  prized,  not 
the  single  ones  so  much  as  the  old-fashioned,  tight-growing 
formal  kinds. 

Hardy  annuals  have  in  some  rural  gardens  ousted  the 
old-tashioned  flowers.  Nasturtiums  and  china-asters  and 
stocks  flourish  where  once  the  sweet-william  and  other 
herbaceous  plants  were  regarded  with  delight.  We  hope 
that  the  rustics  will  return  to  their  first  love,  and  cherish 
again  the  old  flowers  which  are  the  true  glory  of  a  rustic 
garden. 

Cottagers,  though  expert  gardeners,  are  very  often  puzzled 
by  the  foreign  names  assigned  to  flowers,  especially  to  roses, 
which  they  dearly  love,  and  which  are  the  chief  glory  of  our 
gardens  whether  they  be  large  or  small.  The  roses  them- 
selves would  scarcely  know  their  names  when  pronounced 
by  our  villagers,  so  strangely  transformed  and  Anglicised  are 
they.  Thus  the  villagers  twist  the  Gloire  de  Dijon  into 
"  Glory  to  thee  John,"  and  the  rose  named  after  the  great 
rose-grower.  Dean  Reynolds  Hole,  is  called  Reynard's  Hole. 
General  Jacqueminot  becomes  in  popular  nomenclature 
General    Jack-me-not,    and    the    bright    crimson    Geant   des 

90 


VILLAGE    GARDENS 

Batailles  becomes  Gent  of  Battles.  But  the  roses  bloom 
no  less  beautifully  on  account  ot  this  murdering  of  their 
names. 

The  old  favourite  roses  which  you  find   in   these  gardens 


'r_'>i-^^^ — 


.y.-fvvVMWSX**!*^'   .■.«t„^(l,' 


^.^.^^     ''i'^H.-va/\«    'X-i    /   . 


APPLETON,     BUCKS 


are  the  Sweetbriar,  the  Cabbage,  the  York  and  Lancaster, 
the  Moss,  the  old  White  Damask,  the  double  white,  brother 
of  the  pretty  pink  Maiden's  Blush.  But  some  cottagers  are 
more  ambitious,  and  obtain  cuttings  of  many  varieties  of 
modern  rose  trees,  and  hybrids  and  Teas  now  flourish  in 
the   peasant's  border  as   in    the   lord's   rosarium.     The  love 

91 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

of  this    flower    is    indeed   the   "one  touch   of  nature   which 
makes  the  whole  world  kin." 

Examples  of  the  formal  garden  may  be  seen  as  we  walk 
along  our  English  roads.  Box  trees  cut  into  fantastic  shapes 
and  clipped  yews  are  occasionally  met  with.  The  trees  are 
made  to  assume  the  appearance  of  peacocks  with  long  flow- 


miiBSIIf!itm»!{aw< 


CUT    HEDGE    AND    THATCHED    VERANDAH,    ACTON     TRUSSEL, 
STAFFORDSHIRE 


ing  tails  or  other  strange  shapes,  and  awkv/ard  figures  of 
men  and  animals.  Happily  the  fashion  of  clipping  and  hack- 
ing trees  is  not  universally  followed,  and  except  in  some 
districts  is  rare  in  cottage  gardens.  In  the  country  of  West 
Herefordshire  this  practice  is  common,  and  there  is  a  well- 
known  example  in  the  garden  of  the  cottage  just  outside 
Haddon    Hall.      In    the  view   of  a  cottage  garden  entrance 

92 


VILLAGE    GARDENS 

at   Stretton   Sugwas,   Herefordshire,  on    page    87,  we    see   a 
very  fierce  peacock  with  flowing  tail  endeavouring  to  reach 
across  the  path  to  peck  some  food  from  a  cylindrical-looking 
vessel  on  the  opposite  side.    The  trees  are  admirably  clipped. 
And  at  South  Warnborough,  Hants,  our  artist  has  discovered 
some    good    examples    of  fantastic    clipping    (p.    88).     The 
cottage  entrance  in  the  village  of  Sulgrave,  Northants  (p.  89), 
guarded  by  two  stately  cypresses,  is  very  imposing,  and  the 
raising  of  the  garden  above  the  road  with  the  flight  of  steps 
worthy  of  a  rustic  Haddon  Hall  romance  adds  to  the  effect. 
At  Appleton  the  cottage  entrance  is  overshadowed  by  two 
yew   trees  growing   into   one   large   mass   (p.  91),  a  curious 
example  of  differing  treatment  when  we  compare  it  with  the 
Northamptonshire  example.     A   third   example,  again   quite 
distinct  in  its  arrangement  and  yet  equally  attractive,  is  the 
pretty  cut  hedge  and  thatched  verandah   at  Acton  Trussel, 
Staffordshire,  in   which    the    space    under   the   sweeping   cut 
hedge  is  further  shaded  by  large  round  shrubs  ;  a  spot  very 
shady  in  summer  and  sheltered  in  winter. 

Here  is  a  description  of  a  Berkshire  village  garden  told 
by  one  who  knows  her  county  well  and  the  quaint  ways  of 
her  rural  neighbours.      She  tells  ot  the  glories  of 

"  the  Red  House  which  gained  its  title  in  its  youth.  A 
century  of  wear  and  weather  has  toned  the  bricks  until  they 
look  almost  colourless  by  contrast  with  the  rich,  crimson 
flowers  of  the  pyrus  japonica  that  is  trained  beneath  the 
lower  windows.  The  upper  portion  of  the  walls  is  covered 
by  a  vine,  among  the  yellowing  leaves  of  which  hang,  during 
autumn,  tight  bunches  of  small  purple  grapes  that  supply 
the  wherewithal  for  grape  wine.  At  one  side  of  the  narrow, 
railed-in  space  separating  the  front  door  from  the  street, 
stands  an  old  pear  tree,  loaded  every  season  with  fruit  which, 
owing  to  its  '  iron  '  quality,  escapes  the  hands  of  boy- 
marauders.  The  little  spot  reflects  all  the  tints  of  the  rain- 
bow save  in  the  depth  of  winter.  The  first  buds  to  pierce 
the    brown    earth    and    brighten    its    dull    surface    are    such 

93 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

tender  blossoms  as  the  snowdrop,  hepatica,  and  winter 
aconite.  To  them  succeed  crocuses,  hyacinths,  tulips,  the 
scale  of  colour  mounting  ever  higher  as  the  season  advances, 
until  it  culminates  in  a  blaze  ot  scarlet,  blue,  and  yellow, 
that  to  be  fully  appreciated  should  flame  against  grey,  vener- 
able walls  or  light  up  the  dark  sweep  ot  some  cedar-studded 
lawn.  The  square  garden  behind  the  house  slopes  to  the 
brook  near  the  bridge,  and  is  shut  in  on  two  sides  by  high 
mud  walls  half  hidden  beneath  manes  of  ivy.  Along  the 
stream — bordered  just  there  by  willows — is  a  broad  band 
of  turf  flanked  by  nut  bushes  that  shelter  each  a  rustic  seat, 
and  sparkling  in  spring  with  clumps  of  daffodils  tossing  their 
heads  in  sprightly  dance.  When  the  sun  is  shining  through 
their  golden  petals  and  burnishing  the  surface  ot  the  water, 
when  it  is  brightening  the  pink  willow-buds  and  revealing 
unsuspected  tints  in  the  mossy  trunks  of  the  apple-trees 
beyond  the  brook,  that  little  strip  of  grass  is  a  joy,  the 
remembrance  of  which  abides  throughout  the  year,  until  the 
changing  months  make  it  once  again  something  more  than 
a  memory.' 

Cottage  gardens,  of  course,  combine  utility  with  beauty, 
and  are  sorely  missed,  when  our  rustics,  attracted  by  the 
glamour  ot  the  town,  desert  the  country  in  order  to  seek 
their  fortunes  in  the  busy  city.  The  loss  of  their  garden 
is  one  of  the  first  steps  in  their  rude  awakening.  Much 
else  might  be  written  about  the  attractions  ot  our  gardens, 
whether  large  or  small  ;  but  enough,  perhaps,  has  been  told 
of  their  beauties  and  perfections  which  form  so  characteristic 
and  charmino;  a  feature  of  Encjlish  village  life. 

1  This  garden  is  in  the  village  of  West  Hendred,  Berks,  and  is  described 
by  Miss  Hayden  in  her  book  Travels  Round  Our  Village. 


9+ 


A 


VII 

INNS,    SHOPS,    AND    MILLS 

N  important  house  in  every  village  is  the  inn — a 
hostel  such  as  Izaak  Walton  loved  to  sketch, 
"  an  honest  alehouse  where  we  shall  find  a  cleanly 
room,  lavender  in  the  windows,  and  twenty 
ballads  stuck  about  the  wall,  where  the  linen  looks  white  and 
smells  of  lavender,  and  a  hostess  cleanly,  handsome,  and 
civil."  Perhaps  our  village,  if  it  lies  along  one  ot  the  old 
coaching  roads,  has  more  than  one  such  hostelry,  and  the 
"Blue  Lion"  frowns  on  the  "Brown  Bull,"  anci  the  "Raven" 
croaks  at  the  "  Bell."  Once  they  were  large  and  flourishing 
inns,  but  their  glory  has  departed.  When  coaches  rattled 
through  the  village  these  inns  had  a  thriving  trade,  and 
imagination  pictures  to  our  minds  the  glowing  life  of  the 
coaching  age.  We  see  again  the  merry  coach  come  in,  the 
"  Mercury,"  or  the  "  Regulator,"  or  the  "  Lightning,"  ac- 
cording to  the  road  we  choose  or  the  ao;c  in  which  we  are 
pleased  to  travel.  We  see  the  strangely  mixed  company  that 
hangs  about  the  door,  the  poor  travellers  trying  to  thaw 
themselves  before  the  blazingf  hearth,  the  o;ood  cheer  that 
awaits  them  —  huo^e  rounds  of  beet,  monstrous  veal  pies, 
mighty  hams,  and  draughts  of  good  old  English  ale  brewed 
in  yon  ruined  brcwhouse,  and  burgundy  and  old  port.  The 
present  landlord  can  produce,  perhaps,  some  bread  and 
cheese  and  a  glass  of  ale  — that  is  all  ;  and  one  solitary  nag 
stands  in  the  stables  where  then   there  was  stablinor   for   fittv 

95 


INNS,    SHOPS,   AND    MILLS 

horses,  and  the  grass  grows  green  in  the  stable-yard,  and 
silence  reigns  in  the  deserted  chambers. 

But  even  in  their  decay  how  picturesque  these  old  inns 
are.  The  red-tiled  roof,  the  deep  bay  window,  the  swinging 
signboard,  the  huge  horse-trough,  the  pump  and  outdoor 
settle,  torm  a  picture  which  artists  love  to  sketch  ;  while 
within  the  old-fashioned  fire-place,  with  seats  on  each  side  in 
the  ingle-nook,  and  the  blazing  log  fire  in  the  dog-grate,  are 
cheering  sights  to  the  weary  traveller.  In  his  travels  in 
search  ot  the  picturesque  our  artist  has  found  many  such 
inns,  and  some  of  them  he  has  sketched.  There  is  the  fine 
old  inn  at  Deane,  Northants,  with  the  quaint  sign  the  "  Sea 
Horse."  What  the  sea-horse  is  doing  in  the  centre  of 
England  is  not  very  evident,  unless  heraldry  can  help  us  to 
a  conclusion.  The  old  house  at  Croscombe,  Somerset  (p.  98), 
was  formerly  the  First  and  Last  Inn,  a  coaching  hostel,  now 
no  longer  needed.  Its  every  detail  is  charming,  and  before 
it  races  the  water  over  a  fine  stone  mill-dam.  Two  charming 
interiors  our  artist  has  given  us,  the  Union  Inn  at  Flyford 
Flavel  (p.  99),  with  its  open  fire-place  into  which  a  mociern 
grate  has  been  inserted,  the  old-fashioned  settle  and  corre- 
sponding details  ;  and  the  kitchen  of  an  old  Bedfordshire 
inn  (p.  loi),  which  has  the  unusual  well  in  one  corner,  that 
has  not  yet  given  way  to  a  pump. 

The  signboard  that  swings  outside  the  inn  has  many 
stories  to  tell  as  it  creaks  in  the  wind.  Some  of  these  signs 
are  remarkable  for  the  exquisite  ironwork  that  supports  them 
and  tells  of  the  skill  of  the  villao^e  blacksmiths  of  former 
days.  The  man  who  forged  such  beautiful  specimens  ot 
ironwork  had  the  heart  and  mind  and  hand  of  the  true 
artist,  though  he  were  but  a  simple  village  blacksmith.  The 
signs,  too,  at  least  the  old  ones,  are  well  painted,  and  some 
are  constructed  of  carved  wood.  A  finely  carved  bunch 
ot  grapes,  of  eighteenth-century  work,  hangs  before  the 
Red  Lion  Inn  at  Milford,  Surrey,  and  a  study  ot  signs 
H  97 


AN    OLD     HOUSE    (FORMERLY    THE    FIRST    AND    LAST    INn) 
AND    MILL    DAM,    CROSCOMBE,    SOMERSET 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

shows  that  there  must  have  been  a  large  number  of  skilful 
carvers  of  this  bold  kind  of  work  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago.  They  had  plenty  of  opportunity  for  exercising 
their  art,  as  signs  were  not  confined  to  inns.  Unless  our 
artist  has  improved  the  swan  and  the  bull  (see  page  103),  the 
old  art  of  sign-painting  has  not  quite  disappeared.  There  is 
one  inn  in  England  which  can  boast  ot  a  signboard  painted  by 
two  Royal  Academicians,  the  "  St.  George  and  the  Dragon  " 
at  Wargrave.  Mr.  Leslie,  r.a.,  and  Mr.  Broughton,  r.a., 
used  to  stay  at  the  inn  sometimes  when  they  were  on  sketch- 
ing bent,  and  requited  the  landlord  for  his  attention  by 
repainting  his  sign.  St.  George  appears  on  one  side  regaling 
himself  with  a  tankard  on  his  way  to  fight  the  dragon,  and 
on  the  other  the  hero-saint  is  refreshing  himself  after  the 
combat.  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  signs  in  England  is 
shown  on  page  103.  The  inn  is  the  "Fox  and  Hounds" 
at  Barley,  Hertfordshire,  and  the  sign  is  a  pack  of  hounds 
hunting  a  fox,  followed  by  two  huntsmen.  The  whole 
history  of  sign-boards  invites  digression,  but  space  forbids 
a  repetition  of  what  I  have  tried  to  tell  before  in  another 
book  that  deals  with  the  antiquities  of  English  villages,  and 
not  so  much  with  their  outward  charm. ^ 

Near  the  inn  stands  the  shop  of  the  blacksmith,  who  is 
a  very  important  person  in  the  village  community.  We 
have  seen  some  specimens  of  his  forefathers'  work,  and 
though  I  question  whether  he  could  fashion  such  delicate  and 
ornate  supports  for  signboards,  such  wonderful  ornamental 
ironwork,  he  is  a  very  clever  "  all-round  "  man.  He  not 
only  can  shoe  horses,  but  repair  all  kinds  of  agricultural 
implements,  mend  clocks,  cut  hair,  and  even  in  olden  days 
he  used  to  draw  teeth.  Our  village  blacksmith  is  a  most 
accomplished  person,  and  can  turn  his  hand  to  anything. 
The  village  blacksmith  has  been  immortalised  in  verse,  and 

1   English  Villages,  by  P.  H.  Ditchlit-ld  (Mt-tliucn  .\:  Co.). 
100 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

a  picture  of  his  smithy  drawn  by  a  skilful  hand.  Longfellow's 
poem  is  so  familiar  that  it  need  not  be  quoted. 

Still  the  light  of  the  forge  gleams  out  in  the  dusk  of  a  winter's 
day,  and  the  children  try  to  catch  "  the  burning  sparks  that 
fly  like  chaff  from  a  thrashing-floor."  "Henry  Moat,  r.s.s.," 
who  works  at  Sturry,  Kent  (see  page  104),  is  a  very  up-to- 
date  smith,  and  his  shop  is  spruce  and  neat,  unlike  most 
village  smithies,  where  all  sorts  of  old  iron  is  scattered  about, 
and  where  sometimes  you  may  find  some  curios  and  treasures. 

The  village  shop  is  a  wondrous  place  wherein  you  can  buy 
anything  from  a  bootlace  to  a  side  of  bacon.  Sweets  for 
children,  needles  and  thread  for  the  busy  housewife,  butter 
and  cheese,  tea  and  ginger-beer — endless  is  the  assortment 
of  goods  which  the  village  shop  provides.  Whiteley's  in 
London  can  scarcely  rival  its  marvellous  productiveness. 
Very  old  and  quaint  is  the  building.  There  is  one  at  Ling- 
field,  Surrey,  which  has  performed  its  useful  mission  since 
the  fifteenth  century.  It  has  a  central  recess  with  braces 
to  support  the  roof-plate.  Formerly  there  was  an  open 
shop-front  with  wooden  shutters  hinged  at  the  bottom  ot 
the  sills,  on  the  tops  of  the  stall-boards,  and  which  could 
be  turned  down  in  the  daytime  at  right  angles  with  the 
front,  and  used  for  displaying  wares.  In  some  cases  there 
were  two  shutters,  the  lower  one  hinged  in  the  bottom  sill, 
as  I  have  described,  while  the  upper  one  was  hinged  to  the 
top,  and  when  raised  formed  a  pent-house  roof.  Shake- 
speare alludes  to  this  arrangement  when  he  says,  in  Love's 
Labour  s  Lost^  "  With  your  hat  pent-house  like  o'er  the  shop 
of  your  eyes."  The  door  was  divided  into  two  halves  like 
a  modern  stable  door. 

Village  industries  are  fast  dying  out,  if  they  are  not  all 
dead  and  buried.  In  the  olden  days  when  the  cloth  trade 
was  flourishing  in  Berkshire  each  village  was  alive  with  busy 
industrial  enterprise.  Each  cottage  had  its  spinning-wheel, 
and  every  week  the  clothiers  of  Reading  and  Newbury  used 


BARLEY,    HERTS 


KNOWLE, 
WARWICKSHIRE 


CLARE,   SUFFOLK 


OLD    INN    SIGNS 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

to  send  out  their  men  amoncr  the  villages,  their  packhorses 
laden  with  wool,  and  every  week  they  returned,  their  pack 
laden  with  yarn  ready  for  the  loom.  We  give  a  view  of  the 
village  of  East  Hendred,  which  was  a  prosperous  clothing 
centre.  There  is  a  picturesque  field  near  the  church  where 
terraces   still  remain,  which  were  used   for  drying  cloth,  and 


THE     BLACKSMITHS    SHOP,     STURRV,     KENT 

a  piece  of  land  called  "  Fulling  Mill  Meer,"  where — so 
Mr.  Woodward,  who  was  rector  in  1759,  stated — "ancient 
people  remembered  the  ruins  of  a  mill  in  the  stream  hard 
by."  This  fulling  mill  was  held  of  the  king  by  John  Eston, 
whose  descendant  is  still  lord  of  the  manor.  In  the  church 
are  brasses  to  the  memory  of  Henry  and  Roger  Eldysley, 
"  mercatores  istius  ville,"  and  of  William  Whitway,  "pan- 
narius  et  lanarius."  The  village  had  also  a  flourishing  fair, 
which  was  held  on  the  downs,  and  reached  from  Scutchamore 

104 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

Knob  to  Hendred,  along  a  straight  green  road  once  known 
as  the  Golden  Mile.  It  was  abolished  by  James  I  in  1620. 
All  this  testifies  to  the  importance  of  this  little  village  in 
former  days,  and  of  the  flourishing  manufacture  of  cloth 
carried  on  there. 

But  the  introduction  of  machinery,  the  invention  of  spin- 
ning jennies,  carding  machines,  and  like  inventions,  and  the 
activity  of  the  northern  clothiers,  turned  the  tide  of  fortune 
elsewhere  and  killed  the  village  industry.  Other  trades  have 
suffered  in  the  same  way.  Gloves  were  made  in  many  a 
village  in  Worcestershire  ;  lace  in  Buckinghamshire,  where  the 
industry  has  been  revived,  and  in  Devonshire,  and  old  dames 
might  have  been  seen  at  the  cottage  doors  with  their  bobbins 
and  pillows  and  "  earned  good  money  "  by  their  deft  fingers. 

The  mill  still  stands,  but  it  is  a  ruin,  picturesque  in  its 
decay.  The  overshot-wheel  is  still  and  lifeless,  with  rotting 
timbers  unhidden  by  pent-house  or  roof. 

"No  wains  piled  high  with  corn  roll  heavily  down  the 
lane  to  disgorge  swollen  sacks  to  fill  its  gaping  vats.  The 
corn  laws,  the  cheap  loaf,  '  which  came  as  a  gift  to  us  poor 
folks,'  killed  the  mill  in  the  valley.  Its  business  declined  ; 
chains  became  rusty  ;  doors  and  windows  fell  out  and  the 
roof  fell  in  ;  the  stream  was  diverted  by  a  side  cut,  and  the 
great  oaken  wheel  hung  rotting  on  its  pin."^ 

It  is  one  of  the  oldest  houses  in  the  village,  and  once  one 
of  the  most  important.  It  was  the  lord's  mill,  the  mill 
owned  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and  to  it  all  the  tenants 
were  obliged  to  bring  their  corn  to  be  ground,  unless  they 
would  undergo  divers  pains  and  penalties.  But  it  is  a  ruin 
now  ;  its  glories  are  departed  ;  its  millstones  adorn  the 
squire's  garden  ;  but  it  still  adds  beauty  to  the  scene.  The 
stream  that  once  turned  the  great  floats  rushes  calmly  by, 
but  its  banks  are  the  home  of  many  ferns  and  flowers,  and 
the   weir    is   still   a   picturesque    miniature    cascade.      Some 

^   Travels  Round  Our  Village,  by  Miss  Hayden. 


1^  '7'$' 


?^ 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

water-mills  still  survive — "  cool  and  splashing  homes — homes 
ot  peaceful  bustle,"  as  Mr.  Lucas  happily  describes  them — and 
the  miller  with  his  white  hat  is  not  quite  dead,  a  pleasing 
personage  in  the  village  community.  If  old  songs  are  to 
be  trusted,  he  was  always  "jolly,"  "  hearty,"  "  hale  and  bold," 
especially  if  he  lived  by  the  river  Dee,  where 

He  worked  and  sang  from  morn  till  night, 
No  lark  more  blithe  than  he  ; 

and  mightily  independent,  caring  for  nobody  as  nobody 
cared  for  him.  We  cannot  afford  to  lose  such  a  sturdv, 
jovial  character. 

The  village  once  had  other  mills  that  derived  their  power 
not  from  the  stream  but  from  the  wind,  and  in  East  Anglia 
these  windmills  still  remain,  relics  of  the  age  ere  steam  had 
begun  to  exercise  its  relentless  sway.  Our  artist  has  given 
a  sketch  of  that  at  Ballingdon,  Essex,  a  typical  windmill 
with  its  sloping  boarded  sides,  its  imposing  cap,  and  giant 
sails  that  woo  the  wind.  Sussex  also  has  its  windmills 
standing  high  and  white,  things  of  life  and  beauty,  suitable 
for  the  grinding  of  the  golden  harvest  of  the  fields,  not 
ugly,  noisy  infernos  like  the  steam-mills.  Artists  have  loved 
to  depict  our  windmills,  especially  Constable,  than  which 
there  are  no  more  charming  features  in  an  English  landscape. 
Many  have  disappeared  in  recent  years,  but  the  name 
"Windmill  Hill"  often  records  their  site  and  preserves 
their   memories. 

Though  many  of  our  village  industries  are  dead,  we  have 
others  still  very  much  alive.  Besides  the  usual  agricultural 
occupations,  ploughing  and  sowing,  digging,  reaping,  and 
thatching,  we  have  our  skilful  woodmen  who  can  fell  and 
carry  the  largest  trees  with  consummate  ease,  and  it  is  a 
wonderful  sight  to  see  them  roll  these  massive  giants  of  the 
forest  up  the  slides  to  the  great  wood-wagons,  and  the 
horses  are  as  skilful  as  the  men.      Broom-squires  still  make 

io8 


..1  \^V 


.^^¥ 


AN     ESSEX     MILL,     BALLINGDOX 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

birch  and  heath  brooms,  and  are  a  rough  race.  Two  of 
them  met  at  Newbury  market  and  exchanged  confidences  : 

"Jack,  I  can't  tell  'ow  thee  sells  the  brooms  so  cheap  like. 
I  steals  the  ling,  I  steals  the  butts,  I  steals  the  withies  ;  but  I 
can't  sell  'em  as  cheap  as  thee." 

"  Why,"  said  his  companion  unblushingly,  "  I  steals  'em 
ready  made." 

Hop-growing,  cider-making,  chair-making,  straw-plaiting, 
and  many  other  industries  still  live  on,  and  it  would  be  well 
it  others  could  be  introduced,  in  order  to  add  to  the  pros- 
perity and  relieve  the  monotony  of  ordinary  rural  existence. 


iio 


VllI 
ALMSHOUSES    AND    GRAMMAR     SCHOOLS 

IN  many  villages  there  are  old  almshouses  founded  by 
pious  benefactors  for  "  poor  brethren  and  sisters," 
God's  hostels,  where  men  and  women  on  whom  the 
snows  of  life  have  begun  to  fall  thickly,  may  rest  and 
recruit  and  "take  their  ease"  before  they  start  on  their  last 
long  journey.  Here  the  tired  and  the  moneyless  find  harbour- 
age. Some  of  these  houses  are  quite  humble  places  erected  by 
some  good  squire  for  the  aged  poor  of  the  village  ;  others 
are  large  and  beautiful  buildings  erected  by  some  great  noble 
or  rich  merchant,  or  London  City  Company,  for  a  wider 
scheme  of  charity.  Scattered  over  the  country  we  find  these 
delightful  resting-places.  We  enter  the  quiet  courtyard 
paved  with  cobble  stones,  or,  as  it  is  at  Wantage,  with 
knuckle-bones,  relics  of  the  town's  former  industry  of  tan- 
ning, and  see  the  panelled  dining-hall  with  its  dark  oaken 
table,  the  chapel  where  daily  prayer  is  said,  the  comfortable 
little  rooms  of  the  brothers  and  sisters,  the  time-worn  pump 
in  the  courtyard,  the  flowers  in  the  garden  beds  and  in  the 
windows,  and  we  are  glad  these  old  folks  should  have  so 
sweet  a  home  as  they  pause  before  their  last  long  journey. 
Our  illustration  shows  the  pretty  village  of  Ewelme,  with  a 
row  of  cottages  half  a  mile  long,  which  have  before  their 
doors  a  sparkling  stream  dammed  here  and  there  into  water- 
cress beds.  At  the  top  of  the  street  on  a  steep  knoll  stand 
church  and  school  and  almshouses  of  the  mellowest  fifteenth- 
century   bricks,   as   beautiful   and   structurally   sound   as   the 

III 


)  2 


ALMSHOUSES   AND    GRAMMAR    SCHOOLS 

pious  founders  left  them/  These  founders  were  the  un- 
happy William  de  la  Pole,  first  Duke  of  Suffolk,  and  his 
good  wife  the  Duchess  Alice.  The  Duke  inherited  Ewelme 
through  Alice  Chaucer,  a  kinswoman  of  the  poet,  and  "  for 
love  of  her  and  the  commoditie  of  her  landes  fell  much  to 


THE    ALMSHOUSES,    AUDLEY    END,     ESSEX 

dwell  in  Oxfordshire,"  and  in  1430-40  was  busy  building 
a  manor  place  "of  brick  and  Tymbre  and  set  within  a  fayre 
mote,"  a  church,  an  almshouse,  and  a  school.  The  manor 
place,  or  "  Palace,"  as  it  was  called,  has  disappeared,  but  the 
almshouse  and  school  remain,  witnesses  of  the  munificence 
of  the  founders.  We  need  not  follow  the  fate  of  the  poor 
1  H'lston  of  Oxfordshire,  by  J.  Meade  Falkner. 
I  113 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

duke,  favourite  minister  of  Henry  VI,  who  was  exiled  by 
the  Yorkist  faction,  and  beheaded  by  the  sailors  on  his 
way  to  banishment.  Twenty-five  years  of  widowhood  fell 
to  his  bereaved  duchess,  who  finished  her  husband's  build- 
ings, calling  the  almshouse  "  God's  House,"  and  then  re- 
posed beneath  one  of  the  finest  monuments  in  England  in 
the  church  hard  by. 

Near  where  I  am  writing  is  the  beautiful  almshouse  called 
Lucas's  Hospital,  founded  by  Henry  Lucas  for  the  old  men 
of  several  parishes  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  placed  in  the 
charge  of  the  Drapers'  Company  of  the  City  of  London. 
It  is  a  fine  Jacobean  house  of  red  brick  with  tiled  roof  and 
two  wings.  The  Quainton  almshouses  are  very  picturesque 
and  quietly  impressive,  built  in  1687  by  Richard  Winwood. 
The  building  has  eleven  gables  and  four  blocks  of  chimneys, 
and  each  inmate  has  two  rooms  opening  out  of  each  other,  a 
porch  with  seats,  and  a  little  garden  attached. 

Our  illustrations  show  the  beautiful  almshouses  at  Audley 
End,  Essex,  an  architectural  gem,  and  the  more  imposing 
hostel  at  Corsham,  with  its  great  porch  and  immense  coat-of- 
arms.  It  was  built  in  1663,  and  consists  of  six  houses  with 
a  cloister,  master's  house,  and  free  school,  retaining  some 
good  woodwork. 

Nor  did  our  pious  benefactors  forget  the  youth  of  the 
village  and  the  needs  of  education.  It  is  the  fashion  for 
short-sighted  politicians  to  suppose  that  all  education  began 
in  the  magical  year  1870,  and  to  forget  all  that  was  done 
before  to  teach  the  youths  of  our  village.  The  teaching 
given  in  the  old  dame  schools  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century  was  defective  enough.  We  hear  of  one  of  the  best 
conducted  by  a  blind  man,  who  taught  fairly  well,  but  was 
rather  interrupted  in  his  academic  labours  by  being  obliged 
to  turn  his  wife's  mangle.  A  good  dame  confessed,  "  It  is 
not  much  they  pay  me,  and  it  is  not  much  I  teach  them." 
The  curriculum  of  another  school  was  described  by  its  mis- 

11  + 


v-s^:^ 


<^'' 


^z- 


"i  '      ^* 


"■W-^^' 


'"^  - 


'">?U,- 


^Jii\  ' 


en  r 


THE    ALMSHOUSES,    CORSHAM,    WILTSHIRE 


THE   CHARM    OF    THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

tress  :  "  1  teach  them  to  read  and  to  sew,  and  the  Belief  and 
the  Commandments,  and  them  little  things."  And  yet  their 
scholars  did  not  turn  out  so  badly.  Most  of  them  can  read  ; 
writing  is  a  little  difficult,  and  they  prefer,  when  required  to 
sign  their  name  to  a  will  or  marriage  register,  to  plead 
incapability  and  to  make  their  mark  ;  but  the  women  who 


#s»'a"v:.v..' 


EARDISLAND,    HEREFORDSHIRE 

The  house  in  the  centre  was  formerU'  the  Grammar  School 


were  taught  in  these  schools  can  sew  far  better  than  girls  can 
now,  and  the  men  can  do  wonderful  sums  in  their  minds, 
especially  when  these  concern  their  wages.  But  1  am  de- 
scribing the  old  schools  that  existed  in  some  of  our  villages, 
not  simple  elementary  schools,  but  grammar  schools,  second- 
ary schools,  where  the  boys  learned  Latin.  Many  of  them 
are  called  Edward  VI's  grammar  schools,  but  were  really 
established  long  before  the  Reformation.  Some  three  hundred 
schools  were  in  existence  before  1535,  some  of  them  taught 

116 


ALMSHOUSES   AND    GRAMMAR    SCHOOLS 

by  chantry  priests,  or  by  a  schoolmaster  provided  by  a 
guild,  or  by  a  master  of  a  hospital  or  almshouse.  Duchess 
Alice   at  Ewelme   founded   a   school   which   appears   in    our 


/   ''14 


PORCH     OF    THE    OLD    GRAMMAR    SCHOOL,    WEORLEY, 
HEREFORDSHIRE    (bUILT    BV    JOHN    ABEl) 


sketch  (p.  1 1 2).  Childrey  is  a  very  small  Berkshire  village,  but 
its  smallness  did  not  prevent  William  Fettiplace  founding 
a  free  grammar  school  there  in  1526,  in  which  poor  children 
could  be  taught  elementary  subjects  and  richer  folk  Latin. 
The  founder's  will   is  too  long  to  quote,  but  he  lays  down 


i'7 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

strict  rules  for  teaching.  Moreover,  the  chaplain-school- 
master was  not  allowed  to  "  keep  or  breed  hunting  birds  or 
to  hunt  regularly."  A  good  old-fashioned  grammar  school 
is  shown  in  the  view  of  Eardisland,  Herefordshire,  and  in  the 
same  county  there  is  an  old  grammar  school  at  Weobley,  the 
porch  of  which  is  beautifully  designed  and  proportioned.  It 
was  built  by  John  Abel,  the  master  of  Jacobean  timber  work. 
This  porch  is  enriched  with  some  quaint  carving  typica 
of  the  period.  Many  years  have  passed  since  the  building 
was  used  for  a  school,  but  it  has  undergone  very  little  change 
during  the  two  and  a  half  centuries  of  its  existence.  It  stands 
in  a  small  town  famous  for  its  half-timbered  houses  (p.  3). 
John  Abel  was  the  most  famous  architect  of  his  time,  a  native 
of  Sarnesfield,  who  i)uilt  market  houses  at  Leominster  (now 
preserved  as  a  private  residence,  see  p.  157,  where  the  vane 
is  illustrated),  Kington,  and  Brecon,  the  grammar  school 
at  Kington,  and  restored  the  roof  of  Abbey  Dore  church,  and 
did  much  else  that  is  worthy  of  his  name.  His  tombstone 
exists  in  the  churchyard  at  Sarnesfield,  where  he  was  buried 
in  1674,  aged  97,  showing  the  figure  of  himself  and  his  two 
wives  and  the  emblems  of  his  profession — compasses,  square, 
and  rule.  Some  of  his  creations  have  escaped  the  decay 
of  time,  but  been  destroyed  by  the  hand  of  the  vandal. 
May  the  good  folk  of  Herefordshire  prize  and  preserve 
all  the  remaining  work  of  this  great  artist. 


118 


IX 


VILLAGE    CROSSES,    GREENS,    AND 
OLD-TIME    PUNISHMENTS 

IN  many  villages  still  stands  the  village  cross,  a  pic- 
turesque object,  often  headless  and  dilapidated,  but 
remarkable  for  its  interesting  associations  and  old- 
time  records.  Some  stand  in  churchyards,  others 
adorn  the  village  green  or  open  space  where  markets  were 
once  held  ;  and  there  are  others  standing  lonely  by  the 
wayside,  or  that  marked  the  boundaries  of  ancient  monastic 
properties.  Each  tells  its  own  story  of  the  habits,  customs, 
and  modes  of  worship  of  our  forefathers.  Time  has  dealt 
hardly  with  these  relics  of  antiquity.  Many  fell  before  the 
storm  of  Puritanical  iconoclastic  zeal  in  1643,  when  the 
Parliament  ordered  the  destruction  of  all  crucifixes,  images, 
and  pictures  of  God  and  the  saints.  The  crosses  in  London 
were  levelled  with  the  ground,  and  throughout  the  country 
many  a  beautiful  work  of  art  which  had  existed  hundreds  of 
years  shared  the  same  fate. 

The  earliest  crosses  were  those  erected  in  churchyards,  of 
which  that  at  Tong,  Salop,  may  be  taken  as  an  example.  Its 
steps  are  worn  by  the  rains  and  frosts  of  centuries.  This 
cross  preserves  the  memory  of  the  first  conversion  of  the 
Saxon  villagers  to  Christianity.  There  are  many  Saxon 
crosses  still  existing,  and  some  ot  them  have  beautiful  carving 
and  scrollwork,  which  tell  of  the  skill  of  Saxon  masons,  who 
with  very  simple  and  rude  tools  could  produce  such  wonderful 
specimens  of  art.    The  crosses  at  Whalley,  Ruth  well,  Bewcastle, 

119 


TONG,    SALOP 


VILLAGE   CROSSES   AND    GREENS 

Eyam,  llkley,  Hexham,  Bishop  Auckland,  are  all  curiously 
carved  with  quaint  designs,  proclaiming  much  symbolical 
teaching,  and  were  set  up  before  churches  were  built  by  Wil- 
frid, Paulinus,  and  other  saints  who  first  preached  the  Gospel 
to  the  Saxon  people/  There  are  several  others  in  Somerset  : 
Rowberrow,  Kelston,  and  West  Camel  are  Saxon  ;  Harptree, 
Norman  ;  Chilton  Trinity  and  Dunster,  early  thirteenth 
century  ;   Broomfield,  late  thirteenth  century  ;  Williton  and 


THE    MARKET     PLACE,    SOMERTON,    SOMERSET 


Wiveliscombe,  early  fourteenth  century  ;  Bishops-Lydiard 
and  Chewton  Mendip,  late  fourteenth  century  ;  and  Wraxall, 
fifteenth  century. 

Market  crosses  are  another  class,  and  are  found  in  large 
villages  in  which  markets  were  held  by  royal  grant  to  some 
great  landowner  or  monastery.  These  were  called  "  cheep- 
ing" crosses,  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  word  cheapo  to  buy, 
from  which  Cheapside,  in  London,  Chippenham,  and  Chip- 
ping Norton  derive  their  names.  The  earliest  form  of 
a  market  cross  was  a  pillar  placed  on  steps.     Later  on  their 

1  An  account  of  these  crosses  is  given  in  English  Fillagcs  (Methucn  &  Co.). 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

height  was  increased,  and  niches  for  sculptured  figures  were 
added.  Religion  was  so  blended  with  the  social  and  com- 
mercial life  of  the  nation  that  sacred  subjects  were  deemed 
not  inappropriate  for  the  place  of  buying  and  selling  in  a 
market-place.  They  reminded  people  of  the  sacredness  of 
bargains.  Subsequently  they  were  enclosed  in  an  octagonally 
shaped  penthouse,  wherein  the  abbot's  servant  or  the   reeve 


THE    OLD    MARKET    HOUSE,     PEMBRIDGE,    HEREFORDSHIRE 


of  the  manor-lord  received  the  market  dues.  The  market 
cross  at  Somerton,  Somerset,  was  built  in  1670.  It  has 
three  steps  and  some  curious  gargoyles  at  the  weather-string 
angles.  Numerous  other  examples  exist  in  the  same  county. 
We  give  an  illustration  of  the  old  market  house  at  Pem- 
bridge,  Herefordshire,  but  no  cross  exists  there  now. 
Markets  were  held  in  churchyards  until  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century  ;  hence  the  churchyard  crosses  would 
often  be  used  as  market  crosses. 


CHILDS    WICKHAM,    GLOUCESTERSHIRE 


VILLAGE   CROSSES   AND    GREENS 

As  I  have  said,  countless  villages  have  their  crosses,  though 
they  had  no  markets.  They  stand  on  the  village  green  or  in 
the  centre  of  the  village  nigh  the  church.  It  was  the  central 
station  for  the  processions  when  the  villagers  perambulated 
the  village  at  Rogation-tide.  Preaching  friars  harangued 
the  people  standing  on  its  steps.  Penitents  were  ordered 
to  make  their  pilgrimages  barefoot,  scantily  attired,  to  the 
cross,  which  was  sometimes  called  the  Weeping  Cross,  and 
there  to  kneel  and  confess  their  sins.  Fairs  were  held  around 
it,  which  were  originally  of  a  sacred  character,  and  were  held 
on  the  festival  of  the  saint  to  whom  the  church  was  dedicated. 
Many  associations  cluster  round  this  old  village  cross.  Our 
illustrations  show  the  battered  cross  at  Shapwick,  Dorset 
(p.  122),  and  that  at  Childs  Wickham,  Gloucestershire.  The 
steps  and  base  of  this  are  ancient,  but  the  urn-shaped  top  is 
probably  a  later  addition.  Lymm,  in  Cheshire,  has  an 
elaborate  cross,  and  near  it  are  the  village  stocks,  concerning 
which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  presently  (p.  126). 

Wayside  crosses  are  less  numerous  than  other  kinds  of 
crosses.  Many  have  been  destroyed.  Some  have  been  re- 
moved from  their  lonely  stations  and  others  pulled  down, 
the  stones  being  used  for  gate-posts.  An  old  book  published 
in  1496  explains  their  object  :  "For  thys  reason  ben  croysses 
by  ye  waye  than  whan  folke  passinge  see  ye  croysses  they 
shoulde  thynke  on  Hym  that  deyed  on  ye  croysse  above  al 
thynge."  They  are  like  a  Calvary  in  a  French  village,  and 
were  erected  for  a  similar  purpose.  Crosses  were  sometimes 
set  to  mark  the  spot  where  the  bodies  of  illustrious  persons 
rested  during  their  journey  to  their  last  resting-place.  Such 
were-  the  Eleanor  crosses  that  were  set  up  by  Edward  I 
at  the  places  where  the  body  of  his  beloved  queen  rested  on 
the  way  to  W^estminster.  They  formed  a  good  boundary 
mark  for  monastic  property,  as  on  account  of  their  sacred 
character  few  would  dare  to  disturb  them.  Curious  legends 
cluster  round  these  crosses.     There  is  one  near  Little  Bud- 

125 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

worth,  Cheshire,  which   is  gradually  sinking  into  the  earth. 
According  to  the  prophet  Nixon,  when  it  quite  disappears  the 
end  of  the  world  will  come.      It  is  getting  near  the  ground  ; 
we  do  not  wish  to  cause  our  readers  unnecessary  alarm. 
Hard  by  the  cross  is  the  village  green,  the  scene  of  the 


~  ^>,\v 


DINTON    GREEN,    BUCKS 


old  village  games  and  revels,  where  the  May-pole  was  raised 
and  the  rustics  danced  around.  Here  the  old  games  and 
bouts  of  quarter-staff  and  back-sword  play  took  place  ;  here 
the  English  bowmen  learned  their  skill,  and  the  Whitsun 
rejoicings  were  celebrated — 

A  day  of  jubilee, 

An  ancient  holiday, 
When  lo  !   the  rural  revels  are  begun, 
And  gaily  echoing  to  the  laughing  sky 

O'er  the  smooth-shaven  green. 

Resounds  the  voice  of  mirth. 

128 


VILLAGE    CROSSES   AND   GREENS 

Our  artist  has  given  sketches  of  the  characteristic  greens  at 
Sevenhampton,  Gloucestershire,  and  the  Buckinghamshire 
greens  at  Penn  and  Dinton.  We  should  like  to  linger  in 
these  villages  and   inspect  the  interesting  church  at  Dinton 


THE   POND,  Tyler's  green,   penn,   bucks 

and  the  old  manor-house  with  its  pictures  and  curios  and  its 
associations  with  Simon  Mayne  the  regicide,  and  to  see  the 
house  of  the  Penn  family,  but  want  of  space  will  not  allow  of 
this  digression. 

In  the  sketch  of  Tyler's  Green  there  is  shown  the  village 
pond  which   in   some  cases    was    the   scene    of  rural  justice. 
K  1 29 


THE    CHARM    OF    THE    ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

At  the  end  of  the  pond  in  olden  times  was  a  long  plank 
which  turned  on  a  swivel,  with  a  chair  at  one  end.  This 
machine  was  fastened  to  a  frame  which  ran  on  wheels,  and 
when  justice  had  to  be  administered  it  was  pushed  to  the 
edge  of  the  pond.  It  was  called  a  ducking-stool,  or  "cuck- 
ing-stool," and  was  used  to  duck   scolds  or  brawlers.     The 


RYE  COLESHILL,   WARWICKSHIRE  BERKSWELL 

PILLORIES,    STOCK?,    AND    WHIPPING-POSTS 


culprit  was  placed  in  the  chair,  and  the  other  end  of  the 
plank  was  raised  several  times,  so  that  the  ardour  of  the 
culprit  was  cooled  by  frequent  immersions  in  the  cold  water 
of  the  pond.  We  give  an  illustration  of  the  ducking-stool 
at  Leominster,  now  in  the  Priory  Church. 

We  have  already  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  stocks  at  Lymm 
(p.  126).  This  rude  instrument  of  justice  stood  on  the  village 
green  or  near  the  cross,  and  sometimes  beside  it,  or  in  con- 

130 


OLD-TIME    PUNISHMENTS 

junction  with  it,  a  pillory  which  held  fast  the  head  and  arms 
of  the  culprit,  while  the  villagers  threw  stones,  rotten  eggs, 
and  other  missiles  at  the  unhappy  victim  of  rude  rustic 
justice.  Two  miles  from  Canterbury  is  the  quaint  little  town 
of  Fordwich,  once  a  borough  and  a  Cinque  Port,  now  little 
more  than  a  village.  Its  town-hall  is  a  quaint  building 
which  preserves  a  duckini^-stool.  The  seats  of  the  old 
mayor  and  aldermen  are  at  the  far  end  of  the  room  ;  the 
jury-box  is  on  the  left  ;  the  ducking-stool  on  the  central 
beam  ;   the  prisoner's  bar  in  the  centre  ;  and  above  you  can  see 


DUCKING-STOOL,    LEOMINSTER,     HEREFORDSHIRE 


the  press-gang's  drums  which  used  to  beat  a  merry  tattoo  in  the 
little  town  when  the  press-gang  came  to  carry  off  some  poor 
country  lad  to  serve  in  H.M.  Navy.  In  a  north-country 
inn  there  is  a  sad  relic  of  the  story  of  a  pressed  man.  A 
young  man  rode  up  to  the  inn  with  a  horse  which  had  cast 
its  shoe,  holding  in  his  hand  the  treacherous  shoe.  The 
press-gang  were  regaling  themselves  in  the  hostelry.  As 
he  seemed  a  vigorous  youth  they  seized  him.  He  asked 
leave  to  nail  his  shoe  to  the  beam  of  the  staircase,  saying 
that  when  he  came  back  from  the  wars  he  would  come  and 
reclaim  it.  But  he  never  came,  and  the  shoe  hangs  there  to 
this  day,  a  sad  memorial  of  a  gallant  sailor  who  died  for  his 
country  in  one  of  Nelson's  battles. 

One  other  relic   of  old  times  our  artist  has  depicted  :   the 

131 


OLD-TIME    PUNISHMENTS 


dread  gibbet-irons  wherein  the  bones  of  some  wretched 
breaker  of  the  laws  hung;  and  rattled  as  the  irons  creaked 
and  groaned  when  stirred  by  the  breeze.  No  wonder  our 
villagers  fear  to  walk  to  the  neighbouring  cross-roads,  where 
the  dead  highwayman  or  other  lawless  criminal  was  hung. 
It  must  have  been  ghostly  and  ghastly.  I  am 
tempted  to  digress  and  tell  many  a  story  of 
noted  highwaymen,  of  Bagshot  Heath  on  a 
moonlight  night,  of  the  haunts  of  the  knights 
of  the  road,  the  village  inns  where  they  sought 
refuge  and  astonished  the  rustics  by  their  strange 
tales.  I  am  tempted  to  tell  of  their  victims,  one 
of  whom  sano; — 

Prepared  for  war,  now  Bagshot  Heath  we  cross, 
Where  broken  gamesters  oft  repair  their  loss, 

and  of  the  prudent  Lady  Brown,  who  readily 
yielded  up  her  purse  to  the  highwaymen,  de- 
claring afterwards  to  Horace  Walpole  that  she 
did  not  mind  in  the  least,  "  there  was  nothing 
but  bad  money  in  it.  I  always  keep  it  on  purpose." 
But  hangings  and  gibbetings  thinned  the  ranks  of  these 
notorious  highwaymen,  and  happily  the  village  was  freed 
from  the  presence  of  their  bodies.  The  name  Gibbet  Com- 
mon remains  in  some  places  to  remind  us  of  the  lawlessness 
of  the  past,  and  museums  still  preserve  these  dread  irons 
that  once  startled  poor  travellers  and  kept  the  rustics  to 
their  own  firesides  after  dark. 


GIBBET- 
IRONS,   RYE 


133 


X 

BARNS    AND    DOVECOTES 

A  CHARMING  feature  of  a  village  are  the  old  barns 
which  cluster  round  the  farmstead.  The  build- 
ing of  great  barns  has  rather  gone  out  of  fashion 
since  flails  and  hand-thrashing  became  extinct, 
and  we  know  many  new  farms  which  have  no  barns  at  all. 
Perhaps  they  are  not  so  necessary  now  as  they  once  were, 
and  modern  agriculture  does  not  need  them.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  fine  old  barns  are  picturesque  and  attractive  build- 
ings, and  still  have  their  uses.  The  grandest  of  them  are 
the  ancient  tithe  or  grange  barns  formerly  attached  to  some 
monastery,  built  in  the  fourteenth  century,  as  strong  as  a 
church  and  as  fine  as  a  minster.  Happily  many  of  these 
mediaeval  structures  have  been  spared  to  us,  and  the  village 
is  fortunate  which  possesses  one.  In  one  day's  excursion 
with  the  Berks  Archaeological  Society  we  discovered  two  of 
them,  one  of  the  finest  in  England  at  Great  Coxwell,  and 
just  over  the  border  in  Wiltshire  the  smaller  but  no  less 
beautiful  fourteenth-century  barn  at  Highworth.  It  is,  of 
course,  well  known  that  until  the  year  1836  all  tithes  were 
paid  in  kind.  An  old  man  in  Cholsey,  Berkshire,  remembers 
the  clerk  going  round  the  cornfield  and  placing  a  peg  in 
every  tenth  sheaf  in  order  to  show  that  it  belonged  to  the 
vicar  of  the  parish.  All  other  kinds  of  grain,  hay,  wool, 
peas,  beans,  etc.,  were  tithed  in  the  same  way.  Indeed,  a 
woman  who  had  ten  children  thought  she  ought  to  pay 
tithe,  and  sent  her  tenth  child  to  the  rector  of  her  parish, 

'3+ 


BARNS    AND    DOVECOTES 

who,  being   a   kind-hearted   man,  accepted    the   payment   of 
this  unusual  tithe  and  brought  up  the  child. 

The  collecting  of  tithe  in  kind  necessitated  a  place  in 
which  to  store  it.  Hence  tithe  barns  had  to  be  built,  and 
from  mediaeval  times  onwards  almost  every  village  had  its 
tithe  barn.  I  am  again  tempted  to  digress  in  order  to  tell 
how   this   system    of  tithe-paying  grew  up.     It  dates    back 


A    BARN    AT    DOULTING,    SOMERSET 

to  early  Saxon  times.  Even  Ethelbert,  the  first  Christian 
king  of  Kent,  converted  by  Augustine,  allowed  a  tenth  to 
God,  which  he  called  God's  Fee,  and  what  was  first  a 
voluntary  gift  for  the  support  of  the  Church  became  a  legal 
obligation.  It  is  outside  our  subject  to  discuss  the  origin 
of  tithes.  We  are  inspecting  barns,  and  we  understand  why 
tithe  barns  were  needed.  The  old  monasteries  had  vast 
estates.  They  had  their  own  barns  near  their  monasteries  ; 
these  were  not  for  tithes,  but  for  the  produce  of  their  home 

135 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

farms  that  lay  around  their  monastic  house.  In  other  parts 
of  the  county  or  district  they  had  other  large  estates  which 
they  called  granges,  and  on  these  properties  they  had  grange 
barns,  and  each  rector  or  vicar  had  his  tithe  barn,  which  was 
much  smaller  than  the  others.  Sometimes  the  monastery 
took  all  the  tithe  of  a  parish  and  had  its  tithe  barn,  as  at 
Highworth,  and  paid  back  to  the  vicar  something  for  taking 
the   dutv.     This  was   unfortunate,  as  when   the  monasteries 


"l"'l,l" , 


lyli 


-*^ii|lliteil«i 


BARN    AT    ARRETON,     ISLE    OF    WIGHT 


were  dissolved  the  king  and  his  greedy  courtiers  took 
possession  of  this  monastic  tithe  and  only  paid  the  vicar  a 
small  stipend,  and  the  Church  of  England  has  suffered  ever 
since.  More  tithe  now  goes  into  the  hands  of  laymen  than 
into  those  of  the  parochial  clergy. 

We  give  an  illustration  of  the  fine  barn  of  the  abbots 
of  Glastonbury  at  Doulting,  Somerset.  It  is  a  grand  build- 
ing, and  is  of  earlier  date  than  most  of  the  great  monastic 
barns,  most  of  which  were  built  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
This   is   a  fine  thirteenth-century  structure.     The  walls  are 

136 


BARNS    AND    DOVECOTES 

three  feet  in  thickness,  built  of  the  freestone  of  the  neiorh- 
bouring  quarries.  It  measures  95^  feet  by  60  feet,  and  has 
two  porches.  The  buttresses  are  thick  and  massive,  and 
may  have  been  added  later  than  the  date  of  the  original 
building.  The  roof  is  constructed  of  fine  oak,  and  is  covered 
with  stone  slabs.  This  was  a  grange  barn  belonging  to 
Glastonbury,  where  there  is  a  noble  abbot's  barn,  built  in 
1420,  cruciform  in  plan  and  much  ornamented.  Our  Berk- 
shire barn  at  Great  Coxwell  belonged  to  the  Cistercian  Abbey 
of  Beaulieu,  and  is  of  immense  size.  The  inside  measure- 
ments are  152^  feet  by  38^  feet,  and  it  rises  to  a  height 
of  51  feet  to  the  ridge.  The  walls  are  four  feet  in  thickness. 
Immense  timbers  rise  from  the  ground  forming  piers  which 
divide  the  barn  into  a  giant  nave  with  two  aisles.  There 
is  a  fine  porch  with  a  tallat  in  which  the  monks  are  said  to 
have  slept  when  they  came  to  Coxwell  to  reap  the  harvest 
on  their  Berkshire  estate.  The  floor  is  beaten  mud,  and 
this  noble  structure  is  roofed  with  Stonesfield  slate.  It  is 
a  grand  example  of  fourteenth-century  building.  A  few 
miles  away,  as  I  have  said,  is  the  Highworth  barn,  con- 
structed much  in  the  same  style  but  on  a  smaller  scale. 

There  is  a  good  rectory  barn  at  Enstone,  Oxfordshire, 
built  in  1382  by  the  abbot  of  Winchcombe  at  the  request 
of  Robert  Mason,  the  abbot's  bailiff.  Shirehampton,  near 
Bristol,  has  a  large  barn  which  perhaps  formerly  belonged 
to  Llanthony  Abbey,  a  picturesque  building  covered  with 
creepers.  Bredon,  Worcestershire  ;  Harmondsworth,  Middle- 
sex ;  Naseby,  Northants  ;  Heyford,  Oxfordshire  ;  Swalcliffe 
and  Adderbury,  all  possess  wonderful  examples  of  these 
mediceval  buildings.  Our  artist  gives  us  a  sketch  of  a 
noble  barn  at  Arreton,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  which  has  a 
grandly  thatched  roof  gracefully  curved,  and  a  large  porch. 
Together  with  the  other  farm  buildings  it  helps  to  form  a 
very  picturesque  group. 

Another    additional    attraction    to    the    manor-house    or 

137 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

important  farm  is  the  pigeon -house  or  dovecote.  Old 
monasteries  and  priories  also  were  allowed  to  have  these 
useful  buildings.  There  is  a  very  fine  one  at  Hurley  Priory, 
Berkshire,  and  there  was  a  special  officer,  the  columbarius, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  attend  to  the  pigeons  in  the  dovecote. 


PIGEON-HOUSE,     RICHARDS    CASTLE,     HEREFORDSHIRE 

This  building  was  erected  about  the  year  1307,  and  is  of 
great  interest.  The  countless  niches,  or  nests,  of  chalk 
within  this  picturesque  old  building  are  very  remarkable. 
It  must  have  held  countless  birds,  but  when  the  prior  and 
convent  bargained  with  John  Terry  in  1389  to  give  him 
a  pension  including  an  annual  dole  of  two  hundred  pigeons, 
the  resources  of  the  dovecote  must  have  been  severely  taxed. ^ 

1   St.  Marys,  Hurley,  by  Rev.  F.  T.  Wcthered,  1898. 
138 


BARNS   AND    DOVECOTES 

No  one  but  the  lord  of  the  manor,  the  monks,  or  the 
rector  was  allowed  to  have  a  pigeon-house,  which  played  an 
important  part  in  the  domestic  economy  of  former  days. 
It  provided  the  only  fresh  meat  that  was  consumed  during 
the  winter  months,  when  the  household  depended  upon  salt 
meat  except  that  which  the  dovecote  supplied,  and  there- 
fore it  was  highly  prized,  carefully  stocked,  and  zealously 
guarded. 

These  columbaria  have  not  been  uninfluenced  in  their  con- 
struction by  fashion  and  style.  We  owe  their  existence  to 
the  Normans,  who  constructed  massive  round  dovecotes 
entirely  of  stone.  This  style  lingered  on  for  centuries. 
When  brickwork  was  again  introduced  in  the  fifteenth 
century  round  brick  coluynharia  were  erected.  Half-timbered 
ones  were  also  fashionable,  timber-framed,  filled  with  wattle 
and  daub,  and  subsequently  they  assumed  hexagonal  or 
octagonal  shapes. 

Our  artist  has  sketched  a  picturesque  pigeon-house  in 
Richards  Castle,  Herefordshire.  Existing  castle  dovecotes 
are  rare,  but  doubtless  many  were  built,  as  their  contents 
were  very  useful  in  case  of  a  siege  and  during  the  winter 
months.  I  know  not  whether  homing  pigeons  were  ever 
trained  to  convey  messages  to  other  castles  summoning  aid 
for  a  beleaguered  garrison.  Rochester  and  Conisborough 
Castles  have  these  useful  pigeon-houses.  There  is  a  good 
circular  dovecote  at  Church  Farm,  Garway,  Herefordshire, 
built  by  the  Knights  Hospitallers  in  1320.  Some  of  these 
examples  are  very  large,  such  as  the  one  at  South  Littleton, 
which  measures  eighty-three  feet  in  circumference.^  In  order 
to  reach  the  nests  you  climb  up  a  ladder  which  revolves,  and 
so  enables  you  to  reach  any  particular  nest.  There  are  some- 
times as  many  as  1000  nesting-places  in  these  houses,  and  it 
must  be  difficult  for  a  pigeon  to  discover  its  own   nest  some- 

^  "Dovecotes,"  an  article  in  Home  Counties  Magazine,  by  Mr.  Berkeley, 
Vol.  VII,  No.  32. 

139 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

times  if,  like  humans,  birds  are  ever  given  to  loss  of  memory. 
These  nesting-places  are  cunningly  devised.  The  openings 
are  six  inches  square,  and  they  reach  fourteen  inches  into  the 


riGEOX-HOUSE    AT    ODDINGLY,    WORCESTERSHIRE 


substance  of  the  wall.  If  the  cavity  were  of  the  same  size 
throughout  its  depth  the  bird  would  not  have  room  to  sit 
upon  her  scanty  nest  ;  it  therefore  enlarges,  right  or  left, 
into  an  L-shaped  cavity  ten  inches  in  width.  The  holes  are 
arranged   twenty  inches  apart,  in   rows,  each   row  being  ten 

140 


BARNS    AND    DOVECOTES 

inches   above    the    one    below.      An    alighting-ledge    projects 
underneath   each  alternate  tier  of  holes/ 

We  give  an  illustration  of  a  dovecote  at  Oddingly, 
Worcestershire,  a  square  half-timbered  structure  which 
must  have  furnished  shelter  for  a  vast  number  of  birds.  It 
is  not  so  vast  as  the  great  dovecote  at  Lewes,  which  held 
4000  nesting-places,  and  was  as  big  as  a  moderate-sized 
church.  It  was  the  property  of  the  monks  of  the  priory, 
and  we  may  imagine  that  the  possession  ot  such  a  flock 
of  birds  did  not  endear  the  reverend  brothers  to  the  neigh- 
bouring farmers,  who  were  much  relieved  when  the  birds 
and  their  owners  were  compelled  to  fly  away.  One  ot  the 
causes  of  bitternesses  which  exasperated  the  peasants  of 
France  and  brought  about  the  Revolution,  was  the  existence 
of  these  vast  columbarid^  the  denizens  of  which  preyed  upon 
the  cornfields  of  the  poor  tenants  and  peasants  and  made 
their  farms  unproductive. 

Many  of  these  dovecotes  have  disappeared.  It  is  well 
that  they  should  be  preserved  as  picturesque  and  pleasing 
objects,  and  as  memorials  of  mediceval  customs  and  ot  the 
manners  of  our  forefathers. 

1   Herefordshire  Pigeon-houses,  by  Mr.  Watkins. 


M' 


XI 
OLD    ROADS,    BRIDGES    AND    RIVERS 

THE  story  of  our  English  village,  its  charm  and 
fascination,  is  incomplete  without  an  account  of  its 
roads  and  trackways.  "  It  you  wish  to  read  aright 
the  history  of  a  district,  of  a  city,  or  of  a  village, 
you  must  begin  by  learning  the  alphabet  of  its  roads,"  wisely 
observes  a  writer  in  Blackwood's  Magazine.  These  are  the 
oldest  of  all  ancient  landmarks.  The  position  of  the  village, 
its  plan  and  boundaries,  the  story  of  earthworks,  burying- 
grounds,  church  and  castle,  all  depend  upon  the  roads.  How 
was  their  course  originally  determined  "i  Who  first  planned 
them  }  Perhaps  our  earliest  ancestors  followed  the  cross- 
tracks  by  which  the  wild  animals  descended  from  the  high 
ground  to  the  water.  Where  hard  dry  roads  now  run  along 
the  river  valleys  by  the  beds  of  streams  there  was  in  ancient 
times  marsh  or  far-spreading  overflowing  sheets  of  water. 
Hence  our  ancestors  followed  the  natural  features  of  the 
hills.  Our  first  roads  ran  along  the  highest  ridges  of  the 
hills  ;  subsequently  more  sheltered  ways  were  sought  by 
the  hill-sides.  The  shallowest  parts  of  the  rivers  were  sought 
where  they  could  find  fords.  Trails  through  the  woods 
became  pack-horse  roads,  were  then  widened  into  wagon- 
tracks,  and  at  last  developed  into  fine  smooth  roads.  Seme 
of  the  roads  by  which  we  travel  to-day  have  been  traversed 
by  an  infinite  variety  of  passengers.  Our  Celtic  forefathers, 
their  Roman  conquerors,  Saxon  hosts,  Norman  knights, 
mediaeval  merchants  and  pilgrims  to  the  shrines  of  St.  Thomas 

142 


OLD    ROADS,    BRIDGES    AND    RIVERS 

of  Canterbury  or  our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  the  wains  of  the 
clothiers  piled  high  with  English  cloth,  gallant  cavaliers  and 
the  buff-coated  troopers  of  Cromwell,  all  follow  each  other  in  a 
strange  procession  along  these  country  roads,  and  we  have 
seen  already  the  ghosts  of  the  old  stage  coaches,  the  "  Light- 
ning" and  the  "Quicksilver,"  and  heard  the  cheery  notes  of 
the  post-horn,  which  were  far  more  melodious  than  the  hoot 
of  the  motor-car. 

Straight  through  the  heart  of  the  village  runs  the  old 
Roman  road.  It  was  "old"  before  the  Romans  came.  You 
can  see  on  the  hills  around  earthworks  and  camps  that 
guarded  this  road,  and  are  relics  of  British  tribes  and  pre- 
historic races  which  flourished  here  lone  before  the  Romans 
came  to  conquer  our  island.  There  is  the  great  Watling 
Street,  Ermine  Street,  the  Icknield  Way  or  the  road  of  the 
Iceni,  ancient  trackways  of  the  tribes.  High  on  the  Berk- 
shire downs  this  last  road  runs,  known  as  the  Ridgeway, 
while  below  it  is  the  later  road,  the  "  Portway,"  probably 
British  too,  but  used  and  improved  by  the  Romans.  From 
the  east  coast  to  the  west  the  whole  road  ran  ;  Watling 
Street  from  Dover  through  London  to  the  north  ;  the  Fosse 
and  Ermine  Street  were  west-country  roads,  and  there  were 
numerous  others.  The  Romans  transformed  these  British 
trackways,  levelled,  straightened,  and  paved  them,  and  formed 
new  lines  of  roads  leading  from  one  to  another  of  the  many 
stations  which  they  established  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Camden  describes  the  Roman  ways  in  Britain  as  running  in 
some  places  through  drained  fens,  in  others  through  low 
valleys,  raised  and  paved,  and  we  have  traversed  the  famous 
High  Street  on  the  top  of  Westmoreland  hills,  and  dug 
a  few  inches  beneath  the  turf  to  find  the  pavement  laid 
by  these  wonderful  people.  No  wonder  the  Saxon  folk 
deemed  these  ways  the  work  of  demons  or  demi-gods,  and 
called  the  road  from  Staines  to  Silchester  the  Devil's  High- 
way. 

143   . 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE    ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

Fords  were  at  first  used  by  the  Romans  for  crossing 
streams  and  rivers,  but  these  were  ill-suited  to  their  require- 
ments, and  during  their  domination  the  first  era  of  bridge- 
building  set  in.  So  substantial  were  these  structures  that 
through  centuries  of  Saxon  and  Norman  rule  they  survived 
and  remained  in  use  almost  to  our  own  day.  After  the 
Norman  Conquest,  when  the  country  settled  down  and  new 
towns  and  villages  arose,  another  period   of  bridge-buildinrf 


SONNING    ON    THAMES,     BERKSHIRE 


began,  which  has  left  us  many  beautiful  examples  of  architec- 
tural art.  Their  builders  were  great  landowners  and  mer- 
chants, wealthy  abbeys,  special  guilds  like  that  at  Maiden- 
head, which  not  only  erected  the  bridge  but  afterwards 
maintained  it,  and  the  corporations  of  cities  and  towns.  It 
was  considered  a  religious  work,  this  bridge-building,  and  a 
chapel  was  not  infrequently  built  on  the  bridge,  wherein  the 
traveller  could  pray  for  the  soul  of  the  kind  builder, 
and  seek  a  blessing  on  his  journey  and  imp'ore  a  sate 
passage    across    the    river.     These    old    bridges    have    been 

H+ 


OLD   ROADS,   BRIDGES   AND    RIVERS 

restored  and  repaired  again  and  again,  but  they  often  retain 
a  considerable  part  of  their  ancient  structure.  The  Kentish 
river  Medway  Is  spanned  by  several  of  these  old  bridges. 
There  Is  the  old  bridge  at  Yaldlng,  with  Its  deeply  embayed 
cut-waters  of  rough  ragstone,  which  have  been  frequently 
repaired,  but  It  Is  substantially  the  original  bridge  as  it  was 
constructed  in  the  fifteenth  century.  There  Is  the  pictu- 
resque bridge  at  Twyford,  Kent  ;  another  at  Latlngford  with 
a  buttressed  cut-water  ;  another  at  Teston  ;  and  the  fine 
fifteenth-century  bridge  at  East  Farleigh,  with  four  ribbed 
and  pointed  arches  and  bold  cut-waters  of  wrought  stone. 

We  give  an  illustration  of  the  picturesque  bridge  at 
Sonning,  Berkshire,  beautiful  in  colour,  cool  and  comely  In 
its  arches,  the  subject  of  many  paintings.  There  are  three 
bridges  across  the  Thames  at  this  delightfully  picturesque  old 
village,  and  parts  of  them  have  been  already  gradually  re- 
built with  iron  fittings,  and  further  demolition  is  threatened, 
even  if  It  has  not  already  taken  place.  Originally  these 
bridges  were  the  glory  of  the  village  and  date  from  mediaeval 
times.  They  are  built  of  brick,  and  good  brick  Is  a  material 
as  nearly  imperishable  as  any  that  man  can  build  with. 
There  is  hardly  any  limit  to  the  life  of  a  brick  or  stone 
bridge,  whereas  an  iron  or  steel  bridge  requires  constant 
supervision.  The  oldest  iron  bridge  in  this  country — at 
Coalbrookdale,  in  Shropshire — has  just  failed  after  123  years 
of  life.  It  was  worn  out  by  old  age,  whereas  the  Roman  bridge 
at  Rimini,  the  medlasval  ones  at  St.  Ives,  Bradtord-on-Avon, 
and  countless  other  places  In  this  country  and  abroad,  are  in 
daily  use,  and  likely  to  remain  serviceable  for  many  centuries 
to  come.  The  increased  use  of  terrible  traction-engines 
of  gigantic  weight,  drawing  heavy  wagons  containing  tons 
of  bricks,  creates  fears  in  the  hearts  of  the  lovers  of  these 
ancient  structures,  and  possibly  those  which  lie  In  the  track 
of  these  fearsome  vehicles  will  not  long  resist  their  on- 
slaughts. They  should  be  ruthlessly  forbidden  to  cross 
L  145 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

them,  and  their  owners  compelled  to  construct  others  more 
suitable  to  their  unwieldy  weight.  Hideous  iron-girder 
erections  are  good  enough  for  them. 

The  lore  of  old  bridges  is  a  fascinating  subject.  Abingdon 
has  a  bridge  built  in  1389  and  connected  with  the  Fraternity 
of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  Guild  had  a  Bridge  Priest  to  pray 
for  the  souls  of  the  benefactors  and  founders — John  Brett 
and    John    Houchens,   and   Sir   Peter  Besils   who  gave    the 


COLESHILL,    WARWICKSHIRE 


Stone  and  left  houses,  the  rents  of  which  were  devoted  to  its 
repair,  and  Geoffrey  Barbour  who  gave  some  wealth  for  the 
same  object.  The  Guild  of  St.  Andrew  and  St.  Mary  Mag- 
dalene, established  by  Henry  VI  in  1452,  maintained  the 
bridge  at  Maidenhead.  It  existed  as  early  as  1298,  when  a 
grant  was  made  for  its  repair.  The  town  owes  its  origin  to 
the  bridge,  as  Camden  tells  us  that  after  its  erection  Maiden- 
head began  to  have  inns  and  to  be  so  frequented  as  to 
outvie  its  neighbouring  mother.  Bray,  a  much  more  ancient 
place.     The  present  graceful  bridge  was  built  in  1772  from 

146 


OLD   ROADS,   BRIDGES   AND    RIVERS 

designs  by  Sir  Roland  Taylor.  A  beautiful  old  bridge  con- 
nected Reading  and  Caversham,  and  it  had  a  chapel  which 
contained  many  relics  of  saints  ;  but  it  has  been  replaced  by 
a  hideous  iron-girder  structure.  We  give  a  sketch  of  the 
graceful  old  bridge  at  Coleshill,  Warwickshire,  with  its  six 
arches  and  massive  cut-waters.     The  bridge  and  river,  the 


<  ~  :■-  '"\*»»^\.,s   .    . 


» 


SUNRISE    ON    THE    STOUR    AT    NAYLAND,    SUFFOLK 

village  street  and  houses  embedded  in  trees,  and  the  tall  spire 
of  the  church,  form  a  beautiful  group. 

The  rivers  and  streams  that  flow  through  or  near  many 
villages  add  greatly  to  their  charm.  In  Berkshire  we  have 
our  Thames,  which  poets  call  "  stately "  or  "  silvery,"  the 
great  watery  highway  traversed  by  Saxons  and  then  by  ruth- 
less Danes,  who  burned  the  towns  and  villages  along  its 
banks,  and  left  behind  them  weapons  which  are  eagerly 
sought  after  by  the  antiquary.  The  whole  story  of  the 
Thames  would  fill  volumes  from  the  time  when  it  was  a 
wide-spreading   river   opening  out  into  large  lagoons   until 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

it  contracted  its  bed,  and  was  at  last  chained  and  locked  and 
bound,  and  made  to  turn  innumerable  mills  and  convey 
securely  barges  and  boats  on  its  comparatively  smooth  sur- 
face. It  can  still  be  angry  and  rage  and  swell  with  mighty 
floods  and  torrents,  but  it  invites  with  pleasant  smiles  the 
water-idlers  on  a  summer  afternoon  and  the  keen  oarsmen 
who  love  to  strive  along  its  course  during  the  greatest 
regatta  of  the  world.  But  the  smaller  and  less  stately  rivers 
and  streams  are  no  less  inviting  to  the  lover  of  nature  ; 
rivers  just  wide  enough  for  small  boats,  where  you  can  idle 
and  fish  or  watch  the  kingfishers.  Such  a  river  is  the  Stour 
at  Nayland,  Suffolk,  or  the  Rother  in  Sussex,  where  "  one 
can  walk  by  its  side  for  miles  and  hear  no  sound  save  the 
music  of  repose — the  soft  munching  of  the  cows  in  the 
meadows,  the  chuckle  of  the  water  as  a  rat  slips  in,  the 
sudden  yet  soothing  plash  caused  by  a  jumping  fish.  Around 
one's  head  in  the  evening  the  stag-beetle  buzzes  with  its 
multiplicity  of  wings  and  fierce  lobster-like  claws  out- 
stretched."^ In  summer  the  river  that  flows  through  the 
village  looks  enchanting  with  its  wealth  of  lilies,  reeds,  and 
rush  "  with  its  lovely  staff  of  blossom  just  like  a  little 
sceptre";  the  low  riverside  meadows  that  "flaunt  their  mari- 
golds "  ;  or  in  winter,  when 

Nipped  in  their  bath  the  stalk-reeds  one  by  one 
Flash  each  its  clinging  diamond  in  the  sun. 

Possibly  near  your  village  you  may  find  a  melancholy  long- 
disused  canal.  It  is  now  covered  with  green  weeds  and 
■overgrown  with  reeds  and  rushes.  No  barge  ever  tries  to 
make  its  way  along  it.  Just  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was 
dug  with  eager  zeal.  Thousands  of  pounds  were  spent 
upon  it.  A  network  of  such  canals  was  made  late  in  the 
eighteenth  and  early  in  the  nineteenth  century.  For  a  few 
jears    they    rejoiced    in    their    strength.       They    connected 

^  Highways  and  Byzcays  in  Sussex,  by  E.  V.  Lucas. 
148 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

navigable  rivers.  Barges  laden  with  coals  and  goods  of  all 
kinds  conveyed  their  treasures  to  country  towns  and  villages. 
A  roaring  trade  was  done  at  the  wharfs,  and  all  was  anima- 
tion, when  the  tiresome  railways  were  invented  and  killed 
the  canal,  which  remains  silent,  derelict.  It  is  a  pathetic 
story.  Some  hopeful  people  declare  they  have  a  great  future 
and  may  yet  be  used  ;  but  in  the  meantime  they  are  still, 
the  homes  of  water-fowl  and  fish,  their  banks  glorious  with 
reeds  and  flowers,  while  bridges  and  locks  are  not  without 
a  peculiar  charm,  and  afford  subjects  for  melancholy  philoso- 
phers. 

We  have  traversed  the  old  roads,  crossed  bridges  and,  like 
our  village  rustics,  loved  to  linger  upon  them,  and  watched 
the  river  as  it  flows  and  the  stagnant  waters  of  the  canal. 
Our  course  takes  us  homewards  to  our  inn,  and  we  have  yet 
another  bridge  to  cross,  a  footbridge  like  that  at  Coughton, 
Warwickshire,  which  Mr.  Sydney  R.  Jones  has  so  cleverly 
drawn.  It  does  not  look  very  strong  and  safe,  and  a  heavy 
mian  would  like  perhaps  to  have  a  bridge-chapel  at  its  side 
in  order  that  he  might  pray  for  a  safe  crossing.  It  is  old 
and  shakes  terribly  as  we  cross,  but  we  pass  in  safety,  and 
wander  to  our  resting-place  for  our  last  night's  sojourn  in 
the  village. 


XII 


SUNDIALS    AND    WEATHERCOCKS 


IT  is  not  very  easy  for  villagers  to  know  the  exact  time 
by  Greenwich.  When  the  wind  is  favourable  we 
sometimes  hear  the  distant  boom  of  the  Aldershot 
gun  which  is  discharged  at  one  o'clock  in  the  day 
and  at  9.30  p.m.,  or  the  more  prosaic  sound  of  the  steam- 
whistle  of  a  neighbouring  timber- works.  Some  village 
churches  can  boast  of  a  clock,  an  old 
and  venerable  piece  of  mechanism 
which  is  guaranteed  not  to  keep  very 
accurate  time.  Moreover,  it  has  only 
one  hand  and  can  only  tell  the  hours, 
and  the  minutes  have  to  be  conjectured. 
But  we  have  our  sundials,  and  in  the 
days  before  cheap  watches  abounded 
they  were  the  only  means  for  telling 
the  time. 

These  were  often  placed  on  the  south 
wall  of  the  church  or  on  the  tower,  and 
when  the  sun  shone  upon  it  and  indi- 
cated that  the  hour  of  Divine  service 
was   approaching,    the    clerk    began    to 
ring   one   of   the    bells    or   the   ringers   rang   a    merry   peal. 
When  the  sun  refused   to  shine,  or  when  the   nights   were 
dark  and   the  clerk  had  to  ring  the  curfew,  the  time   must 
have  been  somewhat  uncertain  unless  he  possessed  a  clock. 
The    sundial    often    stands    in    the    churchyard    upon    a 

151 


tjfJttit\g(os\^ 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

pedestal,  or  when  the  upper  part  of  the  churchyard  cross 
has  perished  the  stem  has  been  used  for  the  purpose.  Chil- 
ham  churchyard,  Kent,  has  a  very  beautiful  sundial  with  a 
very  graceful  stone  pedestal  designed  by  Inigo  Jones.  At 
Kilham,  East  Yorkshire,  a  stone  coffin  sunk  into  the  ground 
has  been  used  as  the  stem  of  a  sundial  which  was  placed 
there  in  1769.^  We  give  an  illustration  of  the  massive  sun- 
dial which  stands  in  the  churchyard  of  Elmley  Castle  village, 
Worcestershire.  Viewed  in  the  framework  of  the  ancient 
doorway  of  the  church-porch  with  the  village  beyond,  it 
forms  a  very  pleasing  object.  These  primitive  timekeepers 
are  often  adorned  with  ornamental  ironwork,  produced  by 
the  skill  of  the  village  blacksmith,  and  bear  appropriate  in- 
scriptions. There  is  a  very  curious  one  cut  in  stone  near 
the  sundial  at  Seaham  Church,  Durham  : 

The  natural  clockwork  by  the  Mighty  One 

Wound  up  at  first,  and  ever  since  has  gone  : 

No  pin  drops  out,  its  wheels  and  springs  are  good, 

It  speaks  its  Maker's  praise  tho'  once  it  stood  ; 

But  that  was  by  the  order  of  the  Workman's  power|; 

And  when  it  stands  again  it  goes  no  more. 

There  is  a  very  charming  inscription  on  the  sundial  in 
Shenstone  churchyard,  near  Lichfield.      It  runs  : 

If  o'er  the  dial  glides  a  shade,  redeem 
The  time  ;  for,  lo,  it  passes  like  a  dream. 
But  if  'tis  all  a  blank,  then  mark  the  loss 
Of  hours  unblest  by  shadows  from  the  cross. 

The  dial  is  formed  by  a  cross  surmounting  a  pillar,  the  cross 
being  placed  in  a  leaning  position,  the  arms  of  which  cast 
shadows  on  the  figures  engraved  on  the  sides  of  the  shaft. 

Others  content  themselves  with  simpler  rhymes,  sententious 
mottoes,  or  appropriate  texts  from  the  Bible,  such  as  the  in- 
scription at  Isleworth,  Middlesex,  which  runs  : 

Watch  and  pray. 

Time  passeth  away  like  a  shadow. 

^    Curious  Church  Customs^  by  W.  Andrews,  p,  156. 


'iiillKlh    "^  ^   >  v.v^ 


THE    SUNDIAL     IN     ELMLEY    CASTLE    VILLAGE    CHURCHYARD, 
WORCESTERSHIRE 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

The  motto  on  an  ancient  dial  at  Millrigg,  near  Penrith, 
inscribed  by  some  member  of  the  Order  of  Knights  Hospi- 
tallers of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  is  worth  recording.  It  is 
in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  the  dial  personified  and 
the  passenger  : 

Diall 
Stale,  Passinger. 
Tell  me  thy  name, 
Thy  nature. 

Passr 
Thy  name  is  die 
All,     I  a  mort  all 
creation. 

Diall 
Since  my  name 
And  thy  nature 

Soe  agree, 
Thinke  on  thy  selfe 
When  thov  looks 

Upon  me. 

The  Eyam  sundial  is  remarkable.  It  has  the  names  of 
several  places  inscribed  upon  it  in  order  to  show  the  differ- 
ences of  time,  and  also  the  tropics  are  marked  with  the  motto  : 

Induce  am  mum  sapient  em,  1773* 

The  multiplication  of  clocks  and  watches  has  rendered  the 
use  of  sundials  obsolete.  But  though  rare  in  villages,  clocks 
can  claim  a  considerable  antiquity.  Peter  Lightfoot,  a  monk 
of  Glastonbury,  was  an  ingenious  maker  who  fashioned 
in  1335  for  his  monastery  a  wonderful  clock  which  not  only 
told  the  time,  but  made  some  figures  move  so  as  to  represent 
a  knightly  tournament.  Another  of  his  works  of  skill  exists 
at  Wimborne  Minster.  Some  village  clockmakers  two 
hundred  years  ago  were  very  clever,  and  have  left  us  some 
admirable  "grandfathers"  which  are  now  eagerly  sought 
by  collectors.  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  acquire 
three  such  clocks,  two  of  which  date  from  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century.     Villagers  are  very  skilful  in  knowing 

•5  + 


SUNDIALS   AND   WEATHERCOCKS 

the  time  without  referring  either  to  clock  or  watch,  and 
their  wits  are  especially  keen  when  the  dinner -hour  is 
approaching. 

They  are  also  remarkable  prophets  concerning  the  weather 
and  the  changes  in  the  direction  of  the  wind.  They  watch 
the  vane  on  the  church  spire,  and  homely  rhymes  enable 
them  to  prophesy  what  the  weather  will  be.  Thus  the 
Wiltshire  peasant  tells  : 

When  the  wind  is  north-west 

The  weather  is  at  the  best ; 

If  the  rain  comes  out  of  the  east, 

'Twill  rain  twice  twenty-four  hours  at  the  least. 

Another  rhyme  assures  us  : 

A  southerly  wind  with  showers  of  rain, 
Will  bring  the  wind  from  west  again. 

The  north  wind  brings  snow,  wet,  and  cold.  A  north-east 
wind  is  neither  good  for  man  nor  beast.     But 

The  wind  in  the  west 
Suits  every  one  best. 

The  villagers  can  tell  the  kind  of  weather  to  be  expected 
from  watching  the  animals,  who  are  famous  prophets.  Thus, 
an  ass's  bray  foretells  rain.  The  bees  stay  at  home  when  it 
is  likely  to  be  wet.  A  crowing  cock  at  even,  or  a  bawling 
peacock,  prognosticates  rain.  High-flying  rooks  or  low- 
flying  swallows  predict  bad  weather  ;  and 

When  black  snails  cross  your  path 
Black  clouds  much  moisture  hath. 

Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  this  weather-wisdom,  the 
vane  on  the  church  spire  never  lies.  It  is  a  beautiful  and 
graceful  object,  which  again  bears  witness  to  the  skill  of  the 
village  blacksmith.  Its  form  is  traditional,  and  has  been 
handed  down  to  our  own  day  from  the  time  of  St.  Dunstan. 
Its  popular  name  we3.ther-cock  suggests  its  shape.  Why 
was  this  bird  selected  to  preside  over  our  spires  and  turrets  ? 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 

It  is  the  emblem  of  vigilance.     Hugo  de  Sancto  Victore,  in 
the  Mystical  Mirrour  of  the  Churchy  tells  us  : 

"  The  cock  representeth  the  preacher.  For  the  cock  in 
the  deep  watches  of  the  night  divideth  the  hours  thereof 
with  his  song,  and  arouseth  the  sleepers.  He  foretelleth  the 
approach  of  day,  but  first  he  stirreth  up  himself  to  crow 
by  the  striking  of  his  wings.  Behold  ye  these  things  mysti- 
cally, for  not  one  of  them  is  there  without  meaning.  The 
sleepers  be  the  children  of  this  world  lying  in  sins.  The 
cock  is  the  company  of  preachers,  which  do  preach  sharply, 
do  stir  up  the  sleepers  to  cast  away  the  works  of  darkness, 
which  also  do  foretell  the  coming  of  the  light,  when  they 
preach  of  the  Day  of  Judgment  and  of  future  glory.  But 
wisely  before  they  preach  unto  others  do  they  rouse  them- 
selves by  virtue  from  the  sleep  of  sin  and  do  chasten  their 
bodies." 

There  was  a  weathercock  on  the  cathedral  of  Winchester 
in  961  A.D.,  and  Wulstan  relates  how  it  caught  the  morning 
sun  and  filled  the  traveller  with  amazement  : 

"  The  golden  weathercock  lording  it  over  the  city  ;  up 
there  he  stands  over  the  heads  of  the  men  of  Winchester, 
and  up  in  mid-air  seems  nobly  to  rule  the  western  world  ;  in 
the  claw  is  the  sceptre  of  command,  and  like  the  all-vigilant 
eye  of  the  ruler,  it  turns  every  way." 

Constant  allusions  to  the  erection  of  weathercocks  are 
found  in  old  records.  Although  the  cock  was  the  usual 
symbol,  other  forms  may  be  found  occasionally.  A  ship 
is  sometimes  seen  surmounting  the  steeple,  and  the  symbol 
of  the  saint  to  whom  the  church  is  dedicated  is  occasionally 
selected  as  a  vane.  Thus,  in  London,  St.  Peter's,  Cornhill, 
has  a  key  ;  St.  Lawrence,  Jewry,  a  gridiron  ;  St.  Botolph's, 
Aldgate,  an  arrow  ;  and  St.  Clement  Danes,  an  anchor. 

But  weathercocks  are  not  confined  to  churches,  and  our 
artist  has  discovered  several  excellent  examples  of  domestic 
vanes  that  grace  the  roofs  of  farm  buildings,  half-timbered 
houses,  and  humbler  dwellings.      In  former  days  it  was  con- 

156 


SUNDIALS   AND   WEATHERCOCKS 


CLUN,    SALOP 


sidered  an  important  privilege  to  be  allowed  to  set  up  a  vane, 

and  no  one  was  permitted  to  erect  a  weathercock  upon  his 

house  unless  he  were  descended  from 

a  noble  family.     Indeed,  some  ancient 

authors  assert  that  none  could  attain 

to    that    honour   who    had    not    been 

foremost   at   scaling   the   walls   in   an 

assault  upon  some  city,  or   had  first 

planted  their  banners  on  the  ramparts. 

The  form  of  these  domestic  vanes  was 

usually  the  armorial   bearings  of  the 

family,    the    crest    or    banner.       The 

arrow,  cock,  and  banner  are  common 

designs.     Thus,  at  Clun,  Salop,  there 

is  an  arrow,  and  at  Leominster  a  half-  — 

timbered  house  called  the  Grange  has 

a  banner  inscribed  with  the  date  1687. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  house  was  formerly  the  old 
town  hall  built  by  John  Abel  (see  p.  1 1 8),  and 
that  when  the  townspeople  wanted  to  demolish 
the  structure  it  was  bought  by  Mr.  Arkwright 
and  re-erected  in  his  grounds  as  a  resi- 
dence. The  beautiful  ironwork  of  this 
example  should  be  noticed.  The  dovecote 
at  Eardisland  has  a  fish  for  its  vane,  and  a 
cock  and  a  hound  are  other  forms  shown 
in  the  illustrations.  Even  the  cottage  at 
Mansell  Lacy,  Herefordshire,  has  a  little 
"~^  (V^  vane.      It  is  a  curious  Herefordshire  custom, 

I  II       notes    our    artist,    to    place    a    twig    at    the 

finish  of  the  thatch  in  such  a  manner  that 
it  will  revolve.  To  this  twig  is  affixed  the 
figure  of  a  bird  made  out  of  thatching-straw, 
the  whole  thus  serving  the  purpose  of  a 
The  accuracy  of  such  a  vane,  I  should  imagine, 
157 


HALF-TIMBER 

HOUSE,    CALLED 

THE    GRANGE, 

LEOMINSTER 

weathercock. 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 


may  be  a  questionable  matter,  but  that  it  revolves  some- 
what there  is  no  doubt.  It  forms  a  very  pleasing  finish  to 
the  ridge  of  a  thatched  roof. 

We  have  not  exhausted  the  charms  of  our  village.  That 
would  be  a  large  volume  which  recorded  all  its  attractions. 
There  is  the  fascination  of  the  wild-life, 
the  birds  and  beasts,  the  butterflies  and 
insects,  that  dwell  in  the  neighbouring 
woodland,  the  treasures  of  the  trout- 
j^\::.-----^  stream     with     its    medley    of    exquisite 

'-^ ^JiTj  things,  where  many  a  tiny  creature  finds 

sanctuary,  undisturbed  by  the  world's 
rude  noise  or  the  tread  of  the  tourist. 
That  wood  is  a  haven  of  rest,  a  temple 
of  silence  broken  only  by  the  song  of 
the  birds,  the  sudden  cry  of  a  jay,  or  the 
scamper  of  a  rabbit  in  the  undergrowth. 
The  beauty  of  the  wild  flowers — honey- 
suckles, mints,  St.  John's  wort,  wild  roses, 
wild  thyme,  and  a  host  of  others — consti- 
tute a  charm  that  never  fails  to  please, 
for  those  who  love  Nature's  treasures. 
The  colours  change  in  the  glowing  carpet 
of  the  woods.  Now  it  is  yellow  with 
primroses  ;  now  blue  with  wild  hya- 
cinths ;  now  the  giant  bracken  puts  forth 
its  head  shaped  like  a  shepherd's  crook,  and  soon  it  grows 
as  high  as  one's  head  ;  and  as  the  autumn  season  advances 
it  turns  its  green  fronds  into  dull  gold  that  glisten  in  the 
sunlight.  Even  in  winter  the  woods  lose  not  their  beauty 
and  their  charm. 

And  now  I  come  to  the  greatest  charm  of  all,  far  greater 
than  storied  minster,  palatial  manor,  or  picturesque  cottage, 
and  that  is  the  villagers  themselves.  Perhaps  some  day 
I  may  tell  you  more  about  them.     They  are  the  real  charm 

158 


THE    DOVECOTE, 

EARDISLAND, 
HEREFORDSHIRE 


SUNDIALS    AND    WEATHERCOCKS 

of  our  picture.  All  that  I  have  told  you  is  the  tramework. 
I  could  tell  you  strange  stories  of  their  beliefs,  their  super- 
stitions, their  shrewdness,  their  old-fashioned  courtesies, 
their  gentlemanliness,  their  sturdiness  and  bravery.  But 
that  is  another  story,  and  must  be  left  for  a  future  time. 

We  have  tried  to  paint  the  picture  of  our  village,  and  to 
see   all   its   graces  and   perfections.      Mr.   Sydney  R.  Jones, 


^< 


SHELDON, 

WARWICKSHIRE 


MANSELL    LACY, 
HEREFORDSHIRE 


GREAT    CHESTERFORD, 
ESSEX 


has  drawn  them  with  skilful  pen,  and  I  have  but  en- 
deavoured to  point  out  their  many  beauties.  I  have  told 
little  of  the  buried  treasures  chat  this  hamlet  holds,  little 
of  the  lore  and  legend,  little  of  the  great  men  who  have  lived 
here  and  added  honour  to  our  annals.  The  parish  chest 
is  still  locked,  and  the  documents  at  the  record  office  1  have 
severely  left  alone.  But  we  have  seen  how  our  village  grew 
up  from  babyhood  to  man's  estate — I  will  not  allow  that 
even  now  it  is  very  old,  or  getting  into  its  dotage — we  have 
looked  upon  its  treasures,  its  wealth  of  beauty,  its  rural 
homesteads,  its  paradise  of  flowers.     We  have  admired  the 

159 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH    VILLAGE 

wondrous  skill  of  our  forefathers  who  wrought  so  surely 
and  so  well,  and  so  effectively  used  the  materials  which 
Nature  gave  them,  whether  stone  or  brick  or  timber,  tile 
or  slate,  and  thus  discovered  the  true  secret  of  the  harmony 
with  nature,  the  chief  characteristic  of  English  village  archi- 
tecture. We  may  learn  something  from  their  example.  We 
may  learn  to  abstain  from  spoiling  their  work  by  the  erection 
of  cheap  and  inferior  buildings  which  degrade  the  landscape 
by  their  crude  colours  and  graceless  form.  We  may  learn  to 
adhere  to  the  same  principles  which  guided  them,  cultivate 
the  same  means,  and  imbue  our  minds  with  the  same  sense  of 
harmony  and  reverence  tor  antiquity,  and  then  the  charm 
of  the  English  village  will  not  be  allowed  to  decay.  Can  it 
not  be  retained  ?  Cottages  that  are  insanitary  can  be 
improved  and  made  sanitary  without  being  pulled  down. 
Small  holdings  may  attract  new-comers,  and  honest,  thrifty 
labourers  may  become  their  own  masters  and  farm  their  own 
land.  We  who  live  in  the  country  are  a  little  incredulous 
about  the  results  of  the  laws  which  some  of  those  good 
members  of  Parliament  who  know  nothing  about  us  frame 
for  our  benefit  ;  but  if  in  their  wisdom  they  can  devise  any- 
thing to  improve  our  conditions  of  life,  we  shall  not  be 
ungrateful.  Sometimes  we,  whose  lot  it  is  to  live  in  an 
English  village,  sigh  for  a  larger  outlook,  a  more  extended 
sphere  of  work,  for  contact  with  kindred  souls  in  the  great 
world  of  art,  literature,  or  science  ;  but  life  in  the  country 
is  wondrously  attractive  to  those  who  love  nature,  and  we 
are  thankful  that  we  have  been  called  to  work  amidst  the 
fields  and  lanes  of  rural  England,  and  are  able  to  appreciate 
the  charm  of  an  English  village. 


FINIS 


INDEX 


Note. — The  use  of  black  figures  denotes  that  the   page  reference  is  to  an  illustration. 

A  Beaulieu,     Hants,     cottage     at,     64^ 

Abbots   Morton,   Worcestershire,  6I5  9 

5r  Bedfordshire.     The  kitchen  well,  97, 

Abel,  John,  i  18,  157  101 

Abingdon,  Berks,  bridge  at,   146  Berkshire,  a  garden  in,  93-4  ;  parget- 
Acton    Trussel,     Staffordshire.      Cut  '        ting  in,  72,  75 

hedge  and    thatched  verandah,  92,  Berkswell.     The  stocks,  130 


93 

Alfriston,  Sussex,  parsonage  at,  45 

Almshouses,  20,  111-114 

Ancaster  quarries,  6 

Anchor-hold,  26 

Angle-posts,  51,54 

Appleton,  Bucks,  91,  93 

Architecture  of  churches,  24;   of  cot- 
tages, 47-71 

Armorials,  carved,  51,  74 

Arreton,  Isle  of  Wight,  great  barn  at, 

136*  137 

Ashford-in-the- Water,     Derbyshire,   !   Bridges,  144-50 


Berrynarbor,  Devon,  6?  8 

Bewcastle,  cross  at,  1  1 9 

Biddenden,  Kent,  14,  15;  old  cus- 
tom at,    14 

Binscombe,  cottage  at,  62 

Bishop  Auckland,  cross  at,  I  2 1 

Blacksmith,  the  village,  97,  1 00-101, 
155  ;   shop,  104 

Bray,  lych-gate  at,  23 

Brenchley,  Kent,  52,  57 

Brick,  8 

Brick-nogging,  57 


Broom-squires,  108-10 

Building  materials,  4 

Burford,   Oxon.     A  cottage  window, 

77,  81 
Burwash,  Sussex,  70?  7 1 
Buttresses,  24 


107 

Audley  End,  Essex.    The  almshouses, 

113,  11  + 

B 

Bagshot  Heath  and  highwaymen,   i  3  3 
Ballingdon.      An     Essex    mill,     1 08, 

109 
Barge-boards,  63,  66-9 
Barley,  Herts.     Inn  sign,  100,  103 
Barns,  134-7 
Bay,  A,  57-8;  central,  56;  windows,    ,  Carisbrook,  from  the  Castle  Hill,  17, 

51»  81  I        21 

M  161 


Calbourne,  Isle  of  Wight,  68,  7 1 
Canals,  148-9 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 


Cavendish,  Suffolk,  14,  17,  69?  71 

Chalegreen,   Isle  of  Wight.      A  gar- 
den entrance,  86>  87 

Chapels  on  bridges,  144. 

Characteristics  of  villages,  17-22 

Chest,  the  parish,  32,  3  3 

Childrey,  grammar  school  at,  1  1 7- 
18 

Childs  Wickham,  Glos.  Chimney, 
79;   the  cross,  124,  125 

Chilham,  Kent,  sundial  at,  1  5  2 

Chilmark  quarries,  6 

Chimneys,  69,  79-81 

Chimney-crane  and  hanger,  77 

Church,  village,  17,  23-33 

Churchyard  crosses,  i  19-21 

Churchyards,  23-4,  20>  29 

Clare,  Suffolk.      Inn  sign,  103 

Clipping  trees,  87,  88,  91,  92,  92 

Clocks,  151,  154 

Cloth  trade,  i  3  2 

Clun,  Shropshire,  lych-gate,  26  ;  ^ane 
at,  157 

Coaching  days,  95 

Cocks  as  vanes,  origin  of,  155-6 

Codford  St.  Peter,  Wiltshire.  Thatch- 
ing, 67,  7 1 

Coleshill,  Warwickshire,  the  bridge, 
146,  147  '■>   the  whipping  post,  130 

Columbaria,  138-41 

Cooking  implements,  old,  77 

Cornish  cottages,  8 

Corsham,  Wiltshire,  the  almshouses 
at,  114,  115 

Cotswold,  a  finial,  80  ;  houses,  80-2  ; 
stone  slabs,  64 

Cottages:  architecture  of,  47-71; 
decoration  of;  72-82  ;  description 
of  typical,  49  ;  details  of,  72-82  ; 
interiors  of,  74-7  ;   modern,  47 

Coughton,  Warwickshire.  The  foot- 
bridge, 149,  150 


Croscombe,  Somerset.  An  old  house, 
formerly  the  First  and  Last  Inn, 
and  mill-dam,  97,  98  ;  cottage 
doorway,  77 

Crosses:  village,  119-28;  churchyard, 
119;   market,  i  20  ;   wayside,  I  2  5 

Cross-legged  effigies,  33 

Cumberland,  cottages  of,  8 

D 

Dame  schools,  1 14-15 

Deane,   Northants.      The   Sea  Horse 

Inn,  96,  97 
Derbyshire  villages,  8,  10 
Description  of  an  old  cottage,  49-50 
Devil's  Highway,  143 
Dickens,   Charles,  on    the    culture   of 

flowers,  84 
Dinton  Green,  Bucks,  128,  129 
Ditcheat  Church,  Somerset,  23,  27 
Domestic  vanes,  156-7 
Doors  and  doorways  of  churches,  28  ; 

cottages,  74,  76-8 
Dorset  and  Hants,  varieties  of  walling 

from,  57 
Doulting,    Somerset,  a   barn   at,    135, 

136 
Dovecotes,  116,  138-41 
Ducking-stool,  1  30,  131,  132 


Eardisland,  Herefordshire,  the  gram- 
mar school,  116,  1 18  ;  the  dovecote 
vane,  157,  158 

East  Hendred,  Berkshire,  104,  105 

Eleanor  crosses,  125 

Elmley  Castle  village  churchyard.  The 
sundial,  152,  153 

Englishmen's  love  of  gardens,  84-85; 

Enstone,  Oxfordshire,  barn  at,  137 


[62 


INDEX 


Epitaphs,  24 

Essex,    external    plaster     (pargetting) 

from,  73 
Evelyn's    description    of    the    squire's 

garden,  83 
Evolution  of  the  modern  mansion,  44-5 
Ewelme,  Oxon.,  i  i  i,  112,  117 
Eyam,  cross  at,  121  ;  sundial  at,  i  54 


Farleigh  Hungerford,  Somerset,  5,  8 

Farmhouses,  42 

"  Filling  in  "  of  half-timber  work,  57 

Flowers  in  cottage  gardens,  86,  90-2  ; 
names  of,  90 

Flyford  Flavel,  Worcestershire,  in- 
terior of  the  Union  Inn,  97,  99 

Fonts,  28 

Footbridges,  150 

Fordwich,  Kent,  the  Town-hall,  131, 

132 

Foreign  villages  compared  with  Eng- 
lish, I 
Formal  gardens,  92 
Fulling  mill  at  East  Hendred,  104 


Galleting  or  garneting,  62 

Garden  of  cottage,  49,  84-94 

Garden  paths,  88 

Gardens,  village,  83-94 

Garnacott  (near  Bideford).    A  cottage 

fire-place,  74,  78 
Garway,  Herefordshire,  dovecote    at, 

139 
Geology  in  its  relation  to  building,  4 
Gibbet-irons,  i  3  3 

Gloves  made  in  Worcestershire,  106 
"God's  Acre,"  23 
God's  hostels,  1 1 1-14 


Godshill  village.  Isle  of  Wight,  17,  19 
Gothic  spirit  retained,  74,  80 
Grammar  schools,  1 16-18 
Great    Chesterford,    Essex,   55,    60 ; 

vane  at,  159 
Great  Coxwell,  134,  137 
Great    Tew,   Oxon.,  cottages  at,  66> 

69-71 
Greens,  village,  20-21,  128-9;  crosses 

on,  1  2  5 
Guilds  for  supporting  bridges,  146 

H 

Half-timbered  houses,  50-60 

Hall,  the   central,    tradition    of,    42  ; 

diminution  in  use  of,  45 
Hants  and  Dorset,  varieties  of  walling 

from,  57 
Harvington,      Worcestershire.       The 

Haunted  Hall,  37,  38 
Haunted  houses,  38 
Heraldic  arms  on  houses,  51,   74;   as 

weathercocks,  i  5  7 
Herefordshire  :  cottage  vanes,  i  5  7-8  ; 

market-houses,    118;    John  Abel's 

work  in,  118 
Herring-bone  work,  58 
Herts,  external    plaster    details    (par- 
getting), from,  73 
Hexham,  cross  at,  121 
Highwaymen,  133 
Highworth,  barn  at,  136 
Hinxton,  Cambridgeshire,  62,  65 
Horsham  stone,  63-4 
Hour-glass  in  pulpits,  30,  3  2 
Hurley,  Berks,  pigeon-house  at,  138 
Hurstmonceux     Castle,     Sussex,    35, 

36-7 


Ilkley,  cross  at,  121 


[63 


THE   CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 


Industries,  village,  102-10  I  Lucas's  Hospital,  Wokingham,  114 

Ingle-nooks,  74,  78,  80  j  Lych-gate,  23,  26 

Initials    carved  on  houses,  73-4,  74,   '  Lyme  Regis,  58 

81  Lymm,  Cheshire,  cross  and  stocks,  126 

Inn  signs,  97-103 


M 


Inns,  20,  95-100 

Interiors,  74-9,  81,  99,  101 

Intertie  framed  work,  56-7  ,  Maidenhead,  bridge  at,  146 

Iron    bridges    inferior    to    brick    and   ;  Manor-house,  20,  34,  38-45 


stone,  145 
Ironwork,  village,  in  inn  signs,  97 
Isle  of  Wight,  cottage   gardens,   87  ; 

villages  in,  19,  21,  68 
Isleworth,  Middlesex,  sundial  at,  152 
Italian    style,  the,    34  ;    in  hour-glass 

stands,  32,  103  ;   in  vanes,  157 


K 


Kentish  rag,  6 


Mansell  Lacy,  Herefordshire,  59,  65  ; 
cottage,  vane  at,  157,  159 

Market  crosses,  121-2 

Market-house  at  Leominster,  157;  at 
Pembridge,  Herefordshire,  122  ;  at 
Somerton,  Somerset,  122  ;  at  Wat- 
lington,  Oxfordshire,  13,  14 

Market-houses,  14,  122;  built  by 
John  Abel,  1 1  8 

Marston  Magna,  Somerset,  ingle-nook 
at,  80  ;   cottage  doorway,  79 


Kilham,    East    Yorkshire,   sundial   at,   ,  Marston  Sicca,  Gloucestershire,  65,  69 

152  j  Materials  used  in  buildings,  4 

King's  Norton  from  the  green,  Wor-  i  Mcdway  bridges,  145 

cestershire,  23,  25  i  Milford,  Surrey,  inn  at,  97 

Knowle,      Warwickshire,      farmhouse   :  Miller,  "the  Jolly,"  108 

Millrigg,     Penrith,      curious      sundial 

motto  at,  154 
Mills,  village  corn,  106-8 
Misereres,  32 

Lace  made  in  Bucks  and  Devon,  106   ,  Modern  cottages,  47 
Leominster :  The  Grange,  vane  from,   ;  "  Modern  Practical  Carpentry  "  by  G. 


near,  42  ;   inn  sign,  103 
L 


157  ;   the  ducking-stool,  131 
"Leper's  window,"  32 
Lewes,  dovecote  at,  141 
Limestone  quarries,  4 
Lingfield,  Surrey,  old  village  shop  at, 

102 
Little    Budworth,    Cheshire,    headless 

cross,  125-8 
Little   Hadham   Church,   Herts,  31  ; 

screen  in,  32 
Little  Hempton,  manor  house  at,  40 


Ellis,  56 
Monastic  barns,  135-7 
Montacute,   Somerset,  a    cottage   bay, 

5o»  51 
Monuments,  33 
Moor     Hall,    Humphries    End,    near 

Stroud,  39,  40 
Moreton  Pinkney,  Northants,  ic,  n 
Mortar,  the  strength  of  old,  60 
Mottoes  on  sundials,  152 
Mural  paintings,  33 


164 


INDEX 


N 

Nayland,  Suffolk,  the  Stour  at,  147 
Newport,    Essex,   cottage  at,  53,    58, 

60 
Norman  architecture,  24 
Northamptonshire,   i  o 

o 

Oddingley,     Worcestershire,     pigeon- 
house,  140,   141 
Oolitic  limestone,  6 
Ovens,  75 
Overhanging  storeys,  53 

P 

Pargetting,  53,  60,  72,  73,  75 

Parish  Chest,  the,  33,  132 

Parsonages,  mediaeval,  45 

Parvise,  26 

Pembridge,     Herefordshire,     the     old 

market-house,  122 
Pet  worth,  63 
Pews,  30 

Pigeon-houses,   1  3  8-4  i 
Pillories,  130 
Plaster-work,  72 
Pond,  the  village,  129,  i  50 
Porch,  cottage,   63  j    the   church,    26, 

117 
Porlock  Weir,  Somerset,  7,  8 
Post  and  Pan,  56 
Poundsbridge,  Kent,  54,  60 
Press-gang,  the,  i  3  i 
Preston  -  on  -  Stour,        Warwickshire, 

Frontispiece 
Projecting  storeys,  5  1  -4 
Pulpits,  30,  31 

Q 

Quainton  almshouses,  i  14 
Quarries  of  building  stone,  4-6 


R 

Reading,  Berks,  bridge  at,   147 

Reading  Street,   Kent,  brick  and  flint 
cottages,  58,  63 

Rectories,  45 

Rectory  garden,  the,  83-4 

Rectory,  the  old  thatched,  68-9 

Reigate  building-stone,  4 

Richard's     Castle,      Herefordshire, 
pigeon-house,    138,   139 

Ridge-tiling,  66 

Ringwood,  Hants,  a  stormy  sunset,  1  7, 
18 

Rivers  and  streams,  147-8 

Roads,  142-3 

Roman  roads,  143 

Roofs    of     churches,      28-9  ;       half- 
timbered  houses,  56 

Roses,  90-2 

Rother  river,  Sussex,  148 

Rowington,    Warwickshire,    a     farm- 
house,  42,   44 

Rushlight  holders,  77 

Ruskin   on   preservation   of  old   build- 
ings, 48 

Ruthwell,  cross  at,  119 

Rye,    gibbet-irons,    133  ;    the   pillory, 
130 

S 

Saxon  crosses,  119-21 

Schools,  20,  1  14-18 

Seaham,  Durham,  sundial  at,  1  5  2 

Selborne,    Hants,   from    the    Hanger, 

16,  17 
Sevenhampton,    Gloucestershire,    127» 

129 
Shapwick,  Dorset,  123*  125 
Sheldon,  Warwickshire,  159 
Shenstonc,   near   Lichfield,  sundial   at, 

1  si 


THE    CHARM    OF   THE   ENGLISH   VILLAGE 


Shere,  Surrey.      "  God's  Acre,"  29 

Shirehampton,  barn  at,  137 

Shop,  the  village,  102 

Signs  and  signboards,  97-100 

Skull,  story  of  a,  38 

Somerset  crosses,  121 

Somerton,  Somerset,  the  market-place, 

121,  122 
Sonning,  Berks,  144,  145 
South  Littleton,  dovecote  at,  139 
South  Stoke  Church,  Oxon.,  hour-glass 

bracket,  30 
South    Warnborough,   Hants,    cottage 

topiary,  88,  93 
Sports,  village,  i  28 
Spratton,  Northants,  a  cottage  window, 

79»  82 
Squire,  the  old,  38 
Squire's  garden,  the,  83 
Stability  of  English  villages,  2 
Stanton-in-the-Peak,     Derbyshire,     9, 

10  ;  a  doorway  at,  74,  76 
Stocks,  126*  I  30 
Stone  slate  roofs,  64,  6(> 
Stones  used  in  building,  4 
Stonesfield  slates,  64 
Stoney  Middleton,  Derbyshire,  10 
Stour  river,  Suffolk,  148 
Streams,  147,  148 
Stretton  Sugwas,  Herefordshire,  garden 

entrance,  87,  93 
Sturry,    Kent,   the   blacksmith's  shop, 

102,  104 
Sudbury,  Suffolk,  inn  sign,  103 
Suffolk,  Duke  of,  founder  of  Ewelme 

almshouses,  i  1  3 
Suffolk    villages,    14;    plaster    details 

(pargetting)  from,  73 
Sulgrave,  Northants,  a  cottage  entrance, 

89,  93 
Sundials,  120,   •  5  '-) 
Sussex  houses,  63 


Sutton  Courtney,  Berks,  12,  13; 
manor-house  at,  40  ;  a  cottage  win- 
dow, 79,  82 

Sutton  Green,  near  Stanton  Harcourt, 
Oxon.,  farmhouse,  42,  43 

Symbols  of  saints  used  as  vanes,  156 


Tadcaster  quarries,  6 

Tennyson's     description     of     cottage 

garden,  84 
Thames,  the,  147-8 
Thatched  roofs,  68-9 
Tiled  roofs,  65-6 
Tile-hung  houses,  60 
Timber  used  in  construction  of  houses, 

8,  50-60 
Timber-framed  houses,  construction  of, 

50-57 
Tithe  and  Tithe-barns,  134-7 
Tong,  Salop,  the  churchyard  cross,  120 
Tottenhoe  quarries,  6 
Traditional  style  of  building,  2 
Transom-framed  houses,  56 
Trent,  Dorsetshire,  a  cottage  garden, 

85,87 
Tunbridge  Wells,  new  sandstone  of,  4 

Tyler's     Green,     Penn,     Bucks,     the 

pond,  129 

U 

Upton    Snodbury,    Worcestershire,    a 
cottage  porch,  63?  66 

V 

Vanes,  155-8 

Varieties  of  English  villages,  2 
Vicarages,  45,  46 
Villagers,  158 


i66 


INDEX 


Villages,  English,  beauty  of,  i,  2,  22  ; 
characteristics  of,  17-22  ;  compared 
with  foreign,  i  ;  industries  of, 
102-110;  stability  of,  2;  variety 
of,  2,  3 

w 

Walling,  great  variety  of,  57,  62 

Wantage,  almshouse  at,  i  1 1 

Wargrave,  inn  at,  100 

Watermills,  village,  106,  107,  108 

Watlington,  Oxon.  The  market- 
house,  13 

Wayside  crosses,  i  2  5 

Weathercocks,  155-8 

Weather-lore,  i  5  5 

Weobley,  Herefordshire,  3,  8  ;  porch 
of  the  old  grammar  school,  117,  118 

West    Hendred,   Berks,  a  garden  at, 

93-4 


West  Wycombe,  Bucks,  13,  14 
Whalley,  crosses,  119 
Whipping-posts,  i  30 
Whittington,  sundial  at,  151 
Wild  flowers,  158 
Wild-life  of  the  country,  158 
Winchcombe,  coat-of-arms  from,  74 
Winchester,  vane  at,  156 
Windows,  cottage,  79,  82 
Window-gardens,  88-9 
Windmills,  108 
Winson,  Gloucestershire,  cottages  at, 

48,  50 
Woodmen,  108 
Wool,  Dorset.     The  manor-house  and 

bridge,  4.0,  41 
Worksworth  quarries,  6 

Y 

Yeoman's  house,  the,  42 


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Students  and  others.  A  series  of  40  Coloured  Plates,  accompanied  by  350  Studies  of 
Detail.     With  Descriptive  Notes.      By  J.  Foord.     Imperial  410.      Price  25s.  net. 

Mr.  Lewis  F.  Day's  Handbooks  of  Ornamental  Design. 

ENAMELLING.  A  Comparative  Account  of  the  Development  and 
Practice  of  the  Art.  For  the  Use  of  Artists,  Craftsmen,  Students,  etc.  By  Lewis  Day. 
Containing  214  Pages  of  Text.  With  115  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo,  cloth  gilt.  Price 
7s.  6d.  net. 

ORNAMENT    AND     ITS    APPLICATION.       A    Book    for    Students, 

treating  in  a  practical  way  of  the  Relation  of  Design  to  Material,  Tools,  and  Methods  of 
Work.  By  Lewis  F.  Day.  Containing  320  Pages,  with  about  300  full-page  and  other 
Illustrations.      Demy  8vo,  cloth  gilt.      Price  8s.  6d.  net. 

ART    IN    NEEDLEWORK.     A  book  about  Embroidery.     For  the  use  o 

Needleworkers  and  other  Students  of  Embroidery,  and  Designers  for  it.  By  Lewis  F.  Day 
and  Mary  Buckle.  Third  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Containing  81  full-page 
Plates  and  39  Illustrations  in  the  text,  together  with  a  Special  Chapter  (new  to  this 
edition)  on  White  Work,  with  Illustrations.       Crown  8vo,  cloth.      Price  5s.  net. 

PATTERN    DESIGN.      A  Book  for  Students,  treating  in  a  practical  way 
the  Anatomy,  Planning,  and  Evolution  of   Repeated  Ornament.      Containing  300  pages 
of  text,  with  upwards  of  300  Illustrations,  reproduced  from  drawings  and  from  photographs.  ' 
Demy  8vo,  cloth  gilt.      Price  7s.  6d.  net. 


A  List  of  Books  on  Architecture  and  Decorative  Art. 
WINDOWS.  — A     BOOK     ABOUT     STAINED     AND     PAINTED 

GLASS.  By  Lewis  F.  Day.  Second  Edition  revised,  containing  50  full-p.ige  Plates  and 
200  Illustrations  in  the  text.     400  Pages,  large  8vo,  cloth  gilt.      Price  21s.  net. 

The  Most  Handy,  Useful,  and  Comprehensive  Work  on  the  Subject. 

ALPHA'BETS,     OLD     AND     NEW.       Containing    over    200    complete 

Alphabets,  30  Scries  of  Numerals,  and  numerous  Facsimiles  of  Ancient  Dates.  Selected 
and  arranged  by  Lewis  F.  Day.  With  Modern  Examples  specially  designed  by  well- 
known  artists.  Second  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Crown  8vo,  art  linen.  Price 
3s.  6d.  net. 

LETTERING  IN  ORNAMENT.  An  inquiry  into  the  Decorative  Use 
of  Lettering,  Past,  Present,  and  Possible.  By  Lewis  F.  Day.  "With  200  Illustrations 
from  Photographs  and  Drawings.      Crown  8vo,  cloth.     Price  5s.  net. 


A  HANDBOOK  OF  ORNAMENT.     With  300  Plates,  containing  about 

3000  Illustrations  of  the  Elements  and  Application  of  Decoration  to  Objects.  By  F.  S. 
Meyer.  Third  Edition,  revised  by  Hugh  Stannus,  f.r.i.b.a.  Thick  8vo,  cloth  gilt. 
Price  I2S.  6d. 

HERALDRY  AS  ART.  An  Account  of  its  Development  and  Practice, 
chiefly  in  England.  By  George  W.  Eve.  Containing  320  Pages,  with  300  Illustrations 
of  Typical  Heraldic  Design,  Old  and  New.      Demy  8vo,  cloth  gilt.      Price  12s.  6d.  net. 

JAPANESE   ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  DESIGN. 

Book    I. — Containing   over    1500    Engraved    Curios,    and    most    ingenious    Geometric 
Patterns  of  Circles,  Medallions,  &c.     Oblong  i2nio,  fancy  covers.      Price  2s.  net. 

Book  II. — Containing  over  600  most  original  and  effective  Designs  for  Diaper  Orna- 
ment, also  artistic  Miniature  Sketches.     Oblong  i2mo.      Price  2s.  net. 

A     NEW     SERIES    OF    BIRD    AND     FLOWER     STUDIES.       By 

Watanabe  Sietei.  In  three  Books,  containing  numerous  exceedingly  artistic  Sketches 
in  various  tints.     8vo,  fancy  covers.      Price  los.  net. 

A    DELIGHTFUL    SERIES    OF    STUDIES    OF    BIRDS,    in    most 

Characteristic  and  Life-like  Attitude!:,  surrounded  with  appropriate  Foliage  and 
Flowers.  By  the  celebrated  Japanese  Artist,  Bairei  Kono.  In  three  Books,  each  con- 
taining 36  Pages  of  Illustrations,  printed  in  tints.  Bound  in  fancy  paper  covers. 
Price  los.  net. 

OLD    SILVERWORK,   CHIEFLY    ENGLISH,    FROM    THE    XVth 

TO  THE  XVIIIth  CENTURIES.  A  Series  of  examples  selected  from  a  unique  loan 
collection,  with  further  fine  specimens  from  private  collections.  Edited  by  J.  Starkie 
Gardiner,  f.s.a.  Containing  121  Beautiful  Collotype  Plates.  Folio,  buckram,  gilt. 
Price  £i,  5s.  net. 

OLD  CLOCKS  AND   WATCHES  AND  THEIR   MAKERS.     Being 

an  Historical  and  Descriptive  Account  of  the  different  Styles  of  Clocks  and  Watches  of 
the  Past.  By  F.  J.  Britten.  Second  Edition,  much  enlarged,  containing  740  Pages  with 
700  Illustrations.      Medium  8vo,  cloth  gilt.      Price15s.net. 


A  List  of  Books  on  Architecture  and  Decorative  Art. 
ENGLISH    INTERIOR    WOODWORK   of    the    XVIth,   XVIIth,  and 

XVIIIth  Centuries.  A  series  of  50  Plates  of  Drawings  to  scale,  with  full  practical 
details  and  descriptive  text.  By  Henry  Tanner,  a.r.i.b.a.,  Joint  Author  of  "Some 
Architectural  Works  of  Inigo  Jones."      Folio,  cloth  gilt.      Price  _2^i    i6s.net. 

PRACTICAL    WOOD    CARVING.      By    Eleanor    Rowe.      With    112 

Illustrations  from  Photographs,  and  55  from  line  drawings.  Demy  Svo,  cloth,  240  Pages. 
Price  7s.  6d.  net. 

OLD    ENGLISH    WOOD-CARVING    PATTERNS.       By    Margaret 

F.  Malim.  Comprising  30  Examples  on  20  Plates.  Imperial  4to,  in  portfolio.  Price 
8s.  6d.  net. 

WOOD-CARVING  DESIGNS.  By  Muriel  Moller.  With  a  Foreword 
by  Walter  Crane.  Six  Imperial  Sheets  Comprising  31  Working  Drawings,  12  Photo- 
graphs, and  20  Examples  of  Furniture.  Large  Imperial  Svo,  in  cloth  portfolio.  Price 
6s.  net. 

COLONIAL   FURNITURE   IN   AMERICA.      By  Luke  Vincent  Lock- 

WOOD.  With  300  Illustrations  of  Chests,  Couches,  Sofas,  Tables,  Chairs,  Settees, 
Cupboards,  Sideboards,  Mirrors,  Chests  of  Drawers,  Bedsteads,  Desks,  &c.  Demy  4to, 
art  linen  gilt.      Price  j(^i    5s.  net. 

HEPPLEWHITE'S    CABINET-MAKER    AND     UPHOLSTERER'S 

GUIDE.  A  facsimile  reproduction  of  this  rare  work,  containing  300  charming  Designs 
on  128  Plates.  Small  folio,  cloth  gilt,  old  style.  Price  ^2  los.  net.  (1794.)  Original 
copies  ivheti  met  ivith  fetch  from  f^i"]  to  jQii. 

ENGLISH    FURNITURE    DESIGNERS    OF   THE    XVIIIth    CEN- 

TURY.  By  Constance  Simon.  Containing  200  Pages,  with  62  full-page  Illustrations. 
Imperial  Svo,  cloth  gilt.      Price  15s.  net. 

OLD  ENGLISH  DOORWAYS.  A  Series  of  Historical  Examples  from 
Tudor  Times  to  the  end  of  the  XVIIIth  Century.  Illustrated  on  70  Collotype  Plates, 
from  Photographs  specially  taken  by  W.  Galsworthy  Davie.  With  Historical  and 
Descriptive  Notes,  including  34  Sketches  by  Henry  Tanner,  a.r.i.b.a..  Author  of 
"English  Interior  Woodwork."      Large  Svo,  art  canvas  gilt.     Price  15s.  net. 

FRENCH  WOOD-CARVINGS  FROM  THE  NATIONAL  MUSEUMS. 

A  series  of  Examples  printed  in  Collotype  from  Photographs  from  the  Carvings.  Edited 
by  Eleanor  Rowe.  Part  I.,  Late  15th  and  Early  i6th  Century  Examples  ;  Part  II.,  i6th 
Century  Work  ;  Part  III.,  17th  and  iSth  Centuries.  The  three  Series  complete,  each 
of  18  Plates,  with  Letterpress.  Folio,  in  portfolios,  price  12s.  each  net  ;  or  handsomely 
half-bound,  ^z   5s.  net. 

NOTE.— A    complete    List    of   Books    on  Architecture,    Decorative  Art,   etc.,  will    be  sent 
post-free  upon  application. 


B.  T.  Bx'\TSFORD,  Publisher,  94  High  Holborn,  London 


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