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EARLY ENGLISH FURNITURE
AND WOODWORK

VOLUME I

A SUGCxESTED RECONSTRUCTION

OF THE

14TH CENTURY RETABLE, OR PREDELLA,

ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE
{Reproduced by direct colour photography from the original, by the permission of the Dean of Norwich Cathedral.)

CR GRiBBLC 2Sr~

The panels represent (i) the Scourging ; (2) the Bearing of the Cross ; (3) the Crucifixion
(a fragment) ; (4) the Resurrection ; and (5) the Ascension.

The ground and surrounds are decorated in modelled and gilded gesso.

The coats of arms on the small square panels, numbered i to 17, are (as nearly as can be
ascertained) of the families given below.

Banner.

Colour of
Ground or
Backing.

Condition.

.\rms of.

No. I
2

Red
Red

Destroyed
Traces of —

Despencer

4
5

Red
Red
Black

Defaced

Almost destroyed

Perfect

Hales

Black ?

Perfect

Morieux

7
8

II
12

Black

Red

Black

Almost obliterated
Obliterated
Almost obliterated
Almost obliterated
Partly obliterated
Partly obliterated

Clifford ?

Kerdeston

Gernon

Black

Complete

Howard

14
15
16

17
18-28

Red
Red
Red
Red

Destroyed
Destroyed
Destroyed
Destroyed
Missing

(Bishop of Norwich, 1370-1406. ) Quarterly
argent and gules, the 2nd and yd quarters
fretty or ; over all a bend sable.

(Record of family, 1381.) Sable a chevron
between three lions rampant argent.

(Record of family, 1381.) Gules, a bend argent
billet)! sable.

(Doubtful traces of fess as ordinary.)

(Traces of fess) ?

(Traces of checkers and narrow fess) ?

Gules, a saltire engrailed argent.

(Record of Sir Nicholas Gernon, 1374.) Paly

ncbuly argent (or or) and gules.
(Record of Sir John Howard, 138S.) Gules, a

bend between six cross-crosslets fitchees argent.

(See pp. 120, 121, 122 and 124.)

if*! ^<
t J

EARLY ENGLISH
FURNITURE &
WOODWORK

VOLl

'S>.l

HERBERT- CE^CINSKY

AND

ERNEST- R- GRBBEE

GEORGE-ROUTLEDGE AND • SONS • LIMITED
^^OADWA^- HOUSE-LUDGATE- HILL- LONDON

MCMXXII

. - "^^r'

e)'(e

(7.1.

Printed in Great Britain at
The Mayflower Press, Plymouth. William Brendon & Son, Ltd.

PREFACE

N the attempt to write a history of English furniture and woodwork
showing its development in an orderly progression, one is confronted
by an initial difficulty ; where to begin. Of woodwork prior to the
fourteenth century we know very little, and of furniture practicalh'
nothing. Even if isolated specimens, for illustration, were available, —
which is not the case, — they would be useless for our present purpose. I have pointed
out, in other books on the subject, that an account of the evolution of furniture types, —
especially when an attempt is made to date examples, — must be a chronicle of the
fashions which prevailed at various periods. A solitary piece which has survived from
very early times may, or may not, be indicative of the fashions of its time ; we cannot
know unless we can produce others of corresponding date and type, which establish
the fact. We must always bear in mind also the possibility of a later copy of an earlier
original. Thus, oak dressers and square-dial long-case clocks were made as late as the
last quarter of the eighteenth century, but it would only make for confusion to illustrate
such pieces as examples of late-eighteenth-century furniture, although made at that
time. They are of the period but are not typical.

Modem furniture, even when made from that most durable material, English oak,
and when constructed in the logical and stable manner which is so characteristic of the
Tudor and Stuart periods, is, nevertheless, perishable, even with judicious wear and
usage. When neglect and ill-treatment are added, it is not remarkable that so little,
comparatively, of the Tudor and Jacobean furniture has survi\'ed to our day ; the
wonder is that any has persisted, even in the great treasure houses of England. With
fashion alwaj's as capricious as it is at the present day, out-of-date furniture, in any
form, must have been frequently in jeopardy during the chequered career through
which so much of it has passed.

For practical purposes, we are compelled to begin somewhere, and it is hazardous
to carry our enquiries much further back than the fourteenth century, in the case of
woodwork, and the fifteenth as far as furniture is concerned.

Closing, as this book does, with the end of the seventeenth century, we are confined
to a period of rather more than three hundred years, and, with certain rare exceptions,
it is oak furniture or woodwork with which we are exclusively concerned.

To justify the existence of this book as a contribution to the subject of English

Early FjigJish Funiiturc and Woodwork

furniturr and woodwork, it has been necessary to break new ground, apart from such
personal predilection and bias from which no authors are free. In the case of the earlier
pieces, some pioneer work has been attempted, by not only dating the period of the incep-
tion ol the jiarticular fashions of each example illustrated, but also by endeavouring to
indicate, where practicable, and where one could be reasonably sure of one's own knowledge,
tlie county or locality of origin. Apart from the interest attaching to such information,
it is necessary in determining periods either of fashion or manufacture, as the East
Anglian counties, for example, were often the first to adopt designs and methods from
Holland, which the Western districts only copied at a much later date.

It must also be remembered, in the attempt to view the early part of our subject
in its proper perspective, that, at least until the end of the first half of the seventeenth
century, if not to its close, intercourse between towns, and more especially between
the remoter country- districts, was very meagre.' Trade traditions were preserved
chiefly by the town apprentice, who became, frequently, the roving " journeyman,"
or settled in the country districts as a small master. It followed, therefore, as a logical
conclusion, that fashions originated from the large towns and were perpetuated in the
pro\-inces, often long after their \ogue in London had departed.

The only system of dating, therefore, which can be attempted with any approxima-
tion to truth, is that of the inception of fashions, not that of the actual manufacture
of pieces themselves. This point can hardlv he over-emphasised . To date an oak chair
as closely as a semi-decade, for instance, would be obviously absurd if this implied the
actual date when the chair was made. When, however, we learn from history that
events occurred at this period, which led to the introduction of a foreign fashion or detail
which the particular chair exhibits, such close dating begins to possess a real significance.
This sj'stem acquires a further advantage as indicating only the inception of a type.
It must not be forgotten that, frequently, the provinces copied the metropolitan fashions
at intervals varying from twenty to thirty years after they had ceased to be made
in London.

With the earlier examples, until almost the end of the sixteenth century', it is
more than doubtful if fashions existed at all, in the sense in which the term is used here,
if we except the ecclesiastical Gothic. England, from the point of view of furniture
production, was a collection of counties rather than a country. Each locality was
influenced by another according to inter-association and proximity, and between such

* It is, also, important to remember that tliis paucity of intercourse did not exist in the case of early monastic
institutions. The significance of this will be elaborated in Chapters II and III.

Preface

counties as Gloucestershire and Suffolk, for example, such intercourse was probably
non-existent. Each locality, therefore, in greater or lesser degree, must have possessed
its own furniture and woodwork characteristics, favourite or peculiar details, dictated
by trade traditions or abnormalities of timber growth or texture. ^

No writer on the subject appears to have dealt with this question of origin at all,
as, at first sight, there appears to be little or no data to commence with. Although
there is every reason to suppose, for example, that some proportion of the furniture
made in Cheshire would remain in its place of origin, yet, when we have to consider a
period of from two to three hundred years, this amount would be so likely to be
augmented by the productions of other counties, or diminished by removal or
breakage, that it becomes a nice point, at the present daj', at least with secular
furniture, to distinguish the indigenous from the imported specimens.

We have, however, a meagre groundwork with which to commence, in ecclesiastical
furniture of the movable type, and especially in such woodwork as pulpits or choir
stalls. We can say in the case of fixed woodwork in churches, with a fairly close
approximation to the truth, that this is of local manufacture, and once made and
placed in position was not likely to be removed elsewhere. The preserved records of
the Church itself frequently establish this beyond doubt. Even in the case of clerical
establishments prior to and during the period when Henry VIII was waging his
campaign against the power and property of the monasteries, the same applies.
Country churches were comparatively little affected by the strife which destroyed
monasteries, abbeys and priories, as the activities of Henry VIII and his son were
directed, principally, against the larger clerical establishments. ^

By reasoning from the fixed woodwork to the movable furniture contained in
country churches, it is possible, with care, to reconstruct the local styles of the various
periods, even though wide reser\'ations have to be admitted. Thus Kentish woodwork
and furniture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are unmistakable.

With greater production and complication of influences, as in the East Anglian
counties, it is not so easy to localise the work of Suffolk or Norfolk as that of Kent,
but the difficulty is partly removed if we reason from the basis of maximum standards
of production in each case.

Where fashions became widespread, and when the London manner was adopted.

' Again clerical furniture and woodwork of the periods prior to the Suppression of Monasteries, must be
excepted.

2 We must except the activities of William Dowsing and his fellows from 1640 to 1650, when so many of the
church rood screens were defaced or mutilated, especially in East Anglia.

Early English Furniture and If^oodwork

in various parts of England, witli little or no modification, the task of localising
manufacture becomes more dilBcult, or e\-en liopeless, but in this case there are minor
factors which are often of great assistance in arriving at a decision. The growth of oak
or walnut is not the same in the Western as in the Eastern Counties of England. In
the case of timber imported from Holland we could expect, naturally, to find a
preponderance of furniture made from this foreign wood in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,
^liddlesex or Kent, rather than in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire or the Welsh bordering
counties. We have some idea, from historical records, of the wealth and industrial
conditions of the various counties at different periods, as far back as the reign of
Henry \', and we would look, therefore, for the richest secular work in the wealthier
districts, although this would, for obvious reasons, not apply, necessarily, to ecclesiastical
woodwork or furniture, as the monastic establishments, prior to Henry VHI, were
enormously wealthy even in tlie poorer counties.

In a general sense, also, the art of the secular woodworker was centred in certain
towns of importance, and radiated from them in a very traceable way. These principal
towns wliere the trade traditions were fostered during the fifteenth, sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries were London, Bristol, Norwich, Ipswich, Coventry, Southampton,
Exeter, Shrewsbury, Chester, York and Winchester. From these towns the apprentice-
work was carried to adjoining country districts, and the original trade traditions were
perpetuated, with little or no modifications, often for ver^^ long periods. It is, therefore,
sometimes possible to postulate a sphere of origin with far more certainty than a date
of manufacture, and we are compelled to limit a statement of period to the date when
a certain style originated in one of the centres mentioned above.

A few words here are necessary to explain the association of names on the title page
of this book. Since the publication, some eleven or twelve years ago, of " English
Furnitiirc of the Eighteenth Century," I have always had the idea of writing another book
which should cover the whole of the available ground of English furniture, with its
contemporary woodwork. The collection of suitable examples, both for text and
illustration, involved some considerable labour and research, and conditions associated
with the Great European War, still further protracted its publication. One has also the
disturbing consideration that the longer a book of this kind is kept in manuscript and
photographic form, the more one has the chance of improving it by the addition,
periodically, of further facts and additional examples.

The author learns, perhaps, more than his readers, from an examination and
comparison of a large number of pieces and photographs, providing that they are

Preface

authentic productions of their time. It is in the examination of these examples,
especially in remote districts, and in photography under the most difficult conditions,
where the collaboration of Ernest Gribble has been so valuable. It is proposed to follow
up this book on " Early English Furniture and Woodwork " by another, dealing with
the work of the eighteenth century, thereby making the two books complete in their
way. In this first book it was necessary that one only should be responsible for the
writing, and this task has fallen to me. I may confess, at the outset, that without Ernest
Gribble this book would either never have been written, or would have been a ver}-
different production. His knowledge and experience of English woodwork, especially
of the early examples prior to 1530 has been more than an assistance ; it has been
indispensable. For many years he has employed the whole of his leisure time in visiting
churches and houses of the lesser type, in places practically unknown, and quite " off
the map," photographing (often under conditions of incredible difficulty), detailing
and examining, with the eye of a skilled craftsman, examples of English woodwork,
remarkable alike for their obscure location and their high quality.

If it be a truism that the greater one's knowledge the more self-apparent is one's
ignorance, I can only say that the real profundity of mine on the subject of early oak
woodwork was never so apparent to me until after our collaboration had commenced.
Ernest Gribble's name figures on this book as co-author with my own, but I must
acknowledge that he has supplied the bulk of the facts and the greater number of the
photographs. In the early chapters I have merely written from his notes, which have
exploded many of my pet theories. Some of these, however, have survived his criticism
or persisted in spite of it.

I cannot close this preface without a grateful acknowledgment to many of the
owners of the examples illustrated here, who have, with unfailing courtesy and patience,
assisted me in every way, by affording facilities for photographing their possessions,
and by gi\'ing me information as to their history and origin.

I have been indebted to so many for the necessary photographs which the book
has required that particular mention is almost invidious in itself. I feel, however, that
distinct praise is due to those gentlemen who have taken photographs in churches, as
every photographer will appreciate the enormous difficulty attendant upon work of
this character.

The Rev. Frederick Sumner has verj- kindly furnished the following : Figs. 99, 107,
108, 109, 112, 113, 117, 147, 148, 152, 169, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175. The Rev. F. R. P.
Sumner : Figs. 3, 4, 5, 132, 133, 134, 135, 146, 154, 155, 156. Mr. C. J. Abbott : Figs.

/' ix

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Zi, 55. 66, 97, 98, 104, 105, 157, 158, 181, 182, 184, 263, 264, 265, 295, and Messrs.
F. Frith : Figs. 93, 94, 95, 96, 106, 138, 139, 159, 176, 177.

I would like to point out here, that the collecting of the necessary photographs
for this book has occupied a space of over twelve years. The names here given are of
the owners of the pieces at the times when the photographs were taken. Many of the
e.xamples may lia\-e changed hands since ; this has been the case, to my knowledge,
with several, but as I have not — and could not without an enormous amount of
trouble," ha\-e followed the history of each piece and noted its change of ownership,
I have, therefore, noted the name of the owners at the time when the photographs
were taken. This course was inevitable. To obviate a needless repetition of " In the
possession of," or " The property of," I have merely put the name of the owner imder
each example illustrated.

I cannot resist here a strong word of praise of our national collection of furniture
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and at the same time to express my admiration
of the way in which this has been reinforced and improved during recent years. So
much painstaking knowledge and diligent research has been shown, so many new pieces
of remarkable merit have been acquired, and in circumstances of the utmost difficulty
(as the buying methods of the Board of Education place their curators at serious dis-
advantage when pitted against the dealer or the private collector), that I have been
amazed to find out, on recent visits, how good and representative the collection of
furniture at the Museum really is, at the present day. After travelling hundreds of
miles, to inspect collections of early oak in remote country districts, only to find that
one is confronted with the handiwork of this or that well-known " reproducer," it is
refreshing, to say the least, to visit the Museum, where every courtesy and assistance
is afforded to the student, and where every piece can be examined under ideal conditions.

In conclusion, if the reader experiences only a part of the pleasure and profitable
knowledge from the perusal and study of this book which I have gained in its writing,
I shall be more than satisfied.

H. C.

1922.

CONTENTS

PACE

Preface ..... v

CHAPIRR

I. Introductory i

II. The Dissolution of Monasteries 9

III. The Early Woodworker: His Life, Tools and Methods. . . 17

IV. The Plan of the Early Tudor House 32

V. The Development of the English Timber Roof .... 54

VI. Gothic Woodwork and Colour Decoration ..... 103

VII. Timber Houses, Porches and Doors 176

VIII. The English Staircase 211

IX. Wood Panellings and Mantels 231

X. Bedsteads and their Development ....... 355

Index 371

" There is no way of making an aged art young again ; it
must be born anew and grow up from infancy as a new
thing, working out its own salvation from effort to effort in
all fear and trembling."

Samuel Butler, Erewhon.

PARALLEL HISTORY OF EUROPE

IN THE

FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

PARALLEL HISTORY OF EUROPE IN THE
1400.

SCOTLAND

ENGLAND

House of

Lancaster

UOli Interregnum 1400 Henry IV

1413 Henry V

1415 Battle of
Agincourt

FRANCE

SAVOY

14i4
US-

James I
James II

14U0 James III

148S James IV

Ul'l' Henry VI 14:!:; Charles VII

1453 Wars of the
Koscs

House of York

14iil Edward IV

{479 } The Plague

1483 Edward V

1483 Richard III

The " Golden
Age" of English
Woodworli

1484 The " Sweat-
ing Sickness "

House of Tudor

148.-I Henry VII

1428 Siege of Or-
leans. Joan of
Arc

14G1 Louis XI

1465 War of the
Public Good

1483 Charles VIII

1495 Expedition
to Italy

Dukes

1451 Louis

14U5 Amadeus IX
1472 Philibert I

1482 Charles I
1489 Charles II

1496 PhUip Lack-
land

1498 Louis Xn 1497 Philibert II

(called the; (The Fair)
" Father of his
People ")

SWnZlvRLAND

1308 The Helve-
tian Republic
began with the
(legendary) re-
volt of William
Tell against Gcss-
ler, Governor for
the Emperor Al-
bert I. The
Cantons joined
the League in the
following order :

1308 Uri

1308 Switz

1308 Unterwalden|

1332 Lucerne

1351 Ziirich

1352 Zug

1352 Claris

1353 Berne
1481 Fribourg
1481 Soleure

Allied Cantons
1491 Orisons

1491 Valais

GERMAN EMPIRE

AUSTRIA

BOHEMIA

HtJNGARY

140(1 Robert,
Count Palatine
of Luxemburg

1410 Slgismund

(King iif Bohe-
mia, 1419)
(King of Hun-
gary, 1392)

House of Austria

1438 Albert II

(King of Bohe-
mia and Hun-
gary in 1437)

1440 Frederick IV

(He transformed

1440 Wladislaus

1458 George

Podiebrad

1458 Matthias 1
Corvinus j

Arch-Duchv in
1452)

Line of

Jagellon

1471 Wladislaus 1490
son of Casimir I of Poland

1493 Maximilian I

1500.

1506 The" Sweat-

1501 Basle

ing Sickness "

again breaks out 1504 Charles III

1501 Schaffhausen

1513 James V 1509 Henry VIII 1515 Francis I

1513 Appenzel

1517 Reformation
of Luther

1516 Louis, killed at Mohatz

1515 Hampton

Court commenced

Allied Cantons

1529 The English
" Sweating Sick-

1517 " Sweating

1502 St. Gall

ness " attacks

Sickness " again

Northern Ger-

1519 Charles V, Emperor of Austria

in 1528, known

1503 Bienne

many. 1100 peo-

and King of Spain

thenasthe

ple die in Ham-

■' Great Mor-

1526 Geneva

burg in 22 days

tality"

1526 Neufchatel

1529FallofWolsey

The House of Austria divides into the Spanish
and German Branches

1536 Suppression

Subjects

of Monasteries ' On the German

1526 Ferdinand, Emperor in 1556

began

side

1542 Mary 1543 Henry VIII

Baden

(Beheaded 1587) commences to de-

Turgow

1556 Ferdinand I, who by marriage with the heiresi

base the coinage

Rheinthal

of Bohemia and Hungary united those Kingdoms to
the House of Austria

1547 Edward VI 1547 Henry II

Sargans

1551 Last visita- 1559 prancis II 1553 Emanuel
^,'°° °* ^^^'^ Civil war by the Philibert (Iron

SweatmgSick- Guise faction Hand)
ness " '

On the French

side

Moratz

1553 Mary I 1560 Charles IX

Granson

1567 James VI 1558 Elizabeth 1570 Massacre of

Orbe

1564 MaxlmiUan II

(Succeeded to the StT Bartholomew

throne of England 1588 Armada de-

On the Italian side

inl603asjamesl. stroyed 1574 Henry III 1580 Charles
Scotland and Eng- Emanuel I (the

Lugano

1576 Rodolph II

land united as 1600 East India , 1575 The League Great)

Locarno

Great Britain in Company's Char-!

Bellinzona

1607) ter 1589 Henry IV

of Navarre (called

" the Great ")

FTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.

1400.

rSCANY

NAPLES AND
SICILY

House of Anjou

1414 Jane or !
Janella II

House of

Arragon

1435 Alfonso,

King of Arra-
gon and Sicily

PORTUGAL

CASTILLE

AKRAGON

XAVARRE

1406 John II

GREEK
EMPIRE

French

Emperors

RUSSIA

POPES OF
ROME

1410 Interregnum i

1412 Ferdinand
I

(1395 Russia in-
vaded by
Tamerlane the

Tartar)

1404 Innocent

VII

1406 Gregory

1433 Edward

1454 Henry IV

1416 Alfonso V

1425 Blanche
and John II,

King of Arra-
gon

1424 John 11 1425 Vasily or
Paleologus Basil III

1458 John II

1474 Isabella m. 14/9 Ferdinand 1479 Eleanor
II
Kingdom of Spain 1479 Francis

Phoebus of

Foix

1458 Ferdinand 1438 Alfonso V

the Bastard in (the African)
Naples

John, King of

Arragon and ^

Sicily

1494 Alfonso II 1481 John II

1495 Ferdinand 1495 Emanuel !

II (the Fortunate) 1492 Discovery of America

1496 Fredericli
III expelled
by the French I

1448Constantine,
Paleologus, j
the last of the I
Greek Empcr- I
ors

1462 Ivan Basil-
owitz or John
III

Empire of the
Turks

(In 1474 he de-
livered Russia
from the Tar-
tars)

1483 Cathar and
Johnof Albret,
who was strip-
ped of Upper
Navarre by
Ferdinand of
Castille

Ottoman Line

1453 Mahomet
II captures
Constantinople

1481 Bajazet II

XII

1409 Alexander

1410 John

XXIII

1417 Martin V

1431 Eugenius
IV

1447 Nicholas V

1455 Calixtus

III

1458 Pius II

1464 Paul II

1471 Sixtus IV

1484 Innocent
VIII

1492 Alexander
VI

1500.

juse of

Medicis

31 Alexander

created Duke
3y the Em-
peror Charles V

rand Dukes
69 Cosmo I

74 Francis

87 Ferdinand
I

SPAIN

1504 Ferdinand,
King of Arra-
gon and Sicily,
seized the crown
of Naples, and
Sicily and Na-
ples remained
subject to the
Kingdom of
Spain till 1707

1521 John III

House of

Austria

1504 Jane and
Philip of Aus-
tria succeed Isa-
bella in Castille
Ferdinand
reigns in Arra-
gon until his
death in 1516

1516 Charles V
Emperor of
1557 Sebastian Germany in
1519

C 0 r t ez in
Mexico Pizarro

in Peru

1578 Henry the 1556 Philip II

Cardinal conquered Por-

tugal but lost

1580 Philip II
of Spain took
possession of
Portugal and
it remain ed ;
subject to the :
Spanish Crown
until 1640

1598 PhUip III

HOLLAND

1581 William Of
Orange

1584 Maurice B.

1516 Henry

of Albret

1512 Selim I

Bourbon 1520 Solyman I

j The Magnifi-
1555 Joan of I cent
Albret and An-
thony of Bour-
bon

1572 Henry III
In 1589 he suc-
ceeded to the
throneofFrance
under the title
of Henry IV
(afterwards
called " the
Great ") and
from thence
Lower Navarre
joins theFrench
Monarchy

1566 Selim II

defeated at Le-
panto

"4 Amurath
III

1595 Mahomet
III

1505 Vasily or
Basil IV

(Maximilian
grants him title
of Emperor)

Czars of

Muscovy

1533 Ivan Basil-
owitz or John
IV

(Conquered
Kazan and as-
sumed title of
Czar in 1545)

1584 Fedor I

1503 Pius III
1503 Julius II
1513 Leo X

1522 Adrian VI

1523 Clement
VII

1534 Paul III

1550 Julius III

1555 MarceUus
II

1555 Paul IV

1559 Pius IV

1566 Pius V

1572 Gregory
I XIII

1585 Sixtus V

1590 Urban VII

1590 Gregory

XIV

1591 Innocent

1592 Clement

VIII

1598 Basil Godu-
now

A CHART

OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE AND WOODWORK

IN ENGLAND

( The dates given are not those of the accession of Kings)

William I, 1066, to Stephen, 1154. Norman or Romanesque.
The circular-headed arch.

Henry II, 1154 to 11S9. Transitional, Norman to Pointed or Lancet.

Richard I, 1189, to Henry III, 1272. Early English, Lanceolated.
Geometrical tracery begins to appear.

Edward I, 1272 to 1307. Transition from early pointed to geometrical pointed.
Tracery entirely geometrical. No free forms in decoration of windows.

Edward II, 1307 to 1327. Geometrical pointed. (Early English.)

Free forms appear in tracery and especially in decoration of mouldings.

Edward III, 1327 to 1377. Flowing or Curvilinear. (Decorated.)
Culminating in the Flamboyant.

Richard II, 1377 to 1399. Transition from Free Decorated to Rectilinear or Per-
pendicular.

Henry IV, 1399, to Henry VIII, 1546. Perpendicular or Rectilinear.
Introduction of the Linen-fold panel.

1546 onwards. Introduction of the Italian Classical, superimposed on the Gothic,
afterwards developing into the Tudor styles.

Chapter I.

Introductory.

O present a history of English furniture and woodwork from the earliest
times of which we have available records, to the end of the seventeenth
century, which is the scope and purpose of this book, several initial diffi-
culties have to be considered, each of which demands some attention.
The first is the arbitrary character of the word " furniture " as applied
to early examples, almost until the end of the fifteenth centur^^ At the present day
it would be comparatively easy to formulate a definition of furniture which should
exclude decorative woodwork, such as panelling and the like. Even then, articles
such as fitted bookcases, or side tables made as fixtures, would escape such definition.
In the early periods, until almost the close of the reign of Henry VIII, when furniture
was primitive in type, scanty in quantity and limited in purpose, the line of demarcation
between woodwork and furniture was even less marked, and it is this inevitable coales-
cence of the two which has dictated the title of this book.

Another important factor in the understanding of our subject is a knowledge of
early house-planning and general style. From the beginning of the thirteenth century
until the end of the fifteenth, the ecclesiastical Gothic was the only architectural and
woodworking style. Shortly after 1500, however, the influence of the Italian Renais-
sance began to be felt in this country, some fifteen years later than was the case in
France, a circumstance probably due to the fact that not only was England insular by
situation, but also the English people were so in character. Architecture and woodwork
were not so specialised at this date as in the later centuries ; the master carpenter and
the architect not only worked hand in hand ; in work for the Church, at least, they
were frequently the same person. Styles were usually fostered and dictated by the
patrons for whom houses were built and furniture made, but always with the assistance
of a clerical adviser. After the close of the fifteenth century, the grand tour to Itah'
became an integral part of the aristocratic education, and Italy, alone of all the
European countries, had fostered the classical styles in architecture and woodwork,
since the days when the power of Rome had risen and fallen to decay. Germany, France
Spain, England, and even the Low Countries still cherished the Gothic as the national
style, and long after the classical had submerged it, we still find traces here and there

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

o\idencing the hold wliich the ecclesiastical Gothic retained upon the architecture and
woodwork of tlu' time.

In the endeavour to trace the history of tiae development of English furniture
up to the close of the fifteenth century, it is almost impossible, in England, to overrate
the influence of ecclesiastical establishments. The monasteries and religious houses
were not only the principal patrons of the joiner and the woodworker ; they maintained
a state and a standard of refinement utterly unknown to the laity, even of the rank
of the nobility. Furniture of this period, as one would expect, is not only primitive
in construction, but also limited in range and quantity. Large banqueting or refectory
tables, forms or stools (which wei'e the usual seat at meals until almost the close of the
seventeenth century), dower chests, Court cupboards or buffets, livery cupboards and
hutches, constituted the whole of the English-made furniture of the apartments of
this period, whether of abbots or princes. The chair was a rare article, a sign of dignity
and state, reserved for the lord and lady of the secular household, or the head of the
clerical establishment. Foreign furniture was sparingly imported and merchandise
from the East, — fabrics and the like, — found way into England through the prosperous
republican trading cities of Venice and Genoa.

The standard of comfort in the houses, even of the wealthy, was meagre in the
extreme. The usual carpeting for the floor, when the fashion originated, with the
sixteenth century, for anything beyond bare flags or boards, was a covering of strewn
rushes, rarely changed, and usually littered with the debris of feasts thrown to the
dogs, who shared the living apartments with their masters. These rush-strewn floors
w-ere usual until the reign of Charles IL With the rich nobility, the walls were covered
with tapestries or fabrics, at a later date with panellings of wood. The trading classes
had to be contented with rough plaster or timbering. Glass in windows was a luxury
until late in the sixteenth century, and windows were not only kept studiously small,
but the pieces enclosed by the leading, whether diamond or rectangular quarries, were
also rarely larger than about six inches by four. Apart from the prohibitive cost, the
difficult}^ of making crown, or whirled glass, in sheets of any size precluded any larger
dimensions for these quarries. It is not until almost the beginning of the eighteenth
century' that the glass-blower became sufficiently expert with the " pontil " to make
crown-glass sheets large enough to yield the squares which are found in the great houses
of that period. It must be remembered that the largest dimension of the pane can
only represent less than one-half of the circular glass plate, which is produced 'by
whirling the " pontil." From the semi-diameter must be deducted the so-cafled

Introductory

" bottle-glass " quarries which the " pontil," or blowing rod, leaves when it is broken
away from the circular plate. Yet at Lyme Park, Cheshire, for example, the panes are
as large as 15 in. by 10 in., which means that they must have been cut from plates not
less than 3 ft. in diameter.

That fifteenth-century windows were rarely, if ever, glazed, — other than church
windows, — is evident from a study of their design. Thus, the windows from Hadleigh,
illustrated in Figs. 41 and 42, have no glazing rebate, and, in any event, glass of the size
which each light would have required, would have been unobtainable at this date. To have
broken up the openings with leaded bars would ha\'e destroyed the whole effect of the
tracery, and we know, when glazing became general, that tracery between mullions
was omitted. In the windows at Sutton Place (Henry VII) we have, in the four centred
arched heads to each light, the last \-estige of Gothic tracery as applied to secular
windows. The windows at Sutton were as evidently intended for glazing as the Hadleigh
windows were not. Opening casements are never found in these unglazed window
frames, for obvious reasons, and, even when glazing was introduced, they are very
sparingly used. Our ancestors, evidently, did not care for fresh air in the home.

As a compensation for the smallness of windows, the early fireplaces were huge,
with a staging of bars and irons on a stone dais for the burning of logs and billets. The
science of down-draughts had still to be studied, and smoky chimneys must have been
the rule rather than the exception.

The life of the artisan, until almost the end of the first half of the sixteenth century,
was rude, but his desires were few, and were amply gratified. Crops were abundant
in fifteenth-century rural England, and, in consequence, famines were unknown. Food
was plentiful and cheap, — so cheap, in fact, that it was very often thrown in with the
wages, when masons and carpenters were engaged on work for the King or the Church,
— probably coarse, and certainly lacking in variety, — meat and bread, some fruit, but
no green vegetables and very few roots, — but, on the whole, the worker's life must
have been a happy and contented one at this period. How his status steadily'
deteriorated from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries will be described in a
subsequent chapter.

If the artisan experienced no wants, he was, by no means, a free agent. He could
be summoned to work for the King (unless he were in the employ of the Church), at
any time or place, which suited the pleasure of the King's carpenter or mason, and the
royal mandate empowered such artificer to imprison during their pleasure any who
refused.

Early English Furniture and ff^oodwork

The Trade Guilds, which reached their liighest level at the close of the fifteenth
century, possessed iniiciue powers. A master could not take apprentices without the
Guild's sanction, and the number was always limited. The apprentice, in turn, was
under the absolute dominion of his master, and, e\on at the present day, the old form
of indenture is sometimes retained, by which the apprentice binds himself to his master,
to obey all liis behests, not to frequent gaming houses, brothels, or places of low resort,
and to repair to cliurch wlien ordered. A workman could not change his location, —
other than when sununoned by the King's craftsmen, — without the consent of the
Guild and the Lord of the Manor. The term " journeyman," which in the later years
began to lose its true significance, had a definite meaning up to almost the close of the
se\-enteenth century, implying a craftsman who was licensed to travel from one place
to anotlicr without fear of detention, arrest or punishment.

The introduction of the Classical element from Italy infiuenced furniture and
architecture almost at the same period. There were two reasons why its effect in the
designing of furniture was so soon apparent. A building was necessarily an immovable
thing ; a site was demanded, and consideration of expense had to be studied. Furniture
was movable ; it was comparatively easy of manufacture, as no prohibitive cost was
entailed. Added to this there was a considerable demand, towards the close of the
sixteenth century, as the large houses of this period were so sparingly furnished that
it was not uncommon for the furniture to be moved, from house to house, with a change
of residence. The second reason was the iron-handed methods of Henry VIII in dis-
persing the culture of the Church abroad, and, incidentally, the monastical possessions
with it, in the dissolution of monasteries, removed one of the best patrons and teachers
of the woodworking crafts. Much of the furniture, some of the traditions and a little
of the inA'ention which had hitherto been cloistered in abbeys and ecclesiastical establish-
ments found their way into the homes of laymen. The culture of the reign of Elizabeth,
however, reinforced by the enlightenment from the Continent, due to intercourse and
travel, did much to fix, permanently, in the minds of the laity such ideas of luxury
and design as had formerly been the exclusive possession of the Church.

The invention of better methods of construction, such as the table with four, six
or eight legs in lieu of the older trestle form, the chair with turned legs and under-
framings in place of the former box with arms and a back, the possibilities of framing,
all made for greater lightness of construction without sacrifice of strength. In abbeys
and monasteries, until the close of the fifteenth century, time was of little moment.
The monks and friars were themselves often finished craftsmen, and their influence

Introductory

extended, in very marked degree, to their dependents. England in the fifteenth century
could almost have been described as an agglomeration of differing communities, either
under the forcible control of the temporal lords of the soil or the more gentle influence
of the Church. These communities were as far removed, relatively, — considering the
slowness of locomotion and the disturbed state of the country, torn in turn bv inter-
necine warfare or religious strife, — as Vienna and London are at the present day. If
craftsmen, however, seldom changed their location, the Church possessed unexampled
facilities for the interchange of ideas from one part of England to another, and even
from foreign sources.

With the dissolution of monasteries and the withdrawal of the guiding influence
of the religious brethren, the workmen of the time, too inexperienced to originate
much that was fine, turned with avidity to the new Classical manner as demonstrated
in the new buildings of this period. We get, in consequence, a jumble of the Gothic
and the Classical, with original motives superadded, which render the furniture of
the sixteenth century exceedingly heterogeneous in character. It is nearer the fact
to say that fashions were too multiform to admit of classification, than to state that
they were non-existent. We know that, with the furniture of the reigns of Charles II,
James II, William III, Anne and the first three Georges, the design is often sufficient
warranty for dating a piece, sometimes within as narrow a margin as a single decade.
It is not so evident, however, what the factors are which render this close dating of
pieces possible. To begin with, during this period the trade of the maker of furniture
was more or less homogeneous. The one town had assimilated the art of another and
had given, in turn, the result of its own experience. Villages and hamlets had borrowed
from the large towns, and even a journey to the metropolis was a matter less of danger
than of time. The strong similar^iy between many of the long-case clocks produced
during the first half of the eighteenth and the last quarter of the seventeenth centuries,
alike in London and the most insignificant country villages, shows that this interchange
of ideas really existed. This was one factor which tended towards imiformity of
production, — or the establishment of fashion. There is, however, another necessary con-
dition, without which we get endless repetition of the same patterns, \vhich after the lapse
of a century or more render it impossible to dissociate the originals from the copies ;
that is a leisured class, influential and wealthy enough to define a fashion, to foster
the taste of the moment, and to reject the vogue of the preceding decade. These are
obvious stipulations ; at the present day we can only date a piece by the currency of
a bygone fashion, and it is the latest characteristic which determines our estimate of

Early

Ktiglish Furniture and JJ^oodwork

its'age. When \vc reach the era of repetitions, well-made but bald copies of the
lurniture of twenty or fifty years before, we are comparatively helpless, and it is only
a technical knowledge of the species of the one wood used at the various periods,
coupled with an instinct for spontaneity in creation and workmanship, which enables
us to detect the later copy. It is idle to look for mere evidences of age. One piece
(if furniture ma\- wear for centuries in the one household, — of maiden ladies for example,
—and may assume an appearance of great antiquity after twenty years of usage by
healthy children or careless persons.

Of the two factors referred to above, the homogeneity of a trade is the most
important. The leisured classes could not originate ; they could only patronise existing
industries, and promote their development ; wealth alone was unable to make finished
craftsmen from agricultural labourers. We do not speak of the similarity between
tlie furniture produced in England and Finland at the present day, because interchange
of ideas between the craftsmen of the two countries is rare, and the influence of the
one on the other is practically nil. This is exactly the condition which must have
prevailed during the early part of the sixteenth century and before that time. Towns
and villages were scattered ; one county was far removed from the other, — often
relatively farther than Berlin and London are at the present day, — and the artisan who
roamed from his native place or county was in danger of being taken up for a rogue
and a masterless man.

It will be seen, therefore, that to take a piece, irrespective of its place of origin,
and to attempt to found a theory as to its antiquity, solely from certain characteristics
of its design, is absolutely hopeless. The chair made in Middlesex in 1550 might be
copied, — and probably was, — in Hereford some fifty years later. At the present day
the two placed side by side would be referred to the same date. There is a strong
reason for supposing that this copying, at subsequent periods, actually did take place.
The nobles possessed their town houses, and probably several country mansions in
addition. Until the end of the sixteenth century, furniture of any kind was exceedingly
rare ; it was no uncommon practice, when a noble family removed from London to
its country seat, to take much of the furniture from the town house with it. Chairs
were specially liable to such removals, as we shall see later. It was, therefore, quite
probable that the country joiner would come into contact with the work of his fellow-
craftsman in London, and would either be directly commissioned to cop}- his pro-
ductions or would assimilate his ideas bj' association.

The general nature of the problem, of resolving the subject of Enghsh furniture

Introductory

and woodwork into an orderly progression, has been outlined in the foregoing. Three
subdivisions suggest themselves in logical sequence, namely, panelling, movable
furniture, and chairs, stools, settees and the hke. The reasons for the distinction of
the first two are evident, and in all three the liability to overlapping of examples can
be imagined. With the third category, that of chairs, with their kindred pieces, settees,
stools, benches, forms, etc., the separate character is not so obvious, yet they occupy
a place apart, not only during the early period, but practically throughout the entire
history of English furniture. This is a demonstrable fact, and for several reasons.
If furniture of any kind was rare until the end of the Tudor period, chairs were so in
even greater degree. As before stated, the bench or stool was the usual substitute at
the table ; chairs were seats of honour, reserved for the lord and his lady, sometimes
for the exceptionally honoured guest. The long refectory tables of the period
were flanked by benches or stools. On the dais, facing the hall — for meals
were usually served in the Great Hall, which is such a general feature of the
early Tudor house, — two chairs were placed for the lord and lady of the house. These
chairs were greatly prized, for their associations rather than for their intrinsic worth,
and were often removed from house to house. This esteem is suggested by the fact
that chairs were often dated ; an honour shared, as a general rule, only by the Court
or standing cupboard and the chest, two important pieces designed to hold the family
valuables both while in residence and in transit.

The stool continued to be the usual seat for meals until almost the close of the
reign of Charles II, and the great store set by the chairs of the family is also indicated
by the amount of fine carving lavished on them at this period. With the accession of
William the Stadtholder in 1689, and even some years before, when the persecution of the
Huguenots of France, following on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, exiled many
thousands of the French weavers, who brought their art to this country, a fashion for
gorgeous fabrics was inaugurated. Again the chair, the stool and the settee were excep-
tionally favoured, as being particularly suited for the display of elaborate silks and
velvets. During nearly the whole of the eighteenth century the craft of the chairmaker
was quite distinct from that of the joiner, and was a much more favoured industry-
It is nearly always chairs which originate the fashions, and mould them for other
furniture to follow. We get the cabriole leg, in its many forms, with them, long before
it is adapted to tables and similar articles of furniture. The design, especially of the
carving, of chairs of the earher periods is nearly always finer, and certainly more spirited
than with other furniture. Greater originality is frequently displayed, and novelties

Early English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

of construction attempted (such as, at a later date, witli the hoop-back chair of Queen
Anne days) which are either quite unknown to, or impractised by, tlie joiner.

It is these reasons, \\\v distinct character of the chairmaker's craft as compared with
that of the furniture joiner, and the difference between the work of both, in their nature,
and that of the maker of panelHng and semi-constructional woodwork, which have
dictated the three subdivisions of this book. Here and there it will be found that they
coalesce, but as a general rule it is remarkable how the stream of development ffows
without any serious deviation into side channels.

One of two methods n^mains in the orderly statement of our subject ; to take
examples in their periodic progression irrespective of the three subdix'isions referred
to above, the other to consider each in turn with due regard to the homogeneity of the
book as a whole. It will be found that the latter method is the best in practice, if for
no other reason than because panelling, furniture and chairs influence each other in
only a slight degree, whereas the true evolution of English furniture is threefold, along
each of the three channels before mentioned. This plan has the necessary drawback
of requiring periodical returns to a previous starting-point, but it will be found to
make for a better understanding, not only of when English furniture and woodwork
developed, but why each phase came into being and the factors which caused it to
arise.

Chapter II.

The Dissolution of Monasteries.

WO acts of oppression and greed on the part of Henry VIII stand out
in history as remarkable, not only for the autocratic power on the
part of the King which they exhibit, but also for the far-reaching effect
which they had on the development of English furniture and woodwork.
The first of these is the suppression of the monasteries, which began,
in the case of the smaller establishments, as early as 1536 ; the other is the
debasing of the coinage, a further description of which, together with some of its
effects, will be given in the following chapter.

During the fifteenth century, the power and size of the Church and the monasteries
had grown to an enormous extent. Figs, i and 2 give an idea of the number of buildings
which clustered round St. Alban's Abbey. Trading on the love, but still more, the
superstition of the people, the abbeys and convents had been so enriched by gifts either
bequeathed at a donor's death or extorted under dire threats of spiritual punishment, that
at the close of the century it has been calculated that they possessed one-third of the
landed wealth of England. These establishments were, with few and notable exceptions,
dens of gluttony and vice, but they included in their orders practically all the lawyers,
architects, physicians, scribes, teachers and craftsmen of the Middle Ages. Knowledge
may be said to have been non-existent apart from the Church. As Thorold Rogers has
stated so well in Chapter VI of his " Six Centuries of Wovk and Wages " : " We know
but few of the men who designed the great cathedrals, churches, and castles of the Middle
Ages, — those buildings which are the wonder of our age for their vastness, their exquisite
proportions, and their equally exquisite detail. But when we do know, as it were by
accident, who the builder was, he is almost always
a clergyman. It seems as though skill in architec-
ture, and intimate acquaintance with all which
was necessary, not only for the design of the
structure, but for good workmanship and
endurance, were so common an accomplishment,
that no one was at the pains to proclaim his

The illustrations of Bodiam Castle in this chapter are from photos by Messrs. Everett and Ashdown of Tenterden, Kent.
c 9

Earlx English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

own roiiiitation or to record the reputation of

another. It is known tliat we owe the designs

^^^ ^^^ (){ Rochester Castle and the Tower to one

Ljr JBB J HB" "]^| ecclesiastic. It is recorded that William of

^^Bt'-_- '.L-^Bjf.'i ^H Wykeham was Edward the Third's architect at

Windsor, as well as his own at Winchester and
Oxford, and of various handsome churches which
were built during his long episcopate. It is
probable that Wa^-neflete designed the beautiful buildings at Magdalen College ; and it
is alleged that Wolsey, in his youth, planned the matchless tower, which has charmed
every spectator for nearly four centuries. But no one knows who designed and carried
out a thousand of those poems in stone which were the glory of the Middle Ages, and
have been made the subjects of servile and stupid limitation
in our own."

Henry, whose extra\-agance was boundless, had cast
longing eyes on the wealth of the Church, and when he
began his act of suppression, in 1536, on the plea of the
Church's \'ice and mismanagement, he had no other idea
than to capture these riches for his own private use. Like
all thieves, he had to dispose of the produce of his robberies
in the worst market ; in other words, to find receivers for
the stolen goods, who were prepared to deal, if the terms
w^ere sufficiently attractive to the buyer, and ruinous to the
seller. The result was that the proceeds of the royal thefts were dissipated in about four
years, and the King had to turn his attention to the currency of the realm to replenish
his exhausted treasury.

By these means the condition of the artisan was steadily deteriorated, both by Henry
and afterwards by his son, Edward VI. ^ With the suppression of the monastic establish-
ments a horde of monkish vagrants was let loose
on the highways and byways of England, men
who possessed nearly all the skill in woodwork,
in masonry, in carving, illuminating, writing and
the other arts. They were turned away " with
forty shillings and a gown per man " as

' See note at end of chapter.

The Dissolution of Monasteries

Burnet pithily remarks, in his " History of ihejReforma-
tion." The vagrancy laws were stringent ; a craftsman could
not roam beyond his place of habitation or employment
without the consent of his Guild and of the Lord of the Manor,
without the gra\-est risk of being apprehended as a " masterless
man," — a rogue and a vagabond, and the punishment for
vagrancy was death, if not mutilation. There were over a hundred
offences in the calendar for which a man, in the fifteenth century,
could be put to death (stealing a sheep was one of them) and hanging was, perhaps, the
kindest punishment in the penal code. Tortures and mutilation were many and ingenious.
\¥ith these unfrocked monks departed the skill in building and woodwork, which
had made the fifteenth century tlie Golden Age. Forbidden to work, denied any rights
of citizenship, these monks deteriorated into thieves and outlaws, where they did not
escape beyond the seas, to follow their crafts in other, and more tolerant, countries.

To quote Thorold Rogers again : " We have been able to trace the process by which
the condition of English labour has been continuously deteriorated b}' the acts of
government. It was first impo\-erished by the issue of base money. Next it was robbed
of its guild capital by the land thie\'es of Edward's regency. It was next brought in contact
with a new and more need}' set of employers — the sheep-masters who succeeded the monks.
It was then, with a pretence, and perhaps with the intention, of kindness, subjected
to the quarter sessions assessment, mercilessly used in the first half of the seventeenth
century, the agricultural labourer being still further impoverished by being made the
residuum of all labour. The agricultural labourer was then further mulcted by enclosures,
and the extinction of those immemorial rights of pasture and fuel which he had enjoyed
so long. The poor law professed to find him work, but was so administered that the
reduction of his wages to a bare subsistence became an easy process and an economical
expedient. When the monarchy was restored, his employers, who fixed his wages by
their own authority, relieved their own estates from their ancient dues at the expense

of his poor luxuries by the excise, tied him to the soil
by the Law of Settlement, and starved him by a
prohibitive corn law. The freedom of the few was
bought by the servitude of the many. Fletcher of
Saltoun, an ardent republican for a narrow class,
suggested hopeless slavery as the proper doom of the
labourers, argued that the people existed only to

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

work, ami that plulost)phical politicians should have the power to limit their existence
by labt)ur. Throughout the eighteenth century the most enlightened men gave the
poor their i">ity, occasionally tlieir patronage, sometimes would assist them at the cost
of other workers ; but beyond a bare existence, never imagined that they had rights
or remembered that they had suffered wrongs. The weight of taxation fell on them in
every direction, and with searching severity. To crown the whole, the penalties of
felony and conspiracy were denounced against all labourers who associated together to
better their lot by endeavouring to sell their labour in concert, while the desperation
uhich poverty and misery induce, and the crime they suggest, were met by a code more
sanguinary and brutal than any which a civilised nation had ever heretofore devised
or a high-spirited one submitted to.''^

In these religious houses of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries neither time,
nor expense, were of moment in the production of their works of art, whether for the
grandest cathedrals, or tiny churches. " The wealth of the Church was immense, for

' The Act by which any combination of workmen, for their own protection or betterment, could be punished
with fine, imprisonment or mutilation, was only repealed after 1S20. Geo. IV, Cap. 129.

■*/

"•"" ..^;«^" "

Fig. 1.

ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY BEFORE THE REFORMATION.

This illustration gives some idea of the number of monastic buildings which clustered round an Abbey.
From an original drawing by Charles H. Ashdown, Esq., F.R.G.S.

The Dissolution of Monasteries

she drew at will upon the fear and superstition of the earth ; and her spirit was as great
as her power. For centuries her treasures were for the most part wisely and munificently
expended, and the noble buildings she erected and the good deeds she performed cannot
be contemplated, even now, without admiration. She opened her gates to the poor,
spread a table to the hungry, gave lodging to the houseless, welcomed the wanderer ;
and high and low — learned and illiterate — alike received shelter and hospitality. Under
her roof the scholar completed his education, the chronicler sought and found materials
for history, the minstrel chaunted lays of piety and chivalry for his loaf and his raiment,
the sculptor carved in wood or cast in silver some popular saint, and the painter conferred
on some new legend what was at least meant to be the immortality of his colours. To
institutions so charitable and useful, the rich and the powerful devised both money and
lands abundantly ; an opulent sinner was glad to pacify the clamours of the Church
and the whisperings of his own conscience, by bequeathing wealth which he could no
longer enjoy ; and chantries were added to churches, and hospitals erected and endowed,
where the saints were solicited in favour of the departed donor's soul, and the poor and
hungry were clothed and fed."

Fig. 2.
A KEY TO THE ILLUSTRATION ON OPPOSITE PAGE.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.
ATHERINGTON CHURCH, DEVON.

West Side of Chancel Screen. Early Sixteenth Century.

An example of a Devonshire Rood Screen with Rood Loft complete. On the eastern (chancel)

side the loft is boarded on the front and with applied tracery. On the western (the side shown here)

the front is decorated with elaborate niche-work. The detail (Fig. 5) shows the Italian ornament

in the vaulting of the screen, a sure indication of the sixteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.
14

The L>issoIutiori of A^onasteries

" No better conditions could have prevailed for the execution of works which should
persist as monuments of art and craftsmanship as long as materials lasted. The Church
created its own artisans, its masons, sculptors, carvers or joiners and employed them
on its own works under the skilled direction of its prelates. That these craftsmen were
lay brothers or monks is probable ; certainly they seem to have either disappeared when
the monasteries were suppressed, or to have lost their skill both in designing and in
executing. Possibly when the higher dignitaries of the Church came under the baneful
notice of Wolsey and Cromwell, and many, as at Reading, Colchester and Glastonbury,
perished at their hands, the guiding spirit of English architecture and woodwork took
wings and fled.^

That these religious houses had increased in number out of all proportion to the
population, and in wealth and power to such degi'ee as to be a menace to King and
State, is unquestionable. The policy of the public good may have dictated reduction
in size, wealth or number, but no one will credit Henry VIII with any higher notice
than the replenishment of his own exchequer. "-

That art lived and grew only in the shadow of the Church cannot be doubted when
fourteenth-century castles and cathedrals are compared. True, the former were built
to withstand armed assaults, from which the latter were protected by their sacred
character, but the interiors of castles were often as rude and free from ornament as their
exteriors. We meet with exceptions, as at Tattershall Castle, where, in the fifteenth
century, Ralph, Lord Cromwell, Lord Treasurer of England under Henry VI, embellished
the thirteenth-century castle of Baron de Tatershale both outside and in, after the fine
Gothic manner of his age. But the twelfth-century Abbey of Kirkstead was near by ; —
it had, in fact, been foimded by the original builder of Tattershall, — and there is no doubt
that the decorative work, the windows, the heraldic vaulting and the stone chimney-
pieces (the latter of which underwent such extraordinary vicissitudes some years ago,
being rescued actually from the housebreakers' hands, after removal, by Earl Curzon
of Kedleston) were the work of the neighbouring monks. The great abbeys and monas-
teries supplied both the designing and executive ability for the more ornate secular
houses and castles of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. One would venture to
assert, for example, that the aid of the neighbouring Abbey of Robertsbridge was not
invoked in the decoration of the late fourteenth-century Castle of Bodiam illustrated in
the pages of this chapter.

' Alan Cunningham, " William of WvkelKiin."

- The jewelled canopies to some of the tombs in the earliest chapels of Westminster Abbey were despoiled
and sold by the rapacious monarch.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

The guiding and directing inflmMice of the Church is very apparent in such woodwork
and furniture prior to 1520, wliieh has persisted to the present day, and its absence is
equally noticeable in the later work. Gothic woodwork and furniture is, necessarily,
ecclesiastical in jirojier habitat as it is in origin. Secular houses, prior to the sixteenth
century, contain little or no furniture or woodwork, as a general rule, and there is an
absence of fine detail or workmanship. It is possible that such was not appreciated nor
desired, by e\-en the \-er\- wealthy, luitil towards the middle of the sixteenth century,
when a new style, generally known as Tudor, free from the somewhat rigid quahties of
the ecclesiastical Gothic, begins to arise. An era of house building also sets in at this
period, when internecine strife ceases, and fortified castles began to be replaced by
dwelling-houses or mansions. Gothic details, such as two- and three-centred arch in
door-heads, crocketing and cusping in lattice and spandril, still persist, but the free
ornament borrowed from France and Italy is superadded, as in the fine screen from
Atherington Church, Figs. 3, 4 and 5, where Renaissance detail is superimposed on
Gothic vaulting. Briefly, it may be said that, with the dissolution of monasteries,
departs the former fine tradition in English furniture and woodwork, and the Gothic
ceases to be the national style of England.

'Note. — Literal extracts from Act I, Edward VI, C. Ill, will be more illuminating, as showing the con-
ditions of the lower classes at that period, than any comment can be.

That if any man or woman able to work should refuse to labour and live idly for three days, he or she
should be branded with a red hot iron on the breast, with the letter ' V ' and should be adjudged the slave for
two years of any person who should inform against such idler ; and the master should feed his slave with bread
and water or small drink, and such refuse meat as he should think proper ; and should cause his slave to work by
beating, chaining or other-wise, in such leork and labour that he should put him unto."

" If he runs away from his master for the space of fourteen days, he shall become his slave for life, after being
branded on the forehead or cheek ivith the letter ' S' ; and if he runs away the second time, and shall be con-
victed thereof by two sufficient witnesses, he shall be taken as a felon and suffer pains of death, as other felons
ought to do."

It is furthermore enacted that the master shall have power : — " To sell, bequeath, let out for hire, or
give the service of his slaves to any person whomsoever, upon such condition and for sueh term of years as the said
persons be adjudged to him for slaves, after the like, sort and manner as may do of any other his moveable goods
and chattels."

The master shall also have power : — " To put a ring of iron about the neck, arm or leg of his slave, at
his discretion."

Chapter III.

The Early Woodworker : His Life, Tools and Methods.

0 endeavour to present the life and conditions of the woodworker
from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, his tools, methods,
trade guilds and the like, is the scope and purpose of the present
chapter. The term "woodworker" has been chosen, as this includes
not only the carpenter and joiner, but also the kindred crafts of the
sawyer, the maker of furniture and the carver in wood, under the one generic heading.
At the outset several difficulties present themselves, in the attempt to institute
comparisons between the various periods. An accurate standard of values, which
shall hold good, equally in the fourteenth as in the eighteenth centuries, for example,
is very difficult to postulate. We have to consider, first, the remuneration for labour
and services, for which a monetary standard will not apply (as monej' bought far more
in the fourteenth than it did in the eighteenth century), the difference in subsistence
levels, and the relative number of the hours worked in the woodworking trades at the
different periods.

The institution of trade guilds dates from ver^^ early times. Guild halls of as
early a date as the fourteenth century are known from records and remains, and show
that these guilds must have existed. Whether they were formed to protect the workers
in the various trades, as far as labour conditions were concerned, or whether they
were more in the nature of educational establishments, under the protection and
subject to the domination of the Lord of the Manor, it is not possible to saj'. We
know that the mediaeval woodworker was protected from time to time by sundry
Acts of Parliament, regulating his wages and hours of labour, and that, on the whole,
his working life was far from onerous. His desires were fewer than at a later date.
Bread, meat and beer constituted his staple diet. Green vegetables were unknown in
England. Potatoes were introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh from Virginia, and were
first planted in Lancashire where they became popular as a food. This, however, is
only in the late sixteenth century. Green vegetables were not introduced from
Holland, as an article of diet, until almost the early part of the seventeenth century.
Houghton, in his " Collections in Husbandry and Trade," a periodical first published
in 1681, gives in Vol. I, p. 213, edit. 1728, the first notice of turnips being used

D 17

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

for feeding sheep. Both cattle and sheep, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
were much smaller in size than at the present day.

The lack of gri^en vegetables, coupled with the insanitary conditions of life, the
absence of an\- attempt at cleanliness of person, and the lack of knowledge of
medicine or surgery (the mediccval physician would not compare, for a moment, in
knowledge of his art, with the veriest quack at the present day) probably accounted,
in great measure, for the prevalence of plagues. In the fourteenth century, the plague
ravaged England in 1348, 1361 and 1369, and in the next century in 1477, 1478 and

1479. From 1455 to
1485 England suffered
from civil war, and
after Bosworth, Henry
Tudor' s army brought
with it, from Wales, a
new disease known as
the " sweating sick-
ness," which afterwards
penetrated to Germany
and the Netherlands,^
but which, curiously
enough, only attacked
Englishmen.

Those who are
interested in these
mediaeval conditions of
life and labour cannot
do better than read
James E. Thorold
Rogers' erudite book,
"Six Centuries of Work
and Wages," especially
Chapter XH. Thorold
Fig. 6. Rogers refers, in detail,

THE PiT-SAW IN USE. ^_^ ^j^^ profuscness of

The two workers are known as the "top-sawyer" and the "under sawyer."

It is the ' top-sawyer " who guides the saw. diet and the extra-

The Early lVood\£orker : His Lifi^ Tools and Methods

ordinary uncleanliness of person in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and to the
prevalence of plagues. In 1528 and 1529 the visitation was known as the " Great
Mortality," and it ravaged the Continent as well as England. Over 11 00 persons
died in twenty-two days in Hamburg alone. The plague came again, and
for the last time, to England, in 1665. It is more than probable that the
conditions, cited abo\-e, had to be coupled with a famine year, to allow of its
propagation on an extensive scale, and famines were very rare during the later
Middle Ages.

Workers in wood appear to have been divided into three classes during the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries.
We have the King's crafts-
men, wiio were paid at a
higher rate, although it is
probable that they were more
in the nature of directors
than general workers. Thus
in 1358, June 6th (Patent
Rolls), ,'John de Tidolaye is
appointed to carry out certain
repairs in the King's Castle
of Haddeleye, " b\' view and
disposition of Master William
de Herland, the King's car-
penter " to take the necessary
workmen and carriages for
the work, at the King's wages,
" to stay therein as long as
shall be necessary and arrest
all those found contrariant
and commit them to prison
till further orders."

From the above it is
evident that the King's car-
penter had summary powers
to collect men for the King's

A.
B.

D.
E.

Fig. 7.

THE CUTTING OF OAK.

Boards cut across the tree.

The trunk showing annular rings and medullary rays.

A board cut by the method (A) showing the annular rings.

The cutting of quartered boards without figure.

The cutting of quartered boards with the mcdullar>- ray figure.

•9

Early English Furniture and J Woodwork

Mi' V

Fig. 8.
DRIVING IN THE RIVING-IRON, OR " THROWER.

Fig. 9.
OPENING THE LOG WITH THE " THROWER.

Fig. 10.
RIVING FOR PANEL-STUFF OR PALE-FENCING.

work,' and it is probable that these
were culled from the general class of
artisan, for the time being only,
although they may have been paid
at a higher rate when so engaged.

Next in order come the wood-
workers attached to the Church, who
appear to have been lay-brothers as
a general rule, and to have been free
from the power of the King's master-
craftsmen. The monasteries main-
tained large numbers of masons,
carpenters, joiners, carvers and
illuminators, probably paying very
little in money, but lavishly in pro-
duce and accommodation. From the
high standard, both in skill and ar-
tistic inspiration (monastic fifteenth-
century work is, obviously, a labour
as much of love, as of duty) which
the ecclesiastical workers possessed,
transcending even||those of the King's
men, it is certain that their conditions
of life must have been easy and
enviable.

The third class of artisans were
those engaged in work for the laity,
from the yeoman farmer to the belted
knight and baron, under the guidance,
and subject to the dominion of the
Trade Guild or the Lord of the Manor.
No artisan could leave his village or

' The proviso, in these royal mandates, is
always inserted, that the King's carpenter has
power to collect workmen, " other than those in
the fee of the Church."

The Early JVoodworkcr : His Life^ Tools and Methods

locality \\ithout sanction from the Lord or the Guild, and a strange workman
without employment was a rogue and a vagabond, a " masterless man " who could
be arrested and summarily hanged without trial. In this regard the laws regulating
labour were harsh and stringent. In other particulars, the workman had an easy life,
one of plenty and of reasonable leisure. His hours were long, and holidays were few.
Thus in 1408, at Windsor, four carpenters received 6d. per day, and six received 5d.
for 365 days in the year. Even at the present day, on the Continent, it is customary
(or was until the last fifteen years) to work on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday
morning. The Windsor records do not indicate, in any way, that the workmen were
paid for days on which
no work was done. True;
the King was usually
impatient, and his work
had to be executed in
the shortest possible
time, but there is no
suggestion of extra pay-
ment for overtime, al-
though such payments
do occur in the records
where a great number
of hours are worked in
the one day.

A marked distinc-
tion appears to be made
between the hours of
labour in summer as
compared with winter.
Five o'clock in the morn-
ing to eight in the
evening, in summer, was
the general rule, but
liberal allowance had
to be made for " non-
schenes " (the midday

Fig. 11.

USING THE ADZE.

Xole the natural bent growths of timber, or " knees."

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

Fig. 12.
JOINERS' PLANES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

I. A long or " trying "-plane or " jointer.'
3. Rabbet plane for large rebates.
5. Smoothing plane.

2. Large round plane for working hollow mouldings.

4. Compass plane for shaped surfaces.

6. Compass plane.

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

meal, hence the modern word luncheon), for " drinkynges "^ and for " sleep\mges,"-
occupying in all from three to three and a half hours.

The standard wage of the country artisan, in the fifteenth century, appears to
have been 6d. per day. In London this was increased from 25 to 30 per cent, but
living there was proportionately dearer. His hours of actual labour cannot have exceeded
eight in the day, although in the ne.xt century this number was e.xtended to ten and
even more. Comparisons of wages, reckoned in money, however, are misleading, as the
actual N'alue of the currency alters. Before 1543 (when Henry VIII first began to debase
the currency) silver contained 18 dwts. of alloy to 12 ozs., and the pound was coined
into 45 shillings. In 1546 it was debased to the extent of 8 ozs. in 12 ! It would be
out of place here, to trace the far-reaching effect of this iniquitous procedure on the

' This custom has survived in Hertfordshire, where the morning draught is known as a " beever."
^ This time was allowed in summer onlv.

The Early JFcodworker : His Life^ Tools and Methods

5a.

4«.

5s.

Fig. 13.

THE PLANES SHOWN IN FIG. 12 SEEN FROM ABOVE.

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

part of the King to swell his private revenue, but one of the results was to destroy
the East x\nglian woollen and textile trades with the Low Countries. Payment, at
that date, being made by weight instead of by tale, the exchanging of this debased coin
for commodities constituted a fraud of the worst kind on the Netherland merchant, a
fraud to which the English trader was an unwitting accessory, with the result that when
the cheat was discovered, the English currency was not depreciated in exchange value ;
it was refused absolutely, and the English trade with the Continent was ruined.

There is an apparent rise in the wages of artisans from the fifteenth to the eighteenth
centuries, reckoned in terms of currency, but, actually, the conditions changed steadily
for the worse. As Thorold Rogers remarks in Chapter XII of " Six Centuries of Work
and Wages," " the fifteenth century and the first quarter of the sixteenth were the
golden age of the English labourer, if we are to interpret the wages which he earned by
the cost of the necessaries of life. At no time were wages, relatively speaking, so high,
and at no time was food so cheap. Attempts were constantly made to reduce these
wages by Act of Parhament, the legislature frequently insisting that the Statute of

Early English Furniture and IFoodwork

IS)

^4-

2«

Fig. 14.
PLANE IRONS, SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

Labourers should be kept. But these efforts were futile ; the rate keeps steadily high,
and finally becomes customary, and was recognised by Parhament."

To estimate the real \-alue of this depreciation in wages, though accompanied by a
currency increase in rate, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, it is necessary
to formulate a subsistence table, to include the food which a man with a wife and two
children would require for a year, and to calculate the number of weeks of the man's
labour at the various periods which was necessary to purchase this year's pro\-ision.
It is of little moment whether the list be complete or no, providing that it remains
constant in all the estimates. As stated before, food during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, although plentiful, was coarse and lacking in \-ariety. The artisan of the
eighteenth century had accustomed himself to greater variety, and, possibly, could not
have existed on the fourteenth-century monotonous dietary scale, but this fact does
not affect the point at issue here. Let us take, for purposes of comparison, a list com-
prising 3 quarters of wheat, 3 quarters of malt, 2 quarters of oatmeal, with the necessary
amounts of beef and mutton for the family, before referred to, for the space of one
year. It will be found that, in the late fifteenth century, fourteen weeks' wages of a
skilled artisan were sufficient to purchase this amount, whereas in 1530 it would take
over twenty weeks' wages, and in 1564, after the proclamation of Elizabeth regulating
wages, forty-four weeks' wages would scarcely buy the same amount. In 1593, fifty-
two weeks' wages were required, and in 1597, a year of severe famine, when wheat rose

The Early JVoodworkcr : His Lifc^ Tools and Methods

to 56s. lojd. the quarter,
wages were only from
£5 IDS. od. to ;f6 5s. od.
per year. In 1593 (not
a famine year) with
wheat at i8s. 4jd. the
quarter, as we have al-
ready stated, one year's
wages only bought that
for which the labour
of fourteen weeks was
sufficient in 1495. In
this year of 1593, also,
we see the first indica-
tion of a year being paid
for as one of 312, instead
of 365 days, at rates
varying from £10 8s. od.
to £11 2S. od. per year.
In the famine year of
1597, with wheat at 56s.
lojd. as compared with
iSs. \\^., wages only
advanced by los. to 15s.
the year. Privation,
during this year, among
the workers must have
been extreme. In 1651,
with wheat at 51s. 4d.,
the sawing of a hundred
of planks (six-score feet,
always calculated as a day's work) is paid at 15s. per week, the top-sawyer receiving
8s., the under man 7s. (See Fig. 6.)

In 1661 the wages are substantially the same as ten years before, but wheat advances
from 51S. 4d. to 70s. 6d. In 1682 wheat is only 43s. 8d., but wages are reduced.
E 25

12 i^-

Fig. 15.
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TOOLS.

7. Iron pincers. ii, I2,'i3, 14, i5, 17 and 18. Files and Rasps.

8, 9 and 10. Compasses (a "compas"). 15. An awl (a pricker).
From the Barend Expedition. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

Early English Furniture and U^oodwork

In 1684, at War-
wick, with wheat at 42s..
old. (to cite Thorold
Rogers again) skilled
artisans are paid is. per
day, free-masons (equi-
valent to our modern
piece-masters) is. 4d.
and plasterers 8d. The
winter pay is id. per
day less. The day is
one of 12 hours, from 5
in the morning to 7 or
8 o'clock p.m., according
to the season. From
this is allowed half an
hour for breakfast, one
hour fornonschenes, one
hour for " drinkings,"
and, between May and
August, half an hour for
sleep.

The yearly store,
which in 1495 was pur-
chased with fourteen
weeks' wages, in 1690
costs £14 IIS. 6d., and
the skilled artisan's
wages are only ;^i5 13s. od. and those of a farm hand are about £10 8s. od. or less. In
1725 the artisan's wages are £15 13s. od. per year, but the cost of the 1495 subsistence
standard is £16 2s. 3d.

From 1805 to 1830 the wages of a skilled woodworker were insufficient to support
himself, a wife and two children even on the most meagre scale. Pauperism, which
is unknown in the fifteenth century, and only begins to be noticeable at the latter
end of the sixteenth, now begins to be the rule rather than the exception.

Fig. 16.
VARIOUS TOOLS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

27. A hammer-head. The tang is bent,

28. A carpenter's fat bowl.

2g. Gouge. Wooden handle missing.
30. Ditto.

31. Gouge. Wooden handle missine.

32. A chisel (chyssel). Wooden handle missing.

33. An oil-stone (whetting-stone).

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

The Early Jf^oodworkcr : His Life^ Tools and Methods

The original Poor Law relief was
inaugurated, not only to relieve those who
were unemployed, but also those who were
engaged in work, but could not live on the
wages which they earned. ^ During the
nineteenth century, to bring our present
enquiry up to date, arose the custom of the
poor seeking doles from the back doors, or
kitchen regions, of the wealthy houses, in
the shape of cast-off clothing, stale loaves,
fragments of joints of meat and dripping,
and, in many country villages even as late
as 1880, this custom of begging was not
regarded as disgraceful in any way. Regular
attendance at the village church was im-
posed, as a condition, on the recipients of
this charity.

Some reference must be made, in this
■chapter, to the tools and methods of pre-
paring timber, during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, but the subject is too
wide to permit of more than a brief
-description.

It is unnecessary to illustrate the felling
of timber, nor to deal with any other
wood than oak, as this was exclusively used
in the early periods. The branches having
been lopped from the trunk, with the axe,
those of growth suitable for cutting into
■" knees," for timber roof-braces, being care-
fully reserved for such use, the log is taken
to the saw-pit for cutting. In Fig. 11, to

1 See in Thorold Rogers' " Six Centuries of Work and
Wages," Chapter XI\', the account of the Speenhamland
Acts of 1795 and 1800 introduced by Mr, Whitbread.

Fig. 17.
TOOLS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

34, 37, 38. Braces (morteys wymbyll).

35, 36. Screw-drivers (eighteenth century).
39, 40, 41. Augers (foote wymbyll).

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

Early English Furniture and IFoodwork

Fig. 18.
A SMOOTHING PLANE.

(Possibly late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.)

which later reference will be made, will be
■| noticed two of these " knees," roughly

^^^- - trimmed with the adze. Fig. 6 illustrates

^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ the operation of the pit-saw, a tool used

^^^^^ l^^^^^^iaBBHBM from very early times, with certain excep-

tions which will be noted later on.

The cutting of oak timber, to produce
wood of fine figure and durable quahty, is
one demanding considerable skill on the
part of the sawyer or the river. To cut
the log into boards in the way illustrated
in Fig. 7a is the most economical way,
but the planks produced in this manner are not durable. The annular rings, which will
be noticed in the illustration (c), cause the board to cast. Fig. 7b shows the end section
of the log before cutting, with the annular rings and also the medullary rays which
radiate from the log-centre or heart. If boards are cut exactly parallel with this ray,
the maximum figure of the wood is exposed, but the projecting ray is hkely to scale
out. The river of timber, as distinguished from the sawyer, always splits his oak
parallel with the ray, and in many of the early Church doors the hard figure has per-
sisted while the softer parts of the timber have worn away, leaving the ray standing
out of the wood. The effect is picturesque, but the method is not the best of its kind.
The mediaeval sawyer aimed at cutting his boards obliquely across the ray, at a
very sharp angle. Thus the log was first cut into quarters (hence the term " quartering "
used to describe the cutting of figured oak) and the first board each way was cut straight.
Each succeeding one was cut to follow the ray direction, and between each a wedge-
shaped piece was cut away to allow of each new angle being followed. The diagram.
Fig. 76, shows the operation. Fig. 7d shows the method of cutting mild oak without
figure, but the ray comes at right angles to each board, with the result that the timber
is liable to internal shakes.

The operation of splitting or riving, was practised a good deal up to the end of
the seventeenth century, as many examples of the early work show. Figs. 8, 9 and
10 show this operation in three stages. The quartered log is inserted between two heavy
rails, — the upper one fixed on the slope so that the log can be wedged tightly into the
aperture, — supported on stout framings fixed into the ground. The riving-iron, or
" thrower," as it is technically termed, is then driven into the end of the log with a

The Early IVoodvcorker : His JLife^ Tools and Methods

wooden club, or " beetle." The " thrower " is wedge-
shaped in section, in other words, has a sharp fore edge,
and has a socket at one end into which a long loose
handle can be inserted as a lever.

After the thrower has been driven home, the
handle is inserted and the thrower wrenched to widen
the split (Fig. 9). It is worked down the log until
the riving is completed. Fig. 10 shows the operation
of splitting for panel -wood or hedge -stakes. Oak
pale-fencing, at the present day, is riven in exactly the
same way, as riven timber withstands weather better
than sawn.

Fig. II shows the use of the adze, the primitive
smoothing tool used for large timber. The two
" knees " of oak, selected from wood of curved
growth, before referred to, will be noticed on either
side of the adze worker ; one has already been roughly
dubbed into shape, the other is awaiting the same
treatment.

Woodworking tools were greatly esteemed in the
fifteenth century, and were handed down from father
to son with other possessions. The following is a copy of the will of Thomas Vyell, of
Ixworth in Suffolk, of 1472 : —

^ 41-

Fig. 19.
TWO VIEWS OF A PARING CHISEL

(Eighteenth century.)

WILLS AND EXTRACTS FROM WILLS RELATING TO IXWORTH

AND IXWORTH THORPE.

Radulph Penteney al' Sporyer de Ixworth 1462

Lego ad vsum gilde S'c'i John i's Bapt'e

IN Ixworth. iijs iiijd.

Thomas Vyell 1472.

In die no'i'e. Amen. I Thomas Vyell of Ixworth the yeld', the xj day of the
moneth of October, ye yeer of oure lord m'cccclxxij of very sad and hoole mynd and
good avysemente, make myn testament in this wyse. Fyrst I beqweth and bytake
myn sowle to almyghty god, to yet blessed lady and to all the Seyntes of heven, and
m\'n body to be beryd in the parysh cherche of Ixworth be for sayd befor the auter
of Seynt James. Also I beqweth to the heych awter there ijs. Also I beqweth to ye

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

•stepyll (if the samo cherche ^•j marcs. Also I beqwcth to ye pryor of Ixworth ijs, to
the Suppryour xxd. Also th Sire Edmund Stowc xxd, to eu'y chanon preste ther xijd
and to echo mov\-se vj. Also I beqweth to the newe freers of Thetford to a trentall
xs, and to the same hows ijbs of whettc and a combe of malte. Also I beqweth to the
holde hows of the same town to a trentall sx. Also the sreets of Babwell to a trentall
xs. Also I beqweth ni\ii mass hyngfatte to ye gylde of Seynt Thomas, so that myn
wyffe and John my brother have the kepyng thereof ther lyve. Also I beqwethe and
assigne to m\-n beforcseyd wyffe alle the ostylments of myn howssold.
Also I beqwethe to Thomas myn sone, myn splytyng saw'^ myn brood axe- a litggyng
ielte^ a Jffcllvng belte* a twybyll^ a sqwer^ a morteys wymbyW a foote wymbylP a drawtc
-wymbyll^ a compas^" and hande sawc^^ a kytting sawe.^'^ Also I geve and beqwethe to
Thomas myn sone myn place that I dwelle jn wt. all the purtenance and to his heyers
Avt. owtv-n ende, and yeffe he deye wt. owtyn heyers the seyde place to remayne wt.
the purtenance to John myn sone, and to his heyers wt. owtyn ende. So that myn
beforeseyde wyfe have the seyde place wt. the purtenances outo the tyme myn assyned
-eyer be of age to meynteyne it by him selffe. As I gave and beqwethe to Crystyan
myn wyffe by forsey mj'n place wt. the purtenances that was John Knotts for terme
•of her lyffe, and aft her decesse to remayn to John myn sone to his heyers and assignes
wt. owtyn ende. But yeffe it happe the seyde John to Hereryte myn other above
seyd place, thanne I wolde and assigne that place wyche John Knotts hadde be solde
and dysposyd for myn and for myn frendes sowly, to execucion for this myn laste wylle
and testaments. I make and ordeyn befor seyde wyffe and John Vyell myn brother.

Note. — Bury and West Suffolk Archaeological Institute and Suffolk Institute
Archaeology, \'ol. I, p. io8.

Examples of woodworkers' tools from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries
are illustrated in Figs. 12 to ig. Those of the earlier date are from the Barend Expedi-
tion, the remains of which were discovered in Nova Zembla in 1593. They are, probably,
all of Dutch origin, but the relations between England and the Low Countries were so
■close during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that there is ever\' reason to
suppose that carpenters' and joiners' tools were identical in the two countries. The
Nova Zembla implements may be considerably earlier than the date when they were
found, as tools were preserved for many years, handed down from father to son, as we
have seen. They are, unquestionably sixteenth century, and may date from the earlier

■ A rip-saw with large teeth. , ' An auger cr a brace for boring holes.

* A broad axe. » A large auger.

' An adze. » An auger with a guide for accurate boring.

' A feUing a.xe. " A compass or divider.

' A pole-axe; a mattock ; a pick-axe, an axe with two heads. " A hand-saw.

* A square for truing up edges. 12 A cross-cut saw.

The Early Jf^oodijcorker : His Lifc^ Tools and Methods

decades. The collection of eighteenth-century planes is interesting, and nearly all are
carved and dated, an indication of the esteem in which they were held by their owners.
They differ very little from those in use at the present da\', and as the evolution of
tools is ver\' gradual, — especially after they reach an efficient stage, — there is no reason
to suppose that the planes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries differed materially
from these examples of the eighteenth.

Perfection and accuracy of finish is, however, lacking in these tools as compared
with those of the present day, and methods must have been even more primitive, and
3'et it is with these implements and methods that the carpenters, joiners and carvers,
made those marvels of timber construction, such as chancel and rood-screens and
hammer-beam roofs, which, in design, decoration and execution (to say nothing of the
enormous time in\'olved) are the envy of the cultured worker in wood at the present
day. The primitive joiner used glue or other adhesive sparingly, and only when wide
panels were imperatively demanded, such as the painted lower panels in decorated
chancel screens. As a general rule, if his panels were too wide for his timber he altered
his design. He secured his joints with mortise and tenon, pinned with wooden pegs,,
and so durable and perfect was his construction that his work has withstood the ravages
of the centuries, remaining to-day, mellowed with the passage of time, with colours
subdued, but still as beautiful as when it left his hands. It has succumbed only to
purposed destruction, such as at the hands of the iconoclasts of the Reformation and
the Commonwealth.

When we examine such examples as the canopied stalls, the tabernacle work, the
traceried and vaulted chancel and rood-screens, the sedilia and the elaborate timber
roofs, alike in constructional as well as decorative qualities, whether in stately edifices
such as Beverley Minster, or in small churches such as Ludham, Ranworth, South wold,
Bramfield, Ufford and many other of the East Anglian ecclesiastical buildings, — a
choice is, in itself, invidious, — we can dimly apprehend the love for his work and his
art which the woodworker of that time must ha\'e had, in the golden age of English
wood\\-ork in the fifteenth century. To originate and to construct, in as perishable a
material as wood, examples of supreme beauty which shall defy the centuries, imphes
an honesty of method, and a love both of his craft, and of the Church which fostered
his art, and directed his eftorts, coupled with a care and patience which ignores the
passage of time and devotes all efforts to the ultimate goal, the production of wood-
work which shall be " fvtt and fvne."

Chapter IV.

The Plan of the Earlv Tudor House.

pRivATti r I

nnc AT LI A I I I

GREAT HAa

HE last fifteen years of tlie fifteenth century witnessed the rise of the House
of Tudor from the battlefield of Bosworth, when the arms of the Seventh
Henr\- and the policy of the first Earl of Derby, — who obtained his
title in 1485, " as a reward for his invaluable services in placing the
crown of Richard Crookback on the head of the victorious Richmond," —
established the line which persisted for one hundred and seventeen years, until England
had to look to Scotland for a king to occupy* its throne. During this period, archi-
tectural work was almost wholly of a secular character. There was little or no reason
for adding to the numbers of the great monasteries or religious houses, and half a

century later Henry VIH began his
work of suppressing these institutions
and bridling the power of the clergy.
The accession of a new dynasty also
tended to beget an era, of building of
mansions, for the favourites of the first
of the House of Tudor. During the
century and a quarter following the
accession of Henry VIII, building must
ha\'e been indulged in, bj- the wealth}',
on an elaborate scale. To instance
but a few of the great houses of this
period : we have Buckden in 1484,
Apethorpe about 1500, Oxburgh Hall
three years before Bosworth, and in-
complete at the accession of Henry
Tudor, Sutton Place in 1523, Compton
Wynyates in 1520, Hengrave Hall in
1538, Layer Marney Towers in the
first year of the sixteenth century,
simultaneouslj'with Apethorpe, Parham

I PARLOUR I I

MOAT

B A R B > c

Fig. 20.
OXBURGH HALL 1482 7)

Plan.

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

Old Hall in 15 lo (Fig. 21), Deene Park in 1549 (Fig- 22), Cothelstone Manor
in 1568 (Fig. 23), Keele Hall in 1571, Lake House in 1575, and Nettlecombe Court in
the last year of the sixteenth century. To this list may be added Moreton Old Hall
in 1559, Kirby in 1570, Montacute and Shaw House in 1580, and Doddington in 1595.
The opening of the seventeenth century saw Shipton, Salford and Burton Agnes in the
building, with Aston and Hatfield shortly to follow.

Although this architectural digression may appear to be out of place in a book
concerning itself solely with furniture and woodwork, it will be found that the develop-
ment of house-planning at this period had an important bearing both on the home
life and the furnishings of the aristocratic classes. The evolution of the house-plan
was always in the direction of greater privacy for the family. The early Tudor plan
was invariably in the form of a quadrangle with central open courtyard. The entrance
porch, usually flanked by towers, in the days when the capability of defence against
armed aggression was a necessary adjunct to the successful house-plan, had the porter's
rooms on either side (see ^^

Oxburgh, Fig. 20). Through '■ -^ )

the porch the open courtyard
was reached, and almost directly
opposite, on the other side of
the quadrangle, was the Great
Hall, the principal, if not the
only living room of the family.
The hall was entered from a
door on the side, — usually on
the right, — which gave on to a
species of corridor, — known in
the parlance of the time as " the
skreens," formed by partition-
ing oft the hall (see Fig. 24
showing the screen at Ockwells
Manor). Above " the skreens,"
which was ceiled to single-story
height, was the Minstrel's gallery
(see Fig. 25, the screen in the
Hall at Wadham College,

F 33

Fig, 21.
PARHAM OLD HALL (1510).

From the Moat.

Early English E urriiturc and JJ^oodwork

Oxford). Tlu' hall itsi'll", in all tlu' earlier houses, reached to an open-timbered roof,
and effectiiall\- intersected the house on both ground and hrst lloors. At the
opposite end of the screen was the dais, generally flanked at one end by a
huge oriel window. Behind the dais were the private apartments of the family.
To the right of tlie screen, on cnitering, were the domestic offices, the kitchen,
buttery, etc.

These Great Halls were not only contrived in large houses and mansions ; they
often formed a part of smaller yeoman dwellings. In the latter case, the roof timbers,
while constructional, were only sparingly decorated as befitted the quality of the house
itself. Fig. 26 shows one of these open-timber roofs in the Bablake Schools at Coventry,
originally a part of a Great Hall, but now floored into two stories and partitioned off into
several rooms. The staircase, another view of which is shown in Fig. 27, was probably
inserted in the last quarter of the seventeenth century.

The staircases, of which there were several, were small and unimportant in
character. To the right and left of the quadrangle, flanking the hall on either side,

were the guests' chambers, or
" lodgings " as they were styled.
A notable feature was the
absence of corridors, the rooms
leading the one into the other (see
Figs. 28 and 29, Compton Wyn-
yates). It was not until nearly
the end of the sixteenth century,
when the Italian plan came into
vogue, with the Italian detail and
ornament, that the corridor be-
came a part of the English house.
By this time the hall had gradually
dwindled in size and had lost
much of its original significance.
The staircase had grown in corre-
sponding degree, and was usually

^. „„ constructed in the hall itself, which

Fig. 22. '

DEENE PARK (1549). thus began to take on a new

The South Front. functiou, as a Toom to hold a

[mtij/ynkstj

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

staircase, giving access to the upper floors. It is hardly necessary to point out
that this office has persisted to tlie present day.

In place of the former Great Hall, the Long Gallery became a general feature in
the planning of the later Tudor houses, and while the open quadrangle form was
frequently preserved, one side, usually the left on entering the porch, was constructed
of double room depth, the outer length being taken by the Long Gallery, either on
the ground or the first floor. From 150 to 200 feet was no uncommon length for these
galleries. Sutton Place (Figs. 30 and 31) has both Great Hall and Long Gallery (Fig. 32)
and the left flank of the courtyard is only of single-room depth.

At a later stage we find the general plan alters from the open quadrangle to that
of the " H " or " E " form. This development, however, does not materially affect
our subject, whereas with the dwarfing of the hall and the origination of the Long

Fig. 23.

COTHELSTONE MANOR (1568).

South Front.

cfci (e/cm/kv ,

wmmm

Fig. 24.
OCKWELLS MANOR.

View from the screen looking into the HaU.

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

Gallery, and such other private apartments, as the dining-room and the parlour, we
get additional wall surfaces where some kind of covering, whether of tapestry or of
wooden panelhng, was necessary to comfort. With the Great Hall, of huge size and
full house-height, any nakedness of wall, of rough stone or exposed brick, was not
keenly felt, but as the home life of the family was transferred to smaller apartments,
some means of finishing interior si:rfaces was found necessary, and panellings were
the device generally adopted.

The usual furniture of the dais in the Great Hall was the so-called " refectory "
table, — a type probably borrowed from the earlier monastic refectories, — generally
of great length, seldom less than twelve feet. This was placed lengthwise on the dais.

Fig. 25.
OAK SCREEN IN THE HALL OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD.

Early seventeenth centurj'.
37

Ear/y English Furniture and Jf^oodwork

and behind it wore tlie chairs of tlir lord and lady of the house, flanked on the other
side by single stools or long benches. The body of the hall was occupied by several
long tables of similar description to the one on the dais. Against the walls were the
ser\-ing tables, one or two livery cupboards, and, at a later date, the enclosed two or
three-tier " Standing " or " Court Cupboard." The floor of the recessed oriel in the
hall was generally occu]Med by a large chest, usually erroneously called a marriage
coffer, or dower chest. The true marriage coffer was smaller, and always reserved
for the }-)ri\-ate apartment of the lady, as a receptacle for the household treasures in
the way of linen or fabrics. Chairs were very rare pieces in these earlier " Great Halls,"

Fig. 26.
TIMBER ROOF IN THE STAIRCASE HALL AT BABLAKE SCHOOLS, COVENTRY.

Late fifteenth or early sixteenth centurj'.

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

excepting as seats of state on the dais. Tlie floor, generally of good honest flags, but
sometimes of oak boards, was always left bare ; the covering with strewn or plaited
rushes being a later degree of effeminacy. The fireplace corresponded in size with
the hall itself, the opening rarely less than eight feet in width by six in height, the
hearth raised some four to six inches, and garnished with steel andirons and rails to
support huge logs.

In the earlier houses, as in the fourteenth-century Hall at Penshurst Place, the
hearth was built in the centre of the Hall floor, upon which coupled raking andirons were
placed, the fire, of huge logs, being built against these andirons. The Hall roof had a

Fig. 27.
OAK STAIRCASE IN BABLAKE SCHOOLS, COVENTRY.

Late seventeenth centurj-.
39

Early English Eurriiturc and J J Woodwork

central outlet, or " smoke-loo ver," by
which some of tlie smoke escaped, that
is after the hall itself was well tilled
and the inmates partially smoke-cured.
At Penshurst the central hearth is
octagonal, of large paving bricks with
a flattened curb. It measures eight
feet across. The smoke-louvre has been
removed, although Joseph Nash, in
" English Mansions of the Olden Time,"
shows it in situ in his drawing of Pen-
hurst.

On festivals, such as Yuletide, when
the revels were high, and "horse play"
the rule rather than the exception, the
minstrels' gallery was the usual refuge of
the ladies. At other times it was
untenanted, its name being rather a complimentary than a practical one, the only
chamber instruments being the older forms of the viol, or the more primitive kinds
of sackbut, fife or tabor. The ^'irginal, — the forerunner of the harpsichord and the

Fig. 28.

COMPTON WYNYATES (1520).

Plan.

Fig. 29.
COMPTON WYNYATES.

The West Front.

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

■J'i

n\'^y^l

■ iu-.

i\>

piano, was of early Elizabethan introduction only, and of continental origin. The
psaltery was rare at any time, in England, and was almost exclusively confined to the
religious houses.

Next in progression from the monastic establishment and the mansion or castle,
comes the Guild Hall, where the crafts united in giving of their best, both in design and
workmanship, to the beautifying of their guild house. Sometimes, — as at St. Mary's
Hall, Coventry, — very strong ecclesiastical influence is evident, but, when built under
the shadow of the Church, these Guild Halls were generally constructed of stone.

Lavenham, on the other hand, which had a large woollen and textile trade with
Flanders in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, has a purely secular Guild Hall,
constructed of timber and plaster (generically known as " half-timber"). It is shown
in its sadly restored condition,
with numerous bay windows
added, in Fig. 33.

This timber - and - plaster
building was a favourite
method throughout England
from 1400 to 1550, especially
in lesser houses of the superior
yeoman, or small landowner
type. It developed, in the
direction of overhanging stories,
the carving of visible joist ends,
corner posts, barge - boards,
mullions and door spandrils,
to an extreme decorative limit.
It is probable that this carving
was not, in its entirety, exe-
cuted when the house was
built, but was added from time
to time, as the owner found
himself possessed of the neces-
sary leisure or funds. It is im-
possible, otherwise, to account
for the carvang of every window

G 4'

jejciiyky

Fig. 30.

SUTTON PLACE (1523).

South Front Entrance.

Early EriglisJo Furniture and JToodwork

mullion-member in tiny cottages at
Lavenham (although a very prosperous
town in the early sixteenth century)
and elsewhere in East Anglia.

The very decorative detail of the
story-overhang, with the first floor
timbers tenoned into a wall-plate,
supported on the projecting joist ends,
was carried to extreme limits, as the
carpenters gained in skill in this
domestic timber work. Thus, at Laven-
ham, there are three overhanging faces
on the gable elevation, and an
additional first floor overhang on the
return wall. This double overhang
requires the joist-ends to be taken
through, both on front and return
elevations, and to allow of two sets of
joists at right angles to each other,
a diagonal beam was used, — called
either a " dragon-beam " or " dragging-
beam," — the outer end of which was supported on the corner post. As all
beams, and often the joists themselves, were left exposed to form the ceiling
of the rooms below, they were frequently elaborately moulded, forming a beam
ceiling, the space between the joists being the actual reverse side of the floor boards of
the first floor rooms. In Fig. 34, a very fine panelled room of the mid-seventeenth
century-, from Thistleton Hall, Burgh, will be noticed the springing of this diagonal
" dragon-beam." Apart from the modern treatment of the chimney opening, and the
door, this panelled room is well worthy of consideration. It is a typical example of
the refined chimney-pieces of its date, reaching to ceiling height in the low rooms of the
period, flanked with simple moulded panelling, and with the somewhat sombre character
relieved by the plastering and whitening of the ceiling.

Ford's Hospital, — or as it is often styled, Grey Friars, from its proximity to the
Franciscan Monastery, — at Coventry (two views of which arc given in Figs. 35 and 36),
is a fine specimen of half-timber work of the early sixteenth century, of the more

Fig. 31.
SUTTON PLACE, GUILDFORD

Conjectured original plan.

113^3).

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

elaborate kind. It was endowed by William Ford in 1529, and built, specifically, as an
alms house, for five poor men and one woman. This endowment has been enlarged
and modified at various dates, and the hospital, at the present day, is used only for
women.

The courtyard, which can be seen in Fig. 36, is about forty feet in length by twelve
in width. From this lead several staircases to the rooms of the inmates on the first
floor. The front, with its three dormers, each bayed out and supported on coves, and
with very richly carved barge-boards, is exceptionally rich and varied in detail. Of
these three dormer bays, one is glazed on its return ends, the others being solid in timber
and plaster. For a further description of this charming example of early sixteenth-
century half-timber work, I cannot do better than to quote from Messrs. Garner and
Stratton's " Domestic Architecture during the Tudor Period."

Fig. 32.
SUTTON PLACE, GUILDFORD.

The Long Gallery, 1520.
43

Early Efjglish Furniture and IVoodwork

" Tlie west front presents some of the most beautiful sixteenth-century half-
timbor work to bo found in the country. The wliole front is timber framed, black
with age. abo\e a stone plinth and covered witli a tile roof. In spite of the strongly
marked horizontal lines of the sills and cove mouldings, the numerous upright oak
posts and the three projecting gabled dormers, produce in effect an apparent height
far in excess of what might be expected from its modest dimensions. This simple scheme
of a central doorway and symmetrically disposed windows on the ground floor, with
three dormers abo\-e, tlie middle one naively out of the centre, has been vested with all
the charm and wealtli of ornament which the wood-carver's craft could produce ; yet
no one part seems to be over-elaborated, and each, without telling too much, enhances
the beauty of the whole." ..." The resources of the craftsmen engaged were such

Fig. 33.
THE GUILD HALL, LAVENHAM.

Early sixteenth century.
44

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

that the design of the tracery varies in every window ; as it is so ornate and so small
in scale, the entire head above the springing is cut out of one piece, the glass being
carried up continuously behind it, and not let into the tracery itself, as is customary
in heavier work. But perhaps the richest detail is lavished upon the barge-boards of
the gables, some of the running floral patterns being exceptionally fine." ..." The
inner court, though very small, is, perhaps, the most beautiful and richest part of the
whole building, and does not seem to have suffered from either alteration or neglect.
Wealth and variety of ornament here too characterise the tracery of its windows and
the detail of the mouldings.

At the eastern end of the building are some additions to the original scheme some-
what irregular in character ; with this exception the whole hospital appears to be of

Fig. 34.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM, THISTLETON HALL, BURGH, SUFFOLK.

Mid-seventeenth century.

George Symonds, Esq.

Early Engl is h Furniture and I rood work

one date. Owr the entrance doorway is a room that is said to have been the chapel ;
and st)nK' traces of its original use may still be discerned, such as the remains of a
panelletl ceiling antl a lew fragments of stained glass, which bear so close a resemblance
to the (luarries in the " Commandery " ^^'orccster, that they may well be by the same
hand.

Tlu' common hall of the liospital must have been the room over the doorway at
the east end of the court, and the names of the various donors are still to be deciphered
on the walls : but lx)th this and the original chapel are now used as ordinary rooms
of till' inmates."

Fig. 35.
FORD'S HOSPITAL, COVENTRY.

Exterior View, West Front, 1529.
46

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

Not far from Ford's Hospital, in the shadow of St. Michael's Parish Church, — now
known as Coventry Cathedral, — is the fine old house shown in Fig. 37. It is probably
some half-century earlier in date than Ford's Hospital, and possesses a richly carved
wall-plate and corner post. The projecting joist-ends are marked with a similar coving,
which appears to have been a local custom. It has a small double overhang on first
floor level, but there are evidences of extensive restoration, if not of partial rebuilding.
The richly pierced and carved barge boards are worthy of close examination, and the
details of the buttress-uprights under the windows are also exceptional.

In the small illustration. Fig. 38, on the same page, one of these half-timber houses

Fig. 36.
FORD'S HOSPITAL, COVENTRY.

\'ic'\v of Courtyard from the Entr.incc.
Early i6th century.

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

^"^ras

Fig. 37.

AN OLD HOUSE AT COVENTRY FACING

COVENTRY PARISH CHURCH (NOW

THE CATHEDRAL).

Showing the carved corner-post and wall-
plate with cove under, hiding the joist-ends,
story-overhang and pierced and carved barge-
boards. The buttress-plasters under the sill of
the end gable window are interesting details.

Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 37.

Fig. 38.

A SUFFOLK HALF-TIMBER HOUSE IN PROCESS
OF DEMOLITION.

Showing wall-plate with projecting joist-ends under. Note the
principals and purlins, and absence of ridge purlin. The roof is of the
braced tie-beam kind. The openings on the first floor to receive the
windows are shown intact. A strong wind-brace reinforces the gable-ends
of the house. Part of the stud-partitioning still remains. The roof has
strong collars as well as tie-beams.

Mid-sixteenth century.

Fig. 38.

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

^4-

A 'm,

.-*^'^^i-':

^^*-^^'/^i

is shown in process of
demolition. In the photo-
graph can be seen the
projecting joists with
wall-plates above, also
the braces, principals
and purlins. The com-
mon rafters have been
removed, but the roof
framing has been con-
structed without any
ridge purlin. This was a
common custom with
many of these houses,
hence the ridge-sag,
which many of these
houses exhibit.

Figs. 39 and 40 show
two oak carved corner
posts from an old house
in Bury St. Edmunds,
now demolished. The
original owner has had
his arms introduced into

Figs. 39 and 40.

OAK CARVED CORNER-POSTS

FROM AN OLD HOUSE AT

BURY ST. EDMUNDS (NOW

DEMOLISHED).

Fig. 39 has the arms of Heigham
impahng Cotton, and Fig. 40
impaUng Calthorp.

Fig. 39. 5 ft. I J ins. high by iif
ins. wide.

Fig. 40, 5 ft. 2 J ins. high by ijf
ins. wide.

Early sixteenth century.

Fig. 39.

Fig. 40.

Early Fjiglish Furriitiar and JJ^oodwork

the (lrc()niti\-r schcmr, those of Heigham impaling Cotton in Fig. 39 and Calthorp in
Fig. 40. It is possibK' Ironi these posts to reconstruct the approximate height of the
grounci lioor rooms. They measure nearly 5 It. 3 ins. each, and allowing a brick plinth
of 2 ft., with a deduction of a 6-in. step from the ground to the floor levels, it will be
seen that rooms at tliis date must luu'e been less than 7 ft. in height from the floor
level to the imder side of the joists, and this in a house of considerable importance.
It will be achisable to bear this measurement in mind when a later chapter on long-case
clocks is considered, as when the tall clock went out of fashion, in great mansions,

"If

Fig. 41.
FRAMEWORK OF WINDOW FROM AN OLD HOUSE AT HADLEIGH, ESSEX.

7 ft. 3 ins. wide by 5 ft. 11 ins. high.

Fifteenth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

during the years from 1735 to 1750, it is to houses of this type, which persisted in
numbers during the eighteenth centurj^ especially in country districts, that they were
relegated, with the result that bases had to be cut and hood superstructures removed
to permit of them standing upright in these low rooms. This, however, is a detail for
later consideration.

The same elaboration of traceried carving was often carried into the designing
of the windows of these timber houses. Figs. 41 and 42 show the exterior and interior
views of an oak window from an old house at Hadleigh in Essex, of the later fifteenth
century. The fact is worthy of notice that there is no sign of a glazing rebate or fillet.

Fig. 42.
THE INSIDE VIEW OF THE WINDOW FRAMEWORK, FIG. 41, SHOWING SHUTTER REBATE

AND ABSENCE OF GLAZING REBATES.

Early English Furniture and Jf'^oodwork

It is possible that sheets of parchment, or oiled linen, may have been nailed over the
window apcrtnrrs to keep out draught, but this window was originally made to be
left open, as the tracery on both sides is carved and the mullions moulded. Interesting
remains of decorated plaster-work can be seen on the inside face. The rebates shown
on the interior faces are for shutters only.

Doors and door framings were treated on a similarly elaborate scale, but considera-
tion of these must be deferred to a later chapter where the subject can be dealt with
at greater length and detail.

It is obvious from a study of these half- timber houses, built for the moderately
wealthy, that the low rooms which they contained must have limited the height of the
furniture made for them, very severely. This low ceiling-pitch was, obviously, found
desirable for two reasons. In the periods when the science of heating was very little
comprehended, cosiness, or even stulfiness, was preferred to over-ventilation, and,
also, in the designing of these gabled houses, it was found that a greater height than
eight feet per story (as a maximum) made these houses, with their steeply pitched
tiled roofs, disproportionately lofty.

The window framing from the old house at Hadleigh, Fig. 41, shows, in the same
way as the Bury St. Edmunds corner-posts, that rooms must have been low in pitch,
even in the timber-houses of the most elaborate kind. This window is fine and im-
portant, even for the fifteenth century, when the craft of the Enghsh woodworker
was at its zenith, yet the total height is under six feet. If we allow for the cutting
of the lower parts of the upright timbers, where they rested on the w-all-plate, we
cannot add much more than one foot, to give the total height of the room for which
they were made. Doors also show, although not so convincingly, that they were intended
for low ceilinged rooms. A fifteenth-century door made for a secular house of the
timber kind, is rarely over six feet in height, and is usually less even than this.

A curious point suggests itself in this connection ; has the stature of the English
race grown since the fifteenth century, or were doors and ceilings kept purposely low ?
An examination of suits of armour of this period, — the evidence of which must be
beyond question, as armour must fit to a nicety, — will show, I think, that six feet was
quite an exceptional height for an Englishman in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Effigies on tombs suggest the same thing, but here the evidence is dubious, as the scale
of these figures may be over or under life-size.

It would be interesting, at this juncture, to trace the development of the private
apartments in the direction of greater comfort, were this not to anticipate later chapters

The Plan of the Early Tudor House

of this book. The brief outline here given, however, will be enough to introduce the
reader to the early Tudor household of the wealthy type, at the date when the eighth
Henry was beginning to resist the power of the Roman Church, to divide his talents
somewhat unequally between the exercise of kingcraft, the marriage state, the literary
arts, — such as the fulmination against Luther, which earned for the King, and his
successors, the title of " Defender of the Faith " (how much of this was the work of
Henry VHI or how much properly belongs to Erasmus, it is hardly necessary to surmise
here), and the game of statesmanship, which caused the rise and fall of the great butcher
of Ipswich and other favourites whom it pleased the royal fancy to uplift and to cast
down.

Chapter V.

The Development of the Enghsh Timber Roof.

HE tinibiT roof, from the thirteentli to the sixteenth centm-ies, is such
a triumi)h of the Enghsh carpenter, demonstrating equally his skill
and inventive ability, that some little space must be devoted to its
consideration.

Until almost the end of the fourteenth century, the joiner was
content to follow the mason at a respectful distance. He imitated him in such
things as canopies, tombs, sedilia and the like, and even the early chests, if they
were coloured in close imitation of stone, would deceive an eye judging by form
and general details only.

The mason hews out of the solid block the piece he is fashioning ; the timber
worker constructs. The carpenter builds a box with framed ends, front and top,
cutting his framing from planks. He makes his framing, tenoning and mortising his
stjdes and rails, fixing in liis panels, either in grooves or rebates. The mason has no
other alternative than to make his frame and panel in one, from the solid stone. In
other words, stone offers greater resistance than wood to crushing weights, but it has not
the tensile strength. A Gothic church made from wood or a tie-beam made from stone,
would both collapse, the one from the crushing weight of the superstructure, the other
from the sagging strain.

It is with the timber roof, as applied to churches and sacred buildings, that the
early joiner first emancipates himself from the stone mason's traditions. There is
very little hiatus in the evolution, where the timber roof is employed in secular houses,
although such decorations as religious symbols, winged angels, and with rare excep-
tions, painting in colours, are absent. The secular timber roof, — that is, one which
is left unceiled, and with its timbers exposed, and, therefore, ornamented in greater
or lesser degree, — has a comparatively short life in England. With the decline of the
Great Hall and the advent of the Long Gallery, the custom arose of ceiling in, at com-
paratively moderate heights, and ornamenting the ceiling with moulded plaster. This
method had the advantage of permitting of the subdividing, under a large roof, into
apartments of moderate size, the partition waUs being taken up to ceiling height,
whereas with the open timber roof, such subdivision is not possible, without forming

The Devclopmcy/t of the English Timber Roof

a number of cubicles, the decorative effect of wliich in a house would be disastrous.
Barn partitions offer good examples of this cubicle effect.

Concerned, as we are here, with origin rather than purpose, there is a very narrow
line of demarcation between an ecclesiastical and a secular building, especially in the
earlier periods. The builders of churches and cathedrals were not altogether clerical,
nor the artisans engaged on work to private palaces wholly secular. Hampton Court
and Eltham were built for a great Cardinal ; Westminster Hall for William Rufus, and
its present roof for Richard II. Anthony Bee's Hall at Durham Castle is entirely
ecclesiastical, both in inception and workmanship, whereas Middle Temple Hall
(although late, dating only from the reign of Elizabeth) is secular in about the same
degree. In no case, however, does roof construction differ, in essential details, whether
it be in palace or church. The development of the English timber roof, therefore,
can be traced without any deviation, whether in buildings erected for Royalty, the
Church or the laity. The evolution of the constructive principles is the same in all
cases.

It may not be out of place here to assume that both the technical terms used in
describing the parts of a timber roof, and the principles and problems which arise in
its construction, are unknown to the general reader, and to attempt a simple explana-
tion of both. It must be borne in mind that it is not possible, in such an explanation,
to be both simple and complete, and the di^ision line between the incomplete and
the inaccurate is frequently very narrow.

For our present purpose, we can consider roofs under three heads only, flat, lean-to
and central-ridged or pitched. The end of a pitched roof forms a gable, hence the term
" gabled-roof," which is frequently, but erroneously, used.

A flat roof is formed by laying beams squarely across the walls, at intervals
according to the strength required. Transversely across these beams, timbers of lesser
size, — known as joists, — are fixed, any piecing in the joist-length being supported
on the beam-thickness. Sometimes the joists are framed into the beams, producing a
panelled roof of the Somersetshire type. Transversely again across the joists, close
boarding is nailed, and on this boarding the final roof covering, of lead or zinc, is laid.
Tiles or slates cannot be used on a flat roof, as we shall see later. If a finished appear-
ance be desired, the under side of the close-boarding is decorated with apphed tracery
or carvings. Rich examples have the ribs moulded and carved, with bosses or foliations
at the intersections.

Unsatisfactory as a flat roof is, in collecting rain and snow, as it can only be pitched

1. Low-pitcli roof with cambered- 2. Cambercd-beam firrcd up. (Firrcd- 3. Firrcd-beam roof with beam arch-

beam, beam type.) braced to wall-posts.

^^W

o c

4. Arch-braced tie-beam roof. King- 5. Arch-braced tie-beam roof . Queen-

post arch-beamed. posts arch-braced.

6. High-pitched roof without ties
(hypothetical).

7. High-pitched roof with tie-beam.

High-pitched roof with collar-beam.

9. Tie - and - collar - beam roof with
braced king-post.

^^ *

10. Tie-and-collar-beam roof with
braced queen-posts.

II. Tie-beam roof with scissors truss 12. Roof with scissors-braced collar

instead of collar. without tie-beam.

Fig. 43.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH TIMBER ROOF.

13- Roof with braced collar and
scissors truss above.

14. Roof with tie-bear.i strength-
ened by wall-posts and braces, collar
also arch-braced.

15. Roof with collar-beam
braced to wall-posts.

arch-

iG. Roof with hammer-beams. The
Ijraces of the collar are taken , own to
arch-braced hammer-beams.

17. Roof arch-braced to wall-posts
without collar or hammer-beams.

18. Hammer-beam roof with hammer-
posts and wall-posts. Both hammer-
beams and collar are arch-braced.

19. Double hammer-beam roof
with hammer-posts ; arch-braced king-
posts from collar to ridge.

20. False double-hammer-beam roof.
The collar-braces are taken to the back
of the upper tier of hammer-beams,
which, therefore, carry no weight.

21. False single-hammer-beam roof
(pendentive) (Eltham Palace type).
The hammer-posts bear on the tenons
only of the hammer-beams, not on the
beams themselves.

22. Hammer-beam roof without
wall-posts. The arch-braces are con-
tinued past the hammer-beam to the
corbels and act as wall-posts.

23. Arch -braced roof with wall-
posts. (The progenitor of the arch-
rib of Xo. 24.)

24. Compound hammer-beam roof
with large arch-ribs (Westminster
Hall).

Fig. 44.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH TIMBER ROOF.

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

to allow of a sliglit fall to the gutters, the points of stabiHty to be considered are only
threefold.

(i) The walls must be strong enough to support the dead-weight of the roof.

(2) The beams and joists must be of such thickness that they will not sag.

(3) The ends of tlic beams, where they are housed into the wall, or where they

rest upon its top, shall be efificiently protected against rot or decay.

It is obvious that on these beam-ends the stabiHty of the whole roof depends.
With a completel\- framed roof, the beams are mortised at their ends to receive the'
wall-plates, which are laid on the wall-head.

With roofs of large span, the liability of the principal beams to sag, and thus to
pull awa\- the ends from the supporting walls, dictates the cambered beam, that is,
one with either a natural or an artificial upward curve or bend in its length, or one which
is deeper in the middle than at the ends. Such a beam, fixed with its concave side down-
wards (i.e. with its camber upwards), resists any tendency to sag, in a very efficient manner.
E.xamples of cambering will be noticed in the tie-beams illustrated in this chapter.

The outer covering of a flat roof, whether of lead, zinc or other material, is liable
to perish by atmospheric action, or to be injured mechanically. Slates or tiles have
been found to be more lasting, but their use necessitates the lean-to or the pitched
roof. Tiles or slates, with their overlap, must be on a slope, otherwise the rain and
snow will percolate, or be driven under the overlappings. Their use, therefore, dictates
either the lean-to or the pitched roof, as a logical necessity.

Both these types of roof introduce a new principle, the necessity of resisting the
downward and outward pressure, or thrust, which tends to force either the supporting
walls out of perpendicular, 1 or the roof itself off the walls. With the lean-to roof, the
type largely used in the aisles of churches, this outward thrust is exercised on the one
wall only ; with the pitched-roof it is thrown on both.

The later type of pitched-roof commences, at its apex, with a longitudinal beam
known as the ridge-purlin, or ridge, from which sloping battens are carried down to
the tops of the outer walls, where they are notched into long timbers fixed thereon,
known as wall-plates. These battens, which form the skeleton sides of the roof, are
called the common rafters.- Where, for greater strength, some of these rafters are

• Brookland Church, near Romney in Kent (see small illustration on page 60), is a good instance of where
the thrust of the nave roof has pushed both the outer walls and the aisle columns out of the perpendicular.

^ The earhest type of pitched roof has the rafters halved together or " finger-jointed " and pegged at the
apex, without ridge-purlin. This type is known as a coupled rafter-roof.

'■^

The Development of the English Timber Roof

made thicker than the others, at regular intervals, they are known as principal rafters,
or principals. Should the rafters be of such length that they are likely to sag, they
are supported, generally at half their length, by longitudinal beams, or purlins, running
parallel with the ridge-purlin. A roof without either principals or purlins is termed
a single-framed roof ; with both principals and purlins, it is known as double-
framed.

A roof such as the one described above would have two elements of weakness ;
it would be liable to sag in its length from its ridge and down its outside faces, and
excessive wind pressure would tend to push it, together with its wall-plates, either off
the supporting walls, or to collapse the two sides together. To correct this tendency
to close up, or flatten out, — it is usual to fix beams across the short span. If these ties
are fixed at the level of the wall-plates, they are known as tie-beams ;' if between
the principals at a short distance from the ridge, they are known as collar-beams or
collars. If it be desired to support the ridge-purlin still further, posts are fixed from
the top of the tie-beam, or the collar, to the under side of the ridge. When these posts
are central with the tie-beams, that is, when they are fixed directly under the ridge-
purlin, they are known as king-posts. Where they are fixed one on either side of the
centre of the ridge, into the principals, and at the other end into the tie-beam or the
collar, they are known as queen-posts.

To minimise the wind-strain on the sides of a high-pitched roof, and to remove
the tendency of the entire roof being pushed off the wide walls, vertical posts are
tenoned into the tie-beam or principal and carried down to the wall, on to stone
brackets or corbels. A roof with straight beams across its shortest span, reinforced by
wall-posts, is known as a post-and-beam roof.'- With side walls weakened by the
insertion of many windows, these wall-posts are very necessary to carry the thrust
of the roof below the wall-plate level.

A pitched roof may be either high or low. One formed entirely of cambered tie-
beams, with the top camber increased by " firring-pieces," or long wedge-shaped battens
fixed to the top of the tie-beams to increase their slope, is known as a firred-beam roof.
Its pitch is, obviously, a low one.

Where a beam or collar is reinforced by a short piece of timber fixed bracket-
wise, one end into its under side at an angle of approximately 45 degrees,
and the other into a principal or a wall-plate, such reinforcing piece is known

• Also known as main collar -beams.

- The term is also used to signify a tie-beam roof with cither king- or queen-posts above.

Early English Furniture and JJ'^oocIwork

as a brace. \\'hon this brace
is cut in the shape of a segment
of a circle or an o\'al, it is known
as an arch-brace.

A series of beams projecting,
horizontally, into tlie interior of
the hall or room, either from the
wall-head or from the principal
rafter at a higher level, acting as
cantilevers in supporting posts or
braces, and thereby relieving the
wall-plates of some of the thrust,
constitutes a hammer-beam roof.
Where a single row only is fixed.

Fig. 45.
HARMONDSWORTH BARN, MIDDLESEX.

Interior showing the roof timbers. Span 37 ft. 9 ins. Length

191ft. 8 ins. W'idth between posts, 18 ft. i in. Height 37 ft.

3 ins. 13 trusses.

BROOKLAND CHURCH, KENT.

An illustration of the effect of roof-thrust.

at the wall-head, usually coinciding with
each principal, but sometimes with each
alternate one, the roof is known as a single
hammer-beam. Where an upper row exists,
above the first, tenoned into the principals
at about purlin level, the roof is called a
double hammer-beam.

To act as parts of the construction, in
their capacity as cantilevers, it is essential
that the braces and posts strengthening the
principals should be fixed almost at the
ends of the projecting hammer-beams, bearing
upon their upper surfaces. In some instances,
however, the hammer-beams, especially the
upper tier, are introduced merely for
decorative effect, and the arch-braces bear
only at the junction of the hammer-beams
with the principals. These roofs are termed
false hammer-beams. The hammer-beam
60

Fig. 46.
YORK GUILD HALL.

A very rare type of a double-aisled roof with posts to the floor.

Mid-fifteenth century.

93 ft. long by 43 ft. span. About 30 ft. high.

K(ir/y Ef/o/is/j Furniture and Jf^ooc/ucork

itself takt's no strain, and I'ullils no |)nri)osc; it nu'ivlx' j)rojt-cts into the air,
uselessly.

Another varietj' of false hannner-beam, one whic li is not constructionally sound,
is shown in Fig. 44, Xo. zi. This is known as the pemlentivi' type. The roof at Eltham
Palace is an examjile. Instead of tlie liannner-posts bearing on the hammer-beams,
the\- are takt'n down be\ond them, in decorative moulded finials, and the ends of the
hammer-beams arc tenoned into tiiem. The support to the hammer-post, therefore,
is not on tlu- hammer-beam itself, but only on its tenon, ft is obvious that this method
is constructionally bad, as tlie OlBce of Works discovered when the Eltham Palace
roof was recentlx' restored and reinforced.

A compound roof is one where the span is too wide to be bridged by tie-beams
at wall-plate level. The hammer-beams, in a roof of this kind, carry vertical posts
tenoned into principal rafters at their upper ends, and the tie-beams arc fixed at about

Fig. 47.
LONG MELFORD, SUFFOLK.

The roof of the Lady Chapel {1496).
62

The Development of the English Timber Roof

purlin-level and are, therefore, in effect,
collars rather than true tie-beams. Examples
of compound or double-aisled roofs are
illustrated here in Fig. 44, Nos. 21 and 24.
Westminster Hall and Needham Market
Church, shown later in Figs, go and 83, are
examples of these double-aisled roofs.

In view of the above explanation it is
unnecessary to enter into a description of
single-thrust or lean-to roofs. The principles
are the same, and are self-e\'ident.

No better understanding of the details
of timber roof construction can be gained
than by the study of roofs of barns of the

^^'^^^^wtSft'

Fig. 49.
STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, SUFFOLK.

The Nave. Late fifteenth centurv.

Fig. 48.
LONG MELFORD, SUFFOLK.

The Nave. Late fifteenth century.

more elaborate type, such as Harmonds-
worth Barn, shown here in Fig. 45. Barn
roofs are necessarily devoid of much of
the decorative character usually found
in those of churches or mansions, and
there are, in consequence, no unnecessary
details or parts to distract the attention.
Barn roofs have also another advantage ;
from their utilitarian, as distinct from
decorative, character, they exhibit early
details and constructional methods per-
sisting to a later date. Being made
for use only, their evolution is necessarily
slow, as a perfect principle, once devised,
was adhered to, irrespective of changing

Ear/y English Furniture and T Food work

fashions, or desires for novelty in decoratixc
effects. Tlie supporting posts, which are
the barn equivalents of the domestic hamnnr-
posts, ha\-e an advantage in reaching to the
lloor, wliereas, in tlie great hall, they would
be an obstruction. The barn roof, such as in
Fig. 45, is, therefore, truly double-aisled at
floor level, and it is this form of construction
which must ha\-e inspired the hammer-post
and hannner-beam. The stable properties of
cantilevering the hammer-beam would follow
when the carrying of the posts to the ffoor
was interdicted. Unfortunately, the support-
ing of hammer-posts on the tenons only of
the hammer-beams (the pendentive type

Fig. 51.
MONKS ELEIGH, SUFFOLK.

Roof of North Aisle. lo ft. 9 ins. span.

Fig. 50.
WETHERDEN, SUFFOLK.

Roof of South Aisle (r. 1400).

such as at Eltham and Earl Stonham),
must have originated from the same
source.

York Guild Hall, shown here in Fig.
46, is a remarkable example of a roof
supported by posts from the floor, forming,
in effect, a hall with nave and aisles, and
is, probably, the only roof of this kind
existing in England at the present day.
Although unique now, there is no doubt
that this form is earlier than the hammer-
beam roof ; in fact it must have been the
prototype. York Guild Hall is late for this
kind of roof construction. Begun in 1446,
it was not completed until nearly fifty

The development of the English Timber Roof

years later, and records exist which state
that the merchants of York who were
convicted of illegal practices were fined,
not in money, but in kind, having to find
timber and oak wainscot for the Hall.

The roof is low in pitch, with little
outward thrust, the great stresses being
almost entirely downwards, carried on
the massive octagonal-section oak posts
with their stone bases. The nave is of
the firred-beam type. The aisles are
constructed with simple lean-to roofs.
The problem of the entire roof, therefore,
is one more of size than constructional

Fig. 53.
TAWSTOCK, N. DEVON.

Aisle Roof. 48 ft. long by y ft. span. Fifteenth century.
The western type of panelled roof.
K

Fig. 52.
ROUGHAM, SUFFOLK.

Roof of South Aisle. Late fifteenth century.

difficulties, involving complicated stress
calculations. The principles governing
roofs, even of gigantic size, where the
timbers are supported from wall-head
level, were fully understood, and their
advantages appreciated at this date.
There are many factors, other than
inexperience or timidity on the part of
the mediaeval carpenter, which may have
dictated this aisle-column form of the
York Guild Hall roof.

A careful study, and memorising of
the roof sections illustrated in Figs. 43
and 44 is recommended, as in the illustra-
tions which follow, of actual roofs, the
essential details cannot be shown so

Early ENglish Furniture and W^oodwork

clearly, as in diai^ram fonii. Apart from lighting considerations, with concomitant
photographic difficulties, the occultation of ll:c one beam or collar, with its
superimposed bracing or iK)sts, by the succeeding one, renders the close study
of all the points of a roof, from the one view-point onl}', nearly impossible. With a
single photograph, therefore, all the details of a roof cannot always be shown distinctly.
Space considerations preclude a redundancy of illustration.

The succeeding illustrations have, -for convenience only, been arranged in a
progressive order, from the simple to the complex. While there is no doubt that the
true e\-olution of the timber roof actually took place somewhat on these lines, it must

not be assumed that a
simple roof is earlier in
date than a more elaborate
one. W e have no com-
plete record of very early
roofs ; the greater number
have perished, disappeared
and been forgotten long
since. At one period in
the history of English
carpentry, examples could
have been illustrated to
show the development
from type to type, each
true to the date of its
inception, but that time
has passed, many centuries
ago. Thus the gigantic
roof of W^estminster Hall,
dating from the closing
years of the fourteenth
century, is an early
example when compared
with others existing at the
present day, but it is late in
the history of the English
66

Fig. 54.
ST. OSYTH, ESSEX.

Roof of North Aisle.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

timber roof. An enormous span of 68 feet between walls would have been impossible
to bridge at the dawn of timber-roof consti'uction. It is conjectured that the original
roof, which the present one replaced in 1395, was constructed with two aisles and with
posts to the floor in the same manner as in Harmondsworth Barn or York Guild Hall,
already illustrated.

With the above stipulation, therefore, we can commence with the low-pitched
roof of the tie-beam or firred-beam description, and illustrate, in an orderly progression,
examples from this simple type to that of the ornate hammer-beam and double-aisled
construction. No distinction has been attempted, nor is it possible to make an v.
between the ecclesiastical
and the secular types.
Even if the difference
between a secular and
a sacred building had
resulted in a change in
constructional design due
to such character, — which
was not the fact, — there
are many examples in
which both the sacred and
the secular elements enter
very largely. That many,
if not all, of the earUer
roofs were inspired from
clerical sources, is prob-
able, but this does not
concern us here at present.

Fig. 47 is the roof of
the Lady Chapel at Long
Melford 'in Suffolk. This
is of the cambered-beam
type, and possesses, in
addition, a rare diagonal
beam from which two sets ^'^' ^^*

LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK.

df joists run at right North Aisle (r. 1500). 1 8 ft. span, 95 ft. long.

Roof of Nave.

Fig. 56.
KELSALE, SUFFOLK.

Span 21 ft. 6 ins. Early fifteentli century.

Fig. 57.
MONKS ELEIGH, SUFFOLK.

Roof of Nave. Span 19 ft. 9 ins. Early fifteenth century.

The Deve/opmer/t of the English Timber Roof

angles to each other. This is, in
effect, another form of the dragon-
beam referred to on page 42, although
the term is not used in referring to
the timbering of a roof, but only
to the joisting of a floor. The
principle, of supporting two sets of
joists or rafters at right angles to
each other, is the same in each case,
however. The tie-beams to this roof are
arch-braced to wall-posts, supported on
the capitals of the slender wall columns.
Fig. 48 is the nave roof from
the same church, also of cambered-
beam construction. The ridge and

Fig. 59.
LAPFORD, DEVONSHIRE.

Roof of the Nave.

Fig. 58.
HORWOOD, N. DEVON.

The Roof of the N. Aisle.

purlins are framed between the beams,
the common rafters being tenoned into and
pegged to the ridge. Both principal and
common rafters are elaborately moulded.
The clerestory windows are high, and tran-
somed, and the columns of the aisles are
delicate in proportion for the height of the
nave, but with these low-pitched roofs there is
practically no outward thrust, and the little
there is, the wall-posts, to which the tie-beams
are arch-braced, take up very efficiently.
These wall-posts and the slender columns
below them, rest, alternately, on the junctions
and the apex of each arch of the aisles.

Fig. 49 is the nave roof of Stoke-by-

Early English Furniture and W^oodwork

Nayland Clnirch, in Suffolk,
another cambered-bcam roof,
but here arch-braced to wall-
posts resting on stone corbels
mstead of the capitals of
columns. The low rafter-pitch
of this roof, and also the joint-
ing of the arch-braces, can be
clearly set'n in the illustration.
The roof has been considcrabl\'
restored, and some of the tie-
beams replaced, witli the
original mouldings omitted.

Fig. 50 is the aisle roof
of Wetherden Church, a low-

Fig. 61.
HITCHAM, SUFFOLK.

The Roof of the Chancel.

Fig. 60.
TAWSTOCK, N. DEVON.

The Roof of tlie Chapel. 40 ft. long
by 15 ft. 9 ins. wide.

pitch with a slight lean-to. The
cambered - beams are enriched with
carving of square rosettes and bosses,
with heraldic shields covering the inter-
sections of the tie-beams with the purlins.
Only the alternate beams are arch-braced
to the wall-posts ; those between are merely
tenoned into the carved wall-plate. The
winged angels applied at the foot of each
of the wall-posts are finely executed.

Fig. 51 is another lean-to roof from
the aisle of Monks Eleigh Church. Here
the beams are square sectioned, without
camber, and rest on the wall-plates, which,
in turn, are supported on plain stone
corbels, and the last two main beams
are braced to the wall-posts, the spandrels
filled with early fifteenth-century pierced
and carved tracerv.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

Fig. 62.

CROSBY HALL.

Erected 1470, and re-erected in Chelsea, London, S.W., 1908.

Walter H. Godfrey, Architect.

Fig. 52 is the S. aisle roof of Rougham Church, with each beam arch-braced on
the S. wall, but, on the nave side with braces only to each alternate beam, carried
down to posts and corbels at the junction of each arch of the aisle.

Fig. 53, the aisle of Tawstock, N. Devon, shows the fifteenth-century western type
of panelled roof.

Fig. 54 is the roof of the N. aisle of St. Osyth Church in Essex. Here both the
beams and rafters are moulded, and the former elaborately carved. Each alternate
beam is arch-braced to the wall-posts, these only having heavy carved pendentives at
the intersections.

Fig. 55 is the N. aisle roof of Lavenham Church, in Suffolk, a richer example,
with alternate beams, only, arch-braced to the wall-posts. The foot of each
wall-post is carved with the figure of a Saint, standing on the stone corbel. The

Early English E'urniture and JVoodwork

Fig. 63.
CROSBY HALL.

famous pew of the Spring family, seen
in the distance at the side of the chapel
screen, will be illustrated to a larger scale
in a later chapter.

Figs. 56 and 57 are the braced-
rafter types, in each case, scissor-braced
above the collar. In Fig. 56 each sixth
rafter is arch-braced to corbelled wall-
posts, the rafter being framed to the
post with a sole-piece notched to the
twin wall-plate, and the intermediate
rafters are strutted with ashlar-pieces
from the wall-plate. In Fig. 57 there
are neither arch-braces nor wall-posts.
This is an early type of high-pitched
roof, and shows the development to-
T. H .. H r >f''*i°." '^°".'^ h' ''°°'' , • ^ ■.. wards the next form, the barrel, which

The dotted lines show the finish of the original scissors-bracmg.

The parts shaded show the additions made by Mr. Walter • •ppollv in irch-braced inStcad of a
H. Godfrey when the hall was re-erected. Erected in 1470 for •'

Sir John crcsby, d. 1475. straight-braccd rafter roof. Examples

are shown in Fig. 58, Horwood ; Fig. 59, Lapford ; and Fig. 60, Tawstock Chapel.
Fig 59 is ceiled in to barrel-form above the rood-screen. Fig. 61 is a rare double-
coved and barrel roof, close-boarded in. The side-covings really mask hammer-
beams, which carry the longitudinal hammer-plate. This arch-braced rafter, or barrel-
form of roof is typical of Devonshire and Somerset Churches, although it is unsafe,
at the present day, to attempt a classification of timber roofs into types of localities,
without many drastic exceptions.

The roof of Crosby Hall, Figs. 62, 63 and 64, enters into the logical sequence of
timber-roof development here, and also serves to show how narrow is the division line
between a roof and a ceiling. Practically all of the visible woodwork of this roof is
purely decorative, but the sectional view, — for the drawing of which we are indebted
to Mr. Walter H. Godfrey, the architect under whose supervision Crosby Hall was
removed from its former site in Bishopsgate to its present location in Sir Thomas More's
old garden at Chelsea, — shows that it is really of the scissor-braced rafter variety. In the
drawing, the dotted lines at AA show the original bracing, which was in a very decayed
state at the time of the removal, and BB the new scissor-brace which was inserted by

The r)evelopment of the KrjglisJj Timber Roof

Mr. Godfrey, to strengthen the original bracing. At the same time the king-post C was
also introduced. Fig. 64 is from an idealised sketch made by Herbert Cescinsky of
the Hall before its demolition in igo8, and Fig. 62 shows it in its state as re-erected.

It is only this original scissor-bracing which removes this roof from the category
of ceilings. Actually, a ceiling may be defined as the covering of a room or hall which
is fixed to, and supported by either roof timbers or the joists of the floor above.
Thus, the visible joists, even when carved and decorated, with the interstices
filled in by the floor-boarding above, do not constitute a true ceiling, no
part of which should be constructional, but mereh' decorative. Crosby Hall,
therefore, can be described as having a ceiled decorative roof, of which the
arched-ribs with their wall-posts are the onh' visible constructional members.

Fig. 65, the nave roof of Haughley Church, in Suffolk, introduces the tie-beam
roof. This is distinguished from the cambered or firred-beam types in being higher in
pitch, and in consequence, possessing a ridge-purlin, but without collars. In this example,
the tic-beam is introduced between each alternate principal only, and is braced below
to corbelled wall-posts, and above, from the beam to the purlin. The intermediate
principals are arch-braced to wall-posts

direct. At the junction of each brace
with its purlin, and each principal with
is an applied pendentive

ridge.

ornament in the form of a carved floral
boss.

Fig. 66 is a secular roof from a
house in Lad\^ Street, Lavenham, in
process of restoration. The tie-beams are
cambered, and the rafters are halved at
their intersections without a ridge-purlin.
To compensate for this a collar-purlin
is fixed under the collars, and this is
stiffened by a braced king-post from
the centre of the cambered tie-beam.
The end of the tie-beam, visible in the
illustration, illustrates the decay often
met with in these early timber roofs, to
remedy" which it is necessary to take

f^!^

Fig. 64.
CROSBY HALL, BISHOPSGATE.

From an idealised sketch by Herbert Cescinsky made in 190S.
73

Early E^/(y//sb Furniture and Jl^oodwork

Fig. 65.
HAUGHLEY, SUFFOLK.

The Roof of the Nave. Span 24 ft. 6 ins. Length 5S ft. 4 ins.
Late fifteenth century.

the roof apart to repair it. In the illustration, it will be noticed that each joint has
been marked to facilitate the re-erection.

Of similar type is the nave roof of Edwardstone Church in Suffolk, Fig. 67, where
the sag of the tie-beams, in spite of their camber, may be noticed. All four braces from
the king-posts are tenoned into the collars, instead of the lateral braces being carried
past them to the purlins, as in the pre\'ioas example. In addition to this support, the
collars are braced to the rafters, which, in turn, are ashlar-strutted from the wall-plates.

Fig. 68 is the nave roof of St. John's Church, Henley-in-Arden, of the arch-braced
queen-post type. The tie-beams ha\e an acute camber, and are arch-braced to corbelled
wall-posts. The collars are high and small in scantling, and the roof is without ridge-
purlins. So rare is it to find the queen-post type of roof before the Dissolution of
Monasteries, that the presence of these posts may be taken as an almost infallible
indication of the latter half of the sixteenth century, or even later. St. John's Church
has a fine pulpit, which will be illustrated in a later chapter on the development of
the English oak chest.

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Fig. 68.
ST. JOHN'S, HENLEY-IN-ARDEN, WARWICKSHIRE.

The Nave Roof. Braced queen-post type.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

Fig. 6g has a moulded collar-beam,
with large arch-braces fixed to the
tenons of the hammer-beams, in the
pendentive manner. The pendentive
ornaments have been cut away to make
room for the later flooring. As pointed
out earlier in this chapter, this penden-
tive hammer-beam form of roof is
not sound construction, as the strain is
carried on the tenon only, instead of
the hammer-beam itself.

Fig. 70 shows the chancel roof of
Ufford Church, in Suffolk, which intro-
duces the pendentive hammer-post type.
This is a framed collar-truss roof. The
crenellated collars have a very slight
camber, and arc braced above to the
principal rafters, and below to the pen-
dant posts. From these latter, arch-
braces are taken to the wall-posts slot-
tenoned into the principals below purlin-
level. From the pendentive posts, shields
are fixed at a parallel slope to the pitch
of the roof, with curious devices painted upon them, illustrating symbols of the Cruci-
fixion and the Passion. On the right-hand side, in the illustration, the first shield has
the scourges, the second the pincers for withdrawing the nails from the hands and feet,
the third the dice-horn which was used for the casting of the lots, the fourth the
Crown of Thorns, and on the fifth the dice are represented. On the other side the first
shows the spear with which the soldier pierced the Saviour's side, together with the
sponge on a pole and the ladder used to ascend the Cross, the second the Crucifixion
hammer, the third the thirty pieces of silver (in three piles), the fourth a Crusader's
sword crossing with a Saracen's scimitar, and the fifth shows the dice again. Winged
angels centre each of the great carved cornice.

Fig. 71 is the nave roof of St. Osyth Church, of which that of the N. aisle has
already been shown in Fig. 54. This roof is constructed of timbers of light scantling,

Fig. 69.
HOUSE IN THE BUTTERMARKET, IPSWICH

Known as " Sparrowe's House."
View sliowing the roof timbers.
Late fifteenth century.
Span 18 ft. 6 ins; Length 30 ft. o ins.

Early English Furniture and JFootki-ork

with a ridge and thrrr jnirlins. Of these three the central one has a collar-beam
arch-braced to haunner-beams, which in tnrn are braced to wall-posts without corbels.
The roof is simple, without car\-ing, and moulded only on the wall-plate, the under
sides of the hammer-beams, and the ])urlins. The common rafters are ashlar-strutted
from the top of the wall-jilate. This may be described as one of the earliest types of
hammer-beam roof, thougli of late date.

Fig. jz is a richly- decorated roof from Southwold Chancel. It is of the single
hammer-beam and braced-collar type, boarded in below the collar and across the
common rafters, thus forming panels between the collars, the principals and the purlins.
The collar-panelling is omitted, and the boarding taken to the ridge, in the bay at the
western end, this being directly over the rood-screen. The entire Chancel roof is richly
painted, that of the Nave having the open timbering without decoration. This example is
an instance of the dual ownership of the church, dating from \'ery early times, the nave
being the property of, and maintained by, the parishioners, the chancel belonging to

Fig. 70.
UFFORD, SUFFOLK, CHANCEL ROOF.

Framed collar-truss with pendeutives, braced to wall-posts.
Late fifteenth century.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

the church. The latter, therefore, is nearly always more elaborate than the former.
The chancel was generally enriched to its decorative limit before any beautifying of
the nave was commenced.

The nave roof of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, Fig. 73, is one of a rare type, which
may be described as a vaulted hammer-beam. A purlin, — which becomes, in effect,
a cornice, — is tenoned to the free ends of the hammer-beams, the latter being masked
by a groined vaulting, carried down to slender columns, with caps and bases, placed
between the clerestory windows and supported on carved corbels. The roof, above
the vaulting is simple, with ridge and two purlins, without collars, arch-braced from ridge
to cornice, with winged angels applied, over the cornice, at the feet of the arch-braces.

Framlingham has a similar roof. Fig. 74, to St. Peter Mancroft, but differs in being
of the arch-braced collar type. The collars are fixed at purlin level. That the vaulting
supports the cornice and hammer-beams, to any extent, is doubtful. It is mainly, if
not entirely, a decorative detail.

Fig. 75 has cambered collars arch-braced to hammer-beams. The base of each of

Fig. 71.
ST. OSYTH, ESSEX, NAVE ROOF.

Collar-beams braced to hammer-beams.
Late fifteenth century.

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The Development of the English Timber Roof

Fig. 74.
FRAMLINGHAM, SUFFOLK.

Roof of the Nave. Vaulted hammer-beam type (c. 1500).

the wall-posts, above the corbel, is niched, and carved with the standing figure of a
Saint. Each hammer-beam is carved in the form of a prone winged angel. Another
example of this embellishment of hammer-beams will be noticed, later on, in the instance
of Westminster Hall and the roof of the Law Library at Exeter.

Fig. 76 is a roof of similar type to the preceding, with a resemblance strong enough
to suggest a common origin for both. In no instance, however, is one church roof a
facsimile of another. Here the one collar is braced direct to its wall-post, but the next
in order has the carved hammer-beam intervening. Each wall-post is without corbel
and the collars are not cambered. A moulded king-post connects each collar to the ridge.

Wetherden Church, in Suffolk, has an elaborate roof, Fig. 77, of the double
hammer-beam pendentive type. The collar-beams are moulded and cambered, centred
with carved floral bosses, and each is arch-braced to the upper tier of hammer-beams,
M 81

Early English Furniture and U^oodwork

tlu' braces being taki-n so far back as
to constitute a false haninier-bcam roof.
Each collar is king-posted to the lidLjc-
inirlin. i'roni t'acli principal, just below
its junction with the hammer-beam, a
braced luunmt"r-i)c)st is carried down,
past the next tier, fixed only by tenons
at the ends of the lower hammer-beams,
and terminating in pendentives carved
in the form of standing Saints. The
wall-posts correspond with the hammer-
posts and are car\'ed in the same manner.
Although this is a rich and elaborate
roof, considered as an example of
constructional carpentry, it cannot be
classed, from tliis point of \-iew, with
the next illustration, Fig. 78. Here

Fig. 76.

KERSEY, SUFFOLK.

Roof of Nave. Alternate arch-braced hammer-beams.
Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 75.
ROUGHAM, SUFFOLK.

Roof of Nave. Collars braced to hammer-beams.
Late fifteenth century- Span 19 ft.

we have the true double hammer-beam
to each intermediate principal, alterna-
ting with arch-braced collars to single
hammer-beams, each fixed to the princi-
pal at the level of the upper tier only,
and bracketed, rather than braced, back
to the principal itself ; a most unusual
detail. Each collar with its bracing is
centred with a heavy carved pendant.
The base of each wall-post is carved,
with an efhgy of a Saint, in a manner
similar to the preceding example.

fn Fig. 79 is illustrated the fine nave
roof of Earl Stonham Church, Suffolk,
of single hammer-beam form, with
richly moulded, crenellated and cambered
collar-beams, arch-braced to the hammers

The Development of the Rriglish Timber Roof

Fig. 77.

WETHERDEN, SUFFOLK, ROOF OF NAVE.

Roof of Nave. False double hammer-beam, pendentive type.

Span 21 ft. II ins. Length 59 ft. o ins.

Middle fifteenth century.

and centred with king-posts above and carved pendants below. The spandrels
in the triangle formed by the principal, the hammer-post and the hammer-beam
are filled with tracery in masonic devices. True hammer-beams alternate with
those of pendentive type, and the base of each wall-post is carved with figures
and corbels. The rich cornice, which cannot be clearly seen in the illustration, has
a carved and pierced band with winged angels above and below, and is connected
to the hammer-post by carved spandrels. This example may be classed as one of the
richest in the East Anglian churches, and Norfolk and Suffolk easily transcend any
other counties in the beauty and elaboration of their ecclesiastical woodwork, Devon,
perhaps, alone excepted.

The roof of Eltham Palace Hall, Figs. 80 and 81, is of this pendentive hammer-beam
type, and although beautiful from the decorative point of view, it has the inherent
defects of this method of construction. This roof had decayed badly and the work

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

of restoring it was commenced, about 1913, under the superintendence of Sir Frank
Baines of H.M. Office of Works. The chief source of trouble, however, was not so much
the decay in the timbers as the inherent faultiness in its construction. To quote from
Sir Frank Raines' report (" Report to the First Commissioner of H.M. Works, etc., on
the Condition of the Roof Timbers of Westminster HaU, CD. 7436," p. 27), " . . . the
principal rafters are not in two members but run in one length from the wall-plates
to the ridge. The collar-beams intersect these principals about half-way, and are
jointed to it (them) by means of mortices and double tenons. Immediately under this
joint is the hammer-post, which is also double-tenoned into the principal rafters, thus
acting as a further source of weakness at a point in the principal rafter where the
greatest strength is required. To make this weakness worse, the hammer-post is not
supported upon the hammer-beam, but continues down past it, terminating in a heavy
pendant, while the beam is secured to it by a tenon joint " (see Fig. 44, No. 21).

" The roof is, in reality, an elaborate collar-beam type of roof with the arched ribs,
etc., superimposed as ornaments. The result of my examination of this roof last year

has shown me that it
has failed exactly as
a collar-beam type of
roof would be ex-
pected to fail, namely,
by thrusting out the
walls and by the
fracturing of the prin-
cipal rafters at the
junction of the collar-
beam. Thus, in the
Eltham Palace roof,
many of the princi-
pals have sprung out-
ward at their feet a dis-
tance of eight inches
in the short length
of the timber between
the collar-beam and
the wall-head."

Fig. 78.

HITCHAM, ROOF OF NAVE.

True double hammer-beam type. Late i6th century. Length 48 ft.
Span 24 ft. 6 ins.

The Developtnent of the English Timber Roof

"... Throughout the whole roof . . . the dropping of the hammer-beams, the
distortion of the hammer-posts, and the springing of the principal rafters, are consider-
able."

Sir Frank Baines has kindly furnished two photographs of the Eltham Palace roof,
taken while the work of restoration was in progress. In the latter, the steel reinforce-
ments to each truss may be noticed, and some idea formed of the defective state of
the roof. ■ This photograph is unique, being taken while the tiles were temporarily
removed, thereby allowing of the entry of light from above.

Fig. 82 shows the fine roof of the Middle Temple Hall, of the double pendentive

Fig. 79.
EARL STONHAM, SUFFOLK, ROOF OF NAVE.

Single hammer-beam, alternate pendentive type [c. 1460).
Span 17 ft. 6 ins. Length 68 ft. 3 ins.

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

hammer-post type. This is a late example of a timber roof of this kind, dating, as it
does, from the years between 15(12 and 1570. It is a Renaissance, rather than a Gothic,
roof. It measures 100 ft. in length, 42 ft. in width, and with a height of 47 ft. Although
the Hall l)uilding has the usual high pitch of roof, full advantage has not been taken
of this fact, as in the earlier fifteenth-century manner. A central purlin has been fixed
under the collars and boarded in above, giving the effect of a flat ceiling below the
collar-le\-el. This collar-purlin is reinforced by arch-braces to the lateral tie-beams,
and the collars are stiffened by four turned queen-posts, two on each side of the
archbracing.

The lesson of Eltham Palace has, evidently, been learned in the case of thi? roof of
the Middle Temple Hall. It is pendentive only in effect. The hammer-posts, with their
arch-braces, rest full on the hammer-beams, with separate pendentives below. The
wall-posts are unusually long, thereby distributing the thrust well down on to the wall
faces. Some restoration and renovation to the Hall has been necessary, at various
dates, in 1697, 1755, 1791 and 1808, but much of the work at the earlier dates was in
the nature of additions and alterations. The roof has survived with very few structural
defects. It is not only rich in detail, but also sound in design.

In Figs. 83, 84, 85 and 86 we have, perhaps, the most remarkable church roof in
England, in the otherwise insignificant church of Needham Market, not far from Ipswich.
This is a true double-aisled roof, and a comparison of this with that of Harmondsworth
Barn, Fig. 45, will show the same constructive principal. In Needham Market Church,
however, the hammer-posts only reach to the beams, whereas at Harmondsworth they
continue to the floor. This remarkable roof is built with a lantern, or clerestory, shown
more clearly in Fig. 85. The crown of the roof is really low-pitched, with a sharp slope
below the clerestory windows to the wall-plate. Below the lantern or clerestory level,
large cambered collar-beams are fixed, not from wall to wall in the form of true tie-
beams, but between the vertical hammer-posts, a tenon three inches in thickness being
taken through the hammer-post, with the principal rafter as an additional tie. The
hammer-posts, which are of unusual height, are stiffened with longitudinal braced ties,
and at the wall, above the large cornice, a principal ashlar-post corresponds with the
hammer-post itself. Although, apparently, a pendentive hammer-beam, the pendants
below are suspended, the hammer-posts bearing upon their beams instead of on tenons
at their ends. Winged angels mask the junction of post and beam, but in Fig. 86 the
projection of the hammer-beam beyond its post can be clearly seen, and also the distinct
character of the pendant below.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

As an example of intricate construction, the roof of Needham Market Church will
repay close study- The sectional diagram, illustrated in Fig. 84, will assist the compre-
hension of the principles on which this roof has been constructed. The low-pitched
roof-crown has a certain nominal outward thrust in the direction A, but this can be
ignored, as it is so small in amount. The direction of the downward pressure on the
tall hammer-post, which is transmitted, via the hammer-beam to the wall-post, is
indicated by the arrows at B B B. The tendency is for the hammer-beam to be depressed
at its projecting end, the direction of which is shown b^' the arrows C C. Such depression
would cause the hammer-beam to pivot on the wall-post at D, thus exercising an upward
pressure on its outer end, which would be transmitted to the principal rafter on the
line E E, thereby effectively counteracting the downward pressure of the clerestory,
via the hammer-post to the hammer-beam. The junction of the principal with the

Fig. 80.

THE ROOF AT ELTHAM PALACE.

Pendentive type of hammer-beam.
Early sixteenth century.

Photo by H.M. Office of Works.

Early English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

hammer-post is, really, the weak part of the whole construction, the strength of the
latter being invalidated hy the insertion of three tenons from the principal, the purlin,
and the main tie-beam, the three-inch tenon of the beam being taken through the
hammer-post to the principal at F. The small tie-beams, G, inadequate as they appear,
are strong enough to correct any tendency in the hammer-post to bend in the length-
wise direction of the roof, which might occur owing to the enormous downward strain
upon it, e\-en when partially relie\'ed by the upward pressure of the principal, carrying,
as it does, nearly the whole of the superimposed weight of the roof.

Actually, in spite of the rake of the principal and the common rafters from below
the clerestory down to the wall-head, there is little, or no outward thrust from this roof.

Fig. 81.

THE ROOF AT ELTHAM PALACE.

Photo by H.M. Office of Works, taken when tiles were removed during the recent work of restoration

to the roof.

Fig. 82.
THE HALL OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE.

1562-70.

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

Its stability depends solely on the permanence of its joints, and the safeguarding
against decaj', especially in Ww liammer-beams and the wall-posts. The huge cornice and
the liammcr-beams are, in roalit\-, the onl\- tensional members ; the others are in com-
pression. As an e.xample of clever construction on the part of the fifteenth-century
carpenters this roof of Needham Market Church is a truly astonishing achievement.

The great cur\-ed rib, as in Fig. 44, No. 24, when used in conjunction with the
hammer-beam, marks the zenith of timber-roof construction in England. The view
of Gainsburgh Great Hall, illustrated in Chapter VII of this volume, shows the rib
as a great moulded arch-brace, springing from the wall-corbels to the collar. This Hall
is in a timber building, and the stress of the entire roof is carried on great posts from
the ground, tenoned into the ends of the principal rafters. These posts appear, on the
outside of the Hall, as great timber buttresses; on their inside faces is a solid abutment,
— probably a branch growth on the original tree itself, which was especially selected
for the purpose, — on which the continuation of the arch-rib to the corbel is moulded.
Above this springing, the arch-rib rises, in two sections, to its apex, where it is tenoned

Fig. 83.
NEEDHAM MARKET, SUFFOLK, ROOF OF NAVE.

Uouble-aisled hammer-beam type, with clerestory.

29 ft. g ins. span. 17 ft. between hammer-posts. 39 ft. long over all.

Built about 1460.

The Uevelopmcnt of the English Timber Roof

into the collar. At the point of junction of the two sections of the rib with th(- principal
rafter, they are housed into it with long slotted tenons, secured by wooden pegs. With
the solid abutments to this arch-rib, it will be seen that the corbels have no function
other than an ornamental one, and e\'en this latter is questionable when it is remembered
that the original carved corbels have disappeared and have been replaced by others of
cast iron in the ornamental style of a modern girder railway bridge. Surely even cast
iron was never put to more ignoble use.

It has been pointed out, at the outset of this chapter, that the chronological
arrangement of timber roofs does not show their progressive development. Of the three
remaining examples of the English timber roof still to be considered, Westminster Hall
(1395) is the earliest. The roof of the Exeter Law Library (the date of which is obscure,
but which is certainly later) and Gainsburgh Hall, completed in 1484, would follow in
order, but to adopt this method would involve taking the most complicated and the
largest timber roof in existence and to descend from this to the comparatively simple
type of Gainsburgh Hall. The latter, also, is a timber-framed building, and problems of
roof construction can be solved by means not possible in the case of walls of stone or brick.

The roof of the Exeter Law Library, Figs. 87, 88 and 89, has every appearance
of being copied from Hugh Herland's great roof in Westminster Hall. Similar winged

Fig. 84.
SECTIONAL DIAGRAM OF NEEDHAM MARKET ROOF WITH STRESSES INDICATED.

Ernest R. Gribble, Veli.
91

Early English Furniture ami JJ'^oodwork

angels are car\-ed on tlie ends of the hammer-beams, the same form of great arch-rib
commences from the collar, intersects with the hammer-post and continues to the wall
corbel, wliere it joins with the arch-brace from the hammer-post. In Westminster
Hall, howcwr, the arch-rib int(>rsects with the hammer-post at about half its height
and with tiie hammer-beam well away from its wall-end, thus bracing the upper and
lower portions of the compound roof together. In the Exeter roof the rib is kept further
back, and instead of intersecting with the hammer-beam, the latter is actually tenoned
into the rib itself, in the same manner as one of an upper tier in a double hammer-beam
roof is tenoned into the principal. It is here where the first important difference between
the Exeter and the Westminster Hall examples occurs. There is no large raking
traceried spandrel behind the rib above the hammer-beam as in Westminster
Hall. In the Exeter Roof this is quite small, with a simple pierced panel, and
below the hammer-beam it is solid.

Above the cambered collar is a
waggon ceiling, formed under the collar-
purlin, which is arch-braced to the great
purlin, thereby forming the ribs to this
barrel ceiling. In Westminster Hall, with
its enormous height and pitch of roof,
there is an upper and a lower collar,
braced together with collar-posts and
completely traceried up to the ridge.

Between each of the four main
trusses of the Exeter roof is a sub-
principal which finishes with a forked
brace, cut from the solid, on a small
carved hammer-beam, projecting at an
upward angle from the wall-plate, this
tilt dispensing with any braces below.
Across this sub-principal, at its centre,
is a small moulded purlin, and from
the intersection two raking struts are
taken to the jimction of the arch-ribs
with the wall-plate. The central meeting-
point of the principal purlin and raking

Fig. 85.
NEEDHAM MARKET.

^'ie\v showing windows of clerestory.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

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Fig. 86.
NEEDHAM MARKET, SUFFOLK.

View showing details of hammer-beams, hammer-posts, tie-beams and ashlaring, and carved cornice.

Early Efiglish Furniture and JJ^oodwork

struts is covored by a boss car\-ecl witli the representation of a himian head. From
beliind this sub-principal, whicli is in tlie form of a large flattened arch-brace (see Fig.
8i)), two other braces, with traceried spandrels, carry down from the great purlin to the
hammer-posts, at somc^ distance from the hammer-beam, joining others w^iich rise to the
a])e.\ of the great arch-rib (see Fig. 87).

Although obviously designed in imitation of Westminster Hall, this Exeter roof
differs largel\- in its construction from its model. It is framed in a very solid and rather
clumsy manner, with heaA'y baulks of timber, and lacks the grace and scientific
devising of the Westminster original.

The roof is carried, mainly, on the huge piece of timber, which contains, in the
one piece, the wall-post and the lower section of the inner or large arch-rib. This is
tenoned into the principal, and has a solid abutment from which the upper sections
of the rib continue. The principal rafter is tenoned into the hammer-post at its upper
extremity and at the other end into an extension of the hammer-beam on the wall side
of the arch-rib. The hammer-beam proper, being tenoned into the arch-rib on its inner
face, has no definite connection with this extension piece, which is fixed by being mortised
on to the upper end of the wall-post, held firmly to its tenon by pegs. This false hammer-
beam extension piece takes the thrust from the principal rafter. The real hammer-beam
is tenoned into the lower section of the arch-rib or the wall-post, — which are here the
same, as both are contained in the one solid timber, — and is supported by the lower
internal rib-brace, wiiich is tenoned into the hammer-beam at its one end, and into the
wall-post at the other.

The main collar-beam — which bridges the hammer-posts at their upper extremities —
the upper section of the arch-rib, and the upper rib-braces with their solid abutments
are all framed together with tcnon-and-mortise joints. The main arch-rib is further
reinforced by moulded laminations, with butt joints arranged so as to overlap well those
of the rib itself. These laminations are secured to the rib by wooden pegs. Both the
common rafters and the ashlaring are concealed behind the plastering between the
baj-s. Above the collar is the typical Western form of waggon ceiling which has already
been described.

This Exeter roof is remarkable, as much for its details of similarity to that of
Westminster Hall, as for its many points of variation. The latter has now to be con-
sidered to bring this chapter to its conclusion.

The roof of Westminster Hall, drawings of which are given in Figs, go and 91,
among other claims to distinction, is easily the largest and the most elaborate example

The Development of the English Timber Roof

K
U
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00 U

K
DO

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

of its kind existing. The Hall itself was built for William Rufus, and at Whitsuntide,
in the year logg, he held Court in the Palace of Westminster, as it was then styled.

We luixe no exact knowledge of the original roof of the Hall, but it is conjectured
that it was in double-aisled form, witli wooden posts to the floor, in the manner of
"\'()rk (iuild I hill. Considering the standard of roofing science at the date when the
Hall was built, this ioxm. of construction is the only one which can be imagined
for a \ast hall, 23S feet in length by 68 feet in span.

It was in 1394, in tlie reign of Richard W, that it was decided to renew the roof,
and in that year, John Godmeston, Clerk, is appointed " to cause the Great Hall in
the Palace of Westminster to be repaired." Hugh Herland, the King's Master Carpenter,

Fig. 88.
THE ROOF OF THE EXETER LAW LIBRARY.

Mew looking up at a Bay.
96

The Development of the English Timber Roof

Fig. 89.
THE ROOF OF THE EXETER LAW LIBRARY.

Detail of a Truss.
97

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

was entrusted with the control of the work, to enroll men of the various trades from
all parts of England, excepting in the fee of the Church, and to " arrest and imprison
any contrariants."*

The timbers of the Hall roof are of Sussex oak, Qitercus pedunculata, chiefly from
the King's forest or wood of Pettelwode. The assertion that chestnut was used for
the timbering could only have been made by those who had either not inspected the
roof at close quarters, or had been deceived by the surface colour or bloom which
the timbers now exhibit, the result of a superficial surface rot.

Elevations of a principal truss, and a bay are illustrated in Figs, go and gi,
together with a plan of the Hall. A general view is also given in the illustration facing
this page. It is impossible, here, to give more than a brief description of this wonderful
roof. To begin with, it was obviously impossible to obtain timbers of sufficient length
to act as main tie-beams or principal rafters. The roof, therefore, begins with an upper
triangulated framed structure, formed by the main and upper collar beams, the ridge
with its bracing, the collar-post and the compound main and upper purlins, and the
crown-post supporting the heavy ridge, together with the principal and common rafters
down to main purlin level. This upper structure is carried on triangulated cantilevers,
formed by the hammer-posts, the hammer-beams, the wall-posts with their arch-braces,
the lower principal rafters and the compound wall-plate. To tie the whole roof together,
the great curved rib or arch-brace is introduced, springing from the stone corbels at
the feet of the wall-posts and rising to its apex at the centre of the main collar, inter-
secting both the hammer-beam and the hammer-post on its way.

Those who have read and understood the construction principles of the various
roofs which have already been described, will see that in Westminster Hall several
types have been compounded into the one. Sections of the various roof members are
given here, necessarily to a minute scale. The following list of sizes and scanthngs

' Extract.

139 J Jan. 21. Patent Rolls.

17 Rich. II. M. 3.
WESTMINSTER HALL.

Appointment of John Godmeston clerk to cause the great Hall to be repaired, taking the necessary masons,
carpenters and labourers wherefor whenever found except in the fee of the church, with power to arrest and
imprison contrariants, until further order and also to take stone, timber, tiles and other materials for the same
at the King's charges and to sell branches, bark and other remnants of trees provided for the said hall, as well
as the old timber from it and from an old bridge near the palace by view and testimony of the King's controller
of the said works for the time being accounting for the moneys so received and receiving in that office wages and
fees at the discretion of the Treasurer of England.

By Bill of Treasurer.

The Development of the English Timber Roof

WESTMINSTER HALL.

An eleventh-century Hall with a late fourteenth-centurj- Roof.

Fig. 90.
WESTMINSTER HALL ROOF.

SECTIONAL VIEW OK A PRINXIPAL SHOWING THE GREAT ARCH-RIB.

The view of the Principal, Bay and Details from a drawing by H.M. Office of Works, prepared

..,- gTCALE OF Details

ti ^^. Office or VJok.k^
q/tok-EY^ Gate

Westminster- c/ W

Elevation I of Bay

J'1lZ.t\om C C

:,"C/KLE OF PEET ■

Fig. 91.
WESTMINSTER HALL.

VIEW OF A BAY AND PLAN OF HALL,
from an original measured and detailed drawing by Ernest R. Gribble and W. Rennie, igio.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

may be of ser\-ice in giving some idea of tlae
this wonderful roof: —

gigantic dimensions of the timbers in

Cross Sectio>

I. Length.

Hammer-beams .

2l"X24i"

21' 0"

Hammer-post . . . . .

25" X 24r'

21' 6"

(at abutment 38J")

Collar-beam (of two members)

22" X 12"

40' 0"

Lower principal rafter . . . .

161" X 13"

26' 4"

Upper principal rafter .

16" X 12"

28' 6"

Arch-rib .....

9" X 12"

15' 0" to 20' 0"

Lamination of rib .

8" X 12"

—

Inner bracing-rib ....

9" X 13"

14' 3" maximum

Wall-plate (compound) .

15" X 8"

15' 0" to 18' 0"

Upper and lower purlins

9" X 16I-"

17' 6"

Main purlins (consisting of 4 members) :—

Top inner ....

14" X 12" ^

13" X 10"
22" X 9"

Top outer ....
Laminating purlin .

18' 10"

Lower .....

I4i"x9" .

Common rafters (laid flat)

. 8" X 6"

26' 0" to 32' 0"

Wall-posts .....

. 24i"xi6"

20' 0"

Wind-braces .....

. 5" thick

10' 6"

Ridge

. 14" X 11"

17' 9"

Crown-post .....

. 13" X 12"

23' 9"

Queen-posts .....

II' 3"

Some idea of the enormous weight of the timber in this roof, which is supported
almost entireh' from the wall-heads, may be gathered from the fact that a single
hammer-post measuring 38^^ ins. by 25 ins. in section at abutment, with a length of
21 ft. 6 ins., weighs three and a half tons. This sectional measurement is also not the
maximum one. Actually the hammer-post must have been fashioned from a trunk
nearly 4 ft. in diameter.

With Westminster Hall, this review of the English timber roof can be fittingly
concluded. Here, almost in the heart of London, we have the greatest triumph of
mediaeval carpentry which England has ever possessed, a testimony alike to the
fourteenth-century woodworker and to the qualities of English oak.

Chapter VI.

Gothic Woodwork and Colour Decoration.

T is only during recent years that some degree of accurate knowledge
has been acquired, regarding the original states of much of the
furniture and woodwork which has persisted to the present day,
as artistic legacies from centuries gone by. During the nineteenth
century, especially, much irreparable harm was done under the guise
of restoration. We know now, for example, that nearly all the early silver, of the
decorative kind, was gilded, and yet, under the mistaken impression that it was a
late addition, this fine water-gilding was often ruthlessly stripped. No one, of any
taste, who has seen this original gilt silver and compared it with the cold uninteresting
tone of the raw metal, can fail to appreciate the superior decorative qualities of the
former. There is also a real purpose served by this gilding ; it obviates the necessity
of frequent cleaning to remove the inevitable tarnishing to which silver is condemned,
and, apart from the saving of labour, frequent cleaning with powder, however refined,
must ultimately ruin fine chasing or delicate ornament. In any case, this gilding was
the original finish intended by the silversmith, and its integrity should have been
respected. To strip the gold from the fine early silver is about as just to the craftsman
as it would be to remove the over-glazings from a Reynolds or Gainsborough portrait.
There is little doubt that much of the Gothic, and even the later oak woodwork,
was decorated in polychrome. In the case of the former, there are examples remaining,
such as will be illustrated, in only a small degree, in this chapter, which show that this
must have been the usual finish, in nearly every case. We have no right to assume
that chancel screens, pulpits, and even roofs, of the fifteenth century, decorated in
polychrome, were the exception. There is hardly a Gothic screen to be found, in
churches of this period, without traces of colour being visible in the quirks and inter-
stices. To say that this is later daubing which has been removed, is absurd, although,
in the case of secular panellings, such over-painting, in the desire to relieve the sombre
character of the oak, may have been of frequent occurrence. Yet even here there
are examples of stencilled and other ornamentations on panellings still existing which
show that there was an original desire for colour decoration. The attempt was often
made in another way, — by inlay, — to achieve a relief ; why should decorative painting

103

Early English Furniture and U^oodwork

liaxc been ignored ? Tliat nearly all oak work, especially panellings, has been painted,
either originally or at a later date, \vt' know from tlu' e\'idence of the wood itself. The
figure, or mednllar\- ray of quartered oak, is lighter than the surrounding wood when
it is cut, and this ra\' does not darken appreciably with exposure to the air. When a lead
paint is applied, howewr, and allowed to reinain for some years, it will be found, on
removal, to have darkened the ray, and in some cases, especially after the paint has been
allowed to remain for a ^•ery long time, to have turned it quite black. We hardly ever find
figured oak, even of the seventeenth centur\', without this darkened ray. This will be found
to be present in every one of the oak rooms in the Victoria and Albert Museum, thereby
proving that they must ha^•e been painted over, either originally, or at some later period.
The crudest daubing will achieve the same result as the most artistic decorative
painting, and it is difficult to say when this painting was original and where of subse-
quent date. In a later chapter, dealing with secular panellings, will be found two

mantels from the Herefordshire mansion of
Rotherwas, where the panels are emblazoned
in colours. They were made in an age which
delighted in bright hues in fabrics and in
costumes. Why should certain panels have
been relieved by bright colours, and the re-
mainder of the woodwork left in sombre oak ?
Whether painted decoration on secular
panellings was the rule or the exception,
can onlj' be surmised. A century or two
of conscientious stripping and scouring has
removed too much to allow of a comprehen-
sive statement. The frieze of the Abbot's
Parlour at Thame is decorated in colours
over carved woodwork, and Cardinal
Wolsey's Closet at Hampton Court is bright
enough in polychrome. Stone, plaster and
wood can be found, painted over in pictorial
patterns or repeating designs, in many houses
in England, and it can be said that such
polychrome decoration was not unusual,

Fig. 92.

ST. MICHAEL- AT-PLEA, NORWICH,
PANEL OF PAINTED REREDOS.

Late fifteenth centurj'.

even if it were not general.

104

Gothic Tf^oodwork and Colour Decoration

With church woodwork, especially that prior to the dawn of the sixteenth century,
there exists a wealth of evidence to show that this was not only originally decorated
with colours and gilding, and even ornamented with raised gesso in many instances,
but also that the carving was finished (or rather left unfinished) with the intention of
such decoration being applied. The late seventeenth-century carved and gilded furniture
is, in nearly all examples, completed by the carver, with no attempt at finish beyond the
clean cutting of his gouge. It is the gilder who, with his heavy preparation of whiting or
lead, puts in the finer details of veining and the like with his pointed sticks, used with
water while the preparation is still moist. To strip the gold and preparation from this
work is to destroy all its finish. In the same way some of the earlier Gothic woodwork
demands the gesso-worker and the luminer. Fillets and surfaces are left flat, specifically
for decoration, and without it, the design is not complete.

To examine and to appreciate the liner woodwork of the fifteenth century, if
originally decorated, it is necessary to view it as if the original gold, colours and gesso
remained. Much has perished either with time, neglect or through wilful damage and
deplorable ignorance, but examples still exist, which, with due allowance for the
mellowing influence of four centuries, will serve to show that the fifteenth-century
church must have been rich in decoration, if not positively rioting with colour.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to visualise the church of the fifteenth century, as
it was at that period, without an accurate knowledge of the social life of the English
people before the accession of the Tudors. The church was not only the place of
worship ; the nave was also the hall or meeting-place of the village or parish. The
earliest churches must have been mere shrines or sanctuaries which evolved into the
chancel with or without chapels. This was the church proper, and e\'en at the present
day, in many villages, if not in all, the chancel is church property, maintained and
upheld from its funds, whereas the nave belongs to the parish, and any expense of
additions or renovations are paid for with parish money. This is one of the reasons
whj^ the chancel is nearly always richer in decoration than the nave.

It is when this dual ownership of the village church evolves, that the chancel opening
is screened off from the nave, and although an opening (rareh* a door) is provided in
the chancel screen, a massive cill is placed across to remind the undevout that the
sanctuary bej^ond is not to be invaded, but approached with reverence.

The life of the fifteenth century, whether of craftsman or hind, franklin, freeman
or serf, was rude, but not as hard as it became under the Tudors. Desires were few
and diet was limited in variety. As a compensation, food was plentiful and cheap.

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

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Fig. 94.
CHESTER CATHEDRAL, THE CHOIR, WEST.

Fig. 95.
CHESTER CATHEDRAL, THE CHOIR STALLS, DETAIL

Late fourteenth centun'.

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

There was little, if any want, even among the vagrant class, at this date. It remained
for Henry Mil to set the spectre of famine stalking through the length and breadth of
broad England. The population suffered from plagues, due, in all probability, to an
incredible lack of cleanhness of person and certainly contributed to by a total lack of
sanitation. Yet the age must have been a happy one, at least, for the craftsman,
however humble. The Golden Age of English woodwork could not have existed. side by
side with want or serious oppression. Laws were harsh and strict, but not savagely
brutal as they afterwards became. Over all handicrafts was the guiding and gentle
influence of the Church, and the lot of the craftsman who lived in the shadow of a
mighty abbe\', — and priories and abbeys were numerous enough to cast many such
shadows, — must have been a happy if uneventful one. If the warlike expeditions of

his lord, either in England, or in
the English provinces across the
Channel, called him to arms, and
caused him to exchange tool and
apron for long-bow and leather jerkin,
this was but a diversion in a some-
what stagnated existence. In times
of peace he had his guild, or met
his fellows in the village church at
close of day, when strong ale or other
liquor was by no means unknown.
This was his leisure life, enlivened
with occasional feast or saints' days,
when carousing was still more deeply
indulged in. All legends agree that
the Churchman of this day was a
good liver, and his flock, — as a good
flock should, — dutifully followed his
example.

The reaction of this life is seen
in the craftsman's work, especially
in that of the woodworker. There
is more than skill evidenced in
chancel screens, pulpits, timber

Fig. 96.
CULBONE, SOMERSET, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Fourteenth century.

lo8

Gothic Jl^oodwork and Colour Decoration

roofs and all the embellishments of the village church. There is the earnest desire to
produce something fine, which should defy the centuries, and the spirit of emulation
and rivalry which prompted the craftsmen of one village to vie with, or to out-do the
inhabitants of a neighbouring hamlet in the enrichment and the beautifying of their
church.^

In no instance is this thoroughness of workmanship, as distinguished from either
inspiration or skill, more evident than in the colour decoration as applied to Gothic
ecclesiastical woodwork of the fifteenth century. It is not that it is line in execution
or in conception (although in both qualities it is unrivalled) so much as in the fact that

' The Church, which was, of course, Cathohc at this date, was torn by violent schisms in the last quarter
of the fourteenth century. In 1377 there were two Popes, Urban VI at Rome, and Clement VII at Avignon.
England adhered to the former, Scotland to the latter. The Council at Pisa, in 1409, elected .\lexander V, and
at this date there w-ere actually three titular heads of the Church.

Fig. 97.
LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Late fourteenth century.

109

Mr. C. J. Abbott, Photo.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Fig. 98.
DETAIL OF THE CHANCEL SCREEN, Fig. 97.

what has persisted — in spite of neglect and iconoclasm of the most brutal and ignorant
kind, or purposed and law-sanctioned destruction, not on one, but on three noted
occasions at least — has the colours and gilding mellowed by time, but as pure and trans-
parent as the day they were applied. That the same may be said of the pictures of
the Van Eycks we know, but we do not know the immense trouble which Jan Van Eyck
took to make his colours and his vehicles pure and permanent.

With whiting prepared from finely powdered chalk and carefully freed from all
impurities by elutriation, and with size made from parchment, the oak was prepared
for its decoration. 1 Coats were applied in succession, each carefully rubbed down, when
dry, until the grain was filled and the surface rendered level and smooth. The parts
intended for gilding were then prepared with bole-armoniac (called bole armeny in
documents of the time) a yellowish unctuous clay, which, curiously enough, was also
employed at that time for the staunching of blood. It is this brownish or yellowish
earth, impregnated, as it is, with oxide of iron, which gives this old gilding its warm
lustre. The raised gesso was formed either by building up on its ground, or by cutting
into it, according to whether the ornament was to be in relief or intaglio. The chancel

1 Grounds prepared entirely in oil colours are also not uncommon.

Gothic IVoodwork and Colour Decoration

screen of Bramfield, Fig. 126, will serve to show how delicate was nearly all of this
original gesso.

Of pigment mediums, both oil and tempera, — yolk of egg or size, — appear to have
been used indifferently, according to whether a luminous or a non-reflective finish was
desired. Colours darken, after years, when used with oil mediums, but this is due to
the oil not being sufficiently refined. Jan Van Eyck is usually credited with being the
first to use oil colours for his pictures,^ and Margaret Van Eyck's account of her brother's
way of refining his oil may be quoted here from the " Cloister and the Hearth," as being
illuminating, if not literally correct.

" ' Note my brother Jan's pictures ; time, which fades all other paintings, leaves
his colours bright as the day they left the easel. The reason is, he did nothing blindly,

' Later research has established the fact that the use of oil with pigments is older than the Van Eycks, and
it is by no means certain whether they used oil mediums for many of their pictures.

Fig. 99.
ATHERINGTON, DEVON, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Late fourteenth century.

Ill

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo,

Fig. 100.
GRUNDISBURGH, SUFFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Late fourteenth century.

Fig. 101.
GRUNDISBURGH CHANCEL SCREEN, DETAIL.

Fig. 102.
BARKING, SUFFOLK, S. CHAPEL SCREEN.

Fifteenth century.

Fig. 103.
BARKING, SUFFOLK, N. CHAPEL SCREENS.

Fifteenth centur}-.

Fig. 104.
LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK, N. CHAPEL SCREEN, DETAIL.

Late fifteenth century.

Mr. C. J. Abbott, Photo.

I i

7^.

Fig. 105.
LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK, N. AISLE PARCLOSE SCREEN, DETAILS.

Mid-fifteenth century.

Mr. C. J. Abbott, Photo.

Gothic IJ^oodwork and Colour Decoration

"W^^j^

nothing in a hurry. He trusted to no hirehng to grind his colours ; he did it himself,
or saw it done. His panel was prepared, and prepared again — I will show you how —
a year before he laid his colour on. Most of them are quite content to have their work
sucked up and lost, sooner than not be in a hurry. Bad painters are always in a hurry.
Above all, Gerard, I warn you to use but little oil, and never boil it ; boiling it melts
that vegetable dross into its very heart, which it is our business to clear away ; for
impure oil is death to colour. No ; take your oil and pour it into a bottle with water.
In a day or two the water will turn muddy ; that is muck from the oil. Pour the dirty
water carefully away, and add fresh. When that is poured away you will fancy the
oil is clear. You are mistaken. " Reicht, fetch me that ! " Reicht brought a glass trough
with a glass lid fitting tight. When your oil has been washed in a bottle, put it into
this trough with water, and put the trough in the sun all day. You will soon see the
water turbid again. But ^_ _^^^ ..^ ^^

mark, you must not carry
this game too far, or the
sun will turn your oil to
varnish. When it is as
clear as a crystal, and not
too luscious, drain care-
fully, and cork it up tight.
Grind your own prime
colours, and lay them on
with this oil, and they shall
live. Hubert would put
sand or salt in the water
to clear the oil quicker.
But Jan used to say,
" Water will do it best,
give water time." Jan
Van Eyck was never in a
hurry, and that is why the
world will not forget him
in a hurry [ ' " ■

The old luminers of
Gothic woodwork appear

Fig. 106.
HEREFORD, ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, STALLS.

Late fourteenth or early fifteenth centurj-.
115

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

to have learned much the same lesson. Their palette was restricted ; the earth colours,
and here and there one of mineral or vegetable basis completed the gamut. These
pigments, together witli gold in leaf or powder (brush gold) were nearly always
used in accordance with the law of emblazonry, colour on metal, or the
reverse ; rarelv colour upon colour. It is probable that these luminers were also
emplo>-ed in heraldic emblazonr\- as well, and they would be well acquainted
witli tinctures and their application. (3f colours and metals we get the following
sequence : red (gules), green (vert), blue (azure), white — for silver — (argent), gold
(or) and black (sable). Yellow is sometimes used for work of lesser importance. It
ranks, in heraldry, as a metal. That this law of emblazonry of metal on colour or colour
upon metal was not rigid, even among heralds themselves, may be seen in early coats.
Thus the arms of the kingdom of Jerusalem are " argent a cross potent between four
crosses, all or "; of Leycester of De Tabley, " azure, a fess gules between three fieurs-

Fig. 107.
CHUDLEIGH, DEVON, THE WESTERN TYPE OF ARCHED SCREEN.

Mid-fifteenth century.

ii6

Fig. 108.
CHUDLEIGH, DEVON, DETAIL OF SCREEN.

Mid-fifteenth century.

Photo.

Fig. 109.
BRADNINCH, DEVON, DETAIL OF SCREEN.

Late fifteenth century.
117

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

Early Efiglish Furuiturc and JJ^oodwork

de-lys or" ; of Sir Richard de Rokesale (temp. Edward II) " d'aziire, a six lioncels
d'argoit, a uno fesse de gules."

Pictorial representations of figures were usually coloured " proper," that is with
the natural hue, especially of flesh, but the heraldic system of alternation and counter-
change was adhered to where possible, in the majority of instances.

Of vehicles or mediums it is impossible to state, with accuracy, whether oil or
tempera was employed. The Van Eycks have been credited with the first use of an oil
medium, but the evidence for this is dubious. The late Professor Ernest Berger (who
was, perhaps, the greatest European authority on the Van Eyck school) was of opinion
that the medium used by the brothers was an emulsion of egg and varnish. It is incon-
ceivable that oil could have been unknown as a medium before the end of the fourteenth
century. It is referred to by Theophilus in the twelfth century, and in the Cathedral
accounts of Ely, Westminster and elsewhere, there are references to purchases of oil for
painting. That oil was a treacherous medium unless thoroughly purified was also known

Fig. 110.
BARKING, SUFFOLK, E. SIDE OF CHANCEL SCREEN.

Mid-fifteenth century.
ii8

Gothic IVoodwork and Colour Decoration

in the fifteenth century, or before, and the greatest care was taken in its refining. To
obviate the danger of the darkening or discolouration of pigments, a tempera medium
of egg emulsion was often preferred, tlie work being subsequently varnished.

If the Chancel is older in inception than the Nave, it is also of greater importance
as the Sanctuary. Its chief treasure is the Altar, the centre round which the liturgy
of the Church has grown. From this the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered and the sacra-
ment administered to communicants. These Altars were of wood, in the earliest
churches, but in the fourteenth century these were replaced by stone in nearly every
• instance, in obedience to the clerical law. It remained for a later secular edict to com-
mand that these stone altars should be taken down and replaced with plain wooden
tables, under pain of severe penalties, and very few of the early examples remain at
the present day.

These early altars must
have been richly decorated,
surmounted, frequently, by
a retable or reredos of
carved wood or sculptured
stone, painted and gilded.
In the case of high altars
this reredos often occupied
the full height and width
of the chancel.^ Side altars
were also placed in the nave
or aisles, as at Ranworth,
and sometimes on the rood
loft. These subsidiary
altars were usually dedi-
cated to particular saints,
and, unlike the high altar,
they were enriched and
maintained at the expense
of the parishioners.

The reredos was some-

' As in some of the Oxford
Chapels.

Fig. 111.
BARKING, SUFFOLK, W. SIDE OF CHANCEL SCREEN.

119

Early English Furniture ami U^oociworlz

times in the form (if a triptych, witli central and hinged side panels which could be
folded back or closeil. Of (lothic painted super-altars very few have survived. The
triptych form was more usual in the churches of Italy and Germany than in England.

The coloured frontispiece to this volume shows a fragment of a coloured retable
of the last years of the fourteenth century, now preserved in Norwich Cathedral. It
was discovered in 1S47, it is said, with its face downwards, in use as the top of a table.
It was owing to the efforts of the Norfolk and Norwich Archceological Society that it was
rescued and preser\-ed, although in a deplorably mutilated and incomplete state.

Originall\-, this super-altar was formed by five horizontal boards of quartered oak,
three-quarters of an inch in thickness, with an applied moulded framework, fastened
with pegs. The five panels were formed by four vertical moulded mullions, mitred
at the intersections, of which only one remains. In the five panels, on a carefullv
l^repared ground of gilded and finely patterned gesso, are shown (i) The Scourging

Fig. 112.

RANWORTH CHANCEL SCREEN WITH PAROCHIAL ALTARS.

Late fifteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

Gothic Jf^oodwork and Colour Decoration

at the Pillar ; (2) The Bearing of the Cross ; (3) The Crucifixion ; (4) The Resurrection
and (5) The Ascension. The upper part of this super-altar is missing, and the central
panel may have been somewhat higher than the others.

On the bordering framework the beads were, originally gilt, with the fillets or
chamfers between picked out in alternate blue and red, with small flowers stencilled
in gold as a relief. The outer framing has a flat band of ornament, of which the corner
sections, and the whole of the top length is missing, on which are the remains of small
heraldic paintings on glass. These are, evidently, the coats of the donors, and from
them the date of the production of the altar-piece can be deduced. Mr. St. John Hope,
M.A., in a paper read at the meeting of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society,
in 1897 (Society's Proceedings, Vol. XIII), stated that he had deciphered such of the
coats and banners as remain. They show the arms of Henry Despencer, Bishop of
Norwich, 1370-1406, Sir Stephen Hale, Sir Thomas Morieux, Sir William Kerdeston
(or a later member of the same family), Sir Nicholas Gemon and Sir John Howard.

Fig. 113.
RANWORTH, NORFOLK, DETAIL OF FIGURES IN BASE OF CHANCEL SCREEN.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.
121

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

It is difficult to resolve this painted super-altar into any school, as it stands,
more or less, alone. Dr. Tancred Borcnius is of opinion that it may be French in
inspiration, but in the closing years of the fourteenth century, the greater part of
France, at least those districts from which this work could have emanated, were English
possessions. Dr. Borenius also points out that the possibihty of its English origin must
not be ignored. It may be the work of a Church luminer rather than of a pictorial artist,
and it is known that an English school of religious painting did exist at this period,
the works of which have perished in nearly every case. This Norwich retable, therefore,
may be an almost solitary survival of such work. It must be remembered, also, that
it is prior in date even to Hubert Van Eyck, at least to the period of his better known
works. He was court painter to the reigning Prince of Burgundy, Philip the Hardy,
from 1410 to 1420. True, he must have been between forty and fifty years of age at

Fig. 114.

RANWORTH CHANCEL SCREEN N. ALTAR
AND REREDOS.

Fig. 115.

RANWORTH CHANCEL SCREEN S. ALTAR
REREDOS.

122

Fig. 116.
RANWORTH, DETAIL OF PAINTED VAULTING.

Fig. 117.
RANWORTH, SOUTH PARCLOSE.

Fig. 118.
RANWORTH, DETAIL OF FLYING BUTTRESS.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photos.

123

Early ErigUsh Furniture and J Food-work

tliis date, and must have had a long painting career behind him, but it is more probable
that he was iniluenced b\- this Norwich school of religious painters than that the reverse
was the case. We know tliat tliere was considerable intercourse between Burgundy
and l£ngland in tlie last \ears of the reign of Richard II. This Norwich retable is
contemporary with the wonderful roof of Westminster Hall already referred to and
described.

A considered judgment must conclude that this retable is of English workmanship
and painting, one of the few, if not the only remaining example of a school of religious
painters of the late fourteenth century. It is as remarkable for its technique as for
its inspiration, considering that it is within half a century of Cimabuc and Giotto. It
must have inspired much of the fifteenth-century work in the panels of chancel screens,
which have now to be considered and illustrated.

In the Church of St. Michael-at-Plea, Norwich, is a reredos formed of several painted
panels which, although upwards of a century later than the Norwich example, still

Fig. 119.
SOUTHWOLD, SUFFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Late fifteenth century.
124

Gothic U^oodwork and Colour Decoration

show the same manner perpetuated in this pictorial decoration of Church woodwork.
One of these panels, representing the Crucifixion, is shown here in Fig. 92. It forms the
south wing of the reredos. There is the same intricacy in the patterning of the gesso
ground as at Norwich Cathedral, but in a more free and flowing manner. The drawing
of the figure of Christ is less archaic, as one would expect at this date. St. Michael-at-
Plea possessed a magnificent screen in earlier times, of which this panel may have
formed a part. Of this screen nothing now remains, if we except these panels. In
1504 the will of Katherine, widow of Alderman Thomas Bewfield, leaves 5 marks for
the painting and gilding of the rood-loft. A mark or mark of gold weighed eight ounces
at this date, and was in value sixteen pounds, thirteen shillings and fourpence in the
coin of this time, a large sum in the reign of Henry VII and up to the date when his
son began to debase the coinage, as in those days money purchased so much. It is
improbable that a gold mark was indicated in this bequest, as the present-day value
of such would be well over one thousand pounds, an exaggerated sum for the painting
and gilding of a rood-loft.

It is with the chancel screens of the
fifteenth century, the purpose of which has
already been described, that both Gothic
woodwork and its colour decoration reach
their highest limits in England. Their use
was to guard the sanctuary of the altar,
and also to support a rood-loft, on the rood-
beam of which was displayed the image of
the crucified Christ, flanked, at a later
date, with other representations of St.
Mary and St. John the Evangelist. The
rood is of great antiquity, — the name itself
being of Saxon origin, — and was the object
of much devotion in the Middle Ages.

At festivals, numbers of lighted candles
or tapers were fixed to the rood-beam,
and in some churches, as at Burford, Oxon,
a light was kept burning continually on

the rood-loft. These lofts, among other southwold, parclose screen.

uses, were often the pulpits and the reading Mid-fifteenth century.

125

Fig. 121

SOUTHWOLD CHANCEL SCREEN.

Detail of figure paintings.
Late fifteenth centurj-.

126

Fig. 122.
SOUTHWOLD CHANCEL SCREEN.

Detail of figure paintings.
Late fifteenth century.

127

Fig. 123.
ST. ANDREW'S, BRAMFIELD, SUFFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN

Width, 20 ft. o in. Height, 8 It. 10 in.
Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 124.
BRAMFIELD SCREEN.

Detail of figures.

Fig. 125.
BRAMFIELD SCREEN.

Detail of figures.

128

Fig. 126.
BRAMFIELD, SUFFOLK, DETAIL OF PAINTED VAULTING.

Fig. 127.
BRAMFIELD, SUFFOLK, DETAIL OF GESSO-DECORATED TRANSOM.

129

Fig. 128.
YAXLEY, SUFFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Width bL-t\vecn arch 3 ft. 10 in. Overall 12 it. 10 in.
Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 129.
YAXLEY SCREEN, DETAIL.

Top of cill to top of transom 4 ft. 3 in.

Gothic JF^oodwork and Colour Decoration

desks of the Middle Ages, and the primitive musical instruments of the time, including
tlie organ, were played from them.

There is no doubt that many superstitious practices were indulged in from these
rood-lofts,' and their removal was ordered in Commonwealth times, and William

' The following extract from Burnet's " His/oi-v of th.c Reformation " mav be quoted hei^e. Gilbert Burnet,
as Bishop of Salisbury, would hardly be unduly biassed m these matters. Writing of the year 1537, he says : —

" They discovered many impostures about relics and wonderful images to which pilgrimages had been wont
to be made. At Reading they had an angel's wing, which brought over the spear's point that pierced our Saviour's
side. As manv pieces of the cross were found as, joined together, would have made a big cross. The rood of grace
at Boxley (Bexley), in Kent, had been much esteemed, and drawn many pilgrims to it. It was observed to bow
and roll its eyes, and look at times well pleased or angry, which the credulous multitude imputed to a Divine power;
but all this was discovered to be a cheat, and it was brought up to St. Paul's Cross, and all the springs were openlv
showed that governed its several motions. At Hales, in Gloucestershire, the blood of Christ was shown in a phial,
and it was believed that none could see it who were in mortal sin ; and so, after good presents were made, the
deluded pilgrims went away satisfied if they had seen it. This was the blood of a duck, renewed every week, put
in a phial very thick of one side, and thin on the other ; and either side was turned towards the pilgrim, as
the priests were more or less satisfied with their oblations. Several other such-like impostures were discovered,
which contributed much to the undeceiving the people."

Fig. 130.
LUDHAM, NORFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Dated 1493.

131

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

Dowsing, the Commissioner of Parliament appointed to East Anglia, did his work of
destruction very effectually, with the result that the wonderful screens of Ranworth,
Southwold, Bramfield and elsewhere were ruthlessly despoiled of their lofts. The edict
against the use of altars had already gone forth under Edward VI and had been obeyed
even more thoroughly.^

I *" 'In 1550, " He (Kidlcy) also carried some injunctions with him against some remainders of the former super-
stiticin, and for exhorting the people to give alms, and to come often to the sacrament, and that altars might be
removed, and tables put in their room in the most convenient place of the chancel. In the ancient Church their
Ubles were of wood ; but the sacrament being called a sacrifice, as prayers, alms, and all holy oblations were,
they came to be called ' altars.' This gave rise to the opinion of expiatory sacrifice in the mass, and there-
fore it was thought fit to take away both the name and form of altars. Ridley only advised the curates to do
this ; but, upon some contests arising concerning it, the council interposed, and required it to be done, and sent
with their order a paper of reasons justifying it, showing that a table was more proper than an altar, especially
since the opinion of an expiatory sacrifice was supported by it." — Burnet, " History of the Reformation."

Fig. 131.
LUDHAM, NORFOLK, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Detail of painting and buttresses.
132

^jg>^<»>'**«^apyg< ^K^ >JE< *j^ ^jg^t *j^ ^Jgf k^K kj|^< »,gi< tjfv ijc/ tjg/ tjjg/ gi^ H|p »jroi

Fig. 132.
ATHERINGTON, DEVON, DETAIL OF VAULTING.

(See also Figs. 3, 4 and 5.)

Fig. 133.
ATHERINGTON, DEVON, E. SIDE OF FORMER CHANCEL SCREEN.

Early sixteenth century.

Mr. Fredlj. Sumner, Photos.

pMrly English Furniture and JFoodwork

These rood-lofts were reached, sometimes by a wooden stairway, more often b\-
stone stairs from the aisles, or even built into the outer walls of the north and south
aisles, when the screen stretched, as it did in many cases, right across nave and aisles.
It was part of the ritual, on Good Friday, for the worshippers to ascend one of these
staircases, to pass across the rood-screen and loft, and to descend by the stairs on the
opposite side. Wagner has nobly commemorated this Good Friday ritual in " Parsifal."

At St. ]\Iichael-at-Plea is buried Thomas Porter who by his will dated 1405, " tied
his messuage in this parish ... to find a wax candle burning on the rode-loft daily at
matins, mass and \-espers, before the image of the Virgin." John Hebbys, mercer, who
lies in the Chapel of St. John in the same church, in 1485, " charges his house to find
a lamp for ever on the rode-loft, to burn daily from six in the morning to ten in the
forenoon."

In some of these rood-lofts, particularly those in the south-western counties, where

Fig. 134.
ATHERINGTON, DEVON, DETAIL OF BRESSUMMER, W. SIDE.

Early sixteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Plioto.

134

Gothic JVoodwork. and Colour Decoration

they were often of great size, an altar was frequently installed in the loft, in which case
it was used as a small chapel.

Whether the earlier chancel screens were always enriched with colour or gilding
it is difficult to say. If remains of paint exist, a.s, for example, in the original part of
the late fourteenth-century screen at Appledore in Kent, this may only indicate that
the woodwork was painted over to tone with the Church. Traces of the original bright
red with which the entire nave of this church was daubed have been found under
numerous coats of white-
wash. The chancel and
chapel screens do not appear
as integral parts of church
woodwork before about the
first years of the fourteenth
century. Some crude ex-
amples, such as at Pixley
in Herefordshire, and the
fragment at Ivychurch in
the Romney Marsh may
be earlier. The timbering
is massive and there is
little attempt at ornament
beyond rough moulding of
muUions. It is difficult to
imagine, however, in an age
where the love of colour
was one of its chief charac-
teristics, that great masses
of oak timbering would ha\'e
been left, in the natural
wood, with no attempt at
decorative painting, how-
ever crude.

In the early years of
the fourteenth century,
carvings and tracery are

Fig. 135.
ATHERINGTON, DEVON, DETAIL OF TABERNACLE

WORK ON W. SIDE.

Early si.xteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photc

^35

Karly English Furniture and JVoodwork

already well advanced in the decoration of these chancel and chapel screens. The wood-
worker follows closely in the steps of the stonemason, hewing his ornament from masses
of solid wood in the same fashion, bnt achieving some noteworthy results, as in the late
thirteenth-century choir stalls at Winchester, which show comparatively few traces

of the renovations of Bishop Fox in the early
sixteenth century. The canopies of these choir
stalls are typical of late thirteenth-century wood-
work of the more elaborate kind, such as William
of Wykeham's Cathedral would have possessed.
The main supporting posts are beautifully
crocketted and niched, the intermediate balusters
turned in simple and graceful form. The chief
characteristic, however, is the pinnacled canopy
to each stall, crocketted above and filled below
with arches and tracery cut from solid timber.
This is the stonemason's method. There is little
or no construction in these huge canopies ; they
are hewn out with the maximum amount of time
and patience which could have been expended
on them. It is otherwise with such examples as
the grand canopies at Chester, Figs. 94 and 95, for
example, which are about a century later in date.
Here we have construction fully developed, with
a due appreciation of the qualities of wood in
tracery, pinnacle and crocket, as compared with
stone. The design is amazingly delicate and
intricate. Contrasted with the lofty choir these
canopies appear rather as lace-work than as
creations of the woodworker.

From Cathedral to lowly parish church the
same system applies. As the fourteenth grows
into the fifteenth and again into the sixteenth

Fig. 136.
PART OF OAK SCREEN DOORS FROM

A FORMER BISHOP'S PALACE AT EXETER, ccuturles, we get progrcssive skill in construction

7 ft. 10 in. high by 3 ft. 5 in. wide.
Mid-fifteenth centurj'.

Victoria and .Mbert Museum, with a Corresponding economy of material, until,

136

ith methods of ever-growing ingenuity, combined

Gothic IVoodvcork and Colour Decoration

ill the later and debased Gothic, traceries become ahnost impossibly delicate in
proportion and bewildering in the intricacy of their ornament, as at Westminster
Abbe^^ for example.

An account of colour decoration in Gothic clerical woodwork is, perforce, also one
of the development of the ornament and construction itself. Whether colour and
gilding were an integral part of the early work, or whether such decoration was applied
as a super-refinement, after the climax of the carpenter and carver has been reached,
it is not possible to say, after so much painting, whether original or of later date, has
been removed.

Fig. 137.
PILTON, N. DEVON, PARCLOSE SCREEN.

lo ft. high by 13 ft. wide.
Mid-fifteenth century.

137

Fig. 138.
BOVEY TRACEY, S. DEVON, SCREEN.

Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 139.
HALBERTON, S. DEVON, SCREEN.

l.ate fifteenth century.

138

Fig. 140.
CHULMLEIGH, DEVON, SCREEN.

Liite fifteenth century.

'" ' >il MIUI 111 ■»

I ~' I Mii^ yr*— *****^'*'**'^'

Fig. 141.
CHULMLEIGH, DETAIL OF BASE.

Fig. 142.
CHULMLEIGH, DETAIL OF VAULTING.

'39

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

iUU!.

;u^a:u.v

ujS

In the little parish church of
Culbone in Somerset is the little
fourteenth-century screen illus-
trated here in Fig. g6. Another
example is in Appledore Church,
as far removed as the Romney
Marsh, of very similar detail,
which shows that the type must
have been general at this date.
The main frame of these simple
screens consists of a cill, posts
and a head or upper plate, all
mortised and tenoned together.
The heavy traceried heads are
tenoned to the balusters instead
of being grooved between vertical
mullions in the later fashion.
These heads are, therefore, cut
from the one piece of timber,
pierced with circles and with
simple patterns, without cusping.
In some of these early screens the shafts are turned ; in others, as in this example,
the\' are moulded. There is rarely any other decoration beyond a crude moulding
of the framework.

In the fourteenth-century screen at Lavenham, Fig. 97, we have a marked advance
in constructive methods, but Suffolk at this date was in a far greater state of artistic
development than Somerset. Here the moulded mullions are crested with crocketted
pinnacles tenoned between head-beam and transom, with crocketted ogival arches
abutting on to them and bracing them firmly together. These arches, at their centres, are
tenoned into the beam above, and are filled with tracery supported on a central slender
shaft. The detail can be studied in Fig. 98. At Atherington, Fig. 99, the tracery is
grooved into the mullions, both the ogee and the tracery being cut from the solid.
Interlaced cusped arches are introduced into the lower panels, supported on moulded
ribs which mask the panel-joints. It will be noticed that all these early screens of this
type have square heads, the mullions being mortised directly into the beam, and with

140

Fig. 143.
COLDRIDGE, DEVON, SCREEN.

Detail of vaulting.
Late fifteenth centurs".

Fig. 144.
LAPFORD, DEVON, SCREEN.

Early sixteenth century.

e,*' << !rf^a(^^l■f■^« ' . * ftf^^ "tiff

Fig. 145.
LAPFORD, DEVON, DETAIL OF VAULTING.

Fig. 146
LAPFORD, DOUBLE VAULTING.

Looking up.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo

Early Kuglish Furniture and JJ^oodwork

traceried spandrels in thr uiijicr ]M)rtion of tlie ojienings only. In some rare instances
these openings weiv completely tillccl with tracer\-.

At (irundishnrgii, Figs. loo and loi, a furtlicr advance in construction is to be
noted. Alternate niullions are carried throiigli from cill to head in the form of posts
with the intermediate mullions acting as framing members, dividing each bay into two
lights or openings. The tracer}', carried up to the head, is taken through these inter-
mediate mullions, which are forked over it. The crocketted ogival arches are applied,
pegged to the tracery, and supported on abutments formed on the mullions. Unlike
Lavenham and Atherington, the entrance from nave to chancel is through a finely
decorated archway. The chancel begins, at this date, to lose its former rigidly exclusive
character.

The chapel screens at Barking, Figs. 102 and 103, show a further development in

Fig. 147.
SWIMBRIDGE, DEVON, SCREEN.

Early sixteenth century.

142

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

Gothic Jf^oocPdcork and Colour Decoration

design, the tracery with its applied ogee arches being arranged in double and triple
pendentive form, although the original carved finials are missing. The lower panels
are enriched with applied tracery, grooved into the posts and divided by an applied
moulded rib. At Lavenham, Fig. 104, the traceried heads are cut from the solid, with
applied arched ribs, grooved into the mullions. In the N. aisle parclose screen, Fig. 105, of
somewhat earlier date, the tracery is pinnacled or gabled in a manner reminiscent of many
of the stall canopies of the period. The applied mouldings to some of the gables are missing
and all the pendants have disappeared. Apart from the strong suggestion of foreign
influence in these two examples, the Gothic is here fast losing its former logical character,
and is degenerating into mere ornament. The stall canopies of All Saints, Hereford,
Fig. 106, will show the standard reached before this decline. Here the ogival arched
heads break forward and form niches, richly traceried above and crocketted below.
There is the straight beam above, with both shafts and pinnacles tenoned into it. There

Fig. 148.
SWIMBRIDGE, DEVON, DETAIL OF SCREEN BASE.

Jlr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

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u
ce

o
in

J be

U .S

o Z 3

-: a: ^

bO o o
'^ U ^

S o

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QQ

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z
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ac

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144

Gothic U^oodwork and Colour Decoration

is not the massive grandeur which is noticeable in tlie design of tlie W'inchester stalls,
where the canopies are hewn from great masses of timber. Here the effect is achieved
by constructional methods, although with some loss in dignity and splendour.

The chancel screen at Chudleigh, Figs. 107 and 108, introduces the arched type of
the West. It is formed of five bays, the arched moulded heads of stout section, tongued
between head and post. The tracery of each bay is grooved into the head and sup-
ported on three moulded shafts, with caps and bases. There is a strong suggestion of
the fourteenth-century in-
fluence still remaining in
the hea\'y solid traceried
heads, which are carried
behind the foliated span-
drels into the posts. In
the base panels, formed by
crocketted tracery, with
large ribs tenoned into a
bottom rail carved with
a series of quatrefoils in
circles, are painted figures
with inscriptions below
executed with simplicity
but with considerable taste.
A similar treatment will be
noted in the screen from
Bradninch, Fig. 109, but
here the character is some-
what later, the muUions
being taken through to the
cill, with the quatrefoil
tracery applied over the
panels. The painted figures
are in late fifteenth-century
costume.

The screens surmounted coldridge, devon, parclose screen.

by rood-lofts offer different Early sixteenth century^

u 145'

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

constructional j^roblems. These rood-lofts arc, or were, for very few have
survived the jvurposed destruction of Puritan times, of two classes, those with
single overhang, tliat is where the loft projected on the nave side only, and
those where tlie lolt hung over the line of the screen equally on its east
and west side. The cill or base was nearly always continued across the whole width,
forming a step or threshold across the opening from nave to chancel. The posts, with
solid buttresses as at Southwold, Fig. 121, or with flying buttresses as at Ludham,
Fig. 131, are strongly mortised into the cill and the beam, and at a distance of about
four feet from the floor, are stiffened by the insertion of a heavy rail or transom.
The heads are traceried, either between, or on moulded ribs fixed to the transom below.
Tlie loft, where its overhang was on both sides of the screen, was supported on joists,
placed transversely across the beam, either notched over, or tenoned into it, these

Fig. 152.
BRUSHFORD, SOMERSET, CHANCEL SCREEN.

Early sixteenth century.

146

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

Gothic JVoodvcork and Colour Decoration

joists in turn being tenoned into the bressummers which supported the fronts of the
loft. These beams were housed, generally, into the walls of the chancel, or, where the
lofts extended right across the nave, into those of the aisles. Further support was
given to the joists by means of brackets to the posts of the screen, and on
these the groining or vaulting was applied. The handrails or upper beams of the
rood-loft were fixed into the walls in the same manner as the bressummers, and
the upright muntins were tenoned between. The \-aulting, which sprang from the
face of the posts to the base of the rood-beam, was formed by shaped ribs, pegged
to the posts, and tenoned into the beam above, grooved or rebated to receive the
panels.

The groined screen of Barking, Figs, no and in, shows an early development of
this type, the deep tracery being pierced in arcaded form and stiffened by the inner
ribs of the groining, which are fixed to the posts. Mullions are inserted to support the
tracery, breaking each bay into a triple light, small beads being pegged to both faces
for strength and decoration. The delicate carved ogees are missing and the carving has
suffered much mutilation, but the east side, which is not vaulted, exhibits some
beautiful carving in the spandrels, and especially upon the entrance arch, which is
decorated with crockets, in quaint bird form, and is full of that whimsical creation
in which the medifeval woodworker delighted. Fig. in shows the vaulted side
of the screen, its former rood-loft now replaced by a modern cresting. The
construction of the vaulting can be seen, where the panels are missing from the
ribs, and the mortise in the stone arch, which can be seen on the left, may indicate
the position of an earlier rood-beam, of a date prior to that of the screen itself,
when these beams were fixed across chancels without lofts or screens below (see
Fig. 149).

The decorative painting of these fifteenth-century screens varies considerably in
different localities, not only in quality, but also in type. A general distinction may be
made between those of the East and the West. The East AngUan screens are distin-
guished by their hghtness of structure, and delicacy and refinement of proportions in
tracery, cusping, and similar details. They are more lofty than those of the West-
country, and in design and treatment are more restrained. The lofts, where they exist,
are narrower than those of the West. The painting, as a rule, is exceedingly rich in
quality and detail, a lavish use being made of little blossoms in gold and colour, as in
the vaultings and the mouldings at Ranworth (Figs. 112 to 118) and Bramfield (Figs.
123 to 127). A strong sense of general colour is also preserved, which prevails over

147

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

W^^^t,

Fig. 153.

TAWSTOCK, N. DEVON, THE GALLERY.

Length id ft. (3 in.
Early sixteenth century.

the entire harmony. Thus Ludham, Figs. 130 and 131, has red as the principal note,
whereas at Bramfield blue predominates, in each instance relieved with gold. The rule
of heraldic colouring, of metal on colour, or colour on metal, is usually rigidly observed.
The use of gilded gesso with tiny patternings of geometrical or free form, is the chief

Fig. 154.
HOLBETON, DEVON, SCREEN.

Early sixteenth century.
148

Gothic JVoodmork and Colour Decoration

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HOLBETON, DEVON, DETAIL OF BRESSUMMER.

characteristic of the finer examples, as at Bramfield, Southwold, Figs, iig, i2i
and 122, or Yaxley, Figs. 12S and 129. This gesso ornament was used, both as
a gromid for the painted devices, or as the actual decoration of fillets and
moulding members, or of the buttresses, as at Southwold.

Fig. 156.
HOLBETON, DEVON, DETAIL OF TRACERY.

Early sixteenth century.

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Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

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GotJiic JVoodvcork and Colour Decoration

At Ranworth, a small Norfolk village at the head of Ranworth Broad, the screen
is probably the finest in East Anglia. It is of the late fifteenth century, of delicate
proportions, and extends across the chancel in the form of eight bays, the opening of
the chancel being contrived in the central two. Beyond the screen are retables on
the north and south, with subsidiary altars below, and projecting into the nave are
parclose screens with flying buttresses, Figs. 117 and 118, which shield the parochial
altars. The groining to the loft. Fig. 116, was formerly in the form of a double vault,
of which the outer members have disappeared, together with the loft itself. The
groining seen in the illustration continued downwards in pendentive form, then sprang^
upwards and outwards to the loft-beam. The mutilation has been partially masked
by the modern cornice. Originally the effect of this double vault must have been unique
in its rich decorative effect. The parclose screens are of panelled framing, the principal
posts assisting in the support of the loft-beam. The outer sconce-posts are braced to
those behind by richly decorated flying buttresses, one of which is shown in Fig. 118.

Fig. 158.
L.AVENHAM, SUFFOLK, THE OXFORD PEW.

Early sixteenth century.

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Fig. 160.
UFFORD, SUFFOLK, THE FONT COVER.

Late fifteenth century.
153

Early English Furniture ami JFoodwork

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Fig. 161.
UFFORD FONT COVER, DETAIL.

TIk' double groining was sup-
ported by the insertion of an
intermediate bressummer or joist
in the floor of the loft. The
original effect of this screen, with
its painted pendentive double-
vaulting before the chancel, the
retables complete with their deli-
cately tabernacled niches, pierced
cusped arches, and decorated vault-
ing above, the whole surmounted
by a rood-loft of equal richness
of design, must have been one
of extreme beauty. The figure
paintings upon the whole of the
screen are of wonderful charm of
colour and spirituahty of drawing.
They appear to have been painted
in tempera upon a gesso ground.
The figures upon the North wing,
Fig. 114 (Retable to the Chapel of
St. John), are St. Etheldreda, St.
Mary of Egypt, St. Agnes and
St. Barbara. The background to
each figure is in the form of a
dossal, upheld by an angel on a
panel painted with floral devices.
In the lower panels in the
central, portion of the screen are
representations of the twelve
apostles, in the following order,
witli their names written in
Gothic characters accompanying
each.

154

Gothic Jf^oodwork and Colour Decoration

Fig. 162.
UFFORD, SUFFOLK, THE PAINTED ROOF.

/Sancte Symon (emblem: a fish).

Sancte Thoma (emblem : spear).
North side , Bartholomee Sancte (knife and book),
of doorway. | Sancte Iacobe (pilgrim's staff and book).

Sancte Andea (cross and pouch at his girdle;

Petre (keys and book).

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I ScE Paule (sword and book).

ScE JoHES (chalice and dragon).
j ScE Philippe (basket of loaves).

ScE Jacobe (fuller's club).

ScE Jude (boat).

Sce Matthee (sword).

St.

Simon.

St.

Thomas.

St.

Bartholomew.

St.

James the Greater

St.

Andrew.

St.

Peter.

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Paul.

St.

John.

St.

Philip.

St.

James the Less.

St.

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St.

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Gothic IVoodwork. and Colour Decoration

The ratable to the South Altar, Fig. 115 (Chapel of our Lady), depicts saintly
motherhood. St. Salome with SS. James and John, the Virgin Mary with the Holy
Child, St. Mary Cleophas with her four sons, James, Joses, Simon and Jude, and St.
Margaret, all with angels above supporting flowered dossals. On the parclose screens
the outer sides are painted with saints and fathers, the two most masterly paintings
being St. Michael on the South, Fig. 117, and St. George on the North.

The detail of the paintings of the twelve apostles, six of which are shown in Fig.
113, are both choice and curious. The under robes are gilded and outlined in black,
dark brown and red. The patterning of these robes is an instance of the love of the
early painters for quaint conceits in the introduction of figures of beasts or birds into
their floral or conventional ornament. An example of this can be seen in the robe of
St. Simon on the extreme left. The backgrounds are of dark green and red, with floral
diaper patterns. The small flowers introduced everywhere, on the mouldings and the
panels of the vaulting, are faithful representations of the wild blossoms of the locality.

Though sadly mutilated, the screen at Southwold, Fig. 119, presents, even in its
present condition, a good example of the refined design and skilful construction of the
mediaeval woodworker, and the taste in painted decoration and gesso work of the
artist craftsman. It shows, also, the high level to which these arts attained in the late
fifteenth century. It extends the whole width of the Church at the first column of the
nave arcade, forming chapels to the North and South aisles, these being partitioned
from the chancel by elaborate canopied parclose screens of which one is shown in Fig.
120. The portion spanning the nave is somewhat higher than that of the aisles, and is
of very graceful proportions, the detail of the base panelling, and applied mullions
ornamented with diagonal pinnacles, richly moulded and capped, being extremely fine.
The groining of the destroyed loft, judging by the delicate beauty of the fragments of
the pierced vaultings with their carved finials, was probably of similar form to that
at Ran worth. The fragment of the groining, which is still attached to the head of the
screen, undoubtedly formed part of the loft front, which was evidently designed with
a series of vaulted niches, probably decorated with floral forms, and the panels with
figures of saints.

The decoration of the chancel screen is much richer than in those of the aisles,
which, though still of great beauty, are less ornate, and comparatively quiet in tone. The
whole of the wainscotting. Figs. 121 and 122, is filled with painted figures, drawn with
a fine spirit and sense of decoration. Those on the principal part of the screen, repre-
senting the twelve apostles, are painted against a dado of beautifully modelled and gilt

157

Early Efiglish Furniture and J Woodwork

gesso diapers, the little patterns Jx'ing
formed of the \iur leaf and frnit in an
ogee and iliamond in alternate panels.
The cresting to the dado consists of
delicate traceried forms of \'ar>-irg
designs. The colouring of the panelled
and pierced base is a combination of red.
bliu\ green and gold, arranged in beautiful
and harmonious coimterchange, a figure
having a green or blue robe being against
an upper background of red and \'ice
versa (e.g. St. Philip has a red cloak,
blue background behind nimbus, red
behind tracerv above and red at the

Fig. 167.
SWIMBRIDGE, DEVON, FONT COVER.

Early sixteenth century.

Fig. 166.
ST. PETER MANCROFT, NORWICH, FONT COVER.

Late fifteenth century.

base. The next panel is occupied by St.
Matthew who wears a purple robe, with
red behind the nimbus, dark blue behind
the tracery above, and blue at the base).
The gold under-robes of the figures,
in the same manner as at Ranworth,
are painted with rich designs in black
and red, after the style of the elaborate
fabrics of the period. These coloured
robes are embroidered with patterned
borders and are finished with decorated
collars and gold and jewelled clasps.

The paintings, as far as can be
ascertained in their defaced condition,
are as follows : —

>58

Gothic lVoodu:ork and Colour Decoration

'SorVi Sxic (Fig. 1 2 1.)

I. St. Philip, cross, staff and basket of loaves.
3. St. ]\Iatthew holding a sword.

3. St. James the Less, holding a club.

{Fig. 122.)

St. James the Less repeated in this illustration.

4. St. Thomas, holding spear and book.

5. St. Andrew, with cross (saltire) and book.

{The illustrations do not shoic the following.)

6. St. Peter with keys.

Chancel Opening -^ 1;

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7. St. Paul, with sword and book.

8. St. John, holding chalice with dragon issuing from it.

9. St. James the Great, with staff.

10. St. Bartholomew, with knife and book.

11. St. Jude, boat in left hand ; in right, compass and square.

12. St. Simon, spear and oar.

On the Screen across the N. aisle.
THE HEAVENLY HIER.\RCHY.

On the Screen across the S. aisle.

David, Amos, Isaiah, Jonah, Ezekiel, Moses, Elias,

Jeremiah, Xahum, Hosea, Baruch.

Of the enrichments of the mouldings the wave-design is
again much in evidence, showing gold stencilled flowers on the
black or dark green undulations, and the wild pink rose on the
white. A barber 's-pole pattern in a running chequer of red and

black, a red member with a little flower at inter\-als in gold, and a gold bead decorated
with a twisted gilt gesso pattern, are all introduced with beautiful effect. In the hollows
surrounding the panels, on the sides of the buttresses, and running up the tracery, as at
Ranworth, are little flo^^"er-forms upon a white ground ; blue with warm brown and
pink with green leaves, suggestive of the blue cornflower and the wild dog-rose, so
abundant in the fields and hedgerows of the Eastern Counties.

L^p the faces of the buttresses, which are richly encrusted with gesso, are the
remains of Gothic forms, representations of cusped and traceried niches with

'59

Fig. 168.

ST. MICHAEL -AT -PLEA,
NORWICH, THE POST-
REFORMATION TYPE
OF FONT COVER.

Early seventeenth century.

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

minute figures painted in black upon gold, also tabernacle work and even
"windows," some with their small i)icces of glass still remaining amongst the rich
patterning.

The following extract from Dowsing's Journal, a.d. 1643, gives a terse account
of the destruction which took place in this fine East Anglian Church.

" Southwold, April the 8th. V^'e brake down one hundred and thirty superstitious
pictures. St. Andrew and four crosses on the four corners of the vestry ; and gave
orders to take down thirteen cherubims, and to take down twenty angels, and to take
down the cover of the font."^

Of beautiful examples of vaulted screens, perhaps that at Bramfield, Figs. 123 to
127, is one of the best preserved. It was originally designed with parochial altars to
the two bays at the north and south as at Ranworth, but these have disappeared. Of
the destroyed rood-loft there is no pictorial record, but this must have been of elegant
pendentive desiga and exquisite proportions, and was probably enriched with paintings.
The screen consists of ten bays, its mullions springing into a beautiful heme vaulting,
Fig. 126, and forming cruciform panels elaborately cusped. The predominating tone is
a rich blue, reUeved with white and g^ld. The little flowers painted in sprays along
the mouldings and groining are exquisite in drawing and full of life, and in each panel
of the vaulting is depicted, upon the blue background, a tiny angel in gold, with detail
delicately drawn in black. Of the lower portion of the screen, the mouldings of the
transom, Fig. 127, are especially rich, and are encrusted with fine gilt gesso decoration,
painted with dainty floral forms upon dark red and white grounds, and a pattern of
gold fleurs-de-lys on blue. The buttresses to the mullions are also adorned with
beautiful tracery pattern in gold gesso. The panels of the wainscotting have
suffered in places from purposed defacement, but the figures of the Evangelists
and St. Mar3', with their rich gesso background, which are in fair preservation,
show the fine quality of the painting. On a dado behind the figures, the names
of the saints are decoratively inscribed. The tracery is gilt on its fillets and
crockettings, the hollows red and blue in alternate bays, and ornamented with tiny
gilt flowers.

Of the saints pictured on the panels, such as are still recognisable are given on
page 162.

' The significance of this will be noted later in this chapter.

160

Gothic JVoodwork and Colour Decoration

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Hramfield Screen.
'Sovlh Side.

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? (Effaced).
St. Mark.
St. Matthew.

Cluuicd opening.

South Side.
St. Luke.
St. John.

St. Mary Magdalene.
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Fig. 171.
KENTON, DEVON, PULPIT.

Late fifteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

That Bramfield Church was most
lavishly decorated in colour there is
no doubt, and another extract from
Dowsing's Journal of 1643, shows the
havoc wrought by Puritan vandals.

" April 7th, 1643. Twenty-four
superstitious pictures, one crucifix, and
picture of Christ and twelve angels on
the roof (rood), and divers Jesus's in
capital letters (IHS) and the steps of
the Altars to be levelled by Sir Robert
Brook."!

At Yaxley, Figs. 128 and 129,.
the destroyed loft-vaulting reveals the
construction, this screen having been
originally of the double-sided groined
type. The tracery has lost its ogees,,
niche bases and canopies, but some
idea of the wealth of ornament which
existed may be gained from the elaborate
head to the opening and the tracery of
the wainscotting below. The third
panel from the left, Fig. 129, shows the

' Suckling, " History of Suffolk."

162

Gothic JVoodwork and Colour Decoration

Fig. 172.
KENTON, DEVON, DETAIL OF PULPIT.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

•only remaining ogee which possesses the original rich applied crocketting. Although this

screen has suffered so severely, much of its painted and gilt decoration clings to it. The

buttresses which exist upon some of the mullions still show traces of having been once

richly ornamented. The gilt gesso dados behind the figures in the panels are reminiscent of

Southwold and Bramfield, as is also the dehcate treatment of the httle sprays of flowers

in the wavy design upon the mouldings. The painting of the figure subjects shows

refined taste, in drawing and pattern enrichment, and in spite of much obliteration,

there is sufficient of the work remaining to enable one to appreciate its fine spirit. The

figure of St. Mary Magdalene is shown here in an embroidered and scalloped stomacher ;

she holds a richh* adorned pot of ointment in one hand, while with the other she clasps

the jewelled lid. The other figures on the panels are SS. Ursula, Catherine, Barbara,

Dorothy and Cecilia.

163

Early English E^urniturc and Woodwork

At Lndham, in Norfolk, Fig. 130, the screen (dated 1493) is of fine design, rich in
detail, and aglow with gold and colour. It has, in common with all these East Anglian
screens, suffered from ill-usage and neglect. The cill is almost entirely perished, and
the vaulted loft is missing. The structure, measuring about 15^ feet across and nearly
13J feet in height, is di^•ided into eight equally spaced bays, the chancel opening being,
as usual, formed of two of these. The tracery is composed of simple crocketted ogees and
rich cusping. The mullions are supported by pierced buttresses enriched with recessed
panels delicately cusped. The carving of the tracery in the wainscotting of the screen
is of fine design and workmanship, but unfortunately the ornament and crocketting
on the ogee-pinnacled canopies of the panels have disappeared, together with the finials
of the intermediate buttresses.

The figures are extremely decorative in composition, finely drawn and coloured.
They are represented in dignified and natural positions, and yet full of the mediaeval
grace and charm. The inscriptions of the names of the saints in decorative black
lettering are at the base of each panel, and from left to right are represented SS. Mary
Magdalene, Stephen and Edmund, then follows Henry VI, succeeded by four fathers
of the Church, SS. Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine and Gregory, and SS. Edward the
Confessor, Walstan, Lawrence and Apollonia fill the remaining spaces. The background
behind the traceried heads of the panels is painted in blue with gold decoration, while
below is a patterning of red and green alternately. The general impression given by the
glorious colour-scheme of the whole is a rich effect of red and gold. In the beautiful
foliated motif of the running leaf which decorates the moulded transom is an inscription
which ends, " made in the yere of ower Lord God MCCCCLXXXXIII."

The West-country screens are, as a rule, not so lofty as those of East Anglia, and
the proportions are generally heavier. Carving details are usually very elaborate with
infinite variety in the use of vine-trails and other Gothic ornaments in frames, cornices
and vaultings, as at Atherington, Figs. 132 to 135. This is a magnificent screen, with
its canopied and vaulted rood-loft practically intact. The presence of the sixteenth
century is evident in the Renaissance ornament which fills the spandrels of the vaulting.
Fig. 132. The influence of the Renaissance was felt very early in Devonshire, although
Gothic details persist for many years in clerical woodwork. There is curiously little
influence from other counties to be found in this Devonshire woodwork. It is rich,
but the fact that it is recognisable in an unmistakable way shows that the variety of
the Norfolk or Suffolk work is lacking. Thus the two screen doors. Fig. 136, said to have
come from a former Bishop's Palace at Exeter, but, obviously, belonging to a church

164

Gothic JJ^oodwork and Colour Decoration

screen, do not need any reference to a place of origin to stamp them as Devonshire
work. A comparison of this illustration with the Atherington screen, Fig. 133, will
show almost an identity of design in the two examples. It is usual to describe the
later Gothic as depraved, and it certainly loses in dignity as it advances in intricacy,
but technical skill of the highest order can be seen in the gorgeous bressummers with their
bewildering wealth of carving, as at Atherington, Fig. 134, Chulmleigh, Fig. 142,
Coldridge, Fig. 143, Lapford, Fig. 145, and Swimbridge, Figs. 149 and 150. At the
same time, the tendency towards monotony, in these richly carved beams, will be noticed.
The creation of this elaborate work must have been restricted to a very narrow locality ;
probably in the neighbourhood of Exeter. Apart from their almost barbaric splendour,
these screens frequently impress by their enormous size. At Bovey Tracey, Fig. 138,
Halberton, Fig. 139, Chulmleigh, Fig. 140, Lapford, Fig. 144, Swimbridge, Fig. 147,
and elsewhere, they stretch across
the whole width of nave and aisles.
In lofts enriched with tabernacle or
niched work, as at Atherington,

Fig. 135, these Devonshire screens
must have been especially rich,
although only a few have survived.
Atherington is a very elaborate
example, richly carved on both east
and west sides, although the latter
is, by far, the most ornate.

Among the less pretentious
examples is the parclose screen at
Pilton, Fig. 137, again with the
same resemblance in the circular-
headed tracery to Fig. 136. This is
the arch-headed type of the West, in
square framings with foliated span-
drels in the comers.

The painted decoration of the
Western screens is usually broader
in technique than in those of the
East, the figures executed with less

Fig. 173.
SOUTH BURLINGHAM, NORFOLK, DECORATED PULPIT.

Mid-fifteenth century.

165

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

attention to small detail. Some border on the crude, but in others, as at Ashton,
Ugborough. Cluulleigli, Fig. io8, and Bradninch, Fig. 109, the draughtsmanship and
execution is much more jiowerful, and such figures as are depicted in the costume
of their time are particularly interesting.

At Bovey Tracey, Fig. 138, and Halberton, Fig. 139, the screens stretch right
across the church, passing under the first arches of the north and south aisles. At
Halberton there are little tabernacled shrines which mask the aisle columns. This
Avas a favourite device in Devonshire churches, and is rarely, if ever, found elsewhere.

It is difiicult to imagine how much of the appearance of these great screens must
have been marred by the remo\'al of their rood-lofts. At Chulmleigh, for example,
Fig. 140, the effect of this additional height, especially if the loft front was elaborately
carved, as it would have been, must have been exceedingly striking.

The %'aultings of these De\'onshire screens differ greatly from those of East Anglia.
The stonemason tradition is \-ery pronounced in Fig. 142, with its lierne ribs, bossed
on their intersections and pierced with tracery in the panels. At Coldridge, Fig. 143,
this tracery is solid but the feeling of stone is still present. At Lapford, Figs. 144, 145
and 146, Renaissance ornament is introduced into these groined spandrels in similar
manner to those at Atherington. This screen is planted clear from the aisle columns,
and reaches from the wall of the north aisle to that of the south in the Devonshire
manner. Swimbridge, close by, has a very similar screen, although possibly somewhat
earlier, but on the evidence of such details as the seaweed ornament of its base. Fig.
148, it may easily have been designed hy the same hands. Unfortunately, many of these
fine screens have been locally, and very ignoranth^ restored. Halberton is an instance
of this, with the result of an incongruous jumble of parts patched together.

That these rich screens were further elaborated with colours, in their original state,
is unquestionable. Greens and reds appear to have been largely used, but gold, in any
amount, was exceptional. Devonshire was not a rich county in the fifteenth century,
compared with Norfolk and Suffolk, aud the decoration of the rood-screen in the parish
church was usually maintained by gifts of money from the charitable or the devout,
usually in the form of bequests. Probably for this reason, gold, which is so general in
East Anglian screens, is so infrequent in those of Devonshire.

The Renaissance of Italy intrudes itself into Church woodwork in the first years
of the sixteenth century, but in a manner somewhat different from its secular introduction.
In much the same way as with a parasitic growth on a noble tree, which gains in strength
until the tree eventually perishes, so the Renaissance grafts itself on the Gothic, and

166

Gothic JVoodwork and Colour Decoration

finally submerges it. It begins with motives, introduced sparingly and with taste, as
in the panels of the Atherington vaulting, but later it begins to debase the character
of the tracery, which loses its former logical basis of design and degenerates into meaning-
less patterns, as at Coldridge, Fig. 151. In this later work the earlier turned shafts
recur, but these are now spiral-fluted and twisted. At Brushford, in Somerset, Fig. 152,
the tracery is cut from the solid and merely dowelled on to the spiral-turned shafts.
In this screen the debasing of the tracery
forms can be noticed very clearly. The solid
panels of the base have the linen-fold pattern,
which is such a sure indication of the sixteenth
century.

In some instances, however, the Renais-
sance is used with discretion and taste. In
the gallery at Tawstock, Fig. 153, for example,
the ornament has still the Gothic character in
vine-trails and grapes, and at Holbeton, Figs.
154 to 156, the tracery is filled with carved
work of extraordinary- richness, Gothic in
character but used in a Renaissance manner.
The ornament of the beam, Fig. 155, as a foil, is
pure Renaissance, yet the association of the
two does not appear to be incongruous, and
the effect of the whole screen is extremeh'
ricli. Such experiments, however, were fatal
to the Gothic as an ecclesiastical style, the
greater in proportion to their success.

This final phase of the Gothic produced
some very noteworthy results, however, in
spite of the decline of the former fine tra-
ditions. The Spring Pew at Lavenham, Fig.
157, and the Oxford Pew in the same Church,
Fig. 158, are of this late stjde, but the fiair for
the Gothic is not extinguished so soon in East
Anglia as in the West. There is a loss in meaning
and a lack of appreciation of material, however,

167

Fig. 174.
E. DOWN, DEVON, FONT PEDESTAL.

Sixteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Photo.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

even more evident in the Spring Pew than in other work of the same date. There is no
doubt as to the material of which tlie early fifteenth-century Gothic is constructed. It is
unmistakably of stone or wood. E\-en in the earlier examples, where the woodworker is just
emancipating himself from the stonemason's traditions, there is a sturdy vigour in his
conceptions, even when accompanied by an absence of refinement in his details and con-
struction, l^nfortunately, it is rare to find an artistic tendency stopping short at the
logical. If proportions become refined, they do not rest until they reach such a stage of
fragility' as to be inartistic. An erection, whether of wood or stone may be of ample
strength, but if it appear inadequate neither the eye nor the mind is satisfied. The
material must also be equally frank. Construct a bridge of steel and grain it to look
like wood, and it will appear unsafe, and its appearance will be false to the eye. Similarly,
the early Gothic woodwork, apart from its passive dignity and even grandeur, is not
wholly satisfactory ; it is too much like stonework, which has, by accident, been made
from timber. It is the Gothic woodwork of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
century which fulfils best, both artistic and constructional demands. It is a style which
can become debased very easily, especially in wood. Tracery is only pierced fretwork,
but when cut by the carver it offers, in many cases, a suggestion of construction which
it does not really possess. This Lavenham Spring Pew is, perhaps, one of the most
ornate expressions of the later Gothic, yet one has the feeling that it is not woodwork
but confectionery. The screens which we have just considered are marred by the
absence of their lofts. The result is that vaulting which must suggest the carrying of a
superimposed mass, is now inoperative and useless. That, however, is not a defect
of the screens, but of the A'andals who broke down their lofts and mutilated the artistic
effect which they formerly possessed. In the Spring Pew, there is vaulting which
carries nothing and never has, and tracery which is mere tortured filigree work.
The same may be said of the Oxford Pew, of about the same date, where posts support
nothing and where Renaissance ornament is employed to masquerade as tracery.

The \-ast expanse of a Cathedral carries off superabundant ornament in stone or
wood by overpowering it by sheer height and size. It becomes mere lacework in com-
parison, and one does not expect lace to possess constructional stability, such as will
satisfy eye and mind. Thus at Chester the stall canopies possess a delicacy in com-
parison with the size of the choir itself which would atone for many constructional
faults even were they present. At Westminster, on the other hand, the effect is
purely that of the work of a pastry cook rather than of a woodworker. It may be
worth while to turn back to the grand stall canopies of Winchester, Fig. 93, and to

168

Gothic Jf^oodwork and Colour Decoration

compare them with those of Westminster Abbey, Fig. 159. The latter are truly wonder-
ful, as examples of what was — and should not have been done, — in wood.

In offering a criticism of much of this abnormally delicate woodwork of the later
fifteenth century, considerable allowance must be made for the absence of the gilding
and colouring where such originally existed. This is very necessary in the case of such
works as the great font cover of Ufford, Figs. 160 and 161, one of the most remarkable
examples of the later Gothic woodwork in England, and certainly the largest and the
most ornate of the wooden font covers made at this period. It is octagonal on plan,
and with its amazing intricacy of pinnacles and niches, it rich carving of vaulted base
and cornice, is a magnificent production of the fifteenth-century woodworker. It has
lost its decorative painting and has been much restored. With its original colour and
gilding it must have been a superb ornament to the churchy. The painted roof above it
is shown, in better detail, in Fig. 162. y

Fig. 175.
WARKLEIGH, DEVON, RENAISSANCE SCREEN.

Early sixteenth century.

Mr. Fredk. Sumner, Ptioto.

169

Eijr/y Fj/'>//sb Furriitiar and U^oodwork

Decoration in colours and gold must haw been a necessary part of a font cover such
as this. Constructed of wood, visible as such to the eye at a moment's glance, it appears
to be impossibly fragile. The fact that it is telescopic further intensifies this impression.
Constructed of metal, this delicacy of ornament would be justified to the observer.
In wood, jxiinted and gilded, it would acquire an appearance of strength in its parts,
even although such covering were somewhat in the nature of a deception ; an artistic
sham. The jxiinting of the roof above is merely decorative ; applied to harmonise the
timbers with the font cover suspended below. The cover depends, at its apex, from an
effigy of the heraldic pelican'- the symbol of the Redemption, which we shall see in a
later chapter, in the panel of a pulpit in Aldington Church in Kent.

Niches are pro\'ided in each tier, the lower series intended to hold the effigies of
saints, but these ha^'e disappeared, long since. The cover has been scraped and scoured
until the merest vestiges of if^ original colouring remain, but of the four original panels
which exist, two have remnants of the free floral designs in colour and gold which must
have been applied to the entire cover. In the upper portions of these panels are the
remains of gilded gesso backgrounds, patterned with incised and dotted diapers. The
floral dado with a gold ground above, behind each effigy which formerly stood in the
niches, must have made a rich and effective setting to the figures.

The second and third tiers of these tabernacles also exhibit evidences of having con-
tained images, originally. The backgrounds of the lower series are in blue and red counter-
change ; in the upper tier red and green is used ; the red being above the blue of the
lower series. All the canopies to these niches were groined in gold with panels of blue
and with little gilt flowers in the centre. The buttresses, pinnacles, tracery and other
tabernacle-work were in gold ground with decoration of white, green and red. The
pelican was in blue and gold with traces of black and white. Of this original colouring,
which must have made this Uftord font co\'er such an exceptional example, even of
its time, only the merest indications remain.

The font has always been an object 'of importance and reverence in the history
of the Christian religion. Constructed of stone, in nearly every case (although lead fonts
are not unknown, as, for example, the one in Brookland Church in Kent), many have
persisted from Saxon times, and possibly from still earlier periods. The covers, where such
existed, were usually made from wood, and have nearly all perished, either with time, or
at the hands of iconoclasts. ^ At no period, however, was the destruction of font covers
authorised, and there are numerous ordinances from Bishops ordering them to be safe-

1 See Dowsing 's Journal in relation to the destruction at Bramfield.

170

Gothic JJ^oodvcork and Colour Decoration

guarded and provided with locks or similar security. The cover, to protect the font
containing the holy water, was almost of as great an importance as the font itself.
These covers vary, in different churches and districts, from the elaborate example at
Ufford to the mere disc of wood. So many have perished, howe\'er, that the latter may
be subsequent replacements, and it is possible that each parish church, originally, was
provided with a font cover of some degree of elaboration. The usual form was pyramidal,
with moulded ribs at the angles, which developed by the addition of a deep moulded or
carved base. From this stage the font cover evolved by the addition of crocketting to the
ribs, as at Ashbocking, Fig. 163, and Pilton, Fig. 164. The next stage was the deepening
of the cover below the pja-amid and the introduction of pinnacles and traceried panels,
as at Barking, Fig. 165, finally culminating in magnificent covers such as at Ufford.

The later development of the font cover is a canopy supported on posts at the
corners, as at St. Peter Mancroft, Fig. 166, instead of being suspended from the roof.
The lower stag--, which forms the fon" lid, telescopes into the dome. Unfortunately,

Fig. 176.
CARTMEL PRIORY, LANCS., STALL CANOPIES.

Early seventeenth century.

171

Karly English Furniture and IVoodwork

only the posts and tlie flat canopj- are original ; the dome with its niches are restora-
tion. At Truncli in tlie same county, is another example of this kind, unrestored but
very incomplete.

At Swimbridge, Fig. 167, there is a different development, the cover being formed
as an octagonal-framed casing to the font, with doors above which open, for access to
the font itself. The ornament is well car\Td, in the Renaissance manner, which indicates
the early years of the sixteenth century.

In St. Michael-at-Plea is the little classical cover, Fig. 168, showing the decline in
size and importance which occurred after the Reformation. It demonstrates, also, the
complete departure from the Gothic traditions at this date. It is possible that this stone
font original^ possessed a rich cover, which has disappeared and been replaced by the
present one. The following extract from Bloomfield's History of Norfolk (1745) is curious,
and must refer to this font either without a cover, or with one of a totally different
fashion, although "sitting on the font" (eight persons, be it remembered) must have
meant sitting on the steps below it. In any case the present cover could not have existed.

" 1504. Alderman Thomas Bewfield was buried hy the font in the Church of
St. Michael-at-Plea, Norwich, and founded a mass for eight years, every working day
at 8 o'clock in the morning, and his executors were to find eight poor men and women
daily to attend it and sit on the font and pray for his and his friends' souls, and each
to have fourpence every Saturday'.

Pulpits of the fifteenth century, of which comparati\'ely few examples exist, were
generally polygonal on plan, and constructed of two curbs, an upper and a lower, formed
of several sections, tenoned or " fingered " together at points between the posts, and into
these the angle-posts were tenoned, with the panels inserted in grooves. Where stems
existed, these were formed of a post tenoned to the floor joist and braced by ribs to the
curbs. The Western type as at Bovey Tracey and Cockington, Figs. 169 and 170, are
heavier in design and construction than those found in the Eastern counties, and are
decorated with an abundance of carved foliage, vine-trails and niche-work. At Cock-
ington, which is the later of the two, the balusters and foliated groined heads are applied
to the panels.

These Devonshire pulpits repeat the work of the screens in a great measure, which
is to be expected, as in Bovey Tracey and Halberton, for example, the pulpits stand
immediately in front of the screen and are almost a part of it. That these pulpits were

172

Gothic JVoodwork and Colour Decoration

Fig. 177.
CARTMEL PRIORY, LANCS., CHOIR STALL CANOPIES, DETAIL.

173

Early English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

originallv paintrcl in colours and g.ild is unquestionable. Bovey Tracey is bright with
colour, but this is almost all of much later date. The niched figures are in plaster, but
they may have been cast from lost originals. Cockington pulpit is later, of the early
sixteenth century, with balusters and groined heads applied to the panels. It is pecuUar
in being a sept-sided polygon on plan, but with flat panels, and in being a painted
pulpit at a date subsequent to the fashion for the decoration of woodwork with colours.

At Kenton, Figs. 171 and 172, the pulpit, of late-fifteenth-century work, is flam-
boyant, but extremely rich. It is coloured, which adds further to its ornate character.
The painting has a definite significance here, beyond mere decoration. This is, in effect,
a stone pulpit copied in wood, and it demands painting, either in monochrome or in
colours, to complete its effect. The enlarged detail, Fig. 172, shows this carved-stone
character very clearly.

The South Burlingham pulpit. Fig. 173, is a very beautiful and complete example
of East Anglian colour decoration of the fifteenth century. The general effect is simple,
3'et rich. The colours follow the heraldic system of counterchange. The panels, with
their ogival tracery and crocketted pinnacles, are in red and gilt on a green background,
with sprigs of flowers in gold. The central portion of the panel, immediately beneath
the cusping, is in red, with a diapered pattern of the same gold flowers. The panels are
reversed in rotation, in their colour-scheme, the next having crocketting in green and
gold on red. A painted ribbon threads behind the styles, just below the crocketting,
and on this are inscriptions in black letters, with red initials and foliated ornaments,
on a ground of white. The mouldings, between the panels and the buttresses, are
decorated with a wavy design in red and white, with gold flowers on the red, and green
on the white bands, in one panel, and in the next the wave is green and white, with gold
and red flowers. The buttresses, above the first recessing, are decorated with gilt gesso,
in diaper patterns with tiny flowers. The spandrels and the faces of all the tracery are
in gold. The base has a white hollow, with green blossoms, and mouldings in red and
green. The cornice has small gilt flowers in relief in the cavetto, and the castellated
cresting is gilt. This pulpit is remarkable as much for its beauty as for its state of
preservation.

With the introduction of the Renaissance into clerical woodwork and the final
extinguishing of the Gothic, this chapter may be concluded. Examples of where the two
are assorted, sometimes with notably fine results, as at Atherington and Holbeton, more
often with detriment to the character of both, as at Brushford and Coldridge, have already
been given. It remains only to consider, in rapid review, some examples where the Gothic

174

Gothic JJ^oodwork and Colour Dccoi'ation

motives are comparati\-ely negligible, and where the Renaissance has full sway. Thus in the
charming gallery at Tawstock, Fig. 153, the Gothic is still present in the vine-trails which
ornament the string. The fine font pedestal at East Down, Fig. 174, on the other hand,
is pure Renaissance with the sumptuous carvirg of the West (unmistakable in its rich
character) above the arches. Warkleigh, Fig. 175, has a fine screen of the same period,
with elaborate carvings in the upper panels, and the alternate muntins of those below
masked by ornate semi-balusters, very similar in style to the aisle-panellings in St.
Vincent at Rouen, which will be illustrated in a later chapter. There is always a strong
suggestion of Frencli influence, if not of actual origin, in this later Church woodwork of
the West, a character which is not nearly so evident in the secular work of the same
date. Towards the close of the sixteenth century the Renaissance, where adopted for
Church woodwork, loses much of this foreign element, as at Cartmel Priory, Figs. 176
and 177, where the stall canopies, superimposed on stalls of much earlier date, show
how the Italian style changes in development, in the hands of the Church woodworker,
in the early years of the seventeenth century. There is a strong concession to the Gothic
in the \'ine-trails of the coh;mns, but this became a faN'ourite motive, even with secular
work, during the earlier years of the seventeenth century, especially in Lancashii'e and
Warwickshire. Examples will be found in the later pages of this volume.

Though carried beyond the proper scope of this chapter, which is concerned only
with the Gothic, this incursion into the Renaissance period may be of service, if
only in bridging from the last phase of the Gothic to the later work, and in preparing
the way for the chapters which are to follow.

'75

Chapter VII.

Timber Houses, Porches and Doors.

F tlie house built of framed oak, with spaces between tl"ie timbers filled
with brick " Hogging " or plaster, had not been peculiar to England
up to almost the end of the seventeenth century, the inclusion of
\\-oodwork in the title of this book would have necessitated some
description and illustration of the timber house. Actually, " half-
timber " is not only characteristically English in conception, but it exhibits great
variety in type and in abnormalities of timber growth, and at the same time, owing
to the nature of the materials employed, allows of rich embellishment in the way of

^^^^^^^^^^■^^^^^^^^^■^■1

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lilil

Fig. 178.
LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK.

The Wcolhall, East Front.
Mid-fifteenth century.

176

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

moulding, carving and tracer}', which the qualities of stone or brick forbid. It says
much for the sturdy qualities of English oak that so many examples of work, some as
early as the thirteenth century, are with us to-day. No one who has not made a diligent
pilgrimage, among e\'en tiny villages, especially in East Anglia, the Northern Welsh
bordering counties, and in Somerset and Devon, and has not examined the interiors of
small, and apparently insignificant churches in remote England, can have any idea
of the wealth and richness in timber and woodwork which i"emain, from the fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as priceless legacies from the mediccval carpenters of
England. One is not only amazed at both the quantity and quality of such work ;
there is such abundance of evidence to show that much of it must have been executed
as a labour of love, good-fellowship, or of reverence for things sacred. We know that the
craftsmen of the one hamlet vied with those of neighbouring villages in making their
parish church a monument of beauty, and in improving on existing examples, until

Fig. 179.
PAYCOCKES, COGGESHALL, ESSEX.

Late fifteenth centurj-.

177

Noel Buxton, Esq.

Fig. 180.
LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK.

Houses at corner of Lady Street and Water Street.
Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 181.
THE GUILD HALL, LAVENHAM.

Porch and projecting Bay.

Fig. 182.
THE GUILD HALL, LAVENHAM

Detail of Porch.

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179

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

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we get such triumphs of woodworking skill as the chancel screens at Bramfield, South-
wold, Ludhani, Ranworth, Atherington, Llananno and elsewhere. The task of the
carpenter and car\-er being completed, they gave way to the artists, who, in turn, filled
the panels with figures of saints, and who decorated each moulding-member with jewel-
like colours and tiny Gothic patterns in raised and gilded gesso. " In those days the
adornment of the church was a task in which all men took a pride. Each gave what
he could, and the interiors were thus enriched with carved choir-stalls, stained glass

windows, tapestries, lamps and chalices of chased silver, vest-
ments and altar-cloths of needlework, and gilded and illuminated
missals. Nowadays no price is too high to pay for such products of
fifteenth-century craftsmanship, and happy indeed is the collector
whose flair for the Gothic has unearthed, in some unlikely corner,
a piece of work of the latteners, the luminers, the orfevers, the
tapisers, the verrours or the ymagers of that golden epoch. "^

Beside these evidences of love of, or reverence for the Church,
which inspired the mediaeval craftsmen to give of their finest
without reward, we see, in timber houses of the elaborate East-
Anglian type, similar signs of work being done for the sake of
the community, much of which must have been a labour of
love. The chief point which strikes the student of the work
of this period, is its conscientious character. Nothing is scamped ;
nothing left to chance. Joints are made as carefully in unseen
positions as in work which is fully visible. Even the wood is
sawn in the best manner, as described in the chapter on " The
Early Woodworker," whether figure in the oak be desirable or
not, simply from the knowledge that quartered oak is more
durable than that cut across the trunk or log, in the obviously
economical manner. When paint is removed from fifteenth-
century work, where it has remained from the time when it
was first completed, we find the ray figure in the wood, with
the " splash " darkened nearly to black by the action of the
lead. This oak was never intended to be left bare ; yet it is
prepared just as carefully as if the piece had to rely on the
figure of the wood for its decorative effect.

Fig. 185.
OAK CORNER-POST

7 ft. i\ ins. high,
15 ins. wide across cap.
Mid-fifteenth century.

' John Warrack, Introduction to " The Cathedrals of Great Britain.'
180

Fig. 186.
LAVENHAM GUILD HALL, BAY WINDOW.

About 14S6.

J^.

1 ■

—

Fig. 187.
HOUSE IN LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK.

Square Bay with MuUioned Window and Entrance Door.

Figs. 188 and 189.
ALSTON COURT, NAYLAND, SUFFOLK,

Bay Windows. Late fifteenth century.

A. M. Fenn, Esq.

Figs. 190, 191 and 192.
BOXFORD CHURCH, SUFFOLK.

Porch ol heavy timbers, with interior vaulted and
ceiled; unique example in England. Saint's niche
above tie-beam missing, but mortise still visible in
collar-beam between trefcil of head.

Mid-fourteenth century.

■S3

SUFFOLK CHURCH PORCHES.

Fig. 193
LITTLE CLACTON

Early fifteenth century

Fig. 194.
OFFTON-CUM-LITTLE-BRICETT

Mid-fifteenth centurv.

Fig. 195.
RAYDON ST. MARY.

Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 196.
GREAT BLAKENHAM

Late fifteenth century.

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

Fig. 197.
GAINSBURGH HALL, LINCOLN. THE GREAT HALL

Late fifteenth century.

2 B

185

LAVENHAM WOOLHALL. INTERIOR Of HALL.

See Fig. 66 showing this Hall in process of i;e.stqra,tiop.
Length, 26 ft. 2 ins. ; width, 22 ft. 5'ins. ' ' '' "
Late fifteenth centirrf .

186

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'v?.-

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

Fig. 199.
CARVED CEILING BEAMS FROM A HOUSE IN WATER STREET, LAVENHAM.

In the following pages, some examples of rich half-timber houses, and porches —
sacred and secular — are shown. They have been chosen from hundreds of examples,
each noteworthy in its way, but space considerations have forbidden more than a brief
description of this fascinating branch of the woodworker's craft. Those who have
read, and studied, the chapter on " Timber Roofs " will be prepared for much that
is to follow in this one. The timber roof is reall}' the upper story of a timber house,
especially when it has collars without tie-beams. The vertical timbers from the eaves-
level downwards, with their horizontal plates, act as buttresses to resist the outward
thrust of a pitched roof, a task which, in the case of a church, is undertaken by walls of
massive stone or jointed brick. The framed house is reinforced by its floor-beams and
joists at the floor-levels, and is a complete unit before any filling of the cavities between
the timbers is even commenced. That brick nogging stiffens the vertical studs is

1S7

Early English Furniture and Jl^oodvsork

'^s^tm^str-.

Fig. 200.
CARVED CEILING BEAMS FROM PAYCOCKES, COGGESHALL, ESSEX.

late fifteenth century. Noel Buxton, Esq.

unquestionable, but the timber liouse must be of ample strength and stability without
such aid.

The examples shown, in this chapter, ha^'e been especially chosen for their richness.
They are, mainly, from two counties, Suffolk and Essex. They are intended to give
merely an outline of a vast subject. Timber houses vary not only at distinct periods,
but also in different localities. Local tree-growth had a good deal to do with their
development in particular directions. A large book could be written, easily, on the
subject of the English timber house, and then the available field would be, by no means,
exhausted. The houses shown in the succeeding pages are exceptional, but they are

i88

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

tfm^^^mwm

Fig. 201.
ENLARGED DETAIL OF FIG. 200.

illustrated here with a set purpose, to illustrate the decorative limits to which the
timber house attained.

With the timber house, as necessary adjuncts, examples of exterior porches, doors,
bay windows, and interior decorated beam-ceilings are given. Length}' descriptions are
unnecessary ; the illustrations are, for the most part, self-explanatory. It must be
remembered, also, that the attempt is made here, in a single chapter, to outline, in a
sketchy manner, a subject which demands a far greater space than is possible in this
book, for its proper elucidation. There is, therefore, no attempt at order, chrono-
logically or otherwise ; the illustrations are merely intended to show the decorative
use, in building, to which oak was put in the fifteenth and si.xteenth centuries, in
England.

Fig. 178 is the fine Woolhall at Lavenham, in Suffolk, which was somewhat
rigorously restored in 1913. The barge-boards are missing, and the projecting bay

189

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

Fig. 202.
PAYCOCKES, COGGESHALL, ESSEX. CEILING BEAMS.

Ceiling, iS ft. wide by 19 ft. deep. Beam, 14^ ins. by 11 ins. Joists, 7 ins. wide by 5 ins. deep.

Noel Buxton, Esq.

windows on the first floor have been cut off. Lavenham has been somewhat unfortunate
in the zeal of its restorers. In spite of this, liowever, Lavenham Woolhall remains as
some indication of the half-timber building in East Anglia of the mid-fifteenth century.

The house known as Paycockes, at Coggeshall in Essex, Fig. 179, is a much better
example of judicious restoration. Originally, a fine specimen of a wealthy weaver's
house of the late fifteenth century, it had been transformed into cottages, and allowed
to become derelict. It was restored, a few years ago, and a considerable amount of
richly carved oak was discovered hidden behind plaster. Further illustrations of the
elaborate beamed ceilings in this house will be given later on in this chapter.

Fig. 180 is from Lavenham, old houses at the corner of Lady and Water Streets,

190

Fig. 203.
LAVENHAM GUILD HALL. THE MAIN HALL.

32 ft. by 17 ft.

Fig. 204.
LAVENHAM WOOLHALL, SOUTH WING. CEILING BEAMS.

iS ft. 6 ins. by 15 ft. i in.

Early English E^urriiture and IJ^oodwork

Fig. 205.
OAK-BOARDED CEILING FROM A HOUSE AT LAVENHAM

Late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

E. Garrard, Esq.

here shown partially restored. On the ground floor, at the nearest comer in the illus-
tration, will be noticed the framings of old shop windows. Similar windows also existed
on the Water Street elevation, but they have been covered with plaster. The projecting
joist-ends, on the first floor overhang, and their bracketted supports from the slender
wall posts, in buttress form, with carved capitals, should be noted here as exceptional
details, although of the shafts only a vestige remains.

Two views of the projecting porch of Lavenham Guild Hall are shown in Figs. i8i
and 182. This is a rich example, although the original door is missing. The carving
of the corner bracket and the niched corner-posts is exceedingly choice in secular work,
even for the late fifteenth century. The photographs were taken prior to the restoration
of 1914, when a number of new bay windows were added in a regrettable endeavour to
improve the elevation of the fine old Hall.

One of the corner-posts to the Lavenham Woolhall, together with its dragon-beam

192

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

and overhanging story-bracing is given in Fig. 183. Tlie corner-post of tlie Guild Hall
is illustrated in Fig. 184, together with two of the modern bay windows which
were added at the time of the 1914 restoration.

One of these mid-fifteenth-century corner-posts can be seen in Fig. 185. Below the
enriched band is a Gothic head with crocketted central mullion and the tracery above
becomes shallower as it rises to the apex of the post. Viewed cornerwise this post
has supported a dragon-beam g ins. in width. A portion of the top of this post
has been cut off. Originally, it sprang outward and upward, as in the Lavenham Guild
Hall post. Fig. 184.

Lavenham Guild Hall was erected in about the year i486 for one of the Cloth
Guilds of Corpus Christi. At this period the English woollen trade with the Low
Countries was very large, and Lavenham was one of the weaving centres. The act of
Henry VHL in debasing the English silver coinage, annihilated this trade, and Lavenham
remains to-day, a feeble shadow only of its former wealth and glory, the home of horse-
hair cloth-weaving, in itself a dying industry. Of this rich Guild Hall only one of the

original bay windows remains,

and this is in a badly restored

state. It is shown in Fig.

186. It shows the transom

type, flanked with top lights.

The window-head is supported

by " false-tenons " into the

overhanging floor joists. The

heavy cill is wrought from

the solid, and is finely moulded

and carved.

Fig. 187 shows a

corbelled window from a

house in Lavenham, of the

mulhoned type, with carved

transom and cill. The bay is

square on plan, and without

side lights. The door at the

side, with its Gothic head

and spandrel, shows the
193

Fig. 206.

ELMSETT CHURCH, SUFFOLK.

Oak boards with applied iron straps.
Late fourteenth century.

Fig. 207.

CHANCEL DOOR, NEEDHAM
MARKET CHURCH.

Early fifteenth century.

2 C

Earlv English Furniture and IJ^oociwork

domestic fashion of the last half of the sixteenth century. Here, as in Fig. i8o, the
brackets from tlie joist-ends on either side of the door are carried on slender buttresses.
Alston Court, Nayhind, Suffolk, is a lialf-timbered house, dating from the closing
years of tlie reign of Edward W , between 1475 and 14S0. It is a good example of a
yeoman's house of the superior kind. Built round an open courtyard, in the manner
of its time, it possesses a Great Hall with mullioned windows, glazed with heraldic
emblazonry of coats of arms t)f well-known Norfolk and Suffolk families, of its own
and subsequent dates.

The house has grown by additions made at later periods in its history. The dining-
room was panelled with oak in 1631, at a date when dissensions between Cavalier and
Parliamentarian were beginning to become acute. This room has finely carved beams
and a window \\ith fine old stained glass. Above is the Solar, and adjoining is a room
with a waggon ceiling of oak. By permission of the owner, Mr. A. M. Fenn, two of the
corbelled windows are shown in Figs. 188 and 189. Both are of late fifteenth-century
type, well restored, and the first shows some of the heraldic glass of the sixteenth

century which is one

of the features of

Alston Court.

Among the im-
portant features of

both timber houses

and churches of the

fifteenth century were

the elaborate timber

porches. In the latter

these were often of the

most ornate descrip-
tion, both externally

and internally. The

house porch was closed

by a door at its en-
trance, hence the need

for ornament in its

interior was not so

keenly felt, timber
194

Fig. 208.

BARKING CHURCH, SUFFOLK,
VESTRY DOOR.

Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 209.

KEY CHURCH, IPSWICH,
PRIEST'S DOOR.

Late fifteenth century.

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

houses, as a rule, being
in. Church porches, havmg
were often embelHshed
Boxford Church, Suffolk,
ornate porch in England,
Figs. 190 to 192. It dates
fourteenth century, and is,
for its antiquity as for its
The roof is vaulted to
the window openings are
lions. Over the cambered
signs of an original Saint's
are still to be seen on the
trefoil of the arched head.
Suffolk porches of the

more ornate outside than
the door at the other end,
with fine open-timber roofs,
has, probabl}', the most
views of which are given in
from the middle of the
therefore, as remarkable
rich character.
slender triple columns, and
traceried with central mul-
tie-beam in the front are
niche, the evidences of which
collar-beam above, in the
Four of these interesting
fifteenth centurv are illus-

Fig. 210.

STRANGERS' HALL,

NORWICH.

OAK ENTRANCE DOOR WITH

WICKET.

Width of large door, 5 ft. i in.
Width of small door, 3 ft.
Height of wicket door from wood
threshold, 5 ft. 6 ins.

Fig. 211.

THE LEFT-HAND CARYATID

OR BRACKET TO THE PORCH

CORNICE.

Fig. 212.
THE RIGHT-HAND BRACKET.

Early si.xteenth century.

Leonard G. Bolmgbrcke, Esq.

Fig. 211.

FI3. 212.

195

Fig. 213.

Fig. 214.

ir^^'^SS^^i^g^:

Fig. 213.
BRENT ELEIGH CHURCH, SUFFOLK.

4 ft. wide by 5 ft. 3^ ins. to springing of arch.

8 ft. 2 ins. to apex.

Flat vertical boarded type, with applied ribs and tracery.

Early fifteenth century.

Fig. 214
CHELSWORTH CHURCH, SUFFOLK, S. DOOR.

9 ft. 2 ins. high by 4 ft. 7 ins. wide.

Framed mullion type with inserted traceried heads.

Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 215.
EARL STONHAM CHURCH, SUFFOLK.

Moulded ribs with inserted tracery.
Mid-fifteenth century.

196

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

trated in Figs. 193 to 196. It will be noticed that the timbering becomes Hghter
in scantling as the century advances.

Mention has already been made, at various stages, of the Great Hall which is such
an integral part of the early English house, but, so far, no example has been illustrated
showing this apartment in a timber structure. Gainsburgh Hall, already referred to in
the chapter on the timber roof, and fully described therein, is here shown in Fig. 197.
Gainsburgh was completed in 1484, and records state that Richard Crookback was
entertained in this Hall. It is a good, if somewhat exceptional, example of the late
fifteenth century, suffering from ignorant restoration, in company with many fine
timber houses of its period. A more typical, if less ornate instance of a Great Hall
in a yeoman's house of the fifteenth century, restored with greater judgment, is given

Fig. 216.
BOXFORD CHURCH, SUFFOLK, S DOOR.

Boarded type, of riven oak, with applied tracery.
Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 217.
THE REVERSE OF THE DOOR, FIG. 216.

197

EAST ANGLIAN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY DOORS.

Fig. 218.
HADLEIGH, S. DOOR

Mid-fifteenth century.

1 ■ '1

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h\ !

Fig. 219.
STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, SUFFOLK, S. DOOR,

Late fifteenth centiir)'.

•|-

.-""^l

Mit^'>ai

/w[

■

;

J.K

■_

Fig. 220.
ST. MICHAEL-AT-PLEA, NORWICH.

Mid-fifteenth century.
4 ft. 3 ins. wide by 6 ft. 6 ins. to springing of head.

■)

ii 1 \

3 »

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ITsR

li ',

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Fig. 221.
DEDHAM, SUFFOLK, Ns DOOR.

Mid-fifteenth century.

Fig. 222.
WALDINGFIELD, SUFFOLK.

Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 223.
BOXFORD, SUFFOLK, N. DOOR.

Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 224.
KERSEY, SUFFOLK, W. DOOR.

Late fifteenth century.

^t*^

Fig. 225.
FRAMLINGHAM CASTLE, SUFFOLK.

Early sixteenth century.

'99

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Fig. 226.
STOWMARKET, SUFFOLK.

6 ft. 4i ins. to ape.x ; 3 ft. wide.
Late fifteenth century.

Tudor House," the stair-
position at this date, and
importance which it after-
lower door, on the right-
case with triangular treads
Timber houses admit,
struction, of the lavish
beams, which forin the
From a house in Water
mission of Mr. Garrard, the
joists and beams, shown in
rare, even in Suffolk , to find
although the ceiling from
Figs. 200 and 201, is even
tion. Fig. 202 shows an~

in Fig. igS. In Fig. 66
this hall was shown in
[process of restoration, as
an example of cambered
tie-beam with king-post
and collar-purlin type of
roof. The gallery and
the door at the end of the
hall are modem insertions,
the former necessitating
the removal of the braces
from the tie-beam to the
main post. As already
pointed out in the chapter
on " The Plan of the Earlj'

Fig. 228.
GREAT HEALINGS, SUFFOLK.

7 ft. 2 ins. to apex ; 4 ft. 3 ins. wide.
Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 227.
THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE
DOOR.

Fig. 226.

case occupied a subsidiary
had not acquired the
wards attained. Here the
hand side opens to a stair-
of solid oak.

from their method of con-
decoration of the ceiling
joists of the floor above.
Street, Lavenham, by per-
beautifully carved series of
Fig. 199, are taken. It is
' an example as rich as'this,
Paycockes, Coggeshal'l,
finer in design and execu-
arrangement of moulded

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Early English Furniture and JV^oodwork

beams and joists from the same house. Fig. 203 is from the Lavenham Guild Hall ofi
Corpus Christi, and Fig. 204 from the Woolhall showing the dragon-beam.

In very rare instances the joists of the floor above were covered on the under face
with close boarding, as in Fig. 205, to form a ceiling. The small ribs have a value beyond:
that of mere decoration, in stiffening the boards and preventing sag. The boarding here
is of finely figured quartered oak, V-jointed, of about three-eighths of an inch in thick-
ness. The ribs are moulded and have car\'ed cusped bosses at their intersections. There
are signs of painting, probably original, in the quirks of the mouldings of this ceiling:
\\'ith the Gothic pre-eminent, until the early years of the sixteenth century, there
is not the difference one would e.xpect to find in decorative treatment between doors

of churches, castles or timber houses. Stone
or brick can be built in sections, in the
form of a lancet arch, whereas with timber
it is necessary to cut the shapes from huge
pieces of oak. The high springing of the
door heads, which is usual in churches and
stone-built castles, is, therefore, usually
absent in timber houses, where the head is-
flattened. We cannot compare early church
doors of the fourteenth century with those
in timber houses of the same date, as the
latter do not exist.

The early and rather crude types of
doors of the fourteenth century were con-
structed externally of vertical boards with
dowelled, rebated or tongued and grooved
joints. They were laminated, internally,,
with horizontal close-boarding, the whole
being fastened together with heavy wrought
nails, generally decorated with elaborate
ironwork, the design and the fixing spikes
of which assisted in the construction, as at
Elmsett Church, Fig. 206.

Another type was constructed with
horizontal spaced battens fixed across the-
202

Fig. 231.

STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, SUFFOLK.

Chancel Door.
Early sixteenth century.

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

I I IIHIII 111! I

Fig. 232.
PAYCOCKES, COGGESHALL, ESSEX.

Carved Oak Doors and Surround.

ID ft. 5i ins. to apex ; 9 ft. 2 J ins. to springing ; 7 ft. 11 ins. wide.

Early sixteenth centurj'.

Noel Bu.xton, Esq.

Early English Furniture and Jf^oodwork

CO
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204

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

inner face of the vertical boards, long nails being driven through from the face and
clinched over the battens. The joints were usually dowelled to pre\-ent the sagging of
the board. A further advance in bracing was the halved-framing of vertical and hori-
zontal, or diagonally arranged, battens, constructed to form a complete frame. Tracery
and half-mullions were applied to enrich the face in many instances.

The later framed doors were constructed of two massive curved styles, chosen from
the naturally bent growth of the timber, mortised together at the apex, and with the
bottom rail tenoned into them at the base. Vertical mullions grooved to receive panels
were framed within, and further strengthened by rails, halved over the inner face of
the mullions, and either tenoned or dovetailed into the styles.

The framed door with transom followed, and was, otherwise, similarly constructed.
The styles were decorated, upon their faces, with carved quatrefoils, vine-trails (in

which were introduced the forms of birds and
grotesque beasts), figures of the Apostles, and
saints in tabernacled niches crowned by the figure
of Christ or the Holy Mother.

Doors can be roughly arranged, chronologically,
in the following order : —

Laminated boarded.

Laminated boarded with applied mullions.

Boarded and ledgad.

Boarded and half-jointed ; framed on the

inside.
Framed with mullions and panels.
Framed mullions and panels with transom.
Completely panelled.

As a general rule, large doors with a wicket are
late in the history of door development.

All these doors copy the traceried windows of
their time, in general effect, very closely, the
tracery patterns of both developing nearly on
parallel lines. Towards the sixteenth century, doors
are constructed in a similar way to panellings,
framed with heavy styles and rails, grooved to

Fig. 235.
OAK DOOR AND FRAMING

Early sixteenth century.
Victoria and Albert Museum

Early English E^urriiture and JVoodwork

receive panels. It is at this date that we get the hite-fifteenth and early-sixtcenth-
eentin\- tN'jies of decoration, the Unenfold and the parchemin panels. At all periods
the donble doors of large size are usually furnished with a smaller door, or wicket, as
at the Strangers' Hall, Fig. 210. Here the later overhanging porch cornice is supported
by grotesque brackets, carved with considerable vigour, shown in Figs. 211 and 212.

Figs. 207 to 209 show the fifteenth-century types of chancel or priests' doors.
Needham Market is the older solid construction with heraldic carvings in low relief,—
now considerably defaced,— Barking vestry door has the moulded mullions with applied
tracery between, and Key Church priest's door has the vertical moulded ribs secured
by heavy iron nails with facetted heads.

The door of Brent Eleigh, Fig. 213, is of the vertical boarded kind, iron nailed to a
strong cross-battened framework behind, and with moulded ribs and tracery applied.
Chelsworth south door, Fig. 214, is of the framed mullion type, with quatref oiled band
round, and headed with tracery in the mullion grooves. Earl Stonham,Fig. 2i5,is traceried
in the solid, with signs of niche-work in the upper panels, no\\- cut flush and defaced.

Boxford south door. Fig. 216, is similar to Chelsworth, with the same quatrefoil
band. The tracery is applied, and the oak appears to be riven instead of sawn. Fig.
217 shows the framing and cross-battening of the back. The lower rail of the door is
a restoration. Hadleigh south door, Fig. 218, has the same traceried band, on its outer
framing, but carried vertically into the moulded transom, with some effect of distortion,
as the border continues, in its full width, above. Fig. 2iq, from Stoke-by-Nayland,
is richly carved with figures of saints and angels. It is framed on the fronts with lorg
vertical muUions into a hea^■y bottom rail, in long straight lines, without transom. St.
Michael-at-Plea, Fig. 220, has a mid-fifteenth-century door in the earlier manner,
where the ribs are lanceolated and intersected, in direct copy of a Gothic window.
Fig. 221 from Dedham is an example of the niched or tabernacle form, where saints
are carved with projecting canopies over, here almost obliterated. Below and above
is the long crocketted stem of 1450. These doors are completely traceried, with a fixed
lunette above the transom, below which the two doors open.

Waldingfield, Fig. 222, has the narrow vertical panels moulded to a central ridge,
the embryonic Unenfold which marks the latter half of the fifteenth century. The
same detail may be noticed in the north door of Boxford, Fig. 223. Kersey west door,
Fig. 224, is of simple framed muUioned type with tracery car\'ed from the solid. The
large doors, with wicket, from the ruined castle of Framlingham, Fig. 225, have the
panels completely moulded, with applied ribs, fixed with large square-headed nails. It

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

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207

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

will be remarked, at this period, that there is no distinct line of demarcation between
church and castle doors, excepting lor the flattening, or four centring of the arched
head.

Stowmarket Church, Fig. 226, has the early linenfold type of door, framed with
mullions and with sharply ridged panels between. The ribboned and niched border is
imusual. The back view, Fig. 227, shows the half-lapped battening tenoned into the
outer framing, together with the dovetail-jointing of the uprights on the arch-springirg.
Great Bealings, Fig. 228, is framed with broad transom below the lancet-head, with
solid-carved tracery and ridged panels.

Two rich doors from the first years of the sixteenth century are illustrated in Figs.
229 and 230. Both are framed with slender mullions and broad transoms. In the
Stoke-by-Nayland doors the di^-iding bead is in buttress-form, whereas at East Bergholt,
it is turned and richly car^'ed in patterns which suggest the dawn of the Renaissance
in England. This is the later type of the two, broader and flatter in the arch, and with
the moulded panels finished in the true linenfold manner, whereas at Stoke-by-Nayland,
this detail is merely suggested. Stoke-by-Nayland chancel door. Fig. 231, is con-
structed of planks or boards, carved with the linenfold, and with moulded framing
applied, — early construction in a late door.

x\ fine pair of linenfold doors from Paycockes, Coggeshall, of the framed early-
sixteenth-century type, is shown in Fig. 232. At the back is a framing of four cross-
rails and four upright styles, tenoned and mortised, the three panels to each door being
diagonally cross-braced, the bracings half-lapped to the inside upright styles. On the
front, the linenfold is carved in bold relief, and the side posts are surmounted by two
figures, of a Crusader and a monk, which support carved and moulded capitals under
the elaborate wall-plate.

The beautiful door-posts and brackets. Fig. 233, are taken from a house in Water
Street, Lavenham, and show the decorative use of figure sculpture, in the enrichment
of the timber houses of the last years of the fifteenth century. The doors are of consider-
ably^ later date.

Another fine door from Paycockes is given in Fig. 234. It has the appearance of
an interior door put to an exterior use. The mason's-mitrirg of the moulded styles on
the outside framing, and the scribing of the central muntins, can be seen in the illustra-
tion. It should be unnecessary to point out that the modern method of mitring mould-
ings by cutting at their ends to an angle of 45 degrees was \-ery rarely practised at this
period. Cutting one moulding, in reversed profile over another, — or scribirg as it is

208

Timber Houses^ Porches and Doors

termed — or butting with square edge and then working the return of the moulding in
the solid, — the mason's-mitre, — were practically the only methods which were used in
woodwork of this period. The modern mitre appears, and then only in exceptional
instances, towards the middle of the sixteenth century.

To this early sixteenth century belongs the oak door with its surround, from
Church Farm, Clare, Suffolk, Fig. 235, which may be taken as a representative specimen
of a timber house door of the unostenta-

tious kind. The construction of this
door is exceptional. On a framed back
the front boards are nailed, each with a
slight overlap over the next, or clinker-
boarded, to use the technical term, the
left-hand edge of each (that is, the one
which is not hidden by the overlapping
of the next) being moulded with a
scratch-bead. The original iron strap
hinges, which are missing, were cut in
across the width of the boards, at
varying depths according to the forward
projection, as the boards, in cross-section,
are arranged thus : —

Each board is nailed to the framing
behind, with four courses of clout-headed
iron nails. Tliere are, of course, no
vertical ribs, as the construction forbids.
This series of oak doors may be
closed with the parchemin panel, which
is contemporary with the linenfold. At
Southwold, Figs. 236 and 237, the
parchemin pattern is shown on the front
and the linenfold on the back, an
unusual degree of enrichment in an early-
sixteenth-century door. On the front
are several pureh* Renaissance motives

Fig. 238.
OAK DOOR.

From Norwich Castle Museum

By permission of Frank Leney, Esq

Early sixteenth century.

309

Karly English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

introduced into tlic upjier panels, and on the back the same influence is noticeable in the
two upper cross-rails. Fig. 238 is an interesting door from Norwich Castle Museum,
square framed with \-ertical moulded mullions, and with an inscription carved on the
two cross-rails as follows : — Maria ; Plena ; Gracie ; Plater : Mis(ericordie) Remembyr :
\VilHa(m) Lowth : Prior XV'III — The William Louth, or Lowth, referred to was the
eighteenth Prior of Walsirgham.

We have progressed, thus far, from the timber house with its porch and its door^
to the (ireat Hall with open timber roof and the smaller chamber with carved beamed
ceiling, and haA-e, thereby, prepared the way for the next two chapters — the most
important in the history of English domestic woodwork — where it is proposed to deal
with the subject of wall-panellings at some length, and, in a more restricted fashion,
with the growth in importance of the staircase, the development of which had the effect
of radically altering the plan of the Tudor house, and, in a lesser degree, its elevation
also. There are definite types of panelling, both in point of date and locality, which
permit of illustration and explanation, whereas this is only approximately true of stair-
cases. It is not that the latter do not vary ; they differ with every example. Added to
this, staircases are not as plentiful as panellings, for obvious reasons. In the usual
house, one, or at the most, two stairways were sufficient for access to the upper floors,
whereas nearly every room was panelled as a rule. It is possible, nevertheless, to class
them roughly into the early and unimportant — one might almost say, the concealed —
the heavy and ornate, and the latest development where the staircase becomes very
refined and delicate in its proportions. The last phase carries us past the seventeenth
and into the eighteenth century, a period which is beyond the scope of the present
book.

Chapter VIII.

The English Staircase.

T cannot be insisted upon too frequently, tliat only a fashion
is responsible for a development of type, and production in
quantity is necessary for the inauguration of a fashion. Furniture
becomes stereotyped, in what we know as styles, in direct ratio to
its quantitative production. Houses are single units, as a rule, and
vary accordingly. It is only when they are built in the mass, as in rows or terraces,
that the one is a direct copy of others. We have similarity, therefore, in many of the
large houses of a certain period, especially in details, but rarely identity. Panellings of
rooms multiply in the proportion of the number of principal rooms to the house itself,
and when we come to furniture for these rooms, we get ever-recurring types of tables,
chairs and the like, and, with production in quantity, we reach a fashion, and with
it what is known as a defined style.

Development in woodwork and furniture proceeds along two main lines ; of
utility and of decorative value. Thus a writing-table fulfils one function, whereas an
■occasional table, as its name implies, has many uses. In tracing the evolution of the
English staircase, which, apart from its decorative qualities, has one function only,
space considerations forbid more than an illustrated description of its rise, in size and
importance. Staircases are, from their special character, few in number, compared
with other woodwork of the house, and, therefore, do not attain to a distinct type in the
really important examples. No two being identical, as a general rule, it would be neces-
sary, in order to show a progression of design, — if such really existed, which is doubtful,
— to illustrate ever\' staircase in the important houses of Great Britain.

It is possible, however, e\'en in the limited space available here, to give a general
idea of the rise in importance of the English staircase, and to describe, briefly, the
factors which dictated its development in this direction.

The early domestic staircase is purely utilitarian, a method of access to a floor above
from the one below. In many of the Norman dwellings, as in Boothby Pagnell and
Little Wenham Hall, the stair is outside the house, totally unprotected from the weather
other than by a crude pent-roof. In houses and castles built for defence, the stairway,
■;of stone, is never conspicuous, being generally concealed in a separate turret, in the

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

same way as the tower stairs are in many parish churches, which lead to the belfry, and
above, to the roof of the tower.

Stairs of this kind art- nearly always of the central newel or vise description, and
before the method of supporting the staircase by means of risers, cantilevered from,
and wedged into a wall-plate with carriages and outside strings, was devised, the spiral
or central-newel stair was usual in dwelling-houses, even of the superior kind. A very
characteristic example exists at Hales Place, Tenterden, Kent, where the treads and
risers are fixed into a central newel, which is, actually, the trunk of a tree, fixed into
the ground, and reaching from floor to roof. In Wales, even at the present day, houses
exist which have been built round a growing tree, into which the stairs have been housed.
These staircases have, from their central position, a prominence which was not inten-
tional, but merely accidental.

The early Tudor house, with its Great Hall, of roof height, was effectually divided
into two parts, and two, if not more staircases were required for access to the upper
floors. At Pariiham Park there are two, ver^- inconspicuous in character, one of which
rises to a mezzanine floor, which does not exist at the other end of the Hall. It is only
when the Great Hall dwindles in size, and especially in height, that the one principal
stair serves for the house, and begins to assume an importance which it had, hitherto,
not possessed.

The entrance door at Little Wolford, Fig. 239, opens to the passage dividing the
Great Hall from the buttery and servants' regions, the " skreens " as it is termed. The
stone newel stair is shown in Fig. 240. At Breccles, Fig. 241, the staircase illustrated
here (one of several in the house) is of oak, the risers being fixed into the wall at one
end, and into the oak newel-post at the other.

The stability of staircases appears to have troubled the mediaeval builder for many
years. The main stairs at Breccles, as at Great Chalfield, have treads and risers supported
on walls or framings at either end. Chequers Court has also a staircase of this kind.
At Durham Castle the newels are very high, reaching from floor to floor, acting as
direct supports to the stair. In the early independent staircases, the outside strings are
always needlessly massive, as at the Charterhouse, Chilham and Tissington. The
problem was sometimes- solved by a supporting spandrel, with posts, on the outside of
the stair, as at Chequers. It is only towards the end of the seventeenth century that
staircases begin to be constructed with open soffits underneath and with light
strings. That the necessary strength in riser, string and carriage was provided,
is shown by the fact that they have persisted with httle or no sag away from the

The English Staircase

Fig. 239.
LITTLE WOLFORD MANOR, WARWICKSHIRE.

The Screen from the Main Entrance Door.
Mid-sixteenth century.

Early English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

Fig. 240v
LITTLE WOLFORD MANOR, WARWICKSHIRE.

The Stone Central-Newel Stairway.

214

The En(ilish Staircase

side walls, even although, at
this date, the newel-post
had become almost purely
ornamental.

Beachampton Farm, Fig.
242, has a typical, if some-
what ornate, example of an
oak staircase of the first years
of the seventeenth century.
The newels are massive, with
large handrail and string, all
supported by heavy posts
and beams, with the strings
of the long flights resting on
retaining walls. One of the
heraldic newel finials is given
in Fig. 243. That this stair-
case is original to the small
and decayed manor house in
which it is in at present, is
very doubtful. The shield,
which the lion holds, has the
royal device of a crowned
Tudor rose. The staircase is
also not complete ; it is patch-
worked into another of
simpler and shghter character.
There are numerous instances
of this transplanting of stair-
cases from larger houses to
dwellings of lesser importance.
One exists, at Little Hawken-
bury Farm, near Pembury,
in Kent, which is, obviously,
disproportionate to the house

Fig 241.
BRECCLES HALL, NORFOLK.

Oak Kewel Staircase.
Mid-sixteer.th century.

215

Early English Eiirniture and JJ^oodwork

it is in. \Mth the demolition of large houses, where stones, bricks, lead and
the like would be treated merelj- as materials, elaborate staircases of this kind
were preserwxl, as a rule, in their integrity, removed and refixed in as nearly
a complete and original state as possible. Lewes Town Hall has a fine stair-
case which was remox'ed from a house in tlie town. It has been adapted to its new
habitat somewhat clumsily, with man>- additions and reconstructions, but sufftcient
remains of the original to show that it must ha\-e been a fine example of woodwork
when in the house for which it was made.

Tall newel finials were the usual finish to these early-seventeenth-century staircases.
At Charlton, Fig. 244, they have been replaced, with a considerable loss of dignity, by
small carved pinnacles. The newels are nearly always square, with fiat ornament of
strapwork, sometimes interlaced and cut by the carver, and decorated with applied
bosses or split balusters, as at Aston, or left in imitation of applied fretwork, as at
Charlton, h. feature of these early-seventeenth-century staircases is that they are
nearly always contrived in a series of short flights, which impUes a small staircase hall,
as the flights reach from landing to wall. Even at Wolseley Hall, Fig. 253, the post-
Restoration staircase has this feature of not more than about tweh'e treads divided by
square landings. The long flight does not appear, in authentic work, until the eighteenth
century. At Hemsted, Fig. 245, where the staircase dates from about 1850, and the
balustrades onlj- from the last few years, the long flights look wrong, compared with
the detail of the newel, handrail and pierced panel. In a staircase hall of this size, no other
arrangement is possible, but in a house of the seventeenth century, this hall would ha\'e
been smaller and the long flights avoided. The stair at Hemsted from first to second
floors, Fig. 246, illustrates this method of breaking up by frequent landirgs much better
than the great staircase. With the seventeenth-century stairs, landings do not always
imply turnings ; it is not unusual to find a long flight broken up by landings and newels
in the one line, but, as a rule, the newel-posts are continued to the floor, and the spaces
between, below the string, filled with a panelled spandrel.

Were it possible to illustrate staircases in great numbers, it might be discovered
that particular localities possessed their peculiar types. Unfortunately, although we
can sa3^ that in nearly every house of importance, the staircase is contemporary with
and original to the structure, or if the contrary be the case, such fact is known, we are
not always certain that these staircases are local, either in design or make. It was
customary, in the erection of many of the important houses during the seventeenth
century, for wealthy owners to instruct London architects, who employed labour from

216

The English Staircase

Fig. 242.
BEACHAMPTON FARM.

The Staircase. Date about 1603.
217

Early English Furniture and J f Woodwork

Fig. 243.
BEACHAMPTON FARM.

Enlarged View of the Staircase Newel

parts of England often far removed from the
house itself. We know this to be the fact
equally with Inigo Jones in the first half, and
with Thorpe, Kent, Ware, Gibbs, Wren and
others, at the other end of the seventeenth,
and the early years of the eighteenth centuries.
Panelling was much more frequently of local
make than was the case with staircases and
interior woodwork of similar character.

It is unsafe, therefore, to state, positively,
that a staircase in a Lancashire house, for
example, is either of the design or workman-
ship of the neighbourhood. Styles, in this
instance, vary far more at different periods
than in distinct localities, although there are,
in a general way, great differences between
Midland and East Anglian staircases, and
many of the later styles, when stairs become
lighter in construction and more delicate in
proportion, originate in the Home Counties
at a date much earlier than the influence of
this new manner is manifested in other
districts of England.

The following examples may be taken
as representative of the great house manner
of their period, but, as before pointed out, it
is unwise to postulate a locality of origin.

Fig. 247 is a fragment of one of the
staircases formerly in the early-seventeenth-
century house of Lyme, before it was rebuilt
by Leoni some hundred years later. It shows
the richly carved and pierced panels of this
date, framed between vertical moulded
mullions. The newels are coarse, but vigorous,

bearing signs, however, of finial replace-

21S

The Er/qiish Staircase

nient. The balustrade is now fitted to a short stair from tlie central hall to the mezzanine
floor above, containing the present drawing-room. Its date is about 1603, and it may
be given as an example of Cheshire woodwork.

At Thorpe Hall, Northamptonshire, the staircase, which dates from the middle of
the seventeenth century, is interesting as showing how soon constructional problems
were solved. From the second to the third floors, Fig. 248, the stairs are massive, with
heavy strings and handrails strongly tenoned into large newels, in short flights to
minimise any tendency to sag away from the side walls. Above, to the top landing,

Fig. 244.
CHARLTON HOUSE, KENT.

Detail of Staircase on First Landing.
Date 1612-15.

219

c
o

•o
a
o

The English Staircase

Fig. 247.
LYME PARK, CHESHIRE.

Portion of Staircase from the Early-Seventeenth-Centurj- House.

Capt. the Hon. Richard Legh.
221

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

"Fig. 249, the construction is much more daring in conception, although based on the old
form of a central newel-post with risers tenoned into it. The outer verge of the stair,
however, is in the air, contri\('(i with shaped strings, in a spiral form, instead of risers
housed, at their other ends, into a wall. This spiral staircase is, of course, thoroughly
constructional and rigid, but such de])artures from established precedent show that
great strides had been made in the science of staircase construction at this date. Such
examples as this are rare, but they show, nevertheless, the degree of skill which had been
acquired at this period.

Forde Abbey, Fig. 250, has the heavy staircase of its period, with broad handrail
intersecting with the cappings of large newels, heavy strings, and massi\'e carved and

Fig. 248.
THORPE HALL, NORTHANTS.

staircase from second to third floors.
Date about 1650.

222

The English Staircase-

pierced balustrade panels. Numbers of these fine staircases can be found in many of
the large houses of England of this period. At Tredegar, Figs. 2-51 and 252, — which is
a few years later in date, but hardly in style, — the piercing of the panels is more open
in character and the flights are unbroken, whereas at Forde they are divided by land-
ings. This may have been due to exigencies of planning, however, where a greater forward
distance had to be traversed to reach the same height, or, in the familiar parlance, where
the stair had to be " less steep in its going." Fig. 252 shows the landing detail
of this fine Tredegar staircase with its vigorous carving of the free scrolling in
the panels.

At Wolseley Hall, in Staffordshire, Fig. 253, these pierced panels are replaced by

Fig. 249.
THORPE HALL, NORTHANTS.

CentraUXewel Staircase at Top Landing.
Date about 1650.

223

Fig. 250.
FORDE ABBEY, DORSETSHIRE.

The Great Staircase.
Date 1658.

224

2 G

Fig. 251

TREDEGAR PARK, MONMOUTH.

The Staircase.
Date about 1665.

225

The Viscount Tredegar.

Early English E^urniture and Jl^oodwork

Fig. 252.
THE TREDEGAR PARK STAIRCASE.

Detail of Landing Newels and Panels.

twisted balusters and the ramps of the handrail are steeper in pitch. It may be taken
as a good example of the post-Restoration period.

One detail, that of panelling the walls with a dado capped with a semi-handrail,
following the lines of that of the staircase itself, persists for many years, and will be
found in many of the wooden staircases of the next century. Large allowances must
be made, in all cases, for planning exigencies. Had the staircase hall been designed
first and the house planned round it, some degree of uniformity might have occurred,
but in many of the great houses the chief aim was an agreeable, imposing or symmetrical
elevation ; the interior planning had to take care of itself. It is impossible, otherwise,
to account for many defects, such as at Nostell Prior3\ where the distance from the
kitchens to the State dining-room is so great as to render a hot dish on the table an
impossibility without an interim warming up in transit. It is small wonder, therefore,
that many of these great staircases have had to be awkwardly or ingeniously contrived,

226

The Eriqlish Staircase

Fig. 253
WOLSELEY HALL, STAFFS.

The Staircase. Date about 1670.
227

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Date about 1680.

Fig. 254.
CASTLENAU HOUSE, MORTLAKE (NOW DESTROYED).

A Portion of the Staircase.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

The English Staircase

with the result that it
is surprising they do
not vary to an even
greater degree than is,
actually, the case.

There is little pur-
pose to be served by
illustrating a number
of examples, which
would only prove this
point, and no other.
Fig. 254 shows the
graceful staircase which
became fashionable,
especially in London
houses, towards the
end of the seventeenth
century. The handrail
is delicate, and the
newel slight and grace-
ful. The moulding of
the former is mitred to
form a capping, but
this is no longer a part
of the newel itself.
Both treads and risers
are taken through
above the string, in
moulded returns, each
with a carved spandrel
underneath. The string
also is slight, with a
classical frieze-mould-
ing section worked on
it. The balusters are

Fig. 255.
31 OLD BURLINGTON STREET, LONDON, W.

The Staircase.

Date about 1730.

Messrs. Lenygon and Morant.

229

Early English Fia-niturc and JVoodwork

slender, turned with fine reeded twists, in this example fixed three to a stair,
but all of the same pattern. Fig. 255, which closes this series, is the staircase
from 31, Old Burlington Street, which dates from the early eighteenth century-.
There is scarcely any variation in type observable during a space of upwards of
half a century. The handrail no longer finishes as a capping to a newel, but
sweeps round in a bold volute, and is supported on a cluster of balusters. In the
latter a great \-ariety is obtained by placing three to a stair-tread, as before, but here
each of a different pattern. The last two stairs have the buU-nosed finish of the time, more
usually found on the last stair only instead of the two, as in this example. Staircases of
very similar pattern to this, perhaps not so rich or important, can be found in manv of
the houses in this locality and in many of the older streets radiating from Holborn and
Oxford Street. It is possible that the making of staircases of this type may have become
a specialised industry in the first years of the eighteenth century. This is suggested by
the use of the same patterns in the turning, fluting or twisting of balusters, the mouldings
of handrails and strings, and in the carving of the foliated spandrels fixed under the
exposed return of the stair-treads immediately above the outside string.

To illustrate examples of staircases, beyond this point, would be useless, especially
as for the balustrades, wood was frequently replaced by wrought iron and for the
stairs, by stone, especially in houses of importance. To show these would carry us
beyond the scope of our material as well as of the period to which this book is
confined.

Chapter IX.

Wood Panellings and Mantels.

HE wainscotting of the walls of rooms, in secular houses, with wood,
appears to be an innovation of the later years of the fifteenth century.
It is difficult to date any woodwork other than by its decorative
features, and it is, therefore, only possible to say that the earliest
types of wainscotting consist of narrow vertical boards, overlapping
on their edges, or " clinker-built," — to use the shipwright's term, — fastened to the
walls with large clout-headed nails. This clinker-boarding is seldom of more than dado-
height and usually has a half-round or simple moulded capping (see Figs. 266 and 267).

The next stage in the evolution is a framing of styles and rails, tenoned, mortised
and pinned at the joints, with panels fixed in grooves. In the first examples of this
kind there are top and bottom, but no intermediate rails, and the panels are moulded
on their face, with either an embryonic or an actual linen-folding (see Fig. 260). From
this to the small panel, with intermediate rails, is a rapid step, and the pattern of the
linenfold develops at the same time.

It may be worth while to speculate as to the reasons why oak panellings make
their appearance at such a late stage in the history of English woodwork as almost
the end of the fifteenth century, and why they begin with crude clinker-boardings,
evolving, only at a later stage, into properly framed panellings. It is impossible to imagine
that they introduce the tenoned-and-mortised framing into English carpentry ; we
know, especially in the case of Church woodwork, that framing was known and practised
centuries before. Thus, in the door. Fig. 256, which is not later than about 1320, the
outer framing is constructed with tenons and mortises, secured to the vertical back-
boarding with large iron nails. This example has more the appeara:nce of a section of
panelling than of a door ; with the necessary duplication, a room could easily have
been wainscotted with the repetition of this pattern. Framed panellings, therefore,
were potential possibilities as early as the first years of the fourteenth century, j^et
none appear to have been made for at least a century and a half afterwards. There
must be a reason for this, and, in all probability, there are several.

In the first place, the ecclesiastical establishments led the way in luxury and
refinement, until the first quarter of the sixteenth century, and it is in clerical houses

231

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

that one would look for early examples of panellings. But here, as a rule, there was
nothing between the \ast refectory, or na\-e, and the small room or closet. In the

former, Mith walls of stone,
often enriched with columns or
arcadings, panellings would be
impossible, and in the latter,
a much more decorative and
efficient wall-covering was at
hand, in tapestries or Arras
hangings. Had the art of the
tapestry-weaA'er not been so
appreciated, and fostered, in
the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, there is little doubt
that panellings would have
made a much earlier appear-
ance than the}' actually did.

From the will of William
of W3'keham we get an idea
of the furnishings of an opulent
and luxury-lo^•ing prelate at
the close of the fourteenth
century. To the Bishop of
London, Robert Bra^^brooke,
he lea\-es the whole suite of
the tapestry hangings from
his palace at Winchester, and
there is no doubt that the
walls of all the principal rooms,
including the bedchamber , were
hung in this manner. So much
for the high clergy of this date.

Fig. 256. G oj

OAK DOOR. Royal palaces were simi-

7 ft. 6 ins. high by 4 ft. I J ins. wide. larly fumished, and there

Late thirteenth or fourteenth centurj-.

Victoria an 1 Albert Museum, is a great probability that

232

JVood Panellings and Mantels

tapestries, chiefly from France and the Low Countries, were the usual wall-coverings,
in rich houses, at the commencement of the fifteenth century.

With the Great Hall, of vast size, and often stone-built, the bareness of walls
would not be keenly felt, and the smaller rooms were nearly always Arras-hung, as we
know from contemporary records. With timber buildings, however, where spaces
between the oak studs were
filled with clay and chopped
straw on a rough willow
lathing, finished off with
a skin of plaster, wooden
panellings became almost
a logical necessity, in the
absence of tapestries. That
many decorations in imi-
tation of tapestries, such as
painted hangings of linen or
canvas were used, we know
from numerous records
and inventories, where re-
ferences to " painted " or
" steynid cloths" are fre-
quent. Thus, in the second
part of King Henry IV,
Mistress Quickly says: "By
this heavenly ground I tread
on, I must be fain to pawn
both my plate and the
tapestry of my dining cham-
bers " ; to which Falstaff
replies, " Glasses, glasses,
is the only drinking ; and
for thy walls, a pretty slight
drollery, the story of the
Prodigal, or the German
hunting in water- work, is

2 H 233

Fig. 257.

PORTION OF PAINTED DECORATION ON PLASTER

BETWEEN STUDDINGS.

Late sixteenth centun'.

Colchester Jluseum.

Ea?'/y English Furniture and J Woodwork

Pate about 1640.

Fig. 258.
PAINTED FRIEZE ON PLASTER.

I ft. 61 ins. high by 7 ft. 4 ins. long.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Fig. 259.
PAINTED WALL DECORATION ON PLASTER.

6 ft. 3 ins. high by 2 ft. wide.
Late sixteenth century.

Victoria and Albert JIuseum.

worth a thousand of these bed-hangings and these
fly-bitten tapestries." It is doubtful whether Shake-
speare was not taking a Uberty with probabiUties in
this speech of Mistress Quickly, as tapestries would
not have been used as wall-hangings in the dining-
room of an inn, but with these painted cloths, in
" water-work," he would have been well acquainted,
as they must have been in general use, to hide walls
of timber and plaster, in the late sixteenth century.

Crude wall paintings, usually executed in flat
oil colour, must also have been usual, especially in
the eastern counties of England, ^^'ith subsequent
panelling, whitewashing or modern paper-hanging,
it is not remarkable that few have been discovered,
but there is reason to suppose that in Essex and
Suffolk they were general, in the fifteenth-century
timber house of the lesser class.

An example, from Colchester Museum, is shown
here in Fig. 257, by the courtesy of Mr. Guy
Maynard. This was discovered behind wall-paper
and deal panelling at Hill House on North Hill,
Colchester, in 1910, by Mr. Thomas Parkington of
Ipswich, who presented it to the Museum. Every
wall of the room was decorated in this way, on a
thin coating of plaster spread over the rough
" wattle-and-daub " between the oak studs. Mural
decorations of this kind were, possibly, used to
234

Wood Panellings and Mantels

cover the plaster, in the interior of timber houses, at a very early date. \Mien a timber
house is demolished, no care is taken, for ob\'ious reasons, to strip the whitewash or
paper to the bare plaster, and numbers of these painted walls must have been hacked
down. The Colchester Museum example is very late in the sixteenth century, and is
painted in nine colours, black, yellow, orange, red, brown, \-iolet, pale blue, pale green
and dark green. ^ The cruder, and possibly, earlier examples are usually in black and
white, having the appearance of stencils, but drawn with the free hand. At Saffron
Walden Museum is a portion of a wall of studding and plaster where the monotone
design has considerable decorative merit.

Figs. 258 and 259 are from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The first is a frieze
or band, in the pure Italian manner of the later sixteenth century, probably imitating
the fresco paintings of that time, or the embossed and painted leathers which were only
used in important houses. It would hardly be expected that these mural decorations

' " On some early domestic decorative wall-paintings recently found in Essex." Miller Christy and Guv
Maynard. Essex Archaeological Society, Trans., Vol. XII.

See Fig. 261.

Fig. 260.
PORTION OF OAK GREAT HALL SCREEN.

Late'fifteenth century.

235

Mrs. D'Ovlev.

Ec7?'/y English Ftdrniturc and JVoodwork

would be as early as their models, or, in many cases, that they would be as old as the
houses in which they are found. This frieze is of about the middle of the seventeenth
century. It is executed with considerable artistic skill.

Fig. 259 is earlier, — from the late sixteenth century, and cruder in every way. Here
the model is the tapestry cartoon, and the inspiration still Italian, but strongly per-
meated by Flemish influence, as one would expect at this period.

That painted cloths, — in imitation of the lordly tapestry, — or mural paintings, were
the usual attempts, in timber houses of the poorer class, to relieve the bareness of wood
and plaster, there is little doubt, and that these substitutes were employed long after
panellings came into general use in the more opulent secular houses, is equally certain.
Wainscotting of oak must have been an expensive luxury at all times, although, in some
of the older farmhouses in Kent, it is not exceptional to find the principal living-room
chnker-boarded, in the primitive manner of the late fifteenth century. Whether these
boardings have a claim to such antiquity is doubtful.

There is another point in connection with panellings which must not be forgotten.

Elevation c>F(2ase halp c?Fv/&r.een-

— c/E6Tl<aM TMl^UCH THE<^KI?-EEN5-

Htrbcrt Coaci nAky M- 10 2 1

Fig. 261.
SUGGESTED RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT HALL SCREEN, FIG. 260.

236

JJ^ood Panellings and Mantels

as it had, no doubt, a great effect in retarding their evolution. The oak timber of the
fifteenth century was rarely seasoned, as we understand the term at the present day.
Oak was often used, as in roof timbers, in such large scantling, that to dry each baulk
thoroughly would have taken many years, even if it had been possible at all. We can
see, from an examination of the sag and warp in many of these large timbers, that the
wood was by no means dry when it was used. It was often quartered, and carefully
selected, but it was left to season in situ. Thin panels must have presented some diffi-
culties in this respect ; it was impossible to have used " green " panel-stuff, as it would
have warped and split after
a few months. It is also
probable that the makers of
panellings were not on the
same plane as the carpenters
who were responsible for
Church woodwork, and
seasoned oak, in thin boards,
may not have been at their
service until late in the
fifteenth century, especially
if intended for secular use.
Thin panels of oak are to be
found in the bases of chancel
screens, and these must have
been carefully seasoned, or
the figures of Saints, which
were frequently painted on
them, would have perished
long since. In fact, for
nearly a century before wall-
panellings appear, they exist,
potentially, in dry oak of
panel-thickness and in a know-
ledge of framing with tenoned ^'S- 262.

. , . . OAK LINENFOLD PANELLING FROM COGWORTHY FARM,

and mortised jomts, coupled yarnscombe, near barnstaple.

with a real purpose to be Early sixteenth century.

237

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

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LAVENHAM GUILD HALL, THE PORCH.

Oak moulded wainscotting.
Late fifteenth century.

Fig. 267.

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Fig. 268.
SECTIONAL DETAIL OF THE OAK WAINSCOTTING ABOVE.

I. ..'...I Inched

239

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

served in relieving the bareness of walls of stone or timber and plaster. As will be
remarked later on, in the instance of the development of the chest or coffer, there is'
every reason to belie\"e that a new and lesser class of woodworkers, — the huchers, or
box-makers, — arose at the close of the fifteenth century, and they were, probably,
the makers of the first wainscotting in secular houses. The carpenter was still
responsible for the structural timber work, and was employed for the high-class interior
joinery in wealthy houses.

The late fifteenth-century Great Hall screen, a fragment of which is shown in

Fig. 269.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM PAYCOCKES, COGGESHALL, ESSEX.

Late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

240

Noel Buxton. Esq.

Wood Panel! ifws and Mantels

Fig. 260, is a typical example of high-grade carpentry of its period. This photograph was
taken before it was restored, be^'ond recognition as a Great Hall screen, by a former
West-comitry joiner of greater vigour than knowledge. As it is illustrated here, it is
not difficult to reconstruct it, in imagination, and in Fig. 261 it is shown in its hypo-
thetically original state.

The design is typical of its period, and the work is of high quality. Originally
from the Old Manor House of Brightleigh, N. Devon, the shields in the central portion
are painted with the arms of Gifford. The three stages of the linenfold pattern, from
the simple to the elaborate, are shown in each panel. Even in the state as illustrated
here, the screen shows evidences of restoration. Thus the left-hand panel of the right-
hand section is reversed, with the simple form at the top, instead of the bottom, as in
every other instance. That the central fragment is only one-half of the original (as
suggested in the drawing) is shown by the fact that the right-hand muntin is, really,
a complete central mullion, in which case three panels are missing. The left-hand
portion shows the commencement of the springing of the door-arch. The reverse side
of the screen is nearly as elaborate as the one shown here, and this, in conjunction with
the small spy-holes in the upper portion of the last two panels, show, conclusively, that
it was a Great Hall screen in its original state. The panels and mullions have rotted
at their bases, and the threshold has perished.

Many theories have been advanced as to the origin of the linenfold in the decoration
of panels. It has been suggested, with some plausibility, that the device may have been

tv,^

Fig. 270.
OAK MOULDED PANELLING.

Late fifteenth century.
241

Early English Furniture and Jf^oodwork

copied from the curling of the parchment, which was frequently glued to the backs of
painted panels to stiffen them, and as some security against cracking. Parchment,
being somewhat of a greasy nature, would not adhere readily to an oak panel, and would
have a tendency to curl up from its outside edges, and thus present the form of a simple
linenfold. Decorative devices of this kind, however, have nearly always a useful basis,
and it is more reasonable to suppose that the first panels were made with a central
stiffening ridge (as in Fig. 223) which developed, gradually, into the vertical moulded
panel, and from thence, by carving at each end, the folding and curling of linen was
imitated as a form of ornament. There is no doubt that, by its use, especially as the
sawing of panel stuff was not performed with any great degree of accuracy at this period,
a thin panel acquired a stability which it would not, otherwise, have possessed. The

Fig. 271.

OAK PANELLING FROM A FARMHOUSE AT KINGSTONE, NEAR TAUNTON (NOW DESTROYED).

3 ft. 2f ins. high by 4 ft. 7J ins. wide.
Late fifteenth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

242

IVood Pancllino^s and Mantels

sawing of thin wood must have been a task of some difficulty, even in tlie early seven-
teentli century. It is by no means unusual to find panels, as late as 1640, riven instead
of sawn, and rubbed smooth on tlieir external faces only.

The term " lin enfold " should not be used to describe these early vertically-moulded
panels, even when the ends of the alternate rib-and-hollow are cut into decorative shapes.
Thus Figs. 262 and 263 are typical linenfold patterns, whereas Figs. 264 and 265 are
not. Actually, in the progression of types, the true linenfold is the later, but this does
not necessarily imply that vertically-moulded panels are, in reality, earlier in date than
those carved in the representation of folds of linen, but merely that the original type
persists, and overlaps with
the later one. There are two
kinds of moulded wains-
cotting which are nearly
always of the fifteenth,
rarely of the sixteenth cen-
tury ; both of a primiti\'e
type which does not continue
for many years. The first
and the earliest, is a form of
wainscotting, without fram-
ing, where the \-ertical boards
are moulded, usually with
ridge, hollow and quirk-bead
in succession, half -lapped,
with rebates at the joins, and
fixed to the walls, generally
with nails, giving the appear-
ance of one large moulded
panel to each side of the
room, the quirk-beads render-
ing the lap-joints, more or
less, invisible. An example
of this kind can be seen in
Lavenham Guild Hall, Figs.

266, 267 and 268. The Albert Cubltt, Esq.

Fig. 272.
OAK DOORS.

Early sixteenth century.

24]

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Fig. 273.

OAK PANELLING.

The type which was used concurrently with the
liuenfold patterns.

Early sixteenth century.

W. Smedley Aston, Esq.

boarding is stiffened by a capping rail and
a small skirting, neither of which is original,
here. When the term " wainscotting " is used, in
documents of the fifteenth century, it is usually
this method of boarding which is implied.

The other early type is shown in the room
from Paycockes, Fig. 269. Here the panels
are high, divided only by one central rail, the
mouldings a succession of hollows and sharp
ribs, spear-pointed at top and bottom. This
kind of decorative panelling gives a greater
appearance of height to a low room than it
actually possesses. The small scratch-mouldings,
on the styles and rails, in this panelling, are
generally mason's-mitred, that is, the rails are
butted square into the styles and the mouldings
turned and mitred with the carver's gouge, to
meet those on the vertical muntins, in the stone-
mason's fashion. Occasionally, but rarely, these
high moulded panels are merely cut off square,
to allow of them being grooved into the framing,
with the projecting ribs merely chamfered off
so as not to project, unduly, over the framing-
mouldings.

Fig. 270 is an interesting fragment, as the
breakage shows the construction quite clearly.
Only the vertical styles are scratch-moulded ;
the rails are square on the lower and bevelled
on their upper edges, with the muntins scribed
over them. It will be seen, that with the
rebating of the \'ertical mouldings at the top
and bottom, to allow of the insertion of the
panel in its grooves, the fiat fillet which flanks
each panel necessitates square-sectioned rails,
so as not to overhang in sharp butt-edges.
244

IVood Pancllirws and Mantels

Fig. 271 has many characteristics which indicate the late fifteenth century, apart
from the geometrical ornament of the capping rail. The panels are moulded, in the
form of creased parchment tubes, cut at the top end only in a sharp chamfer to heighten
the illusion. The panel projects at the bottom over the base-moulding.

It is possible that this system of stiffening panels with vertical ribs may have
originated in quite a simple way. Early panels are generally stout and of uneven
thickness, especially when the wood is rixen instead of sawn. To reduce to an equal
gauge at the outer edges, to allow of their insertion in framing-grooves, these panels were
chamfered, at the back, this being easier than attempting to reduce the entire panel to
an even thickness. The same method is followed at the present day, but in the early
panels, these chamfers are, frequently, so flat, that those worked vertically, or with the
grain, meet in the panel centre at the back, in a rib. It would be noticed that this
method resulted in a marked stiffening of the panel, as compared with one of even

1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 ri rr 11 V 1 j-fij. rjjjj-Tn \ rf'i 1 i;i 1 1 11 ui'i 1 1 1 1'l 1 ! 1 1 1 \~\-\ I I T

O-TV

03 Cm- ^

Fig. 274.
PANELLING IN THE AISLE OF THE CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT, ROUEN.

Showing the influence which affected the panelling in England of the period of Henry VIII.

Early sixteenth century.

From a drawing by Herbert Cescinsky.

245

Early English F^urniture and JJ^oodwork

Fig. 275.
OAK PANELLING.

Date about 1520-40.

246

Great Fulford, Devon.

JVood Panclling^s and Mantels

thickness throughout
and the idea would prob-
ably occur to put this
ridge on the front of the
panel, and to make it
an ornamental device.
Boxford door, Fig. 223,
shows that some such
evolution must actually
have taken place, as the
rib here is hardly a
decoration at all. This
central ridging also de-
velops in another direc-
tion, in that of the
parchemin panel, Figs.
272 and 273. Here the
ribs, instead of being
taken through and
carved, at their extreme
ends, in such devices as
the curls of folding linen,
are diverted, in ogival
form, to the corners of
the panels. The result
is a broad diaper effect,
the patterns being
broken only by the
styles and the rails. The
space left by the double
ribs, in shape similar to
the vertical section of
an aubergine, Fig. 272,
was decorated in a
variety of ways, by ten-

Fig. 276.
OAK PANELLING.

Early sixteenth century.

247

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

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fSl-">^^

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^Sv5:^^^S#^ '

^gasaps^

CCl

'^''^^■^))<:jj i

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\<y.-'

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oj in

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248

JVood Panellings and Mantels

drils of vine and bunches of grapes, by cusping, as in Fig. 273, or with purely
Renaissance ornament. That the parchemin, and the verticaUy-moulded panel of the
hnenfold description, both have a common origin, in the decorative use of a central
rib, is almost certain.

The moulded and the linenfold panels occur, during the early sixteenth century,
in conjunction with Renaissance motives, sometimes the linenfold being used for the
lower and the cartouche and Itahan ornament for the upper tiers of panels.

The subject of the introduction of the Italian Renaissance into England is a com-
plicated one. That the first notable expression of this manner was the tomb of Henry VII

Fig. 279.
OAK PANELLING FROM A HOUSE AT WALTHAM.

Enlarged detail. Early sixteenth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

2 K

249

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

.lllMMtlTir"*:".'^-

in the Chapel of
which bears his name,
the style was un-
before, is doubtful,
jected before the
in 1509, although not
eight years later,
cenary soldier of
rigiano — or Peter
styled in England,
to the King's own
Pageny, — this tomb
as the first Royal
style. The Renais-
reaches England
manners of other
Devon, parts of
Sussex, and cspeci-
hood of Rye, many
sance ornament can
woodwork of the first
sixteenth century,
of France is unmis-
of commerce or of
France were in close

Fig. 280.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM WALTHAM.

Early sixteenth century. Victoria and Albert JIuseum.

Westminster Abbey,
is probable, but that
known in England
This tomb was pro-
death of Henry VII
finished until some
The work of a mer-
fortune, Pietro Tor-
Torrisany, as he was
who was preferred
craftsman. Master
may be regarded
patronage of the new
sance of Italy, here,
uninfluenced by the
countries, but in
Hampshire and
alh' in the neighbour-
examples of Renais-
be found, in oak
year or two of the
where the influence
takable. In matters
war fare, England and

Fig. 281.

DOOR OF THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM
FROM WALTHAM.

Early sixteenth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

250

relationship during

Wood Panellings and Mantels

nearly the whole of the fifteenth century. It is, therefore, not surprising to find, that,
whereas with Torrigiano the Italian ornament was introduced direct, it also
permeated through France into England at a later, and possibly at a somewhat
earlier date, independently of the work of Italian craftsmen or designers.

There are two other de\'elopments of the Renaissance which are worthy of notice
here. The style also filters through the Low Countries into England, the more refined,
the Burgundian or ^^'alloon expression, into the East Anglian counties, and a typically
Dutch or Flemish interpretation being adopted by the midland counties, Lancashire,
Western Yorkshire, parts of Cheshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Somerset, and
at the close of the sixteenth century, by the Home Counties. This is the strap-and-
jewel work of which Aston Hall and Speke Hall may be cited as prominent examples.
Thus we ha^■e the Renaissance ornament expressed in England, almost at the same
period, in four different manners ; the pure Italian, the Franco-Italian, the Walloon-

Fig. 282.
OAK PANELLING FROM BECKINGHAM HALL, TOLLESHUNT MAJOR, ESSEX.

6 ft. 4 ins. high by 9 ft. 7 ins. wide.
Dated 1546.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Early English Fu7yiiture and Jf^oodwoj-k

Italian ami the Dutch-Italian. So sharply are these divided, that it is reasonably safe
to state, in earh" examples, that the first is found in work of the London craftsmen, the
second in Western Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset and Devon, the third in Southern
Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Eastern Kent, and the fourth in the Midland
and \\'elsh bordering counties. Towards the seventeenth century the se\'eral versions
of the Italian ornament tend to coalesce, until, at the end of the reign of Elizabeth, —
with some marked exceptions, — we get a homogeneous style which may be known as
Tudor- Jacobean, with the Dutch-Italian version of the Renaissance markedly in the
ascendant. In the examples shown in the following pages, however, these French,
Dutch and Walloon, or Burgundian, influences may be traced even in woodwork of the
middle or late seventeenth century.

Fig. 274 is given here as an actual example of the French Renaissance, from Rouen,
a town which is especially rich in Italian ornament, or in the style known as Frangois
Premiere. Here the panelling is in four distinct stages. The base above the skirting

Fig. 283.
OAK LINENFOLD PANELLING.

5 ft. 6i ins. high.
Mid-sixteenth century.

252

J. Dupuis Cobbold, Esq.

IVood Panellings and Mantels

is V-grooved in line with the styles of the first stage of the panelling above. These
lower panels are tall and slender, enriched with the Italian ornament in the upper part
only. The devices adopted are cartouches of various shapes, and moulded tablets
suspended from ribbons. The tier above has every panel entirely covered with ornament,
and half-balusters are fixed to cover each upright muntin. The two stages are divided
by a dentilled capping-rail. Above is a broad frieze, carved with a running pattern of
foliated scrolls and figures, centred at intervals with laurelled cartouches and bosses
carved with initials. No two panels are exactly alike. For excellence of design and
execution this panelling from St. Vincent is unrivalled in Rouen, as an expression of
the pure Renaissance manner, with the single exception of the work of Jean Goujon
in St. Maclou in which another influence, that of Burgundy, is apparent. Although
one of the finest, this St. Vincent panelling is by no means the earliest example of the
Renaissance in France, reckoned within the narrow limits of a decade or tw^o. The
same style is clearly noticeable in the panelling from Great Fulford in Devon, Fig. 275.

Fig. 284.
DETAIL OF THE LINENFOLD PANELLING, FIG. 283.

Frieze sight 25 ins. by 4I ins. Panels 8 ins. wide. Muntins 3 ins.

J. Dupuis Cobbold, Esq.

253

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

Much of tliis lias been added to at quite recent date, but enough of the original work
remains to sliow its typically French character. There is the same kind of frieze as at
Rouen, but here broken up by half-balusters, which are also used to cover the muntins
of the upper tier of panels, in the same way as in the St. Vincent work. The ornament,
of circular cartouches, carved with heads and devices, is quite in the French manner
with two rows of the English verticalh--moulded linenfold panels below. There are

Fig. 285.

THE STUDY PANELLING FROM HOLYWELLS, IPSWICH.

(Ex Tankard Inn).

8 ft. II ins. high, ilid-sixteenth century.

J. Dupuis Col bold, Esq.

254

JVood Pancll triors and Mantels

various dates carved on the original
panels, which suggest that the work
extended over a period of more than
twenty' years. The same system of dating
has been adopted with the modern •
additions. Fig. 276 is of the same general
style and of about the same date. The
variations in the moulding of the three
tiers of panels should be noted as an
interesting detail. We have seen the
same device adopted in the screen, Fig.
260. Above and below, the finish is the
spear-head, but the central panels are
carved in close representation of the
folds of linen. Between the foliated

Fig. 286.
DETAIL OF THE STUDY PANELLING, FIG. 285.

Fig. 287.
DETAIL OF THE PANELLING, FIG. 285.

panels are half-balusters, of semi-octa-
gonal section, scribed at the bottom
over the top chamfer of the cross-rail,
the upper row of muntins being set back
from the rail for that purpose. The
ornament of the upper panels is more
delicate than in the Fulford wains-
cotting, suggestive more of the work
of Eastern Sussex than of Devon-
shire. There is Httle doubt that the
panelling from Great Fulford is in its
original county, if it was not actually
made for the house it is in at present.
So much fine woodwork was looted

255

Early English Furniture and Jf^oodwork

from churches shortlx' after 1650, however, that it is unwise to be positive on such

points.

The panelhng from Waltham, in Essex, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum,

Figs. 277 to 281, may be cited as the pure ItaUan expression of the Renaissance, almost

without influence from either France or the Low Countries. Here the new manner,

introduced directly from Itah^ by Torrigiano in 1509-17, is rendered with great fidelity,

but with sufficient of the former Gothic influence remaining, — as in the four upper

panels in Fig. 277, and in the first, third and fourth of the same tier in Fig. 278 — to

establish the fact that some, if not all, of this woodwork is of English make. Numbering

the panels from left to right, and from top to

bottom, we have from i to 12 in Fig. 277, and
-I

from 13 to 27 in Fig. 278. Nos. 10, 11 and 12

are shown in larger detail in Fig. 279. A close

studj' of the panels in Figs. 275 and 276 will

show the great differences in the inspiration of

these, compared with this \\'altham panelling.

\\'ith work as far removed in origin as Sussex or

Devonshire on the one hand, and a place which

is, at the present day, almost a suburb of London,

we would expect to find such marked variation.

Of the panels, as numbered above for easy

reference, i, 2, 3, 4, 13, 15 and 16 are Italian

Fig. 288.
DETAIL OF THE PANELLING, FIG. 285.

with strong English influence, whereas 8, ii, 14,
18, 21, 25, 26 and 27 are purely Italian without
a trace of French inspiration. That the Italian
workmen, brought to this country either by
Torrigiano directh', or who followed in his
train, may have been responsible for the designing,
if not much of the actual work of these panels,
is probable, but the design of the door, Fig. 281,
is English beyond question.

Of the origin of this elaborate wainscotting,

nothing is known with recorded certainty. That

the panels were, originally, in Waltham Abbey,

is unquestionable. The}- were removed from

256

Fig. 289.
OAK PANELLING AND DOOR IN THE STUDY AT HOLYWELLS.

Door panels iiA ins. by yi ins. sight. Overdoor 3 ft. 4 ins. by i ft. gi ins.

Mid-sixteenth century.

J. Dupuis Cobbold, Esq

2 L

257

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

a house in the town, to the Mctoria and Albert Museum in 1889, but it is known
that they were taken from the. Abbej^ buildings, when they were demolished in
1760. It is noted that they were purchased by the town at this date, and fitted
up in the house from which they were finally taken, when the Museum authorities
acquired them. How they came into Waltham Abbey is not so certain. It has been
suggested that Robert Fuller, the last abbot, had them made for his lodgings. Fuller
was a wealthy prelate, Abbot of Waltham and Prior of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield,
and his apartments would, undoubtedly, have been sumptuously furnished, but there
are evidences, in the panels themselves, which suggest a later date than 1526. In the
large detail. Fig. 279, we have the Beaufort portcullis, the Tudor rose, and the chevron

Fig. 290.
MANTEL IN THE STUDY, HOLYWELLS, IPSWICH.

9 ft. 6 J ins. wide over column bases ; 8 ft. ii ins. wide over pilasters ; 8 ft. i J ins. sight-size of panel ;

2 ft. 6i ins. height of pilasters ; columns 2 ft. lo ins. to mantelshelf.

Mid-sixteenth century.

J. Dupuis Cobbold, Esq.

258

Fig. 291.
OAK PANELLING IN THE STUDY AT HOLYWELLS, IPSWICH.

Lower panels 24J ins. by 8J ins. Upper panels iSJ ins. by gi ins. sight.

J. Dupuis Cobbold, Esq.

259

a
a

U
X

a
J

> 5
X 2

Z o
-' rt
m 1-4
O

in:

260

TVood Panellings and Mantels

CARVED OAK CHIMNEY BEAMS.

Fig. 294.

HOUSE IN MARKET STREET, LAVENHAM, SUFFOLK.

10 It. 3 ins. long by 12 ins. and 15A ins. high.
Late fifteenth century.

Miss Priest Peck.

Fig. 295.
STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, SUFFOLK.

Early sixteenth century.

Initials T.P. carved on shield.

Fig. 296.
PAYCOCKES, COGGESHALL, ESSEX.

Early sixteenth century (about 1500).

Noel Buxton, Esq.

between three mullets (or spur rowels) of Blackett.^ In the panel of the lower tier m
Fig. 278 is the pomegranate of Aragon, repeated twice, and alternating with the Tudor
rose. This heraldry would have been utterlj- false if the panellings had been made for
Robert Fuller. The Abbey fell into the clutches of Henry VIII at the Dissolution,
and its first purchaser (at a bargain price, we may be sure, as the monastic possessions
were disposed of by Henry for any sum they would realise at a forced sale) may have
been the Blackett whose arms appear. The royal cognisances were, possibly, the
expression of the family's gratitude for a good bargain driven with the royal vendor.

' The mullet has five straight points in English heraldry and six in French. It is the filial distinction of a
third son. The estoile has six wavy points.

261

Early English Furniture and Jf^oodwork

We shall see, in the next example, another instance of the same commemoration of an
ad\-antageous purchase.

Henry divorced Catherine in 1533, three years before the dissolution of the great
monasteries began, and her cognisance of the pomegranate would hardly have been
introduced later, but Wolsey had fallen in 1529, and by one of the meanest tricks of
which a king has ever availed himself, the estates of the clergy wei'e held to be forfeited,
by reason of the acknowledgment, by the Church, of Wolsey 's legatine authority,
although this had been used with the express sanction of the King. It may have been
on this pretext, and at this date, that Waltham was seized upon, in lieu of the fines
and subsidies by which the Church extricated itself from the royal clutches. If this
theory be admitted, we have a probable date between 1529 and 1533 for this Waltham
panelling.

Shortly after the dissolution had commenced, in earnest, and monastic property
was being surrendered on a wholesale scale, we find Sir Anthony Denny in possession
of the Abbey, but on the panelling his arms do not figure anywhere, and there is a

Fig. 297.
OAK MANTEL FORMERLY IN THE OAK PARLOUR AT PARNHAM PARK, BEAMINSTER.

(Afterwards removed to the Hall).
Early sixteenth century.

262

Wood Panellings and Mantels

strong probability that it was there when he acquired Waltham, possibly by purchase,
from Blackett. His son , Sir Edward Denny, partially rebuilt the Abbey, which had
fallen into a somewhat ruinous state, in the latter years of the reign of Elizabeth. It
appears to have been again rebuilt in 1725, and pulled down in 1760, when these
panellings were removed to the house in the town, before referred to.

From Beckingham Hall, in Essex, comes the elaborate panelling showii in Fig. 282

laakTAiuif^^, j«u

Fig. 298.
TATTERSHALL CASTLE, LINCOLNSHIRE.

Lord Treasurer Cromwell's chimney-piece on the ground floor.
Date about 1424.

263

Early English Furniture and Jl^oodwork

c-n-r

-^ — ^-

■ ' V-

. ^J..t^^:i — ^-^lai^-ii'V '■^~ -'-■ ■ '■- i-^'-i'iiiiiiMi-iiii-|-''' - L. ~"

Fig. 299.
PLASTER PANEL.

Late-sixteenth-century type.

Morant, in his " History of Essex," Vol. I, p. 390, refers to ToUeshunt Beckingham, which
is, obviously, the same house. This, in the reign of King Stephen, was the property of
Geffrey de Tregoz, lord of the next parish of ToUeshunt Tregoz, or Darcy, and wa« given
by him to Coggeshall Abbey. It figures in the inventory taken at the dissolution of the
Abbey's possessions 5th February, 1538. In Domesday it is referred to as owned by
Robert son of Corbutio, a tenant-in-chief in the three eastern counties, " which was
held by Sercar as a maner and as i hide, is held of R(obert) by Mauger (Malgerus)."
It is from this Mauger that the name ToUeshunt Major derives.

In 153S Henry \TII granted the manor to Sir Thomas Seymour, brother of the Duke
of Somerset (a statesman whose ambitions brought him to the headsman's block), but
Seymour exchanged it with the King after a few years. In 1543 it was granted to Stephen
Beckingham and his wife, Anne, and the heirs of Stephen, by the name of ToUeshunt
Major, or ToUeshunt Grange. Stephen Beckingham died in 155S and was buried in the
church. Royal grants being usually slow of completion, especially at that period, it
is probable that the date 1546, carved in two places on this panel, records the actual
year when Beckingham took possession. ^ The royal arms of Henry VIII, a quarterly
shield on the first and fourth, azure, three fleurs-de-lys in pale, or, on the second and

' Hence, possibly, the two inscriptions, " Ingratitude is Death " and " He giveth Grace to the Humble,"
which appear on the panelling.

264.

JVood Panellin(is and Mantels

third, gules, three lions passant, in pale, or, crested with a six-barred helmet, affrontee,
and as supporters a crowned lion and a winged wyvern, may have been designed with
the panels at one of the periods when the house was in Henry's hands, in which case,
the carved date would have been added some eight years later, marking the year when

Fig. 300.

OAK CHIMNEY-PIECE.

Removed from a former house of Sir Orlando Bridgman Coventry.

Now in the Refectory at Bablake Schools, Coventry.

Width 8 ft. li ins. outside jambs.

Early seventeenth century.

265

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Fig. 301.
LYME PARK, CHESHIRE, PLASTER OVERMANTEL IN THE LONG GALLERY.

266

U^oocI Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 302.
LYME PARK, CHESHIRE. PLASTER OVERMANTEL IN THE KNIGHT'S ROOM.

Fig. 303.
LYME PARK, CHESHIRE. PLASTER OVERMANTEL IN THE STONE PARLOUR.

267

Ea7'ly Knglish Furniture and JVoodwork

the house came into Beckingham's possession. It is not rare, however, to tind the royal
arms used in the decoration of houses which have never been in the possession of a king,
and this may be an instance, especially as the H.R. is reversed, and another coat, prob-
ably that of Beckingham, is introduced in the lower central panel. It is probable that
the carved date is the true one, and the Royal x^rms were inserted as a memento of the
gift, or sale of the house. The purchase price, if any, must have been very low, as
Henr}- disposed of the monastic possessions immediately they fell into his hands, and at
any price. It has always been difficult to dispose of stolen goods to advantage, and
Henry \'III furnished no exception to the rule. The results of his spoils were all dissi-
pated in a few years, and the King had to turn to other sources to furnish the means for
his unbounded extravagance.

This fragment evidently formed a part of the panelling over a mantel, but it is
doubtful if the rest of the room was on a similarly elaborate scale. The carving is of
tine quality, well designed, under strong influence from Burgundian sources. It may
have been the work of some of the Walloon craftsmen who settled in Essex and Suffolk

Fig. 304.
LYME PARK, DISLEY, CHESHIRE. SIR PIERS LEGH'S

ENTRANCE IN LEONI'S HOUSE.

268

Capt. the Hon. Richard Legh.

JVood Panellings and Mantels

at this period. That the paneUing was made in England is almost certain ; the wood is
a quartered English oak, and the constructional details are not foreign.

At Holywells, Ipswich, Mr. John D. Cobbold has gathered together a very fine
collection of elaborate panellings and woodwork, taken from Ipswich inns and houses
which have been demolished during recent ^^ears. From the Neptune Inn, in 1913,
came the rich linenfold panelling shown here in Fig. 283. It has been restored and
added to, and the capping-rail is modern. One of the original sections illustrated here
measures 9 ft. 4J ins. in width and 5 ft. 6J ins. in height. The addition, which can
be seen on the extreme left hand, in the photograph, has been frankly made, without
any attempt at concealment. These linen panels, with their Italian frieze, date from
about 1540. Fig. 284 shows a portion to a larger scale. It will be noticed here, as in
the Beckingham panelling, that the panel mouldings are truly mitred, instead of the
mitres being worked in the solid, in the stonemason's manner.

Fig. 305.
LYME PARK, CHESHIRE. LEONI'S CENTRAL COURTYARD.

269

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

Examples of car\'cd Renaissance panels from the Study at Holywells, removed from
the Tankard Inn, are illustrated in Figs. 285 to 291. The framings have been altered
and adapted to fit the room, but the integrity of the panels has been preserved. Some
of these are exceedingly quaint. Thus in the lower panel on the right of Fig. 285 is a
representation of the tempting of Christ by the Devil. The one on the left of this has
a shield, with a coat of arms, the same being repeated on the left-hand side of the door.
The device below this second coat appears to suggest an original owner's initial. It is

obviously improbable that this rich panelling
was made for an inn (in fact, it is known
that much, if not all, came from the house
of Sir Thomas Wingfield in Ipswich, whose
device, a double wing, appears on the lower
panel on the left of the door in Fig. 285)
We have seen, however, that Mistress Quickly
refers to tapestries in the dining-rooms of
her tavern, but these, as Falstaff suggests,
were probably old, " fly-bitten " and worth-
less. The panel mouldings of Fig. 286 are
modern ; those of Fig. 287 show the original
sections, Fig. 288 has the initials " N.A.''^ in
Gothic letters, suspended from a knotted
rope,^ elaborately intertwined in the branches
of a tree, beneath whicii are two figures,
which may represent Adam and Eve.
Below, the device of Sir Thomas Wingfield
appears again. The panel mouldings and
framings here, also, are modern.

1 Or " H.A."

- A festooned cord (although not of the same inter-
lacing as in this panel) was the device of Anne of Brittany,
the consort of two French Kings, Charles VIII (who met
his death, so tradition says, by knocking Iris head against
the lintel of a low door in a terrace wall at Amboise),
and his cousin and successor, Louis XII. This festooned
Fig. 306. cord, alternating with the ermine, may be seen in the

LYME PARK, CHESHIRE. THE ENTRANCE exquisite little oratory built as an addition to Loches, in

FRONT OF THE OLD HOUSE. . Touraine, by Charles \'III, and which bears the name of

Detail. his Oueen.

JJ^ood Panellings and Mantels

That these carved
panels were made for
the one room, in the
original instance, is
highly probable ; they
are, in no sense, pieces
from several sources
collected together. That
rich panellings of this
kind were not made at
one period, but were
added to, from time to
time, frequently over a
considerable space of
years, there is consider-
able evidence to show.
At Great Fulford, as we
have seen, many of the
panels are dated, and in
Fig. 289, above the door, the escutcheon, as in Fig. 285, is here impaled with another, prob-
ably to indicate a marriage, in which case the added coat would be that of the husband.
There is, possibly, a good deal of significance in the designing of this panel, but without
an authenticated history of the woodwork, the meaning of the devices, such as the
knotted rope, repeated again here, must remain obscure.

The turned balusters which support the canopy of the mantel. Fig. 290, are original
to the shelf-line. The central panel represents quaint scenes, probably from mythological
history, among others, the Judgment of Paris. Escutcheons are shown again in the
lower panels of Fig. 291, the coat on the sinister side of the overdoor, Fig. 289, here
impaled with another, probably to commemorate a second marriage alliance.

The Vicars' Hall, or to give it its full title, the Hall of the Vicars Choral, is now a
mere fragment of a building in South Street, Exeter. Above the door is the legend
" Aula Collegii Vicariorum de Choro," which conveys to the Latinist an idea of the
purpose for which it was built. It formed part of the property, if not of the Cathedral
Church, — which is now reached through the later archway at the side, — certainly of
the Vicars who officiated at the services. It was customary, in the Middle Ages, for a

271

Fig. 307.

OAK OVERDOOR FROM ROTHERWAS, HEREFORD.

Carved with the arms of Bodenham quartering Baskerville.
Late sixteenth century.

C. J. Charles, Esq.

Fig. 308.
TISSINGTON HALL, DERBYSHIRE. PANELLING IN THE HALL.

Early seventeenth century.

272

Fig. 309.

LYME PARK, CHESHIRE.

Panelling now in the drawing-room, formerly in the long galler}-.
Early seventeenth century.

Capt. the Hon. Richard Legh.

2 N

273

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1£'^"::

TH.i''-" ■:'^'|

I ^

m-^-<t-i-

Fig. 310.

OAK PILASTERS.

Removed from a house at Exeter,
c. 1600.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Fig. 311.

OAK PILASTER.

From a house in Lime St.,

City of London.
Early seventeenth century.

274

Fig. 312.
OAK PILASTERS AND PANELLING FROM A HOUSE AT EXETER.

g i5oo. Victoria and Albert Museum.

275

Early Kriglish Furniture and JJ^oodwork

Fig. 313.
FRIEZE DETAILS OF THE EXETER PANELLING.

lill%l%W1imit%%

Fig. 314.
FRIEZE DETAILS OF THE EXETER PANELLING.

276

JVood Panellings and Mantels

number of Priests and Singing Men, or choristers, to be retained for tlie services, and
the Vicars' Hall was their "Common Room " for meals and recreation hom-s. On the
other side of the archway, before referred to, once united to the main building, were
the living chambers, kitchens, buttery and domestic offices, but these have long since
been absorbed into business premises. The Vicars appear to have possessed considerable

Fig. 315.
FRIEZE DETAILS OF THE EXETER PANELLING.

Fig. 316.
FRIEZE DETAILS OF THE EXETER PANELLING.

277

Early English Furniture and JVoocIwork

property during tlieir history, and Bishop Grandisson, 1338-70, was their great bene-
factor. At this period the Priests and Choristers numbered twenty-four. Bishop Oldham,
1507-1522, appears to have made some additions to the " Common Room," and the
linenfold panelHng, which is illustrated here in Figs. 292 and 293, probably dates from
his time. The stone mantel in the Hall is certainly earlier, and may be the work of
Bishop Brantingham, 1370-1394. There are indications that the mantel has been
taken apart and rebuilt, probably when Hugh Oldham's alterations took place. Above
Bishop Oldham's linenfold panelling is an elaborate tier of arcaded and carved wood-
work, with the royal arms placed in the middle of the flank facing the gallery, and on two
cartouches the date, 1629, is carved. There are many evidences of later and very ignorant
restorations in the Hall. This is especially noticeable in the case of the exceptionally
rich bulbous-leg table which stands at this end of the room. Reference will be made

Fig. 317.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FORMERLY IN A HOUSE ON THE OLD QUAY, YARMOUTH.

^''^^'^ '595. Lord Rochdale.

27S

Wood Panellings and Mantels

to this again, in a later chapter deaUng with the development of tables. There are also
indications that the cutting through of the archway has shorn the Hall of some of its
former proportions, and the gallery has been brought forward into the Hall and doors
of later date adapted. The panelling is very interesting, and exceptional in being a
literal representation of the folding of soft hnen, as compared with other examples
which we have considered, where the effect is that of starched or stiff material. The upper
series of arcaded panels are true to their period, that of the first years of the reign of
Charles I. That the Hall originally possessed a gallery is highly probable, but if so,
the original panelled or balustraded front has disappeared. The present Stuart panelling
has been cut and adapted on more than one occasion ; at the time when the new gallery
was formed, and also at a late date. The stone chimney-piece is of early-fifteenth-century
character, similar in type, but not so rich in detail as those at Tattershall (see Fig. 298).

Fig. 318.
THE PLASTER CEILING OF THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 317.

279

Early English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

Fig. 319.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 317. THE CARVED PANELS OVER THE MANTEL.

In the same way as with the staircase, the cliimney-piece acquires a size and dignity
towards the end of the sixteenth century, which it had not possessed, previously. The
problem of the warming of churches in the fifteenth centuiy, and earlier, does not appear
to have been attempted at that period. These churches possess no fireplaces, nor any signs
that such ever existed. Portable stoves were unknown, unless we except cressets or
braziers, which, if used, must have been totally inadequate, and we can only assume
that our fifteenth-century ancestors endured extremes of cold, in sacred edifices, to which
we, at the present day, are totall}' unaccustomed. Even in early monastic refectories
and large halls, fireplaces, where they exist, are nearly always of later date.

280

JVood Panellings and Mantels

With timber houses, fireplaces and stacks of chimneys were the rule, but the usi al
fire opening was supported by a brick or stone arching, and an oak beam or bressomer.
This constituted the domestic mantel up to the middle of the sixteenth century. These
chimney-beams were often well carved, cambered to prevent sagging, and finished above
with panelling either especially enriched, as in the example from Tolleshunt Major,

Fig. 320.
THE OAK-PANELLED "NELSON" ROOM, FORMERLY IN THE STAR HOTEL, GREAT YARMOUTH.

1 595-1600.
2 O 281

Early Knglish Furniture and Jf^oodwork

Fig. 2S2, or matching tliat of the room as in Fig. 269. The early carpenters had a high
opinion of the fire-resisting quahties of oak. These beams are seldom, if ever, protected
from the direct action of the fire, and in those which ha^•e persisted to our day, beyond
a mere surface charring, the timber has remained as sound as it was when it was worked.
Four e.\am})les of tlu'se carved fireplace lintels are given in Figs. 294 to 297. The
first is from a house in Market Street, Lavenham, of the late fifteenth century. Fig. 295,
from Stoke-by-Xayland, is later, and is squared to rest upon the brick or stone jambs
in the early-sixteenth-century manner. Fig. 296 is from Paycockes, Coggeshall, a
house built about the \'ear 1500 by Thomas Paycocke, a wealthy merchant and great

Fig. 321.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM WITH INTERIOR PORCH, FIG. 320

1595-1600.

282

Jf^ood Panel I in (Ts and Mantels

<:3

benefactor to the Abbej' and the Church in the closing years of the fifteenth century.
The Untel illustrated here is shown in situ, in Fig. 269. It bears the initials T.P. in the
central shield, and it is, therefore, original to the house.

The Abbey of Coggeshall was founded by King Stephen, and was one of the thirteen
houses of the order of Savigny, the whole of which joined the Cistercians in 1147.
Opinions are divided as to who was the last abbot at the Dissolution in 1536. Some
authorities give Henry More, whereas Morant states that William Love was the abbot
at this date. Tolleshunt Major, or Beckingham, was a part of the Abbey property.

Fig. 322.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 320.

1595-1600.
283

Early English Furniture and JrooJwork

Fig. 323.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 320. THE MANTEL.

284

Wood Panellings and Mantels

.^ ^

Fig. 324.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 320. DETAILS OF THE OVERMANTEL.

285

Early Erig/is/j Furniture and IVoodwork

Fig. 325.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 320. DETAIL OF PANELLING AND PILASTERS.

286

TVood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 326.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 320. THE INTERIOR PORCH.

2S7

Early English Furniture and J Food-work

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Wood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 297 is an example from Parnham Park, Beaminster, Dorset, formerly in the
oak parlour, but removed to the Great Hall some twelve years ago. Parnham is of
early-sixteenth-century date, but this lintel may have been preserved from a still older
house. It is, essentially, a timber-house chimney-beam, whereas Parnham is stone-
built.

The most typical examples of the stone-lintelled mantelpieces of the fifteenth centurj^

Fig. 329.
OAK CHIMNEY-PIECE.

The stone lining is carved witli the arms of the Hu.xlcys of Edmonton.

2 P

Date about 1610.
289

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

may be found in Lord Treasurer Cromwell's Castle of Tattershall. One of these is illus-
trated in Fig. 298, refixed at the time of the recent restorations to the Castle. It is from
these stone mantels that the early chimney-beams of oak were copied, before the wood
mantel acquired its later decorative importance. At the date when Tattershall was
built this mantel represented the highest development of chimney decoration. Ralph
Cromwell symbolised his elevation to the post of Treasurer of the Exchequer in 1424 by
the money-bags which are carved in each of the corner panels. Waynflete was, prob-
ably, the designer of both the Castle and its decorations. In selecting stone mantels of

\ -'*7;;^»s'-7y7jp^»»^.

Fig. 330.
HEMSTED, KENT. OAK MANTEL.

A reproduction. The panelling of this room is original early-seventeenth-century work.

Viscount Rothermere.

290

JVood Panellings and Mantels

this kind, as models for their carved oak chimney-beams, therefore, the designers of
timber houses were copying the finest examples extant at their day.

The earhest attempts at decorating the space above the mantel appear to have
consisted of plaster panels set in flush with the wall-face. The flue and chimney breast,
even in timber houses, were, of course, constructed either in brick or stone, and, while
vertical oak stud- work may have had a certain decorative effect, it was dangerous to
use it over the mantel. It is exceptional, however, to find any attempt at embellishing

Fig. 331.

CARVED OAK PANEL

3 ft. 3| ins. wide by 2 ft. loj ins. nigH.
Late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.

291

Victoria and Albert Museum.

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Jf^ood Panellings and Mantels

this space before the latter half of the sixteenth century. As a general rule, rooms were
low, and mantels high, with very little space above them for more than a single row
of panels, if the room was completed with panelling to the ceiling. These flush plaster
panels or overmantels were very popular in Lancashire, Derbyshire and Cheshire from
about 1570 to 1600, and were frequently enriched with colours. Fig. 299 may be regarded
as typical of this period and district. The heraldry of the coats in the shields of these
plaster panels is often false. To this date belong many of the allusive coats which
puzzle the heralds of the present day.

The oak mantel develops in size and prominence very rapidly towards the close
of the sixteenth century. In Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire
there is a strong tendency towards an almost barbaric richness of ornament, coupled
with the adoption of a type at a date much later than its fashion in other counties.
Fig. 300, now in Bablake Schools, was formerly in the Coventry house of Sir Orlando
Bridgman. At its removal the original jambs were replaced with others of quite simple
fashion. The peculiarity of the later Midland development of the sixteenth-century
Renaissance can be studied in this chimney-piece. The detail is coarse, an effect which
must have been accentuated when the overmantel possessed its original heavy cornice.

Fig. 334.
OAK MANTEL FROM LIME STREET, CITY OF LONDON.

6 ft. wide. Date about i6jo.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

293

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

If there be such a style, in woodwork, as Ehzabethan, then the arcaded panels, with
the arches flattened, and centred by keystones with turned pendants beneath, and the
shields below framed in paper-scrolling, may be described as being a Midland County
perpetuation of that manner in a mantel of the seventeenth century. ^ It is hardly correct,
however, to state that English woodwork in the Midlands had become sufficiently homo-
geneous at this period to admit of any such style-classification ; each district or county
appears to have possessed its own manner, although such details as the arcaded panel
appear in them all, and persist for nearly a century.

As illustrating this richness of ornamentation in the Midlands at the beginning of
the seventeenth century, and, at the same time the use of an earlier style, the three
overmantels from Lyme Park, Figs. 301 to 303, may be given as examples. Unfor-
tunately, these are merely castings from originals which have disappeared, probably

when Leoni rebuilt the house. How
much he added is also conjectural. At
the date, about 1603, when Sir Piers
Legh built Lyme as his habitation, a
considerable amount of fine woodwork
must have been put in, judging from the
original fragments of panelling and stair-
cases which still exist in the Leoni
house. That some desire must have been
felt to preserve as much of this old house
as was possible, consistent with its con-
siderable enlargement in all directions, is
indicated by the central portion of the
entrance front. Figs. 304 and 306, which
has been rebuilt with the old stones,
marred, however, by the classical windows
which Leoni inserted. Fig. 305 shows
Leoni's central courtyard, and it will
be seen that no fragment of the
original house remains on these eleva-
tions. A feature here is the size of the

Fig. 335.

OAK PANEL AND PILASTERS.

Height 5 ft. 8 ins. ; width 4 ft. i in.
First half of the seventeenth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

• This mantel is dated 1629. The general style
is earlier, however, even for Warwickshire.

294

Fig. 336.
THE HOUSE OF SIR PAUL PINDAR, FORMERLY IN BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT.

Built 1600. Demolished i8go.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

295

Karly English Furniture and J Woodwork

panes in tlie sash-barring of the windows, all of fine crown glass, and all intact. This
glass is of beautiful colour, with the whirling marks visible in every pane.

It is idle to conjecture why the originals of these fine overmantels were not pre-
served.' The plaster copies are richly coloured and emblazoned, but it is impossible to
imagine that these are the mantels of the early-seventeenth-century house. The original
chimney-pieces must have been removed while the house was being rebuilt, and, with
plaster, this would have been impossible. It is more reasonable to suppose that the
originals were in sculptured stone, and were incapable of being removed without break-
age, and before taking them down these plaster copies were made. Lyme is in a stone
county ; there are stone outcrops everywhere in the Park, and Sir Piers Legh may have
chosen the more accessible, and more durable, material for his mantelpieces, with the
idea that his house would persist for a period considerably longer than a century. He
had not reckoned with changes of taste, or desires for vast rooms of great height, which

his Jacobean house could not
satisfy. These plaster over-
mantels, copies as they may
be, are exceptionally interesting
nevertheless, as showing the
rich work which was put into
a Knight's country house in the
first years of the reign of
James I.

The oak o\-erdoor from
Rotherwas, in County Hereford,
Fig- 307. is a good example of the
Flemish Renaissance develop-
ment, in the Welsh bordering
counties, at the close of the
sixteenth centurv. Here we

••^

Fig. 337.
SHERARD HOUSE, ELTHAM, KENT.

' There is the possibUity that these
plaster oxermantels are actual originals
from the old house of Lvme. In their
present state of later emblazonr}-, it is
impossible to say. If original, they have
been both repaired and added to, either
^y Leoni, or at a later date. The mantels
below appear to be from his designs.

296

Wood Panellings and Mantels

have the coarse fretwork ornamented with strap-and-jewel and pierced pinnacles, in
the manner which permeated Lancashire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and
Herefordshire very thoroughly at this period, especially in the designing of staircases
such as at Aston Hall. The arms carved on this overdoor are those of Bodenham
quartering Baskerville. The shield of the Bodenhams, with its twenty-five quarterings,
is illustrated in Fig. 346.

The custom of making wall panellings, with the join of the sections masked by
carved pilasters, appears to have originated
at the very close of the sixteenth century,
and to have been very general throughout
England. At an earlier period any joins in
the lateral rails of panellings were frankly
made, scarfed together with no attempt at
concealment. In Derbyshire, Cheshire and
Lancashire, the usual plan appears to have
been to make both the panellings and the
pilasters in two distinct lateral sections or
stages, divided by a moulded surbase or
dado-rail, as at Tissington, Fig. 308, and
Lyme, Fig. 309. The same system was
adopted, in a different manner, in the case of
the East Anglian woodwork of this date. In
the Tissington panelling this arrangement is
better indicated, the fluted pilasters with
moulded-panel bases having both dado and
skirting mitred round in the one unbroken
lateral line. At Lyme, the panelling, originally
that of a Long Gallery, has been very badly
adapted to the present drawing-room, with
the stages of the pilasters not in vertical line,
and the whole effect marred by the enormous
angle-pilaster which is fixed to the junction
of the compass-window recess with the flank
wall, and which cuts the panelling up in a
very unfortunate manner. Yet this wood-

2 Q 297

Fig. 338.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM SHERARD HOUSE.

Showing paint and wall-paper partially removed.
c. 1630.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

work, such as is original, far transcends that at Tissington in its design and rich
decoration of moulding, carving and inlay. It is exceedingly refined, yet in a county
the woodwork of which is remarkable for the absence of such a quality, as a general
rule. Both at Lyme and at Tissington there is the same interlaced arches rising from
small fluted pilasters, with moulded tablets on the intersections, — a detail which is
rarely, if ever, found other than in the Western Midland Counties.

Fig. 339.
OAK PANELLING AND MANTEL FROM SHERARD HOUSE, ELTHAM, KENT

c. 1630

298

Arthur H. Vernay, Esq.

Wood Panellings and Mantels

The panellings of the South-west of England vary very little, in the type of pilasters,
from those of East Anglia or the home counties, although there is considerable difference
in the carving decorations. The Devonshire pilaster is richer in detail, with a long shaft
and nearly always with elaborately car\-ed capitals, but there is the same low base and
skirting, such as is usually found in the examples from London and its outlying districts.
The rounded forms of the Southern-French Renaissance persist for many years in
Devonshire, and give a peculiar opulent character to the car\'ing-decoration of this

Fig. 340.
OAK PANELLING AND MANTEL FROM SHERARD HOUSE, ELTHAM, KENT

c. 1630.

Arthur H. Vemay, Esq.

299

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

county, which is unmistakable aUke in secular or in ecclesiastical woodwork. One of
the most remarkable examples of these ornate West-country panellings is the Exeter
room in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated here in Fig. 310 and Figs. 312 to
316. For the purpose of showing the difference in decorative character more easily

Fig. 341.
OAK PANELLING AND MANTEL FROM SHERARD HOUSE, ELTHAM, KENT

c. 1630.

Arthur H. Vernay, Esq.

300

JVood Panellings and Mantels

by a comparison of photographs than by a written explanation, a pilaster from Lime
Street, which is of London design and workmanship, is placed, in Fig. 311, side by side
with those from Exeter. The Lime Street example may be some twenty years the later
in date, but the character of these carved pilasters does not alter appreciably from
1600 to 1620.

This oak room from Exeter is one of the older acquisitions of the Victoria and
Albert Museum, but, in its peculiar richness and strong French character, it is, perhaps,
one of the most remarkable examples of pilastered panelling which the Museum pos-
sesses. It is totally unlike anything to be met with outside of the West-country. The
Holy wells woodwork, described and illustrated in the earlier pages of this chapter, is
also French in inspiration, but the influence here is from the north, Normandy or Picardy,
whereas, in this Exeter panelling it is from further south, the country watered by the
Loire, — Anjou or Touraine, or even
from Poitou. There is a logical
method both of construction and
design in this panelling, whether
of frieze, pilaster or panel-framing,
which is not found in the work of
Rouen or the north of France, and,
withal, there is an assortment of
details, as in the strapping of the
base rail in Fig. 312, which indicates
an English origin for this woodwork.
The frieze panels, four of which are
shown in Figs. 313 to 316, show the
admixture of Low-Country Italian
and Southern-French motives which
formed the basis of the later Tudor
style, a manner which, although it
varies considerably in different parts
of England, — as, for example, in
Lancashire, Warwickshire and
Cheshire on the one hand, and the f"'&- 3*2.

,, „ ^. ^, ^, ^ OAK PANELLING.

Home Counties on the other, — yet

In the Treaty House at U.^bridge.

has a general basic resemblance which Early seventeenth century.

301

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

establishes both ;i country and a date of origin. In the oak pilaster from Lime
Street, Fig. 311, for example, we have the Home County exposition of the same
manner, as it afterwards developed in the hands of London craftsmen. The original
source is Italian, but the Exeter panels have this influence transmitted through
Southern-French channels, whereas, in the case of the Lime Street pilaster, the design
is more typical of the work of Flanders. Even in the Exeter pilasters, which are, in
reality, two pairs rather than four, there is, in the shafts, evidence of two designers,
both impregnated with the same manner, yet manifesting such influence, each in a
different way. In the frieze panels, the same dual authorship can be noted, as in
Figs. 313 and 314, for example, or in a still more marked fashion, in Figs. 315 and 316.

Fig. 343.
ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD.

An oak-panelled bedroom.
Early seventeenth century.

.•502

C. J. Charles, Esq.

Wood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 344.
ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD.

Oak chimney-piece in the Walnut Banqueting Hall (see Fig. 346).

The shield shows the twenty-five quarterings of the shield of Bodenham.

The arms of Bodenham are a fess argent on field azure between three chess rooks or.

Early seventeenth century.

C. J. Charles, Esq.

303

Early Rnglish Furniture and JVoodwork

In considering the mantel from the old house of Sir Orlando Bridgman at Coventry,
now in the Bablake Schools, a doubt was expressed whether such a style as " Eliza-
bethan " could be said to exist, in English woodwork. If we refer to a period only,
then the name is justified, but if a homogeneous style be indicated, then it is highly
misleading. The Lyme Park mantels are in the late-sixteenth-century manner of their
locality (although of a subsequent date), and the same may be said of Devonshire in

Fig. 345.

ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD.

The walnut panelling in the Banquet Hall.
Early seventeenth century.

304

C. J. Charles, Esq.

Wood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 346.

THE TWENTY-FIVE QUARTERINGS OF
BODENHAM OF ROTHERWAS

See Fig. 344.

the case of the Exeter paneUing. We have
now to see what was done in the rich county
of Norfolk at the same period. Here we
are considering houses, built not for nobles,
but for plain traders, merchant ad\'enturers
whose ships sailed into many an unknown sea,
whose captains and crews were acquainted
with the Spanish Main, who had listened to
many a story of El Dorado or Manoa.
Hard fighters by sea and land were these
men, and, — it must be confessed, — hard
swearers and drinkers to boot, ready to
defend ship and cargo, and not averse, —
be it only whispered, — to engaging in a little
buccaneering on their own account.

^^'e may begin with a house on the Old
Quay at Yarmouth, known for many years as Fenner's, divided at a later date
into two, with the numbers 53 and 54. In the early seventeenth century it was
the property of William Burton, bailiff of Yarmouth, one of those men who,
without actually signing the death warrant of Charles I, did more to instigate
his execution than many of those who did. Burton, howe\'er, was not the builder
who carved the date, 1595, on the frieze of the overmantel shown in Fig. 319. Who
he was does not appear, but he must have been a merchant, as this was the traders'
quarter of a seafaring town. Having finished the house, he panelled the rooms with
rich wainscotting. That from the north front room on the ground floor is shown in
Figs. 317 to 319. The panels, of fine quartered oak, are large, unusually so for this period,
and are divided, vertically, at each third panel, by broad fluted pilasters with car\-ed
capitals. Between each of these is a frieze of two long narrow panels. Above the
wainscotting is a band of moulded plaster, with a ceiling of reeded interlaced quatre-
foils, with vine tendrils and bunches of grapes as ornamentation. Elaborate
pendants cover the join at each intersection of the reeded strapping. The mantel,
of which the upper part is illustrated in Fig. 319, is exceptionally choice. It is
in three panels, with beautifully carved figures between each, with scrolling in
high relief, and undercut in a truly wonderful manner. The same paper-scrolling is
employed in the frieze panels, with the date, 1595, carved to crown the achievement.
2 R 305

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

In tlie panels were, formerly, painted coats of arms, but these are now nearly
obliterated.

Close to Fenner's is the Star Hotel, once the house of William Crowe, one of Eliza-
beth's Merchant Ad\enturers, who emblazoned the Company's Merchants' Mark on his
mantel. Whether the panelling which he put in was inspired by that in Fenner's, or the
reverse, or whether both of these wainscottings are from the same date, and hand, —
which is the more probable, — we can only conjecture. Crowe was bailiff of Yarmouth
on two occasions, in 1596 and 1606, so he must have been a man of high esteem in the
town. That no more than a year or two divides the woodwork of both houses is reason-
ablv certain.

Fig. 347.

ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD.

Oak panelling in the James I Room. See Fig. 348
Early seventeenth century.

;,o6

C. J. Charles, Esq.

Wood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 348.
ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD

Oak mantel in the James I Room.
Early seventeenth century.

C, J Charles, Esq.

307

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

As a repetition of one's own words can hardly be regarded as plagiarism, the
following, from the " Burlington Magazine," gives a description, with measurements,
of the room shown in Figs. 320 to 326, written after a close examination of the panelling.

" Whether William Crowe conformed to the strictness of the Heralds' College in
the carving of his mantel, and bore the arms of his Company on a ' target hollow at
the chief ffankes ' is diiBcult to say ; the work is not quite in original state. Thus the
dexter Sun in Splendour on the shield has disappeared together with the globe or between
two arms embowcd in the crest. The tail of the dolphin, sinister, has also suffered.

" The room measures 24 ft. in length by ig ft. 7 ins. in width. The panelling, of

Fig. 349.
ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD.

Oak panelling and mantel in the Julius Caesar Room.
Early seventeenth century.

308

C. J. Charles, Esq.

IVood Paricllings and Mantels

fine quartered and ' silver figured ' oak, is in two stages, the lower with heavy bolection
mouldings and fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals and bases. Above is an arcading
flanked with boldly carved caryatids, alternately male and female. In these arches will
be noticed one of the few remaining suggestions of the earlier Gothic traditions. The
total height of the panelling, to the classical capping moulding under the plaster frieze,
is 9 ft. 10^ ins. The frieze itself is of modelled plaster, with strapped and interlaced
ornament, a similar motij being repeated on the beams of the ceiling. The latter is
coffered and slightly groined (another Gothic tradition) in large panels enriched with
moulded plaster ribs and ' pendentes.'

" The chimney-piece, 8 ft. i in. in width and 5 ft. il ins. to the springing of the

Fig. 350.
ROTHERWAS, CO. HEREFORD.

Another view of the Julius Caesar Room.
Early seventeenth century..

3°9

C. J. Charles, Esq.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

arch of the opening, governs the heights of the panelUng stages. The detail of the
overmantel, to a larger scale, is shown in Figs. 323 and 324. The designs of the carved
frames surrounding and flanking the arms are the finest features of the whole room.
The curious arrangement of the caryatides or carved figures resting on conventionalised
bulls' heads, which are repeated all round the room, will be noticed in the larger scale
photograph. The execution of the carving is very crisp and line, entirely different
from the usual crude cutting associated with Tudor work ; witness the figures immedi-
ately flanking the central panel, for example. Another exceptional feature is the interior
porch in the corner on the left of the chimney-piece, shown in the separate illustration.
Two doors have been contrived, one in each angle, and above are two intricately moulded
panels. These internal porches are rare, not more than three or four other examples

Fig. 351.
BILLESLEY MANOR, WARWICKSHIRE.

Panelling and mantel in the Hall.
Early seventeenth century.

310

H. Burton Tate, Esq.

JVood Panellings and Mantels

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Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

being extant at the ])rcsent day. One of the best-known is in the oak hall at Sherborne
Castle in Dorsetsliire. The idea is probably a modification of the ' Skreens ' in the great
halls of the liarly Tudor j^eriod, where the family life was more public and primitive than
in the later days of Elizabeth, when the long gallery superseded the great hall as an
integral part of the country mansion of the wealthy or noble English family.

" This t)ld room in the Star Hotel is exceedingly interesting for many reasons.
It is probably the most elaborate specimen of late Tudor woodwork of its kind extant,
especially when its location in the house of a former Yarmouth merchant is considered.
It is in almost perfect condition, very little of the original parts being missing or mutilated,
and it has never suffered from subsequent alteration, such as partitioning, replanning
or other of the modifications which the room in Sparrowe's House at Ipswich, for instance.

» Fig. 354.

BILLESLEY MANOR, WARWICKSHIRE.

Maijtelpiece in the Shakespeare Roi m.
Early seventeenth century.

H. Burton Tate, Esq.

JVood Pariellirws and Mantels

has undergone. Another point of great interest to the antiquarian is the late character
of the work at such early date. In the absence of historical records it would have been
referred almost certainly to the middle Stuart period."

The pilaster of East Anglia and the Home Counties in the first years of the seven-
teenth century is usually much less ornate than the West-country style, with capitals
either of plain mouldings or simple flat Ionic form. The shafts are generally carved with
a flat strap-work pattern, similar to an applied fret, with little or no undercutting. The
general characteristics of early-seventeenth-century East Anglian and Home County
panellings are simplicity and lightness of mouldings and general refinement of details.
That from the Palace of Bromley-by-Bow, Figs. 327 and 328, may be taken as a type
of this kind. This woodwork is an instructive example in two ways. \\'e know its

2 s

Fig. 355.

BILLESLEY MANOR, WARWICKSHIRE.

Oak panelling in the Dining-room.
Early seventeenth century.

313

H. Burton Tate, Esc.

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Fig. 356.

314

JVood Panellings and Mantels

actual date, and it is certainty local in make. The panel-arrangement, of a central
upright rectangle surrounded by oblong panels, two vertically and two horizontally,
with four squares, one in each corner,, is, apparently, an obvious one, but is by no means
usual in panellings of the seventeenth century. A similar pattern will be noticed again,
later on, in an example from Billesley Manor. The mouldings of the pilasters, returning
on the upright st^des, indicate an early-seventeenth-century detail, as a rule. At an
•earher date the base-mouldings were carried round the room in the form of a high dado,
as in the two examples from Yarmouth. The mantel of this room is somewhat puzzling.
The lower stage, from the corbelled shelf downwards, is undoubtedly coeval with the
panelling, but the overmantel
has the appearance of a later
addition, and possibly from
another count}'. We know that
the panelling had been altered
■considerably in the Palace be-
fore it was finally taken down
ior removal to the Museum. On
•either side of the mantel two
windows had been inserted in
the eighteenth century, of a
^tyle quite incongruous, as com-
pared with the original work.
The chimney-piece must have
liad a plain back-board origin-
ally, on which all the moulding
projections returned, but this is
now missing, and the heavy
shelf-moulding now returns on
the panelling at haphazard,
with an overhang beyond the
styles, and with no attempt at
■scribing, the result being a gap ^. 357

"between the back of the mould- billesley manor.

ing-return and the face of the Oak slab doors with steei box locks.

Early seventeenth century.

panel. It is unthinkable that h. Burton Tate, Esq.

315

Early English Furniture and Jl^oodwork

this was the original linish of the mantelshelf in a room of this quality. The
overmantel, although the column-bases line with the corbel-strappings of the
shelf below, is poor in design compared with the remainder of the room. The
central coat of arms overpowers the whole composition, and the niches on either side
are crested with meaningless fret-and-strap spandrels, the same work, with a coarseness
almost Lancastrian, being used for a totally superfluous pediment. If this overmantel
be an afterthought, it must be almost a contemporary addition. An examination of
dates may suggest a reason. James I had been on the throne of England barely three

Fig. 358.
BILLESLEY MANOR. STEEL BOX LOCK.

14 ins. long by 9I ins. extreme height.
Early seventeenth century.

316

H. Burton Tate, Esq.

Wood Panellings and Mantels

years when this room was panelled, and it is doubtful whether he had adopted the
unicorn, as the sinister supporter to the Royal Arms, at this period. The date, 1606,
is also that of the completion of the Palace ; the work may have been in progress before
the death of Elizabeth. It is possible that the room was completed with the mantel only,
and plain panelling above, — which would be the logical finish in a room of this height, —
the overmantel, designed round the carved coat of arms, being added a few years after.
It is, certainly, a piece of unfortunate designing in an otherwise exceptionally refined
room.

A very charming expression of this strap-work style, also of Home County origin,
can be seen in Fig. 329, a chimney-piece of oak, made without overmantel, the intention
being to carry a flank of the room panelling over the mantelshelf. Fig. 330 shows a
free copy of this mantel with its missing shelf-returns replaced, and surrounded by panel-
ling in this manner. The effect is simple but very charming, when compared with the
very ornate chimney-pieces of this period.

It is inevitable that the Home County expression of the Renaissance during the
last quarter of the sixteenth and the opening years of the seventeenth centuries should

Fig. 359.
THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE LOCK, FIG. 358, SHOWING THE ARMOURER'S MARK.

317

Ear/y English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

vary according to the inspiration of tlie designer or the skill of the workmen. Such
details as the interlacing strap-work and scroUings, applied keystones, bosses, diamonds
or split balusters, appear to be general in this work, although the degree of artistic
skill with which they are used ranges from the highest quality to the mediocre. To
the first belongs the charming oak panel. Fig. 331. Both design and execution are
superb, suggesting the hand of a foreign car\-er, whether from France or Flanders, it is
difficult to say. The influence of Jean Goujon is apparent, but his strap-work, as at
St. Maclou, is here intermingled with the Italian motives of wreath and ribbon in a
manner which is foreign to his sti'le. The wood is English quartered oak, a timber usuall}^

Fig. 360.
BILLESLEY MANOR. STEEL BOX LOCK.

14J ins. long by 9 ins. extreme height.
Early seventeenth century.

318

H. Burton Tate, Esq.

Jf^ood Pancllirws and Mantels

harsh and ungrateful for fine cutting with the carver's gouge, yet the work here is of
the uttermost refinement and dehcacy. The treatment of the interlacing of the strap-
work forming the surroimd to the egg-and-tongue-carved inner frame is masterly.
The same handling, in stone instead of wood, can be remarked in the mantel lining
of Fig. 329, which is unmistakably an English production, however strongly influenced
it may be from abroad. It suggests that this panel may be of English origin also.

There are few, if any, details in English furniture and woodwork which persist
for so long as the fret (applied or cut in the solid wood) with enrichments of split-

P*'!^''
v.5^ V

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■^\!

Fig. 361.
BILLESLEY MANOR. STEEL BOX LOCK.

14I ins. long by gi ins. extreme height.
Early seventeenth century.

319

H. Burton Tate, Esq.

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

balusters or bosses. This " strap-and-jewel " work is found in panellings and chimney-
pieces even as early as the closing years of the sixteenth century ; it is also met with
on cabinets and chests as late as the last quarter of the seventeenth. The reasons for
this popularity are not difficult to surmise ; this decoration has the merit of cheapness ;
it permits of the use of various woods, such as bog-oak, for the bosses or balusters, and
it gives an effective play of light and shade, and by the most simple means. The three
mantels from Lime Street, in the City of London, illustrate this very well. The designs
are exceedingly effecti\'e, yet there is a remarkable absence of expensive work. They

Fig. 362.
BILLESLEY MANOR. STEEL BOX LOCK.

12 ins. long by S ins. extreme height. Key 7 ins. long over all.
Early seventeenth century.

H. Burton Tate, Esq.

Jf^ooci Panellings and Mantels

•| _'_i_tmt^'^'*'-'~^''~^

Fig. 363.
BEDDINGTON MANOR HOUSE. STEEL DOOR LOCK.

Late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

could be reproduced, by modern " mass-production " methods, almost without modifi-
cation. The moulded oval panel, quartered and strapped over with moulded keystones,
is used with considerable skill for this period, in Figs. 332 and 334. In the first the
relief is by means of facetted bosses ; in the second these take the form of turned buttons.
In all four, Figs. 332 to 335, effective use is made of the split-baluster and the oval or
circular boss. The charm of all clever designing, — the introduction of the unexpected, —
is fully understood. There is the play of line in the key-cornering of the framings in
Figs. 332 and 334, in the framed tablets of Figs. 333 and 335, in the first, with the
mouldings broken up by the lateral and vertical strappings, in the second, by the clever
mitring of the inner framings. The pilasters, with their downward taper, are redeemed
from mediocrity of design by the applied frets and split balusters, an effect achieved
with the uttermost economy of means. In Fig. 332, the dentil-course under the cornice
is mitred forwards in four distinct stages (an extravagance), whereas in Fig. 333, the
breaks are formed by cutting the dentil-course, and inserting the moulded cappings
to the tablets of the frieze ; and economy could go no further.

This Home County expression of the Renaissance, the credit for the development
of which can be divided equallj^ between Flanders and Northern France, — Rouen and
its neighbourhood, — is interesting, the more especially as so many examples exist of
2 T 321

Early English Furniture and Jf^ooc/work

which both the date and the locahty of origin are known with certainty. Thus, the
front of Sir Paul Pindar's house, Fig. 336, formerly in Bishopsgate Without, shows what
was the fashion in London in 1600. Sir Paul Pindar was Ambassador at Constantinople
from tlu' Court of James I between 161 1 and 1620. Bishopsgate was a fashionable
quarter at this date, containing many important houses, such as Crosby Hall, for
example. In the panels of this timber house is the vigorous manner of paper-scrolling,
or voluting, which was the 1600 London fashion, as perpetuated in the Coventry mantel
already illustrated in Fig. 300, together with design-motives culled from an even earlier
date and another district. In every detail of this Bishopsgate house, in panels, pilasters

Fig. 364.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM.

A typical example of the 1640 period.
Hampshire type.

322

Jf'^ood Panellings and Mantels

or brackets, is the expression of what may almost be described as the true
Ehzabethan style, so often confounded with the work of the later Stuart period,
and yet both unmistakable and widespread. It can be found as far north as
Levens Hall in Westmoreland and as far south-west as Lanhydroc in Cornwall.
It is also the direct progenitor of the woodwork such as the Lime Street
mantels.

If the details of this Bishopsgate house are in the London manner of their period,
it must not be imagined that the house itself is of a style usual in the East of England,
still less so in London. In construction, — it is really formed of two huge frames, — in
its breaks, angles, projections and central semicircular oriel window, it is far more
typical of Devonshire than of London. Here in the metropolis this house must have been
exceptional and striking even at the date when it was built ; in Exeter, apart from its

Fig. 365.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM.

Date about 1640.

323

J. Albert Bennett, Esq., Photo.

Early English Furniture and JVoocIwork

rich ornamentation, it would have fallen in with the scheme of things, and have aroused
little comment.

The panelled rooms, with their mantels, which were removed, a few years ago, from
Sherard House at Eltham, are examples of this Lime Street, or typically Home County
manner of the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and at the same time instances
of how these old panellings were esteemed. A portion of one of these rooms is illus-
trated in Fig. 338 which will show, partly, the state they were in when discovered. The
word " partly " is used advisedly ; a portion of the many wall-papers, with their canvas
backing, has been removed, and fragments of the later plaster cornice have been hacked
down. The original work could not have been obscured better, had the attempt been
made deliberately. The mantels were coated with paint so thick as almost to fill up
the details, not only of the carving, but the moulding as well. Where fine woodwork

Fig. 366.
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM, FIG. 365.

Date about 1640.

J. .Albert Bennett, Esq , Photo.

U^ood Panellings and Mantels

is in situ, and preserved, there may be two opinions as to the morahty of its removal
and sale, but with instances such as these rooms from Sherard House there can only be one.
Sherard House owes its name to a later owner, William Sherard, LL.D., Fellow of
All Souls, Oxford, a native of Leicestershire, who was born in 1659, o^" niore probably
to his brother James, who bought the house at Eltham in 1718-ig. Both brothers

Fig.' 367.
OAK CHIMNEY-PIECE AND PANELLING.

From Swann Hall, Suffolk.
Date about 1650-5.

325

Messrs. Robersons.

Early English Furniture and IJ^oodwork

Fig. 368.
OAK MANTELPIECE.

Total width 7 ft. SJ ins. Total height 6 ft. \\\ ins. Wood opening 5 ft. 2 ins. by 4 ft.
Stone opening 3 ft. 6 J ins. by 3 ft. li ins.

Date about 1640-50. j_ ^^^p^;^ Cobbold, Esq.

326

Jf'^ood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 369.
OAK MANTEL.

Width over jambs 7 ft. 10 ins. Over cornice 8 ft. 5 ins. Total height 7 ft. 11 ins.
Wood opening 5 ft. 1 1 ins. by 3 ft. 9 ins.

Date about 1650. j_ Dupuis Cobbold, Esq.

327

Early Kriglish Furniture and JFoodwork

wore celebrated botanists, but it is to James that Sherard House owed its wonderful
collection of rare plants, the world the two books " Hortus Elthamensis," — famous in
their day, — and Oxford the nucleus of its famous Botanical Gardens.

This interesting Eltham house is shown in Fig. 337. On one of the rain-water
heads is the date 1634, but this is late, by some years, for the mantels and panellings,
yet almost a century earlier than the windows and the doorway. These latter were
probably the work of James Sherard after he acquired the house in 1718.

The wainscotting of these Eltham rooms is simple in design, practically the same
pattern being adopted throughout, of scratch-mouldings carried through in the vertical
styles, with the upper edges of the lateral rails left square or slightly bevelled. The
oak everyw^here is of superb quality. The mantels are all variations of the Lime Street
manner, differing considerably in their design, but relying, for decorative effect, on the
use of elaborately mitred mouldings. All three shown here in Figs. 339 to 341 have
the quarter-round sectioned shelf, with a small projection, strapped over by flat trusses
to carry the pilaster-line from mantel to overmantel. In Fig. 339 an ingenious use is
made of the half-mitre in the pilasters of the upper stage. Fig. 340 has a single central
alcoved niche or apse, flanked on either side by moulded panels very intricately mitred.
Fig. 341 has the decoration of applied fretting and semi-balusters on the downward-
tapering pilasters, those of the overmantel having, on their bases, a representation of

the coursing of masonry. There is a
considerable degree of quiet charm in
these three Sherard House mantels, and,
considering the self-imposed limitation
of the designer, the result, achieved by
the inexpensive means of ingenious use
of the mitre and half-mitre, is distinctly
successful.

It was intended, at first, to illus-
trate these rooms as restored and re-
erected in New York, with the stone
linings replaced, but, on consideration,
it was decided to show them in situ,
before removal, with the later grates
masking the original fire-openings, and
with no attempt at restoration beyond the

Fig. 370.
OAK PANELLING.

The type of 1670-80.

328

JVood Panelliri(is and Mantels

Fig. 371.

THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM CLIFFORD'S INN.

General view. Date 1686-8.

Victoria"and Albert Museum.

stripping of the wall-
papers necessary to ex-
pose the panellings and
a local removal of the
paint to ascertain the
quality of the oak
beneath. In some of the
rooms in the house a later
high skirting had been
nailed over the panelling,
and every effort appears
to have been made to
disguise the original work ,
almost beyond recogni-
tion as such.

The Renaissance in
England appears to de-
velop on coarser and
cruder lines in the counties of the Western Midlands, beginning as far south as
Gloucestershire and terminating with Lancashire. Cumberland and Westmoreland
do not seem to have originated a distinctive style of their own, at least in the
seventeenth century. Many of these Midland panellings evidently found their way
to the south, as, for example, that in the Treaty House at Uxbridge, Fig. 342.
This woodwork is, unquestionably either of Midland or Welsh bordering-county
origin. It is interesting as showing the error of attributing panellings of the early
seventeenth century to the localities in which they are found, at the present day.
The chief characteristic of the Midland and Western-Midland panel is its heavy
mouldings of the bolection type. The inner framed panel, as in the upper part of this
Uxbridge panelling, also appears at an earlier date in these districts than in the East
Anglian counties, where its presence is almost a certain indication of the later
seventeenth century.

This Uxbridge wainscotting is neither choice in design nor high in quality, and it
has suffered in alterations and adaptations, but it is instructive in showing that fixed
panellings are not always original to the house they are in, even when they have been
there for a century or two.

2 u

329

Early Kriglish Furniture and Jf^oodwork

The \\'estern character of this Treaty House panelhng can be better estimated
by a comparison with an oak-panelled bedroom from Rotherwas, in County Hereford,
illustrated here in Fig. 343. This is woodwork original both to the house it was in, —
until its removal and sale a few j-ears ago, — and to its locality. Here is the same
heaviness of moulding and depth of panel-recessing as in the Uxbridge woodwork.
When we place the Bromley-by-Bow room on the one side, — which is of Home County
make, — and this bedroom from Rotherwas on the other, with the Uxbridge panelling
between, the Western-Midland origin of the Treaty House woodwork will be appreciated.

Rotherwas, the home of the Bodenhams, whose shield of twenty-five quarterings
can be seen on the fine mantel, Fig. 344, and the key to which is given in Fig. 346, is
an estate which figures in Domesday, situated near the River Wye and within two
miles of Hereford. It was de la Barre property until the death of the last male of the
line, Sir Charles, in 1483, when Rotherwas came into the hands of Roger Bodenham
as next-of-kin. There are innumerable Rogers in the Bodenham family history, and
this one was the son of another, whose father, John Bodenham of Dewchurch, had
married Isabella, heiress of Walter de la Barre. Thus the grandson inherited by reason
of the alliance formed by his grandfather. The last direct descendant of the race who
died in 1884, Charles de la Barre Bodenham, thus perpetuated, in his name, this last
de la Barre of Rotherwas. Although not as lords of Rotherwas, the Bodenhams are of
considerable antiquity in Herefordshire. In the reign of Edward I, William Bodenham
is lord of Monington and many other parks and mansions in the valley of the Wye.
Of the Rotherwas of the early sixteenth century, only a small part remains, converted
into private chapels and adapted for the accommodation of the priests who had attached
themselves to the Catholic Bodenhams.

Of the woodwork original to the early -sixteenth-century house, none appears to have
survived. The great house of that period was neither panelled nor furnished in a day,
and at Rotherwas there are signs that a century of possessors added to its woodwork.
From the late period of Elizabeth dates the overdoor already illustrated in Fig. 307,
but this appears to be the only remaining fragment of the sixteenth-century woodwork
in the house.

Additions were built on by one of the many Roger Bodenhams in 1731, and to the
new house many of the old panellings were removed. There are no records of work
at Rotherwas in the early seventeenth century, yet at this period all the mantels and
panellings shown in these pages must have been put in. Blount describes the house,
in the seventeenth century, as " a delicious seat . . . abounding with a store of excellent

330

IJ^ood Panellings and Mantels

'^!fS-.!«>-?i5je.'iS

Fig. 372.
OAK CHIMNEY-PIECE WITH APPLIED CARVINGS FROM CLIFFORD'S INN.

Date 1686-8.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

331

Early Rriglish Furniture and Woodwork

fruit and fertylc arable land, ha\-ing also a park within less than half a myle of the
house. There is a fair parlour full of coats of arms according to the fashion of the age,
and over that a whole Dyning Room wainscotted with walnut tree, and on the mantel
of the Chimney twenty-five coats in one achievement."

Of the " fair parlour full of coats of arms," nothing remains, unless the overdoor.
Fig. 307, was a part of the room. The description, however, reads more like a panelled
room with painted armorial frieze-panels above, similar to the Abbot's parlour at
Thame, and dating from the early years of the sixteenth centurj-. The walnut panelling,
with its oak chimney-piece and the " twenty-five coats in one achievement " are shown
in Figs. 344 and 345. The use of walnut for this panelling is difficult to understand,
as the tree is not a native of England, although some authorities assert that it was
known here in the time of the Romans. There are records which state that the tree
was imported from Persia and first planted at Wilton Park by the Earl of Pembroke
and Montgomery about 1565. Apart from some liability to the attacks of the wood-worm
(although the instance of the great roof of Westminster Hall shows the English oak is,
by no means, immune from these ravages) it is a reliable wood for panellings, easy to
work and carve, and obtainable in wide boards. Yet it does not appear to have been
used for this purpose at any time, in England, even when it replaced oak as the popular
wood for furniture. It is inferior to mahogany in durability, yet mahogany, also, is
rarely, if ever used for panellings in the eighteenth century, when it was the exclusive
furniture timber. The presence of walnut at Rotherwas is exceptional, but may have
been imported. If the theory that the tree was first planted in England in 1565 be
tenable, it could not have acquired a sufficient maturity to have been available for wide
panels in the early years of the next century.

Ornate as this Rotherwas woodwork is, in the Banquet Hall, it is still character-
istically English in conception and execution. The oak mantel is decorated in poly-
chrome, and above the shelf are four caryatid figures, representing Justice, Fortitude,
Temperance and Prudence. The walnut panelling consists of a lower or base tier of
inner framed panels placed lengthwise, a middle section with similar panels upright,
divided by fluted pilasters with carved capitals, and an upper tier of arcaded panels
with turned half-columns between, the whole surmounted by an elaborately carved
and truss-bracketted frieze in the high-relief strap-work of the early seventeenth century.
This woodwork must be regarded as an exceptional effort on the part of the owner of
Rotherwas, and there is little doubt that designers and craftsmen from the South-east
of England were imported into Herefordshire for its execution. Figs. 347 and 348,

332

J Food Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 373.

THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM CLIFFORD'S INN.

Detail of a door.
Date 1686-8.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

333

Early

!/ English Furniture and JFoodwork

known as the James I room, is typical of its locality, and is, probably of prior date to the
Banquet Hall panelling. It is unusual in having a tall arcaded panel below and a short
one above, with two tiers of square panels between. The extensive use of the gadroon
is t3'pical of Cheshire and Lancashire at this date.

The panellings in what was known as the Julius Caesar Room, Figs. 349 and 350,
are more refined in character than in the James I room, but are still local in type. The
panels are large, framed in with separate mitred mouldings, and the pilasters are slender
and without taper or entasis. The timber is quartered oak of exceptionally fine figure
and quality. Of the three caryatid figures on the overmantel, the one on the right
bears a superficial resemblance to a Roman soldier, from which circumstance the name
of the room was probably derived. The heraldic shields in the two panels are in original
polychrome.

It must be remembered that none of these Rotherwas panellings were in original
situ at the time of their removal in 1912. They had, in nearly every instance, been
adapted to the eighteenth-century house with some necessary rearrangement of the
panelling flanks. Many examples of the woodwork of James II and Anne at Rotherwas,
in unusual woods, such as yew and sycamore, also existed, and were readapted at the
same time. The Bodenhams were Royalists, and, as such, suffered considerable hard-
ships during the Commonwealth. Between 1620 and 1685 no work appears to have been
undertaken at Rotherwas, and none of importance was put into the house after. 1625.
The last of the Bodenhams, Count Lubienski Bodenham, died in 1912.

Billesle^' (it is Billeslei in Domesday) is a Warwickshire village and a manor house,
some miles from Alcester. The manor has both a Saxon and a Norman historj^ but
it is with the later house of the seventeenth century that we are concerned here. It
has records of considerable antiquity. It is entailed on the heirs male of Sir Alured
Trussell, Knight, in the sixth year of Richard II (1382). The Trussells appear to have
held Billesley, although much of their property in Norfolk, Berkshire, Leicestershire,
Northamptonshire and Essex, passed with the marriage of Ehzabeth Trussell in 1523
to John Vere, afterwards Earl of Oxford. Thomas Trussell is Sheriff for Warwickshire
and Leicestershire in this year, and was, doubtless the owner of Billesley. Dugdale
asserts that he is buried in the Billesley church of All Saints, but we shall have more to
say about this church a little later on.

Another Thomas Trussell, the fifth in descent from the Sheriff of Warwickshire, is
the last of the family to hold Billesley, as in 1604 it is sold to Sir Robert Lee, Kt., the
son and heir (although he is the younger of two brothers, Henry and Robert) of Sir

334

Fig. 374.
THE OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM CLIFFORD'S INN.

Detail of a door.
Date 1686-8.

335

Victoria and .\lbert Museum.

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

Robert Lee, Alderman of the City of London, and, later, Lord Maj'or. The Trussells
appear to have held Billesley, in unbroken succession, since 1165, when Osbert Trussell
had the manor of \\'illiam, Earl of Warwick, for the service of one Knight's fee.

Sir Robert Lee made Billesley his country seat, and sixteen years later, he, in turn,
is High Sheriff for Warwickshire. Whether his brother was the same Sir Henry Lee
who was Master of the Armoury at the Tower in 1580, is not certain, but there is some
evidence, as we shall see later, to show that he was, probably, a connection, at least.
The date is interesting, as the renowned Jacob Topf was Court Armourer at this period.

\\'ith the later history of Billesley we have little concern. The Lees held it until
about 1690, when it was sold to Bernard Whalley, who appears to have done little or

The Duke of Devonshire,

Fig. 375.
CHATSWORTH, DERBYSHIRE.

The state Dining-room, sometimes called the State Great Chamber.
Date 1690-4.

J. .-Albert Bennett, Esq., Photo.

IJ^ood Panellings and Mantels

nothing in the house although Dugdale claims that he rebuilt the church. From the
same authority we learn that the Trussells, Lees and \Mialleys lie in the churchyard,
but it is the arms of Whalley, argent three whales' heads razed sable, which are glazed
in the East window.

There is a mystery here ; of this Whalley church not a vestige remains, and what
is even more strange, the churchyard with its tombs has disappeared likewise. The
present church of All Saints is a small structure, evidently composed of windows and
fragments from a secular house of the late seventeenth century. When it was built,
or what became of the ^^'halley church, or of the family tombs, is quite unknown. Still
more strange, the signposts show the way to Billesley ; it figures on the ordnance

The Duke of Devonshire.
2 X

Fig. 376.
CHATSWORTH, DERBYSHIRE.

The State Drawing-room.
Date 1692-4.

337

J. Albert Bennett, Esq., Photo.

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

surveys, yet the \illage has also disappeared without trace, nor has it been known to
exist since the Black Death swept its population away in the early fifteenth century.
There is, therefore, not only a church, with East (chancel) window glazed with the
W'halley arms all complete, but an entire village also, which must be reckoned among
the missing, lost without any records, antiquarian or local. Gone also is the flowered
cross of the Trussells, the silver and black shield of the Lees and the whales of Whalley.

In recent years the house fell on e\'il days, one half being reserved to the owner of
that time, the other (walled off) being let to a farmer. It was left in this state until
the present proprietor restored it in 1912.

The panellings at Billesley are exceptionally fine both in wood-texture and moulding
section. That these were put in by Sir Robert Lee is almost certain, but for which
rooms they were made is not so clear, as the house had been altered a good deal, and
was much neglected prior to 1912. There is evidence of both local and London work
in these wainscottings. The London connections of the Lees (the father, Sir Robert,
we must remember, was Alderman and Lord Mayor in 1602) would account, in some
measure, for this duality. Thus the Hall mantel. Fig. 351, and possibly the panels with
their pilasters, are of ^^'arwickshire origin, and the same may be said of the Shakespeare
Room, Fig. 354, \vhere the mantel is made from oak with applied bosses and strap-work
of pear and other fruit woods. The panelling in a Dressing-room on the first floor, a
corner of which is shown here in Fig. 352, has the appearance of being East Anglian
work. The moulding sections are extraordinarily delicate, and the oak is superb in
quality and figure. In Fig. 356, details of the mouldings in the principal rooms are
given, and the second from the top shows this room.

The panelling in the Dining-room, Fig. 355, bears a strong resemblance, both in
panel- arrangement and section, to that of the Bromley Palace room, already illustrated
in Fig. 328, enough to suggest a London origin for this woodwork.

There are four large, and very remarkable steel locks en the upper room doors at
Billesley, which indicate a connection between Sir Robert Lee and the Armoury of the
Tower of London. In Fig. 357 are two of the slab doors with their locks in situ. These
locks are peculiar in possessing only one bolt, which acts as a latch if operated by the
key outside. Another key on the inside of the door double-shoots this bolt and secures
it so that the outside key is inoperative. In Figs. 358 to 362, these locks are shown.
Fig. 362 only having a single, and an original key, which can be used from both sides
of the door. Lender the pierced outer rim of these locks is a backing of leather, originally
red, but now black with age. Each lock, excepting Fig. 362, has two keyholes on the

IJ^ood Panellings and Mantels

Fig. 377.
CHATSWORTH, DERBYSHIRE.

Landing on Second Floor, showing alabaster door case and iron staircase by Tijcu.

Date 1689-94.
The Duke of Devonshire. J. Albert Bennett, Esq., Photo.

339

Early Kriglish Furniture and IJ^oodwork

outside, one masked 1)>- a pivoted covering-piece of forged steel. In Fig. 359, which is
the reverse of Fig. 358, the mechanism of the lock can be seen, together with the Tower
armourer's mark at the end of the bolt. The projecting knob actuates the latch from the
inside in the same way as the key does on the outside.

The fashion for these elaborate steel locks is a survival from the first years of the
sixteenth, if not the later part of the fifteenth, century. The early examples are exceed-
inglj' rare, but at Beddington Manor House one still exists which dates from the reign

Fig. 378.
WOODCOTE PARK, EPSOM.

Ante-room (formerly Chapel) Doorway.
c. 1690.

340

J. Albert Bennett, Esq., Photo.

Wood Panel linqs and Mantels

of Henry VII. It is illustrated here in Fig. 363. These elaborate locks must have been
very rare, however, at all periods, as, on this scale of elaboration, they could only have
been made for the houses of the very wealthy. They must have been the product of
the armourer's craft rather than that of the smith, and were highly esteemed at the
time when they were made. On their present-day value it is idle to speculate.

The woodwork of Western Sussex and Hampshire is characterised by a vigorous
coarseness, quite different in type from that of Lancashire or Cheshire. Hampshire
panellings almost achieve a refinement by their reticent use of ornament. Fig. 364
shows the type, \vith rebated door,
flanked by pilasters which have
little or no relation to the sur-
rounding panelling. The pilaster-
bases, with central facetted rect-
angle, surrounded by coarse and
somewhat meaningless ornament,
indicate a county without many
artistic traditions. The same
somewhat uncouth character is
shown in the room. Figs. 365 and
366, where the panels are coarsely
scratch-moulded, with httle or no
symmetry. The mantel is, un-
questionably, the best part of the
whole composition. It may be
noted that towards the middle of
the seventeenth century these oak
panels tend to become larger. The
full development in this direction
will be illustrated later on.

Norfolk and Suffolk possess
their own style in mantels, wall
panellings and in furniture. The
East Anglian characteristics are
more easy to illustrate than to
describe. The woodwork varies

Fig. 379.

WOODCOTE PARK, EPSOM.

The Ante-room (formerly the Chapel).
c. 1690.

J. Albert Bennett, Esq., Photo.

34t

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

from very simple to the most ornate, yet it is the constructive details which are
usually carved : ornament is rarely introduced, as in the case of the Devonshire
and Somersetshire work, merely for its own sake. There is, in consequence, a quality
of repose, which, allied with a clean-cut sense of proportion, gives an appearance
of richness which is not entirely due to the amount of carving introduced. Thus
the simple mantel and panelling from Swann Hall, in Suffolk, Fig. 367, of about the last
years of the Commonwealth period, have a satisfying sense of ornament introduced in
just the right degree and manner. The Dutch or Flemish element is never absent in
this East Anglian work, but this is in no way remarkable, considering the close com-
mercial associations which existed between Norfolk and Suffolk and the Low Countries
from the first years of the sixteenth century, — or even before, — until the accession of
George I in 1714.

The somewhat later, and more elaborate, versions of this East Anglian manner
are shown in the two mantels, Figs. 368 and 369. Both are at Holywells, Mr. J. D.
Cobbold's house at Ipswich. The first has the typical Suffolk composition of a truss-
bracketted frieze with car^-atid figures under, on small moulded bases, with a central
inner framed panel (a favourite detail throughout almost the whole of England during
the seventeenth century") flanked by two others, arcaded and pilastered. Both frieze
and base of the overmantel are ornamented in flat strap-work patterns with slight
undercutting. Fig. 369 is more ornate, although much of the interesting inlay does not
show in the photograph. The arcading and pilasters of the three panels of the over-
mantel, are of red deal instead of the more usual oak. The oak panels are inlaid with
bandings of interlaced diamond pattern, on the first from the left, a ship in full sail
with a flag showing a red cross on a white ground, in the centre a painted globe on
stand, with the inscription underneath,

" He that travels ye world about
Seeth Gods wonders and Gods works.

" Thomas Eldred travelled ye world about and went out of Plimouth 21st
of July 1586 & arrived in Plimouth again the 9th of September 1588,"'

and on the right-hand panel, a bust of a nautical figure wearing a lace collar of the
Charles I period, in the act of using a sextant.

That this mantel, as in the case of the Yarmouth rooms, was made for another of

' In St. Clement's Church, Ipswich, is an inscription to the memory of this Thomas Eldred who accompanied
Cavendish in his voyage round the world.

342

TVood Panellings and Mantels

the Suffolk merchant adventurers, in this case of the middle seventeenth century, is
highly probable, as no other would have commemorated the exploits of Thomas Eldred
in this fashion. Numbers of these elaborate rooms have been removed from East
Anglia, especially from hotels and inns, but where it has been possible to trace them
back to their original sources, it is nearly always a merchant, usually one who was
engaged in the woollen trade with Flanders or in adventures to the Spanish Main, who
emerges from the mists of time. Frequently, these men were of Dutch extraction,
and commerce with the Low Countries must have been exceedingly lucrative, judging
by the ornate furnishings in which they indulged. Rich as this Holywells mantel is,
with its quaint suggestion of ventures by land and sea, — probably a record of an ancestor

Fig. 380.
OAK-PANELLED ROOM FROM WHITLEY BEAUMONT.

Early eighteenth century.
343

Messrs. Robersons.

Early English Furniture and Woodwork

more than half a century before, — the East Anghan decorative limit had been reached
before the end of Elizabeth's reign as in the Yarmouth panellings already illustrated.
Who built Fcnner's House we do not know, but the second, as we have seen, was the
private residence, or business house, — probably both, — of William Crowe, the Merchant
Adventurer, possibly a merchant with a small filibustering branch to his business (they
were not over-nice in their doings when on the high seas in the reign of Elizabeth). He
is a merchant, liowe\'er, and proud of the fact, as he places the arms of his Company
in the centre of his mantel as a reminder to others of his status in the world of commerce.

Trade with Holland and Flanders had declined, towards the close of the seventeenth
century, from the former high position it had occupied at the end of the sixteenth.
The Netherlands had safely harboured Charles II before 1660, however, and when the
King was called to ascend the English throne (Pepys was one of the deputation which
went to fetch him) there is no doubt that the Hollanders were not forgotten. That the
trade of Norfolk and Suffolk with the Netherlands revived after the Restoration is highly
probable ; and we shall see the reflex of this revival a little later in this chapter in
Fig. 370.

There is one detail which is to be found in nearly, if not in all of this seventeenth-
century woodwork which has been illustrated thus far ; the panels are always of com-
paratively small area. Occasionally a joint in the panel was attempted, but rarely ;
in the majority of instances the wood is in the one piece.

The credit for the introduction of the large panel in the wainscotting of rooms must
be given to John Webb, who, in the later years of the Commonwealth, had used it, with
effect, at Thorpe, Thorney Abbey House, and elsewhere. It was obvious, from the
outset, that such an innovation would come from an architect rather than from a
practical joiner, or from one acquainted with the limitations, as well as the advantages,
of oak, and with a wholesome dread of such incidents as cracking or warping of panels.
These large surfaces once insisted upon, it was left to a practical carpenter to carry out
the design in the best and safest manner possible. With the traditions of that date,
some compromise was inevitable, and we find two methods sometimes adopted ; in
certain instances red deal (so often miscalled " pine ") is used instead of oak, and in
others the framing is applied direct with the plaster wall forming the panels. At Tytten-
hanger we have the broad panels inserted in doors, but here they are of substantial
thickness. That this wholesome fear of the large panel was very prevalent in the later
Commonwealth years is evident by the fact that panellings from earlier periods were
used in the new houses of that date, in many cases. It was as if the men who knew,

344

JVood Panellings and Mantels

the carpenters and joiners, insisted on the small panel as a measure of safety, and
convinced both architect and client that their views were just and sound.

It is just before the Restoration that we find decorative woodwork, — which had,
hitherto, been the exclusive province of the joiner, — often left to the designing-skill of
the architect, with a loss in constructional soundness but a gain in freedom and novelty.
At the same time, especially in the East Anghan counties, the joiner still holds sway,
copying older designs and methods, with the result that we get such examples as
Fig. 370, which on the evidence of its details merely, might be referred to a much earlier
date.

There are no details in this woodwork, apparently, which on the evidence of other
panellings of the seventeenth century, would justify a date as late as 1670-80. It is of

2 Y

Fig. 381.
RED DEAL PANELLING AND MANTEL.

Removed from a house at Leatherhead.
Early eighteenth century.

345

Messrs. Robersons.

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

either Norfolk or Suffolk origin, which is the first significant fact to be noted. Secondly,
it is in the East Anglian furniture of the very late seventeenth century that we find
this lavish use of the inner framed panel. The joiner-traditions persisted in these counties
for many years, both in furniture and woodwork. When such pieces as long settles
or benches are found, in these localities, carved with a date, — which is frequently the
fact, — this is always later than one would expect, — judging merely by style,— and very
often considerably so. We know that the new architects' manner of the large panel
found very small favour in East Angha, other than in the very large houses where the
London architect was introduced, and, with him, in all probabilitJ^ workmen from
London, The fashion for painting, and even parcel-gilding of wood panellings was
also coming into vogue at this date, and oak was being replaced by red deal. There still
lingered, especially among the East Anglian traders who had connections with Flanders,
a desire for the small-panelled wainscotting of oak, and these elaborately mitred inner
framed panellings became the rule among the merchants of the two counties towards
the close of the seventeenth century. There is a strong possibility that much of the
furniture which corresponds, ver^^ closely, to this panelling in style, was made in the
same districts, and for these houses. This, then, is the justification for dating such
examples as Fig. 370 as late as 1670-80. The general style, although like some of the
work of much earlier date, is quite distinct when examined in detail. It is an earlier
manner persisting to a late date, but with considerable modifications.

It was, more or less, inevitable that an occasion would arise where the substitution
of deal for oak, or the use of a plaster wall in place of a wooden panel, would fail to
satisfy, and that the large jointed panel would have to be ventured. It is not literally
correct, but is sufficiently so for our present purpose, to say that it is the use of large
panels of wood, and especially the use of deal, which sharply divides the woodwork of
the eighteenth from that of the seventeenth century. The oak room from Clifford's
Inn, illustrated here in Figs. 371 to 374, is one of the very early examples of the use of
large oak panels in the wainscotting of a room, other than in a large mansion. At Ham
House, the panelling in the dining-room, in the same style of projecting panel with
large raised bolection moulding, dates from some ten years before, but there is not the
same panel area. At Shavington the panels are larger, — in some cases with four, and
even five joints in them, — and with chamfered " fields," but the work here is con-
temporary with the Clifford's Inn room, almost to a year. It was also done for Viscount
Kilmorey in the first year of the short reign of James II, and may be said to represent
the most fashionable and matured manner of its time. Novel, — as it was for its date, —

346

IJ^ood Panellings and Mantels

and elaborate as this Clifford's Inn room is, it was made, not for a noble, but for a plain
Cornish gentleman. It was in 1674, on the fifth day of February, to be precise, that John
Penhalow took possession of a set of chambers in Clifford's Inn. In this No. 3, some
twelve years later (another set of chambers was added to the first during that time),
this superb panelling was completed and installed. By his agreement with the benchers
John Penhalow had the double set of chambers, not only for his own, but for two lives
beyond, and he lived here with his panelling for twenty-eight years. After him came
his brother Benjamin until 1722,
and he was succeeded by the third
life, John Rogers. Whether the
Penhalows or Rogers, or later
tenants, were responsible for the
numberless coats of paint with
which the rich oak was daubed,
it is not possible to say. Equally
obscure is the name of the designer.
He must have possessed taste and
skill, and withal considerable daring,
^or was it want of technical know-
ledge,— to have designed a scheme
requiring oak panels of such large
size, often as wide as thirty inches.
Whoever he was, whether a pupil
of Wren or a craftsman brought by
Penhalow from his native Cornwall,
he did his work well, selected fine
quartered timber, jointed his panels
so carefully that even the ray
pattern is carried accurately from
one section to the other, and in
the wealth of fine carving above
the mantel, inserted the arms of
his patron, Penhalow quartering

25 MORTIMER STREET, LONDON, W,

Penwarne.

Door and architrave in carved red deal.

There are four doors to the 1730-40.

347

Karly English Furniture and JFoodwork

room, two of the kind shown in Fig. ^^i, two with scrolled pediments as in Fig. 374,
and two windows. The enriched mouldings are in solid oak, but the ornamentation
of the mantel and the panels of the door pediments arc of lime tree (originally nearly
white, but now a warm brown) applied to the oak ground. The ceiling, originally,
was of plain plaster. Obviously, it was not removed with the room. The panels, of
fine quartered oak, are flat, without chamfers, and stand forward in front of the face of
the framing in the rebates of boldly-projecting bolection mouldings.

The work may have been inspired from that of Wren or \\'ebb or more probably
from both. It has Webb's sections in the enriched mouldings, especiallj^ in the door
architraves and overmantel, and the applied carvings owe much to Gibbons. Yet there
is a sense of scale and of restraint, in idea of what could be justified in a room 18 ft.
6 ins. b}- 14 ft. 10 ins., and with a height from floor to ceiling of only g ft. 10 ins., which
one would not expect from Wren, Webb or Gibbons, accustomed, as they were, to rooms
of vast size. When we approach the direction of Cornwall, we find at Compton, in
Wiltshire (the home of the Penruddocks, another Cornish family), in the dining-room,
work of similar character, but on a much larger scale. True, at Compton the applied
carvings, although without the heavy massing of Gibbons, are still in his manner, whereas
in this room from Clifford's Inn it is only the application of pierced and carved work
of one wood on another which suggests Gibbons at all. One would like to believe that
John Penhalow brought his craftsmen from the south-western counties of England to
embellish his London chambers, but the evidence for this is meagre and cannot be relied
upon.

We have illustrated the type of woodwork which was made for the chambers of a
plain Cornish gentleman in Clifford's Inn between 1686 and 1688. Attention may be
turned, for a brief space, to examine the same large-panelled style as made for a noble-
man,— perhaps not a very wealthy one at that date, — in the case of the Earl of Devon-
shire at Chatsworth in Derbyshire. This can only be by way of a digression, as neither
palatial woodwork nor furniture really illustrate the evolution of craft or design, being
always exceptional in character, in a manner which places almost each example in a
class by itself.

The history of the Cavendish family is interesting from many points of view, even
if we begin as far back as the Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench in 1366, 1373
and 1377, Sir John, who founded the line of which, at a later period, two branches were
to attain dukedoms. William Cavendish, the fourth in descent, was gentleman-usher
to Cardinal Wolsey, and remained faithful to him in his disgrace. He outlived the great

348

JVood Panellings and Mantels

Cardinal, and at the dissolution of monasteries obtained large grants of abbey lands,
upon which his third wife, the famous Bess of Hardwick, built many mansions, and
to which the same lady added many broad acres.

Tradition has it, prophecy of the time foretold that Bess of Hardwick should
never die as long as she continued building, and it is reported that her death actually
took place during a snowstorm, when the masons could not work. It is obvious that
in the reign of Henry VHI the subject of such a forecast had not to reckon with such trifles
as trade disputes or strikes, otherwise, in modern parlance, the actuarial risk would

Fig. 383.
DETAIL OF THE ARCHITRAVE AND DOOR, FIG. 382.

349

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

have been greatly enhanced. True or false, prophecy or no prophecy, Bess of Hard-
wick left to succeeding Cavendishes the advantage, — or should it be the incubus, — of
many houses. Chatsworth, Hardwick, Holker Hall, Lismore Castle, Compton Place
at Eastbourne, and Devonshire House in Piccadilly, these were all Cavendish property
at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

It was in 1686 that the Earl of Devonshire (afterwards the Duke) began the altera-
tions to Chatsworth, with Talman, the architect of Dyrham, as his advisor. The Earl
was in his forty-sixth year at this date. He brings workmen from town ; Henry Lobb
and Robert Owen, the " London joyners " figure in the estate records for 1688, and
Thomas Young and William Davis are the carvers. Legend has connected the name
of Grinling Gibbons with Chatsworth, and he may have made models or even have carved
a sample piece or two in the Great Chamber, Fig. 375, but the bulk of this fine carving,
in soft lime tree, is the work of a Derbyshire man, Samuel Watson, who was engaged
at Chatsworth from 1691 to 1715. Thomas Young and William Davis, before-mentioned,
appear to have been contractors, — or " upholders," in the eighteenth-century phraseology,
— as to them sums aggregating more than £1,000 are paid for the carvings in this Great
Chamber, and over £2,000 for wainscottings, which include the panellings here. In
1692 William Davis appears, associated with Joel Lobb and Samuel Watson, contracting
with the Earl of Devonshire for carvings in lime tree to cost £400.

The Earl could not have been a very wealthy man at this date, that is, on the scale
which the possession of six great houses would demand. There was no Eastbourne
to swell the Cavendish revenues, and London property had not acquired a tithe of the
rental value which it afterwards did. Yet there is no severe economy evident, as far as
the work at Chatsworth is concerned. The State Drawing-room, Fig. 376, is even on a
more lavish scale than the Great Chamber, with its wonderful Mortlake tapestries on
the walls, and its equally wonderful carvings over the mantel and the doors. Through
the open door in Fig. 375, can be seen one of the door-cases of locally-quarried alabaster,
and in Fig. 377 is shown one of these gorgeous doorways together with the forged iron
balus trading of the stairs, the work of Tijou. \^'ork on this scale of magnificence must
have occupied many years. Talman is instructed, as we have seen, in 1686, but Samuel
Watson, the carver, is still engaged at Chatsworth some twenty-nine years later, although
probably working, at this date, on accessories which were in the nature of after-thoughts.

The large six- or eight-panelled doors, as seen in the State Drawing-room, with carved
door-heads, were the mode at the close of the seventeenth century. From that house of
many periods, Woodcote Park at Epsom — now the golf club-house of the Royal Auto-

35°

Fig. 384.
SECTIONS OF DOOR AND ARCHITRAVE, FIG. 382.

Actual size.

351

Early Kriglish Furniture and IVoodwork

mobile Club — in an ante-room which was formerly the chapel, the door, shown here in
Fig. 378, was taken. It is on a smaller scale than the doors at Chatsworth, only three-
panelled, and double, with the large box-locks of the period, a copy from the French
Louis Quatorze. In Fig. 379 is shown the mantel from the same room, — probably of
somewhat later date, as much work was done at Woodcote from the late seventeenth
to the middle eighteenth century, — with a framed panel above the opening, here empty,
but formerly containing a picture, surrounded by festooned carvings in soft lime tree,
somewhat weak in design.

The substitution of red deal for oak usually marks the beginning of the eighteenth
century, the usual finish being either painting or graining. Occasionally we meet with
an example of scumble-work at this period, — a glazing of amber-coloured varnish over
a white or a stippled ground of yellow, the effect of which is charming, although some
artistic deception in material is necessarily implied, — and, very occasionally, the wood-
work is marbled. For important work oak was still used, often in conjunction with stucca
composition, or even scagliola. Parcel-gilding of ornaments also becomes almost the
rule during the reign of Anne.

From Whitley Beaumont, about six miles from Huddersfield, came the fine room
shown in Fig. 380. Here we encroach on the classical manner of the first years of the
eighteenth century. The wood is oak throughout, with the exception of the orna-
ments in the frieze, which are of pear tree, gilded. The columns, — which divide the apart-
ment into room and ante-room, — are also of oak, very lightly constructed, in four vertical
sections cooper-jointed on the shafts, with turned caps and bases, also hollowed out.
The inspiration of the classical cornice, with its modillions entirely covered on the
soffits with dentils placed closely together, — a very unusual detail, — and the frieze
with triglyphs, is entirely architectural. Between these tablets of the frieze are heads
of animals, birds and other devices, with Beaumont cyphers interlaced. The height
of this room from floor to ceiling is 13 ft. 7 ins.

Another room, of somewhat later date, probably of the later years of George I, is
shown in Fig. 381. Here the scheme is much more simple, and the room is low, 8 ft.
6 ins. to the top of the cornice, which was evidently the finish under the ceiling, unless
a coving, in plaster, was used above, — which is doubtful with a cornice of this size.
The section of this latter is also unusual, with large overhang to the corona, and carved
dentils below, but the frieze is divided from the panelling by a small astragal bead instead
of the large stepped frieze moulding which one would have expected at this date.
The wood here is red deal, a timber which was very general in work of the

35-

J Food Panellings and Mantels

eighteenth century. The
usual finish of tliis wood-
work was paint, but this
red deal was always of
beautiful grain and quality,
far superior to anything
procurable at the present
day. It was imported from
the Baltic ports, Dantzic
and Memel, but the source
is now extinguished.

A very commendable
fashion has obtained, of
recent years, of stripping
this fine deal, — which is
generally of beautiful colour
when the paint is removed,
— graining the knots, —
which are the only dis-
figurements,— to match the
texture of the wood, and
finishing with wax and
friction. The fine door
with its architrave, shown
in Fig. 382, which is in its
original situ, has been
stripped in this manner,
and the colour is now that
of old pencil cedar. This
door, apart from the fine
quality of the carving, is

Fig. 385.

ALCOVE CUPBOARD IN RED
DEAL.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

exceptional in many details. It is of the type which can be much more easily copied
badly than accurately. One detail in proportions can be referred to here. The modern
six-panelled door has the smallest panel at the top, the next in size at the bottom and the
middle panel is taller than the other two. In this door the lower and middle panels are
the same in height. This could not ha\'e been conditioned b}- the position of a surbase
moulding, as this could ha\-e been fixed at any height from the floor in reason. The
idea is that the eye gives an effect of downward perspective, so that the lower door panel
really appears to be less in height than the middle one. This detail is not unusual in
eighteenth-century doors, in fact it may be said to be rather the rule than the exception,
and yet in reproduction work it is the one which is rarely noticed, with the result that,
in copies, one gets the effect of a modern Swedish machine-made door. Another point
to be noticed on the page of sections is the extraordinary thickness of the door panels.
The flat of the panel on its fielded side is nearly level with the face of the door frame.
The architrave, also, has an abnormal projection for the size of the door and the room,
and this is still further accentuated by the bevelling of the architrave return. It is in
two sections, the mouldings of the front half being worked on the solid instead of the
facing of the front ogee, as one usually finds in mouldings of this size. The sections of
this door and its architrave are shown in Fig. 384. The skirting and panel-moulding
of the window re^'eals in the same room are carved in the same fine manner. The detail
of the door carving can be seen, to a larger scale, in Fig. 383. The date of this work
is about 1730-40.

To this period belongs the fine china alcove or niche which was made to displav
the decorative porcelains of the middle eighteenth century, illustrated here in Fig. 385.
This comes from the South-west of England, but there is no longer the local distinctions
of type which existed, formerly. The paint has been removed from this alcove cupboard,
and the fine red deal has now the colour of faded pencil cedar or pear tree, the result of
the action of lead and oil in the paint, and the exclusion of light for many years. The
shell abo\'e is finely carved, in high-relief scrolling with the arms of Hicks on the
cartouche, originally all painted in polychrome and gold, with \'ery rich effect. The
ends of the shelves finish with carved spandrels in similar fashion to the returns of treads
in the staircases of the same date (see Fig. 254). Simple in general effect, yet with a
quiet charm in proportion, detail, colour and play of light and shade, with this china
niche the progression of English woodwork must be concluded, as far as the scope of this
book is concerned, leaving the subsequent development of panellings and interior joinery
to be traced further, during the remainder of the eighteenth century, in a later work.

354

Chapter X.

Bedsteads and their Development.

HE last will and testament of \\'illiam of Wykeham, Bishop of Win-
chester, builder of Windsor Castle and part of Winchester Cathedral,-
founder of New College at Oxford, high prelate and the wisest coun-
sellor which Edward the Third ever had, is dated 1403, one year before
his death. He leaves money to the poor in the prisons of London,

Winchester, Wolvesy, Oxford, Guildford and Old and New Sarum, to the amount of two

hundred pounds. To the church of Winchester he bequeaths his new rich vestment of

blue cloth embroidered with

gold, and thirty capes of the

same, with gold fringes, a pyx

of beryl for the host, and a

cross of gold with relics of the

true cross. To New College he

leaves his mitre, crozier, dal-
matics and sandals. To his

college at Winchester another

mitre, his Bible and several

books from his library.

To Robert Braybrooke,

Bishop of London, he demises

his large silk bed and furniture

in his palace at Winchester,

with the whole suite of tapestry

hangings from the same place.
One could have wished a

more ample and detailed refer-
ence to the bed of an important

prelate, dating from the late

fourteenth century, and be-
queathed in the first years of

Fig. 386.
OAK BEDSTEAD (TESTER MISSING).

5 ft. 4i ins. wide. Lengtli 6 ft. 2 ins. (between posts).
Present height 5 ft. 10 ins. Posts 3^ ins. square.

Early si.xteenth century.

Saffron Walden Museum.

355

Early English Furniture and Jf^ooclwork

Fig. 387.
OAK BEDPOSTS.

5 ft. 4i ins. to 5 ft. 7 ins. liigh ; 2| ins. tiiick.

Early sixteenth century.

Fig. 388.
OAK BEDPOSTS.

6 ft. 5 ins. high ; 4 ins. thick.

Victoria and Albert Museur

Bedsteads and their Development

the fifteenth. The
term " silk bed "
obviously refers to
the hangings, but
whether the bedstead
was of the four-post
t3'pe, or merely a pallet
standing in a curtained
recess, we have no
means of knowing.
Magnificent as many
of the high Church
dignitaries were in
their mode of life, very
little real comfort, in
the modern sense, was
known before the six-
teenth century. The
magnificence was bar-
baric ; the eye was
dazzled, but the body
was little comforted.
We know, also, especi-
ally in secular houses,
from the fortified
castle down to the
superior yeoman's
house, that the bed-
chamber had only a
secondary importance.
The life of the family
was in the Great Hall,
and the private apart-
ments, including the
bedrooms, were rudelv

li \ J ' i.

Fig. 389.

6 It. high.

l?3

Fig. 390.
OAK BEDPOSTS.

6 ft. z\ ins. high (complete) by 3J ins. thick.
Early sixteenth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

357

Early English Furniture and JFoodwork

Fig. 391.
OAK BEDSTEAD.

(Restored).

Height 5 ft. lo ins. Length 6 ft. 6 ins. Width 4 ft. 9 ins.

Early sixteenth century. y^ Smedley .\ston, Esq.

358

Bedsteads and their Development

and sparsely furnished, with Uttle or no pretence to real comfort. Walls onh' begin
to be clothed with panelhngs of wood, — the first attempt at relieving the nakedness
of stone walls or partitions of wood and plaster, — during the latter part of the fifteenth
century. A rich and powerful prelate would have his walls hung with tapestries

Fig. 392.
HEAD-BOARD OF OAK BEDSTEAD.

4 ft. 2i ins. wide by 4 ft. li ins. high.
Date about 1545-50.

359

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Early English E^tdrriiturc and Jl^oodwork

Fig. 393.
OAK BEDSTEAD, MIDLAND TYPE.

Height 6 ft. 3 ins. Width 4 ft. 6 ins. Length 6 ft.
Mid-seventeenth century.

Victoria and Albert Muteum.

;6o

Bedsteads and their Development

even at a considerably earlier period than this, but in the ordinary houses, even of the
moderately wealthy, where painted hangings were not used in imitation of the lordly
tapestry, the walls were either left bare or decorated with crude paintings on wood
studs or plaster filling, or on both.

In turbulent times, the men-folk slept in their clothes, and where they could. We
know that retainers in large houses far outnumbered the bedroom accommodation.
A shakedown of straw or rushes was probably the usual bed, or, as an alternative, the
softest place which could be found on a floor-board.

To illustrate early bedsteads, — and this is only possible in fragmentary form, —
we are compelled to show examples which are, in the mere fact that they are bedsteads
at all, palatial pieces. Of these, as a rule, nothing has survived beyond the posts, and in
rare instances, the head boards. The fragment from Saffron Walden Museum, Fig. 386,
is all that remains of what must have been an important bedstead in the early sixteenth
century. That it is not later than the first years of Henry VIII is shown by the patterns
of the posts, especially of the upper portions, which resemble the carved brick chimneys
of this date. The panelled head-board has the early form of moulded panel (not a
linenfold), a similar example of which . - - ^

we have already seen in the Lavenham
porch. Fig. 267. In the Victoria and
Albert Museum are several examples
of these early bedposts, shown here in
Figs. 387 to 390, all with more or less
suggestion of the Renaissance super-
imposed on the Gothic. The three in
Fig. 387 are almost free from this in-
fluence, and are, probably, the earliest
in date. The central one is particularly
charming, with its simple chip-carved
ornament. The same feeling is found
in many of the early chests, which will
be illustrated in the next volume.
Fig. 388 shows the complete four posts
of a bed with the remains of the head •
framing on the two at the back. These
are the half-posts to which the head-

3 A 361

Fig. 394.
OAK BEDSTEAD.

Dated 1593.

Early English Furniture and JV^oodwork

Fig. 395.

OAK BEDSTEAD.

Height 8 ft. 7i ins. Width 5 ft, 8 ins. Length 7 ft. 10 ins.
Early seventeenth century.

362

Fig. 396.
OAK BEDSTEAD.

Late sixteenth century.

363

Great Fulford, Devon.

Early English Furniture and Jf^oodwork

Fig. 397.
OAK BEDSTEAD.

Date about 1630-40.

36+

Astlev Hall, Chorley, Lanes.

Bedsteads and their Development

framing was fixed. The Gothic pinnacled buttress-finish at the floor-ends of those
on the front is in tlie manner one would expect at this date, but is rare in bed-
posts. Fig. 389 is a pair, of square section, the shafts with pronounced Renaissance
ornament on bases traceried in the late Gothic manner. Fig. 390 are probably French,
the one on the right having the insignia of the Medici family, the one in the centre the
fleur-de-lv5. The ornament, also, is executed in the manner of Touraine rather than
of England. A comparison between the diamond-treatment of the shaft of the post
on the right with
those on either side
in Fig. 387, will
show this difference,
although some
allowance must be
made for the de-
faced state of the
former.

Fig. 391 shows
one of these bed-
steads erected, but
the tester and
cornice are missing,
and the panelling
which acts here as
a head-board is not
original and is also
later in date. The
rails of these bed-
steads were laced
with ropes threaded
through holes, and
on this rope mesh
the bedding was
placed. In Fig. 392,
which dates from
about the middle

Fig. 398.
WALNUT BEDSTEAD.

Date about lo/u.

365

Early English Furniture and JVoodwork

Fig. 399.

STATE BEDSTEAD.

Height 14 ft. 4 ins. Widtli 6 ft. to 7 ft.

Late seventeenth century. The Duke of Buccleuch.

-.66

of the sixteenth cen-
tury, these rope-holes
have been pierced right
through the vertically-
moulded panels of the
head. This fragment,
the applied balusters
of which are distinctly
Renaissance in char-
acter, in spite of their
crudity, probably
formed a part of a bed-
stead of open form,
without cornice or
tester. There is some
reason to suppose that
bedsteads of this kind
were made to stand
in a draped alcove, and
it is probably one of
this description which
is referred to in William
of Wykeham's testa-
ment.

It is late in the
sixteenth century be-
fore bedsteads become
really important pieces
of furniture. Sir Toby
Belch, in " Twelfth
Night," says, "...
and as many lies as will
lie in thy sheet of paper,
although the sheet
were big enough for

Bedsteads and their Development

Fig. 400.
STATE BEDSTEAD.

Late seventeenth century.

367

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Early English Furniture and JJ^oodwork

the bed of Ware, set 'cm down," so this famous bed must have been well known in
Shakespeare's day. Rut " Ticdjth Night" was not written until about 1601, and it
was first acted on the Christmas of that year in the same Hall of the Middle Temple
which has been illustrated in this book in Fig. 82. Large and ornate bedsteads
must have been well-known in Shakespeare's day, but the fact that they call for
remark shows that they could only have been exceptional pieces.

The seventeenth-century bedstead of the middle classes was a much more simple
affair. Fig. 393 may be taken as illustrating the type, one which persisted, in country

districts, even until the
close of the eighteenth
century. Both head and
foot-ends are completely
panelled in up to the
tester. This latter was
sometimes framed to
correspond, but, more
often merely boarded in.
The open sides were
usually closed with cur-
tains, and this dread
of fresh air lasted for
many years with English
country-folk, even until
the latter years of the
nineteenth century.

It may be an in-
dication of date, but is,
more probably, merely
an alternative fashion,
where the front posts are
distinct from the pallet
and side-rails of the bed
itself. An absence of
foot-board, as in Fig. 394,
mav be taken as an in-

Fig. 401.
STATE BEDSTEAD.

Late seventeenth century.

The Earl of Chesterfield.
368

Bedsteads and their Development

clication of the sixteenth century, although both Yorkshire and Lancashire held
to this fashion for many years. Similarly, bedsteads with the bulbous posts
supported on box bases, either with shaped brackets, as in Fig. 395, or on a
stage of four columns, as in Fig. 397, are early in the seventeenth century, as a
rule, and often show marked traces of either French or Flemish workmanship. It
is not improbable that England owes this importance of the bedstead to Flanders
or France, especially to the former. The front of the tester cornice of Fig. 395 is
carved with the arms of the Courtenays of Devon, and the South-west, as we have
seen, led the way in ornate woodwork until almost the close of the sixteenth
century. Fig. 396 is from the same county, a fine oak bedstead at Great Fulford,
usually described as the second Sir John Fulford's bed, but, as he died in 1580, it must
date from the closing years of his life, — and may be even later. Here the pallet is dis-
connected from the front posts, and is without the foot-board of the Courtenay bedstead.
The car^•ing has the rich Devonshire character noticeable in much of the Church wood-
work of that part of fifty years before, such as in the screens at Lapford and Swimbridge
not far away. The cornice to this bedstead is disproportionately light, and there is a
square carved necking above the post capitals which one would hardly expect to find,
but these ornate bedsteads, apart from the fact that they often suffered from ignorant
restorations, sometimes incorporated portions of carved woodwork from despoiled
churches, and the one close to Great Fulford had been visited by Cromwell's com-
missioners in 1547, ^\•ith the result that much havoc was wrought among the fine
carvings which Thomas Brideaux had put in only thirty-seven years before.

From De\-onshire to Lancashire is a far remove, but similar traditions will be found
at Astley Hall, Fig. 397, as in the Great Fulford bedstead. There are the same carved
bulbs to the posts, and the mattress-framing fixed only by the tenons into the head-
board. There is one striking difference, in the elaborate use made of mitred mouldings ;
there are eighty-six mitres in the cornice alone, and many others in the bases to the
front posts. There is also the carved and panelled foot-board making a complete open
bedstead if the arcaded stage of the back were cut away and posts and tester removed.
Astley Hall is as remarkable for its rich woodwork and furniture as for the fact that
most of it is original to the house it is in. In the next volume will be illustrated a remark-
able shuffle-board table from the same house, an almost sohtary survival of a game
which must have been very popular in the seventeenth century, as it is frequently referred
to in documents and books of the time.

With the marriage of Catherine of Braganza, bedsteads from Portugal, or copies
3 B 369

Rarly English Furniture and JVoodwork

made from them in this country, although rare, are not unknown after the Restoration.
Fig. 39S is an e.xample where the lathe, either in turning or spiralling, is used almost
exclusively. This is the form and type from which the later four-2:>ost beds of the
eighteentli centur\- were, in all probability, derived. This bedstead resembles the
low-back cliairs, generally made from ebony or lignum, which are sometimes met with,
and which are usually styled Portuguese, although many were probably imported from
Goa.

Of the late seventeenth-century state bedstead, with moulded cornice to the canopy
and all woodwork covered with silk or similar fabric, it is impossible to illustrate a range
of examples, as, although there is a general resemblance between them, it is merely
superficial, every one differing materially from its fellow. Thus at Boughton, Fig. 399,
the cornice is straight, ornamented with plumes at the corners, with valance and curtains
of silk of floral pattern intersewn with gold threads. In Fig. 400 the cornice is moulded
and mitred in breaks and arches, the woodwork covered with a material of the time
known as morine, enriched with applique-work. This elaboration of the state bed
reaches its limit at Holme Lacey, Fig. 401, both in height and intricacy of covered
mouldings. The tester only of this bedstead has its original covering. The curtains
are modern, reproduced from the old fabric by Messrs. Morant some years ago. Bed-
steads of this kind must have been general in the great houses of the seventeenth
century, although many have been dismantled as cumbrous and unhygienic. One
elaborate bed-head, moulded and still covered with its original lemon-coloured silk, now
in tatters, is stowed awa3^ with other derelict furniture, in the Long Gallery at Lyme
Park, and many of these ornate state beds must have met with a similar fate at the
hands of recent owners more concerned with matters of health and cleanliness than with
pomp and display.

370

INDEX

Abbeys —

and convents, see Church

dens of gkitton}' and vice in fifteenth century,

9
number and power at the Reformation, loS

Adze, the primitive plane, 29

Aldington Church, Kent, 170

All Saints, Hereford, 143

Alston Court, Nayland, Suffolk, 194

Great Hall at, 194
Altar—

afterwards of stone, 119

early ;" richly decorated, 119

edict regarding, 119

importance of the, 119

of wood in early ages, 119

replaced by plain wooden tables, 119

sometimes placed on rood-loft, 119

subsidiary, 119
Anne of Brittany, see Brittany, Anne of
Apethorpe, 1500, 32

Appledore Church, Kent, screen at, 135, 140
Apprentices, could not be taken without sanction

of Trade Guild, 4
Architects of early Churches —

frequently craftsmen also, i

nearly always Churchmen, 9
Architecture, almost wholly secular under Henry

vn, 32, 33

Architecture and woodwork not specialised in

fifteenth century, i
Artisans —

change of location, without sanction, punished,

4, II, 20, 21
few holidays in life of early, 21
life of early, usually crude, but want un-
known, 3
steady deterioration in status of, from six-
teenth to eighteenth centuries, 3, 10, 11, 12
stringent laws regulating work of, 3, 11, 19, 20
Ashbocking, font cover at, 171
Astley Hall, bedstead at, 369

Aston Hall, ^^, 216, 251

Atherington Church, iG, 140, 142, 164, 165, 166,
167, 174, 180

Bablake Schools, Coventry, 34, 293, 304

Baines, Sir Frank, 84

Barend Expedition, tools from, 31, 32

Barking, Suffolk, screen at, 147, 206

Barre, de la, 330

Bay windows, 189, 193, 194

Beachampton Farm, staircase at, 205

Bealings, Great, see Great Bealings

Beams, cambered, sec Roof

Beckingham, Stephen [see also Tolleshunt IMajor),

264
Beddington Manor House, lock at, 340
Bedrooms, dread of fresh air in early, 36S
Bedsteads —

development of, 355, 357, 359, 361, 365, 366,
36S, 369, 370

early, made to stand in draped alcoves, 357,
366

early, only palatial pieces, 361

early, resemblance of posts to brick chimneys
of the same period, 361

of fifteenth century unknown, 357

Portuguese type, imported, 369, 370

rails of, laced with ropes to support mattress,

365

seventeenth century, yeoman type, 36S
Bedstead —

at Astley Hall, 369

at Boughton, 370

at Great Fulford, 369

at Holme Lacey, 370
" Beetle," a wooden club used in riving timber, 29
Bergholt, East, see East Bergholt
Beverley Minster, 31
Bewfield, Katherine, 1504, 125
Bewfield, Alderman, Thomas, will of, 172
Billesley, church at, ;^^j

371

Ea?'Iy English Furniture and JF^oodwork

Billeslev :\Ianor, 315, 334, y~,b, 337

steel locks at, 338, 340, 341
Billesley village swept away by plague, 33S
l^illeslev, Wliallcy famil\- at, 337
Hlackott. arms of, ib\

Hloomticld's " History of Norfolk," quoted, 172
Bodenham, arms of, 297, 330
Bodenham, Count Lubienski, 334
Bodenham, Roger, 330
Bodiam Castle, 15
iSoothby Pagnell, 211
Borenius, Dr. Tancred, 122
Bovey Tracey, 165, 166, 172
Boxford Church —

door at, 206, 247

fourteenth-cent urj' porch at, 193, 197
Bradninch, screen at, 145, 166
Braganza, Catherine of, marriage of, 369
Bramfield, 31, 126, 180
Brantingham, Bishop of Exeter, 278
Braybrooke, Robert, Bishop of London, 232, 355
Breccles Hall, 212
Brent Eleigh Church, 206
Bridgman, Sir Orlando, 293, 304
Brightleigh, X. Devon, screen from Great Hall at,

241
Brittany, Anne of, 270
Bromley-by-Bow, palace of, panellings from, 313,

315, 316, 317
Brookland Church, Kent, 58, 59, 170
Brushford, Somerset, screen at, 167
Buckden (1484), 32
Burford, Oxon, 125

Burgundy, PhOip the Hardy, Prince of, 122
" Bitrlingion Magazine," quoted, 308, 309, 310,

3"
Burnet, Bishop, quoted, 131, 132
Burton Agnes, 33
Burton, illiam, room from house of, 305

Cabriole leg, 7

Cartmel Prior}-, Lanes., choir stalls at, 175
Carving, finished by the gilder, 105
Casements, opening, rare in early houses, 3
Cattle and sheep, small size of, in fourteenth and

fifteenth centuries, 18
Cavendish family, rise of, 348

Ceilings —

introduced into houses, 54, 200, 202

waggon, 92, 94
Cescinsky, Herbert, 73
Chairmaker, craft of, especially favoured in

development, 7, 8
Chairs, rarity of early, 2, 38, 39
Chalfield, Great, see Great Chalfield
Chancel Screens —

not so lofty in South-west, 164

the arch-headed type of the West, 163
Chancels, screened off from nave, older than the

nave as a rule, 119
Charlton, 216
Charterhouse, 212
Chatsworth —

Mortlake tapestries at, 350

woodwork at, 330

woodwork at, cost of, 330
Chelsworth Church, door at, 206
Chequers Court, 212
Chester, stall canopies at, 136, 168
Chestnut, erroneously stated to have been used for

the roof of Westminster Hall, 98
Chests, importance of, in early households, 7
Chilham, 212
C himney-beams —

copied from stone mantels, 290, 291

from Lavcnham, 2^2

from Parnham Park, 289

from Paycockes, Coggeshall, 282

from Stoke-by-Nayland, 282

usual in timber houses, 281, 282, z^^y
Chimney-breasts, use of plaster panels on, 291, 293
Chimney-pieces, acquire size and dignitv at end of

sixteenth century, 280
Choristers in Cathedrals, 271, 277
Chudleigh, screen at, 145, 166
Chulmleigh, screen at, 163, 166
Church Farm, Clare, Suffolk, door from, 209
Church —

art of the, 15, 180

beautifpng of the early, 109

carousing in the, 108

chancel older than the nave, as a rule, 119

chancel screened off from nave, 105

chancel screens, construction of, 140, 142, 143,
143, 146, 147, 131, 134

372

Indi

Church —

chancel screens, massive character of earl}',

135
chancel screens, massive character of \\'estern,

164
chancel screens, not so lofty in South-west,

164
chancel screens, the arch-headed type of the

West, 165
craftsmen of the, 4
dual ownership of nave and chancel in the,

78. 79. 105
early, consist merely of shrines or sanctuaries,

105
early, led the way in luxurious furnishings,

^31. -^3^. 357. 359
facilities for interchange of ideas in the, 5
in fifteenth century, a riot of colour, 105
influence of, in furniture and woodwork prior

to 1520, 16, 108
lack of warming in early, 280
luxury of, 4

naves of, the meeting halls of the parish, 105
popularity of tapestry in houses of the, 232,

359. 360
rood-screens, see under Rood-lofts and Screens
time of little moment in earlj-, 4, 12
wealth and power of, in fifteenth century, 9,

12, 13
workmen and artists employed by the, 21
Classes, wealthy, importance of, in fostering styles,

5.6
Cleanliness, lack of, in fifteenth and sixteenth

centuries, 19
Clifford's Inn —

panelled room from, 346, 347, 348
panelled room, probablv influenced from Corn-
wall, 347
" Clinker-boarding " of early wainscotting, 209,

^43. ^44
Clocks —

long-case, 5
mutilation of, 51
" Cloister and the Hearth " quoted, in, 115
Cobbold, Mr. John D., 269, 342
Cockington, pulpit at, 172, 174
Coggeshall Abbey, 283

Abbots of, 28',

' Coinage —

debasing of, effects of, on East Anglian trade
with Netherlands, 23

debasing of, imder Henry VIII, 11, 22, 23
Colchester Museum, 234, 235
Coldridge Church, 165, 167
Colour Decoration —

associated with construction of woodwork, 137

at Bramfield, 160, 162, 163

at Ludham, 164

at Ludham and Bramfield, 148

at Ranworth, 151, 154, 155, 156

at St. Michael-at-Plea, 124, 125

at Southwold, 163

at Southwold and Yaxley, 149, 157, 158, 159,
160

at Ufford, 169, 170, 171

at Yaxley, 162, 163

delight in, during fifteenth century, 104

difference between work of eastern and western
counties, 147, 165, 166

highest limit reached in chancel screens. 125

in churches, 135, 180

in early chancel screens, 133, 169

in Gothic woodwork, 103, 104, 105, 109, no

in pulpits, 173, 174

in Wolsey's closet at Hampton Court, 104

in woodwork at Rotherwas, 104

luminers of (iothic, 115, 116, 180

mediums used in, in, 118

nearly all Gothic church woodwork originally
coloured, 103, 104, 105

Norwich Cathedral, 120, 121, 122, 124

preparation on wood for, described, no

principal notes in colour at Ludham and Bram-
field, 148

proper, in heraldry, 118

tempera mediums on, 119
Compton Place, Eastbourne, 350
Compton, Wiltshire, home of the Penruddocks, 348
Compton Wynyates (1520), 32
Construction —

advancement of, in fifteenth and .sixteenth
centuries, 136

of chancel screens, 140, 142, 143, 145, 146,

147. 151. 154
of pulpits, 172
Copying, importance of later, considered, 6

373

Early English Furniture and IVoodwork

Corner-posts, 41), 19.;, iqj

Corridors, not known in earl}' Tudor houses, 34

Cothelstone Manor (1568), 33

Courtenays of Devon, bedstead witli arms of, 369

Coventry Cathedral, sec St. ^Michael's Church,

Coventry
Coventry, St. Mary's Hall, 41
Craftsmen, subdivisions of, in fourteenth and

fifteenth centuries, 19, 20
Cromwell, Lord Treasurer, 15, 290
Cromwell's commissioners in Devon, 369
Crosby Hall, 72, 73

Crowe, William, room from house of, 306, 344
Culbone, Somerset, screen at, 140
Cunningham, Alan, quoted, 13, 15
Curzon, Earl, of Kedleston, 15

Dating of examples —

difficulties in and systems of, 5, 6

importance of fashions in the, 3, 6
Davis, William, at Chatsworth, 350
Deal, red —

alcove niche in, 354

imported from Baltic ports, 353

replaces oak in eighteenth century for panel-
lings, 352, 353
Debasement of currency, see Coinage
Dedham Church, door at, 206
Deene Park (1549), 33
Denny, Sir Anthony, in possession of Waltham

Abbey, 262, 263
Despencer, Henry, Bishop of Norwich, 121
Destruction of Church woodwork —

at Reformation, 31

at the Commonwealth, 31, 151, 157, 160, 162,

369
Development of furniture and woodwork, systems

of considering explained, 8
Devonshire, Earl of, 348, 349, 350
Devonshire House, 350
Devonshire, panellings and pilasters considered,

299
Diet, lack of variety in fifteenth century, 3
Doddington Hall (1595), y^,

Doles from wealthy houses, custom of soliciting, 27
Doors, 189, 192, 194, 200, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210
in early secular houses usually low, 52

Doors, differ little in churches or houses, 202
construction of, 202, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210
in early timber houses, 202
modern versus old proportions in, 354
springing of heads, variations in, 202
towards sixteenth century constructed in

similar fashion to panellings, 205
with wicket, generally late, 205

Dowsing, William, Journal of, 131, 132, 160, 162

Dragon-beam in houses of double-story overhang,
42, 202

Durham Castle, Anthony Bee's hall at, 55

Earl Stonham Church, 64, 82, 83, 206

Early Churches, see Church

East Bergholt, doors at, 208

East Down, church of, font pedestal at, 175

Edward VI—

acts of oppression of, 16

edicts of, regarding use of altars, 132
Edwardstone Church, 74
Eldred, Thomas, a navigator, 342, 343
Elizabeth, reign of, culture in, 4
Elmsett Church, door at, 202
Eltham Palace, roof at, 55, 62, 83, 84, 85, 86
Emblazonry, law of, 116
England in fifteenth century —

an agglomeration of districts, 5

disturbed state of, 5
English people, social life of, under the Tudors, 105

life in fifteenth century not so hard as under
the Tudors, 105
Eucharistic sacrifice, 119
Exeter —

Law Library roof at, 81, 91, 92

panellings from, 300, 301, 302, 304
Exeter, The Vicars' Hall —

alterations in, 279

early stone chimney-piece in, 279

panelling in, 271, 2']'], 278, 279

Stuart panelling in, 279
Evck, Van, sec Van Evck

Falstaff, Sir John, 233, 234, 270
Famines, unknown in England in fifteenth century,
108

374

Index

Fashions, importance of —

in dating examples, 5, 6

in development of styles, 211
Fenn, A. M., Mr., 194
Fenner's House, see also Yarmouth, 344
Fireplaces, early, huge size of, 3, 39
Firred-beam Roofs, see Roofs
Fletcher of Saltoun, 11
Floors, either left bare or strewn with rushes until

end of seventeenth century, as a rule, 2
Font covers, importance of, 169, 170, 171, 172
Fonts, usually stone but sometimes of lead, 170
Food —

often included in terms of hiring by King or
Church, 3

plentiful and cheap in fifteenth century, 3
Forde Abbey, 222, 223
Ford's Hospital, Coventry, 42, 43
Fox, Bishop, 136
Framlingham Castle, 206
Framlingham Church, 79
Fret, popularity of, 319
Fulford, Great, see Great Fulford
Fulford, Sir John, bedstead of, at Gt. Fulford, 369
Fuller, Robert, Abbot of Waltham, 258, 261
Furniture —

early, arbitrary use of the term, i

earl}', not only primitive in character, but
also limited in amount and variety, 2, 6, 16

foreign, sparingly imported into England, 2

importance of clerical establishments in
development of, 2

importance of fashions in, 211

narrow line of demarcation between wood-
work and, I

reasons for rapid development of style in, 4

subdivisions of types of, 7

Gable, in roof construction, 55

Gainsburgh, Great Hall, 90, 197

Gamer and Stratton, quoted, 43, 44, 45, 46

Gernon, Sir Nicholas, 121

Gesso-work, 105, no, 120, 148, 149, 158, 159, 160,

163, 180
Gibbons, Grinling, 350
Gibbs, Wihiam, 218
Gifford, arms of, 241

Glass —

crown, method of making described, 2
prohibitive cost of, in sixteenth century, 2
Glvie, sparingly used by the early woodworker, 31
Godfrey, Walter H., Mr., 72, 73
Godmeston, John, appointed Clerk of Works at

Westminster Hall, 96
Gold, superior decorative qualities of, compared

with silver, 103
Golden age of English woodwork in fifteenth cen-
tury, II, 108
Gothic —

begins to be merged into the classical in six-
teenth century, 5
debasement of, 137, 167, 168
false idea of material in late, 168
necessarily an ecclesiastical style, 16
the national style until end of fifteenth cen-
tury, I
woodwork and colour decoration, see Colour

Decoration
woodwork, evidences of skill in and love for,
108, 109
Great Bealings Church, Suffolk, 208
Great Chalfield, 212
Great Fulford — •

bedstead at, 369
panelhngs at, 253, 254, 255
Great Hall, 7

divides houses into two sections, 212
dwindles in size and importance in sixteenth

century, 34, 54
festivals in, 40
often found in small yeomen's houses, 34, 197,

200
paucity of furniture in, 233
screens in, 240, 241
the principal living room of the family, 23'

197
usual furniture of, ;^y, 38, 39
Great Mortality, The (1528-1529), 19
Grey Friars, Coventry, see Ford's Hospital
Grundisburgh, 142
Guilds —

antiquity of, 17
• character of, 17, 21, 108, 193
halls, importance of, 41
power of, in fifteenth century, 4

375

Early English Furniture and U^oodwork

Haddoleyc, the King's castle of, iq

Hadleigh Church, 206

Hadlcigh, Essex, house at, j, 51, 52

Halberton, 165, 166, 172

Hale, Sir Stephen, 121

Hales Place, Tenterden, Kent, 212

Half-timber house, sec House, timber-framed

Hall, (ireat, see Great Hall

Ham House, panellings at, J46

Hamburg, mortality in, from plague, sec also
Plagues, 19

Hampton Court, 55

Hardwick. Bess of, 349

Hardwick Hall, 350

Harmondsworth Barn, 63, 67, 86

Hatfield House, 33

Haughley Church, j^

Hebbys, John, will of, 134

Hemsted, staircases at, 216

Hengrave Hall (1538), 32

Henley-in-Arden, St. John's Church, 74

Henry VHI—

acts of oppression of, 9

debases the coinage, 11, 22, 2^, 125

debases the coinage, effects on East Anglian

trade, 23
divorces Catherine of Aragon (1533), 262
extravagance of, 10, 15
sale of monastic property by, 268
use of royal arms of, 264, 265, 268

Herland, Hugh, gi

entrusted with the renewal of the roof of

^^'estminster Hall, 96, 98
the King's ^Master Carpenter, 96

Herland, ^^'illiamde, the King's^MasterCarpenter, 19

Holbeton, 167, 174

Holidaj's, absence of, in the life of fifteenth-century
craftsman, 21

Holker Hall, 350

Hol3^vells, Ipswich, 269, 301, 342, 343

Horwood Church, 72

Houghton, " Collections on Husbandrv and Trade,"
17, 18

Hours of labour in summer and winter in fifteentli
century, 21, 22

House, timber- framed —

a complete unit without plaster or brickwork,
187

House, timber-framed —

conscientious character of early, 180

elaborate ceilings in, 200

elaboration of carving in, 41, 42

low rooms in, 52

peculiar to England, 41, 176, 177

richness of, in East Anglia, 177

variations in, due to local tree-growth, 188
House-building, era of, sets in, in middle sixteenth

century, 16
House-plan —

early, a factor in development of furniture
and woodwork, i, 33, 34, 35, 36, ^j, 38, 39,
40, 41, 42, 43, 43

evolution in direction of greater privacy for
the family, t,^
Houses —

early, standard of comfort very meagre in, 2

paucity of furniture in earlv, 4
Howard, Sir John, 121

Influence of Renaissance on architecture and
furniture, 4

Italy, Grand tour to, a part of aristocratic educa-
tion in the sixteenth century, i

Ivychurch, Kent, chancel screen at, 135

Jerusalem, arms of Kingdom of, 116

Joiners —

follow traditions of the masons, 54, 136, 166
methods of, and masons compared, 54

Joists, 55

Jones, Inigo, 218

" Journeyman," early significance of the term, 4

Keele Hall (1571), 3Z
Kent, William, 218
Kenton, pulpit at, 174
Kerdiston, Sir William, 121
Kersey Church, 206
Key Church, Ipswich, 206
King's craftsmen, 20
Kirby (1570), 33
Kirkstead, Abbey of, 15

376

Inch

Labourers —

Statute of, 23, 24

steady deterioration in status of, 11
Lake House (1575), 33
Lanhydroc, Cornwall, ^1^
Lapford Church, 72, 165
Lavenham —

a weaving centre in the fifteenth centurv, 193

chimney-beam from, 282

Guild Hall at, 41, 42, 193, 202

Guild Hall, wainscotting in, 243, 244

large trade of, with Flanders, 41

old house at, 'j^,, 190, 192, 200, 208

old shop windows at, 192

Woolhall at, 189, 190, 192, 202
Lavenham Church, 71, 72

chancel screen at, 140, 142, 143

Oxford Pew at, 167, 168

Spring Pew at, 72, 167, 168
Laws, harsh and strict in fifteenth century, 108
Layer Marney Towers (1501), 32
Lee, Sir Robert, 334, 336
Lee, family of, 338

Legh, Sir Piers, builds Lyme Park, 294, 296
Leoni, G., 218

rebuilds Lyme Park, 294
Levens Hall, Westmoreland, 323
Lewes Town Hall, staircase in, 216
Leycester of De Tabley, arms of, 116, 118
Lime Street, mantels, etc., from, 301, 302, 320, 321
Linenfold —

common origin of, and parchemin panel (q.v.),
249

description of, 245

inaccurate use of the term, 243

in bedsteads, 366

in panels, origin of, 241, 242

occurs in conjunction with Renaissance orna-
ment, 249

reasons for development of, 242, 243, 245,
247
Lismore Castle, 350
Little Hawkenbury Farm, Kent, 215
Little Wenham Hall, 211
Little Wolford, 212
Llananno, screen at, 180
Lobb, Joel, at Chatsworth, 350
Lobb, Henry, at Chatsworth, 350

3 c

Locks, steel door —

at Beddington ;\lanor House, 340

at Billesley Manor, 338, 340, 341
" Lodgings " the name given to guests' chambers, 34
Long Gallery, becomes general and replaces the

Great Hall, 35
Long Melford Church, roof at, 67, 69
Ludham Church, 31, 180
Luther, Martin, 53
Lyme Park, Disley, Cheshire, 3, 218, 219

mantels from, 294, 296, 297, 304

remains of draped bedstead at, 370

Mantels, see Panellings —

oak, develop in size and importance in middle

sixteenth century, 280, 293
style of, in Norfolk and Suffolk, 341

Mark or Merk, value of, in 1504, 125

Mason's mitre, 244, 269

Maynard, Mr. Guy, 234, 235

Middle Temple Hall, 55, 85, 86, 368

first performance of " Twelfth Night "in, 160 1,
368

Minstrels' Galleries, 33

Monasteries —

dissolution of, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16
dissolution of, skill in craftsmanship dissipated

after, 10, 11
dissolution of, vagrancy after the, 10, 11
high standard of production in, 20
numbers of artists and craftsmen maintained
by, 20

Monks Eleigh Church, 70

Montacute House (1580), ^^

Morant, "History of Essex," 264, 283

Moreton Old Hall (1559), 33

Morieux, Sir Thomas, 121

Musical instruments, Tudor, 40, 41

Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, 7

Nash, Joseph, " English Mansions of the Olden

Time," 40 ■
Needham Market Church —

door at, 206

roof at, 63, 86, 87, 88, 90
Neptune Inn, panellings from, 269

577

Ear/y English Furniture and JVoodwork

Xettlecombe Court (13QO), 33

" Nonschenes " the fiftconth-contury midday meal,
Ji

Norfolk and Norwich Arch.Tological Society, 120

Norfolk and Suffolk, trade of, with the Low Coun-
tries, 343

Norfolk, a rich county in the sixteenth century, 305

Norwich Castle l\Iuseum, 210

Norwich Cathedral, retable in, 120, 121, 122, 124

Nostell Priory, Yorks, 226

Nova Zembla, .svc Karend Expedition

Oak-
darkening of figure due to painting with lead

colour, 104
method of quartering to produce figure, 28,

180, 1^-]
rarely seasoned in large baulks in fifteenth

century, 237
replaced by deal in eighteenth century, 352,

353
riving of, with the " thrower," 28, 29

Ockwells Manor, ^,2,

Offences, penal, over one hundred punished with
death or mutilation in the fifteenth century,
II

Office of Works, 84

Oil-
accounts of purchases of, for decoration, 118
treacherous nature of, if ill-refined, iiS, 119

Old Burlington Street (No. 31), staircase at, 230

Oldham, Hugh, Bishop of Exeter, 278

Oxburgh Hall (1482), 32

Oxford Pew% Lavenham Church, 167

Pageny, Master, the King's designer, 250
Panellings and mantels, 231, 232, 2^1, 234, 235,
236, 237, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 247,
249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258,
261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 268, 269, 270, 271,
277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 289, 290,
291, 293, 294, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301,
302, 304. 305. 306, 308, 309, 310, 312, 313,
315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323,
324, 325, 328, 329, 330, 332, 334, 336, 337,
338, 340. 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 34^, 347,
348. 349, 350, 352, 353, 354

Panellings, see W'ainscottings —
at Billesley Manor, 334, 338
at Chatsworth, 348, 349, 350
at Clifford's Inn, 346, 347, 34S
at C.reat Fulford, 253, 254, 255
at Holywells, Ipswich, 269, 270
at St. Vincent, Rouen, 252, 253, 254
at Swann Hall, Sufifolk, 342
at Vicars' Hall, Exeter, 271, 277, 278, 279
at Whitley Beaumont, 352
at Woodcote Park, 350, 352
difficulties in obtaining dry wood for, 237
distinctive styles in, of Norfolk and Suffolk,

342, 343
do not introduce tenon and mortise into

English carpentry, 231
early character in late joiner-made, 345, 346
from Beckingham Hall, 263, 264
from Bromley-by-Bow Palace, 313, 315, 316,

317
from Exeter, 300, 301, 302, 304

from Lyme Park, 297, 298

from Neptune Inn, 269

from Rotherwas, 330, 332, 334

from Sherard House, Eltham, 324, 325, 328,

329
from \\"altham, 256, 258, 262
from Yarmouth, 305, 306, 308, 309, 310,

311
large panels adopted as a fashion, 346
large panels condemned by joiners, 344, 345
large panels introduced by John Webb, 344
linenfold, see Linenfold
logical development of, in timber houses,

more frequently of local make than staircases,

218
not used in clerical houses, 232, 359
only appear in late fifteenth century, 359
panels in, become larger towards middle of

seventeenth centur}-, 341
parchemin, see Parchemin
reasons for late appearance of, 231
South-west type, 299
Sussex and Hampshire, character of, 341
the work of a lesser grade of artisan, 240
walnut used for, at Rotherwas, 332
with pilasters, 297, 299, 301, 302, 313

378

Index

Parchemiii panels, 247, 249

Parchment or oiled linen used instead of glass in

early windows, 52
Parkington, Mr. Thomas, 234
Parnham Park, 212

chimney-beam from, 289
Paycockes, Coggeshall, Essex, 190, 200, 208, 244
Paycocke, Thomas, a wealthy merchant, 282, 283
Penhalow, John, panels chambers in Clifford's Inn,

347
Penshiirst Place, 39, 40
Pettelwode, Forest of, in Sussex, oak used for

Westminster Hall roof, 98
Pilasters, see Panellings
Pilton Church, 165

font cover at, 171
Pindar, Sir Paul, house of, 322, 323, 324
Pit-saw, use of, 27, 28
Pixley, Hereford, screen at, 133
Plagues —

in England in 1348, 1361, 1369, 1477, 1478,

1479. 18

prevalence of, in Middle Ages, 18, 19

see " Sweating sickness "
Poor Law, 11

inaugurated to reheve men in employment, zy
Porches, 189, 192, 194, 195
Porter, Thomas, will of, 134
Pulpits, construction of, 172

■Qiierciis pedunculaia, 9S

-Rafters, see Roof
Ranworth, 31, 119, 132, 180
^Renaissance —

influence from Italy apparent in England in

early sixteenth century, i
influences architecture and furniture at the

same period, 4
influences from France, 301
introduction of, into Church work, 166, 167,

175
ornament introduced into England, 249, 250
ornament, variations of, in different counties,
250, 251, 252, 256, 268,, 269, 293, 294, 299,
300, 301, 317, 318, 321, 322, 329, 332, 334
IReredos, 119, 120

in Norwich Cathedral, 120, 121, 122, 124

Richard II decides to renew roof of Westminster

Hall (1394), 96
Ridley, Bishop, 132
Robertsbridge, Abbey of, 15
Rochester Castle, 10

Rogers, James E. Thorold, quoted, 9, 11, 18, 2^, 24
Rokesale, Sir Richard de, arms of, iiS
Rood, antiquity of the, 125
Rood-lofts —

destruction of, at Commonwealth, 131, 132,
151, 160, 162

problems involved in construction of, 146,

147
sizes of, in south-western counties, 134, 135
superstitious practices in, 131
uses of, 125, 131, 134
Roof, timber —

a triumph of English carpentry, 54
barn type, lesson to be learned from, 63, 64
barrel, 72

braced-rafter types, 72
braces, 60

cambered beams in, 58
clerestory windows in, 69, 79, 86, 88
collar-beams, 59, 77, 79, 84, 86, 94
compound, 62, 63, gS
conditions regulating, 58
development of, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64,
65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, jj, 78, 79,
81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91, 92, 94, 96,
98, 102
difference between, and ceilings, 73
difficulty in showing, in single photograph, 66
double-aisled, 64, 87, 88
firred-beam, 59

flat, unsatisfactory nature of, 55, 58
gable, 55

great curved rib in, 90
hammer-beam, 60, 78, 83, 86, 87, 90, 92, 94

embelHshment of, 81, 86, 92

false, 60, 82, 94

in barns, 64

pendentive type, 62, 77, 81, %2, 83, 84,
85,86

single and double, 60

vaulted, 79
hammer-posts, 82, 84, 86, 94, 102
king-posts, 39, j^, 81

379

Early Knglish Furniture and IJ^oodwork

Roof, timber —

little difference between clerical and secular
types, 67

painted, 77

post-and-beam, 59

principals, 92, 94

principles of construction of, 35. 58, 59, 60,
6i, 63 .

progression of, explained, 66

purlins, 59, 79, 86, 92, 94

queen-posts, 59, 74, 86

rafters, common, 58

realh' the upper story of a timber house,
187

richness of, in East Anglian churches, 't>^

scissor-braced rafter type, 72

thrust of, considered, 58

tie-beams, 59

wall-plates, 59, 92

wall-posts, 59, -/>,, 77, 86

Westminster Hall, sec Westminster Hall
Rotherwas, Hereford —

colour decoration at, 104

overdoor from, 296, 298

panellings from, 330, 332, 334

unusual woods at, 334

use of walnut at, 332
Rouen, panellings —

from St. Maclou, 253

from St. Vincent's, 252, 253, 254
Rougham Church, 71

St. Alban's Abbey, 9

St. ilary's Hall, Coventry, 41

St. ^lichael-at-PIea, Norwich —

door at, 206

font cover at, 172

former screen at, 125

reredos at, 124, 125, 134

will of Katherine Bewfield with bequest for
decoration of, 125
St. Michael's Church, Coventry, 47
St. Osyth Church, 71, 77, 78
St. Peter IMancroft, Norwich, 79
St. Vincent, Rouen, panelling at, 175
Salford, 33
Scagliola, 352
Scribing of mouldings, 208, 209

Seymour, Sir Thomas, owner of Tolleshunt Major,

264
Shakespeare quoted, 233, 234, 270, 366, 368
Shavington, 346

Sherard House, mantels from, 324, 325, 328, 329
Shipton Hall, 33

Silver, old English, nearly all originally gilded, 103
"Six Cenliirics of ]\'ui'k and Wages" quoted, 9, 11,

18, 23, 24
" Skreens" the partition dividing the Great Hall, 33
Slavery enacted in England in si.xteenth century, 16
South Burlingham, pulpit at, 174
Southwold Church, 31, 78, 126, 180
Speenhamland Acts, the, of Mr. Whitbread (1795-

1800), zy
Speke Hall, 251

Spring Pew, Lavenham Church, 72, 167, 168
Staircases —

absence of defined types in, 210

central newel or vise, 212

construction of, 229, 230

difficulty of resolving into types, 216, 218

early, not conspicuous, 211, 212

lighter in construction towards end of seven-
teenth century, 212

panellings more frequently of local make than,
218

rise in size and importance of, 34

subsidiary character of, in early houses, 34, 200

transplanting of, 215, 216

varieties of, 210

wood frequently replaced by iron in eighteenth
century, 230
Star Hotel, see Yarmouth
Statute of Labourers, enacted, 2^, 24
Stoke-by-Nayland Church, 208
Stoke-by-Nayland, chimney-beam from, 282
Stools, usual seats at meals until close of seven-
teenth century, 2, 7
Stowmarket Church, 208
Strap-and-jewel work, 320
Sutton Place, 3

Swann Hall, Suffolk, mantel at, 342
" Sweating Sickness " —

brought by army of Henry Tudor from Wales,
18

only attacks Englishmen abroad, 18

penetrates to Germany and the Netherlands, iS

•?8o

Index

Swimbridge Church, 165, 166, 172

Tables, development of, 4

Talman, architect at Chatsworth, 350

Tankard Inn, panellings from, 270

Tapestries —

imitations of, in painted hangings, 12,1, 236
usual wall coverings in wealthy houses, 232,

■233. 359. 360
Tattershall Castle, 15

chimney-piece from, 289, 290

gallery at, 167, 173
Taxation, weight of, in sixteenth century, 12
Tempera mediums, 119
Thame, Abbot's Parlour at, 104
Thistleton Hall, Burgh, Suffolk, 42
Thorney Abbey House, 344
Thorpe Hall, 218, 219, 222

staircase at, 344
Tidolaye, John de, 19

Tijou, Jean, his staircase at Chatsworth, 350
Timber, felling of, 27
Tissington Hall, 297, 298
Tolleshunt Major, or Beckingham, woodwork at,

264, 281, 283
Tools —

from Barend Expedition, 31, 32

of woodworkers, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Torrigiano, Pietro, 250, 251, 256
Tower of London, 10
Tracery, advance of, in woodwork of fourteenth

century, 135, 136
Trading classes, low standard of comfort in houses

of, 2
Tredegar Park, staircase at, zij,
Tregoz, Geffrey de, 264
Triptych, 120

more usual in Italy and Germany than in
England, 120
Trunch, font-cover at, 172
Trussell, Sir Alured, 334

family, 334, 336, 338
Tudor house, sec House plan

plan in form of open courtyard, 33
Tudor-Jacobean style, origin of, 252
Turning of legs of tables and chairs, 4

Ufford Church, 31, 77

font cover at, 169

painted roof at, i6g
Ugborough Church, 166
Uxbridge, panelling from Treaty House at, 329, 330

Values, standards of, difficulties in comparison of,

17
Van Eyck, credited with first use of oil colours, 118

Van Eyck, Hubert, 115, 122, 124

Van Eyck, Jan, no, in, 115

Van Eyck, Margaret, in

Vegetables, green, lack of, in fifteenth century, 3,,

17, 18
Vere, John, Earl of Oxford, 334
Vicars' Hall, Exeter, see Exeter
Victoria and Albert Museum, 104. 235, 236, 256,

258, 300, 301
Vyell, Thomas, of Ixworth, Suffolk, 1472, will of,,

29. 30

Wadham College, screen at, ^J,
Wages of craftsmen —

. apparent rise in, from fifteenth to eighteenth
centuries, 23
in fifteenth century, 21, 22
see Woodworker, life of early
Wainscottings, see also Panellings

an expensive luxury in sixteenth century, 236
crude varieties of, found in Kentish farm-
houses, 236
earliest types formed by overlapping boards,

231. 243

framing of.

2^1

innovation of the later fifteenth century, 231

Waldingfield Church, 206

Wall-paintings, in timber houses, reasons for non-
preservation of, 234, 235

Walls, in early houses covered with tapestries, at a
later date with panellings, 2

Walnuts-
character of wood, 332
first planted in England (1565). 11'^
used for panelling at Rothenvas, 332

Waltham Abbey —

panellings from, 256, 258, 262

Sir Anthony Denny purchases, 262, 263.

Early English Furniture and H^oodwork

Ware, Great Bed of, referred to by Sir Toby Belch,
366

Warkleigh, Devon, screen at, 175

Warrack, Mr. John, quoted, 180

Watson, Samuel, carver at Chatsworth, 350

Waynflete —

the designer of Magdalen College, 10
the designer of Tattershall, 290

Webb, John, 344, 348

Westminster Abbey, stall canopies at, 168, 169

Westminster Hall —

constructional problems in roof of, 98

enormous size of roof of, 98, 102

erroneous idea that chestnut was used for roof

of, 98
Hugh Herland entrusted with work to roof

of, 96, 98
impossibility of obtaining timbers long enough

for span of roof of, 98
John Godmeston appointed Clerk of ^^ orks to

(1394), 96
lack of knowledge regarding original roof, 96
oaks taken from Forest of Pettelwode for, 98
Richard II decides to renew roof of, 96
roof, 55, 63, 66, 67, 81, 84, 91, 92, 94, 96, 124
roof of, the greatest triumph of English

carpentry, 102
roof timbers of Sussex oak, 98
scanthngs of timbers in roof of, 98
William Rufus holds Court in (1099), 96

WhaUey family, 337
arms of, 337, 338

Whitley Beaumont, room from, 352

William I^ufus, holds Court in Palace of West-
minster (1099), 96
Winchester, choir stalls at, 136, 168, 169
Windows —

bay, sec Bay windows
fifteenth century, rarely glazed, 3
glass a luxury in, until late in sixteenth cen-
tury, 2
richness of, in timber houses, 51, 52
Windsor Castle, William of Wykeham, architect

of, 10
Wingfield, Sir Thomas, panellings from house of,

270
Wolsey, Cardinal, 10, 15, 104, 262, 348
Woodcote Park, Epsom, woodwork from, 350, 352
Woodwork —

divisions of, into types, 7
Golden Age of, in fifteenth century, 11
importance of clerical houses in development
of, 2
Woodworker, life of early, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,

24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Workmen, see Artisans
Works, Office of, 84
Wren, Sir Christopher, 21S, 348
Wykeham, William of, 10, 136, 232, 355

Yarmouth, panelled rooms from, 305, 306, 308, 309,

310, 311
Yellow, ranks in heraldry as a metal, 116
York Guild Hall, roof of, 64, 65, 67, 96
Young, Thomas, at Chatsworth, 350

38^

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NK Cescinsky, Herbert

2529 Early English furniture i

045 woodwork

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