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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

EARLY RENAIS

ARCHITECTURE
NGLAND.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

A fine Series of Illustrations of the Country Mansions and
Ancestral Halls of England.

Architecture of the
Renaissance in England.

ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF PHOTO-
GRAPHIC VIEWS AND DETAILS FROM BUILD-
INGS ERECTED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1560
and 1635, WITH HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL
TEXT.

The Illustrations comprise 145 Folio Plates, 118 being repro-
duced from Photographs taken expressly for the work, and
180 Blocks in the Text.

2 vols., large folio, in cloth portfolios ... £7 7s. Net.
or half morocco, gilt ... £8 8s. Net.

Plate I.

HENRY VII. s CHAPEL. WESTMINSTER ABBEY

INTERIOR VIEW, SHOWING VAULTING AND SCREEN.

EARLY RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE

IN ENGLAND

A HISTORICAL k DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE
TUDOR, ELIZABETHAN, k JACOBEAN PERIODS,

i^oo — 1625

FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS AND OTHERS

J. ALFRED GOTCH, F.S.A.

AUTHOR OK " AkCHITKCTUKK Ol' THK
RENAISSANCK IN" KNC.I.AN D," KTC.

WITH EIGHTY -SEVEN COLLOTYPE AND OTHER PLATES AND
TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

LONDON
B. W BATSFORO, 94 lUGW HOLBORN

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIHNER'S SONS, 153-157 FirrH AVENUE

MDCCCl I

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

in 2007 witii funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

littp://www.arcliive.org/details/earlyrenaissanceOOgotciala

Urtwn PtenoJnf
iibrnf

PREFACE.

It should, perhaps, be observ^ed that although this book is
entitled Early Renaissance Architecture in England, it deals with
much the same period as that covered by my former work
The Architecture of the Renaissance in England, but with the
addition of the first half of the sixteenth centur}'. The two
books, however, have nothing in common beyond the fact that
they both illustrate the work of a particular period. The
former book exhibits a series of examples, to a large scale, of
Elizabethan and Jacobean buildings, with a brief account of
each : whereas this one takes the form of a hand-book in
which the endeavour is made to trace in a systematic manner
the development of style from the close of the Gothic period
down to the advent of Inigo Jones.

It is not the inclusion of the first half of the sixteenth
century which alone has led to the adoption of the title Early
Renaissance : the limitation of period which these words indicate
appeared particular!}- necessary in consequence of the recent
publication of two other books, one being the important work
of Mr. Belcher and Mr. Macartney, illustrating buildings of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, under the title of
Later Renaissance Architecture in England ; and the other being
Mr. Reginald Blomfield's scholarly book, .1 History of Renais-
sance Architecture in England, which, although it starts with
the beginning of the sixteenth century, does not dwell at any
length upon the earlier work, but is chiefly devoted to an
exhaustive survey of that of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.

The value of a work on Architecture is greatly enhanced by

VI PREFACE.

illustrations, and I am much indebted to the numerous gentle-
men who, with great courtesy, have placed the fruits of their
pencil, brush, or camera at my disposal : their names are given
in the Lists of Plates and Illustrations. More particularh- I
desire to acknowledge the kindness of the Committee of that
very useful publication The Architectural Association Sketch Book,
in giving permission for some of their plates to be reproduced ;
and among other contributors I have especially to thank
Colonel Gale, Mr. W. Haywood, and Mr. Harold Brakspear;
while to Mr. Ryland Adkms I am indebted for several valuable
suggestions in connection with the text of the Introductory
chapter. Mr. Bradley Batsford has rendered ungrudging assist-
ance at every stage of the undertaking, which has particularly
benefited from his broad and liberal views in regard to the
illustrations. My thanks are also due to those ladies and
gentlemen who allowed me to examine, and sometimes to
measure and photograph their houses ; and I am indebted to
Mr. Chart, the Clerk of Works at Hampton Court Palace,
for much useful information imparted during my investigations
there.

Each illustration is utilized to explain some point in the
text, but in many cases the reference is purposely made short,
the illustration being left to tell its own story.

J. ALFRED GOTCH.

Kettering.

August , 1901.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. -INTRODUCTORY i

II.— THE INVASION OF THE FOREIGN STYLE . . lo
III.— THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOUSE PLAN

FROM ABOUT I45O TO 1635 ...... 4I

IV.— EXTERIOR FEATURES— The Lay-out of Houses,

Lodges and Gateways, Doorways and Porches . 73

v.— EXTERIOR FEATURES— General Aspect, External

Appearance, Windows of various kinds ... 94

VI. -EXTERIOR FEATURES— Gables, Finials, Parapets,

Chimneys, Rain-water Heads, Gardens . . .116

VII.-INTERI0RF1:ATURES— Royal Progresses, The Manner

OF Decorating Rooms, Wood-Panelling . . . 138

VIII.— INTERIOR FEATURES— Treatment of the Hall,
Open Roofs, The Smaller Rooms, Doors and Door
Furniture, Chimney - piixes. Ceilings, Pendants,
Friezes .......... 159

IX.— INTERIOR FEATURi:S— Staircases, The Great Cham-
ber. The Long Gallery, Glazing, &c. . . . 1S4

X.— MISCELLANJCOUS WORK— Strect Houses, Market
Houses, Almhoi ses. Town Halls, Village Crosses,
Schools, Churches and their 1*~ittings, &c. . . 200

XL— SIXTEENTH CENTURY H(;USi:-PLANNING— Illus-
trated FROM THE CoLLi:CllON OF JoHN ThORPE'S

Drawings .......... 226

XII.— ARCHITECTURAL DICSIGNICRS ()!• THI-: SIX-
TEENTH CENTURY 253

List of Works on Ivakly Ri;naissan( i: ,\R(Hrn;< turi . . . 267

Index 271

LIST OF PLATES

Note. — The letters " A.A.S.B," denote that the subject is reproduced from
The Architectural Association Sketch Book, with authority of the Draughtsman
and by permission of the Committee.

I'LATK

I. — Henry VII. 's Chapel, Wkstminstkk Abbkv, Intekiok

View ......... Frontispiece.

S. B. BolaP, London, photo.

II. — Henry VII. 's Tu.mh in Westminster .Abhey . . . pack

H. O. Cresswell, del. 14

III. — Details from the To.mb of Henry, Lord Makney,

Layer Marney Chirch . . J. Shewell Corder, del. iS

/ Fan Vaulting, Chaimcl oe the Redmount, King's Lynn . \

,, I \V. Cialsworthv Davie, photo.

IV. ■< ■" ly

j V^AiLTiNG OF Porch, Cowdray Hoisf, Sisse.x . . . I

\ J. A. (i., photo. )

V. — The Cofntess of Sai.isiury's Chantry, Chkistchfrch ;

View from Choir ........ 20

VI. — The Cofntess of Salisbfry's Chantry, Christc hfrch ;

Detail of Niches on Xorih Sidi; ..... 22

j Part of Screicn, St. Cross, Winchestfr . . . |

VII. -j VV. Galsworthy Davie, photo, r 2f)

I Paflict Tomb, Basinc; Chi r( h . . J. A. (i., photo. I
VIII. — Screen in ihi; Chai-fl, King's C<)Llf(;i:, Cambriix.i; . 2S
( Tile Paving 1 rom La( oc k Abbkv ....

Harold Biakspcar. del. ,
IX. 1 L jN

Sin(;le 1 i.m;s i rom ihe sami; 1'a\i;mint

W. 1 Ia\ wood, di 1. .'
X. — Chest from Si. Mary ()\erie, Softhwark

Victor T. Jones, del. [.\..\.S.B. ^o

XL- COMI'ION WiNYAlEs; CiNIRAL \'|FW ..... 47

XIL — CoMBTON \\lNYATi:s; Tui: 1^NTRAN( F PoRCH

C. 1:. MalloNss. del. 4.H

LIST OF PLATES.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

PLATE

XIII. (double) — Details from Layer Marney Tower

Arnold B. Mitchell, del
XIV. — The Entrance Gateway, Hengrave Hall .

J. Palmer Clarke, Bury St. Edmund's, photo
XV. — The Entrance Porch, Moreton Old Hall .

Maxwell Ayrton, del
XVI. — A Gable from the Front, Moreton Old Hall.

Maxwell Ayrton, del
XVII. — South Side of Courtyard, Kirhy Hall

M. Starmer Hack, del
-John Thorpe's Ground Plan for Kirby Hall .

From the Soane Museum Collection
(double) — Details of Porch in Court, Kirby
Hall .... Arthur G. Leighton, del

The Entrance Porch, Montacute House

From a water-colour by W. Haywood
XXI. — The Entrance Front and Gate-house, Doddington
Hall. By permission from Rev. R. E. G. Cole's
History of Doddington ......

XXII. — The Gatehouse at Stanway

XXIII. — The Gatehouse at W'estwood ....
I Doorway at Chipchase Castle ....

J. P. Gibson, Hexham, photo
Porch of the Manor House, Upper Slaughter

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo
The Grand Staircase, Wardour Castle

G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen, photo
Doorway in Court, Hatfield House .

Col. Gale, photo
Arcaded Porch at Cranborne Manor House
Wollaton Hall; General View ....
BuRGHLEY House; General View ....

G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen, photo

XXIX. ' P-'^'^"^' O^^ H-^^'-' Rutland ) j ^ ^^ ^j^^^^

I The Manor House, Glinton >
XXX. — Mount Grace Priory. Yorkshire .
XXXI. — View of Front, Speke Hall .
XXXII. — Part of the Front, Barrington Court

Kotaro Sakurai, del. FA.A.S.B.
j AsTLEY Hall ......

XXXIII.- Bedford Lemere, London, photo

I Kirby Hall; The Bay Windows . Col. Gale, photo

FACING
PAGE

52-3

64-:

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

69
78
79

91
97

98
100

106
107

LIST OF PLATES.

PLATK

XXXIV.
XXXV J

XXXVI.
XXXVII.-
XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

FACING
PAGE

XL.-{

XLI.-

XLII.-

XLIII.-

XLIV.-
XLV.-

XLVI.

XLVII.-

XLVIII.-

XLIX.-

L.-

LI.
LII.-

LIII.
LIV.-

-Gables .\t Lilford H.\ll . . . . . .112

HoLMSHURST, BuRWASH [ W. Galsworthv Davie,

Tudor House, Broadway ) photo. 118

Chimnev-stack and Window from Lacock Abbey

Harold Brakspear, del. 128

-Blickling Hall ; Part of Entrance Front . 130

Steps to Terrace, Haddon Hall . . . .\

Terrace Wall, Claverton House . . . . '- i^j

J. L. Robinson, photo. J

Gateway, Highlow Hall, near]

Hathersage - J. A. G., photo. 136

Terrace Steps, Eyam Hall j

Side of Bay in the Dining Room,

Haddon Hall t . ^

„ T^ u ■ J- ^- G-, photo. 153

Panelling in the Dining Room, i

Haddon Hall /

Woodwork in Chapel, Haddon Hall]
Bay Window in the Drawing - J. A. G., photo. 154

Room, Haddon Hall . . . I
-An Interior i-kom Carbrook Hall, near

Sheffield ^57

-Side of Room at Bknthall Hali

B. J. Fletcher, del. 156
-Screen in the Hall, Wadham College, Oxford . 159
-Screen in the Hall, Trinity Collegi:, Cam-
bridge .....-•••• 'f'"
-Screen in thi: Hall, Wooi.las Hall

Harold Baker, Biriiiinghain, photo. 160
-Thi-; Gkeat Chambicu, South Wraxai.i. Manok Horsi;

Ernest W. Ginison. del. 162
-FiREi'i.ACi- and Pani-li.ing in iHi- Mavor's Room.

Old Town Hall, Li:ici;s tkk ifi-2

-Side of a Room, mi; " Ri;iNni;i;u " Inn. Baniury .

John Stewart, del. 162
-DFrA.iLs 01 Pani;li.in<. 1 kom Si/i;r<,h Hall

1". Dare Claphain. del. 163
Inti;riok Pok( h. Bkoughion Casii.i-; .... i()3
-Till-; Pri;si;nci; Chambi;k Ar Hakdwkk Hall .

.■\. Se.inian, Chesterfield, jihoto. i()4

DooiavAV in A Horsi; at P>kisi()I •f>4

A Doorway i kom Ei.\ ins II am

v. B. Turner, l"!aiiil)orouKli. photo. 165

Xll LIST OF PLATES.

FACING
PLATE FAGE

I Doorway, Gayton Manor House . . J. A. G., del. |

LV. -j Doorway. St. Pktkr's Hospital, Bristol . . . i66

( T. Locke Worthington, del. [A.A.S.B.] )

LVL — Chimney-piece from Boughton House .... i68

LVIL — Chimney-piece from Lacock Abbey ....

Harold Brakspear, del. i68

LVIII.— A Chimnky-piece from Barlborough Hall .

Col. Gale, photo. i68

LIX. — Chimney-piece in King James's Room, Hatfield

House Col. Gale, photo. 169

LX. — Chimney-piece in the Great Chamber, South

Wraxall Manor House . . W. Haywood, del. i6g

LXL — Chimney-piece from Hardwick Hall ....

J. L. Robinson, photo. i6g

LXIL — Chimney-piece from Ford House, Newton Abbot

J. A. G., del. 170

LXHL — Chimney-piece at Whiston, Sussex ....

Cul. Gale, photo. 171

LXIV.— Two Chimney-pieces from Bolsover Castle

Col. Gale, photo. 171

LXV. — Chimney-piece at Bromley-by-Bow Palace . . .172

LXVI. — Chimney-piece from Castle Ashby ....

Bedford Lemere, London, photo. 172

LXVII. — Ceiling and Frieze from Cardinal Wolsey's

Closet, Hampton Court Palace ....

J. A. G., photo. 175

LXVIII. — Ceiling at Deene Hall . . . J. A. G., photo. 177

LXIX. — Ceiling from the "Reindeer" Inn, Banbury

J. .'\. G., photo. 178

LXX. — Ceiling of the Great Chamber, Aston Hall .

From W. Niven's Account 0/ Aston Hall. 180

LXXI. — Ceiling of King Charles' Bedroom, Aston Hall

From W. ^iven''s Account of Aston Hall. 180

LXXIL -Staircase from Birghley House, Stamford

After Richardson. 187

J-XXIII. — Plans of Staircasf:s from John Thorpe's Drawings

In the Soane Museum Collection. 189

LXXIV. — Staircase, .Dudley Fnd . . C. J. Richardson, del. 194

LXXV'.— The Lonc; Gallery, Haddon Hall ....

G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen, photo. 196

LXX VI. — The LoN{i Gallery. Aston Hali

Harold Baker, photo. 196

LIST OF PLATES.

Xlll

FACING
PAGE

PLATE

LXXVII. — Glass Panel from Moreton Old Hall .

John West, del. ig8
LXX\'III. — Four Examples of Lead Glazlng from

W. GeDDE's " BOOKE OF SlNDRV DrAIGHTES,"

I6I1 • . . . . 199

LXXIX. — Two Street Houses from Oxford and Stratford-

ON-AvoN ......... 202

LXXX. — The Village Cross, Brigstock

Miss Dryden, photo. 211
LXXXI. — Details of the Chichester Tomh, Pilton

Church ......... 218

LXXXn.- Choir Screen from All Saints' Church, Tilnfy .

C. A. Nicholson, del. 219
LXXXIII. — PiLPiT IN Edington Church .....

K. Shekleton Balfour, del. 221
LXXXIV. — John Thorpe's Drawing for Sir Jarvis Clifton's

House . From the Soane Museum Collection. 231
LXXXV'.- Unnamed Plan and Elevation . . John Thorpe. 234
LXXXVT. — Plan "for Sir W'^i- Haseridge" . John Thorpe. 235
LXXXVTI. — Elevation of Plan entitlicd "for Sir W^l'

Haseridge " John Thorpe. 235

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Note. — The letters "A.A.S.B." denote that the subject is reproduced from
The Arcliitecturul Association Sketch Book, with authority of the Draughtsman
and by permission of the Committee.

ILLUSTRATION- PAGE

1. Tomb of Prince Arthur in Worcester Cathedral .

J. L. Robinson, photo. lo

2. Tomb of one of the Cokayne Family, Ashbourne Church.

j. A. G., photo. II

3. Henry VII. 's Tomb; Detail of Ornament ....

H. (). Cre.sswell, del. 12

4. Tomb of John Harrington, Exton Churcli . J. A. G., photo. 13

5. Tomb of Thomas Cave. Stanford Church . J. A. (i.. photo. 13

6. .. .. .. ICnd Panel . . J- A. G., photo. 14

7. Tomb of Sir George Vernon. Bakewell Chinch .

J. A. (j.. photo. 14

8. Tomb of Sir Thomas Andrew. Charwelton Church .

Miss Dryden, photo. 15
g. Tomb of — Bradbourne, Ashbourne Church J. A. (i., photo. 16
ID. Panel from the Tomb of Elizabeth Driny. Hawstead Church.

J. A. (].. del. 17

11. Tomb of Henry. Lord Marney. Layer Marney Church

J. Shewell Corder, del. 18

12. Carving from the Sedilia. Wymondham Church. J. A. G., (.\v\. ig

13. Cowdray House, Sussex ; Vaulting Rib of Porch. J. \. G., del. ig

14. Chantry of the Countess of Salisbmy. Christchurch. from the

North Aisle .......... 20

15. Th(> Salisbury Chantry, Christchurch ; Detail of Carving.

J. .\. G., plioto. 21

16. Prior Draper's Chantry, Christcliurch ; Head of Doorw.iy. 21

17. Christchurch ; Divisions between Miserere Seats

J. A. G.. photo. 22
iS. ,, Hcnch-end in Choir . . ]. ,\. C... |)hoto. 23

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ILLVSTKATION PAGE

ig. Doorway and Panelling in the Gallery at the Vyne, near

Basingstoke J. A. G., photo. 24

20. Screen on the North Side of Choir, Winchester Cathedral

(with Mortuary Chest)

21. Canopy of Stalls, Henry VIl.'s Chapel, Westminster

A. W. Pugin, del.

22. Detail from Stalls, Henry VIl.'s Chapel, Westminster

G. G. Woodward, del. [A.A.S.B.].

23. The Spring Pew, Lavenham Church . J. L. Robinson, photo.

24. Detail from the Spring Pew, Lavenham Church .

C. R. Pink, del.

25. Roof of the Hall, Eltham Palace

E. and S. H. Barnsley, del.

26. Roof of the Great Hall, Hampton Court Palace .

A. W. Pugin, del.

27. Details from the Roof of the Great Hall, Hampton Court.

A. W. Pugin, del.

28. Hampton Court ; Head of Door to Great Hall. J. A. G., photo.

29. Lacock Abbey; Tower at South-east Corner .

W. Haywood, del.

30. ,, ,, Stone Table in Tower ....

Sidney Brakspear, photo.

31. ,, ,, Stone Table in Tower ....

Sidney Brakspear, photo.

32. ,, ,, The Stables . . . W. Haywood, del.
32A. Panel from the Sedilia, Wymondham Church . J. A. G., del.

33. Great Chalfield House ; Plan . . After T. L. Walker.

After J. Britton

J. L. Robinson, photo

After A. W. Pugin

After Heber Rimmer

34. Oxburgh Hall ; Ground Plan

35. ,, ,, Entrance Tower

36. East Barsham House ; Ground Plan

37. Compton Winyates ; Ground Plan

38. Sutton Place, near Guildford ; Ground Plan .

S. Forster Hay ward, del.

39. „ „ Details . A. C. Gladding, del. [A.A.S.B.].

40. ,, ,, Part Elevation of Courtj'ard

A. C. Gladding, del. [A.A.S.B.].

41. Layer Marney Tower ; Entrance Tower

Arnold B. Mitchell, del. 53

42. Hengrave Hall ; Ground Plan . . . After J. Britton. 54

43. „ ,, West Front . . J. L. Robinson, photo. 55

44. ,, ,, Corbelling of Bay Window over Entrance
Archway . . . . . . J. A. G., del. 56

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVll

ILLUSTRATION I'AGK

45. Morelon Old Hall ; Ground Plan . . After J. Strong. 57

46. Kirby Hall ; Ground Plan . . . A. G. Leighton, del. 61

47. Montacute House ; Ground Plan . After J. N. Johnston. 65

48. ., ., Garden Front, with Court and Garden-

houses . . J. L. Robinson, photo. 66

49. Barlborough Hall ; Plan of Principal Floor . J. A. G., del. 67

50. ., .. Fntrance Front . . Col. Gale, photo. 68

51. Doddington Hall; Ground Plan . . . J. A. G., del. 6g

52. Burton Agnes Hall; Ground Plan . . . J. A. G., del. 70

53. Aston Hall, near Birmingham ; Ground Plan. After W. Niven. 71

54. .. .. ., North Wing Harold Baker, photo. 72

55. Holdenby House; Plan of Lay-out . From an old Survey. 75

56. Doddington Hall ; Block Plan .... J. A. G., del. 77

57. Stokesay Castle ; The Gatehouse . . Ccl. Gale, photo. 78

58. Cold Ashton Manor House ; Fntrance Gateway .

J. A. (i., photo. 79

59. Winwick ; Gateway to Manor House . J. A. G., photo. 79

60. Gateway to Almshouses, Oundle . . J. A. G., photo. 80

61. Holdenby House; Gateways to Basecourt ....

Miss Dryden, photo. 80

62. Kenvon Peel Hall ; Gateway at Side of Court J. A. G., photo. 81

63. Doddington Hall; Fntrance Doorway . -J- A. G., del. 82

64. Porch at Chelvey Court, Somerset . . J. A. G., photo. 8j

65. Doorway at Nailsea Court, Somerset . J. A. G., photo. 84

66. Doorway at Gayhurst Manor House . . J. A. G., photo. 85

67. Doorway at Cold Ashton Manor House . J. .\. (i., photo. 86

68. Doorway at Cheney Court . . . . J. A. G., photo. 86

69. Woollas Hall ; Part of Fntrance I'ront Harold Baker, photo. 87

70. Porch at Gorhambury, near St. Albans (photo) . . . 88

71. Hambleton Old Hall (photo) 89

72. Chastleton House; Ground Plan . After J. A. C'ossins. 90

73. Doorway at Lyddingtoii .... John Bilson, del. 91

74. Doorway at Broadway ..... J. .X. G., del. 92

75. Doorway at Aylesford Hall . . W. rali)i)t Brown, del. ((3

76. Kirby Hall ; South Side of Court . . V. W. iUill, photo. <)5

77. ,, ,, West Front .... J. .V. ( i., photo. (j6

78. Longleat House, Wiltshire (plioto) q6

79. WoUaton Hall ; Plan of Principal Floor . After P. K. Allen. >)y

80. Charlton House, Wiltshire (photo) ...... <)8

81. Ast(jn Hall ; The South Front . . Haioldi^akcr, photo. <)9

82. Corsham Court, Wiltshire . . . J. L. Robinson, photo. 100

83. Kentwell Hall J- L- Robinson, photo, loo

K..\. h

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

II.LISTKATION

84.

86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93-
94-
95-
96.

97-
98.
99.

99 A,
100.
lOI.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.

no.
I II.

I 12.

•13-
114.

115-
116.
117.
I 18.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.

J. A. G., photo.
J. A. G., photo.
J. A. G., del.
J. A. G., photo.
. J. A. G., del.
L. Robinson, photo.
. W. Riley, del.

Cheney Court ......

The Manor House, Cold Ashton

,, ,, ,, ,, Ground Plan.

Bolsover Castle

,, ,, Ground Plan

Condover Hall ; The Garden Front . J
Clegg Hall, near Rochdale .
Courtyard, Ingelby Manor (photo) ......

House at Mayfield . . W. Galsworthy Davie, photo.

Cowdray House ; Part of Court . . J. A. G., photo.

Hoghton Tower ; Bay of Hall . . . J. A. G., photo.
Burton Agnes Hall ; Bay Windows Frith, Reigate, photo.
House at Bourton-on-the-Water ......

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo.
Cottage at Steventon .... Col. Gale, photo.

Sections of Various Window Jambs and Mullions. J. A. G., del.
Window Sill at Wollaton Hall . . W. Talbot Brown, del.
Head of Window from Hatfield House . . J. A. G., del.
A Northamptonshire Cottage . . Miss Dryden, photo.
Stone Finials and Kneelers . . . . J. A. G., del.

The Manor House, Finstock \V. Galsworthy Davie, photo.

Cottage at Rothwell J- A. G., del.

Cottage at Treeton, near Sheffield . . C. Hadfield, del.
Cottage at Steventon ..... Col. Gale, photo.
Wollaton Hall ; One of Corner Towers (photo)

PAGE
[OI

Kirby Hall ; Part of West Front

Gable in the Court, Rushton Hall

Gable in the Court, Apethorpe Hall

Exton Old Hall ; Stone Parapet

Bramshill House ; Stone Parapet

Audley End ; Stone Parapet

Rushton Hall ; Gable on East Front

Chimney at Droitwich

Brick Chimney from Huddington Court House

Brick Chimney from Bardwell Manor House

Chimney at Toller Fratrum

Chimney at Kirby Hall

Typical Chimney in the Midlands

Chimney at Chipping Campden .

Chimney at Drayton House

Chimney at Triangular Lodge, Rushton

Col. Gale, photo.

, J. A. G., del.

. J. A. G., del.

. J.A. G., del.

After H. Shaw.

After C.J. Richardson.

Col. Gale, photo.

W. Habershon, del.

J. A. G., del.

Bean Lodge, near Petworth . W. Galsworthy Davie, photo.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XLX

ILLUSTRATION PAGE

124. Lead Rain-water Head from Haddon Hall ....

From Mr. W. R. Lethaby's Lcad-ccork, by permission of

Macmillan & Co. 131

125. Lead Rain-water Head from Haddon Hall ....

From Mr. W. R. Lethaby's Leadicork, by permission of

Macmillan & Co. 131

126. Lead Rain-water Head from Haddon Hall ....

From Mr. W. R. Lethaby's Leadwork, by permission of

Macmillan & Co. 131

127. Pipe Head from Sherborne . . . Henry Shaw, del. 131

128. Lead Pipe Head from Knole House .....

W. Talbot Brown, del. 132

129. Lead Pipe Head from Bramshill House ....

W. Talbot Brown, del. 132

130. Gayhurst ; Stone Pillar in Garden . . J. A. G., photo. 133

131. Gateway in a House at Lingfield . . Arthur Ardron, del. 134

132. Chipping Campden ; The Garden-house . Percy D.Smith, del. 136

133. EyamHall; Plan of Lay-out .... J. A. G., del. 137

134. Bedroom in Deene Hall ; Plaster Ceiling ; Tapestry on Walls.

J. A. G., photo. 147

135. Haddon Hall; A Corner of the Great Hall J. A. G., photo. 149

136. Panelling of the Time of Henry VHL . J. A. G., photo. 150

137. Example of Linen Panelling, Stanford Church J. A. G., photo. 151

138. A Panel of the Time of Henry VHL . J. A. G., photo. 152

139. Door at Castle Rising . . . W.Galsworthy Davie, photo. 153

140. Panelling of Door at Beckington Abbey . J. A. G., photo. 154

141. Door at Nailsea Court .... J. A. (i., photo. 155

142. Part of Reredos (removed) at Stowe-Nine-Churches

J. A. G., plioto. 156

143. Part of the Court Pew, Chelvey Church . J. A. (i., photo. 157

144. Part of Screen (removed), Stowe-Nine-Churches .

J. A. G., photo. 158

145. The Hall, Knole House (photo) ....... 159

146. WoUaton Hall; The Roof of the Great Hall .

Percy K. .Allen, del. i()o

147. Roof of Great Hall, Kirby . (ieorge P. Bankart, photo. i()i

148. Panelling from Sizergh Hall (now in the Victoria and .Albert

Museum) F. Dare Clapham. del. 163

149. Doorway, .Abbott's Hospital, Guildford . J. .A. G., photo. ir)4

150. Latch from Abbott's Hospital, (iuildford ....

1:. A. Rickards, del. [A.A.S.B.]. 1(15

151. Latch from Haddon Hall . . R. S. Dods, del. [A.A.S.B.]. 165

b 2

.\"X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ILI.ISTRATION PAGE

152. Lock-plates, Latches, &c. . . . After C. J. Richardson. 166

153. Casement Fastener from Haddon Hall

R. S. Dods, del. [A.A.S.B.]. 166

154. Key-plate from Abbott's Hospital, Guildford ....

E. A. Rickards, del. [A.A.S.B.]. 167

155. A Knocker After C. J. Richardson. 167

156. Wood Chimney-piece, Benthall Hall . . B. J. Fletcher, del. 170

157. Stone Chimney-piece, Bolsover Castle. J. L. Robinson, photo. 171

158. Ceilingof the Presence Chamber, Hampton Court. After Nash. 173

159. Bosses from Ceilings at Hampton Court . J. A. G., photo. 174

160. Patera to a Ceiling at Hampton Court . . J. A. G., del. 175

161. Part of the Ceiling in the Long Gallery, Haddon Hall.

J. A. G., photo. 176

162. Part of a Coved Ceiling at Beckington Abbey J. A. G., photo. 177

163. Coved Ceiling, Beckington Abbey . . J. A. G., photo. 177

164. Part of a Ceiling from Sizergh Hall (now in the Victoria and

Albert Museum) . . . . F. Dare Clapham, del. 178

165. Ceiling from Benthall Hall . . . • B. J. Fletcher, del. 179

166. Ceiling in Gate-house, Haddon Hall

R. S. Dods, del. [A.A.S.B.]. 180

167. Pendants of Plaster Ceilings . . After C. J. Richardson. 181

168. Examples of Plaster Friezes from Montacute, Audley End, and

Charlton House .... After C. J. Richardson. 182

169. Plaster Frieze from Montacute House .....

C. J. Richardson, del. 183

170. Part of Plaster F"rieze, Carbrook Hall .....

W. Talbot Brown, del. 184

171. Ceiling of a Triangular Bay Window at Little Charlton House.

After C. J. Richardson. 184

172. Staircase at Lyveden Old Building . . . J. A. G., del. 186

173. Details of Staircase, Hambleton Old Hall .

W. Talbot Brown, del. 187

174. Staircase from East Quantockshead . . . J. A. G., del. 187

175. Details of Staircase, Lyveden Old Building . J. A. G., del. 188

176. Pierced Baluster . ...... J. A. G., del. 189

177. Staircase at Ockwells Manor House . . H. C. Pullin, del. 189

178. .. ,, ,, ,, Plans and Details.

H. C. Pullin, del. 190

179. Staircase at Benthall Hall, Shropshire

J. L. Robinson, photo, igi

180. Staircase at a House at Warwick . . . J. A. G., del. 192

181. Staircase at the Charterhouse . . Roland W. Paul, del. 193

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XXI

ILLUSTRATION I'AGE

182. Portion of Glazing from Ightham Church . . J. A. G., del. 197

183. Glass Panel from one of the Windows at Gilling Castle.

J. A. G., del. 198

184. House formerly in North Street, Exeter ....

W. R. Lethaby, del. [A.A. S.B.J. 200

185. House in the High Street, Canterbury .....

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 201

i85. Old House, High Town. Hereford. Valentine, Dundee, photo. 202

187. Corbels, " King's Arms," Sandwich .....

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 204

188. Corbel at Canterbury . . . W. Talbot Brown, del. 205
i8g. Corbel at Canterbury . . . W. Talbot Brown, del. 205
190. Corbel at Orton Waterville . . W. Talbot Brown, del. 205
igi. The "Swan" Inn, Lechlade . W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 206

192. Desk in Almshouses, Corsham . . . W. Ha\-wood, del. 207

193. Almshouses, Chipping Campden. W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 208

194. Market House, Shrewsbury (photo) ...... 208

195. Market House, Wymondham (photo) ..... 209

196. Market House, Chipping Campden .....

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 210

197. School at Burton Latimer . . . Miss Dryden, photo. 211
ig8. Mill at Bourne Pond, Colchester . . Col. Gale, photo. 212

199. Hawking-tower, Althorp Park (photo) 213

200. Plan of Hawking-tower, Althorp Park . . J. A. G., del. 213

201. The Sign of the " White Hart " Inn, formerly at Scole

I''. A. Heffer, del. 214

202. The Chichester Tomb, Pilton Church .....

Vickery Brothers, Barnstaple, photo. 215

203. Alabaster I*"rie/;e from one of the F"oljambe Tombs, Chesterfield

Church ...... W.Talbot l^rown, del. 216

204. Tomb of G. Kecd, Bredon Church . Harold Baker, photo. 217

205. Tomb of Sir Wni. Spencer, Yarnton Church ....

Harold Baker, photo. 218

206. The Pulpit, Worth Church . W. (ialsworthy Davie, plioto. 219

207. The Pulpit. Blythborough Church

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 220

208. The Pulpit, Chesterfield Church . . J. A. G.. photo. 221

209. Font Canopy, Pilton Church .......

W. Galsworthy Davie, photo. 222

210. Window of North Aisle, Kelmarsli Church J. A. G., photo. 223

211. Keystones from Com])ton Winyatcs Church ....

W. Talbot l^rown. del. 22;

xxn

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ILLVSTRATION

212. Door in the Screen of the Chapel, Peterhouse College, Cam-

bridge K. S. Dods, del. [A.A.S.B.].

213. Plan of the Chateau of Anssi-le-Franc copied from

Du Cerceau ...... John Thorpe.

214. Part Elevation of the Chateau of Anssi-

Turrets added

215. Elevation copied from De Vries

216. An Unnamed Plan

217. An Unnamed Ground Plan

218. Upper Plan of Fig. 217
2ig. Elevation of Figs. 217, 218

220. An Unnamed Plan

221. Ground and Upper Plans, Unnamed

222. Elevations of Plans in Fig. 221 .

223. Unnamed Plan and Elevation .

224. Plan and Elevation of House for Mr. W-^- Powell

John Thorpe.

225. Plan of House for Mr. Johnson y*^ Druggist . John Thorpe.

226. An Unnamed Plan ...... John Thorpe.

227. Ground Plan of House for Sir Jo. Danvers, Chelsey

John Thorpe.

228. Upper Plan and Elevation for Sir Jo. Danvers, Chelsey .

John Thorpe.

229. An Unnamed Elevation ..... John Thorpe.

230. ., ., ..... John Thorpe.

231. ,, Plan (Circular) .... John Thorpe.

le- Franc, with three
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.
John Thorpe.

224

227

228
229
232
236

237
238

239
240

241
242

243
244
245

246

247
248
249
250

EARLY RENAISSANCE
ARCHITECTURE

IN ENGLAND

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

The progress of style in the mediaeval architecture of
England was regular and continuous : so much so, that any
one thoroughly acquainted with its various phases can tell the
date of a building within some ten years by merely examining the
mouldings which embellish it. These successive phases, more-
over, merge into one another so gradually, that although it has
been possible to divide them into four great periods — called
Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular — yet the
transition from one to the other is unbroken, and the whole course
of development can be traced as regularly as the change from
the simplicity of the trunk of a tree to the multiplicity of its
leaves. For about four centuries (a.d. iioo — 1500) this growth
continued, English architecture finding within itself the power
of progression. But about the beginning of the sixteenth centur}-
it began to feel the influence of an outside power — that of Italy
— which acted upon it with increasing force until, after two
centuries, its native characteristics had nearly disappeared, and
Italian buildings were copied in England almost line for line.

The object of the following pages is to display the effect of
this foreign influence upon our native architecture up to the
point when it became predominant, and stamped our buildings
with a character more Classic than Gothic. But it will be

2 THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY,

desirable first of all to glance shortly at the causes which led
to Italy having this extraordinary influence, and at the general
effect which that influence produced upon England.

England, in common with the rest of North-western Europe,
was the home of Gothic architecture, instinct with the mystery
and romantic spirit of the Middle Ages. Italy was the home
of Classic architecture, which it had cherished since the great
days of Rome. The Gothic manner was never thoroughly
acquired in Italy, even in those parts which lay nearest to
France and Germany, although it affected their buildings to
a certain extent. The best examples of Italian Gothic hold a
low rank in comparison with the masterpieces of the northern
style. Classic forms were those in which the Italian designer
naturally expressed himself, and it was these which he employed
when that great revival of the Arts which took place in the
fifteenth century, set him building. The earlier Renaissance in
letters " the spring before the spring," of which the great figures
are Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, heralded a great awakening
of architectural energy, and Italian architects, in solving their
new problems, mingled the results of a deep study of ancient
examples with much of mediaeval spirit and tendency. They
set themselves resolutely to revive the architecture which had
been one of the glories of ancient Rome ; but they could not,
even had they wished it, free themselves from the spirit of
their own age, and the result was the development of a kind
of architecture which used old forms in new ways, and which
has gained the distinguishing title of the Renaissance style.

But the awakening in architecture was only one manifestation
of the spirit which was abroad : in painting, sculpture, and all
the applied arts, as well as in literature, the same vivifying
tendency was at work. With the fall of Constantinople in
1453, an event which flooded Western Europe with Greek
scholars and Greek literature, a tremendous impulse was given
to the new aspirations. A new world of history and poetry had
been discovered, just as, forty years afterwards, a new world of
fact and reality was discovered by Columbus and Cabot. The
tvv'o events combined to excite men's imagination to an extra-
ordinary degree, and their stimulating effect was visible in all
branches of mental activity. There was a marvellous mingling
of the old and the new. In the past there was an inexhaustible
well of knowledge and suggestion ; in the present a boundless

ITS INFLUENCE ON ENGLAND. 3

opening for enterprise and fresh experiences. Just at this
juncture the invention of printing was being perfected, and it
came at the precise time to help the dissemination of the new
ideas. The result was that great movement of the human mind
known as the Renaissance, which in the space of a century
altered the life of Western Europe. In politics it shattered the
international fabric of the Middle Ages ; in religion it brought
about the momentous change which we call the Reformation ; in
art it wedded faultless execution with an extraordinary fecundity
of design. There followed an age richer, perhaps, than any
other in original genius and fertility of mental products. Ital\-
was at the centre of this upheaval. To her were attracted
students from all parts of Europe, not excepting England.
She herself was teeming with men of talent in all branches of
learning and the arts. It was inevitable that she should part
with some of her superfluous energy to the surrounding lands,
touched as they were, though less intensely, with the new
spirit. So general was the enthusiasm that her neighbours
were only too glad to welcome whatever Italy could send,
even if not of her very best. The new movement eventually
reached the distant shores of England, but as the stream
flowed across Europe it became tinged with the peculiarities of
the various lands over which it passed, and each country can
show its own version of the Italian Renaissance in architecture
as well as in other matters. Spain has one version, France
another, Germany another, and England yet another ; and
there is this peculiarity about the English version — that it is
coloured by the two channels through which it came, I'^rance
and the Netherlands.

The whole circumstances of tiie time being conducive to the
spread of Italian ideas and forms (which are only the embodi-
ment of ideas), how did they affect English architecture?
They found in England a style long established, and still
endowed with considerable vigour. At no period of its history
had this style been so peculiarly Enghsh in its more elal)orate
efforts, the special development known as fan-vaulting, for
instance — of which the flnest examples are to be seen in the
chapel at King's College, Cami:)ridge, and Henry \TI.'s chapel
at Westminster (see Plate I.) — being found only in this
country.

The Gothic style of England and the Classic style of Italy

4 GOTHIC TREATMENT CONTRASTED WITH CLASSIC.

had next to nothinf^ in common. Their modes of expression
were essentially different. The former was elastic, informal,
readily adapted to different needs. Like Cleopatra, it was of
infinite variety ; its component parts were small and manifold,
its tendenc}' was towards well-marked vertical lines. Its out-
ward appearance expressed its inward arrangement : a window
more or less, a buttress here, a chimney there — so long as they
were wanted — offered no difficulty to the designer. Classic
architecture, on the other hand, was formal and restricted by
considerations of symmetry ; its component parts were simple
and less mobile than those of Gothic ; its tendency was towards
strong horizontal lines. The Gothic string-course, for instance,
would jump up and down to adapt itself to a door or window; it
broke round projecting piers or buttresses without hesitation.
But the classic cornice continued in the same straight line,
neither rising nor falling, and only breaking forward round a
pier or column after due deliberation. Its projection was far
greater than that of any similar feature in Gothic work : it
was consequently much less ductile. Compared to Gothic
detail. Classic was unwieldy, even that more pliant version of
it which had recently been evolved in Italy. The ornament,
however, with which the Italian designers so freely adorned
their architectural work, unlike that of the ancients, was
generally small in scale and elastic in character. Here, there-
fore, was a feature common to both styles, and we shall find
that it is in the ornament of buildings that the change first took
place. It will be seen that the progress of the new style was
very gradual : it showed itself first in small objects, such as
tombs and chantries, and in the unimportant detail of larger
buildings ; then it affected the more significant detail ; and
ultimately, after many years, it controlled the organic concep-
tion and expression : but this final development did not take
place till after the close of the period which we are to consider.
That which we are to watch is the struggle of the old and the
new : the encounter of the new spirit steeped in classical
learning, with the old Gothic traditions and methods.

The great monuments of English Gothic architecture are to
be found in ecclesiastical buildings; those of the succeeding
phase are domestic in character. The change of thought in
religious matters, which was proceeding all through the
sixteenth century, was not favourable to church building, and

THE ELIZABETHAN MANSION. 5

after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. no
more churches were built. But the new nobility, rich with the
spoils of the dissolved houses and the traffic of the Indies,
had acquired a taste for grandeur and dignity in outward life
that required great mansions for its display. It is therefore
primarily in the Elizabethan mansion that we must watch the
contest between the old style and the new — a contest rendered
more piquant by the fact that the new style had no experience
of this particular kind of building in the land of its origin.
The English house had developed on lines widely different
from the Italian ; it had to meet other wants, it had to contend
with a different climate, it was subject to other traditions.
The new style when it came, had to harmonize these strange
traditions as well as its own, derived from a far distant past,
with the original and fertile spirit of the age. The result
is one of abiding interest. Almost any of the great houses
built in the reign of Elizabeth will show to the casual spectator
examples of crudity in detail and imperfect classical proportion,
mingled with reminiscences of Gothic notions ; but a deeper
scrutiny will disclose the fact that in spite of these short-
comings there is a national individuality and sense of genius
in the handling of materials sufficient to raise the result to the
dignity of a distinct style. Just as the " Faerie Queen " shows
a jumble of heathen gods and cardinal virtues. Christian
knights and Pagan nymphs, and yet withal is a consummate
work of art, so the buildings of the period —

" With many towers, and terrace mounted high,
And all their tops bright glistering with gold,"

in spite of their inconsistencies, have a fertilit\- of fancy, a
wealth of ornament, and a simplicity of treatment which
raise them to a similar high plane. And just as the literature
of the period, as it became more in accortlance with rule, lost
half its originality and more than half its fascination, so
Renaissance Architecture, as it passed from the Elizabethan
to the Jacobean, and so to the succeeding phases, became
more homogeneous, more scholarly, more true to its classical
origin, and yet withal lost vitality in the process. The full
meaning of that great century which stretched from the
divorce of Henry VIII. to the accession of Charles I. cannot
be grasped unless it is always borne in mind that not only was

6 TRIUMPH OF THE RULES OF ARCHITECTURE.

a new style supplanting an old one, but that it was doing so
at a time when the originality and richness of men's minds
were at their height.

But while in England the new style was winning its way, in
Italy it was passing the zenith of its vigour. The continued
study of ancient monuments enabled architects to reduce the
old methods of design to a system which could be acquired
with ease, and architectural design became less a matter of
invention than a capacity for adapting new buildings to old
rules. In course of time the same state of things estab-
lished itself in England. The invention of printing brought
to the eye of English craftsmen not only plans and pictures of
buildings recently erected in foreign lands, but also the rules
which celebrated Italian architects had laid down for the pro-
portion of buildings generally — rules founded partly on the
study of ancient fabrics and partly on the august authority of
Vitruvius. The application of these rules to circumstances and
needs which had never been contemplated by their authors was
the problem which English designers set themselves to solve.
During the earlier years of their attempt they were almost
baffled. Then came Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren,
and by their commanding genius they made the rules bend to
their will; but in the eighteenth century the rules triumphed
completely, and, as already said, Italian buildmgs were copied
in England almost line for line. It is the work of the men
who were baffled that we are now to examine : work which,
judged from the standpoint of their better tutored successors,
may almost be regarded as a failure, but work which exhibits a
vitality, a fancy, and a sense of romance for which we look
in vain in the more correct architecture of the eighteenth
century.

It is not surprising that England, in common with the rest
of Europe, should have felt the influence of Italy. It is,
perhaps, rather a matter for wonder that she should not have
feit it earlier ; that the architectural Renaissance should have
continued for more than a century, and have reached its prime
in Italy before it landed on our shores and began to touch
the more susceptible places of our English stonework. But
Brunelleschi, who crowned the cathedral of Florence with its
dome, and reared the Pitti Palace, had been dead seventy
years ; the delicate sculpture on the fagade of the Certosa of

HENRY VIII. AND FOREIGN ARTISTS. 7

Pavia was five-and-twenty years old ; and Venice was busy
lininj^ her canals with palaces, when Torrij^iano broiij^ht the
first Italian forms to England ifhd applied them to the tomb of
Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey.

But the way had been paved beforehand. For some fifty
years it had been the custom of English scholars to repair to
Italy to learn the humanities. They returned home familiar,
if not in love, with Italian ideas and methods of expression,
and if they themselves did nothing outwardly to hasten the
impending change, it was their poverty and not their will
which consented to inaction. Fine building requires money,
and accordingly it is in the work of monarchs, noblemen, and
great dignitaries of the Church that we find the first evidences
of the Italian invasion. Henry VIII. was the outward and
visible, although unconscious, agent who guided the new
movement to our shores. His great Cardinal, Wolsey, was
not less active in building, but Henry was the royal patron,
vying with other monarchs in obtaining the services of dis-
tinguished artists to adorn his surroundings. Now most of
the distinguished artists at that time were foreigners, hailing
chietl}- from Italy. There were plenty of excellent English
workmen it is true, but it was the fashion to employ Italians.
Henry's rival, Francis I. of I'rance, had secured the services
of several such men ; why not he ? So his efforts were frequent,
although they met with comparatively small success. Italians
were loth to leave their own sunny surroundings, where all men
were in sympathy with them and their ways, for the chilly fogs
and the barbarous manners of those " beasts of English," as
Cellini called them. A few men complied with his recjuests ;
of these, Torrigiano was the most celebrated. To him Henry
entrusted the making of his father's tomb, discarding the design
approved by the dead monarch, and taking the work out of the
English hands already engaged upon it. None of the other
Italians whose names have been preserved have left any great or
permanent mark in the country to which the\- came miwilHngly,
and which they left gladly. The other great foreign figure
which stands out among those of minor importance is that of
a German, Holbein. liut though Holbein did much work in
England in different branches of art, he left no school, nor can
the influence of his manner be traced far, if at all, besond his
death. Names of Italians appear occasionally as being employed

K.A. H

8 LiMrn:i) i:xtent of Italian detail.

by the King, and among them John of Padua occurs most
frequently ; but no one knows who he was, nor what work he
left behind him. His name has often been attached to different
buildings, and he has been confused with John Thorpe, but no
evidence has yet been adduced actually connecting him with
work that still survives. One of the curious and provoking
facts about the early years of the Renaissance manner in
England is the way in which Italian names elude pursuit.
Work which looks as though it must have been done by a
foreigner has no name that can be attached to it. Other work,
which is almost as foreign in appearance, is found on investi-
gation to be that of an Englishman.

Henry's rivalry with Francis I., his friendship and his feuds
with that monarch, seem to have had some effect on archi-
tectural ornament, for much that was executed during Henry's
lifetime has a French flavour about it. It is curious, indeed, to
observe how little hold actual Italian detail obtained upon the
fancy of English workmen. It was not direct from Italy that
they would take it. The Italians were not liked b}- the English
people at large ; protests were raised by the more thoughtful
against the Italianizing of our young nobles. The popular
conception of the subtle Italian was embodied by Shakespeare
in lachimo and the more infernal lago. What Italian detail
we find in Henry VIII.'s time is chiefly superficial ornament,
and even that is by no means of universal application. It is to
be found up and down the country in considerable quantity,
but side by side with w^ork which is still thoroughly Gothic in
character. Islip, the Abbot of Westminster, who laid the
foundation stone of Henry VI I. 's chapel, and who saw the
erection of that monarch's tomb — the great central feature for
which the chapel was built— was not sufficiently enamoured
of the new ornament to cause his own tomb to be of the
same character. On the contrary, the screen which encloses
his chapel is free from any touch of actual Renaissance
detail, although erected some fifteen years after Henry VII. 's
tomb.

It was through Dutch and German channels that the Italian
manner came to stay. This was the result partly of ties of
race and religion, partly of commercial intercourse, and partly
of the general imitation of Dutch methods which prevailed in
England during the latter half of the sixteenth centur}'. Irt

DUTCH INFLUENCE. 9

commercial and political as well as naval and military matters
this imitation is well known to students of that period. The
character of Renaissance work in England during Henry VIII.'s
time inclined to Italian and the French version of Italian.
After his death it inclined towards the Dutch version. In both
cases it was strongly infused with English feeling ; but there is
this difference, that whereas the earlier phase ended abruptly,
no merging of it into the latter being traceable, the second
phase can be followed step by step into the pronounced
Italian of Inigo Jones's mature manner. We can see how some
features were dropped and others acquired, until, by the double
process of shedding and assimilation, the style of Burghley
House glides imperceptibly into that of the Banqueting Hall
at Whitehall.

CHAPTER II.

THE INVASION OF THE FOREIGN STYLE.

In order properly to understand the position of the EHza-
bethan mansion in the story of architectural development, it is

necessary to examine
the work which inter-
venes between it and
the last of the Gothic
period.

The first work with
Renaissance detail that
was done in England
was the tomb of Kinj^
Henry VII. — the actual
altar-tomb, not the
metal screen enclosing
it. There is no foreign
iniluence to be detected
either in the screen or
in the wonderful fan-
tracery vault that
spreads itself above
(Plate I,). These
are essentially English
productions, and yet
there are certain parts
of them which would
lend themselves readily
to the new - fashioned
detail which was about
to invade our shores ;
parts which in subse-
quent buildings were
actually affected by it.
But so far, that is up to
the year 1509, when the
king died, the chapel
being still unfinished,
Nor is there any in the

I.— Tomb ok Prince Arthur (d. 1502) in Worcester
Cathedral.

there is no Renaissance detail.

TOMB OF HENRY VII. ii

fine chantry in Worcester Cathedral, wherein King Henry's
eldest son, Prince Arthur, who died in 1502, lies buried
(Fig. i). The utmost that can be said is that here, as in
the chapel at Westminster, the Gothic work is preparing to
succumb to the new influence. It has been suggested that
the king's own tomb was erected subsequently to that of his
mother, the Countess of Richmond, who also lies in the Abbey.
But the question
is one of little
importance ; no
long period can
separate the two,
and the important
point is that the
actual invasion of
the foreign stsle
is a well-marked
event, the circum-
stances attending
it are on record,
its results still
survive in an ex-
cellent state of
preservation.

Henry VII.
says in his will,
dated 31st March,
1509, that he had
arranged for his
tomb to be made
in a certain
manner,* and

from other scjurces we gather that the men who were to do
the work were certain English craftsmen, of whom Lawrence
Imber, carver ; Drawswerd, sheriff of York ; Himiphrey Walker,
founder; Nicholas Ewen, coppersmith; Robert Virtue, Robert
Jenins, and John Lebons, master masons, were the chief. The
last name is the only one with a foreign appearance, but it is
a curious and rather significant fact that the design had been

2. — ToMIl 01 ONK or TlllC CuKAVNK 1'aMM.V, AsHHOLUNK ClILKCH,

Dkf<hy.shikk. Fiktkknth Ckntukv.

* Britton's Aichilcctttral Atiliqiiitics. Vol. II.

TOMB OF HENRY VII.

made by one " Master Pageny," as he was called by his
English acquaintances, but whom his own countrymen called
Paganino. No other work of Master Pageny's is known in
England, but it seems tolerably clear that he is the same

Paganino who de-
signed the tomb of
the French King
Charles VIII. at
St. Denis, and
that Henry's
tomb was to have
been like it.* The
project, however,
fell through in
consequence of
the death of the
king, and the pass-
ing of the control
of affairs into the
hands of his son,
Henry VIII. The
new monarch dis-
carded the old
design entirely,
and entrusted the
work to Pietro
T o r r i g i a n o , or
Peter Torrisany,
as he became on
English lips. Tor-
rigiano's design
departed widely
from English tra-
ditions. The lead-
ing idea of recum-
bent figures upon an altar-tomb was retained — this idea indeed
held the field for another three-quarters of a century — but the
old practice of adorning the sides of the tomb with cusped
panels, or figures of saints in niches, or angels holding shields

* Architological Journal, 1894, " On the work of Florentine Sculptors in England,"
by Alfred Higgins, F. S.A.

3. — HcNRV VII.'s Tomb. Detail.

TOMB OF HENRY VII.

4. — Tomb of John Harrington (d. 1524), Exxon Church,
Rutland.

of arms (Fig. 2), was abandoned ; and instead of the restrained
architectural treatment of the Enghsh tradition, where the
figures were soli-
tary, and every
fold of drapery
harmonised with
the main archi-
tectural mem-
bers, Torrigiano
gave us the free
treatment of the
Italian sculptors.
The general
arrangement of
the panels is
simple enough
(Plate II.) There
are three circular
wreaths on each
of the longer
sides of the
tomb, divided by Italian pilasters adorned with arabesques,
into which the rose and portcullis of the Tudors are introduced.
A rose also fills
each of the four
spandrils formed
by the circular
wreaths. These
wreaths were
new to English
eyes; so, too, was
the treatment of
the spandrils,
where the flower
is simply applied
to the trianguhir
space, instead (jf
appearing to be
a growth on the structure itself in the old Gothic way (Fig. 3).
The panels themselves contain figures in action, figures which
have cast away conventional attitudes and stiffness of attire, and

5.— ToMH OK Thomas Ca\k (r). 155H), Stanford Church,

NoKTHAMl'TONMllKK.

TOMB OF HENRY VII.

6. — Tomb ok Thomas Cave (d. 155S). End Panel.

comport themselves in the most natural way imaguiable.
Henry's patron saints are there to the number of ten, but

instead of stand-
ing in niches,
statuesque and
motionless, they
are grouped in
pairs, every pair
seeming inter-
ested in a com-
mon subject,
instead of each
individual being
rapt in solitary
contemplation.
As there are six
panels, the ten
patron saints are
supplemented by
two other figures — the Virgin with the Child, and St. Christo-
pher, Another novelty appears in the shape of the four cherubs

poised at each
corner of the
tomb; they have
no niches or
other architec-
tural b a c k -
ground ; the}' are
detached pieces
of sculpture, self-
reliant ; their
purpose, which
they no longer
fulfil, was to hold
banners, but
these have long
disappeared.
The change of

idea is complete, but it is a change that neser took hold of
English craftsmen. They adopted the circular wreaths and
the arabesqued pilasters, and so far as those features are

7. — ToMU OF Sir Georgk Veknon (d. 1567), Bakewki.i. Chukch,
Dkrhvshire.

ITS INFLUENCE ON OTHER TOMBS.

concerned we see in this tomb the prototype of many that
followed after. But the figures in action do not appear
again. English tradition was too strong for the Italian
influence to overcome it, and the principal way in which it
was affected was that the panels became frequently divided by
pilasters instead of by moulded members ; and that the angels,
which had hitherto been solitary and devout, took on the
attitude of heraldic supporters, and assumed a more mundane

8. — T(JMii OE- Siu riioMAs Andkkw (d.ijOj), Cii,\invi;i,i (IN Cm ucii,

NOKTIIAMI'TONSHIKK.

appearance, or endeavoured to imitate the amorini of Italian
craftsmen — an effort for which they were, as a rule, t(Jo elderly.
The dividing pilasters were sometimes nothing more than
spiral columns, and such a column is occasionally the only
sign of the new feeling. In the tomb of John Harrington,
who died in 1524 (Fig. 4), a spiral column at the angles
and a certain stiffness in the cusped j)anels indicate the
impending change. This change is still mort; marked in the
Cave tomb (I'^ig. 5) at Stanfc^d ("hurch, where (in 1558)
the sides have three circular panels containing, howexer,
shields of arms, not figures, and the upj)er end exhibits the
family shield supported by two angels. On the other hand.

TH1-: INFLUENCE OF THIC NEW STYLE.

the opposite end (Fig. 6) shows the family of the deceased
gentleman in a number of figures treated with a stiffness of
pose and a conventionality of attire that still belong to the
ancient style. There is a very similar tomb at Charvvelton to
Sir Thomas Andrew, who died in 1563 (Fig. 8). In the tomb
of Sir George \'ernon (Fig. 7), who died in 1567, the angle
pilasters, with their vases and portcullises in low relief, recall

those on Henry
\TI.'stomb. The
middle shield on
the end is sur-
rounded by a cir-
cular wreath,
while the shape
of the shield and
the strange form
of the dividing
pilasters show a
still further depar-
ture from the old
detail. In the
Bradbourne tomb
of 1 58 1 (Fig. 9)
panels have dis-
appeared alto-
gether, and the
sides of the tomb
are occupied by
ligures of the
children, who hold
in a stiff and tiring
manner, shields
setting forth their marriages. There is a rather curious survival
in the tomb of Fli^abeth Drury at Hawstead Church, in Suffolk,
where, as late as 1610, a shield of arms is supported by two
amorini (F"ig. 10). All these examples, selected from the tombs
to be found in village churches, and covering a period of three-
quarters of a centur\', tend to show that the Italianizing of the
English workman, in this branch of art at any rate, was as
incomplete as it was slow. The craftsman was, however, aware
that a new influence was at work, and he was prepared to

y. — ToMli OK — BkaIiBOLRNK (U. 1581), ASHBOLKNIC ChLKCH,

Dkrhvshire.

ON TOMBS AND HOUSES.

succumb to it where circumstances were favourable. In certain
districts circumstances were favourable, and accordingly in
parts of the eastern and southern counties, notably at Layer
Marney, in Essex, there are tombs in which the detail is more
decidedly wrought after Italian models (Fig. 11 and Plate III.),
although even here the difference is so great that any of them
would look strangely out of place if transported to a church
in Italy.

The eastern and southern counties appear to have been
specially affected by the new movement, for we find con-
siderable traces of it scattered over wide areas, and affecting
not only small objects like tombs, but permanent structures.
We shall presently see it at Layer Marney Tower, and among
other places at East Barsham and Great Snoring in Norfolk ;
while in Wymondham Church, in Norfolk, the sedilia is made
of what appear to be
fragments of a tomb
much resembling
those at Layer
Marney in character
(Fig. 12). In the
southern counties,
Sutton Place, near
Guildford, abounds
in A n g 1 o - 1 1 a 1 i a n
detail ; some of the woodwork at the Vyne, in Hampshire,
is also affected by it. There is some very interesting work
of the same nature at the Chapel of the Holy Ghost, at Basing-
stoke; while at Christchurch, in the same county, the chantry
of the Countess of Salisbury is strongly touched with the Italian
influence, and at St. Cross, near Winchester, are the very
beautiful fragments of a Renaissance screen (Plate VIL).
Winchester itself has some good work in the choir of the
Cathedral ; and still further west, at Bingham Melcombe, in
Dorset, there is a charming gable of mixed P2nglish and
Italian detail. At Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire, there is a
considerable amount of Renaissance work, wrought when the
abbey buildings were converted into a dwelling-house soon
after the dissolution oi the monasteries.

Some of this work is in stone and some in wood, but some
of it is in terra-cotta, and it would be an interesting task to

10. — I'ROM TH1-; ToMK OK El.IZAKKTH DrIJHV (u. i6io),

Hawstkai) Chi kch, Slfkoi.k.

THE LAVKR MAKNKY TOMBS.

w'»'^wwww////////////////////////////////m^^

Qorth ^ySx «1 (Documnit

liitiitrif'ti)'

5na» ot Rft

II.— ToMii OF Hknkv, Loki) Maknkv (I). 1523), Laykr Marnky Church, Esskx.

ascertain why this pronounced detail should have been largely
confined to these particular districts. The stone and wood-
work might have been carved by itinerant Italians wandering
some distance from their ports of debarkation ; but the terra-

Plate III.

DMTAILS ri<OM THE TOMB C)l- HICNKY, LORD MARNEY

w .

w r

C/5 u

ID Dtf

^ 2

o s

►J

'5 1

(>J^

O H

ITALIAN DETAIL.

-From thk Skhilia, Wymondham Church, Norkoi.k.

cotta must have been cast, and need not have been cast close
to where it was fixed, but abroad, and thence conveyed to
almost any part of the country. Nevertheless, none of the
work entirely loses its English character, whether it was done
abroad or not.
Some of it must
certainly have
been wrought
by Italians, but
about much of
it the general
impression pro-
duced is that
it was done by
Englishmen
with Italian pro-
clivities, rather
than by Italians
under EngHsh
orders.

Nor was the

foreign detail on the stone simply added to the English work
after the native craftsmen had finished. It was not that the
Englishman completed his work and then invited the Italian to
come and do the carving after his own manner, but the two
influences are curiously mixed. Take
the fan-vaulting of the porch at Cow-
dray (Plate IV.), for instance. In general
appearance it is of the same famil}- as
other fan-vaulting, of which the roof
of the Chapel of the Red Mount at
King's Lynn may be taken as a speci-
men. But, as might be expected, it is
in the susceptible parts of the stone-
work that the foreign influence first shows itself, — not in the
construction, but in the ornament. The spandrils at Cowdray
are filled with carving; some of it is foliage, treated in the
Late Gothic manner, but in two appears the head of a winged
cherub, clearly not of English but Italian descent. The main
ribs of the vaulting, too, have an Italian arabesque worked on
them, and the point to be observed here is that the section

13. — CoVVDRAY UOUSK, SUSSKX.

VAUi.TiNf, Rui TO Pouch

(CIK. 1540).

THE SALISBURY CHANTRY AT CHRISTCHURCH.

of the rib is not of the usual type, but is expressly designed to
receive the arabesque (Fig. 13).

In the Countess of Salisbury's chantry at Christchurch it is

much easier to
imagine the
Italian carver
following the
English mason,
and adding his
ornament to the
other's work, for
nearly all of it lies
in sunk panels,
the highest parts
of the carving
being on the
same face as the
surrounding
margin : that is
to say, the Italian
found plain sur-
faces between the
moulded mem-
bers left for him '
to carve, and one
set of these plain
surfaces, on the
side next to the
choir, he did not
carve — they still
remain bare.
Take away the
ornament, and
the chantry in
general design
and treatment
is Late English-
Gothic (Fig. 14), such as no Italian would have produced, if
we except the topmost stage on the choir side, where there are
two domed pinnacles of rather clumsy and unintelligible design
(Plate v.). One of these has a curious feature — the somewhat

14. — Chantry of the Countkss of Salisbury, Christchurch,
Hampshire, from the North Aisle (cir. 1529).

Pl.ATK V.

THE SALISBURY CHANTRY. CHRISTCHURCH.

VIEW FROM THE CHOIR.

THE SALISBURY CHANTRY AT CHRISTCHURCH 21

15. — Thk Salishlry Chantrv, Christchlkch. Dktaii. of Carvin(

16— I'RioR Draper's Chantrv, Christciukc h. Hi ad ni- Doduwav (15^9).

MIXED CHARACTER OF DETAIL.

vulg^ar product of the later Italian carvers — namely, the lower
drapery and the feet of a figure ascending into clouds, all
executed in complete relief. On the north side, next the
aisle, are some shields in the spandrils between the niches

(Plate VI.), carved
in the Italian spirit,
and these can hardly
have been added
afterwards, but must
have been an in-
tegral part of the
design. The ara-
besques on the ver-
tical shafts and in
thehorizontal bands
might very well have
been carved by a man
put on for that pur-
pose only (Fig. 15).
Altogether, it is diffi-
cult to adjust with
any accuracy the
claims of the English
and Italian work-
men; it \\' o u 1 d
almost seem as
though they worked
together, or at any
rate with a cordial
understanding be-
tween them. The
same may be said of
the screen to Prior
Draper's chantry
(dated 1529) in the
same church. The
general design is Gothic, and while the arabesque enrichments
may have been added afterwards, and the spandrils of the flat-
pointed door, the same can hardly be said of the corbels to the
niches over it (Fig. 16), The cresting along the top of this
screen exactly resembles that over the screens at the sides of

17. — ChKISTCHUKCH, llAMi'SHlKh. Mlsh.KtKE SeATS.

Plate VI.

THE SALISBURY CHANTRY, CHRISTCHIRCH.

DETAIL OK NICHES ON NORTH SIDE.

MIXED CHARACTER OF DETAIL.

the choir at Winchester Cathedral, except that the latter has
not a battlemented finish (Fig. 20).

Although it is not difficult to imagine an Italian carving this
stonework at Christchurch, it is not quite so easy to attribute
the interesting choir-stalls to him or a compatriot, for the
Gothic feeling is too pronounced, and the angel and cherubs
are not lissom and
graceful enough to have
descended from an
Italian sky.

The divisions be-
tween the miserere
seats (Fig. 17) are
thoroughly Gothic in
general treatment and
in their mouldings, but
in the carving the
Italian hand shows
itself, although sub-
dued to the Gothic sur-
roundings in which it
worked. Some of the
desk ends are traceried
and cusped, and some
have vases and foliage
after the Italian man-
ner. But here again the
two piitti which turn
their backs in so uncere-
monious a way (Fig. i(S)
can hardly be the work
of Italian chisels.

It is equally difficult
to assign the beautiful panelling in the long gallery at the Vyne
to a foreigner (I""ig. 19) ; there is so much English feeling about
it. The work conveys the impression that the carver was more
at home with his linen panels than with the Italian flourishes
with which he supplemented them; but the single panel over the
door is evidently the work of a hand thoroughly familiar with
the Italian method. We see the same mixed character wherever
we look ; we can point to no work — not even Henry \ II.'s

R.A. C

:8.— Christchurch, Uami'shikk. IJknch-knd in Choir.

MIXHD CHARACTER OF DETAIL.

tomb — and say, " This is wholly Italian." There is always a
stronp^ English feeling, and sometimes it is only a touch here
and there which shows the foreign influence.

The same remark applies to the stone screens at the sides of
the choir at Winchester (Fig. 20). They are Gothic in general

19. — DOOKWAY AND PANELLING IN THE GaLLERY AT THE VyNE, HAMPSHIRE (BEI ORE 153O).

treatment, but a little Italian carving is introduced in the
cresting along the top. They were the work of Bishop Fox in
1525, w'ho evidently had a hankering after the foreign ornament
in his life, although his own chantry, in which he lies buried, is
free from it ; for in the neighbouring church at St. Cross are the
fragments of some very beautiful screens containing charming

BISHOP FOX'S WORK.

Italian work (Plate VII.). The history of these fragments is not
known, but from the occurrence in them of the pelican, which
was Bishop Fox's badge, they seem to be due to him, and they
may possibly have come from the cathedral itself. They do not
belong to their present situation, and one of the main posts is
worked with a return at a very obtuse angle, indicating some
such polygonal disposition as the east end of the cathedral has.
On the top of the choir-screens in the cathedral are placed six
oak chests, called mortuary chests, procured by Fox, in which

20.— ScuKEN ON North Siuk of Choir, Winchkstku Cathkdrai. (with MoKTUAuy

Chkst), 1525.

are deposited the bones of various benefactors. They arc of
Italian workmanship (except two which replaced the old ones
in the seventeenth century), and are suggestive as being one
of the sources of inspiration to native carvers. One of them is
shown in Fig. 20, and just behind it can be seen the cornice of
the chantry of Bishop Gardiner, who died in 1555. The portion
visible is of well-developed classic character, and indicates how
the use of the foreign forms had progressed during the thirty
years that had elapsed since Fox's time. I'2ven here, however,
the pinnacle at the corner — the head of a heraldic animal on a

c 2

PAULET TOMB AT BASING.

2I.-CANOFV OF Stalls, Hknkv VI I. 's Chapkl,
Westminstkk.

pedestal — shows how the
designer was unwilHng or
unable to shake off all the
trammels of his native
style.

At Basing Church, in
Hampshire, there is yet
another example of the
same limiteduseof Italian
detail in the Paulet
tombs, which are con-
structed in the thickness
of the side-walls of the
chancel (Plate VII.). The
arches over the tombs and
the doorway in the wall
are all flat-pointed, and
the spandrils are filled
with Renaissance carving,
which, in the case of the
large arches, surrounds
the arms of the founder.
Except for these touches,
and for the cresting along
the top, which recalls that
at Winchester, the detail
is all Gothic. The large
panel in the wall over
the doorway seems to be
of later date.

Another interesting
piece of work of this
period is found in the
stalls of Henry VII.'s
chapel at Westminster.
The canopies (Fig. 21)
are quite Gothic in cha-
racter, but of a rather
florid description, and
although there is no actual
Renaissance detail, there

Plate VII.

PART OF SCREEN, ST. CROSS, WINCHESTER
(probably due to bishoi' fox, who died 1528.)

PAULET TOMB, BASING CHURCH, HAMPSHIRi:.

TREATMENT OF WOODWORK.

is a tendency towards it. The caps of the pilasters are also Late
Gothic, while the columns are of that honeycomb pattern which
is a sign of change towards the new fashion (Fig. 22). There

is woodwork of a somewhat
similar character at Winchester
in Langton's chapel, and in
Prior Silkstede's pulpit (1520).
The Spring pew in Lavenham
Church, Suffolk, is another
instance of the late treatment
of woodwork. There are niches,
canopies, fan-vaulting, and
cusped tracery (Fig. 23), but a
closer inspection shows that the
tracery has completely departed
from the simple lines of Gothic
work, and has assumed fantastic
forms combined of twisted
strands and foliage (Fig. 24),
while the columns are honey-

22.— Detail from Stalls, Hknry VH.'s COmbcd Or twistcd iuto Spirals.

Chapkl, Westminster. ,,,, , n , i ,

1 hese examples all tend to
show that the old tradi-
tions died hard. The new
ideas were cautiously ac-
cepted, and were utilised to
help the existing methods
rather than to supplant
them. Hitherto it has been
fittings, or chantries, or
tombs which have furnished
example s — comparatively
small and isolated pieces of
work which naturally lent
themselves to experiments.
But we find the same general
treatment in larger and
more important efforts; the
native tradition still holds
the field, but traces of the ^, -r,,, spk.n.. pkw, i.avknmam ch.kc...

new manner are to be found si fkolk.

TWO GREAT ROOFS COMPARED.

in the spandril of an archway, the termination of a label, or the
pendants of a roof. Compare the roof of the hall at Eltham
Palace (Fig. 25) with that of the great hall at Hampton Court
(1534—35)- The roof at Eltham is still Gothic, without a
touch of the Renaissance; the roof at Hampton Court is also
still Gothic in conception and construction, but in the most
susceptible parts— the pendants, the spandrils, and the corbels
— the new influence makes itself felt (Fig. 26). These pendants

are quite in the new
style, and yet were
carved by an Eng-
lishman, named
Richard Rydge, of
London.* The span-
drils likewise are
filled with Renais-
sance ornament,
carved by Michael
Joyner, among
which the King's
Arms and the
"King's beasts"
appear, treated in
the manner cus-
tomary in Late
Gothic work ; the
Tudor badges are
also carved on the
pendants and
corbels, amid the cherubs and balusters and foliage which go
to compose the Italian ornament (Fig. 27).

Another fine piece of woodwork, which was being executed
contemporaneously with the hall roof at Hampton, was the
magnificent rood screen in King's College Chapel, Cambridge
(Plate VHL). There is no record as to who did this work, nor
w^hen it was done ; but the evidence of the arms, initials, and
badges upon it, which are those of Henry VHL and Anne
Boleyn, fixes its date between 1532 and 1536. It has been
called the finest piece of woodwork this side the Alps, and its

24. — Detail from the Spring Pew, Lavenham Church,

SUKKOLK.

* History of Hampton Court Palace, by Ernest Law, Vol. I.

Plate VIII.

KING'S COLLEGE. CAMBRIDGE.

SCREEN IN THE CIIAI'F.I.. (1532-6).

THE SCREEN IN KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL.

exquisite design and workmanship quite justify the description,
and even incline one to omit the limiting line. It is more
completely Italian in treatment than any other work of the
time, and there is very little trace of Gothic influence. All the
mouldings are classic, whereas in the roof at Hampton Court
even the Italian pendants have a Gothic feeling in their
mouldings. There is, however, a considerable similarity in
feeling between the pendants in both cases, and it should be
borne in mind that the work at the two places was being
carried on simultaneously. Richard Rydge, of London, who

25.— Rook ok Hall, Eltham Palack, Kknt.

carved the pendants at Hampton Court, may have had a hand
in the King's College screen ; but it is practically certain that
the general design and most of the work must have been
done by Italians, and the whole screen must be regarded as
an isolated example, complete in itself, not growing out
of anything that went before it, nor developing into anything
afterwards.

ytne early work at Hampton Court, that is, the work of

\y^ Wolsey and Henry VHI., executed between 1514 and 1540,

is typical of the prevailing maimer. This building was the

most important one of its time. It was built by the magnificent

Cardinal as his principal residence, where he could live amid

ROOF AT HAMPTON COURT.

26. — Roof of the Great Hall, Hampton Court (1534 — 35).

quiet and healthy surroundings, and yet be in close touch with
London, which was the centre of political activity. Wolsey
lived in more than regal state, and the enormous size and
extraordinary splendour of his palace is testified to by many

ROOF AT HAMPTON COURT.

27.— IJKTAII.S H(0M THK KoOK ok TllK ("iHFAT HaI.I,, HaMITON Coi Kl.

foreigners (jf distinction who resorted to him on some (jf the
innumerable matters in which he was the controHinj^^ spirit.
This great palace he presented to the king some time before
his fall, and the king altered and enlarged it still further, and

THE WORK AT HAMPTON COURT.

made it, as was to be expected, one of his chief residences.
Here, then, we may expect to find the best work that wealth
and skill could produce ; here we may fairly look for typical
work of the time. What is the character of the work that was
being executed between 1514 and 1540 ? In its essentials it is
Gothic of a late type, with just such touches of Italian detail as
have been already mentioned. The structure is of dark red brick,
with stone dressings ; the detail is of the simplest ; the windows
are generally small, and have flat-pointed heads. Whatever
elaboration there is, is chiefly confined to central features,

2S. — Hami'ton Col kt. Head ok Door to Ghf.at Hall.

such as the gateways on the great axial line. The chimneys
are of cut and moulded brick ; the archways are vaulted with
fan tracery vaulting ; the large windows of the hall are traceried
and cusped ; everything in its main outline is Gothic. But in
certain parts the ornament is of Renaissance character. There
are a number of terra-cotta roundels built into the walls, which
came from Italy, and were made to the Cardinal's order. There
is a terra-cotta tablet of his arms supported by putti beautifully
modelled — this was also probably an importation ; it has no
essential connection with its surroundings. The same may
also be said of the more roughly modelled panels on either side
of the doorway to the chapel, which contain the royal arms

NONESUCH PALACE. 33

impaling those of Henry's third queen, Jane Seymour, sup-
ported by very mundane angels. But there is also, in other
parts of the building, a little Renaissance detail, which is an
essential part of the design, and could not have been brought
from elsewhere and built in. Such is the carving in the
spandrils of doorways (Fig. 28), the pendants of the hall roof,
and the ceiling decoration of certain rooms. This must all
have been wrought on the spot, but it forms an extremely small
part of the whole. While the spandrils of three or four door-
ways are carved with Renaissance detail, the doorways them-
selves are in other respects quite Gothic. The hall roof, as
already said, is Gothic in conception, although much of its
ornament is of the newer fashion. The same may be said of the
chapel roof, which is an imitation in oak of some of the stone
vaulting and pendants of the period. The ceilings will be
referred to later, but it may here be said that most of them
are derived from the wood-ribbed ceilings of Late Gothic work,
and that only in the small room called Wolsey's Closet does
the design decidedly follow Italian models. It will thus be
seen that Hampton Court is essentially Gothic in style, and
that only in its susceptible places has it been affected by the
foreign fashion.

What happened at Hampton Court happened elsewhere,
and in all the examples which have come down to us the
same thing is to be seen — a Gothic structure with more or less
of Italian ornament : more in such places as Sutton Court and
Layer Marney Tower, less at Compton Winyates and Hengrave.

There was, however, one building, which has not come down
to us, in which the Italian manner must have been much more
in evidence, judging by such accounts as we have of the place.
This was the palace of Nonesuch, in vSurrey. It was built by
Henry VIII. as a retreat, according to Paul Hentzner, the tutor
of a young German nobleman who visited England in 1598.* It
was in "a very healthful situation," lie says, " chosen by King
Henry VIII. for his pleasure and retirement, and built by him
with an excess of magnificence and elegance, even to ostenta-
tion ; one would imagine that everything that architecture
can perform to have been employed in this one work ; there are
everywhere so many statues that seem to breathe, so many

* Ilcntznei's l ravels, ed. by Horace Walpole.

34 NONESUCH PALACE.

miracles of consummate art, so many casts that rival even the
perfection of Roman antiquity, that it may well claim and
justify its name of Nonesuch." The site was acquired by the
king in 1538,* and as he died in 1547, he must have begun to
build almost immediately. According to a statement in Braun's
Civitatcs (1582), he " procured many excellent artificers, archi-
tects, sculptors, and statuaries, as well Italians, French, and
Dutch as natives, who all applied to the ornament of this
mansion the finest and most curious skill they possessed in
these several arts, embellishing it within and without with
many magnificent statues, some of which vividly represent the
antiquities of Rome, and some surpass them."t About eight
years after Henry's death the house was alienated from the
Crown to the Earl of Arundel, and was thereby saved from
the destruction contemplated by Queen Mary, who found it too
costly to finish. The Earl, however, "for the love and honour
he bare to his old master," completed the building and left it to
his son-in-law. Lord Lumley, who added a second court. In
1591 it again came into possession of the Crown, and so con-
tinued until it was presented by Charles II. to his favourite,
Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine, who pulled it down to help
towards paying her debts. A few years before this happened
Evelyn notes in his diary under date 3rd January, 1666 : " I
supp'd in None-such House, whither the office of the Exchequer
was transferr'd during the plague, at my good friend's Mr.
Packer's, and tooke an exact view of the plaster statues and
bass relievos inserted 'tvvixt the timbers and punchions of the
outside walles of the Court ; which must needs have ben the
work of some celebrated Italian. I much admir'd how it had
lasted so well and intire since the time of Hen. VIII., expos'd
as they are to the aire ; and pitty it is they are not taken out
and preserv'd in some drie place ; a gallerie would become
them. There are some mezzo-relievos as big as the life, the
storie is of the Heathen Gods, emblems, compartments, etc.
The Palace consists of two courts, of which the first is of stone,
castle-like, by the Lo. Lumlies (of whom 'twas purchas'd), the
other of timber, a Gotic fabric, but these walls incomparably
beautified. I observ'd that the appearing timber punchions,

* Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1837.

t Anhaologia, Vol. XXXIX., p. 32. Toto del Nun^iata was probably one of
the Italians.

NONESUCH PALACE. 35

entrelices, &c., were all so cover'd with scales of slate, that it
seem'd carv'd in the wood and painted, the slate fastened on
the timber in pretty figures, that has, like a coate of armour,
preserv'd it from rotting." Some two and a half years
before this visit of Evelyn's, his lively contemporary, Mr.
Pepys, had gone through the park to the house and, as he
says, "there viewed as much as we could of the outside, and
looked through the great gates, and found a noble court." In
September, 1665, he was again there, and while waiting about
he examined the house, which was, he says, " on the outside
filled with figures of stories, and good painting of Rubens' or
Holben's doing. And one great thing is, that most of the house
is covered, I mean the post and quarters in the walls, with lead,
and gilded."

Of all this beautiful work nothing has survived, except a
painted panel or two preserved at Loseley, in Surrey, and
possibly other fragments in other houses of the district.
According to a statement of John Aubrey, the antiquary, some
of the materials of Nonesuch went to the building of The
Durdans near Epsom. Evelyn calls it a Gothic building, and
we shall probably not be far wrong in placing it in the same
category as other buildings of the time — English in conception,
but adorned with foreign ornament, which in this case was of
greater extent and better workmanship than that on any other
contemporary house. It seems clear, however, that the work,
important as it was, did not have any permanent effect upon
English architecture. It was the culmination of the Italian
movement prevalent throughout Henry VHI.'s reign ; after his
death, and before the newness of Nonesuch had worn off, the
Italian influence gave way to the Dutch. Nonesuch was a
large building, especially after Lord Lumley had added the
second court; but it would seem that Henry VIII. actually
built but one court, measuring 116 feet long by 137 feet wide.*
Hampton Court had Unw large courts besides half-a-dozen
smaller ones; the largest or Base Court, measuriug 167 feet by
142 feet, still remains; so also do the Clock Court, measuring
160 feet by 91 feet, and the Chapel Court ; the fourth, measuring
116 feet by 108 feet, has given way to Wren's buildings.
Hampton Court, therefore, stood without a rival in point of

* Anliwologia, Vol. V., p. 429.

WORK AT LACOCK ABBEY.

size, but Nonesuch was more magnificently decorated, and we
can but echo Evelyn's lament that the beautiful panels were
"not taken out and preserv'd in some drie place."

Just about the time that Nonesuch was being built, Lacock
Abbey in Wiltshire was being converted into a residence by
William Sharington, who had bought it on the dissolution of
the monasteries. He was lord of the manor in 1540, and he

died in 1553,* so
that all the work
which he did
must be com-
prised between
those dates. One
important part
of his work is
the octagonal
tower at the
south-east corner
of the house
(Fig. 29). The
detail of the
stonework is
simple, and, ex-
cept for certain
brackets, does
not show much
foreign influence,
but in the tower
are two stone
tables (Figs. 30
and 31) , evi-
dently made for
their situation, which strongly display the new spirit. That
one of them was expressly made for William Sharington is
proved by his initials and crest being part of its ornamenta-
tion ; and as a skilful mason named Chapman was working
on the new buildings, it is just possible that he may have
carved one or both of these tables. It is the table on the
middle floor which has its base ornamented with Sharington's

29. — Lacock Ahbky, Wiltshire. Tower at South-East
Corner (between 1540 and 1553).

* " Notes on Lacock Abbey." by C. H. Talbot, Wilts. Archaolog. and Nat. Hist.
Mag. Vol. XXVI.

WORK AT LACOCK ABBEY.

initials and crest ; from this base rises a central pillar, against
Vv^hich squat four figures of satyrs carrying baskets of fruit and
foliage upon which rests the table-top. The satyrs have that
curious resemblance about their heads to North American
Indians which characterises a number of such figures carved
during the latter half of the sixteenth century. The second

30. — Lacock Aiiiitv, Wii.rsHiKK. Sionk Tahi.k in Towku.

table (on the top floor) has nothing about it directly con-
necting it with Sharington. It was evidently intended for a
banqueting house, as it is adorned with figures of Apicius, the
first authority on the pleasures of the table, Ceres, Hacciius, and
an unnamed personage of the same hierarchy.

Sharington's work is of considerable interest, and includes,
in addition to minor matters such as a chimney-piece,
chimney-stacks, and panelling, a fine range of staltling

WORK AT LACOCK ABBEY.

(Fig. 32), of which the detail is tolerably simple, and of a
character closely resembling that which prevailed twenty
years later, although here and there, in a chimney or a
bracket, we get a touch more in keeping with what is usually
associated with Sharington's own time. In addition to the
Renaissance work in the tables there is some tile paving
(Plate IX.) which displays, amid the foliage, the vases and
the dolphins that form the staple of Italian ornament, the

31. — Lacock Abbey, \Vii,tshirk. Stone Table in Tower.

initials of Sharington and his third wife, Grace, his arms (gu.,
between two flaunches chequ}- arg. and az., two crosses formee,
in pale), and his crest, a scorpion. As Sir William Sharington
died in 1553, and it was during the life of his third wife that
these tiles were made, they may fairly be dated about 1550.

With the close of the first half of the century we come to the
end of pronounced Italian detail such as pervades the tiles at
Lacock, and characterises other isolated features in different
parts of the country. The nature of the detail in the second

Plate IX.

LACOCK ABBEY, WILTSHIRE. TILE PAVING (About 1550).

SEPARATI-: TILi:S I'KOM THI-: SAMI-: I'AVICMENT.

CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF DETAIL.

half of the century is different ; it no longer comprises the

dainty cherubs, the elegant balusters, vases and candelabra,

the buoyant dolphins, and delicately modelled foliage which

are associated with Italian and French Renaissance work, but

it indulges freely

in strap work,

curled and inter-
laced, in fruit

and foliage, in

cartouches, and

in caryatides, half

human beings,

half pedestals,

such as were the

delight of the

Dutchman of the

time. But the ex-
treme heaviness

of the Dutch work

was lightened in

its passage across

the water, and the

English workmen

seem to have im-
proved upon their

later models as

much as they fell

short of their

earlier. There is

a fine carved and

inlaid c h e st in

St. Mary Overie,

South wark, which

shows this change

in detail! Plate X.),

but it is treated with more restraint than the woodwork of

later years. It was the gift of Hugh Offley, and bears his

initials and marks, as well as his arms and those of his wife's

family : he was Lord Mayor in 1556, and is not unlikely to

have given the chest in that year.

In addition to the change in the character of the detail, we
K.A. D

-Lacock Ahhky, Wii.tshikk. Thic Stahi.ks-; (hktwkkn

1540 AM) 1553).

CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF DETAIL.

find a classic rendering of strings and cornices more prevalent ;
doorways became frequently round-headed instead of flat-
pointed, windows became square-headed, and all accessories
parted with what remains of Gothic character they may have
possessed in favour of a classic treatment. But the general
body of a building was less susceptible of change than were its
particular features, and how the general body of such buildings
as houses developed will be seen in the next chapter.

32A. — From the Sedilia, Wymondham
Church, Norfolk.

CHAPTER III.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOUSE-PLAN FROM

About 1450 to 1635.

Note. — The plans are drawn to a uniform scale of 50 feet to the inch.

The principal buildings erected during the sixteenth and
early seventeenth centuries were houses, and it is mainly in
connection with domestic architecture that we must seek to
trace the development of the new style. There were but few
churches built after the dissolution of the monasteries, and
we have no examples of sufficient importance to show how
ecclesiastical architecture would have been affected. There are
chapels, chantries, and fittings, such as screens, pews, pulpits,
and fonts, but nothing on a large scale. We have already seen
how such comparatively small and isolated features were affected.
It is necessary, therefore, to look to the numerous houses that
were built in order to see what progress the new ideas made.

The character of a house is largely determined by its plan,
and the plan is the expression of the wants and habits of the
inmates. Accordingly we find that the wants and habits of
English people, being far less susceptible of change than their
taste in ornament and decoration, caused the plan of their
houses to follow the old lines long after the superficial decora-
tion had taken on itself the foreign fashion. The one quality
which the Italian influence gradually introduced into the plan
was symmetry, and this could be obtained without sacrificing the
arrangements which seemed essential to English habits. In
later days an Italian feature, the open loggia, was often made
use of in the form of an arcade, but even this had its English
precedent in the cloisters of the monks.

What were the essential points about the plan of an English
house ? The most important place was the hall, which was
the nucleus of the whole series of apartments. Then there
was the kitchen with its adjuncts ; and there were the private
apartments for the family, of which the chief was the
" parlour." The arrangement which naturally established

D 2

42 FIFTEENTH CENTURY PLAN.

itself was that the kitchen should be located at one end of the
hall and the parlour at the other. This relation of rooms had
existed from a very early period, and it is in the developing of
this idea with more or less elaboration and skill that house-
planning consisted down to the time of Inigo Jones, when the
hall gradually ceased to be the centre of household life, and
became merely an entrance.

To the central group of hall, kitchen and parlour were added
what other rooms were required for convenience or defence ;
but in regard to the latter, precautions against attack had
already become less necessary in Henry VIII.'s time, and they
were practically disregarded in Elizabeth's, when considerations
of stateliness and display chiefly influenced the design, at any
rate as far as the larger houses were concerned.

Nothing will help to show how the central idea of an English
house developed, while tenaciously adhering to its essence, so
much as a comparison of the plans of a number of houses built
during the sixteenth century and the early part of the seven-
teenth. But in order to bring them into relation with what
preceded them, the series commences with the plans of two
houses that were built in the fifteenth century, before there
was a trace of Italian influence to be found in English work.
All the plans are those of fair-sized houses, chiefly of the manor-
house class, and they are from examples scattered up and down
the country ; therefore whatever characteristics they possess
may be taken to have been of fairly wide distribution.

The first example is Great Chalfield, in Wiltshire (Fig. ^^),
where the work is all of good Perpendicular character. The
house was built towards the end of the reign of Henry VI., at
a time when precautions against attack were still necessary ;
it was therefore surrounded by a moat. Much of the work has
disappeared, and alterations have been made in what is left,
but the arrangement of the hall is still plain, although the
kitchen is not recognisable. The almost invariable disposition
of the hall was as follows : it was an oblong apartment with
one end cut off by a screen, which formed the entrance passage
called "the screens." From this passage the hall was entered
on one side, while from the other side access was obtained to the
kitchen, the buttery, the pantry, and the rest of the servants'
department. This arrangement may still be seen in use at
many of the colleges in Oxford and Cambridge. The hall

THE GREAT HALL.

itself was usually lighted from both sides, and was a lofty apart-
ment with an open roof, that is, with all the timbers showing.
The effect of this disposition was that the hall divided the
house into two separate portions ; there was no thoroughfare
above it or around it, but only through it. At the end oppo-
site to the screens was the dais, a platform raised some few
inches above
the general floor
level, where the
family sat at
meals, in the
same way as
the dons sit in
many colleges
at the present
day. The dais
was usually
lighted by a bay
window, which
formed a con-
venient recess
for a serving
table. There ^MyRCH
are still a few
houses where
the dais sur-
vives, but in
most cases it has
been cleared
away and the
floor has been
lowered to the
general level.
That it was of

universal adoption is proved by its being shown on practically
all contemporary plans. The fireplace was placed in one of
the side walls, and was generally somewhat nearer to the dais
end than the other. It obviously could not be placed at the
screen end, because the screen itself did not go up to the roof,
but was covered by a gallery, usually known as the minstrels'
gallery, though it may be doubted whether in many instances it

33.^Gkkat Chali-ikli), Wiltshikk.
(tkmp. Hknry VI.).

THE GREAT HALL.

was used by the votaries of the gate science. Nor could the fire-
place be conveniently set in the end wall on the dais, since it
would have interfered with the table ; it was necessarily placed
therefore in one of the side walls.

These features, then, may be looked for in every hall of the
time — the screen, the dais, the bay window, and the fireplace —

34.— OxBURGH Hai.l, Norfolk. Grolnd Plan (1482).

and in some cases a good deal of ingenuity was displayed in
contriving to obtain them in their due relation to each other.

From the dais end of the hall access was obtained to the
family apartments, which were Tew in number at first, but
gradually increased with the ever-growing desire for comfort
and refinement.

OXBURGH HALL.

At Great Chalfield the hall conforms to the disposi-
tions detailed above, but the bay windows serve rather as
means of communication with other rooms than merely as
windows.

At Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk (1482), we have another type of

35. — Oxiu;i<(;ti Hai,i„ Nokkolk. ICntkanck Toukk (i4,H.').

defensive house (Fig. 34). It was built round a court, as well
as being surrounded by a moat. The entrance was through a
lofty tower into the court, on the opposite side of which was
the hall of the usual type. The kitchen was to the right on
entering, in the extreme south-west corner of the building — not
exactly the aspect we should choose in the present day. So

ABSENCE OF STRICT SYMMETRY

many changes have been made in the use to which the rooms
in these old houses have been put, and in the way of approach-
ing them, that too much stress must not be laid upon the
details of the plan, but the relation of the hall and kitchen
at Oxburgh must have been always the same. The rest of
the building is made up of small rooms surrounding the court,
not arranged on any elaborate plan, but put to whatever use
was required. It will be seen that although there is a con-
siderable amount of uniformity in the arrangement of Oxburgh
Hall, there is no strict symmetry. The entrance tower is in

C O U R T.'

36. — East Barsham, Norfolk. Ground Plan (cir. 1500 — 15).

the centre of the front, but the windows on either side of it do
not tally with each other. The entrance to the hall is not on
the axial line of the tower, nor is the setting of the windows
and doors in the court by any means regular. As we advance
in time, we shall find that all these points were very carefully
attended to, especialK- towards the end of the sixteenth century.
The plan here illustrated was made in 1774, and a few years
subsequently the south side of the court, containing the hall
and kitchen, was pulled down. Other alterations have been
made since then, but there is still much of the original work
left. The great entrance tower (Fig. 35) shows still a certain
hankering after defensive features ; there is a curtain arch

>— I IX)

ca5

2 -J

PAUCITY OF RENAISSANCE DETAIL. 47

thrown across between the turrets, from behind which missiles
could be hurled upon unwelcome visitors, and the openings in
the turrets are of the smallest. The windows generally are of
few lights, the heads are pointed and cusped, the parapets are
corbelled out and battlemented, and the whole work is of Late
Gothic character without any trace of the new style in its
decoration.

At East Barsham (about 1500 — 15) we get indications of the
new style in the treatment of parts of the ornament. The
general feeling, however, is still Gothic. There is not much of
the plan to be made out, but what there is shows a large
entrance tower, with the porch of the hall exactly opposite to
it (Fig. 36). The hall has a bay window at the dais end, and,
contrary to custom, a fireplace in the end wall. The kitchen
is to the right on entering, and is approached by a passage
from the middle of the screens. The whole arrangement
is in the main of the usual type, so far as it can be traced.
The new feeling is indicated in one or two panels which bear a
head, but most of the ornament is still of the Gothic type with
cuspings, etc. At the neighbouring parsonage of Great Snoring,
which resembles East Barsham in general treatment, some of
the ornament is more decidedly Italian, with the characteristic
balusters and foliage.

Compton Winyates, in Warwickshire (about 1520), is a very
complete and charming example of its period. The plan con-
forms in its main features to the ordinary type (Fig. 2)7)- A
certain amount of regularity is imparted to it by reason of its
being built round a rectangular court, but of syninietr\- in it
there is hardly a trace, and there is still less in the grouping of
the structure. I*3ver}thing is as irregular and picturesfjue as
the most romantic could desire ; the mixture of materials —
stone, brick, wood, and plaster — lends a delightful variety of
texture, tone, and coU^ur, and makes the house, next to Haddon,
one of the most alluring in the coimtry (Plate XI.). I^ut our
concern at present is more particularly with the plan. This
shows a courtyard entered through a gateway which is opposite,
though not exactly opposite, to the door of the screens. On
the left of the screens are the buttery, the kitchen passage, and
a staircase; on the right, of course, the hall, from the upper
end of which access is obtained to the famil}- rooms, the chapel,
and — what previous plans have not shown — the grand staircase.

SLIGHT EFFECT OF NEW STYLE

Of course, with the lofty hall cutting the building in two
halves, at least two staircases were necessary to get to the
upper rooms ; as a matter of fact there were usually more than
two, as there are here : difficulties of planning being often
removed, or at any rate lessened, by this rather costly expedient.
It will be seen that the hall has a range of rooms at the back of
it, and that its two side walls are not, as usual, both external.
The sides of the court are formed, as they were at Oxburgh, of
a number of small rooms, which originally (in all probability)

37. — COMPTON WiNYATES, WaKWICKSHIRE. GrOLND Pi.AN (cIR. IJZO).

led into one another, the passage being a later addition. The
ornament, in which the house abounds, is all of Late Gothic
character (Plate XII.). There is no actual Renaissance detail
in the external work, although much of it looks as though it
were quite ready for the change.

So far, although we have come to nearly the close of the
first quarter of the century, we have seen but little effect from
the new style. Just a suggestion in the ornament at East
Barsham, and a slight tendency towards a symmetrical treat-
ment of the plan ; yet whatever symmetry there may have
been at East Barsham was thrown to the winds at Compton

Plate XII.

^v^

r— t--

-^^ r — ' |1

CEJiTRAL ft.ReH WE-tT FRpNT

^^-it^ . •ijlT

• -IE

fu-rt.

(ft^ 5cp. iflag.

CCmi'TON WINVATKS, WARWICKSHIKI-:

THE ENTRANCE POUCH.

STRICTER SYMMETRY.

Winyates. In the next example, Sutton Place, near Guildford,
only a few years later in date (1523 — 25),* we find symmetry in
plan and elevation, and ornament which is strongly marked
with Italian character. The entrance was as usual through
a tower, and faced the hall door exactly opposite, on the axial
line (Fig. 38). Such accuracy of alignment was so infrequent
at this date, and it results in the hall door being placed so far

38. — Sl.TTON Fl.ACK, NKAK GuiLDFOKI). GUOINI) Pl.AN (l52j — 25).

from the end wall where the screens ought to be, that a feeling
of doubt creeps in as to whether we see here the original
arrangement unaltered. The hall, too, is of such a height as
to embrace two tiers of windows, another most unusual treat-
ment. In the ordinary way the windcnvs w(juld have been
made lofty in proportion to the hall. If the existing dispositions
have come down unaltered, they are a striking testimony to the
manner in which routine of design was broken in order to

• Annuls of an Old Manor House, by Frederic Harrison.

STRICTER SYMMETRY.

7.r

iMwf^

■■^/t%\

;j^

39. — Sutton Place, Surrkv. Dktails (1523 — 25).

obtain external symmetry. Apart from this point, the plan
adheres to the usual lines. The hall connects the two wings, and
the sides of the court are formed by a series of small chambers
approached either through each other or from the outer air.
The internal walls have either been removed or altered, but the
external walls remain to show that the wings enclosing the court

STRICTER SYMMETRY,

were only one room
thick, and not of
sufficient width to
allow of a corridor.

There is, how-
ever, an important
point to be noticed,
and that is the sym-
metrical treatment
of the court. Not
only is there a little
bay window half-
way along each
side, but the bay
window of the hall,
which comes in the
angle of the court,
is balanced by
another bay in
the other angle,
although there is
no important room
to be lighted by it.
Such an arrange-
ment was often
adopted in subse-
quent plans, but
this is the first
instance which we
have seen of it.

While the plan
adheres in the main
to the customary
lines, the ornamen-
tation has taken
quite a new depar-
ture. The windows
are of Perpendi-
cular type, and
have the old-fashioned cusping in the heads, but the hollow of
the moulding is occupied with ornament drawn from Italian, or

40. — Sutton Plack, Scrrky. Part I';:r,K\ATioN ok

C0LRTVAKI)(l523— 25).

52 PRONOUNCED RENAISSANCE DETAIL.

perhaps Franco-Italian, sources (Fig. 39). The house was built
by Sir Richard Weston, and, in accordance with the custom of
the preceding half century, his rebus, or an attempt at it in the
shape of a tun, appears as a diaper in various places and in the
horizontal string-course ; but instead of being shrouded in vine
leaves or other old and well-established devices, it occurs among
ornament of the new type. This is a point worth noticing, inas-
much as it shows that this ornament was made for the place,
and was not purchased out of ready-made stock. The amorini
which are introduced over the doors have not the same individu-
ality, nor have the half-balusters which divide them into their
panels, but they were no doubt made by the same men who did
the tuns and Sir Richard's initials, which also help to form a
diaper in places. All this ornamental work is in terra-cotta, but
there is nothing to show where the patterns were cast, whether
in England or abroad. The battlemented parapet is not yet dis-
carded (Fig. 40), and the large octagonal shafts are crowned
with a variation of the dome. Some of the panels are Gothic
quatrefoils, and in the parapet of the central block over the front
door the Italian amorini disport themselves (a little clumsily)
in panels with Gothic cusping. The whole of the ornament
is a curious and interesting mixture of the old and new forms.

Another house with many of the same characteristics is
Layer Marney Tower, in Essex (1500 — 25). There is not
enough left of the plan to enable us to draw any deductions
from it, but the character of the work is very similar to that
at Sutton, only a little more pronounced in its Renaissance
feeling. The lofty entrance tower recalls that at Oxburgh ;
its general appearance, its pointed doorway and windows with
their mouldings, and also the cusped panels of its string-
courses are all distinctly Gothic (Fig. 41). But closely asso-
ciated with the Gothic panelling is the classic e^g and dart
enrichment. The large mullioned windows, though of Gothic
descent, are Renaissance in detail, while the parapets, with their
egg and dart strings, and their dolphins climbing over semi-
circular panels filled with radiating ornament, are thoroughly
Renaissance of the French type (Plate XIII.). In the moulded
chimneys we go back to the ordinary patterns in vogue in
nearly all houses of the time, whether touched with the foreign
influence or not. The decorative detail here, as at Sutton
Place, is in terra-cotta.

■LF1YEK- nHRHEY
■TQWERS-

WIMOO*^ JA/11

DETAILS FROM LAYEIv 3

PLATE XIII.

rt^

t ■ ■ . f

•Caifr * J><*ait»

K <ni:y tower, i:ssi:x.

LAYER MARNEY HALL.

Both these houses were built by men who had spent some
time in France. Sir Richard Weston was there more than
once, and was among those who were present at the Field of

41.— I.AYKR MaKNKV, lisSKX. KnTKANCE ToWKR (15OO — 25).

the Cloth of Gold. Sir Henry Marney, who built Layer
Marney Tower, was one of those attending upon Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, when he took a great army to
France in 1522.* But whether they took advantage of these

* " Architectural Notes on Layer Marney Hall, Essex," by C. Forster Hayward.
Trans. Essex Anfupolog. Soc. Vol. III. pt. i.

HENGRAVE HALL.

journeys to bring back French or Italian workmen with them
is not known. Unfortunately there is no documentary evidence
to produce, and any opinion that may be formed can only be
speculative. One thing is clear ; namely, that no school was
established over here of men working in the new style. The
instances of its use are too few and isolated for that.

At Hengrave Hall, in Suffolk (1538), the main dispositions
conform to the usual type, but without any attempt at exact

ENTRANCE

42.— Hknorave Hall, Suffolk. Ground Plan (1538).

symmetry (Fig. 42). The entrance leads into a court, round
which a corridor is taken. This feature adds much to the
comfort and convenience of the house, but it is a refinement in
planning which was very seldom introduced. On the opposite
side from the entrance is the hall, with the old position of the
screens still preserved ; to the right of the screens lies the
kitchen wing. There is the usual bay window at the dais end
of the hall, and the family apartments are on the left. Owing
to alterations the minutiae of the original plan cannot now be
traced ; the general disposition alone can be recognised. The

A TUDOR HOUSE. 55

accompanying plan is from one made in 1775, since which time
the whole of the kitchen wing has been pulled down and other
alterations have been made. The general disposition shown on
it may be taken as being like the original, and we see that the
entrance is not in the middle of the side of the court, and that
in order to obtain a symmetrical fa9ade a wing was carried out
to the right, whereby the entrance comes nearly in the centre,
though not quite, and is balanced on either hand by projecting
turrets corresponding one with the other.

The house was originally moated, and beyond the moat was
an outer court, surrounded by low buildings, used as offices and

43.— Hkngkavk Hall, Suffolk. Wkst Front (1538).

Stables. It was entered through a gateway or lodge, where the
keepers and falconers had their quarters. The general treat-
ment of the architecture still follows the old lines (l^ig. 43).
The windows, as a rule, have few lights, they have flat-
pointed heads, and their total area is relatively small in propor-
tion to the plain surface of brick wall. The chimneys are of cut
and moulded brickwork of the prevailing type; the turrets are
crowned with a dome-like finish, similar to that which had been
used at Henry VH.'s chapel thirty years before. The parapets
are battlemented, and the strings are narrow and not of classic
profile. In the entrance gateway we find the new note struck
(Plate XIV.). The archway is Perpendicular in character, but
above it is a triple bay window, supported on corbelling, full of
K.A. fi.

A HALF-TIMBER HOUSE.

Renaissance detail, while amorini in Roman armour carry long
scrolls in their hands, and serve as supporters to a shield of
arms (Fig. 44). The whole of the corbelling terminates at the
bottom in a foliated pendant. This inextricable mixture of
the old-fashioned Perpendicular detail with the new-fashioned
Renaissance ornament is quite characteristic of the period, and
shows that the masons, while clinging to the style with which
they had been familiar since their youth, were endeavouring to
make closer acquaintance with the foreign forms so much in
demand. The names of the masons who did this work are on

record : they were John Eastawe
and John Sparke, evidently
Englishmen.*

Of the houses so far mentioned,
Oxburgh Hall, East Barsham, Sutton
Place, Layer Marney, and Hengrave
are all built of brick. On the other
side of the country, and in a house
constructed of entirely different
materials, we get — at Moreton Old
Hall in Cheshire (1559) — the same
kind of plan with which we have now
become familiar (Fig. 45), This
house is of timber and plaster, as
many of the old houses in that district
are. It is surrounded by a moat,
and has — at any rate on the ground
floor — but few windows looking out
over the country ; they face into the court where possible.
The relative positions of the hall, the kitchen, and the private
apartments are here more clearly discernible than in some of
the preceding plans, inasmuch as the family rooms have under-
gone but little serious alteration. The proximity of the two
large bays of the hall and parlour is curious, and was the factor
which caused the hall bay to be placed so far away from the
dais end.

The observations of contemporary writers are of much value
when considering subjects of historical interest. It is therefore
worth while to reproduce the advice of a certain Andrew Boorde,

44.— Hengrave Hali-, Suffolk.

Corbelling of Bay Window over

Entrance Archway.

* Hist, and Antiq. of Hengrave, by John Gage.

Plate XIV.

IIENGRAVE HALL. SUFFOLK. (1538).

ENTRANCE llATEWAY.

A SIXTEENTH CENTURY ADVISER.

Doctor of Physicke, in regard to the arrangements of a house,
which he offers in the fourth chapter of his Compendyous
Regvment, or a Dyetary of Helth, pubHshed in 1542. In
this chapter he proceeds to " shevve under what maner and
fasshon a man shulde buylde his howse or mansyon in exchewyng
thynges the whiche shulde shorten the lyfe of man." He dwells
upon the necessity of a good soil and good prospect, which
latter advice was frequently neglected, a great number of houses
in those times being built in a
hole. The air, he says, must
be pure, frisky, and clean, the
foundations on gravel mixed
with clay, or else on rock or
on a hill. The chief prospects
are to be east and west, espe-
cially north-east, south-east,
and south-west ; never south,
for the south wind "doth cor-
rupte and doth make evyll
vapoures." He holds it better
that the windows shoum open
plain north than plain south,
in spite, he says, of Jeremiah's
saying that " from the north
dependeth all evil."

He then enters upon parti-
culars of the plan, and it will
be observed how exactly his
suggestions, so far as they go,
agree with the plans we are
examining. '* Make the hall,"

he says, "under such a fashion that the parlour be annexed to
the head of the hall, and the buttery and pantry be at the lower
end of the hall ; the cellar under the pantry, set somewhat abase
from the buttery and pantry, coming with an entry by the wall of
the buttery ; the pastry-house and the larder-house annexed to the
kitchen. Then divide the lodgings by the circuit of the quad-
rivial court, and let the gatehouse be opposite or against the
hall door (not directly), but the hall door standing abase, and
the gatehouse in the middle of the front entering into the place.
Let the privy chamber be annexed to the great chamber of

E 2

MoHKTON Oi.i) Hall, Chkshirk.
Plan (1559).

58 A SIXTEENTH CENTURY ADVISER.

estate, with other chambers necessary for the building, so that
many of the chambers may have a prospect into the chapel."
The necessity for these particular arrangements, so far as health
is concerned, does not seem quite obvious, especially the direc-
tions not to have the hall door exactly opposite to the entrance
gateway ; and it may be supposed that this particular passage in
his treatise was suggested by what he had frequently seen rather
than by what science led him to prescribe. When he goes on
to dwell upon the necessity for removing " fylth," he was
probably taking a more original attitude, as also when he
recommended the stables, slaughter-house, and dairy to be kept
a quarter of a mile away from the house. The bakehouse and
brewhouse should also be isolated, he thinks ; but in all these
respects his advice was not universally followed, for the whole of
these particular places are to be found attached to the house on
one or other of contemporary house plans. His next advice is
applicable to Moreton Old Hall. " When all the mansion is
edified and built, if there be a moat made about it, there should
be some fresh spring come to it, and divers times the moat
ought to be scoured and kept clean from mud and weeds. And
in no wise let not the filth of the kitchen descend into the
moat." Most of Dr. Andrew Boorde's advice is practical and
to the point, and he is not so much in bondage to ancient
authorities as many of his contemporaries were, in spite of his
reference to Jeremiah, The rest of his chapter refers to the
gardens and other surroundings of the house, which need not
now be dealt with.

The prevailing treatment of the ornament at Moreton is still
Gothic (Plates XV., XVI.), in spite of its date being beyond the
middle of the century. Nevertheless the influence of the new
style is seen here and there, especially in the carved pendants
of the overhanging work. The fine bay windows were made,
as an inscription tells us, by Richard Dale, carpenter, in 1559^
a further testimony to the fact that it was English workmen who
did most of the work of the time, even when it shows signs of
foreign ornament. Although the bulk of the house was built
in 1559, considerable alterations were made nearly half a century
later, in 1602 ; and to this date may be assigned the long gallery,
with its continuous row of mullioned windows reaching from
end to end almost without a break. The effect is very quaint,
but the room must alwavs have been uncomfortable, whether

Plate XV.

f r i' ■? f f f f f r r r yA

MORKTON OLD HALL, CHKSHIKL.

ELEVATION OK ENTRAN'CK (lAHLE.

Plate XVI.

t 'ttfit't'

MOKETON OLD MAIJ., CHKSHIKK.

ELEVATION OK GAISLK ON KKONT.

THE ELIZABETHAN PLAN. 59

in summer by reason of the heat, or in winter by reason of the
cold ; and as a comment upon the effect of time on the stability
of these timber houses, nothing can be more striking than an
attempt to walk quickly down the seventy feet of billowy floor
which the gallery presents.

With our next plan we enter upon the Elizabethan era, an
era marked by an extraordinary amount of house-building, which
led to a great degree of attention being bestowed upon the
planning. This attention, it is true, does not seem to have been
directed so much towards comfort or economy as towards mag-
nificence and display. No doubt comfort of a kind was aimed
at, but people did not then require comfort as we understand
it, and designers were not likely to be much in advance of their
clients. The sacrifices of common sense to architectural effect
were nevertheless few. The relative positions of the principal
apartments were settled by considerations of convenience, not
of external grouping. The kitchens, for instance, were always
fairly in touch with the hall, not, as in later days, when Palladian
architecture was in vogue, located some hundreds of feet away
in a detached wing, connected by a curved colonnade, and
balanced on the other extremit}' by the stables or the remainder
of the servants' rooms, in a similar wing. Nor were the servants'
bedrooms hidden away in the roof with windows looking out on
to the back of a solid pediment, or even looking inwards and
only lighted by borrowed light. It was the architects of a more
strict Italian school who were reduced to such expedients in the
early part of the eighteenth century ; but in the late sixteenth
the prevalent style was sufficiently elastic to enable the dictates
of common sense to be obeyed. No doubt bay windows were
placed in useless situations in order to balance others that
were useful. Lofty windows were sometimes divided by floors
half-way up their height in order that the uniformity of the
front should not be interrupted ; but the rooms themselves were
cheerful enough and had good prospects. The features which
the Elizabethan designer had to marshal were smaller and more
manageable than those which fell to the lot of his successor in
the days of Anne and the Georges ; and this was particularly
the case with his windows. In a mullioned window an additional
row of lights in the width, or even the height, can be managed
without attracting undue attention, but the sash window has to
conform to the size and situation of its brethren.

6o incrp:ase of symmetry.

Economy of planning, in the sense of avoiding waste spaces,
or saving the footsteps of the inmates, was not much studied.
The only evidence we have of its consideration lies in the occa-
sional lopping off of extravagant features, or the substitution of
a reduced set of plans for one of more extensive area.

The real aim of the designers seems to have been magnificence
and display — sometimes on a large scale, sometimes on a small.
The principal means used for this end was symmetry — not so
much a symmetry of detail as a symmetry of parts, of large
features rather than of small. We shall find this quality in
almost every kind of plan, and an extremely valuable quality
it is if not carried to excess. The symmetry of the Elizabethans
was generally under control. It was sometimes wasteful and
its results were occasionally amusing, but they were never
ridiculous or fatal to the comfort of the house.

Up to the present the plans we have examined have not —
with the exception of Sutton Place — shown any determined
attempt at a symmetrical treatment, only a certain hankering
after it. With Kirby Hall (1570 — 75) we get a more resolute
effort in this direction (Fig. 46). The entrance gateway
and the screens are on an axial line running through the
house and its green court. The inner court is quite sym-
metrically treated, door answering to door, and window to
window ; but the exterior fa9ades were left to take care of
themselves, and no attempt was made to balance one mass
by another.

The symmetry of plan was carried out in the elevations too,
at least so far as the courtyard is concerned. The south side,
in which the projecting porch stands, is quite symmetrical, the
great windows of the hall on the right being exactly balanced
by similar windows on the left (Plate XVII.). The hall reaches
from floor to roof, but the left wing had two storeys, and the
floor of the upper one occupied one row of the glazed lights.
This expedient cannot be justified on the principle of causing
the exterior treatment to indicate the internal arrangement ;
but it can hardly be denied that the general effect would be
marred were the left-hand windows divided into two tiers.
The door below the windows to the left is a later insertion. A
curious fact about this front is that the two outside gables,
which contain much delicate detail, are partly blocked by the
roofs of the side wings, which abut against them ; yet it is quite

KIRBV HALL. 6i

certain, from the character of the detail, and from the badges

46. — KiKDY Hai.i., Northami'tonshikk. Gkound Plan (1570 — 75).

which are used as ornaments in the wings, that the whole court
was built at the same time, ends and sides, and it is equally

62 THORPE'S PLAN OF KIRBY.

certain that the whole building operations were comprised
within the five years 1570 to 1575.

Although no attempt seems to have been actually made to
carry symmetry of treatment into the external fa9ades, yet an
examination of the plan made by John Thorpe, the surveyor, at
the time that Kirby was built, shows that such a treatment was
contemplated on each of the four faces (Plate XVIII.). There
are other points of interest which Thorpe's plan elucidates.
Having entered through the principal doorway, in the north or
upper side of the plan, and having traversed the length of the
court, we find a projecting porch through which the screens
are reached. The arrangement is the typical one which we
have seen in all the plans yet examined, and which tallies
almost exactly with Dr. Andrew Boorde's advice, already
quoted (see page 57), with the exception that he was opposed
to the hall porch being exactly opposite the entrance gateway.
On the right (as the plan lies) are the buttery and pantry, and
the passage leading to the kitchen department ; on the left is
the hall. The details of the kitchen department are shown
more clearly than in any of the foregoing houses, which have
all undergone alterations. They comprise the kitchen, with
its large fireplace ; " the pastry," where the ovens are ; the dry
larder under it ; the surveying place ; and the wet larder.
Close to these, and approached by the kitchen passage, is the
winter parlour, a room which occurs on many plans of the time
in close proximity to the kitchen. This endeavour to get a
living room conveniently situated for winter use is one of the
refinements which were now creeping in. Returning to the
screens, and passing into the hall, we find the dais marked on
the plan, the fireplace in the side wall, but no bay window :
there is one indicated, but it was not carried out. From the
dais the family apartments are reached, together with a great
staircase. Next to the head of the hall, as Dr. Andrew Boorde
has it, is the parlour (pier) ; the other rooms are not named.
The division of '* the lodgings by the circuit of the quadrivial
court" is shown on Thorpe's plan, but most of the cross walls
are now gone. It will be seen that these lodgings consist of a
number of groups of two or three rooms (which were called
" lodgings "), each group being entered from the court by a
door, and each room communicating with its neighbour, so
that the complete circuit of the building could be made through

Plate XVIII.

KIRBY HALL. JOHN' TMORrH'S (iROlND PLAN.

Fiom the Soaiie Museum Ci'lleelion

DETAILS OF THE PLAN OF KIRBY. 63

them. The object of this grouping was to give a small suite of
rooms to every guest, in which he could establish himself with
his principal attendants ; in the case of a large retinue it could
overflow into the next group. It was necessary to traverse the
open court to reach the places of general resort, such as the
hall, the " great chamber of estate," and the gallery ; but it is
evident that this was not felt to be a drawback, since the
practice was widespread. The next point to notice is that
here we have the first instance of the open terrace, or arcade,
or loggia. It occupies the north side of the court, thus being
open to the full midday sun. The long gallery, which was
one of the principal features of an Elizabethan house, and
frequently affected the planning, inasmuch as endeavours were
made to obtain a gallery of the greatest possible length, was
over the western or left-hand side of the court : it was 150 feet
long by 16 feet wide. The upper floor was to be reached,
according to Thorpe's plan, by four large internal staircases,
and two external ones on the west front. As a matter of fact,
indications actually remain of five principal staircases, besides
a subordinate one, and they are more conveniently placed than
those shown on the old plan. The great extent of the rooms,
and their being placed round a court, necessitated several
means of access, and it must not be forgotten that the upper
part of the hall interposed an impassable barrier between the
two sides of the house on the upper floor. The time was soon
to come when the height of the hall was to be restricted to that
of other rooms on the same floor, but at Kirby the traditional
lofty hall was still retained.

The detail at Kirby is thoroughly Elizabethan, but there are
a few windows, dated 1638, 1640, which were inserted by Inigo
Jones, and he remodelled the north wing. His work, however,
is easily distinguished from that of earlier date. The house
was built by a Sir Humphrey Stafford, the head of a family
seated at Blatherwyck in the immediate vicinity. It was begun
in 1570, and it bears on the parapet of the courtyard the
dates 1572, 1575 ; in the latter year Sir Humphrey died, luiving
practically completed his house, which was then sold by his
heir to Sir Christopher Hatton. Not only are the parapets
dated, but amid the ornament of the various bands which make
the circuit of the courtyard, and in the gable over the porch,
occur the Stafford cognizances. Their presence indicates the

64 ANOTHER TYPE OF PLAN.

extent of the work of Stafford, and proves that practically the
whole place was built between the years 1570 — 75, though the
Hattons probably made some trifling alterations during the last
ten years of the century, and subsequently employed Inigo
Jones to partly modernise the house fifty years later. The
detail is unusually free and fresh, and has more variety than
Elizabethan masons generally bestowed upon their work. The
gable over the porch in the courtyard has no counterpart in
England ; the coping of the parapet round the whole court has
an unusual but effective wave ornament (Plate XIX.).

There are, of course, the usual classic columns applied with
a liberal hand, and all the horizontal string-courses have classic
profiles. The carving of the friezes is interesting, inasmuch as
it is somewhat out of the common in detail, and its component
parts were evidently carved in large numbers, and used as
occasion required, for in many places where the length of a
carved stone was too great for its intended position it was
ruthlessly shortened to fit, and the carving was mutilated.

So far all the plans have shown a courtyard round which the
house was built, first adopted, no doubt, from reasons of defence,
and afterwards retained because it had become customary. We
now come to another type of very frequent occurrence, in which
two narrow parallel wings are connected by a narrow body,
thus forming a figure like the letter H. It is in effect a curtail-
ment of the older plan by leaving out the " lodgings " which
enclosed the court ; but there is no change in the old idea of
placing the hall in a central situation and flanking it at one
end by the family apartments and at the other by the kitchen
and servants' rooms. At Montacute, in Somerset (1580), the
original relation of hall and kitchen is preserved, but the inter-
mediate rooms have been allotted to modern uses (Fig. 47).
It should be observed that the passage at the back of the hall
was formed by inserting between the wings the porch and part
of the walls from an earlier house at Clifton Maubank in the
year 1760. This passage, which is a great convenience to the
house, must therefore not be looked upon as part of the original
plan. The detail of the part thus inserted is of Late Tudor
character. The profiles of the mouldings are Gothic, the
carving inclines towards Italian, the parapets have cusped
panels, the pinnacles have the spiral twist so dear to the Tudor
mason, and a battlemented moulding beneath the heraldic

■^^^.M:^.^

M
U

-1-

=F^ =

Ig^, ' ,

'j.

□I

i
I

MONTACUTE HOUSE, 65

animals which they support (Plate XX.). The treatment is quite
different from that of the house itself. Another point to remark

47.— MoNTACLTK HoISK, SoMKKSKT. GkoINI) Pi.AN (iSfil)).

10.

I. Hall. 2. DravvinK-rooin. 3. Lar^e I)iniiif{-rooin. 4. Small I)iiiiii>;-rooiii. 5. Sini)king-rooni.
6. Pantry. 7. Kitchen. 8. Servants' Hall. y. Porch. 10. Garcicn-houso.

about the plan is that all thoughts of defence are here ahan(i(jncd,
and the windows look freely out on all sides. Indeed, far from
desiring to exclude people, the builder, Sir Edward Phelips,

DEFKNSIVE FEATURES ABANDONED.

wrote up over his door, " Through this tvide-opcning gate, none
come too early, none return too late.'' It will also be noticed
that in order to get a truly symmetrical disposition of windows,
the bay is removed from the end to the middle of the hall,
which is another indication of a tendency to depart from the
ancient arrangements.

It is true that there is a court at Montacute, but it is enclosed
by an open balustrade and not by solid buildings ; it is there
for delight and not for defence, and everything in the planning
shows that the builder considered he could occupy his house
in security.

On the top floor, over the hall and running from end to end

48. — Montacute House, Somerset. Garden Front, with Court and
Garden-houses (1580).

of the building, is the gallery ; it is lighted at each end and
down so much of the side as is not blocked by the wings of the
house, which of course it cuts off from the staircases and the
other rooms. The treatment of the elevations is as symmetrical
as that of the plan (Fig. 48). The area of window space is in
excess of that of wall space, the strings are of some depth and
of classic profile, and the whole appearance contrasts strongly
with that of Hengrave. Along the topmost floor in the spaces
between the windows are eight statues, which, with a ninth in
the central gable, are said to represent those Nine Worthies
whom Holofernes and his companions tried to represent in a
more dramatic manner before the Princess of France and her
lively attendants.

It has already been observed that the plan of Montacute is

Plate XX.

MONTACUTK HOUSK, SOMERSET

PART OK ENTRANCK KKONT SEEN FROM WISCi

KITCHENS IN BASEMENT.

shaped roughly Hke the letter H. This type of plan is very
frequent, and is the same in its essence as the E plan, of which
many writers have made more than is needful. The m plan
is in fact the same as the H with the side strokes curtailed.
To make a just comparison, either the centre stroke of the m
should be omitted or it should be added to the cross of the H,
inasmuch as it represents the projecting porch, which was
present equally in each arrangement. The fact that the m
plan resembles the first letter of Elizabeth is probably a
coincidence merely, and not a compliment to the queen. At
the same time it would have
been quite in accordance with
the spirit of the time to have
taken such a way of expressing
loyalty, only in that case we
should have expected to find
fewer plans of the H variety,
and more of the other ; but as
a matter of fact there are few,
if any, houses with a perfectly
straight front such as the back
of the m demands.

At Barlborough, in Derby-
shire (1583), we get again a
different type. The house is
built round a court, but an
extremely small one, now filled
with a modern staircase
(Fig. 49). All the windows
look out into the open country. Instead of extending itself
along the ground, the house provides its accommodation
by extending itself vertically, and the kitchen and servants'
rooms are placed in the basement. This was an idea intro-
duced, it is said, from Italy, but it is one which, though some-
times met with, did not commend itself to Elizabethan builders
when space was plentiful. The hall is on the principal floor,
and is approached from outside up a long flight of steps. The
screens led to the staircase which penetrated to the kitchen in
the basement. The hall had its bay window at the dais end,
from which the great chamber was approached. We have
still, therefore, the old idea of the hall as a living room, and

49. — Barlborough Ham,, Dkrhyshire.
Plan ok Princihal Floor (1583).

BARLBOROUGH HALL.

part of a series of rooms communicating with each other; not
yet as an entrance from which the hving rooms are approached.
The detail at Barlborough is of a simple kind ; the house
was not of a large size and did not require much elaboration
(Fig. 50). The actual classic treatment is confined to the
front door, which is flanked with columns. The parapet is

50.— Barlhorolgh Hai,l, Dkkuvshirk. Kntkanck Front (1583).

battlemented, the strings are narrow, and the windows are not
overwhelming in size. The roof is flat, and there are none of
the gables which are so marked a feature of the time. Pic-
turesqueness of outline, however, which was always sought for,
is here obtained by carrying up the bay windows as turrets,
a treatment which lends much distinction to an otherwise
simple exterior.

^ ■:!.

y a

O 2

DODDINGTON HALL.

Twelve years later than Barlborough we j^et at Doddington,
in Lincolnshire (1595), ^ P^^^ri which reverts to the type of
Montacute (Fig. 51). It has the usual characteristics of the
simplest kind — wings one room thick ; the entrance at the
end of the hall, leading on the left to the buttery, pantry, and
kitchens ; the parlour at the head of the hall, and the principal
staircase adjacent. Here, however, as at Montacute, the hall
is only one storey in height ; it has a room above it — the great
chamber : and on the top floor the gallery extends over the
whole central part from wing to wing.

There is an entrance court in front of the house enclosed by
a wall. It is approached through one of the (}uaint gate-houses

51. — I)oi)uiN(iTON Hall, Lincolnshire. Gkound I'lan (1595).

of the time, which were a reminiscence of a more turbulent
state of society, when it was necessary for all who went to
the house to do so under the eye of the porter, but which in
the calmer times of Elizabeth were occupied by some of the
numerous functionaries who ministered to the pleasures of the
rich. The detail at Doddington is of the plainest, the only
attempt at richness being round the front door. The windows
are of reasonable size, the strings are narrow, and are all of
the same quasi-classic profile. The parapet is perfectly plain,
and the roof is without gables, the sky-line being broken, as at
Barlborough, with turrets, formed by carrying up the porch
and the two projections in the internal angles of the front
(Plate XXI.). The house is an example of a plain and business-
like type, which may be accounted for by the fact that it was

INCRKASK OF ACCOMMODATION.

built for a business man, one Thomas Tailor, registrar to the
Bishop of Lincoln.

\\'ith the opening of the new century we get at Burton
Agnes, in Yorkshire (1602 — 10), a repetition of the same leading
idea which we have been following for a hundred and fifty years
(Fig. 52). We have the screens at the end of the hall, the
kitchens on the left, and the bay window, the family rooms and
grand staircase at the head of the hall. The family apartments
have increased in number. The tendency was towards having
separate apartments for various uses, and on plans of the time
we not infrequently find a "dining parlour" specially named.

The i n t r o -
ductionofthis
refin e m e n t
marks the
dwindling im-
portance of
the hall. The
latter is ceas-
ing to be the
centre of
family life,
and becoming
merely an en-
trance. The
dais end is no
longer the

52. — Burton Agnks, Yorkshirk. Ground Plan (1602 — 10). COmiOrtable

place it was,
with its bay window and the fireplace close by : it is becoming
pierced with doors, and draughty. The family find it more
comfortable to have a separate room for their meals, and the
servants' quarters are becoming more self-contained. The old
usages of the hall are being discontinued.

This change is quite apparent in the last plan of the series,
that of Aston Hall, in Warwickshire (1618 — 35). The hall is
still central, the kitchen is in one wing, the family rooms in
the other, supplemented by a row at the back of the hall
(Fig. 53). But the hall itself is now merely an entrance — it has
ceased to be a living-room ; it is entered from the middle of
the side, no longer at the end, where indeed the fireplace now

DECAY OF THE HALL.

finds itself: there is no dais and no bay window. Tiiis is a
revolution which it has taken more than a century to produce,

FORE

COURT

wj / O

(DlodciJ

53.— Aston Ham,, nkak Hikminc.iiam. (".koi-nd I'i.an (ifiiS 35).

countinj.^ from the first appearance of tht; Italian inlluence.
The chan^jje no doubt was effected from the inside more than
the out : from the j^^radnal alteration of habits, rather than
from the wish to Italiani/c; our l-'nj^^lish plans. Hut the two
R.A. F

DECAY OF THE HALL.

tendencies co-operated with each other and combined to lead
EngHsh designers further and further away from the old
traditions.

Although the hall shows a departure from the old lines of
planning, the general arrangement adheres to them. The
symmetrical wings, the mullioned windows, the turrets

(Fig. 54), the
fore-court with
its lodges at the
corners, and the
open arcade on
the south front,
are all in keeping
with Elizabethan
and Jacobean
methods, and
offer a striking
contrast to the
work at Rainham
Hall, in Norfolk,
which was built
by Inigo Jones
in 1630, five years
before Aston was
finished.

The disappear-
ance of the hall
as a living-room,
and its adoption
as a vestibule, mark a great change in our domestic archi-
tecture. The tie with the mediaeval past is loosened, and
with the almost contemporaneous departure of the mullioned
window it is severed altogether ; there is nothing now to prevent
English designers from assimilating their buildings ever more
and more to the models which they sought direct in Italy,
without being diverted from their purpose by what they passed
in intermediate countries.

54. — Aston Hall, Warwickshirk. North Wing.

CHAPTER IV.
EXTERIOR FEATURES.

LAY-OUT OF HOUSES, LODGES AND GATEWAYS, DOORWAYS
AND PORCHES.

There was a very remarkable amount of building done in
the last quarter of the sixteenth century. Plenty of money was
available, much of it acquired from the lands of the dissolved
monasteries ; the country was at peace, and the strong rule of
Elizabeth gradually produced a state of prosperity hitherto
unknown. Defensive precautions, save such as seemed necessary
against vagrants, were abandoned in all kinds of houses. The
outer courts, the inner courts, and the gate-houses, which
formerly were built for the sake of security, were now retained
chiefly for the sake of appearance, and because they added to
the privacy of the house. The porter at the gate exercised a
certain amount of control over those who wished to enter, and
on occasion he closed his gates against the populace, although
sometimes without complete success, as we learn from a scene
in Shakespeare's play of " Henry VIII.," where the people, in
their anxiety to see something of the christening of the infant
Princess Elizabeth, managed to crowd in, in spite of " as much
as one sound cudgel of four foot could distribute" at the hands
of the porter's man.

Everyone who could afford it seems to have built in the time
of Elizabeth and James. The great nobles erected vast palaces
like Theobalds and Holdenby, like Audley End, and Knole
and Buckhurst. Men of smaller wealth built mansions like
Kirby and Montacute, WoUaton and Blickling. Squires built
their manor houses in the villages, merchants their homes in
the towns, not infrequently, indeed, leaving the city for some
neighbouring parish, and there ending their days as lords of
the manor. When the conditior^of an existing house did not
warrant its actual removal, additions in the new style were
made; something had to be done to keep in the fashion.

F 2

74 TH1-: GI<:NERAL LAY-OUT.

Throughout the length and breadth of the land the same
activity was displayed. From Yorkshire and Westmoreland in
the north, to Cornwall and Kent in the south ; from Shropshire
in the west to Suffolk in the east, we find work of this period
scattered up and down the country in mansion, manor house,
cottage and church.

A good deal of building was done in Henry VIII. 's time,
but vastly more in Elizabeth's. The examples left to us of the
former period are few compared with those of the latter ; but
in both cases it must be remembered that the old gave way to
the new. The builders of Elizabeth's days removed the work
of their grandfathers to make room for their own, only to have
this in its turn replaced in the times of Anne and the Georges.
Many as are the houses of the sixteenth century which remain,
we know that many others, of equal interest and beauty, have
been pulled down.

Lay-Out.

It is not always easy in the present day to grasp the system
upon which the larger houses of Elizabeth's time were laid out.
Modern methods of locomotion, and modern ideas of con-
venience, have in many cases caused the approach to the
houses to be altered. It is the same with regard to most of
our ancient cities. The railway now brings us to a spot which
has no relation to the old landmarks of the place, and instead
of approaching our destination through the ancient arteries,
which were the growth of many years, we slip in through by-
ways and slums, or along a new street made expressly for the
purpose. The approach to one of the larger Elizabethan
houses was an affair of time. Roads were then of a very
primitive description, and depended for their condition upon
the nature of the soil, " There is good land where there is foul
way," was a saying of the time ; and conversely, where there
was a hard road there was likely to be stony land. From the
main road a similar rough track led, perhaps through an avenue
of newly planted trees, in a straight line towards the house.
There was no gate-keeper's lodge at the end of a finely gravelled
road winding through a park. The lodge was part of the out-
buildings of the house, and until you arrived there the road was
generally left to take care of itself. After passing through the
lodge, there were often two courts to traverse before the hall

THE GENERAL LAY-OUT.

was reached. The lod<:^e was on the great axial hne of the
house, so that as you stood waiting, if all the doors happened
to be open, you could see right through the courts and the
screens and get
a glimpse of the
garden beyond.
The accom-
panying plan of
the lay-out of
Holdenby (Fig.
55), from a sur-
vey made in
1587, gives a
good idea of the
surroundings of
the larger Eliza-
bethan houses.
The road be-
tween two vil-
lages ran along
the north side
of the park, and
from this road
branched an-
other one which
led up to the
house. While
it traversed the
j) a r k it w a s
allowed to wind
according to the
undulations of
the ground, but
when it came to
within a quarter
of a mile of the
lodge it was

m;ide perfectly straight, and so ran through the midst of " the
green" — "a large, long, straight, fair way," as Lord Hurghlcy
called it. It led directlv to the porter's lodge, which was a
building separate from the house, and self-contained, and it

55.- IIol.DKNIlV Hot'SK, NoKTHAMl'TONSllIkK. Pl.AN

Fkom a Survky madk in 15.S7.

A A. Th<- I'ark.

li. liasc-court.

c. l'"irst Court of House.

I) I). Giirdfiis.

K. Koscry.

F K. 'I'trracfs.

Mounts.

Site of Old Hoiis<!.

Church.

Ponds.

Stables.

Porter's Lodye-

76 THE GENERAL LAY-OUT.

passed the long range of stabling on the right. The porter's lodge
opened into the first court, the " base-court," as it was called,
walled round, and entered on its two sides by large gateways.
At the further end of the base-court stood the house, raised a few
steps above the general level, where Lord Burghley "found a
great magnificence in the front or front pieces of the house, and
so every part answerable to other, to allure liking." The house
was built round two great courts, the first 128 feet by 104 feet,
the second 140 feet by no feet, comparable in point of size to
those at Hampton Court, and a good deal more intricate
in detail. To the north of the house itself were two walled
gardens, of nearly an acre each, and beyond these were spinneys,
or small woods, and the little village with its inn. The ground
on the south side of the house sloped pretty steeply away, and
was laid out in a series of terraces. At the top of these, and
flanking the whole length of the base-court, the house, and the
orchard beyond, ran a broad straight path. In the midst of the
terraces a great platform was run out at the level of this long
path, containing a rosery laid out with paths in a simple geo-
metrical pattern. At the extreme end of the long path was a
cross-path leading each way to a prospect mount, up at least one
of which wound a spiral path, ending (in all probability) in a
banqueting house, such as Lord Bacon describes in his essay
" Of Gardens," and such as the Parliamentary Commissioners
describe as being at Nonesuch in the year 1650. At the foot
of the terraces lay fishponds amid orchard-trees, and, in a
small enclosure of its own, the church. Close to the church
was the site of the old manor house, the home of Sir Christopher
Hatton's fathers, but which he found far too insignificant a
dwelling for the Lord Chancellor.

Such were the surroundings of one of the most splendid
palaces of Elizabeth's splendid courtiers, and an examination
of the contemporary survey shows upon what a large scale the
house and its appurtenances were laid out. The house covered
nearly two acres ; the base-court more than one acre ; the
green more than seventeen. In comparison with the house the
village is a mere collection of outhouses, not so extensive as
the range of stabling. The garden has not acquired all the
architectural adjuncts in the way of stone terraces, and garden-
houses, lead vases, statuary and jets d'eau, which became
ashionable a hundred years later; but it has a fine simplicity

THE APPROACH TO THEOBALDS.

about it and a largeness of scale which are in keeping with the
house it belongs to.

Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, was the model upon which Sir
Christopher Hatton professed to have founded his own more
magnificent house at Holdenby, and there is an interesting
account, written by John Savile, of King James's visit to
Theobalds on his first coming
to London in 1603.* It is an
early example of descriptive
reporting which would do
credit to one of our great
daily papers. Theobalds
was the house of Sir Robert
Cecil, afterwards Lord Salis-
bury, and had been built and
embellished by his father, the
great Lord Treasurer. The
writer particularl}- mentions
the approach to the house,
which stood back from the
highway, unlike the " manie
sumptuous buildings" in the
neighbourhood, most of
which belonged "to the cittie
marchants." It was reached
by a most stately walk raised
above the general level, and
beset about either side with
young elm and ash trees
extending from the common
street way to the first court
belonging to the house. In
order to obtain full parti-
culars of the proceedings, Savile stationed one of his party
at the upper end of the walk, another at the upper end
of the first court, while a third stood at the second court
door, and he also arranged with "a gentleman of good sort "
to stand in the court that led into the hall, and furnish
particulars of the ceremonies invisible to the others. After the
king had at length entered the house, the crowd of sightseers
* Nichols' Progresses of King James /., Vol. I. 135.

CATE-HOUSt

CHURCH -YARD

56. -I'ODDINC.TON Ham., LiNCOI.NSHlKK.

Block I'i.an.

THE LODGE.

surged even into the uppermost court, apparently without pro-
test from the porter, and to their view the monarch graciously
displayed himself at his windows for the space of half an hour,
previous to going into the " laberinth-like garden to wali<e."

Lodges and Gateways.

Sometimes the lodge formed part of the buildings enclosing
the first court, in which case one or two rooms or " lodgings "

of the wing on
- either side of the

gateway would
be devoted to
the porter, in
the same way as
the entrance to
most of the col-
leges at Oxford
and Cambridge
is still arranged.
But very fre-
quently it was
separated from
the house by a
court enclosed
by a wall, as it
was at Holden-
by, and again at
the much smaller
house at Dod-
dington (Fig.
56). This wall
was sometimes
high and solid,
and sometimes
coped "leaning
height,"' as John
Thorpe has it
on one of his
plans, or sometimes pierced with ornamental patterns.

The lodge itself was generally large enough to accommodate

57. — Stokksav Casti.k, Shkopshirk. The Gatehouse.

S °

W 3

H 2

W S
U

o S

1-1

I— 1

C/3

c/) t«

^ O

THE GATEWAY.

the porter and his family.

58. — Cold Ashton Hall, Glouckstk
Entrance Gateway.

of two separate brick build
roof and some pierced
stonework, displaying
the mullet or five-
pointed star of the
owner (Plate XX 1 1 1.).
The smaller houses
had merely a gateway
of more or less pre-
tensions, such as may
be seen at ('old
Ashton, near Hath
(I'^ig. 58), a charming
little entrance on the
roadside leading
straight up by a paved
walk to the front
door of the house ;
or at W i n w i c k ,
in Northamptonshire
(I'^ig. 59), the stately

having two rooms downstairs and
perhaps three above, but
occasionally there were
even three floors, as at
Stanway in Gloucester-
shire (Plate XXIL), while
at Hamstall Rid ware, in
Staffordshire, the lodge
was merely a gateway
between two flanking
turrets only seven feet
across inside. At Stoke-
say Castle, in Shropshire,
is a charming lodge or
gate-house of timber and
plaster, added in Eliza-
beth's time to the ancient
castle (Fig. 57) ; and at

KSM.m:. Westwood in Worcester-

shire the lodge is formed

ings connected by an open timber

iA</

iB>

y«-

^^39P«l«a»

- -'^-'Sa^ss!

' iL.. &.

i -3

"■jt- ^(!; -V

r ^\

M. - M

I 1

!^v^R

1 1

f "

-..-_.

fcv- Kh\

•^^

IB^

— WlNWK K, NoKTMAMrroNSHIKl:. (/AI lAVAV K

Manok IIoisi:.

THE GATEWAY

60.— Gateway to Almshoisks, Ol'NDI.k,
Northamptonshire.

which they stand, but they
of oiithne which
was considered
indispensable in
work of the time;
moreover, the cir-
cular gable over
the a r c h w a }•
affords room for
a panel contain-
ing the owner's
arms, although,
by an irony of
fate which would
have anno\ed
him deeply, the
bearings are now
indistinguishable.
This gateway
vies in import-
ance with those
at Holdenb\-

remnant of a house now
much curtailed in si^e. This
example is treated in a more
important manner than usual,
the masonry flanking the arch-
way on either side being of
considerable width, and elabo-
rately ornamented with sunk
patterns and carving. The
well-proportioned columns are
disengaged from the wall
behind them, and the whole
treatment of the lower part as
far as the top of the cornice
calls to mind some of the
Roman arches to be met
with in Italy. The pediments
above the cornice are hardly
equal to the structure upon
give that variety and piquancy

nKNHV, Northamptonshire. Gatkwavs to
Base-court 1585).

THE GATEWAY

{Fig. 6i), but the house at Win wick could never have been
more than a good-sized manor house. At Cold Ashton the
gateway is more in scale with the house, and although the
central feature above the cornice is mutilated, the arms still
remain. The effect of this roadside gateway is heightened
by the circular steps and the mounting-block. At Oundle, in
Northamptonshire, there is an example of a small gateway
in the front wall of some almshouses (Fig. 60) which, in
spite of its insignificant size, imparts considerable interest

and even dignity to the

group of which it is the ^^Ml ^11 '-li^HKr^lAHBB^ "^W^ 1
central feature. In large
houses the entrance
courts not infrequently
had archways in their
side walls to afford
access to the gardens
or the orchard. The
base-court at Holdenby
has already been men-
tioned as having a gate-
way in each of its sides,
apart altogether from
the gate-house or
porter's lodge. These
two gateways still re-
main (Fig.6i), although
most of the house and
its adjuncts have dis-
appeared, leaving them stranded in a position that is hardly
intelligible without the aid of a plan showing the original
arrangement. They bear the date 15H5, and a shield of arms
containing fourteen quarterings of the owner, Sir ("hristopher
Hatton. In general treatment they resemble the similar gate-
ways in the forecourt at Kirby, which also belonged t(^ Sir
Christopher, and they are more remarkable for their size and
stateliness than for the beauty of their detail : but it should
not be forgotten that the walls which supported them on
either side, and which connected them with the great house,
are gone, and that, denuded of their original surroundings,
they appear much more heavy and cumbrous than when the\-

62. -Kknyon Pkki.

I.ANCASllIKK. GaTKWAV A1 SXVI:

CouuT (1631).

THI-: GATEWAY.

were a small part of a large scheme. Much smaller than the
base-court at Holdenby was the forecourt at Kenyon Peel, in
Lancashire, a half-timber house with a symmetrical m front,
and approached through a two-storey stone gate-house, joined to

[ XvT^— XI7 \i/ -<^ Xi/ TWT'W

□ilpfafO'Ciiffallflf^

63, — DoDDiNiiTON Hall, Lincolnshikk. Entranxe Doorway (1595).

the house itself by stone walls. The gate-house is rather gaunt,
Hkc many of the stone buildings in that district, but in the little
gateways in the side of the court (Fig. 62) an ejffort has been
made to produce something less severe. The mixture of the
stonework and the black-and-white work of the house is effective,
and the small court, with its formal paved walks leading from
the gate-house to the porch, and from one side doorway to the

TH?: PORCH.

other, is full of interest ; especially as the house lies ainid the
chimneys of a busy part of Lancashire, and is surrounded by
the abomination of desolation which accompanies the spread of
populous places. The initials G. R. occur in the topmost step
of the coping, and the date 1631 on the lintel of the doorwa}-.

Entrance Doorways and Porches.

The lodge or the gateway, as the case might be, was generally
adorned in some conspicuous place with the arms of the
family, the squires
of the time being
as proud of their
various cogni-
zances as Justice
Shallow was of his
twelve luces. Five
out of the eight
examples already
illustrated are so
adorned. The
same shield that
appears on the
gateway is also fre-
quently to be seen
over the door of
the house itself,
which is reached
after crossing the
court. The door-
w ay g e n e r a 1 1 y
formed part of a
somewhat elabo-
rate piece of orna-
ment, for, however simple (and sometimes even monotonous)
the general treatment of the house was, the front d(K)r
was made handsome. At Doddington, in Lincolnshire, while
the bulk of the house is of plain l)rickwork, including the
parapet, the doorway is treated with a considerable amount
of elaboration (Fig. 63).

The door stood more often than not in a projecting porch,

64. - l'oK( H A 1 CnKi.\KV Cm;Kr, Somkkskt (cik. ibjc)).

THE PORCH.

which, although sometimes only one storey in height, as at
Chelvey Court, in Somerset (Fig. 64), was usually higher, and
was frequently carried up the full height of the building. It
is round these doors that we find pronounced classic features
employed in the shape of pillars and pilasters, friezes and
cornices, and pediments. But it was seldom that the English
mason did not introduce into his design some departure from
strict classic treatment, suggested by his native traditions.

At Chelvey the door-
way has a flat-pointed
head resting on an
impost, such as
usually accompanies
a semicircular arch :
there is also a key-
stone which protrudes
from the straight
lintel instead of
crowning the arch,
which in the ordinary
way would be there.
The twisted columns
support pilasters of a
different scale, which
in their turn, however^
are relieved of any-
thing to carry. The
broken pediment en-
closes a shield of
arms, which rests in
the usual fashion
upon a base carried
by the keystone. Over all is a pierced parapet divided into
square panels by shallow pilasters. The spirit of the whole com-
position is Jacobean, but the treatment betokens a late date,
with its twisted columns and broken pediment ; and the arms
confirm the conjecture prompted by the character of the work,
though the exact date is not recorded. It is evident, however,
that even in Somerset, the home of good masons, the lesson of
making appropriate use of classic features had not yet been
mastered. The treatment of the doorway at the neighbouring

moisss

i^..:,;jf«sii^- ~^-'-^^^^

,-.-.. • -iJi.- • *^.ff.

^ -

MHHWa^^^^^HIH

■ -^

^H ^^^^^^^R^^^I^^HB^^H^^^H

'm^:

r^j^.i ....

■■•Upl

^^L^k

65. — Doorway at Nailsea Court, Somerset.

o 9.
< "f

O 2

THE PORCH.

house of Nailsea Court (Fig. 65) is more logical and pleasing.
There is a quaint mixture of pointed arch and classic cornice
and corbelled bay-window ; and the manner in which the central
projection in the cornice is made the starting-point of the
corbelling to the bay is a happy illustration of the freedom with
which the new features were handled.

At Chipchase Castle, in Northumberland (Plate XXIV.), a
square porch is combined with a canted bay above it. The door-
way follows the more usual pattern ; it has the circular arch resting
on imposts, a project-
ing keystone carried
up to break the lines
of the cornice, and is
flanked on either side
by a circular column,
which endeavours to
justify its presence by
carrying an obelisk.
The obelisks serve the
useful purpose of
breaking the severe
line of the splay which
joins the octagonal
bay to the square
porch below it, and
they, together with
the shield of arms
and the carving on
the columns and the
voussoirs of the
arch, impart considerable richness to the whole composition.
At Gayhurst, in Buckinghamshire, the columns, which are
primarily introduced for the sake of ornament, are made to
do actual duty by supporting a slight projection of the storey
above them (Fig. 66) ; and there are two tiers of them, a fact
which helps to increase the importance of the entrance. In
this, as in similar cases, the cornices are continued along the
sides of the projecting porch, and are stopped against the face
of the main building. At Upper Slaughter, in Gloucestershire
(Plate XXIV.), the porch has more of the appearance of being
an excrescence, the only connecting member being the string

66. — Doorway at Gayhukst, Buckinc.hamshikk

THE PORCH.

over the upper windows of the house, which is returned along

the sides of the porch.
The cornices of the porch
are in this instance only
just returned round its
outer angles, and not car-
ried back to the main
building. The pilasters
are merely ornamental
adjuncts: there is no pre-
tence about them of doing
any work ; the head of the
upper window breaks un-
ceremoniously into the
frieze of the cornice, the
keystone of the arch is
carried up so that the
lines of the lower cornice

-DOORWAV AT UO,,., ASHTON, G .01 CKSTKRSH. KK . j-^ ^y ^^j-gg^j^ rOUUd It, aud

the whole treatment shows that the designer was free from
any morbid craving after
correctness. In the door-
way at Hatfield, in the side
of the court (PlateXXV.),
the work is handled in
a more formal manner.
There is the semicircular
arch, with its impost, and
the two flanking pilasters
carried up in order to
break the cornice, while a
central projection follows
up from the keystone.
There is no crowning
pediment, but in its place
is a strapwork pattern
terminating at the top
with a point which finds
itself in the centre of one

r .1 . • 1 1 • .1 OS, — DoOKWAV AT ChKNKY CoUIlT, SOMKKSKI'.

oi the triglyphs in the

entablature which makes the circuit of the whole house at the

THE PORCH.

first floor level. The archway at the foot of the grand
staircase at Wardour Castle (Plate XXV.) is treated with still
greater propriety; the designer has allowed himself to take
no liberties with his copy, but the severity is relieved by the
informal manner in which the steps wind away to the left.
This is an accident arising from the fact that the staircase is
of an older date:
it is covered
with Gothic
vaulting, and at
its upper end
the original
pointed arch
has been made
semicircular,
and the stone
round it has
been recessed so
as to surround
it with a square
moulded frame
in the manner
prevalent at the
beginning of
the seventeenth
century. At
Cold Ashton we
have a simple
pedimented
doorway in a
shallow projec-
tion between
the two wings
of the house

(F'ig. 67), and at Cheney Court there is another simple form
of doorway ; it has no pilasters, but a curved pediment,
supported on corbels, forms a hood (Fig. 6(S)— a mode of
treatment adopted towards the close of the Jacobean period,
and handled here with a pleasant freedom, a panel being con-
trived in the middle of the frie/e to contain the fainil}- arms.
At Woollas Hall (Fig. 6g) there is a boldl\- projecting porch,
R.A. G

69. — WOOLI.AS HaI.L. WoI« KSTKRSHIRK. I'aUI

liNTKAScK Front (1611).

THE PORCH.

thrusting itself out beyond the main face of the house, and
f^iving from its oriel on the top floor a wide view over the
surroundin*^ country.

The ruins at Gorhambury, near St. Albans, a house built

70. — Porch at Gorhambuky, Hekti-ordshirk (1568).

by Sir Nicholas Bacon, the father of Lord Bacon, present
another treatment, which can still be made out in spite of the
modern brick buttresses, and the brick arch which has been
inserted below the ori^^inal one of stone (Fi<:^. 70). There is
a projecting porch of two storeys, with all its three external
faces carefully treated, the front being made rather more
elaborate by the introduction of niches with statues. The
employment of statues and busts as decorative features was
a favourite device of the time. They were almost invariably
of classic origin, and attired in classic garb, the most modern
personages usually admitted to this distinction being those
three of the Nine Worthies who were of Christian extraction.
In the spandrils of the arch are circular medallions with busts,
and in the parapet are the royal arms. There was also over

GORHAMBURY.

the arch (we are told) a grey marble panel with four Latin
verses, stating that the house was finished in the tenth year of
Elizabeth's reign by Nicholas Bacon, whom she made a knight,
and Keeper of her Seal. Below these verses was the aphorism
" Mediocria firma," that is, " Firm is the middle state."

71. — Hamhi.kton Hai.i., Kuii.am).

Statues, busts, and inscriptions are all characteristic of the
taste of the period, and will be more particularly dealt with
later on in connection with the design of chimney-pieces. The
house which was thus finished in the tenth year of Elizabeth,
that is in 1568, was begun (according to an account in the
possession of a local antiquary) on the ist day of March, 1563,
thus taking five years to build. It was not of vast extent, but
it comprised two courts, one for the house, the other for the
kitchens. The porch illustrated was approached in a direct
line across the larger of these courts, and led into the screens
in the usual way ; the windows visible to the left of the porch
lighted the great hall at the dais end. There is very little left
of the old walls, but the extent of the hall can be made out,
as well as the position of a clock tower; and at some little
<listance there remains another niche with a headless statue

G 2

GORHAMBURY.

in it, no doubt that of Henry VIII., which we are told was
put up on the occasion of the Queen's second visit to Gorham-
bury. Her first visit was paid in 1572, four years after the
completion of the house, on which occasion the Queen told
the Lord Keeper that he had made his house too little for him,
whereupon he replied, " Not so, madam, but your Majesty has
made me too big for my house." He was, however, resolved
not to be open to such a reproach again, and on receiving an
intimation that the Queen would visit him a second time (in
1577) he is said to have built a gallery of lath and plaster
120 feet long by 18 feet wide, beneath which were cloisters,

and in the middle of
their length the statue
of King Henry in gilt
armour. This enlarg-
ing of the house for the
express purpose of re-
ceiving the Queen was
only one of numerous
instances, which will
be referred to in a
subsequent chapter, as
also will the proportion
of the long galleries
so distinctive of the
period.

The gallery was
panelled with oak gilt,
and on the panelling
were Latin inscriptions, so aptly selected that it was considered
worth while to collect them in a small volume, illuminated
with much beauty. In the orchard was a banqueting-house,
which in its turn was adorned with busts and inscriptions.
These all related to specific subjects — grammar, arithmetic,
logic, music, rhetoric, geometry, and astrology ; and each
subject was not only depicted on the walls, but was further
illustrated by appropriate verses and the pictures of such
learned men as had excelled in it.* Although most of them
were selected from the ancients, yet Sir Nicholas Bacon was

72. — Chastlkton, Oxfordshire. Ground Plan (cir. 1603).

1. Hall. 4. Nursery.

2. Little Parlour. 5. Chamber over Kitchen.

3. Great Parlour. 6. Pantry.

7. Parlour.

Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, Vol II

^- 9.

C 5
A 9

UN-CENTKAL ENTRANCES.

sufficiently catholic in his taste to admit such modern names
as Lilly, the grammarian, and Copernicus, the "astrologer,"
the latter of whom had only been dead some thirty years.

Another kind of entrance is afforded by the arcaded porch,
of which a simple example is to be seen at Hambleton, in
Rutland (Fig. 71), and a more elaborate one at Cranborne,
in Dorset (Plate XXVI.), where it was added, along with other
" modern " features, to an old manor house dating from the
thirteenth century, in order to bring the house into the
prevailing fashion.

So far all the en-
trances which have
been mentioned
were in the main
face of the building,
the front doors
being in the centre
of the fa9ade. As
the front door
almost always led
into the screens
at the end of the
hall, it followed as
a matter of course
that the hall itself
occupied only a little
more than half the
length of the facade.
In some instances,
however, the hall
was made to occupy
the centre of it, and in such cases the porch could no longer
be central, but was moved to one side, and made to balance
a corresponding projection which served as the bay window
of the hall : the doorway was then placed, not in the front
face but the side face of the porch, as may be seen at
Chastleton, in Oxfordshire (Fig. 72), and Burton Agnes, in
Yorkshire (Fig. 52). The main approach was therefore still
on the axial line, but on mounting the final steps, instead
of going straight forward into the porch, you turned either
to the right or left (in the two instances illustrated it

73. — DOOKWAY AT LYDDINGTON, KuTLANI).

MINOR DOORWAYS.

was to the left) and so through the porch to the screens. At
Chastleton the old arrant^ement remains perfect ; the screen is
there, and also the dais with the bay window at the end of it.
At Fountains Hall, in Yorkshire, the same idea is carried out,
but as the ground slopes very steeply, the principal floor is
some feet above the ground at the entrance. The doorway
is central, and immediately on entering, a straight flight of

steps leads off to
the right up to the
main floor, which it
gains just in time
for a turn to the
left to lead into the
screens.

In situations re-
quiring less orna-
mental treatment,
a very pleasing type
of doorway came
mto use, and lin-
gered on in remote
places far into the
days of regular
classic architecture.
Such doors abound
in the stone villages
of Somerset and
thence northwards
through the Cots-
wolds and Oxfordshire, up to Northamptonshire and Rutland.
They are usually flat-pointed, and the jambs have two moulded
orders, the inner one going round the flat-pointed head, w^hile
the outer one forms a square frame round it, as in the example
from Lyddington (Fig. JZ)- There is not much of the classic
manner about such a door, especially when, as in this instance,
the label is returned down the ends of the head. But the
section of the jamb-mould is an adaptation of the contours
found in classic work, and the label not infrequently was treated
in the manner of a cornice, instead of being returned, as it is
in this example and that from Broadway in Fig. 74. There
is a small doorway of this kind at Aylesford Hall, in Kent

74. — Doorway at Broadway, Worcestershire.

MINOR DOORWAYS.

(Fij^. 75), which shows a curious mixture, for the head has a
fairly high-pointed Gothic arch, while the label is of classic
profile, and is ornamented with dentils : the spandrils are filled
with shields of late design, one of which bears the date 1590,
thus showing how long the old traditional forms lingered in
places. The masons of the time made use of a type of door
which was chiefly of Gothic descent, but they varied its features
at will. The head was either high-pointed, flat-pointed, or
elliptical, as their fancy dictated ; and the label was either
moulded after the fashion of their youth, or in accordance with
the newer forms which they saw in use around them. It is in
such unimportant matters as these, where no one was parti-
cularly concerned about the result, that we see how the
workmen availed themselves indifferently of the old forms or
the new.

75.- DooRWAV AT Ayi.kskoki) HAi.r,, Kknt (ijyo).

CHAPTER V.

EXTERIOR FEATURES (continued).

GENERAL ASPECT, EXTERNAL APPEARANCE, WINDOWS, &C.

Before proceeding to enter one of these doorways and to
examine the interior treatment of an Elizabethan house, it will
be well to look at the exterior more closely. We find that the
effect, although often elaborate and striking, is produced by
very simple means. The picturesque appearance of Haddon
and Compton Winyates is chiefly due to the irregularity of the
plan, which in the case of the former was largely the result of
a gradual growth, extending over some centuries. The stately
effect of the Elizabethan house is the result of regularity and
symmetry in the plan, and its picturesqueness springs from its
windows, gables and chimneys. The English designer avoided,
as a rule, very large plain surfaces and long unbroken fa9ades,
differing in the latter respect from his Italian contemporaries.
He diversified his long fronts by throwing out bay-windows ;
he broke up the skyline with gables; he grouped his chimneys
so as to add emphasis to the design ; and there were always
the mullioned windows, of which the relatively small divisions
gave scale and life to the whole. There are many houses which
have no further attempt at ornament than these features, and
these are felt to be quite sufficient ; but occasionally, when a
great effort was demanded, the Elizabethan designer borrowed
his ornament from abroad, and added a multiplicity of pilasters
and niches to his walls, extravagant and fantastic curves to his
gables, while, in order to avail himself of classic forms to the
full, he turned his chimneys into the semblance of columns.
His zeal was not always accompanied by knowledge; he some-
times misapplied his borrowed features ; he too frequently
regarded a pilaster as in itself an agreeable ornament, without
troubling to bring it into scale with the building or with his
other pilasters used elsewhere, and without providing for it

ENGLISH CHARACTER OF WORK.

even a semblance of anything to support. The more ignorant
masons evolved designs which bore but a distant resemblance
to the originals which inspired them. All this is true, and it is
so manifest that one cannot be surprised at the opprobrious
epithets bestowed upon work of this period by purists of other

-6.— KiuHY Hall, Nohthami'tonshiuk. South Sidk ok Colut (1570-75).

schools. Still, in spite of errors and ignorance in the applica-
tion of ornament, there is an exuberant vitality about the
buildings of the time which accords with the vitality of its
literature. Moreover, their character is essentially English :
an Elizabethan house could no more have been designed by
Palladio or Du Cerceau or Vricse than a play like those which
Shakespeare gave us could have been written by one of the
novelists, essayists, or dramatists of Italy, France and Germany,
from whom the Englishman, however, did not hesitate to borrow
some of his material.

External Ai'I'i:akanci:.

The courtyard of Kirby Hall is one of the hnest examples
that is left of the period (Fig, 76), and although pilasters of
different scale are employed as ornamental features rather

THE LARGER HOUSES.

than as constructional, the whole effect is both dignified and
picturesque. The mullioned windows have a lively simplicity,
the large pilasters prevent monotony, and the small detail
about the central porch contrasts happily with the plainer

77- — KiRBV Hall, Northamptonshire. West Front (1570-75, parts possibly 1595).

yS. — Lonoleat, Wiltshire (1567).

treatment of the main walls. The external facade on the west,
though not symmetrical, is kept in subjection ; the strong
horizontal lines of the strings and cornices bind it together,
and the great chimney stacks are so ordered at regular intervals
that they alone would give dignity and rhythm to the front
(Fig. yy). The work on this front is not all of one time,
though the various parts cannot be separated by many years,
and it is quite possible that the curved gables were added by
a somewhat later hand. Sir Christopher Hatton's successor

C/)

;«

z.
o

O
>

THE LARGER HOUSES.

may have modified this fagade towards the end of the century,
when he built the stables, which have now disappeared.

Kirby is freer in its treatment than Lon^^leat, in Wiltshire,
which has to submit to a more severe symmetry (Fig. 78).
The windows here are rather overpowering, but the whole effect
is restful, owing to the strong horizontal lines, while the pro-
jecting bays entirely relieve it from monotony. There are no
gables, and ap-
parently never
were, which is
a some w hat
unusual cir-
cumstance,
considering the
date of its erec-
tion, 1567.
Wollaton, near
Nottingham
(Plate XXV 1 1.)
bears some re-
semblance to
Longleat in its
detail, but it is
far more fan-
tastic in its
treatment, and
its plan places
it in a category
almost by itself.
It cannot be
called a typical
house either in

its arrangement or its design, although from its striking appear-
ance and excellent state of preservation it is frequently
quoted as such. Its plan shows a central hall, surrounded by
a range of rooms, with a projecting pavilion or tower at each of
the four corners (Fig. 79). The general effect is undoubtedly
impressive, but the ornament is overloaded, and shows a too
careful study of extravagant Dutch models. The work, how-
ever, and the design are those of well-instructed masons,
familiar with the features they were handling. Wollaton is

-Woi.LATON Uai.i., Nottingham.shm<k. Pi.an or PkINCII'AI,
Fi.ooK (1580-88).

Hall.

5. Armoury.

Saloon.

6, 6. Bedrooms

Library.

7. Uoudoir.

Diniiig-rooni.

8. Study.

9. Small Drawing-room.

THE LARGER HOUSES.

another instance of combining a central hall with a central
doorway. The present flight of steps inside the front door,
together with the doors in the long sides of the hall immediately
opposite, is comparatively modern. The original approach,
after entering the front door, was up a flight of steps to the
right, at the top of which, by turning to the left (as at Fountains
Hall), the screens were gained, and the hall was entered in the
usual way.

At Burghley House we revert to a simpler treatment. The
main walls are of plain masonry pierced with windows, and
divided bv the usual horizontal cornices (Plate XXYHI.)-

-Charlton House, Wiltshire (1607).

Diversity is obtained by projecting turrets, lofty bay windows,
and the boldly-curved entrance porch on the north front.
There are no gables, the skyline being broken by the turrets,
the chimneys, and the ornamental parapet. It is, perhaps, an
exaggeration to say there are no gables, but there are none in
the later part built between 1575 and 1587. The great hall
has gables, but that was built some years earlier.

At Charlton, in Wiltshire (Fig. 80), there is an example of
the open arcade, which became rather fashionable, but which
later generations have, in many houses, found unsuitable to
our climate, and of which the arches have in consequence been
filled up. The gables here are ornamented with a kind of
filigree, which is more curious than beautiful. At Aston Hall,

(V r
C

y^ <

. as

THE LARGER HOUSES.

near Birmingham, the south front presents another instance of
an open arcade (Fig. 8i), and a good deal of picturesqueness
is imparted by the broken outline of the gables. Corsham
Court, in Wiltshire, shows a more restrained treatment
(Fig. 82). The animated effect is obtained by a number of
plain gables, and by square projecting windows crowned with
flat pediments, the whole bound together with conspicuous
horizontal strings. At Kentwell Hall, in Suffolk, the tligni-
fied effect is produced by the combination of two turrets

81. — Aston Ham,, Wakwickshiui:. South Front (161^-35).

with the front gables, b\- projecting windows carried up the
whole height of the building, and b}- massive chimne\-stacks
(Fig. 8j)- The approach is still on the axial line, although
the present low wall is but a poor substitute for the usual
enclosure ; but in many of the examples cited the general
effect is decidedly impoverished by the disappearance of the
outer courts.

Coming now to somewhat smaller hcjuses, we find the same
simple materials relied upon, and producing equally good effects.
In the ruins of the old Hall at Exton, in Rutland (Plate XXIX.),
the front facade shows curved gables separated by a length of

lOO

THK SMALLER HOUSES.

^L t

82. — CoRSHAM Court, Wiltshire (1582).

pierced parapet, and the side has three straight f^ables close
together, with a huge stack of chimneys placed irregularly
against them. The Manor House at Glinton, in Northampton-
shire (Plate XXIX,), is even simpler ; nevertheless, its curved
gables, carefully wrought chimneys, and projecting porch give
it a considerable amount of character. It is not on record
when either of these houses was built, but Exton Hall was

83. — Kentwkll Hall, Suffolk.

probably the work of John, Lord Harrington of Exton, the
tutor of the Princess Elizabeth, only daughter of James I.
There is nothing left inside the house, which was burnt down
in 1810, but enough of the exterior remains to show that, like
most manor houses in the district, it must have been a fine
place in its palmy days. In the church at Exton are a number

Plate XXIX.

ExTON Old Hall, Rutland

The MA\f)K HoUSi:, (iMNTOX, NoKTIIAMPTONSmKE

THE SMALLER HOUSES. loi

of exceptionally good monuments of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, commemorating the Harringtons and their
descendants (see Fig. 6): The manor of Glinton was granted
to the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough at the dissolution of
the monasteries, and so remained till long after the house was
built, which may therefore have been used as a country residence
for the Dean. At Cheney Court, near Bath (Fig. 84), another
house without a history, the treatment is quite simple, con-
sisting of nothing more than three evenly placed gables along
the side, and two others, in combination with large chimney-

'X^

84. — CllENKV CoUKT, SOMKKSII.

stacks, along the end. The reason for the sudden jumping up
of the strings in the right-hand gable of the side is not apparent ;
but as a matter of fact, at the present time that part of the
house is occupied by one tenant, while the remainder is let to
another. This type of manor house, with its extremely quiet
handling of gables, chimneys, and mullioned windows, is common
all over the country, and so far as its exterior is concerned, it
owes little besides its symmetrical disposition to the Italian
spirit. An extra touch is given to the doorway here (Fig. 68),
and the internal fittings show the foreign influence, but other-
wise it is entirely a native production. The same may be said

THE SMALLER HOUSES.

-Manok 1 Imi >i

'I. I) ASHTON, Gl.OlXESTERSHIKK.

of Cold Ashton (Fig. 85), another house in the neighbourhood

of Bath, but
here the sym-
metrical treat-
ment is more
marked, as will
be seen by look-
ing at the plan
(Fig. 86), and
the chimne3'S
are gathered
into two groups
which serve the
whole* house.
This is an in-
teresting ex-
ample of the

smaller kind of manor house, and it has been subjected to

very few alterations. Its

history is not recorded, but

it was evidently built by one

of the numerous squires of

the time, who put his arms

over the gateway on the road

side (see Fig. 58). Judging

bN'the two doorways remain-
ing in the screen on the

left of the central passage,

one of which now leads into

a pantry, the hall has been

shortened by the space re-
quired for the pantry, but

except for this alteration the

plan seems to indicate the

original arrangement, in-
cluding that of the front

garden, with its gateway and

circular steps, its paved

walk, and the flight of steps

leading to the terrace in front of the house. The external

detail throughout is of the simplest, but there is a good

ROAD

86. — Manor Holsk, Cold Ashton, Gi-oltestkr-
SHiRE. Grolni) Plan.

THE SMALLER HOUSES.

103

ceiling in one of the parlours, and some of the woodwork is
of unusual elaboration. The character of the work points to
the early part of the seventeenth century as the date of erection.
In these simpler examples the windows do not occupy nearly
so large a proportion of the wall space as they do in the more
ambitious houses.

An interesting adaptation of the symmetrical arrangement
of the forecourt and lodges is to be seen at Bolsover Castle
(Figs. 87, 88), where the square house has been built on

87.— BoLsovEK Castle, Deruvshirk (1613).

the site of the ancient keep, which no doubt largely con-
trolled its size. There are no gables, all the roofs being flat ;
that over the house itself is approached by a staircase in a
domed turret, and was intended as a place of resort. The
usual picturesquencss of outline is obtained by various turrets
and chimneys. In the illustration the two chambers in the
sides of the courtyard are hidden behind those which form the
entrance to it. It is not easy to say to what use these chambers
were to be put. They are all furnished with iircplaces, most of
which are carefully wrought, as though for the delight of the
owner rather than of his retainers. The house itself is full of
R.A. H

I04

KLIZABETHAN VAULTING.

interest ; all the rooms on the basement and principal floor are
vaulted, and the vaulting ribs and corbels are managed with
such care as was seldom bestowed upon those features even in
the days of stone vaulting. This method of construction was
rapidly going out of fashion, most of the houses of the sixteenth
century having floors of joists and boards, the underside being
ceiled in the early part of the century with wood, and in the

latter with plaster. But at
Bolsover, as late as 1613, we
have stone vaulting beautifully
wrought. There is a large
amount of good panelling also
left, and the chimney-pieces are
unrivalled in any house of the
time for their beauty and variety.
Some of these will be illustrated
when that subject comes to be
dealt with. This part of Bolsover
Castle, although so carefully
built and embellished, is but
a small portion of the whole
scheme. There was an immense
gallery in close proximity, which,
however, has fallen to ruin. It
is in a style somewhat later
than its smaller neighbour, with
gigantic doorways and unwieldy
mouldings, and forms a link
between Jacobean work and the
more fully developed classic
treatment of the close of the
seventeenth century.
At Condover, in Shropshire (Fig. 89), an agreeable variety
of treatment is introduced on the garden front by contriving to
get a range of low rooms over the open arcade, the heads of
he windows being at the same level as those of the principal
rooms. The central gable on the same face is occupied by a
bay window, which starts from corbels over the centre arch of
the arcade and is carried up to the topmost storey. Variations
like these serve to relieve the monotony which is sometimes to
be found in the symmetrical houses of the period.

'. — Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire.
Ground Plan (1613).

1. Porch. 3. Pillar-room.

2. Hall. 4. Main Staircase.

5. Small Staircase.

DETAIL VARIES WITH LOCALITY

105

The amount of detail bestowed upon these houses varied
according to their locahty and the materials at hand. In York-
shire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, where the stone is hard,
great simplicity is the rule. The entrance doorway usually
received some attention, and the gables often had finials, but
otherwise the work was of the plainest description. The roofs
were generally of flatter pitch than in less boisterous districts,
and the whole house gives the impression of rough sturdiness
quite in keeping

with the charac- ;

ter of the owners.
Compared with
theworkin
Northampton-
shire, as exempli-
fied at Kir by,
Rushton, or Ape-
thorpe ; in Hamp-
shire at Brams-
hill ; in Sussex
at Cowdray ; or
in Somerset at
Montacute, the
work in the north
is severe and
wanting in detail.
Hut it has its
own charm, just
as the rocky
"edges" of Derby-
shire, and its wild,
boulder-strewn
tors, with their memories of prehistoric tribes perciicd upon
their bleak summits, have a grim fascination not less powerful
than that which hangs over the forest districts further south,
where ancient oaks, so old as to retain little beyond their huge
trunks, call to mind the curious and cruel laws which once
protected the animals that lived beneath their shade. Haddon
Hall is a large house, and was the home of one of the first
families of the county, but its stonew(jrk is comparatively
plain. Hoghton Tower, in Lancasiiire, is another large house,

H 2

89.

-CoNDOVKR IIai.i., SmkoI'.shiuk.
Tkont (151J.S).

Tmh (Iahdkn

io6

YORKSHIRE HOUSES.

but the detail is even simpler than at Haddon. Clegg Hall,
near Rochdale (Fig. 90), is a good example of a Lancashire
house of medium size, except that, compared with others
to be found on the wolds and in the dales of that part of the
country, it is unusually lofty. Mount Grace Priory, in York-
shire (Plate XXX.), is of a more usual type, but even here
there is rather greater liveliness than generally distinguishes
the Yorkshire manor house ; the windows are larger, and the
dormers are of steeper pitch than is common. Oakwell Hall,
East Ardsley and Swinsty Old Halls are good examples

90. — Clegg Hall, Lancashire.

of their kind, with flat-pitched roofs, plain gables, and
windows of many small lights. The courtyard at Ingelby
Manor (Fig. 91) has an open arcade with some amount of
detail about it, but the effect is grim and chilly, and serves to
illustrate the mistake of transferring a child of the Italian sun
to the bleak regions of Yorkshire. In some parts of Lancashire,
in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and generally in
the west, timber was much employed. The " black-and-white,"
or *' magpie," or " post-and-pan " work, as it is variously called,
has much charm about it, and appeals keenly to lovers of
the picturesque. The contrast between the dark framework

BLACK-AND-WHITE HOUSES.

107

and the light-coloured plaster, together with the variety of line
consequent upon the constructional necessities of the framework
itself, insure a lively result; and when the straight lines of the
greater part of the framing are relieved by the introduction of
curved braces or more fanciful panels in the gables, the com-
bination is very attractive. The effect is often enhanced by
dainty little bits of detail in the wood finials and pendants and
verge-boards, but even without these aids the texture of the
wood becomes so beautiful through age and weather as hardly

gl. — COLRTVAKU, InGKI.HY MaNOK, VoKKhHlKK.

to require the help of a chisel. One example, Moreton Old
Hall, has already been mentioned (Plates XV., XVI.) ; Speke
Hall, in Lancashire, near the banks of the Mersey, is another
(Plate XXXI.), and it has at the entrance a certain amount of
stonework which adds considerably to the interest of the house.
There is a fine example at BramaH Hall, near Stockport ; a
plainer one at Pitchford Hall, in Shropshire ; while, among
others, may be mentioned the Market-house at Ledbury and the
Grange at Leominster, both in Herefordshire. Some examples,
although not so many, are to be found in the southern counties ;
but all through Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire the usual

io8

LOCAL CHARACTF.RISTICS.

treatment of cottages and small houses was to han<^ them with
weather-tiling. The ground floor was generally of brick, the
upper one was tile-hung : there was nearly always a good
chimney, sometimes rising out of the roof, but often carried on
a massive base which was continued down to the ground. The
rich colours which come to these bricks and tiles with age tend
to spoil those who live in their midst, and to make them look
with a somewhat dull eye upon the quieter tones prevalent in
stone districts. Examples of half-timber or " magpie " work,

however, are not
wanting amid the
tile and brick, and
one of the most
elaborate is to be
seen at May held,
in Sussex (Fig.92),
but it is far behind
similar work in
Cheshire and
Lancashire in
richness of detail.
In the eastern
counties, as in the
southern, brick is
the chief material,
but here, too,
plaster played an
important part in
clothing the con-
struction. In the
west all the detail
was put into the wood ; in the east it was put into the
plaster, and there are many examples still left of elaborate
modelling in plaster to be found upon houses and cottages in
Essex and Suffolk. Cut flint was also largely emplo}ed for
walls, and was used in combination with stone to produce
highly-ornamental designs ; but its employment seems to have
largely died out with the Gothic forms in which it was so suc-
cessfully manipulated. The brickwork, which in the early part
of the century was very rich and elaborate, became much
plainer towards its close, and indeed the terra-cotta and the

92. — House at Mavkield, Sussex.

WINDOWS.

109

wonderful chimney-shafts of Henry VIII.'s time are hardly to
be found in the work of succeeding reigns. It is not in brick-
work that we must look for Elizabethan detail, but rather in
the easily-worked stone which underlies the central district of
England from Devon and Somerset in a north-easterly direction
to Rutland and Lincoln.

Windows.

It has already been said that an Elizabethan house depends
for its picturesqueness chiefly upon its windows, gables, and

<J3. -CovvDK.w ll<JLsi:. SisM-x. Fakt dk Colkt.

chimneys. The mullioned and transomed window is indeed
one of the characteristic features of the Elizabethan style, the
openings being all rectangular. Already during the prevalence of
Gothic forms the vertical spaces formed by the mullions of the
windows had been divided horizontally by transoms, but this
treatment was rather the exception than the rule. In Tudor times
the windows were usually small, sometimes consisting only of
one light, but often of two or even three, and occasionally being
two tiers in height. The lights almost always had flat-pointed
heads. The small size resulted from the old wish to have a

TUDOR WINDOWS.

defensible house, but as the need for such precaution lessened,
the lights increased in number; the desire for well-lighted rooms
led to still further extension and to doing away with the pointed
heads in favour of straight ones. The gradual changes in the
form of windows is well seen in the courtyard at Cowdray
(Fig. 93). The window on the extreme right of the illus-
tration, with its pointed arch and traceried lights, is Gothic;

next to it comes
a Tudor bay win-
dow, made up
of a number of
flat-pointed lights,
which there was
no need to restrict
in this case, be-
cause the window
looked into the
court. To the
left are two bays
of Elizabeth's
time, with rect-
angular lights
three rows in
height and many
in width. At
Harrington Court
(Plate XXXII.)
may be seen a
more usual ex-
ample of Tudor
windows, as well

f)4. — HOGHTON TOWKK, LANCASHIKt;. BaV OK HaI.I.. ^^ thp twisted

finials of which the early sixteenth centur}- was so fond.
Another kind of treatment is occasionally to be found, in
which brackets are introduced in the upper lights, springing
from the mullions and supporting the horizontal head. One
version of this method is to be seen at Layer Marney in the
windows over the archway (Plate XIII.), and another at Lacock
Abbey (Plate XXXVI.). In the latter window should also be
noticed the circle introduced at the crossing of the centre
mullion and transom, which resembles the treatment adopted

Plate XXXII.

A^^^^ ""

HAkRiNcrrox court, soMicksryr. (tudou.)

BAY WINDOWS.

in the screen at King's College Chapel (Plate VIII.). The
date of Layer Marney may be put at 1520, Lacock Abbey at
about 1540, and the screen at 1535. The greatest develop-
ment of windows was, however, to be found in the bay.
The bay window is one of the most important features in
the architecture of the time. English designers had always
been fond of bay windows : they put them to the dais of
their halls in quite early times, and there are many examples
of small bays being
corbelled out on
an upper floor,
where the exigen-
cies of the ground
plan did not per-
mit of their start-
ing from the
ground. But as
a rule these early
bays were only one
storey in height :
as time went on,
however, t h e \
grew to two
storeys, and then
to as many as the
main building it-
self had. I^^rom
being an adjunct
they became a
dominating fea-
ture, and most of
the large houses of
the time derive variety of outline and rh}thm of composition
from their bay windows. Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire
(Fig. 94), has a fine bay at the end of the hall. It is only one
storey high, but that storey is the full height of the building
in that part. The sill is brought down lower than those of the
other windows in order to enable the occupants of the dais to
look out into the court. At Astley Hall, also in Lancashire
(Plate XXXIII,), the two bays are the dominating feature of the
front; indeed, the whole architectural interest of this side of the

95. — HUKION A(,NKS, VoKKSlllKK (l6o2— 1().

BAY WINDOWS.

house lies in the management of the windows, for the doorway,
flanked by double columns which lend their united strength to
supporting a peaceable lion, is hardly worth attention. The
long range of windows which reaches continuously from one end
of the building to the other forms a striking feature, but must
be a matter of much concern to the housewife who has to drape
them on the inside, and to consider the claims of her carpet

on sunny days.

At Burton Agnes
the grouping of a cir-
cular bay in the gable
with an octagonal one
just round the corner
(Fig. 95) is very effec-
tive pictorially, and
makes an interesting
plan. The circular
bays at Li 1 ford, in
Northamptonshire, set
within the curved
gables, produce a
pleasing combination
(Plate XXXIV.) ; but
of all circular bays the
palm must be assigned
to the great twin
bays at Kirby (Plate
XXXIII.). It was not
only in important
houses that these strik-
ingfeatures were intro-
duced ; they are to be
found in all kinds of dwellings, and frequently impart interest
to small and insignificant cottages, whether of stone, as at
Bourton-on-the-Water (Fig. g6), or of wood and stucco, as at
Steventon, in Berkshire (Pig. 97). In both these examples
much of the pleasant effect is derived from the small size of
the windows and the proportionately large space of plain wall
between them ; but ths same effect can hardly be obtained
in the present day, because the rooms have to be higher,
and toleration is seldom accorded, either by private taste or

96. — HoLSH AT Bourton-on-thk-Watkk,

Gl.OUCESTERSHIRK.

Plate XXXIII,

AsTLEY Hall, Lancashire.

.M)KrilAMPTO.\.SlllKK. TlIE BaV WiNDDWS.

Plate XXXIV',

m^^m

1111111

iiiiir

LILFORD HALL. NORTnAMI'TOXSIlIRK.
CURVED (;abi.k.s. (1635).

WINDOW MOULDINGS.

113

public regulations, to windows which start a long way from
the floor and end a long way from the ceiling.

There was no great variety in the mouldings of the stone-
work. Several sec-
tions of jambs and
mullions are shown on
Fig. 98, of which
No. I was most fre-
quently used in Eliza-
bethan and Jacobean
work. The jambs and
p r i n c i p a 1 m u 1 1 i o n s
had an outer member,
slightly splayed,
which formed a frame
within which the sub-
sidiary mullions and
the transoms were
enclosed, as may be
seen by referring to
Figs. 71, 96, and
103. Sometimes this
outer member was
moulded instead of
splayed, as shown in
No. 2 (Fig. 98), and
occasionally an extra
member was intro-
duce d c 1 o s e t o t h e
glazing line, as shown
in No. 3. These
three examples are all
varieties of the same
type. No. 4 shows a
type with a hollow
moulding, which was
prevalent in Tudor
work, as it had been previouslv in (iotliic : and it remained
in use, along with the plain splayed mullion, up to the time
of the sash-window. Although it preceded tiic type No. i,
and might therefore be considered to indicate an earlier

97..-C()TrA(;K at Si i\ in ion, Hkkksiiikk.

114

WINDOW MOULDINGS.

date, it is not by any means a safe guide, inasmuch as both
forms were in use at the same time. No. i, however, was
not used before the middle of the sixteenth century, and
may be taken as a fairly safe indication of a date subsequent to
that time. No. 5 shows a sunk splay, and was occasionally

98. — Section of Window Jambs and Mullions.

used, but it is not frequently met with. The label shown on
No. 4 was used in late Gothic work, and survived in some
instances as long as the mullioned windows themselves ; but
in the more ambitious designs its place was taken by the lower
member of a cornice founded on classic models. No. 6 is

an example of a quite

different type. In all the
others, the windows were
of the ordinary mullioned
type, with a label (or
cornice) over them. In
No. 6 not only does the
shape of the mullion follow
a new idea, but the whole
of the mouldings outside
of it are carried round
the head and jambs of the
window to form a regular architrave : the effect can be seen
in the windows at Wollaton, in Fig. 106. As this architrave
projected beyond the face of the wall, the window-sill was
brought forward to receive it, as shown on Fig. 99. The
projecting sill is supported at each end by a quaint corbel,
and the space between the corbels is filled by a projecting
panel fashioned like a piece of fancifully-shaped leather nailed
on to the wall, and having some of its cut ends curled up.

0-—

99.— Window-sill at Wollaton Hall

WINDOW MOULDINGS. 115

This treatment of windows involved a considerable amount of
labour and expense, and accordingly was not often adopter] ;
but the use of the architrave became general during the
seventeenth centur}', after the mullioned window had given
way to sashes.

99A.— HEAD OF A WINDOW AT HATI-IKI.D HOUSE.

CHAPTER VI.

EXTERIOR FEATURES (continued).

GABLES, PARAPETS, FINIALS, CHIMNEYS, RAIN-WATER HEADS,

GARDENS.

Gables.

The gable is one of the characteristic features of the period.
As a rule it was of steep pitch — indeed, in many thatched
barns and cottages the apex is very acute (Fig. loo). In such
cases the cottages generally had attic-rooms in the roof, which
were lighted by dormer windows, over which the thatch was

worked in such
' ^ ^ ! a way that they

appeared to be
a growth out the
main roof rather
than an extra-
neous win dow
applied to it. In
stone and brick
houses the gable
wall rose above
the roof, and was
coped with stone
to prevent the
wet penetrating
into it. The
coping rested at
the bottom on a
kneeler, which projected sufficiently to accommodate itself to the
projection of the eaves, and at the apex it was usually crowned
by a finial. A considerable amount of variety was introduced into
the design of the kneelers and finials, and many a small house
and cottage is redeemed from insignificance by the possession of

IOC'. — A XOKTHAMI'TONSHIKE CoTTAGE.

GABLES AND FINIALS.

117

one or two of these features {Fig. loi). Even where there was no
finial, the mere fact of the apex of the coping projecting above the
hne of the ridge produced a point that showed against the sky,

loi. — Stone Finials and Kneelers.

and helped towards the general picturesqueness of effect. In
some of the more important houses the finials were worked

102. — Manok House, 1-insiock, Oxi okdshikk.

with greater elaboration, and were placed not only on the apex
of the gable but on the kneelers at its foot (see Fig. 108, and
the dormer on Fig. 113; also Plate XXX.). The effect of
plain gables contrasted with those having simple finials is

ii8

GABLES.

shown on Plate XXXV., while examples of larger and more
important finials may be seen at Kirby and Rushton (Figs. 107,

113), the prevailing forms
being some variety of the
obelisk.

The use of simple gables
or their combination with
dormer windows and
chimneys, all without
elaborate detail, is quite
sufficient to impart in-
terest to a building,
which otherwise would
have little claim to atten-
tion. Examples of these
unpretentious houses are
to be met with in every
county ; one or two are
illustrated here from Fin-
stock, in Oxfordshire
(Fig. 102), Broadway, in
Worcestershire (Plate
XXXV.), and Holms-
hurst, in Sussex (Plate
XXXV.). There is very
little conscious effort
about the design of either
of these, beyond the in-
troduction of a certain
amount of symmetry. At
Finstock Manor House
there is a range of three
equal gables occupying
most of the front, and
the door is in the centre.
At Tudor House, Broad-
way, there are three
gables, but they are de-
tached from each other, and the middle one is rather larger
than its neighbours ; a bay window of two storeys occupies
the centre of the front, and the very plainly treated door is

.- — 1

_______

r ' ^" '

^:i

V"'

I03.^COTTAGE AT ROTHWEI.I., NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
(1660).

GABLES OF TIMBER HOUSES.

119

at one end. The house at Holmshurst is, hke most of those
in the Weald, built of brick : it has stone windows, but very
little detail, its effect depending upon the two gables, each
flanked with a large chimney-stack.

The style which was prevalent at the end of the sixteenth
century lingered on far into the seventeenth in buildings that
were not subject to the passing fashion : indeed, the treatment
was hardly adopted consciously, but was rather the obvious
and natural way of building, otherwise it would not have

104. —Cottage at Trkkton, nkak Shkiiikld.

been applied to such cottages as that at Rothwell (Fig. 103)
and Treeton, near Sheffield (Fig. 104).

In houses which were constructed of timber and plaster
it was impossible to carry up the gables above the roof; the
method of building did not admit of it, and there would have
been no adequate means of covering them from the weather.
They were finished, therefore, with projecting verge-boards,
which served to protect the surface of the walls, and which
were often carved or cut and moulded. A simple instance
applied to a cottage is to be found at Steventon (Fig. 105), but
there are plenty to be seen in different parts of the country,
particularly in the west.

In the more important houses the gables were not infrequently
R.A. I

CURVED GAHLKS AT WOLLATON HALL

curved, especially in later times, that is to say, the curved gable
is more frequent in Jacobean work than in Elizabethan. This
idea no doubt came from the Low Countries, where it was very
extensively adopted, but the extravagant and fantastic curves
which the Dutchman loved were much simplified by his
English imitator. Some of the more ambitious efforts, such
as Wollaton, went near in their elaborate strap-work to rival
the original models. A study of one of the corner pavilions

(Fig. 1 06) will show
how, not only in the
gables but in the whole
treatment, the foreign
influence is predomi-
nant. The simplicity
of the native type is
entirely wanting.
There are no plain sur-
faces of any extent; the
columns are broken by
a projecting band ; the
pedestals on which
they stand are adorned
with panels of double
projection ; not only
are the corner piers of
the parapet crowned
with an obelisk, but
the pediment at the
top of each gable
carries a small statue
on a pedestal : every-
thing is done to add to the picturesqueness and richness of
effect. Nevertheless, through all the ornament with which the
design is overloaded, its main ideas are plainly visible : the
large and simple windows, the emphasizing of the angles, the
gables of studiously irregular outline. In some Dutch and
German work the designers seemed to lose sight of their
purpose in the exuberance of their ornament, but here it is not
so. It will be seen that the circular niches on the side faces
are filled with busts, although the vertical niches between the
pilasters are empty. The busts, so far as they are named or

105. — CoTTAG^; AT Stkventon, Berkshire.

AND AT KIRBY HALL.

can be identified,
are those of classic
personages — Plato,
Aristoteles, Ver-
gilius — and are
said to have been
brought over from
Italy.

The west front of
Kirby (Fig. 107)
offers a great con-
trast to Wollaton.
Here everything up
as high as the para-
pet is as simple as
it can well be; there
are no pilasters, no
niches, no strap-
work panels. The
windows and the
cornices which
make the circuit of
the building are the
only architectural
features. The
gables have the
strap-work, but it
is of a simpler form
than that at Wolla-
ton : the irregularity
of their outlme,
combined with the
tapering obelisks,
some of which have
open stone bows at
the bottom, some-
thing after the
fashion of a jug
handle, imparts the
necessary pictur-
esqueness, without

106. — Woi.I.ATON HAI.r., NOTTINOHAMSHIKK.

Onk ok Coknkk Towkks (is^iS).

I 2

122

SIMPLER CURVED GABLES.

having recourse to the expensive devices employed at Wollaton.
The latter house was built between the years 1580 and 1588,
and the gables may therefore be taken as dating from 1588 :
the date of the west front of Kirby is not recorded, but
from the character of the work it may very well have been
subsequent to the main building operations in 1570 — 75, and,
as already stated, these gables were not improbably added
towards the close of the sixteenth century. One curious point
about this front is the care which was taken to make the quoins
perfectly regular in size : in some cases where the quoin stone

KiKiiV Hall, Xukihami'Tonshikl. 1'akt of \\lst rKoNx u'Ossibly 1595).

was larger than the regulation size, the overplus was slightly
sunk, and then scored with false joint-lines to match those of
the adjacent rubble.

There was a simpler type of curved gable which was freely
used, as in the courtyard at Rushton (Fig. io8), and it was
sometimes combined with steps, as at Apethorpe (Fig. 109),
the result being picturesque without being fussy. The date
of the example at Apethorpe is 1623 — 24, and that at Rushton
1627. The curve, instead of being ogee-shaped as in these
instances, was sometimes composed of two curves of similar
form, with a square shoulder between them, like those at
Blickling (Plate XXXVII.), or the sweep of the ogee was broken

PARAPETS OF HOUSES.

123

108. — Gable in Court, Rushton,
Northamptonshire (1627).

by the introduction of a vertical line, such as may be seen in
the gables at Lilford (Plate XXXIV.). Further varieties
occur at Montacute (Fig. 48),
Stanway (Plate XXII.), and West-
wood (Plate XXI 1 1.).

Parapets.

The gables and the dormer windows
in the larger houses were often con-
nected by a parapet, broken at inter-
vals by a shallow pilaster carried up
to form the base of a finial or the
seat for some heraldic animal. Some-
times the parapet was solid, as at
Apethorpe (Fig. log), Doddington
(Plate XXI.), and the courtyard
at Kirby (Fig. 76) ; sometimes it
was formed of a series of arches, as at Exton (Fig. no, and
Plate XXIX.), and at Hambleton (Fig. 71) ; sometimes of

stone panels pierced
with a pattern, as
at Bramshill (Fig.
Ill) and Audley
End (Fig. 112); and
sometimes of stone
balusters, of which
Rushton Hall offers
one example (Fig.
iij) and Wollaton
Hall (Plate XX VI I.)
another. There
was a considerable
amount of variety,
according to the
ability of the mason
^ „ . .. to design and of

log.— Gable in Court, Ai'kthori'e, Northami-tonshire "

(1623—24). the owner to pay.

The effect of the pierced panels carried along a considerable
length of parapet is very rich and lace-like. The stone
balusters were occasionally of very meagre proportion, and

''mm

ifr

124

PARAPETS OF HOUSES.

used with too sparing
a hand, but at Rush-
ton this is not felt
to be the case. The

:^ parapet to the main
roofs here is more
satisfactory than the
rather confused orna-
ment which serves a

^ similar purpose for the
bay. This gable also
affords a good ex-

110. — ExTON Old Hall, Rutland. Stone Parapet. amolc of the manner

in which the lights of the mullioned windows were stepped up

III. — Bramshill, Hampshirk. Stone Parapet.

112. — AuDLEV End, Essex. Stone Parapet.

so as to follow roughly the slope of the roof. In one or two
houses (Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire, and Temple

PROMINENCE OF CHIMNEYS.

125

Newsam in Yorkshire) the parapets are formed of stone letters
forming a series of legends which make, more or less, the
circuit of the house.

Chimneys.

The chimneys were always dealt with boldly. In many cases,
as already said, they were massed into great stacks at intervals
along the walls,
and made the
dominating fea-
tures of the whole
design. Wher-
ever they occur-
red their presence
was frankly ac-
cepted, and, as a
rule, much skill
and ingenuity
were bestowed
upon them. In
later centuries
chimneys appear
to have become a
source of con-
siderable annoy-
ance to architec-
tural designers,
and a great deal
of misapplied in-
genuity was ex-
pended in trying
to conceal their
existence, owing
to the idea that
they interfered
with the purity of
classic fa9ades.
But in the early days of the introduction of classic features,
the problem of making chimneys harmonize with the rest of
the building seems to have been a source of delight instead
of annoyance.

-Ki:siiroN IlALr., N'uk imami' hjnshiki;.

GaULK on KaST rKONT (1627).

126

CHIMNEYS NOT UNIVERSAL.

The j:(eneral use of chimneys was at this time rather a
novelty. So late as the time of Henry VII., in the new palace
called Richmond Court, built to replace an older structure
destroyed by fire in 1498, the great hall was warmed by a fire
in the middle of the floor with a lantern in the roof over it.

There is a description of the
Court in the return of the
Commissioners of Parlia-
ment made in 1649, which
is interesting not only as
mentioning the fire, but as
bearing out what has already
been said of the hall of a
large house. The higher
storey, they say,* "contains
one fayr and large room 10.0
feet in length and 40 in
breadth, called the Great
Hall. This room hath a
screen at the lower end
thereof, over which is a little
gallery, and a fayr foot-pace
in the higher end thereof

[the dais] ; the pavement is
square tile, and it is very
well lighted and seeled [i.e.,
panelled with wood], and
adorned with eleven statues
in the sides thereof; in the
midst a brick hearth for a
charcoal fire, having a large
lanthorn in the roof of the
hall fitted for that purpose,
turreted and covered with
lead." But early in the sixteenth century chimneys came
into general use, and they are one of the most characteristic
features of a Tudor house. They were generally built of
moulded brick, and were fashioned in elaborate and com-
plicated ways. An illustration from Droitwich is given in
Fig. 114, in which the moulded bases stand on panelled

* Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, Vol. I. (1566).

114. — Chimney at Dkoitwich,
worckstekshire.

EARLY FORMS OF CHIMNEYS. 127

pedestals ; the shafts also are moulded, each after a different

115. — Brick Chimney from

HUDRINGTON CoURT
HoLSK, WORCKSTERSHIKE.

116. — 15RICK Chimney from
Bardwki.l Manor House, Slkfoi.k.

117. — Chimney at Tom,er Fkatrum,
Dorset.

118.— Chimney at Kirmy Hai.i.,
Northampton SHI KE.

manner, and the caps are crowned witli a hattlemented
ornament. Some of the simpler forms are illustrated amonj:^

128 VARIOUS FORMS OF CHIMNEYS.

the details from Layer Marney (Plate XIII.), also from
Huddinj^ton Court House, in Worcestershire (Fig. 115), Bard-
well, in Suffolk (Fig. 116), and a stone example from Toller
Fratrum, in Dorset (Fig. 117). But far richer specimens are
to be seen at Compton Winyates (Plate XI.) or at Hengrave
(Fig. 43), besides many other places. With the death of
Henry VIII. this elaboration disappeared, and a plainer treat-
ment prevailed. In some of the more pretentious edifices the
chimneys were cast into the form of columns, as they were at
Wollaton (Plate XXVII.) and Burghley (Plate XXVIII.), and
at Montacute also, where the column carries a kind of stone
cowl. The columnar form had occasionally been used in
earlier days ; there was a well-proportioned and excellently
wrought example at Lacock Abbey (Plate XXXVI.), where
the shafts were fashioned into fluted columns, and the cap
took the shape of a short length of classic entablature with
architrave, frieze, and cornice complete. The columns stood
upon a pedestal, the face of which was occupied with a panel
surrounded by strap-work ; and as there seems every reason
to suppose the work to be part of Sharington's prior to his
death in 1553, the whole idea and its mode of execution is
unusually early, strap-work being associated as a rule with a
period fifteen or twenty years later. The consoles carrying the
projection of the base are an additional feature, and the whole
group is carefully designed. The notion, however, of making
the chimney-flue into a column and taking a short length of
entablature as a cap is hardly satisfactory, and a more reason-
able type was employed at Kirby (Fig. 118), while throughout
the stone district of the Midlands the usual form is that in
Fig. 119, a form which, with modifications, has lingered on
even down to the present day. A somewhat ornamental
variety of the same idea is to be seen at Chipping Campden
(Fig. 120), and another variation at Drayton House, in North-
amptonshire (Fig. 121). The quaint triangular chimney of the
Triangular Lodge at Rushton (Fig. 122) is really the same
in principle, but its unusual apex and carved panels place
it in a class by itself. The brick chimneys of Elizabeth's
time have straight stalks and an oversailing cap of thin bricks,
occasionally varied with still thinner courses of tiles. The
profile is nearly always the same, but considerable variety is
imparted by varying the plan, and by adding square or

Plate XXXVI.

Ptan. ot GF)ifTineys>

fV — -1

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LACOCK AHBEY, WILTSHIRE

CHIMNKY-STACK AND WINDOW.

CHIMNEYS.

129

119. — Typical Chimney in the
Midlands.

120. — Chimney at Chipping Campden,
Gloucestershire

!#-l^ *
lli#

121. — Chimney at Drayton

House, Northamptonshire

(■584).

III. — Chimnkv at Tkiancilar Lodgk,
Rushton, Northamptonshire (1595).

I30

CHIMNEYS AT BLICKLING HALL.

triangular projections to the plain faces of the flues. A
simple but effective example may be seen at Bean Lodge,
near Petworth (Fig. 123). More elaborate specimens are
found at Knole House and Cobham Hall, in Kent ; Blickling
Hall, in Norfolk (Plate XXXVII.) ; at Moyns Park, in Essex,
and indeed on almost every brick house of the time.

Blickling Hall affords examples of many of the features

which have been de-
scribed. It has fine
stacks of chimneys,
curved gables, and
pierced parapets over
the windows; on each
gable is a dainty little
statue. The front
doorway is richly
embellished, and over
it are the owner's arms
set forth with much
heraldic display.
Classic features are
used with moderation
and restraint ; a cor-
nice marks the level
of the firstfloor; other
cornices crown the
bay windows ; and
columns flank the
archway. But they
are all used because
they answered the de-
signer's purpose, and

123. — Bean Lodge, Petvvokth, Sussex. . i 11 j

not because he hoped
by loading his building with classic features to give it a character
which, without such help, he was powerless to impart.

Rain- Water Heads.

Attention should be drawn to another feature of which nothing
hitherto has been said, but which was one of the recognized
means of obtaining effect — namely, the rain-water pipes. These

Pl.ATK XXXVII.

BUCKLING HALL. NORFOLK.

FART OF KNTRANCK IKONT. (1619-20).

LEAD RAIN-WATER HEADS. 131

necessary adjuncts to a building have ceased to play the
important part which once they did ; they are still tolerated,
because they cannot be abolished, but they are only admitted
grudgingly and of necessity. In the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries a large amount of care was bestowed upon their
design, and being made of lead they were susceptible of
interesting treatment. Their use was in the nature of a
novelty, since up to this time the water from the roofs had
been allowed to splash on to the ground from projecting
gargoyles. They very frequently carried either the date or
the family crest upon them, and were often ornamented with
pierced work. The examples shown in Figs. 124 — 126
are from Haddon Hall ; two of them bear the cognizance
of the Vernon family (the boar's head), and one that of the
Manners family in addition (the peacock). Haddon passed
into the possession of Sir John Manners, by his marriage with
Dorothy Vernon, in the year 1567, and these lead heads must
be ascribed to a date subsequent to the marriage, otherwise
they would not bear the peacock of the Manners family. They
still retain in their ornament some trace of Gothic feeling, but
the topmost moulding, with the dentils beneath it, is clearly of
classic derivation. The third head with the cresting of fleur-
de-lys may well be of rather earlier date, and the work of Sir
George Vernon, the father of Dorothy. Allied to the last
example from Haddon is the rain-water head from Sherborne,
Dorset (Fig, 127), dated 1579, also with a battlemented cresting.
At Knole, in Kent, is another good example (Fig. 128) with a
pierced front and two triangular projections ending in a pen-
dant ; the top is ornamented with a battlemented cresting, now
mutilated. Another specimen, of somewhat plainer character,
comes from Bramshill (Fig. 129) ; it is dated 1612, and has its
outlet towards one end, so as to bring the water horizontally
along the wall for a short distance in order that the pipe may
not interfere with some feature in the wall below. At Rushton
there are some lead heads bearing the date 1627, which depend
for their effect upon their shape rather than upon their
decoration, which is practically limited to a very simple treat-
ment of the cresting. These are two or three examples out of
a great many that still remain, some of them being even more
ornamental ; the greater number, however, were more nearly
allied to the plainer than the richer examples.

132

LEAD RAIN-WATER HEADS.

124.— Lead Kain-watkr Head from
Haddon Hai.i., Deruyshire.

126. — Lead Rain-water Head from
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire.

125. — Lead Rain-water Head from
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire.

127. — Pipe Head from Sherborne
Dorset.

128.— Lead Pipe Head from Knole, Kent.

129. — Lead Pipe Head from
Bramshill.

Plate XXXVIII.

Haddon Hall, Derbyshire. Steps to Terrace.

Clavkrton, Somerset. Terrace Wall

FORMAL GARDENS AND TERRACES.

133

Gardens.

This is not the place to enter into an elaborate account of
gardens, but they touch the subject under discussion so far as
this — that there was a certain amount of architectural design
bestowed upon them in the shape of terraces, flights of steps,
balustrades and garden-houses. The view of Montacute shown
in Fig. 48 gives a good idea of the manner in which the
house was set off by a formal garden enclosed by stone walls
and balustrades, which were
emphasized at the angles by
garden-houses, and along their
lengths either by gateways or
some kind of special object,
such as the quaint kind of
temple, which serves no pur-
pose but to vary the monotony
of the balustrade. The well-
known terrace at Haddon is as
good an example as can be
found of the fine effect of a
raised walk approached by a
broad flight of steps, and pro-
tected by an arcaded balus-
trade (Plate XXXV 11 1.). The
detail is quite simple, there is
no particular effort visible,
every thing seems to be there
because it is wanted, but the
whole effect is extremely picturesque. At Claverton, near Bath,
are the remains of a fine house and garden, of which a long
terrace wall is also illustrated on Plate XXXVIII. Here the
straight length is broken by the large gate-piers, which rise some
twelve feet high before tapering off into the universal obelisk.
Claverton must have been a splendid example of Jacobean work,
judging by the illustrations in Richcivdsons Elizabethan Archi-
tecture, but unhappily little of it now remains. At Gayhurst, in
Buckinghamshire, there are a number of quaint stone piers
flanking the main approach, set a few yards apart (Fig. 130), the
space between them being filled in with cut yew hedges. Hedges
do not enter into the scope of the present work, but they were

130. — Gayhukst, Buckingham shirk.
Stonk Pillar in Garden.

134

GARDENS AT NONESUCH.

much in vogue, as were also pleached alleys and the green
shaded walks so much desired by the Noble Gentleman in
Beaumont and Fletcher's play of that name. With arches in
walls we have more concern, and have already dealt with them
in dealing with the approaches to the house ; but an additional

example from a
garden at Ling-
field, in Surrey, is
illustrated in Fig
131 ; and another
from Highlow
Hall, in Derby-
shire, on Plate
XXXIX.

The lay-out of a
late sixteenth cen-
tury garden was
tolerably simple,
the whole being
treated on a defi-
nite system, and
with straight lines.
The bowling-green
was an important
adjunct, and the
larger houses had
mounts for pro-
spect, and also a
" wilderness " of
considerable ex-
tent. The de-
scription of the
gardens at None-
such, given by the
Parliamentary
Commissioners in their survey of April, 1650* (already quoted),
gives a good idea of the gardens attached to the larger sort of
houses. The "frontispiece," or approach, was railed with hand-
some rails and balusters of stone ; at a distance of eight yards
from the house was the bowling-green, from which a fair and

* ArchcBologia, Vol. V. p. 429.

131. — Gateway in Garden, Lingfield, Surrey (1617).

A SMALL FORECOURT. 135

straight path led along an avenue to the park gate, which (they
say) being very high, well-built, and placed in a direct line
opposite to the house, was, in consequence, a good ornament to
it. On three outward sides of the inner court lay the " Privy
Garden," surrounded with a brick wall 14 feet high, and cut
out and divided into various alleys, quarters, and rounds, set
about with thorn hedges. Adjoining this garden was the
kitchen garden, also enclosed by a 14 feet wall : on the west
of this lay the wilderness. In the privy garden was a spiral
pyramid of marble, set upon a base of similar material,
" grounded upon a rise of freestone;" and near this there was
a large marble wash basin, over which stood a marble pelican,
fed with water through a lead pipe. There were also two
other marble obelisks, and between them a fountain of white
marble, set round with six lilac trees, " which trees bear no
fruit, but only a very pleasant flower." In the highest part
of the park stood the banqueting-house, a three-storey timber
building of quadrangular form, enclosed within a brick wall.
The ground floor was occupied by the hall, the upper storeys
had respectively three and five rooms, and they were all
panelled with oak. In each of the four corners of the whole
house there was a balcony placed for prospect. This is worth
remembering, for the desire to obtain a prospect is generally
considered to be of modern growth ; and no doubt until quite
recently it was necessary to a beautiful view that it should be
obtained in ease and comfort. The notion of climbing a wild
mountain for the sake of the view was probably never entertained
before the beginning of this century.

There is a good example of the lay-out of a forecourt to a
small house at Eyam Hall, in Derbyshire, and although tradition
and the only date to be found about the building (on a spout-
head) place the erection of the house in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, it looks much earlier, and is charac-
teristic of the beginning of the century rather than of the end.
There is very little detail about it ; but the formal disposition
and the broad and simple treatment combine (with the assist-
ance of time) to impart a fine and dignified effect. It will be
seen from the plan (Fig. 133) that the court is nearly scjuare.
It is entered from the road through a pillared gateway up a
short flight of semicircular steps ; a broad paved walk leads to
another flight which lands on to a wide paved terrace extending

R.A. K

136

GARDEN AT EYAM HALL.

along the whole front of the house (Plate XXXIX.). Exactly
opposite the steps is the front door, placed centrally in the main
face of the house, which is recessed from the faces of the pro-
jecting wings. At either end of the terrace is a doorway, one
leading to the kitchen approach, the other to the garden, which
is reached down another Hight of semicircular steps. The paths
in the vicinity of the house are straight, and the rise of the
ground necessitates still more steps, which give access eventually

132. — Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Garden-house.

to a long, straight walk beneath a south-west wall. Away from
the house the treatment has lapsed into less formality ; but the
house itself, together with the court, the terraces, and the flights
of steps, the whole gay with flowers, makes a very attractive
picture.

The banqueting-house at Nonesuch was, like the other part
of the house itself, built of timber. So, also, in all probability,
was the "goodly banqueting-house" which the Lord Admiral
built for the Queen when she went to his place in the year
1559 from Hampton Court. It was richly gilded and painted

Plate XXXIX.

Gateway at Highlow Hall, near Hathersage, Derbyshire.

Kyam Hall, Dkkhyshire. Tekkvce Steps.

THE KANQUETING-HOUSE.

137

(we are told), "that lord having for that end kept a great
many painters for a good while there in the country." But
the more usual material was brick or stone, and a fair number
of examples of such buildings still survive. One of the most
elaborate is to be seen at Chipping Campden (Fig. 132), in
Gloucestershire, where the fall of the site enables an under-
storey to be obtained without being buried in the ground.
The illustration shows the ground floor only, but there is a
storey below it approached by a substantial staircase. The
work is elaborate, and has lasted well in spite of its rather
unworkmanlike treatment, as for instance in the jointing of
the stone parapets. The detail is too fanciful, and the building
is illustrated not so much for the sake of its design, as to show
how much trouble and expense were lavished upon a structure
which could only have been used a few times during the year.
It and its fellow on the opposite side were, however, important
features in the general lay-out.

I.33- — 'ivAM Hai.i.. Plan ok Lav-out.

K 2

CHAPTER VII.

INTERIOR FEATURES.

The chief points in the internal arrangement of houses of
the period have already been explained in the third chapter.
The hall was the central feature, entered at one end ; next to
this end was the kitchen; next to the other, or dais end, was
the parlour. The kitchen and the parlour respectively were
amplified according to the accommodation required, and in the
larger houses the amplification entailed one or more courts,
but the hall remained the centre of the system. The need for
such great amplification as we find in the larger houses arose
from the fact that large retinues accompanied great personages
on their visits to each other, and that there was always the
chance that the sovereign might have to be entertained upon
one of the progresses which were undertaken three or four
times every year. Both Elizabeth and James adopted this
method of keeping in touch with their subjects, and the}- must
have become tolerably familiar with their dominions, except,
perhaps, the extreme outlying parts in the north and west ;
and so far as James was concerned, he made the acquaintance
of a good many houses in the north, on his journey from
Scotland when he came to take possession of the crown.

Royal Progresses.

When Queen Elizabeth made her progresses, she was fre-
quently entertained with elaborate shows, which, presumably,
must have pleased her, since they occurred so often, but which
afford tedious reading to the modern inquirer. They were
usually cast in an allegorical form, and had more or less
dramatic action. They took place in the daytime and in the
open air : it can hardly be said that they were performed, for
the thread of the plot was so thin, and the stage of operations
so large, that the whole effect must have appeared rather

PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. 139

fortuitous, and wanting in cohesion. At night time and in
one of the great halls, either of a city, a college, or a great
house, there were other performances, in which the interest
was more concentrated, and the characters more varied ; these
were called plays, of which a great number were performed,
written by all sorts of people, and all affording (apparently)
equal pleasure to the onlookers. The majority of these pieces
have faded into oblivion, but a certain number have survived, and
go to form much of what we know as the Elizabethan drama.

But it is with the entertainments provided in the daytime
that we are more particularly concerned : they were of an
ephemeral nature, and have not, like many of the plays, passed
into the literature of the country : and our concern with them
lies in the form in which they were cast and the spirit which
animated them. When Elizabeth made her passage through
the city of London to Westminster the day before her corona-
tion— that is, on January 13th, 1558— the whole journey was
interspersed with " pageants," as they were called.* These
consisted of triumphal arches of various designs, upon which
living allegorical figures were placed : one represented the
Queen's immediate ancestors : another four virtues treading
down four contrary vices ; another the eight beatitudes ; on
another were Time and Truth his daughter ; and so forth.
Each of these personages, says the account, according to their
proper names and properties, had not only their names in plain
and perfect writing set upon their breasts easily to be read of
all, but also each of them was aptly and properly apparelled,
so that his apparel and name did agree to express the same
person that in title he represented. As each pageant was
reached, there stepped forth a "child" on to some prominent
part of it, who recited a number of verses explanatory of the
device, and a copy of these verses was affixed in a tablet upon
the pageant, balanced by another bearing a Latin version
of the same lines. Besides these, it says, every void place in
the pageant was furnished with sentences touching the matter
and ground of the said pageant. We have here, therefore, on
a large scale, the same kind of treatment which was applied on
a small scale to chimney-pieces — allegorical figures and various
inscriptions more or less pithy. It is a matter for speculation

* Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.

I40 HARRISON'S TRIUMPHAL ARCHES.

whether either the Queen or the populace at large thoroughly
grasped the full meaning of the several devices upon which
so much ingenuity had been lavished ; but certainly to the
monarch, who stopped at every pageant, and received an
explanation of it, the journey must have been extremely tiring,
seeing how great were the number and ingenuity of the
pageants. To preserve so much good work from oblivion,
within the next ten days an account of the whole " passage "
was printed, which towards its close gives much credit to the
city, forasmuch as without any foreign person, of itself, it
beautified itself. This casual reference to the foreign person,
and to the city being able to manage without his help, shows
that he was a recognized factor in the production of design.

When King James made his " memorable Passage from the
Tower to Whitehall," on the 15th March, 1603 — 4, there were
seven triumphal arches erected, of such importance that they
were considered worthy of being engraved and published.
They were designed by an Englishman, Stephen Harrison,
"Joyner and Architect," and their architectural treatment
followed the lines of the more pronounced Anglo-Italian work
of the time, in which classic feeling has superseded Gothic.
They are interesting as showing how completely the English
craftsman had familiarized himself with the foreign methods of
design. They were published by Harrison in 1604, the engrav-
ings being by William Kip.* They were built in a substantial
manner, nearly six months being spent upon their erection.
Two of them were called respective!}' "The Italians' Pegme "
and "The Pegme of the Dutchmen," residents of these two
nationalities being responsible for their erection ; but it is
curious to see that the Dutchmen's arch is not more Dutch in
treatment than the Italians'. It evidently did not occur to
Harrison to emphasize the character of his designs to suit the
two nations, even if he were aware of the points in which
their architecture differed.

It was perhaps natural in those days that when Queen
Elizabeth visited the great seats of learning she should be

* The title of the book, which is well worth inspection, is " The Archs oj
Triumph, erected in honor of the High and Mighty Prince James, the First of that
Name King of England, and the Sixt of Scotland, at his Maiestie's Entrance and Passage
through his Honorable Citty and Chamber of London, upon the i^th day of March, 1603.
Invented and published by Stephen Harrison, Joyner and Architect ; and graven
by William Kip. '

LATIN VERSES AND ORATIONS. 141

greeted with a shower of Latin verses and orations. Pages
after pages of these have been preserved, but it seems
extremely doubtful whether the recipient of them could have
found time to master their contents. The orations she listened
to and understood, for the expression of her face is said to
have changed with the subject-matter of the speeches, and
some of them she answered in the same tongue. But it was
by no means to Eton or to Oxford and Cambridge that Latin
verses and orations were confined : obscure parsons in small
towns seized their opportunities, and were often handsomely
praised by the Queen for their skill. As to verses, when she
visited Sandwich in 1573, "upon every post and corner, from
her first entry to her lodging, were fixed certain verses, and
against the court gate all these verses put into a table {i.e., a
frame) and there hanged up."

The Queen's visit to Kenilworth Castle in July, 1575, is one
of the best known episodes of her Progresses, and the
" Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth Castle," recorded (and
largely devised) by George Gascoigne, consisted of the same
kind of entertainments as greeted her at her coronation. They
are too long to quote extensively, but a few of the principal
efforts will serve to show the kind of spirit that was abroad at
the time.

As the Queen approached the castle, Sybilla met her and
prophesied prosperity in a number of verses. On entering the
gate Hercules, who acted as porter, seemed inclined to dispute
her entry, but being overcome by the "rare beauty and princely
countenance" of her Majesty, he gave up his keys, and burst
into poetry. In the base-court there came a lady, attended by
two nymphs, and the lady welcomed her Majesty in another set
of verses. A few steps further on came an actor clad like a
poet, who pronounced a number of Latin verses, which were
also fixed over the gate in a frame. After leaving the poet, she
was received into the inner c(nn"t with sweet music, and then
escaped to her own "lodgings." A day or two after her
arrival there met her in the forest, as she came from hunting,
one clad like a Savage man, all in ivy, who was so much over-
come with wonder at the Queen's presence that he fell to
quarrelling with Jupiter, and called upon ICcho to explain who
the resplendent personage might be, incidentally contriving to
lavish a number of compliments in the course of the inquiry.

142 ELIZABETH AT KENILWORTH.

Then Triton came, and the Lady of the Lake, and Proteus
sitting on a dolphin's back, who all delivered themselves of
further compliments in lengthy verses. It is just conceivable
that her Majesty grew a little weary of these pedantic inter-
ludes, for one long show was prepared by Master Gascoigne, in
which Diana and her nymphs, Mercury, Iris, and others were
to have acted ; but in spite of every actor being ready in his
garment for two or three days together, it never came to execu-
tion, being prevented (its author thought) by lack of oppor-
tunity and seasonable weather. At the Queen's departure,
being commanded by the Earl of Leicester to devise some
worthy farewell entertainment. Master Gascoigne clothed him-
self as Sylvanus, the god of the woods, and meeting the Queen
as she went hunting, broke out into a long extempore oration,
which her Majesty at length interrupted by proceeding on her
way. Sylvanus, however, kept pace with her, and continued
his speech running at her side, until in very pity for his breath-
less condition, the Queen stopped her horse. At Sylvanus's
humble request, however, she continued her ride, and he con-
tinued the ceaseless stream of his oration, until coming to an
arbour, a second actor in the tedious drama, by name Deep
Desire, took up his part, spake some verses, and sang a song.
A few more lines from Sylvanus released the Queen from this
very diverting farewell show\

Many other entertainments might be cited to illustrate the
direction which popular taste took in these matters ; but to
multiply instances would be as tedious to the reader as (one
cannot help thinking) the shows themselves were to the Queen
and her attendants. This, at any rate, becomes clear — that the
favourite themes, personages, and allusions were of classic
origin ; the thoughts were clothed in pedantic language ; verses
were freely written and hung up for passers-by to read, and the
Latin tongue was employed in preference to the English, where
it was not absolutely necessary that the points should be
understanded of the people. The accounts that have been
handed down of these interludes are, it is true, somewhat
tedious reading, but under the genial satire of Shakespeare
they lose their dulness and become amusing. We do not tire
of Holofernes and his party in their presentation of the Nine
Worthies, nor of Bottom and his company in their great
classical interlude of " the tedious brief scene of young Pyramus

THE ENTERTAINING OF ROYALTY, 143

and his love Thisbe," nor of Orlando and his verses, which he
hung on every tree.

It was no small matter to entertain royalty in those days.
Even in the present day, when facilities for moving about and
for obtaining provisions are so vastly greater, and when the
mode of life in the Court is so much simpler, it requires a large
house and a well-filled purse. But in the sixteenth century
the undertaking was more like providing for a small army, and
it is not surprising to find that outside the wealthier owners of
great mansions, there was a disposition to evade the honour.
Lady Anne Askewe wrote to Sir Christopher Hatton, about the
year 1581, to know if she might be excused on account of the
shortness of the notice and her " unfurnished house."* The
officials of the Court so far sympathized with this feeling that
we find one of them writing to a friend who was threatened
with the honour, Mr. More, of Loseley, to say what a " great
trouble and hindrance " it would be, and to advise him to
" come and declare unto my lord of Leicester your estate that
majesty might not come unto your house." t It is not clear
whether these representations were actually made, and if made
whether they were successful or not; but, however that may be,
the same gentleman (he was now knighted) received an inti-
mation in August, 1583, from Sir Christopher Hatton that the
Queen intended in about ten or twelve days to visit Losele\-,
and to remain there some four or five days, and that he had
better see everything well ordered and the " house kept swecit
and clean to receive her highness." Three weeks later Sir
William More had another letter from Sir Christopher to sa\'
that on the third day thence the Queen intended to go to bed
at Loseley for one night only, and that he should see that the
house was *' sweet and meet to receive her majesty," and should
send his family away. These involuntary hosts were not always
consulted beforehand, for one of them wrote to Sir William
More in July, 1577, to say that he foiuul the lists were issued
for a progress into his county, and his iiouse was one of those
to be visited ; accordingly lie wn^te t(j his loving friend, Sir
William, to beg him, for the sake o( old ac(iuaintance and
friendship, to say what order was taken by the Queen's officers
in respect of provisions when her Majesty visited Loseley, as

• Sir Nicholas Harris's Miiumiah 0/ Sir Cli. Jhitton, p. 22J.
t Loseley MSS., p. 266.

144 HOUSES ENLARGED TO RECEIVE ROYALTY.

the writer was altogether unacquainted with the order of pro-
cedure. The hsts of places to be visited, or " gests," as they were
called, were carefully prepared beforehand, and gave the names
of the houses and their owners, the number of nights the Court
intended to stay, and the distance between one stopping-place
and the next : this distance was on the average about ten miles,
but it varied, according to circumstances, from five to fourteen,
the latter being the longest journey attempted.

To entertain the Sovereign and the Court the houses were
necessarily-large, indeed we shall not be far wrong in attributing
the enormous size of the largest — such places as Holdenby,
Theobalds, and Audley End — to the express intention of pro-
viding suitable accommodation for Elizabeth and James. Sir
Christopher Hatton, in a letter to Sir Thomas Heneage, in
1580, talks of Holdenby being dedicated to "that holy Saint,"'
meaning the Queen ; and Lord Burghley, in writing to Hatton
about Holdenby and Theobalds, says " God send us both long
to enjoy Her, for whom we both meant to exceed our purses
in these."* In another letter (August 14th, 1585) he says, " My
house at Theobalds was begun by me with a mean measure,
but increased by occasions of her Majesty's often coming."!
These mansions may be regarded almost in the light of large
hotels, with certain common apartments for the guests, a large
kitchen department, and a vast number of rooms arranged in
groups of two or three.

Although notice of the sovereign's intended visit was usually
given, it was not considered necessary for less exalted people
to send word. When James's queen was journeying towards
London from Scotland, a certain Lady Anne Clifford hurried
with her mother to meet her. The lady describes her journey,
and how they went without notice to a large house in Bed-
fordshire.* She says that having killed three horses that day
— it was midsummer — with extreme heat, they caine to Wrest,
my Lord of Kent's house, "where we found the doors shut,
and none in the house but one servant, who only had the keys
of the hall, so that we were enforced to lie in the hall all
night, till towards morning, at which time came a man and

* Memorials of Holdenby, by Miss Hartshorne, p. i6.

t England as seen ly Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James I., by W. B.
Rye, p. 213.

X Nichols' Progresses of King fames I., Vol. I., p. 174.

ROOMS IN A GERMAN CASTLE. 145

let us into the higher rooms, where we slept three or four
hours." This artless account quite casually illustrates the
relation of the hall to the rest of the house. It was the room
first entered from the outside, and was shut off by doors from
all the rest of the house. The servant who let the travellers
in probably slept either in the buttery or a " lodging" attached
to it, and beyond those two apartments and the hall neither
he nor they could go until the " man " came who had the keys
which gave access to the stairs and the higher rooms.

The Manner of Decorating Rooms.

Some idea of what the rooms were like which surrounded a
courtyard of the time may be gathered from the description of
the suite allotted to the Earl of Lincoln when he went to
Cassell, in 1596, on an embassage to the Landgrave of Hesse ;
and although they were in a German castle the description
would apply almost equally well to those in a large English
house. The rooms were live in number, and they occupied
the end of a goodly quadrangle, like the Louvre at Paris, high
and stately.* They consisted of two dining chambers, two
drawing chambers, and between the two latter a bed chamber,
so placed " for his more quiet and private being." His lord-
ship's own dining chamber was panelled with wood and marble,
" with crestings, indentments, and Italian pillar work ; " there
were escutcheons with the blazoned arms of the Landgrave's
"friends and allies of the Protestant part," and on the four
sides of the room next the ceiling were carxed four stories of
the Creation, the Passion, the Resurrection, and the Judgment ;
the ceiling was wrought with knot-work. The next room,
where the ambassador's gentlemen dined, was hung with
tapestry. The next " was a fair drawing chamber, seated
round about, and covered with scarlet ; above the seats hung
round with a rich small wrought tapestr}- of an ell broad, of
emblem work, and verses written underneath ; over this, upon
a ledge of wainscot, weie divers tables [pictures] of sundry
devices, well painted, with their posies to garnish the chamber,
and, among all, that was the best which had this motto : ' Major
autem horum est caritas,' for it waxed cold. The roof was

* Nichols' Progresses oj Queen lilcuiheth, Vol. II.

i4(> METHODS OF DECORATION.

likewise flourished with painting and devices. These rooms
had the through Hght of four fair windows." The bedroom
was decorated with a painted tree that grew up at the door,
the branches spreading all over the ceiling, full of fruit, and
hanging down upon the walls, with other pictures to fill up
empty places ; the story taken out of Daniel. The last room
of the suite was •' a fair drawing chamber hung with arras,
which parted his Honour's lodging from the other side of the
house, that so he might not any way be disturbed." We get
therefore in this set of rooms an example of the three principal
modes of decorating the walls — by panelling, by hanging with
tapestry or arras, and (more seldom) by painting. At Theo-
balds the hall was decorated with trees, and not only were they
furnished with leaves and fruit, but, regardless of the niceties
of natural history, with birds' nests too, and so lifelike was the
effect that, according to the testimony of a German visitor in
1592,* when the steward opened the windows the birds flew
in, perched upon the trees, and began to sing — perhaps to
express their surprise at finding fruit and nests on the trees at
the same time. This realistic treatment was, fortunately, not
very common, and it is rather curious that so strong a man as
Lord Burghley should have delighted in such embellishments,
and others equally puerile in conception.

The more usual way of treating the walls was to cover them
either with hangings or with panelling. There are numberless
references to the former among the poets of the time. Imogen's
bedchamber was " hanged with tapestry of silk and silver " ;
Falstaff fell asleep behmd the arras when he took his ease in
his inn, and had his pocket picked ; Polonius, when he hid
himself in order to overhear Hamlet's interview with his mother,
slipped behind the arras, and it was through the arras that
Hamlet subsequently made the fatal pass with his sword. The
rooms in Spencer's Castle Joyous " were round about apparelled
with costly cloths of Arras and of Tours," and the parlour of
Alma's castle "was with ro\al arras richly dight." These
hangings were moved from house to house when the family
migrated from one abode to another, and in Beaumont and
Fletcher's IVit without Money there is a lively scene in which
a great lady suddenly determines to leave her house in town

* The Secretary of Frederick, Duke of Wirtemberg. England as seen by
Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James I., by W. B. Rye, p. 44.

HANGINGS ON WALLS.

147

for the country. Amid the confusion which ensues — servants
shouting, my lady's sister in much anxiety about her dog, her
looking-glass, and her curls — Ralph calls to Roger to help
down with the hangings, but Roger declines, as he is unable to
leave the packing of his trunks. The hangings at Hampton
Court were of the most costly description,* Cardinal Wolsey
being an ardent collector, and utilizing the services of his agents

I34.~-Hki>koom in Dkknk Hai.l, Nokthamptonshirk. Pi.astkk
Ceii.inu: Tapkstky on VVai.i.s.

in various foreign countries to add to his stores. Three-(|uarters
of a century later much of this splendour was still left, and the
German visitor whom we have alread}- seen at Theobalds says
of Hampton Court, that " all the apartments and rooms in this
immensely large structure arc hung with rich tapestry, of jmuc
gold and fine silk."+ T^'rom this regal magnificence there were
numberless gradations down to the " smirch'd, worm-eaten

* Law, Vol. I., p. 57.

t linglaiiil tis seen hy I-'meif^ncrs, p. iX.

148 TAPKSTKY AND PANELLING.

tapestry " mentioned in that conversation between Borachio
and Conrade which led to their arrest by Dogberry. The sub-
jects of these hangings were of extreme diversity — scriptural,
mythological, and allegorical. There were the stories of Toby,
Our Lady, and the Forlorn Son, alongside of those of Priamus,
Venus and Cupid, and Hannibal. The story of Esther balanced
the Romaunt of the Rose. Christian saints and heathen gods
were equally welcome, and always and everywhere, either in
foliated borders or forming the subject-matter itself, were the
arms of the owner, with angels or amorini to support them,
and a convoluted scroll to bear the motto. The allegorical
subjects are the most bewildering, and they even puzzled the
people of the time, to whom such trains of thought were
familiar, for it is expressly said of the tapestry in Alma's
parlour that in it there was nothing pourtrayed nor wrought
but what w^as easy to understand. Of course much of the
tapestry which was so widely used has now disappeared, or has
found its way into the hands of collectors ; very little is left in
its original positions, even if it remains in the houses for which
it was first acquired. There is a fair amount, however, to be
found up and dow n the country, and the effect of tapestry-hung
walls in conjunction with a rich plaster ceiling is shown in
Fig. 134, from a bedroom in Deene Hall, Northamptonshire.

Wood Panelling.

Wood panelling is of a more permanent character than
tapestry, or at least is not so easily removed and adapted to
fresh situations ; and there are many examples left of this mode
of clothing and decorating the walls of houses and churches.
It was in vogue tolerably early in the century, and there is a
contract, printed in the History of Hengrave, between Sir
Thomas Kytson, for whom the house was built, and Thomas
Xeker, for "seelyng" the house. This " seelyng " has been
mistaken for plastering, but a perusal of the contract shows
that it must have been panelling, since some of the rooms are
to be " seelyd " their whole height, and others only to the
height of the windows, or a certain number of feet high
Stools, benches, cupboards, and portals are also mentioned as
part of the work, as well as " the gates at the coming in " ; and
Sir Thomas is to find all manner of timber, hewn and sawn.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANELLING.

149

Among the rooms to be thus panelled were the hall, the two
parlours, the wardrobe over the cellar, and the two great
chambers above the dais. Seven lodgings, that is bedchambers,
were to have portals only ; sixteen other lodgings were to be
" seelyd " to the pendant's foot, and on the pastry house a
wardrobe was to be made, with one close press, and open
presses round about. There was to be a fret on the ceiling of
the hall with hanging pendants, "vault fashion"; no doubt
after the manner of
the watching chamber
at Hampton Court,
which was being built
about the same time.
Towards these works
Sir Thomas Kytson
was to provide the
contractor with "all
the old seelyng, and
frets of the old work
that isin his keeping."
The development of
wood panelling is of
considerable interest.
Previous to the six-
teenth century, that
is in the days of the
Gothic manner, the
construction was on
a substantial scale,
the framing being
formed of wood up-
rights and cross-pieces, measuring, perhaps, four inches by
three in section, the uprights being from eighteen inches to
two feet apart, and strengthened by horizontal cross-pieces at
heights of three, four, or five feet, or thereabouts, iiccording
to the height of the room. The spaces thus formed into
panels were filled with one piece of board let into the sur-
rounding framing, which was sometimes spla\ed, but more
generally moulded, the mouldings being stopped before they
encountered the cross-pieces. The screen in the hall at
Haddon (Fig. 135) illustrates this early method of cc^nstruction,

135. — Haddon Ham., Dkkhvshikk.

OF THK GHKAT HaI.I..

I50

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANELLING.

while against it, and clothing the wall and the side of the
window-opening, is the seventeenth-century panelling, the
development of which will be presently explained. The
panels in Gothic work were ornamented either with cusping,
such as may be seen in the upper part of the screen at
Haddon, behind the antlers, or with paintings, such as still
remain in a number of churches, especially in the eastern and

south - western
counties. Gra-
dually,hovvever,
the large size of
the framework
was reduced :
instead of being
four or five
inches thick by
three or four
inches wide, it
became only
about an inch
or so thick
by about the
same width as
formerly. The
panels were
made narrower,
because it was
found easier to
get boards ten
or twelve inches
wide than of a
width twice

those sizes, and gradually the very long proportion of height to
width was lessened, the panels became more nearly square, and
eventually they were made of varying sizes and proportions,
but rhythmically arranged.

The old idea of moulding or splaying the wood framework
was long retained, and practical considerations in the framing
of it together gave rise to a particular kind of effect, which is
characteristic of the earlier kind of panelling. The framework
is composed of vertical and horizontal pieces of wood tenoned

136. — Panelling of the Time of Henry VIII.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANELLING.

151

together and secured by wood pins. It is obvious that if the
edges of all the wood were moulded before it was framed
together, it would be impossible to make a neat junction where
the pieces crossed, because the continuous moulding on the
edge of the one piece would interfere with the proper adjust-
ment of the end of the other which comes against it at right
angles. It will be seen by referring to Fig. 136, that on
the horizontal rails, which are continuous, the moulding and
the splay die out before they reach the vertical pieces, thus
leaving a plain surface sufficiently wide for the latter to abut
against, whereas
on the vertical
pieces the mould-
ings are con-
tinued from top
to bottom of the
panel and stop
abruptly against
the horizontal
rails. The verti-
cal pieces could
therefore have
been worked in
one long piece
and then cut into
lengths, whereas
on the horizontal
rails the mould-
ing was worked
in lengths to suit
the width of the panels — a more troublesome proceeding, and
one requiring thought and care. The tendency of all change
in workmanship being towards the saving of thought and care
on the part of the great body of workers, the next steps in the
development of panelling were in this direction. But before
following these steps, a reference to Fig. 137 will show how in
some cases the horizontal rails are continuous, with the edge-
mouldings dying out, while the vertical are in short lengths
with continuous mouldings abutting against the horizontal
rails ; and in others the parts played are reversed, and it is
the vertical pieces which run through. It will be noticed that

R.A. L

137. — Stanford Church, Northamptonshire.

LiNKN PaNFI.I.ING.

152

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANELLING.

in addition to the edge-moulding, there are others on the face
of the rails which, not being subject to interference by the
abutting of the cross-pieces, are worked continuously without
a break.

In both these examples (Figs. 136, 137), and also in Fig. 138,
it will be observed that the panel itself is decorated with some
kind of carving. The English form is shown in Fig. 137,
where the panels are what are known as linen panels, the

decoration taking a form some-
thing like folded linen. In the
long gallery at the Vyne the
walls are panelled with linen
panelling, with the addition of
coats of arms, or badges, or
scrolls bearing a motto (Fig. 19).
A later form is seen in Fig. 136,
where the design is quite Italian
in feeling. The circular panels
containing heads became a
favourite feature in English
panelling about the end of
Henry VIII. 's reign, and may
generally be ascribed to a date
within a few years of 1540. The
diamond-shaped panels in the
lower part appear to be hori-
zontal panels standing on their
ends, and are probably not in
their original relation to the
others. The two charming dol-
phins counter-hauriant, if the
term may be allowed, carved at the top of a long panel, leaving
the lower part plain, give a quaint and pleasing effect (Fig. 138).
The presence of dolphins rather points to French influence, for,
although no doubt the use of this form started in Italy, it was
eagerly adopted by the French, since the dolphin was the cogni-
zance of their dauphin. The door at Castle Rising (Fig. 139)
gives another example of the use of heads in circular panels
among Italian foliage ; but it will be noticed that the mouldings
round the panels do not conform to the type already explained,
but to one which is a step forwarder in development. Instead

138. — A Panel of the Time of
Henry VHI.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANELLING.

153

of the mouldings of the continuous horizontal rails being stopped
short of the sides of the panels, they are carried on and intersect
with them. This intersection is called by joiners a mitre, and
a mitred moulding is an advance on a stopped moulding or one
that abuts against a cross-piece. It will be seen that in this
example, although the moulding is mitred at the top of the
panel, it still abuts against
the bottom rail. In the
panelling from Haddon
Hall (Plate XL.) it will be
seen that the very simple
moulding mitres all round
the panels. But in all
these cases the mouldings
are what are called " out
of the solid," that is, the
actual framework of the
panels is moulded, the con-
sequence being that wher-
ever a moulding had to be
stopped or mitred, thought
and care were required,
and a failure of either in-
volved the injury of a fairly
large piece of wood. The
next step therefore was to
refrain from working a
moulding on the solid
wood, but to keep square
edges to the framework,
and after framing up all the
panelling with these square
edges, to insert round the

margin of each panel a 139— Door at Casti.k Kising, Norfolk.

small separate moulding planted on to the recessed panel.
This saved much time and labour, and consequently expense,
and is the method [pursued in the present day. Its appli-
cation may be seen in almost an}- four-panelled door in an
ordinary house.

This latest form, the *' applied " mitred moulding, hardly
came into general use so early as the time of Kli;^abeth or

L 2

154

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANELLING.

James — indeed, the date of its earliest occurrence is a question
of considerable interest. But mouldings mitred on the solid
had almost entirely replaced the older form of stopped mould-
ings by the end of the sixteenth century. By returning to the
illustration of the screen at Haddon (Fig. 135), an example may
be seen alongside the heavier Gothic work ; and another
example, with a much deeper and broader moulding, may be
seen in an upper room at the same place (Plate XLI.). It is

a provoking characteristic of
work of this time that its
method of treatment does not
give an infallible clue to its
chronological sequence. In
earlier times the mouldings
gave this clue : when once a
form was superseded by
another, it did not occur again ;
but in the period now under
consideration fashion was not
so accommodating, and though
on the whole the mitred mould-
ing is later than the stopped
moulding and finally super-
seded it, yet there are early
examples of mitring, as in the
panelling at the Vyne, which
must have been put up before
Wolsey's death in 1530, and
there are late examples of
stopped mouldings in such
things as chests, which may be
as late as James I. The pewing and pulpit at Haddon
(Plate XLI.) have them, and they are late Elizabethan, if
not Jacobean, while the panelling in the dining-room, which
is dated 1545, is mitred.

The panels themselves, which in early days were decorated
with the linen pattern, and subsequently with Italian foliage
and heads within circles, became plainer and simpler. In the
dining-room at Haddon all the lower panels are plain, while
a kind of frieze of ornament is carried round in those next to
the cornice. The ornament consists for the most part of coats

140. — Door at Beckington Abbev,
Somerset.

'Ji

W o

Q «

PILASTERS INTRODUCED

155

of arms from the Vernon pedigree, but there are also heads in
circles, linen panels, initials with true lovers' knots, and other
devices. All these are carved in relief, but in later times carving
gave way to patterns formed by sinking the groundwork and
leaving the design on a level with the face of the panel. There
was little or no modelling in the design, and the work could be
done by a less skilful hand than actual carving would require.
An example is to
be seen in a door
at Beckington
Abbey (Fig. 140) :
the same kind of
work was often
applied to the rails
of panelling, the
face of pilasters,
and other plain
surfaces. Another
specimen, with a
little more model-
ling in it, is at
Nailsea Court
(Fig. 141). The
services of the
carver were, how-
ever, by no means
dispensed with,
and there is a
vast amount of
richly ornamented
panelling up and
down the country,
both in houses and churches. The monotony of the con-
stantly repeated oblongs was broken by the introduction
of pilasters, which were themselves fluted or decorated with
patterns.

Carbrook Hall, near Sheffield, which has now fallen from its
former estate, has a very fine panelled room, in which the
pilasters are richly decorated with various simple patterns
(Plate XLII.). They support a carved frieze, above which
is a wood cornice, and above this again is a modelled

141. — Door at Nailska Coukt, Somkkset.

156

PANELLING AS DECORATION.

plaster frieze some
handsome ceilinqf.

two feet deep, forming part of the

At Benthall Hall, Shropshire, is another instance where the
monotony of the panels is relieved by the introduction of pilasters,
and it is also lessened by the presence of the large centre panels
(Plate XLIII.) with their greater freedom of treatment. The
variation caused by adapting the same design to the narrower
panel of the door in the middle bay is also a pleasant relief.
The intention here was to rely upon the panelling itself for the

J42. — Part of Reredos (removed) at Stowe-Nine-Churches, Northamptonshire.

decoration of the room ; there was no thought of hanging
pictures on it, which, indeed, would be out of place, and would
spoil the effect both of themselves and the panelling. It may
be doubted whether any of the panelling of the time, even the
simplest and the most regularly disposed, was intended as a
background for other ornament. It was itself the decoration,
although, when perfectly simple, it could be used in a restricted
way as a background for pictures. But the fashion of hanging
up framed paintings and prints had not yet arisen ; when it did
arise it rendered wood panelling an inappropriate means for
the general decoration of rooms. In the church at Stowe-

< "5

y- o^

THE TREATMENT OF PANELLING.

157

Nine-Churches, Northamptonshire, are the remains of some
good panelhng which once served as a reredos, but which
the reforming and restoring zeal of a late incumbent has
now relegated to the vestry. There are fluted pilasters here,
dividing panels which increase in richness as they ascend,
the upper ones containing boldly projecting heads amid the
usual strap-work curls (Fig. 142). Sometimes the panels were
made with semicircular heads, which rested upon pilasters
furnished with imposts and bases, all the margin being highly
ornamented, while the panels themselves were plain, as in the
Court pew at Chel-
vey, in Somerset
(Fig. 143). There
are many instances
of the use of these
arched panels : the
long gallery at Had-
don has them in wide
and narrow widths
alternately; and
there is a room in
the Red Lodge at
Bristol where every
panel is arched, the
effect thus produced
being very rich. At
Chelvey the frieze is
carved with a con-
tinuous pattern, as
it was in very many

instances, but sometimes it was decorated in a more mechanical
way with ovals and oblongs, as at Benthall Hall (Plate XLIIL),
and occasionally it was pierced in a very charming manner
into a kind of filigree work, as in the remains of a screen at
Stowe-Nine-Churches, which has shared the fate of the reredos
(Fig. 144). The effect of the frieze in this instance is enhanced
by its being slightly curved outwards.

In later days, instead of cutting down the substance of the
wood in order to get carving in relief, the projection was
obtained by cutting the ornament out of another piece of wood
and applying it to the surfaces that were to be decorated.

143. — Pakt of the Coukt Pkw, Chki.vky Chukch,
somkkskt.

158

THE TREATMENT OF PANELLING.

Some of the ornament at Henthall Hall appears to be treated
in this manner. But whatever means were adopted, the
end aimed at was the same — namely, an extreme richness of
effect : indeed, in some of the panelling and in many of
the chimney-pieces the result is bewildering in its intricacy
of line.

144. — Part of Screen (removed), Stowe-Nine-Churches,
Northamptonshire.

CHAPTER VIII.

INTERIOR FEATURES {continued).

Treatment of the Hall, Screens, Open Roofs.

On entering the hall after leaving the courtyard, it was on
such panelling as this that the eye rested. The screen which
divided the hall from the passage was generally even more
richly decorated than the adjacent panelling. Its two door-
ways were flanked with columns, which carried a complete

entablature from

side to side of the
hall; above this
came the panelled
front of the gallery,
which was sur-
mounted in its turn
perhaps by a series
of small arches, per-
haps by some of the
fantastic strap-work
peculiar to the time.
The spaces between
the columns were
panelled ; every
panel here and
above was decorated
with carving — 145.— the hai.l, knolk, kknt.

usually of shields of arms, but where these were not suitable,
as in halls of colleges, then with foliage or allegorical figures.
Knole House, in Kent, has a good example of a screen with
heraldic decoration (Fig. 145). Wadham College, Oxford
(Plate XLIV.), has one of comparatively simple character ;
while for sumptuous effect those at Middle Temple Hall,
London, and Trinity College, Cambridge (Plate XLV.)

i6o

SCREENS AND OPEN ROOFS.

could hardh- be surpassed. Woollas Hall, in Worcestershire,
has a good screen of simple character. The illustration on
Plate XLVI. gives a view of it looking from the hall. The
archway leads into the passage called the "screens," in which
can be seen the open door of the principal entrance. The
gallery has a balustraded front ; it is carried out over the
entrance porch, and is lighted by a small window, visible in
Fig. 69, just below the oriel. The hall, having a room over it,

146.— Woi.i.ATON Hall, Nottinghamshire. The Roof of the Great Hall (ijiio — 88).

has a flat ceiling, and not an open timber roof. The windows
of the hall were usually rather high up, and the walls were
panelled up to the sills, but as a rule the sill of the bay window at
the dais end was brought down low enough to afford an outlook.
Above the panelling the walls were largely occupied by the
windows, the spaces between which were hung with " pikes,
guns, and bows, with old swords and bucklers that had borne
many shrewd blows " : or they were filled with pictures, of
which a considerable number, chiefly portraits, began to be
found in large houses. From the top of the windows sprang

hj =
OS

I'l.ATK XLVI.

WOOLLAS HALL. WORCKSTLKSIIIKK.

SCRKKN IN THK HAM.. (161I).

OPEN ROOFS.

i6i

the roof, the feet of its principals coming down and occupying
part of wall space between them. The principals were still
constructed in the old hammer-beam manner, even at so late
a date as 1604 for Trinity College, Cambridge, and 1612 for
Wadham, but all the ornament is of a late type, and gives a
very rich effect, the light glancing upwards against the many
surfaces of the pendants and the strong lines of the moulded
braces. The roof at Middle Temple Hall, built in 1570, is
almost as elaborate and line as that of the Great Hall at
Hampton Court, built some forty years before, but the detail

1.(7.— Kuoi 01 (ikiAi Ham., Kiuhv, N'outhamptonshire (1575).

is later in character. The roof of the hall at Wollaton is
peculiar in that it is of the hammer-beam type, although sup-
porting the flat floor of a room over it (Fig. 146). Usually,
when there was a room over the hall the ceiling was treated
with ornamental rib-work, in the same manner as the other
and less lofty rooms : the hall at Knole presents an example
of this kind of treatment (Fig. 145). At Kirby there is an
unusual form of roof, neither flat nor open timbered, but a
kind of barrel-vault formed of four straight faces (Fig. 147) ;
each face is divided into large panels by moulded and cut oak
ribs of large size, and each panel has a curved diagonal rib

t62 TREATMENT OF ORDINARY ROOMS.

resembling the wind-braces of a Gothic roof. The panels are
filled with boarding at the back of the ribs.

The Smaller Rooms.

Leaving the hall for one of the smaller rooms, we find much
the same kind of treatment, but here the ornamental ceiling
plays an important part in the decoration. The walls were
panelled, more or less richly, from floor to ceiling, and were
crowned with a carved frieze and projecting cornice, above
which started the ceiling ribs. The great chamber at South
Wraxall (Plate XLVH.) gives a good idea of the whole effect,
but the coved ceiling is somewhat exceptional, and so also is
the great projection to the left. This is a mass of masonry
required to carry the roofs, but the designer, who found himself
obliged to leave it (for this room was contrived in an old house),
resolved to face the matter boldly and make an ornamental
feature of it. It will be noticed that though the panelling here
is quite simple, a good deal of character is obtained by varying
the size of the panels in a systematic manner.

In the old Town Hall at Leicester there is a good panelled
room (Plate XLVIIL), with a handsome chimney-piece and a
special seat for the mayor. The work, which bears the date
1637, is simple in design, but is quite as effective and rather
more pleasing than many of the more elaborate effects of the
time, in which the impression is conveyed that the designers
over-exerted themselves.

Another good example of rather later date is to be seen at
the " Reindeer " Inn, Banbury (Plate XLIX.) ; the panelling
itself is simple, but the doorways and chimney-piece are more
elaborate, and the columns which occur at the angles of the
window-recess impart considerable vigour to the whole effect.
The restraint exhibited and the concentration of the ornament
on one or two places is a welcome relief from the superfluity of
decoration which not infrequently distinguishes the woodwork
of this period. In the broken and curled pediments of the
doorway and chimney-piece we get a decided indication that
the seventeenth century was well advanced when this work was
done. The ceiling here is very richly wrought, and the whole
room comes as a surprise in its out-of-the-way situation.

Sizergh Hall, in Westmorland, offered a still more elaborate

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Plate L.

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DETAILS OF PANELLING FROM SIZERGH HALL.
(now in the victoria and albert museum.)

_^FMt.

Pl.ATK LI.

BROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIRE.

INTERIOR I'ORCH. (About 1599).

INTERNAL PORCHES. 163

example, which has now been erected in the Victoria and Albert
Museum (Fig. 148 and Plate L.). The panels here are not
carved, but inlaid — a method of decoration much in vogue in
Italy, where some exquisite drawing is bestowed upon it, but not
prevalent in England. There are a number of instances in dif-
ferent parts of the country, but, compared with carving, inlay
was seldom resorted to. The domed turret in the corner of the

. $caU • op. /^^f f ?■ f <^ e. t I £ e rF^et .

148. — Panelling from Sizergh Hall, Westmorland (now in the Victoria and
Albert Museum).

room should be noticed (Fig. 148) ; it is, in fact, an inside
porch contrived so as to allow access between two other rooms
without having to come through the third. This device in
planning is not of frequent occurrence, but when it was con-
sidered necessary much care was taken to produce an attractive
feature. There are several in the southern counties, notably
at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire (Plate LI.), at the Red
Lodge, in Bristol, and at Bradfield, in Devonshire. This room

164

DOORWAYS.

at Sizergh presents a fresh type of treatment in the junction of
wall and ceiling. In previous examples the wood panelling
was carried quite up to the ceiling ; here it stops short by a
foot or more, and the space thus left is occupied by a modelled
plaster frieze which leads up to the ornamental ceiling. This
method was adopted as frequently as the other ; the depth of
the plaster frieze varied a good deal, being in one of the rooms
at Hardwick Hall as much as six or seven feet, and filled
with figure subjects modelled in relief and painted, repre-
senting hunting and other woodland scenes : the space below
the frieze is covered with tapestry instead of panelling
(Plate LII.).

Doors.

Doorways presented another opportunit}^ for the display of
design. At Sizergh the door is merely a portion of the

panelling on hinges, the porch
in which it is hung gives it
the requisite importance ; but
as a rule the doorways were
surrounded with a large
amount of decoration. In
important houses they were
flanked with columns or pilas-
ters, w^ere surmounted with
a frieze and cornice, and often
with a pediment ; obelisks
stood over the pilasters ; the
frieze was fluted or carved or
adorned at intervals with
heads; some convenient panel
was filled with the owner's
arms ; nothing was omitted
that an extravagant fancy
could suggest (Plate LIIL).
At Levens Hafl, in Westmor-
land, there is a fine panelled
room with a richly orna-
149— Doorway, aubotts hosiital, meutcd doorway (Plate

Guildford, Surrey (1627). __, . i-i r

LI v.), m which fantastic
figures support a cornice whereon is set up a panel for the

■I

Plate LIII.

DOORWAY IN A HOUSK AT BRISTOL

Plate LIV

LKVENS HALL, WESTMORELAND.

A IJOORWAV.

DOORWAYS. 165

owner's arms, flanked on either hand by a contorted animal.

150. — Latch from Abbott's Hospital, Guildford.

In the same district, at Conishead Priory, there is a panelled
room of even greater elaboration than this at Levens. Some
of the panels are
ornamented with
mouldings mitred
into various pat-
terns, but most of
them have niches
with pediments or
raised panels sur-
rounded w^ith
mouldings curved
and straight and
breaking back in
a bewildering
manner, while
here, there, and
everywhere are
cherubs' heads
and bunches of iji.-i-atch from haddos HAi.r..

fruit — the whole effect being rather too bizarre.

Sometimes the embellishment surrounding the door was in
stone or even marble which being less susceptible of minute

i66

DOOR FURNITURE.

detail was more soberly treated. In smaller houses the treat-

ment was naturally less elabo-
rate, but even in places like
St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol,
and Abbott's Hospital at
Guildford, the doorways had
much attention bestowed upon
them (Fig. 149 and Plate
LV.). At Gayton Manor
House, in Northamptonshire,
there is a still simpler treat-
ment, the effect being enhanced
by projecting the door some
inches into the room (Plate
LV.). The hinges and
latches of the doors and the
fastenings of the window case-
ments were of wrought iron,
and were always more or less
152.-L0cK-Pi.ATEs, Latches, &c. ornamental. There were in-

variably skill and ingenuity bestowed upon even the smallest

153.— Casement Fastener from Haddon Hall.

piece of work. The latch from Abbott's Hospital, illustrated
in Fig. 150, is an example of a spring latch, that is to say,.

DOOR FURNITURE.

167

instead of depending

A Key (S'loi

154. — Kev-plate from Abbott's
Hospital, Guildford.

merely upon its weight to keep it in its
place, it is furnished with a spring, and
the whole of the simple mechanism is
displayed to view. The plate to which
it is fixed is shaped in suitable places,
and the latch and its accessories are
also ornamented to a certain extent.
On the other side of the door would be
a handle, something after the fashion of
that shown in Fig. 151, which, however,
is at Haddon. It is treated in a similar
fashion : the plate is slightly ornamented,
and the handle itself is wrought into a

shape at once convenient to grasp and agree-
able to the eye. In the casement fasteners
a little more ornament was sometimes in-
dulged in, advantage being taken of the fact
that the ironwork was outlined against the
light of the window. There are two simple
examples shown in Fig. 152, and a more
elaborate one in Fig. 153. The same treat-
ment was applied to the escutcheons of key-
holes, of which examples are shown in Fig.
152 and Fig. 154; the former also exhibits a
lock plate and a drop handle and plate. It
will be noticed that the whole of this orna-
ment, although in some instances it looks
rich, is in reality obtained by the simplest
means, which consist in the main of cutting
a thin plate of metal into a variety of shapes ;
there is hardly any modelling about it. This
method is characteristic of most of the iron-
work of the time ; it was only seldom that
modelled ornament was indulged in to the
extent shown in the knocker and plate illus-
trated in Fig. 155.

Chimney-Pieces.

A Knockkr (1618).

Much elaboration was bestowed upon the chimney-pieces, of
which, indeed, there are very few simple examples to be met
with. They were made of wood, of stone, and of marble.

K.A. M

i68 CHIMNEY-PIECES.

Wood and stone were the more usual materials employed, and
it is difficult to say upon which the detail was the more minute.
The general idea that controlled the designs was much the
same in all cases, but the treatment of it varied. The idea
was to flank the fireplace opening wuth columns carrying an
entablature consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice, the
projection of the latter forming a convenient shelf. On the
top of this composition was another of the same kind, but
with smaller columns and of more delicate proportion. The
space enclosed between the columns, which in the lower half
was the fireplace, was occupied in the upper half by some
kind of carved subject. This was very often the arms of the
owner, being either those of the family, or his own special
achievement. At Boughton House, in Northamptonshire,
there is an example of this kind (Plate LVL). It is fairly
simple in design; the centre-piece is the Montagu arms; on
the margin of the panel is the motto adopted by Sir Edward
Montagu, who caused the work to be done ; and in the
frieze below is one of the innumerable Latin aphorisms with
■which houses of this time abound. The fireplace opening
occupies the full width between the sides of the chimney-
piece, and if the grate w'ere removed, would give a tolerable
idea of the appearance of an Elizabethan fireplace, with its
cast-iron fire-back delicately modelled, and the fire- dogs, or
andirons, to hold the logs in place. This particular fire-back,
however, is of a later date. Almost contemporary with this
fireplace at Boughton is one at Lacock Abbey (Plate LVII.),
equally simple in design, but executed with more refinement,
and having a very unusual adjunct in the shape of a hearth-
stone ornamented with a pattern inlaid with lead. The two
works are likely to be of much the same date, as Sir William
Sharington of Lacock died in 1553, and Sir Edward Montagu
of Boughton in 1556. At Barlborough, in Derbyshire, there is
a fine chimney-piece still fairly simple, in which the upper part
is devoted to the owner's personal history (Plate LVIIL). His
name was Francis Rodes, a lawyer, and subsequently a justice
of the Common Pleas. He married twice. These facts are
all set forth on the chimney-piece. His own arms, and those
of his two wives, are carved at large, and the names of his
wives are printed against their shields. The upper cornice is
supported by two caryatides instead of columns, one of whom

Plate LVI.

STONE CHIMXEY-l'IICCK FROM HOUGHTON HOUSK,
NORTHAMl'TONSHIKE (bkkokk 1556).

Plate LVII.

STONE CHIMNKY-l'IECK FKOM LACOCK AliHIlY, WILTSHIKIC.

(BEFORE I55J.)

Plate LVIII.

BARLBOKOUGH HALL. DKRBVSIIIRi:.

A CHIMNEY I'lECE. (1584).

Plate LIX.

HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE.

CHIMNEY PIECE IN KING JAMES'S ROOM, (About l6l2)

Plate LX.

ST(JXE CHIMNEY-PIECE IN THE GREAT CHAMBER,
SOUTH WRAXALL MANOR HOUSE, WILTSHIRE.

C/5

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« .

u <

ALLEGOKICAL AND OTHER FIGURES. 169

represents Justice, in allusion to the calling of the master.
At Hatfield House, in a room called after King James, there
is a handsome marble chimney-piece, with a large statue of the
King in his robes as the centre-piece (Plate LIX.). Here, too,
there is an open hearth, with an iron fire-back and handsome
andirons. In the great chamber at South Wraxall is a very
elaborate stone chimney-piece (Plate LX.), in which the
prevailing idea is highly developed. The lower entablature is
supported by pairs of caryatides growing out of pilasters, and
adorned with bands and swags of flowers. Within the main
enclosure is a subordinate margin of mouldings and egg-and-
tongue enrichments. The upper part of the composition, though
founded on the same idea of columns supporting a crowning
cornice, is much elaborated with niches and carved panels.
There are no shields of arms, which is rather a curious omission,
but instead there are statues of abstract conceptions — Arith-
metica, Geometria, Prudentia, and Justitia. The whole effect
is extremely handsome, but it is too intricate to be quite
satisfactory.

In contrast to this is an interesting chimney-piece in a bedroom
at Hardwick Hall, in Derbyshire (Plate LXL). The material
is marble, and the design is unpretending. Its noticeable
feature is the panel that serves as overmantel, carved with
much grace and spirit. The subject seems to be Apollo and
the Nine Muses, though some of the latter appear to have
abandoned for the time being the callings over which they
presided, in order to join in concerted music. The period of
the work is put beyond a doubt by the presence of the royal
arms with Elizabeth's supporters, the lion and the dragon, and
of the initials K. K. Panels with figure subjects were not
uncommon, although they were not often so well executed as
this. Scriptural themes were frequently represented, but they
did not necessarily imply any special religious character in the
house, and often in some of the other rooms of the same house
would be other themes of cjuite mundane inspiration. At East
Quantockshead, in Somerset, a house of the Luttrells, one room
has in the overmantel the Descent from the Cross, the next a
mermaid with scrollwork and flowers, the next the Luttrell
arms and the date 1614 : others have Christ Blessing the
Children; the Lamentation over Jerusalem, with the city in the
distance, and a hen in the foreground gathering her chickens

M 2

170

WOOD C H I M N i:V-PI ECES.

under her Nvinp^s ; and the Agony in the Garden. Another
house in that district has the Affliction of Job, with the prin-
cipal figure represented as being in exceedingly poor case.
Occasionally there were no figure subjects, nor even shields,
the panels being quite plain, as in the wood chimney-piece at

156. — Wooo Chimnky-i'Ieck, Bknthai.i, Hall, Shropshirk.

Ford House, Newton Abbot (Plate LXII.), where the consider-
able amount of enrichment serves as ornament only, and does
not lend lustre to the family arms. The workmanship is not
of the best, and the details of the design are somewhat poor
and wanting in imagination, especially in the treatment of the
arched panels ; but it is characteristic of a good deal of work

Plate LXII.

WOOD (HlMNllV-I'lllCi:. FOKl) IIOCSi:, NKWTON AI'.I'.Ol'
DKVONSIIIKi:.

Plate LXIII.

STON'E CHIMNEY-PIECE, WHISTON, SUSSEX.
(now out of doors.)

< u

ANGLE CHIMNEY-PIECES.

171

of the time. The chimney-piece at Benthall Hall (Fig. 156)
is far more beautifully conceived. It departs from the regular
treatment in the disposition of the main panels. There is
great freedom about the play of the strap-work and figures
surrounding the cartouches, and if it be compared with the
panelling in the same room (Plate XLIIL), it will be seen that
while preserving the same general idea, there is a special richness
about this part of
the work which is
quite appropriate
to it as being the
chief feature of
the room. It will
be seen that here,
too, the car-
touches in the
upper panels bear
coats of arms. At
Whiston, in Sus-
sex, there is a
stone chimney-
piece which has
got excluded from
the house, and
now adorns an
outside wall. It is
of unusual design
(Plate LXIIL),
but the family
arms form the
centre-piece, and
are flanked by
figures of warriors in recesses divided by small, elegant columns.
In the upper part is a circular panel containing two subjects,
of which it is difficult to decipher the meaning ; the figures,
however, are in violent action. Bolsover Castle contains some
of the most striking examples of chimney-pieces to be found
in the country. They are all in stone or marble, and have a
variety and originality of design which are (juite remarkable.
Two of them are illustrated on Plate LXIV. There are also
a number of small ones fitted into corners of the rooms

157. — SroNK Chimnkv-pikck, Holsovek Casilk, Dkkbyshike.

172 HERALDRY ON CHIMNEY-PIECES.

(Fig. 157), and it will be seen that the walls against which the
chimney-piece is placed are faced with stone to receive it, and
that this plain stonework is surrounded with a moulding against
which the wood panelling stops.

There was a chimney-piece of unusually good design and
workmanship in the palace of Bromley-by-Bow : it is now in
the Victoria and Albert Museum (Plate LXV.). The composi-
tion does not quite follow the usual lines, inasmuch as the
upper part, or overmantel, is not a repetition in idea of the
lower. Nor is it divided into panels of equal width and height ;
the large central panel, which 'contains the royal arms, is the
dominating feature, and is flanked on either side by a niche of
much less width and height. The upper half is wedded to the
lower by the bosses on the boldly carved shelf, which carry
down the main lines of the columns. The arms are those of
James I., as the second and third quarters are Scotland and
Ireland respectively, and one of the supporters is the Scottish
unicorn. In another house near London, at Enfield, there was
a well-designed chimney-piece, figured in Richardson's Studies
from Old English Mansions, in which the royal arms and badges
were the centre-pieces of the composition. The part above the
fireplace was divided by columns into three panels, of which
the middle one was the largest, and contained the arms of
Elizabeth with her red dragon as one of the supporters. Of
the side panels, one was occupied by the rose crowned and the
other by the portcullis crowned. In the smaller panels below
these, and between] the pedestals on which the columns rested,
were the royal initials E. R,, and a Latin sentence expressing a
pious aphorism. It is not certain whether this house belonged
to the Crown, or whether this display of regal heraldry was a
compliment to the Queen on the part of the grateful owner. In
either case the making of arms and badges the chief objects of
interest in the composition, and the introduction of the Latin
aphorism on a conspicuous panel are quite characteristic of the
time. At Castle Ashby, in Northamptonshire, is a chimney-
piece (Plate LXVI.) treated in much the same way as that from
Bromley. It was not designed for the house, and therefore the
heraldry is not so apposite as usual. The central panel contains
the arms of the owner set in an elaborate framework of fanciful
carving. On either side is a niche containing a figure of one of
the virtues. The columns which support the cornice are richly

« S

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ri.ATK Lxvr.

CASTLK ASIIIJV, NORTHAMIT* )NS1 IIRK

A CIIIMNKV riKCK.

ORNAMENT ON CEILINGS.

173

carved in low relief, as also are the mantel-shelf and the friezes
below it. On the lower of the friezes the family arms are
repeated, and in the centre is the crest. The opening of the
fireplace is flanked on either side by a female figure, which
changes in a provoking way into strap-work and the semblance
of a pilaster. The whole effect is rich, and the principles
dominating the composition are at once recognizable, but the
details are too fantastic to be quite agreeable.

-Ckiling ok the Presence Chamber, Hampton
Court (cir. 1535).

Ceilings.

Of all the architectural work of the time of Elizabeth and
James, that which was peculiarly English is to be found in the
ceilings. It was a development of native tradition, and although,
like all other work
of the time, it was
influenced by Italian
models, it retained its
individuality with
great tenacity, and in
no other country can
the same special de-
velopment of design
be found. The root-
idea of an Elizabethan
ceiling is to cover the space with a shallow projecting rib forming
a more or less regular pattern. The ribs varied in section, and
the patterns varied in form. The ribs and the panels they
enclosed were sometimes perfectly plain, sometimes highly deco-
rated with modelled work ; and between these two extremes
were infinite gradations — plain ribs and decorated panels, or
plain panels and decorated ribs, the decoration varying from
something quite simple to ornament of much elaboration. The
plainest examples are sufficient to give character to a room,
while the richest arc bewildering in the intricacy of the pattern
and the minuteness of the detail.

The origin of the idea is to be f(jund in the treatment adopted
by the late Gothic joiners. When they had a large flat surface
to deal with, the\- divided it into panels b\- moulded wood ribs,
and they frecjuently covered the intersection of the ribs with a
carved boss or with carved foliage. Their main lines, being

174

DEVELOPMENT OF CEILING ORNAMENT.

formed of wood, were straight ; their panels rectiHnear and
often rectangular, the whole treatment being suggested by the
moulded constructional timber of earlier roofs. At Hampton
Court, in the portions built by Wolsey and Henry VII I., there
are .several ceilings of this kind still left. The ribs are arranged in
simple geometrical patterns with straight lines. In the watch-
ing chamber, at the end of the Great Hall, these ribs are of a
fair size, both in width and depth, and at certain intersections
they are bent downwards to form a pendant after the fashion
prevalent in the stone vaulting of the time (Fig. 158). Some
of the panels thus enclosed are adorned with a kind of indepen-
dent circular boss formed of a wreath surrounding one of the

159. — Bosses from Ceilings at Hampton Court.

royal badges, or even the royal arms. These bosses are not
carved, but modelled in papier mdche, or some similar sub-
stance, and they, together with the wood ribs, are secured to
the joists above. Two of these bosses are illustrated in
Fig. 159, and it is in the wreaths of these comparatively unim-
portant adjuncts that the only touch of the new fashion is to
be found.

Other rooms have ceilings of which the ribs are much
smaller in depth and width : the ribs are again arranged in
patterns with straight lines, and at their intersections there are
four small leaves of lead nailed on, the whole junction being
covered with a small plain wood boss, which forms the centre
of the flower. At other intersections each of the four angles of

Plate LXVII.

IIAiMPTON COURT PALACE.

CEILING OK CARDINAL WOLSEY'S CLOSET.

EARLY CEILINGS IN ENGLAND.

175

the flat ceiling is occupied with a small modelled head in
foliage, all of papier mdche ; one of these is also shown in
Fig. 159. The four insertions taken together form a circle,
which is di voided into four quadrants by the intersecting ribs
(Fig. 160) ; and the whole arrangement is the first step towards
the elaborate decoration which was afterwards introduced,
when the facility with which plaster can be worked was
recognized and acted on.

Another, though somewhat similar, type of ceiling is to be
found in a little room called Cardinal Wolsey's Closet ; but here
the decoration is more general, and is founded more directly on
the Italian manner (Plate LXVIL). The ceiling is divided by
wood ribs into rectilinear
panels of small size and simple
design ; the intersections of
the ribs are covered, in the
manner already mentioned,
with a plain wood boss and
lead leaves bent down into
the angles ; each panel is
filled with Italian decoration
modelled in papier mdche ; the
whole is screwed up to the
floor-joists above. The effect
is very rich and elaborate.
There is also a frieze on the wall
which formed part of the design,
although its precise relation to the ceiling can no longer be
detected owing to modern alterations. The relation was pro-
bably something like what we see to-day (Plate LXVIL), but a
close scrutiny shows that the connecting links between the
ceiling and the frieze have disappeared ; there must have been
some kind of moulded cornice. There can be little doubt that
the spacing of the panels in the frieze was made to agree with
those of the ceiling, and that it had a moulding of some
importance at the top to connect it with the ceiling, and corre-
sponding to the border which it still retains at the bottom,
on which is painted repeatedly Wolsey's motto " Dominus
mihi adjutor." The panels in the frieze are ornamented in a
manner corresponding with the ceiling panels, which all contain
either a rose, or ostrich feathers the devices of Henry VIII. This

160. — Patkra to a Ceiling at Hampton
Court.

176

ORNAMENT IN WOOD.

ceilinf^ is of great interest, because it is one of the earliest
of a highly decorated kind left to us — for the Tudor joiners
placed little, if any, decoration in their panels ; it is more
Italian in manner than any other that survives, and it is formed
of wood ribs and modelled filling, which were made elsewhere
and then brought to the room to be fitted and fixed in position.
From the occurrence of Wolsey's motto in the frieze, it is
probable that this work was done by him ; it would conse-
quently date prior to his death in 1530. Richardson, in his
Architectural Remains of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James L,
gives a large drawing of a ceiling in the Chapel Royal,
St. James's, dated 1540, which is very similar in character to

Wolsey's. It con-
sists of small geo-
metrical panels
formed by wood
ribs, enclosing
rich designs in the
Italian manner,
among which the
King's devices are
constantly re-
peated, together
with the date,
the initials of
Henry and Anne
of Cleves, and
such mottoes as
" Vivat rex," " Stet diu felix." If the latter aspiration were
fulfilled, it certainly was not in conjunction with the wife
whose initials are on this ceiling that the wished-for happi-
ness was attained, for she was divorced in July, 1540; and we
therefore incidentally learn that the ceiling must have been put
up in the first half of that year. In addition to the ornament
already mentioned the King's arms frequently occur. The ribs
in this case are broader than those at Hampton Court, and
they are ornamented with a running pattern cast in lead.

These two ceilings are the most Italian in character which
have survived. The type does not seem to have been generally
adopted ; but it was rather a simpler one, founded more
directly on Tudor methods, which was developed. The wood

161. — Part ok thk Ckiling in thk Long Gallkry,
Hauuon Hall, Dkrbvshire

I ATK Lxviir.

DEENE HALL. NORTHAMFrONSHIKE.

CKII.ING OK A KKDROOM.

ORNAMENT IN PLASTER.

177

ribs were replaced by plaster, and in the more plastic material
they were no longer kept in straight lines, but were curved

into an infinite

variety of pat-
terns, more or
less intricate.
The intersec-
tion s were
sometimes, but
not often,
covered with
foliage ; as a
rule they were
left bare, but
where the pat-
t er n 1 e ft a
salient angle
the lower
membersof the

moulding were carried out to form the stalk of some foliage,
as may be seen in the long gallery at Haddon (Fig. 161), and

also at South Wraxall

'62. — Pakt ok a Coved Ceiling at Beckington Abbey,
Somerset.

(Plate XL VI I.). The
ribs, which at first
were of a section simi-
lar to that of their
predecessors in wood,
soon assumed other
proportions : they in-
creased in width and
lessened in depth ;
they sometimes ceased
to have any mouldings,
and became more like
ribbons or straps, as
in the example from
Beckington A bbey
(Fig. 162), but more often they retained their moulded edges,
and were ornamented on the Hat face with a minute running
pattern, such as that at Deeue Hall (Plate LXVIIL). and the
" Reindeer " Inn, Banbury (Plate LXIX.). The strap-work ribs

163. — CovKi) Ceiling, Hkckington Amhev,

SOMKKSET.

178

STRAP-WORK ORNAMENT.

did not form such regular set patterns as the others : they
enclosed a panel here and there, but wandered off into spirals
and scrolls, and were emphasized at intervals by little orna-
mental knobs, such as may be seen in the ceiling of the
gallery at Charlton House, Wiltshire. It was by no means
necessary for the ceilings to be flat. Indeed, this kind of
decoration was exactly suited for application to coved ceilings
such as that already seen at South Wraxall (Plate XLVII.), and
that at Beckington Abbey (Fig. 163), where there is not only the
main vault of the ceiling, but also a subsidiary cove at the side.

^caie • op- (^' III" 1'

!£«dc

164. — Part of a Ceiling from Sizergh Hall, Westmorland (now in Victoria
AND Albert Museum).

the curved face of which is ornamented with a variation of the
principal pattern. The end wall of the room is also decorated
in a similar way in the upper part where its shape is controlled
by the curves of the ceiling. The example at Beckington
Abbey is among the more formal of those where the strap-
work type was employed ; there are panels of regular shape,
and the scrolled ends balance one another. But in some
instances the strap-work conformed in its course to no regular
pattern at all ; it twisted and interlaced and bent itself back
upon no system whatever, except that of covering the surface
evenly, and of gathering itself into a knot or of surrounding a

I'l.ATK LXIX.

''^;^^^^i^y ^"^^^K >>,

IP'

<;>..

r^*^

TIIL RIOINDEER INN, HANHUKV. UXlORDSIlIRi;.

CKII,1.N<;.

FORMAL PATTERNS.

179

pendant at regular intervals, the result being that the most
prominent features stand out in regular array from a mazy
background that requires concentrated attention to follow.
There is a ceiling of this kind among the many beautiful
examples at Audley End. These erratic designs were used

'?:r

ioj. -Li.ii,.:... 1 Ko.i l;i.:, 1 iiAi.i, Hall, SnKoi'bHiKi-..

simultaneously with others of much severer character, where
the pattern is of the simplest in structure, and richness of
effect is derived from its frequent repetition, and from the
ornament in the panels. Such an example is to be seen at
Sizergh (Fig. 164), and others, slightly more elaborate, at
Aston Hall (Plates LXX., LXXI.), where the modelling is beau-
tifully delicate and varied. But in both these examples the

i8o

FORMAL PATTERNS.

proportion is so carefully managed that the shape of the panels,
which is the foundation of the design, is not obscured by the
patterns which occupy them. The effect is equally rich in both,
although the width of the rib and the manner of its decoration
are varied. These ceilings are fairly late in date, as Aston Hall
was being built from 1618 to 1635, and comes quite at the end
of the period under discussion, but they retain all the charac-
teristics of Elizabethan and Jacobean work. Another example

166. — Ckiling in Gate-holsk, Haddon Hall, Derbyshire.

of the formal kind is at Benthall Hall (Fig. 165), where the
main panels are all of oblong rectangular shape, and are filled
with strap-work enrichment surrounding an elliptical boss.
The patterns are varied in every case, and exhibit considerable
ingenuity in obtaining the same general effect with entirely
different disposition of lines. It will also be seen, by comparing
this ceiling with the panelling and chimney-piece in the same room
(Plate XLUI. and Fig. 156), that they are all en suite, and not,
as is often the case, designed without relation one to the other.

■/■•yV «. •myyS^nW gnm^irff /o Sti;

o
o
ir

li. Q
O IJ

ca
a .
z (0

HERALDRY IN CEILINGS.

The ceiling at the " Reindeer" Inn, Banbury (Plate LXIX.), is also
thoroughly Jacobean, although, from the style of the wood panel-
ling, the room must date from well on in the seventeenth century.
Soon after this time the large unbroken space of the ceilings
began to be cut up into large panels by cross-beams : the
spaces thus formed were still of considerable size, and were
decorated in the old manner, as may be seen in a room in the
entrance tower at Haddon (Fig. i66), and at Carbrook Hall,
Sheffield (Plate XLII.). But it was an easy step to omit this
surface decoration, and when that was done, the ceilings
became the large coffered ceilings characteristic of the style
which followed the Jacobean.

As in the chimney-pieces, so in the ceilings, a favourite
method of ornamentation was to introduce the owner's arms
and badges. Of the
examples given here
only two, as it hap-
pens, illustrate this
custom — the ceilings
at Haddon (Fig. i6i)
and Sizergh (Fig. 164),
The square panel at
Haddon encloses a
shield surrounded by
a delicate strap-work
border, and bearing
the arms of Manners impaling Vernon, the work having been
done by the Sir John Manners who came into possession
of Haddon through his marriage with Dorothy Vernon, one
of the co-heiresses of her father, Sir George, called the King of
the Peak. At Sizergh one of the panels encloses a shield of
arms, and others a badge.

There is a very splendid ceiling in the gallery at Blickling,
in Norfolk, wherein various badges arc introduced, and another
at Apethorpe, in Northamptonshire. Others might be named,
but the custom was not so widespread in the case of ceilings
as of chimney-pieces, perhaps owing to the plasterers having a
number of stock designs from which they worked, and which,
of course, would not include the arms of any special family.
There seems no doubt that the plasterers did have such stock
designs, but it is curious how seldom they are f(MUid repeated ;

167. — Pendants of Pi.astkr Ceilings.

1 82

SIMPLICITY OF ORNAMENT.

hardlv anywhere, indeed, can two desij^jns be found which are
exactly alike.

Besides heraldic ornament, there was a certain amount of
modelled fi^^^ure subjects of the usual kind — allegorical, mytho-
logical, and scriptural ; but English plasterers were not very
good at modelling the human figure, and it seems to have been
generally recognized that a ceiling is not the most favourable
position for a close study of detail, and the effect aimed at was

7^^

^JICHCi^SiR;

)smmm^^'<

'^^^^yB<^'yE<:r^

168. — Examples of Plastkr Frikzes from Montaclte, Audlky Enb, and
Charlton House, Wiltshire.

one of general richness which did not demand minute investi-
gation— such as, for instance, is necessary to appreciate one of
\'errio's painted ceilings — and yet which repaid such scrutiny
if subjected to it. Most of the ornament was of a kind which
no one would examine unless specially interested — as a
draughtsman, for instance, might be ; but in some cases the
beautiful modelling induces even the casual visitor to put his
neck to inconvenience, as he gladly would do to see the Fish
ceiling at Audley End, where the panels enclose a number of
excellently modelled fishes and other denizens, real and

PENDANTS AND CORNICES.

1S3

imaginary, of the ocean, and where the pendants are of unusual
beauty. Pendants of more or less projection were another
means of adding variety and interest to the design (Fig. 167),
and they varied in size from a mere excrescence to an elaborate
shaft, supported by figures half human, half foliage, which
served to hang the lamp from. This shaft would onl}^ occur in
the centre of the design, but the lesser pendants were introduced
at regular intervals and accentuated its salient points. Another
kind of ceiling had no considerable ribs at all, but was covered

169.— Pl.ASTKK l-KIKZK FKO.M MoNTACL IK HoUSK, SoMKKSKT.

with a flowing pattern in low relief, so arranged as to fall into
a more or less symmetrical design. This is by no means a
usual form, but there is an example at Burton Agnes, in York-
shire, and another, which stands halfway between the two
ideas, in the gallery at Chastleton, in Oxfordshire.

At the junction of the ceiling and the wall was a series of
mouldings forming a cornice : these were sometimes in wood
and formed the crowning member of the oak panelling, and
sometimes they were in plaster. Beneath them on the surface
of the wall there was frequently a plaster frieze of more or less
depth. Occasionally it was only a few inches deep, as in the

K.A. N

184

CORNICES.

drawing-room at Haddon (Plate XLL), but more usually it was
from two to three feet, and in one room at Hard wick it was
much deeper, as already mentioned (see Plate LID. The
narrower friezes were ornamented with some kind of running
pattern, the wider ones were divided
into panels in various ways, and often
displayed the family arms. Examples
of the narrower kind in plaster may be
seen on Plates LI II. and LXXVL, while
others forming part of the panelling
are shown on Plates XLIIL, XLVIL,
and XLIX. Sizergh Hall (Plate L.)
has a frieze on the wood panelling and
another in plaster above it. Examples
of different kinds of friezes are given in Fig. 168, and one
of considerable depth, and adorned with shields set in large
panels, is shown from Montacute (Fig. 169). A fairly deep
frieze is to be seen at Carbrook (Plate XLIL), of which a small
part of the detail is shown in Fig. 170. An example of the way
in which a pattern was fitted into an unusually-shaped space is
shown in Fig, 171.

-Part of Plaster Frieze,

Carbrook Hall, near

Sheffield.

-Ceiling of a Triangular Bay Window at
Little Charlton, Kent.

CHAPTER IX.

INTERIOR FEATURES {continued).

STAIRCASES, GALLERIES, GLAZING.

The staircases of the early part of the sixteenth centur}-
followed the old fashion, and were of the "corkscrew" type,
winding round a central newel. They were built of stone or
brick, and were hardly, if at all, ornamented. Then, quite
suddenly, the fashion changed, and they were constructed of
wood in straight, broad flights, with frequent landings. Everyone
who has been up a church tower knows how tiring it is to
climb the winding, never-ending steps, unrelieved by an3'thing
in the shape of a landing. It is somewhat less fatiguing to
mount one of the grand circular staircases of the chateaux
on the Loire, the task being lightened by the greater width
of the steps and the introduction of more frequent landings.
But the management of the landings is one of the great
difficulties in a spiral staircase, because they break the regular
sweep of the architectural lines. Whether English craftsmen
recognized this difficulty from what they saw in Erance, or
whether the idea of improving the circular type did not occur
to them, it is impossible to say; but no attempt in this direc-
tion was made, unless it may have been at Rothwell Market-
house (1577), where a circular staircase of considerable widtii
was intended, although no remains of the actual stairs exist.
There seems to be no intermediate type between the stone
spiral and the straight flight in wood. In I'rance, and especial!}-
in the district of the Loire, the old narrow, difficult steps were
wonderfully iinpn^ved ; from being merely a means of ascending,
they became elaborate pieces of work, upon which much inge-
nuity of contrivance and ornament was bestowed. I'rom being
two or three feet wide, they became ten or twelve. Instead of
curling up a narrow turret, they occupied a considerable tower,
and the t(^wer, being one of the chief features of the house, had
to be treated with great care. Much fanc}' was expended upon
the internal treatment ; a handrail was wcnkcd upon the newel,

N 2

i86

fki:nch staircases.

and wound round it in a continuous line ; another projection
formed a plinth, a third served as a cornice ; another cornice
followed the sweep of the steps where they rested on the outside

172. — Staiki ASK AT Lvvi;i)i;n Oi.i) Building, Nokthamptonshikk.

wall : everythinj:; was done to make the constructional features
serve as ornaments, and the results were some of the most
interesting and curious pieces of stonework that can be seen.
pHit nothing of the kind was attempted in England. The

Plate LXXII.

STAIRCASE FKOM JiURGHLKY HOUSE, NORTHAMPTONSHIKI-

STONE STAIRCASE AT BURGHLEY.

187

173. — Details of Staikcase,
Hambleton Old Hall, Rutland.

nearest approach is the stone vaulted

staircase at Burghley House (Plate

LXXII.), which resembles some of

those in France, where the steps are

carried in straight flights instead of

round a central newel. There is

such an instance at the Chateau de

Chenonceaux, where the two straight

flights are on either side of a dividing

wall, the lower flight merging into the

upper by means of winding stairs.

These winding stairs were eschewed

by English designers, who nearly

always kept to straight runs, and at

Burghley the two main flights are connected by a shorter one

across the landing. The date of this staircase is not quite certain,

but it probably
belongs to the
work which was
being done about
the year 1556.
The idea of stone
vaulted stairs,
however, did not
obtain any hold in
England, and
there are very few
examples to be
found. All the
finest staircases
are of wood, and
they seem to
have sprung into
being without any
gradual growth ;
the connecting
links between
them and the old
corkscrew type, if
there were any,

174.— Staikcase from East Qlantcm kshkad, Somkkskt. ha\'e disappeared.

iSS

CONSTKL'CTION OF STAIRCASES.

The principle upon which these wood staircases were con-
structed may be compared to that of the ladder, where the
sides of the ladder are replaced by deep and comparatively
narrow pieces of wood called "strings," and the rungs are
replaced by the treads and risers. One side of this amplified
ladder was placed hard on to the wall, the foot of the other was
secured into a stout upright post, or " newel," as also was the
top : into the same newel that received the top of the first

175. — Dktails ok Staircask, Lyvedkn Old Building,
Northamptonshire.

String the foot of the second was secured at right angles, and
so onwards and upwards as far as the staircase extended. At
about two feet above the top of the string, and parallel to it,
was the handrail, and between the handrail and the string were
fixed the balusters. The top of the first flight leant against
a flat landing, on which also the foot of the next flight rested.
The construction, therefore, was extremely simple in principle,
far simpler than that of the continuous winding flights of the
eighteenth century ; but the component parts were often
highly decorated. All the woodwork was of fairly large dimen-
sions; the newels were six, seven, or eight inches square, the
handrail was generally nearly as wide as the newel, the strings
were three inches thick or even more, the balusters were

PLANS OF STAIRCASES.

189

proportionately massive. The flights were five or six feet wide,

and comprised usuallyabout six steps, although

they were longer when necessity demanded it.

The plans on Plate LXXIII. show various

arrangements of staircases taken from John

Thorpe's collection of plans in the Soane

Museum. Nos. i and 2 are the most usual

types, and of these No. i is the more frequent.

The space to be occupied by the stairs is

divided into nine equal squares, of which

those in the corners represent the landings,

while the intermediate ones are occupied by

the steps ; the middle square is the " well-
hole." The staircase at Lyveden Old Building,

in Northamptonshire, is planned on this

principle, and the effect can be seen in the

sketch in Fig. 172. The flights in this case

consist of seven steps each. This arrange-
ment is very simple, but it necessitates the

access to the upper rooms being from one of

the comparatively small corner landings.

Another plan, giving a larger landing at the top, is shown in

No. 2, and an ampli-
fication of the same
idea is given in
No. 3, where, a larger
number of steps
being required, the
sides have two
flights with an inter-
mediate landing.
Sometimes the
central square, in-
stead of being occu-
pied by an open
well-hole, was either
a solid block or a
shell of masonry,
round the four sides
of which the steps

ascended. Such an arrangement is shown in No. 5, where

176.— Pierced
Baluster.

S»^nm, onJ,„..CL>

-■ki*-yiiV r r r

< f ^ f r r r r • .

177.— Staircase at Ockwei.ls Manor House,
IJkkkshirk.

I go

PLANS OF STAIRCASES

also may be seen some winding steps in one of the corners ;
but these winders are not of frequent occurrence, short straight
flights being the rule. These four types are those most
frequently adopted. Of the others, No, 4 is an instance of
the employment of winders, and shows the somewhat unusual

178.— Staircase at Ockwells Manor Hoise, Herkshire. Plans and Details

arrangement of two lower flights combining into one upper
flight ; No. 6, being in a turret, consists wholly of winders ;
and Nos. 7 and 8 are instances of a rather grander style
of planning, in which it is evident that considerable effect was
aimed at. The plans varied, of course, according to the dis-
position of the rooms to be reached ; the chief characteristics

BALUSTERS AND NEWELS.

191

were simplicity of construction and massiveness of effect.
In the less important houses the work was fairly plain : the
newels were unornamented, except for a shaped top ; the string
was moulded at the top and bottom ; the balusters were merely
stout turned bars. But there was much variety imparted to

-Staikcask at Hknthai.i. Hai.i., ShKOI'SHIKK.

the turning, and while many of the outlines are rather clumsy,
many of them also exhibit considerable subtlet}' and refine-
ment. To increase the richness of effect the newels were
ornamented either with carving, or with a pattern contrived
by sinking the groundwork, thus leaving the jxittern itself
raised and at the same level as the general face of the newel.
The tops of the newel were sometimes little more than round

192

'1" R i: AT M K N T () F N EW E LS

knobs, as at Haiiibleton Old Hall (Fif^. 173), and a house at
Warwick (Fifj^. 180) ; but more often they projected far above
the handrail and were shaped in a variety of ways, of which
four examples of varying de<jrees of elaboration are given
from East Quantockshead (Fig. 174), Lyveden Old Building
(Fig. 175), Ockwells Manor House (Figs. 177, 178), and the

Charterhouse
(Fig. 181). They
were sometimes
made the pede-
stals upon which
figures were
placed — such as
boys playing in-
struments, as at
Hatfield ; or
warriors in
various guises,
as at Blickling;
or the animal
sacred to the
particular family
concerned, and
hallowed in their
sight by being
borne in their
coat of arms.
The newels at
the Charter-
house carry a
crest by way of
finial (Fig.
181). Then the
outer surface of
the outer string would be also carved (Figs. 179 and 181),
or decorated with a pattern ; and the balusters would some-
times be flat pieces of wood shaped and pierced in a variety
of patterns (Fig. 176). Sometimes, instead of balusters there was
a series of arches springing from small columns and following
the upward rake of the stairs ; as at Ockwells Manor House
(Figs. 177, 178), and the Charterhouse (Fig. 181). Or, again,

iSd. — Staikcask at Wakwick.

AND BALUSTRADE.

193

the balustrade would consist of woodwork cut and slightly carved
into a version of the favourite strap- work pattern, like that

181. — StAIKCASK at THK CHAKTKRHOt'.SK.

at Benthall Hall, Shropshire (Fig. 179). Not infrt,'(juentl\- the
space at command forbade the arranging of the flights at right
angles to each other ; the second flight then returned side

194 '^'HE GREAT CHAMBER.

by side with the first. In such cases either the newels were
increased in widtii sufficiently to take both the handrails, or
the handrail and string intersected each other in the way
shown on Fig. i8o. Occasionally, when a little space divided
the flights, the great newels were carried up and joined to
each other by wood arches, as in the instance of a stair-
case at Audley End (Plate LXXIV.) : this kind of treat-
ment occasionally produced a most intricate result, of which
a careful study is required in order to make out what are its
component parts.

There was no end to the variety which the workmen
imparted to the simple constructional features which were
the groundwork of the design. The points which were always
aimed at were breadth of way, ease of ascent, massive appear-
ance, and very frequently richness of effect. The series of
stout newels going up and up in a long procession, each
crowned with a handsome finial or heraldic animal, alone
is enough to lend stateliness to the staircase ; and when
these are supplemented with quaint balusters, or a row of
arches, or, as in later days, with a carved foliated filling,
be}ond which is seen the highly ornamented string of the
upper flight, the whole effect is particularly striking. As
a rule the flights were short, from six to eight steps being
considered enough between the various landings, but the
number varied according to the height to be attained and
the space at command.

These fine staircases were clearly made for show as well as
use, because it not infrequently happens that having reached
the first floor, which was their chief object, they sweep
upwards with equal grandeur to the next, where there are
only insignificant attics. The upper staircase, however,
although it leads to no important room, would be in full
view of those who came to the first floor ; and it was on this
floor that some rooms were placed which were the resort of
all who were staying in the house — namely, the Great Chamber
and the Long Gallery, The great chamber was, among
princes and nobles, the presence chamber, where they received
guests. It was the " Great Chamber of Estate." In smaller
houses it answered much the same end as the drawing-
room of the present day. Even so inconsiderable a person
as Slender, who was a small squire, had a great chamber in

Plate LXXIV.

STAIRCASE AT AUDLEY END, ESSEX.

DIMENSIONS OF GALLERIES. 195

his house, which he took care to mention casually in the
course of his controversy with Falstaff as to the picking
of his pocket.

The LonCx Gallery.

The Long Gallery is a feature peculiarly characteristic of the
times of Elizabeth and James. Mention has already been made
of this apartment, and of the fact that not a few houses were
specially planned so as to obtain a gallery of great length.
Some of them were extravagant in this respect, the length
being as much as eight and ten times the width. At Buckhurst
House the gallery was 254 feet long by 16 feet wide, at Ampt-
hill 245 feet by 22 feet, but it is not quite certain that these
were not divided into two lengths each. John Thorpe shows
the gallery at Slaugham Place to be 200 feet by 27 feet, Audley
End probably 190 feet by 27 feet, Holdenby 140 feet by 22 feet,
Aston Hall 140 feet by 18 feet, Copthall 136 feet by 22 feet,
Burghley 128 feet by 18 feet, and WoUaton 100 feet by 18 feet.
Others, to which there are no names, are 200 feet by 20 feet,
150 feet by 25 feet, and 150 feet by 17 feet, besides many of
80 feet in length by widths varying from 10 feet to 21 feet.
The purpose of such a long apartment has never been fully
explained : it may have been for exercise ; it may have had
its origin from reasons of display or in imitation of royal
palaces, where its use as an ante-room to the royal closet is
easily understood ; or it may have been merely a development
in planning dictated by fashion, each person vying with his
neighbour to obtain a long room. But, however this may
be, no Elizabethan or Jacobean house of any size was
without its long gallery, which was ornamented in the same
way as the great chamber, the parlours, and the hall. The
walls were either hung with tapestry or panelled, the ceiling
was richly moulded, the fireplaces, of which there were two
or three in the length, were large and elaborate. The porch
of the house was often carried up to form a bay window in
the middle of the length, and advantage was taken of other
opportunities to break up the extreme length by projections
at the side. It was almost always on the topmost floor,
where space was of less importance for other purposes ; but
as many of the houses were only two storeys high, it was
usually easy of access, and, of course, it was approached

196 THE LEGEND OF DOROTHY VERNON.

by one, or oftener two, of the principal staircases. The
room at Haddon, now called the ballroom, is in reality the
long gallery (Plate LXXV.). It is no feet 6 inches long
by 17 feet 4 inches wide, and its extreme length is broken
along one side by three large projecting bays, the middle one
of which, measuring 15 feet by 11 feet 6 inches, is itself large
enough for a fair-sized room. The legend of the elopement
of Dorothy Vernon from this "ballroom " is a modern inven-
tion which confuses the public mind in regard to the household
arrangements of that period, for Dorothy's father, who greatly
embellished Haddon, lived during the prevalence of the Late
Tudor style, and had no such huge apartment : it was her
husband who fashioned this long gallery in Elizabeth's time,
and adorned it in the manner then prevalent. This may seem
a small point to insist on, and to the general public no doubt
it is ; but to the student, whose imagination naturally clings
to the picturesque legend, it is important to realize that the
work in the " ballroom " was not done by Dorothy's father,
who belonged to the Tudor era, but by her husband, who
belonged to the Elizabethan, But leaving this point, it may
be remarked that the gallery is panelled with unusual richness,
and the ceiling is felt to be in harmony with the rest of the
work, although the moulded rib is but small, and the pattern
it makes is simple. It may also be noted that there is but one
fireplace in the whole length of no feet, which must have been
quite inadequate, according to modern ideas.

The gallery at Aston Hall (Plate LXXVI.) is a fine example
of its kind. The walls are panelled from the floor nearly up
to the ceiling, only sufficient space being left above the wood-
work for a plaster frieze. The panels have an arched enrich-
ment in each of them, in accordance with the fashion prevalent
in King James's time, and they are divided into bays by shallow
pilasters, fluted above, and ornamented with imitation rustic
work below. The ceiling is of great richness, and itself goes
a long way towards " furnishing " the room. There is a row
of windows down one side, and a large one at the end. The
Hall is now used as a museum, and the rail, which occupies
a conspicuous position in the illustration, serves to protect the
articles exhibited.

Although it is tolerably certain that Sir George Vernon had
no such room as the long gallery, it is not quite clear that

« o:

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*— 3

/•.

<r{

H-o

[ ,

^-^

>■

-T^

•

ci:

:i ^

o ,

CHARACTER OF ORNAMENT IN GLAZING.

197

houses in his time were all without them, for at Hampton
Court, in the time of Henry VHI. and Jane Seymour, there
was the Queen's long gallery, which was 180 feet long by
25 feet wide, lighted on both sides, and having, like Haddon,
three bay windows down one side, the middle one of which
was not square but circular.* But although the
palace had such an apartment, there is no evidence
that the smaller houses in general possessed them
until the time of Elizabeth, when they became
of universal adoption.

Glazing.

The windows in the gallery at Hampton Court
were glazed with heraldic glass displaying the
arms, badges, and mottoes of the King and Queen.
This was in accordance with the custom of the
time, the principal windows being generally more
or less filled with heraldic devices relating to the
family who owned the house. Much of this
splendid decoration throughout the country has
disappeared, but enough is left to show that the
treatment of the glass followed the same lines as
the carving of stone and wood. In the early part
of the century it consisted of dainty foliage, vases,
candelabra, scrolls, and the quaint animals with
attenuated bodies, which are characteristic of
Italian ornament. Toward the end of the century
these were replaced with the strap-work and the
great bunches of fruit and flowers which we owe
to Dutch designers. A small part of an early
pattern from Ightham Church is illustrated in Fig.
182 ; among the Italian vases and flowers is the
English portcullis, the badge of the Tudor family,
more particularly of Henry VII. A good example of the later
treatment, when the Dutch strap-work was in vogue, is given in
a panel from Moreton Old Hall on Plate LXXVTI. The strap-
work is merely an ornamental border to the shield bearing tlie
family device, and is treated in the same way as that which sur-
rounds most of the shields on the tombs of the period. There

182. — Portion

OF Glazing

FROM Ightham

Church, Kknt.

LiUC, Vol. I., p. 182.

igS

HKKALDIC GLASS AT GILLING CASTLi:.

is a fair amount of sixteentli century glass to be found up and
down the country, l)ut it is mostly in small pieces, either saved
from thewreckof larger windows, or consisting of detached coats
of arms. The finest dispki}- of the later glass that has survived
is that in the dining-room of Gilling Castle, in Yorkshire,

183.— Glass Paski. from one of thf, Windows at Gilling Castlk, Yorkshirf; (1585).

where there are several large windows full of beautiful heraldic
glazing. Much of it was the work of a Dutchman, Bernard
Dininckhoff, who signs one of the panels with the date 1585
(Fig. 183). The hall of the Middle Temple also has some good
heraldic glass which is dated 1570. There were good English
glaziers both before and after Dininckhoff's time. At Hengrave
the old glass, dated 1567, was the work of Robert Wright,

Plate LXXVII.

GLASS panp:i. fkom moPvETon old hall, CHLSHIRE.

Plate LXXVIII.

PATTKRXS FKOM "A BOOKE OF SUNDRY DRAUGHTES

KV WALTKK GKDDE 1615).

DESIGN FOR GLAZING. 199

who was paid £^ for the " making of all the glasse wyndows
of the Manour-place, with the sodar, and for xiij. skutchens
with armes."* In the year 1615 one Walter Gedde published
a book of pattern glazing called " A Booke of Sundry Draughtes.
Principally serving for Glasiers ; And not Impertinent for
Plasterers and Gardiners: besides sundry other Professions.
Whereunto is annexed the manner how to anniel in Gias ;
And also the true forme of the Furnace, and the secretes
thereof," in which he gives 103 pages of designs for lead
glazing of varying merit, out of which four have been selected
for illustration on Plate LXXVIII. Few, if any, of these designs
have survived in actual execution ; such patterns as are still to
be found here and there are somewhat simpler in design. It
is mteresting to observe how Walter Gedde considered that his
patterns would be useful to plasterers for the groundwork of
their ceiling-designs, and to gardeners for the ornamental beds
and knot-work with which they embellished their gardens.

The finest examples of painted glass of the early part of the
sixteenth century are the splendid windows at King's College
Chapel, which were the work of Englishmen. There are also
portions of the beautiful glass from the ruined Chapel of the
Holy Ghost at Basingstoke, still preserved at the church of
Basingstoke, and at the Vyne ; and there are three windows in
the apse of the chapel of that house. In addition to these
examples, there are several windows at St. Neot's Church in
Cornwall, the character of which inclines more to the Perpen-
dicular than the Renaissance; there is the east window of St.
Margaret's, Westminster; and there are fragments at Balliol
and Queen's Colleges, Oxford, and at St. James's, Bury St.
Edmund's. + The ornament forming the background to the
figures in these windows is all similar in character to that
which adorns other work of the same period.

* History and Antiquities of H engrave, by John Gage.

t See The History 0/ Design in Painted Glass, by N. H. J. Westlake, 1894, in
which are numerous drawings of portions of the glass mentioned in tlie text.

R..\.

CHAPTER X.
MISCELLANEOUS WORK.

HOUSES IN STREETS, SCHOOLS, MARKET-HOUSES, &C.

The houses built in towns followed much the same lines as
those erected elsewhere in general treatment, but the plan was

of course restricted by
the situation of the
house, and by the fact
that it could not derive
light from the sides.
The fronts were often
constructed of wood
and plaster, and the
upper floors were cor-
belled out over those
beneath in the same
fashion as had been
customary for many
years. Owing to the
nature of their
materials most of these
houses have disap-
peared through fire or
decay. Others have
been swept away in the
improvements which
inevitably accompany
prosperity in a town ;
others have been
altered to suit the
changes and develop-
ment of trades. There
are not many examples, therefore, to be found except in out-of-

184. — House formeri.v in North Street, Exeter.

STREET FRONTS.

the-way places, or in districts of large towns from which the
main stream of business has been diverted. There are a few
examples in the older parts of Bristol and York, for instance, but
they have been much mutilated and altered. Some years ago
there was an unusually good specimen in North Street, Exeter
(Fig. 184), but it has now disappeared. Here the columns on
the storey above
the bays were
particularl}^
good both in pro-
portion and in
general effect,
and there was an
unusual amount
of richness be-
stowed upon the
carving of the
corbels and the
strings and cor-
nices. Towns
near the coast
seem to have
been richer in
houses of this
kind than those
further inlaud.
The Butter-
market at Dart-
mouth is a good
specimen ; the
first fioor is
carried on
columns, thus forming a covered walk ; the bay windows arc
supported by boldly-carved corbels fashioned, some like fabulous
animals, some like human figures. Ipswich has some excellent
examples of carved strings and beams ; it was customar\^ to
enrich the faces of the large beams which carried tlie {)r()jecting
storeys, and a considerable amount of fancy in design and
dexterity of execution were expended upon them. In the
eastern counties generally there is some capital work to be
foimd, both in wood and in modelled plaster. Cantcrl)ur\- has

0 2

IfiJ. — iioLSK IN IMK Hldll SlKKKT, CaNTKKHIHV.

202 tri:atment of street fronts.

a few remains, one of which, of somewhat late date, is shown
in Fig. 185. The general treatment of the windows on the
first floor is in accordance with Jacobean methods, but the
handling of the boldly-modelled plaster-work above them
points towards the latter half of the seventeenth century as the
time of its execution. Two of the objects aimed at in these
street fronts seem to have been to get plenty of light and to
introduce bay windows. In the example from Canterbury, the
whole front of the first floor is occupied with windows, and

186. — Olu House, High Town, Hkrei-oru

there are two bays introduced in the range which serve as large
corbels to the straight front above them. Another example,
from Oxford (Plate LXXIX.), also shows the whole front of
two floors occupied by window space. But this front is gabled,
and has one large bay window in the centre, which is covered
by a broken pediment embracing a kind of dormer, all enclosed
within the lines of the gable itself, which, however, has under-
gone some alteration since it was first erected. The difference
in the treatment of the arched lights in the several floors should
be noticed. Another variety is to be seen in a house in Strat-
ford-on-Avon (Plate LXXIX.), where the general disposition

PROCLAMATION AS TO TOWN HOUSES. 203

is rather simple, but all the woodwork is highly ornamented.
The main beams which carry the projecting storeys are carved
in the manner already mentioned as being prevalent at
Ipswich. Here, again, there is a bay window on the first floor
helping to carry the storey above it, and another projecting
window on the top floor, the upper corners of which are hidden
behind the barge-boards. The same general treatment is to be
seen in an old house in the High Town at Hereford (Fig. 186),
where the excellent effect is produced by very simple means.
The woodwork of the framing is all straight, but it is massive,
and not much less in width than the plaster panels. The upper
storey projects far enough to give good shadow, which is varied
by the shallow bays just beneath it. The gables have heavy
carved barge-boards, and in each of them is a bay window, the
top of which, unlike the example from Stratford, is free from
interference by the barge-board. The pendants between the
bays on the first floor are of the ordinary pierced pattern. In
considering these specimens from busy towns, it should be
remembered that they have all been more or less restored.

The fashion of building with timber on the narrow streets
of the time was felt to be dangerous, and in the year 1605 a
proclamation was made in London that the fore-front and
windows of all new houses within the city and one mile thereof
should be of brick or stone. The old houses, however, were
left until the great fire of 1666 swept them away: it was these
charming half-timbered dwellings which afforded the chief fuel
for that huge bonfire.

In Thorpe's book there are several plans drawn for "London
Houses." One (on page 18) is entitled "Three houses for the
city, or for a country house at 8 parts to the inch." It shows
a row of three houses, two of which have a frontage of 33 feet
each, while the third has 24. The plans are very rough and
unfinished, but they show alternative ways of providing the
accommodation. One house has a hall and kitchen on the
front, and a parlour, staircase and buttery at the back, while a
" vault" is contrived in the centre in a most insanitary manner.
The second has the hall and buttery to the front, the stairs at
one side, and the parlour and kitchen to the back. The third
(having only 24 feet of frontage) has merely an entrance passage
and kitchen to the front, and a parlour at the back, while the
staircase is opposite the front door — the plan being a forerunner

204

THORPli'S PLANS FOR TOWN HOUSES.

of the type wliich later became of universal adoption. The
second part of the title, indicating that the plan might be used
for a country house, is rather obscure, inasmuch as no redistri-
bution of names among the rooms shown could have converted
them into a workable plan for a single house. Another plan (on
pages 135, 136) is called a " London house of 3 breadths of
ordinary tenements." It has a frontage of 51 feet, thus giving

17 feet as the
breadth of an
ordinary tene-
ment. With such
a frontage, it is of
course a much
better house than
those already de-
scribed for the
cit}'. It was en-
tered at one end,
the entry commu-
nicating with a
narrow yard
which gave access
to the garden in
the rear. The
hall looked out
into the street, as
also did the par-
lour and buttery.
At the back were
the winter par-
lour, the kitchen,
and the stairs,
with the larder
under them. The
rooms were not
large, the parlour being 18 feet by 13 feet, and the winter parlour
15 feet b\- 12 feet: as usual, much space was occupied by the
large fireplaces. The first-fioor plan is not given, but on a
higher storey appears an open leaded terrace along the street
front,' behind which is a narrow and low gallery (only 5 feet to
the rafters) extending the whole length of the house, and again

1S7. — CoKBEi.s, ■• KiM.'s Arms, " Sandwich, Kk.nt.

THORPE'S PLANS FOR TOWN HOUSES.

205

behind that there are ''sundry lodginf^s for servants, etc."
There are no means of fixing the date of the plan, but it appears

188. — Corbel at Cantkkblkv.

l8g. — CORBKL AND PeNOANT AT CaNTKRBUKV.

to have been prepared for Sir Thomas Lake, who was clerk to
the signet in 1595, and a Secretary of State in 1616. If we are
to presume that a high official complied with
the proclamation as to houses being of stone
or brick, the date would be prior to 1605, for
although the ground floor is shown with stone
walls, those of the upper floor are only of wood
and plaster.

There is one other plan for a town house ; it
is called *' A London house, Lady Derby,
Channell Row " (page no). It is the plan of
a much finer house than any of the fore-
going, and as it is built round a courtyard,
there were no special difficulties in providing
light and air. It follows the usual type of large
houses, having a central entrance, from which
a flagged path leads across the court into the
screens of the hall. The staircases, chapel,
winter parlour, kitchen and other rooms are
grouped round the court in the ordinary way, the only differ-
ence being that those which cjccupy the sides of the court
have no windows on their outside walls, but only such as look
inwards into the court itself. The restrictions impcjsed by the

"9t

—Corbel, Orton
Watkrvili.k,
Hi:ntin(,i>on,siiiri;.

2o6

CORBELS CARRYING UPPER FLOORS.

fact of the house being a " London house " are therefore very
shght. The " Channell Row " where this house was built was
probably the street of that name in Westminster. These plans
of Thorpe's are of considerable interest, as they show the first
steps taken towards developing a plan suitable for the confined
spaces available in large towns.

Reverting to the smaller examples under consideration, we

find that a great
^ _^^. T" -^=™— =- .™,= variety was intro-

duced into the
corbels which
carried the projec-
ting floors; many
of them were
grotesques after
the fashion of that
on the " King's
Arms " at Sand-
wich, in Kent
(Fig. 187), others
were simpler, like
the examples from
Canterbury (Figs.
188, 189), while
others, like that
from Orton
Waterville, Hunt-
ingdonshire (Fig.
190), combined
both ideas. But
the characteristic
common to them
all is boldness,
both of size and treatment. They generally had a spiral about
them in one form or another, varied by foliage or projecting
bosses, or some variation of the strap-work motif. The great
corner-posts of such houses as formed the corner of a street were
often wrought with a remarkable amount of care. They were not
only of sufficient size to make suitable angle-posts, but they were
brought out at the top in a diagonal manner in order to support
the storey above, which overhung the lower one on both faces ;

-The '"Swan" Inn, Lechladk, Glolcestekshire.

STONE FRONTS.

207

an instance of this treatment may be seen in the example from
Sandwich (Fig. 187). In some places it was customary not only
to bring out the face of each storey beyond that of the one
below, but to bring the whole house out over the footwalk. The
Rows at Chester are a well-known example of this practice.
The Long Row on the great market-place of Nottingham is
another instance, but here the arcade has been almost entirely
re-built, one of the last specimens of a Jacobean front having
recently been removed in the course of making a new street.

In stone districts the local material was chiefly employed, and
all through the small towns and villages of Somerset, Wiltshire,
Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire charming
little examples, such as the "Swan" Inn at Lechlade (Fig. 191),
may be found here and there. The idea is of the simplest- — a
door in the middle, with a bay window on each side, crowned
with a gable. But the disposition of the small windows, the
treatment of the door, and the change from the canted side
of the bay to the square base of the gable afforded opportunities
for variety and for careful treatment sufficient to render these
minor examples well worth attention.

Makket-Hol'ses, Schools, Almshouses, &c.

Most ofthe work of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
which has come down
to us is to be found
in houses ; but there
are a certain number
of other buildings
left, such as town-
halls, market-houses,
schools, and alms-
houses. Of alms-
houses,or hospitals, as
they are often called,
there are some excel-
lentexamplesin man\-
parts of the country.
Ford's Hospital, in
Covenfrv built in "-'^' — '^'■•^'^ ■^' Ai.mshousk. Cohsham, Wii.rsHiKi:.

1529, is an extremely good specimen (jf Late Gothicwoodwork; St.

ioS

ALMSHOUSES.

193. — Ai.MsHoLSKS, Chii'I'ing Campden, Gloucestkkshikk.

John's Hospital, Rye, is another. The almshouses at Corsham,
in Wiltshire, are not only very picturesque outside, but con-
tain some capital
woodwork inside,
of which a read-
ing-desk IS illus-
trated in Fig. 192.
Another set,
equally substan-
tial and of greater
extent, is to be
found at Chipping
Campden, in
Gloucestershire
(Fig. 193). The
work in these
places is simple
and substantial ;
there is no display

194. — Makkkt-koisk, Sni<i:wsi;iRV. r j. „

01 ornament, un-
less perhaps over the entrance, where the donor would place his

TOWN-HALLS.

2og

arms with a certain amount of flourish, partly in carving, partly
in inscription ; there are no elaborate ceilings nor chimney-pieces,
but tables, desks, and chairs of careful design and workmanship

195. — MaRKKT-HOL'SF., \\^ \foMin,\M, .\(>l;jolK (ini .

have survived in places, and these simple buildings are often
valuable in affording examples of plain, unpretentious work.

There are not many town-halls of this period to be found.
Civic life did not express itself in concrete form in nearly so
pronounced a manner as, for instance, in the Low Countries

2IO MA KK1:T- HOUSES.

during the period under consideration, and as it is doing at home
at the present day. The most striking example of a town-hall
of the time is the picturesque Guildhall at Exeter, which
has a richly-ornamented front projecting over the pavement
and carried on arches. But there were a great many market-
houses built. The finest of these, so far as design and
workmanship go, is the well-known Market-house at Rothwell,
presented to the town about the year 1577 by a neighbouring
squire, Sir Thomas Tresham, but left unfinished owing to the
donor being harassed on account of his zeal as a Roman

i<j6. — Makkkt-housk, Chipping Campdkn, Glolcksi i;i<siiii<k.

Catholic. Like most market-houses, this building was to have
consisted of an open market-hall on the ground floor, with a
room over it. There is a good example on a larger scale at
Shrewsbury (Fig. 194), substantially built in stone, with mul-
lioned windows and an ornamental parapet. The ground floor
serves as a covered market, and the upper floor is carried
on open arches. At Wymondham, in Norfolk, is a smaller
specimen (dated 161 7), serving the same purposes, but it is
built of timber and plaster (Fig. 195). The upper floor stands
on stout posts and brackets, set some two feet within the
Outside face, and is approached by a quaint wooden staircase.

VILLAGE SCHOOLS.

There is a one-storey market-house at Chipping Campden
(Fig, ig6), built of stone, with arches on each side; the five
down the long side are supported on pillars, and have a gable
over every alternate arch, while the two at each end are divided
by a short length of wall and have a gable over each, thus
securing a pleasant variation of treatment : the detail through-
out is quite plain. There were also a few market and village
crosses erected at this time, but there are not many examples
to be found: one of the best is at Brigstock, in Northampton-
shire (Plate
LXXX.), where
its situation in
an open space,
and backed by
stone -built and
thatched cot-
tages, renders it a
quaint and plea-
sant feature. The
shields at the top
bear alternately
the royal arms
and Elizabeth's
initials, E. R.,
with the date
I5«6.

During the
reign of Edward

VI. a large ^')7- Sdiooi. at Bukton Latimek, Xukmiami'tonshire

numberof schools '^'

were founded, and there are numerous examples left of those
built during the next fifty years. There is a good specimen of
the late sort at Shrewsbury ; and of the smaller kind, such as
were founded in villages, that at Burton Latimer, in North-
amptonshire, is one of the quaintest (Fig. 197). Its features
are quite simple ; muUioned windows, on which are inscribed
the date 1622, and the names of donors or, as we should now
call them, subscribers; steep gables with linials at the foot;
the ordinary excellent chimney of the district, and a rather
elaborate doorway surmounted by a curved gable ; such arc
the means employed to produce this attractive little building,

A MILL AND

Of other kinds of buildings, which come under no class
because there were so few built, may be mentioned the pretty
little mill at Bourne Pond, near Colchester, and the Hawking-
tower in Althorp Park, Northamptonshire. The former
(Fig. 198) is built chiefly of flint, but mixed with the flint
are bricks, tiles, and stones. The stone embellishments are
somewhat elaborate and varied, and the curious curved and
broken outline of the gables points to the Low Countries as

the source of its
birth. The mill
is dated 1591, and
bears the arms of
its founder, who
was a citizen of
the adjacent town
of Colchester.
The Hawking-
tower at Althorp
is probably
unique (Fig. 199).
It was built by
Robert, Lord
Spencer, in 1612
and 1613, and is
said to have been
erected by him as
a token of grati-
tude for having
been raised to
the peerage ; but
if so, the acknow-
ledgment fol-
lowed the event at an interval of ten years. There is no
suggestion of the kind in the only inscription upon it,
which runs thus, "This Staninge was made by Robert Lord
Spencer 1612 et 1613." It not only bears the arms of Lord
Spencer, but also those of the sovereign, very cleverly modelled.
The plan (Fig. 200) comprises on the ground floor an entrance,
a room with a fireplace, and a staircase, which leads up to
the floor above, where the walls were pierced with a number
of arches, through which the spectators could watch the sport.

198.— Mil. I, AT BouHSE Pond, Colchester, Essex (1591).

A HAWKING-TOWER.

213

These arches have been built up in order to render the place
habitable, and one or two rooms have been added at the back

199.— Hawkino-towkk, Ai.thorp Park, Nohthamftonshirk (1O12 — 13)

with a like purpose, but a little care enables the orif^inal
arranfjjements to be made out with
tolerable certainty.

At Scole, in Norfolk, a very curious sur-
vival of the old classical motifs was to be
seen, till the end of the eighteenth century,
in a great sign erected in 1655 for the
" White Hart "' Inn (Fig. 201). The hart
itself lies couchant on the middle of the
main beam, beneath a pediment sup-
ported by Justice and Plenty, two quali-
ties for which the h(jst may be excused
if he considered his h(^use noted. On one side (jf the: centre-piece
stands .Actfeon, about to be tcjrn in pieces b\- his dogs, to whom

2(K). — Ha\vkin<;-towkk,
Ai.THoKi' Park, Northamt-

TONSHIRK (161^ — 13).

214

A SIGN OF AN INN.

201. — The Sign of thk "White Hart" Inn, formerly at Scole, Norfolk (1655).

he is supposed to be addressing the Latin legend beneath
him : " I am Actaeon, know your master." On the other side
stands Diana, and beyond her is Time, about to devour his child,
beginning with its hand ; beneath him his identity is made quite
clear by the sentence " Tempus edax rerum," In the frieze
below the beam are two figures representing (probably) Bacchus
and Gambrinus, supported on either side by coats of arms.
Angels and lions hold further coats of arms. There is Cerberus
with his three heads, while numerous bunches of grapes, men
blowing horns, and other devices suitable to the purpose occupy
the rest of the space. The whole design might have come
from the fertile brain of George Gascoigne, who was responsible
for most of the entertainments at Kenilworth when Queen
Elizabeth paid her celebrated visit there nearly eighty years
before this sign was erected. The fundamental idea which
underlay all design of the time was to combine strong classic
feeling with picturesqueness of expression.

CHURCHES STILL ESSENTIALLY GOTHIC.

215

Work in Churche?.

It has already been stated that there is no ecclesiastical
architecture of early Renaissance character in England. There

202>— ClIICHKSTKK ToMIl, I'lLTON ChuKCH, Dk\()N.SIII RK (1566).

were a number of churches built diu-ing the first thirty years
of the sixteenth century, but they are all Gothic in treatment.
The intluence of the Renaissance on certain features to be
found in churches, such as chantries and tombs, has already
been dealt with. It remains to glance at the changes that

K.A. V

2l6

EMBELLISHMENT OF CHURCHES.

occurred in church fittinj^'s as the century grew older. Although
no churches, or extremely few, were built after the Dissolution
of the Monasteries, still the Elizabethan and Jacobean squires
were not backward in embellishing the ancient structures, and
there are plenty of screens, pulpits, font-covers, and particularly
tombs, to be found all over the country, although it cannot be
denied that under the influence of the revival of Gothic feeling
which took place about fifty years ago, a great deal of Eliza-
bethan and Jacobean work was either destroyed, or removed
to the vestry, into which confined space it was made to fit by
a ruthless exercise of the axe and saw.

203.— From one of the Foljambe Tombs, Chesterfield Church, Derbyshire (1592).

The progress of style in tombs has already been traced to a
certain extent in dealing with the early stages of the Renaissance
movement. It has been shown how the old idea of the altar
tomb, with recumbent figures, lingered on till quite late in the
sixteenth century. In the closing years, however, it became
fashionable to place the figure, still recumbent, beneath an
arched canopy, upon which was lavished an extraordinary
amount of ornament. The arch itself was coffered and adorned
with bosses and stiff flowers of various kinds. It was flanked
with columns which carried an entablature, above which again
rose a superstructure displaying the family arms, and so designed
that with its supporting obelisks and detached figures it formed
a more or less pyramidal finish. The back of the tomb

ARCHED CANOPIES OF TOMBS.

217

above the figures, and enclosed by the arch, was usually
occupied by a tablet setting forth the name and qualities of the
defunct person, together with his alliances, if they were thought
at all worthy of
record ; and round
this tablet was a
frame of strap- work
of intricate design
filling up the re-
mainder of the
space, and decked
with all manner of
delicate ribbons
and garlands. In
every suitable
place appeared the
arms of the chief
person concerned,
or those of his wife,
or some notable
family to which
they were allied.
The whole monu-
ment was brightly
coloured, where the
use of different
kinds of marble did
not render such
embellishment un-
necessary, and the
effect was striking
in the extreme.
The nobleman and
the squire of Eli;ia-
beth's days had
each a very high
opinion of his family, and of his own importance in the scheme of
the universe, and nothing would have pleased him better than to
see the monument under which he was buried. Some of these
great tombs are pretentious in idea and poor in design, but some
of them are full of delightful detail, consistent in scale, varied in

r 2

204. — loMii OK G. KkbI) (1). 1610), Hkkdon Chukih,

WuKCKSTKKSHIKK.

2l8

DETAIL I-N TOMBS.

treatment, and beautifully modelled. There is a good example
in the Chichester tomb at North Pilton, in Devonshire (Fig. 202),
which departs from the usual arched type, and which, if it were
erected soon after the death of those whom it commemorates,
in 1566, is quite an early example of the use of strap-work.
The detail of this monument, shown on Plate LXXXL, is
of unusual delicacy, and the elaborate frame which encloses

the black marble
panel is handled
with a delicacy
and lightness of
touch too seldom
met with. The
Foljambe tombs
in Chesterfield
Church, Derby-
shire, are treated
with considerable
originality. One
of them (dated
1592) is in the
form of a sar-
cophagus, and is
adorned with
beautifully model-
led carving (Fig,
203). These ex-
amples are of un-
usual excellence.
The tomb in
Bredon Church
(Fig. 204) to G.
Reed, who died
in 1610, and that in the Spencer aisle at Yarnton (Fig. 205) to
Sir William Spencer, who died in 1609, are specimens of the
ordinary treatment of arched monuments. As time went on
this kind of tomb became much coarser in design. The detail
was less refined, and the recumbent figures were placed no
longer in a simple and dignified attitude, with faces turned
towards the sky and with hands folded in the attitude of
prayer; but they were placed awkwardly on their sides, leaning

205. — Tomb of Sik Wm. Spencer (u. 1609), Yarnton
Church, Oxfordshire.

riLTON CHURCH. NORTH DKVOX.

DKTAII. OK THE CHICHESTKR TOMB.

Plate LXXXII.

SCREEN AT TILNEY ALL SAINTS, NORFOLK (1618).

TREATMENT OF SCREENS.

219

on their elbows, sometimes lodged in precarious positions on
a kind of shelf, sometimes with cheek resting on the hand, as
though, in the words of Bosola in the Duchess of Malfi, " they
had died of the toothache." All dignity and romance were
eliminated from the work, and the Jacobean squire appeared
in death what he frequently was in life — a very commonplace
creature.

There were
many screens
erected during
the early years of
the seventeenth
century. The
finest specimens
are at St. John's
Church, Leeds,
and at Croscombe
in Somerset, near
Wells, in both of
which churches
most of the wood-
work is of this
period, including
the excellent oak
seats. The
general effect of
the richly orna-
mented wood-
work at C r o s-
combe, including
the pews, the pul-
pit, and the lofty
screen, is unusu-
ally striking. l>ut in many ciiurchcs in different parts of
the country screens may be found of more or less impor-
tance. A good example is illustrated from Tilney All Saints,
in Norfolk, near King's Lynn (Plate LXXXIL), which bears
the date 1618 in a little panel over tiie central arch. The
design, it will be seen, is somewhat unconstructional, for
the main posts of the lower part are not carried up to
support the crowning cornice, but teruiinatc in obelisks.

206. — Flmit, Worth Cmlk( ii, Slsskx (1577).

TREATMENT OF PULPITS

leaving the cornice to be carried by turned balusters; the
effect being to render the upper part rather insecure in
appearance. There is a screen at Stonegrave, in Yorkshire,
of simple but rather unusual design, in which the detail
is very carefully managed. Although it is dated 1637, its
general character places it in the category of Jacobean work.

Of pulpits there
were a large number
erected in Eliza-
beth's time, and still
more in King James's,
for in the canons of
1603 a pulpit was
ordered to be placed
in every church not
previously provided
with one. Many of
these have disap-
peared, through de-
cay or the fury of
Gothic restoration,
but there are still
plenty left, of which
several types are illus-
trated. There is the
elaborate one at
Worth Church, in
Sussex, dated 1577,
built up with columns
at the angles. The
faces are occupied
by niches containing
figures of the Evan-
gelists (Fig. 206), and
the frieze above bears an inscription- in the Dutch language.
On the panels between the pilasters of the lower stage is
some of the applied carving, previously referred to in treating
of panelling.

There is a simpler form from Blythborough, in Suffolk
(Fig. 207), which consists of panelling fram.ed together, all the
framework and the panels themselves being covered with

207. — Pulpit, Blvthborough Church, Suffolk.

Plate LXXXIll.

EDirjcroN Church

Drawing or THE Pulpit.

F.LtVATIO!<j n"~n^|

7 ill I fr^^ ^ 'ft , iEJ

3.}a,''i\

LifllJixL

fanel Mould.

PULPIT, EDINGTON CHURCH, \Vn.TSHH<E.

AND OF FONT-COVERS.

carving in low relief. The widelj'-projecting bookboard is also
ornamented on the underside, and is supported by large carved
brackets. The pulpit stands on four short posts let into a wood
sill and supported by brackets. Another type is to be seen in
Edington Church, Wiltshire (Plate LXXXIIL), of simple and
elegant design. The octagonal body of the pulpit consists of
plain moulded panelling without ornament ; the bookboard
forms a cornice,
which is slightly en-
riched with dentils
and carving. The
whole stands on a
single turned stout
post, from the upper
part of wliich spring
brackets of simple
form. There is a
panelled sounding-
board with a carved
frieze and an acorn
drop at each angle.
The whole work ex-
hibits unusual re-
straints and refine-
ment both of design
and detail. Of some-
what similar type,
but rather more florid
in detail, and pro-
bably later in date, is
the pulpit at Ches-
terfield Church (Fig.
208).

JlX). — I'll. Ill, Cni;.STKKHKI,l) ClIUKCH, DkKHYSHIKK.

Font-covers of the seventeenth century are also fairly
numerous, and a few of them still retain the elaborate bracket
from which they were suspended in order to be raised or
lowered with little trouble. There is a good specimen of such
a bracket at Pilton Church, in North Devon (Fig. 209), of
which, however, the upper part, above the tilted hood, is of
later date and coarser design : and there is a still finer example
at Astbury Church, near Congleton, in Cheshire.

CHARACTER OF WINDOW TRACERY.

Of the very few churches which were built during the
century that succeeded the Dissolution of the Monasteries,
the most important was St. John's Church at Leeds.
There is nothing particularly striking in the treatment if
we except the beautiful wood fittings. The plan consists of a

double nave, divided
by an arcade, and the
stonework details are
plain in character
and of no great in-
terest. It might have
been expected that
window tracery would
afford opportunities
to the ingenious
masons of the time ;
but either they clung
to the old traditions,
as did the masons
employed by Nicholas
Wadham on the
c hapel of his college at
Oxford, where in the
>ears 1610 — 13, they
produced windows of
excellent Perpendi-
cular character : or
else they tried in a
half-hearted kind of
way to give to the
tracery forms in keep-
ing with those used
elsewhere. Such an
attempt was made in
the church of Kelmarsh, in Northamptonshire (Fig. 210), but it
had not much to recommend it, nor were other efforts — in the hall
at Wadham and a few other places — of such singular success
as to lead further in this direction ; and the call for church
windows being very limited, no development worth mentioning
occurred. The most noteworthy attempt to give a new cha-
racter to window tracery was made in later years (subsequent

209. — Font Canofv, Pilton Chlkch, Ukvonshire.

SURVIVAL OF ANCIENT FORMS.

223

to 1634) at the chapel at Burford Priory, Oxfordshire, where

tracery founded on ancient precedents, but following lines of

its own, was surrounded by a

fully-developed classic arciii-

trave. Elizabethan and

Jacobean detail lingered on

in out-of-the-way places long

into the seventeenth century,

and at Compton Winyates, in

Warwickshire, the church,

which was rebuilt in 1663,

has some quaint little bits of

stone detail (Fig. 211), in

which the old forms have not

yet been replaced by the more

strictly classic features which

were being more and more

generally employed.

Another instance of the

survival of ancient forms is to

be seen in the woodwork in

the chapel at Peterhouse,

Cambridge (Fig. 212), where

Jacobean balusters of elegant

contour surmount panels treated in the Gothic manner and

finished at tiie top with cusping and foliated spandrils. The

date of this door is about
1632.

There are not many speci-
mens of ornamental plaster
ceilings to be found in
churches, but at Axbridge,
in Somerset, there is such
an instance in the nave,
where the ceiling is in the
form of a pointed barrel
vault, with plaster ribs
springing from a cornice
adorned with strap - work.

The ribs f(jrm a simple pattern consisting mostly of squares

of different sizes, and there are large Jacobean pendants and

210. — Window, Kki.maksh Chukch,
Northampton SHIRK.

211. — i-rom c.'omi'ton wlnvatks chur(h,
Warwickshirk.

224

TEXTS ON CHURCH WALLS.

bosses at intervals; but out of deference to ecclesiastical tradi-
tion, the square panels are ornamented with cusps, which give

to the whole de-
sign a rather feeble
flavour of Gothic ;
of its kind, how-
ever, it is an in-
teresting ceiling,
and is one among
many indications
of the attention
bestowed upon
churches during
the early years of
the Reformation.
Another indica-
tion is the fre-
quent presence of
texts upon the
walls. They are
generally sur-
rounded with an
xiJiNi ornamental strap-
nfi\ work border, such
as roused the ad-
miration of the
narrator of an
entertainment at
Antwerp in
honour of the
Duke of Anjou in
1581, when he
commended the
"compartments of
Phrygian work,
very artificially
handled." These
texts seem to have had their origin from a singular circum-
stance. Queen Elizabeth attended service at St. Paul's on
New Year's Day, 1561, and the Dean, thinking to present her
with an acceptable New Year's gift, caused a number of

212. — DOOK IN THE ScREKN OF THK ChAPEL, PeTERHOUSE

Cambridge (cir. 1632).

THEIR PROBABLE ORIGIN. 225

beautiful pictures representing the stories of the saints and
martyrs to be handsomely bound in a Book of Common Prayer,
which he laid upon the Queen's cushion. On opening it, how-
ever, she frowned and blushed, and calling the verger to her,
caused him to bring the old prayer-book which she had been
accustomed to use. At the close of the service she gave the
Dean a very uncomfortable quarter of an hour, for having thus
gone counter to her proclamation against " images, pictures,
and Romish reliques." He excused himself, according to the
account, like a lectured schoolboy, and promised that nothing
of the kind should occur again. In consequence of this incident
there was a general searching of all the churches in and about
London, and the clergy and churchwardens " washed out of the
walls all paintings that seemed to be Romish and idolatrous,"
and wrote up " in lieu thereof, suitable texts taken out of the
Holy Scriptures."

CHAPTER XL

SIXTEENTH CENTURY HOUSE - PLANNING AS
ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN THORPE'S DRAWINGS.

One of the most valuable sources for obtaining knowledge
of the house-planning of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.
is the collection of drawings in the Soane Museum, known as
John Thorpe's. This collection has given rise to a certain
amount of controversy, and will probably give rise to more,
for there are so many objections to any theory which can be
advanced as to its origin and use. This is not the place to
enter upon the arguments for or against any particular view ;
but as it may be advisable to adopt some kind of working
hypothesis, that which best fits the facts seems to be this — that
the drawings were drawn in a large book (with the exception
of some few which were stuck in), and that by far the greatest
number, if not actually all, were drawn by John Thorpe.* There
were two men of this name, father and son, and both may have
had a hand in it. But whether this hypothesis be accepted or
not, it is certain that all the drawings were made during the
closing years of the sixteenth centur\- or the opening years
of the seventeenth, and that they represent either surveys of
buildings then existing, or designs for new ones, or exercises in
ingenuity of planning. Whatever else we may or may not have,
we have here the Elizabethan and Jacobean ideas of what houses
were or ought to be, what accommodation they should contain,
and how it should be disposed. In this respect the collection
is particularly valuable, because we get everything at first hand ;
we see some designs in course of development, and others as
they were finished, and entirely free from the manifold altera-
tions which houses themselves have necessarily undergone in
the course of three centuries. We also get in the elevations,
or " uprights " as they were then called, the designer's ideas of
how the houses were to appear ; but in this respect we do not

* The arguments in support of this view are given in a paper by the author,
published in the Architectural Review of February, 1899.

THORPE'S STUDIES FROM FRENCH BOOKS.

227

fare, so well as with the plans,
since the number of elevations
is far smaller.

There are, further, a few
drawings which may be re-
garded as studies — studies in
perspective, in the five orders,
and in the style of foreign
architects. For there is no
doubt that Thorpe studied
books on architecture, both
Italian, French,
and Dutch, of
which a consider-
able number had
been published
during the latter
half of the six-
teenth century.
His exercise in
the five orders is
evidently drawn
from an Italian
publication,
which, however,
has not yet been
identified. He
has copied at least three designs
from a French source, one of
Androuet du Cerceau's books,
" Lcs plus cxcellents basti-
ments de France," published
in 1576 — 79. One of these
designs is the Chateau of
Anssi-le-I'"ranc, of which he
gives the plan on page 75, and
part of the elevation on page
76. The plan is copied accu-
rately except in one or two
trifling particulars, and so also
is the elevation (Fi^s. 2ij, 214);

^'jK

215. — Thk Chatkai- of Anssi-i.k-Fkanc,

COPIKI) KKOM l)V CkI« F.AU (I'AGK 75 OK

Thori'k's Hook).

but to the latter he has

228

THORPE'S STUDIES FROM FRENCH

added three sketches of turrets, which do not appear in the
original, and which are designed in the Dutch rather than the
French style. On each side of the plan he has sketched in
pencil the main lines of another plan founded on the original,

. ^ but which looks

as though it were
meant to be
adapted to Eng-
lish uses. An-
other plan which
he copied from
Uu Cerceau (on
pages ^T, 78) is
the Chateau de
Madrit in the
Bois de Bou-
logne. This is,
with one little
exception, line
for line
like the
original,
but, curiously
enough, here
again he has
made notes in
pencil indicating
how he would
have adapted it
f o r English
habi ts. The
third instance
is part of the
plan and ele-
vation of the
" theatre " at Saint Germain (on pages 165, 166).

Thorpe was also a student of Dutch publications. On page 24
he has a design entitled " i a front or a garden syde for a noble
man" (Fig. 215), of which the central portion is copied from
Plate 20 of Jan Vredeman de Vries's " Architectura, ou Basti-
ment prins de Vitruve," published at Antwerp in 1577. He

r(<£ tJi/i^

214. — The Chateau of Anssi-le-Franc copied from Dl"
Cerceau, hut with three Turrets added (page 76 of
Thorpe's Book).

AND DUTCH BOOKS.

229

has departed from the original in one or two small particulars ;
for instance, he has four-light windows where Vries has two-
light ; he has mullions to his dormers where Vries has none ;
he has added the final flourishes and pinnacle on the top of the
centre gable which Vries leav^es plain, and his treatment of the
windows over the middle arch is different from Vries's ; but with

J. A ■/r-'t- ■<■ •» Y^^'-Jy'^ T"' *

215. — IvI.KVATION COPIKIJ FROM De V'rIKS. ThK CkNTKAI, HoKTION IS COl'lKl) ; AI.I. TO
THK I.KFT OF THK ARCADE IS ADDED BY ThoRI'K (I'AGK 24).

these exceptions the original is followed faithfully as far as to
the end of the arcade, to the left of which the design is Thorpe's
own. Thorpe has written on the panel over the entrance
" Structum ad impensum Dni Sara A" Dni 1600." This is the
only drawing of his which has been traced to Dutch sources,
but nearly all his elevations, of which a few are illustrated in
this chapter, show some hankering after Dutch forms in the
gables. On page 60 of his book he has a few sketches, chiefly

230 FRENCH AND DUTCH INFLUENCE ON THORPE'S DESIGNS.

of strap-work gables, which look as though they had been
either copied from a Dutch book or inspired by one.

This study of foreign books by one of the designers of the
period is a noteworthy fact, and it is equally worthy of note
that the study of them seems to have set him thinking, and to
have suggested ideas to him, which he jotted down in pencil
near the copies which he made from the foreign books. These
are not the only instances of this habit, for in other parts of his
book are to be seen, by the side of carefully finished plans, hasty
sketches of some variation of the same main ideas. Of the
foreign books which he studied, some, therefore, were Italian,
some were French, and others Dutch : and it is curious to see
how the French books seem to have influenced his plans, and
the Dutch books his elevations. The French influence on those
plans which, so far as we know, were actually carried out, was
not strong ; but among the plans which may be classed as
exercises, are some with towers at the corners, after the manner
of those at Chambord, Chenonceau, and Azay-le-Rideau, and
a number with square turrets such as those of the Chateau de
Madrit. He may also have derived from the same sources his
extreme love of symmetry, and his adoption of the grand
manner apparent in some of his designs planned round a court-
yard. These French books may, therefore, have influenced his
style, but they did not dominate him so much as to cause him
to cop3' the French type of plan in designing an English house.
The same may be said of the Dutch influence on his elevations.
Only in the one instance already mentioned did he embody
a whole piece of Dutch design into one of his own. But in his
chimneys, his strap-work gables, and his turrets or lanterns he
drew from Dutch sources. And there are two points to notice in
this connection — one is that the strap-work gable occurs much
oftener in his drawings than in houses actually built ; the other
is that had these gables been adopted as freely as the eleva-
tions would indicate, the houses would have been more Dutch
than the Dutchmen's own buildings, for in the latter the stepped
gable is far more frequent than strap-work, and produces an
entirely different effect.

Let us, however, turn from these speculations to the drawings
which compose the great bulk of the book — namely, the plans
and (in some cases) elevations which show what kind of building
an English house was intended to be, and which ought to be

Plate LXXXIV.

/</-"i^**

1. Hall.

2. Vestibule.

3. Parlour.

4. Lodging.

" SIR JARVIS CLIFTON'S HOUSE."

(pages 65, 66.)

5. Grand Staircase.

6. Chapel.

7. Buttery.

8. Butler's Room.

g. Back Stairs.

10. Lodging.

11. Kitchen.

12. Dry Larder,

13. Wet Larder.

14. Bakehouse.

15. Open Arcade.

16. Gatehouse,

SIR JAKVIS CLIFTON'S HOUSE. 231

compared with the examples already given in Chapter III.
The type of plan made familiar in those examples is the type
on which nine-tenths of Thorpe's plans are based. The hall is
the centre of household life, the parlour and family rooms are
at one end of it, the kitchen and servants' rooms are at the
other. But he has a certain number of plans in which the
hall shows more or less signs of becoming an entrance rather
than a living-room ; the following examples show how the old
type gradually changed into the new.

The first plan of the series (Plate LXXXIV.) is named " Sir
Jarvis Clifton's House." It shows a large symmetrical house
with a forecourt entered through an imposing gate-house fur-
nished with a turret at each corner. Directly opposite to this
lodge is the porch of the house, which gives access in the usual
way to the screens, and thence into the hall, with its dais shown
at the upper end. The bay window at the end of the dais leads
into a large vestibule from which the great staircase and the
parlour are approached ; beyond the parlour, at the corner of
the building, is an isolated room marked " lodging" {i.e., bed-
room). The left-hand wing is occupied by the chapel, which is
approached through a vestibule leading out from the foot of the
great staircase. This completes the accommodation for the
family so far as the ground floor is concerned. On the other
side of the hall are the servants' rooms : first, two for the butler
with a staircase to the cellar ; then a large vestibule (with a
servants" staircase), which leads to another "lodging"; to the
kitchen, with a fine bay window and two fireplaces, one large
and one small, each having a little oven close to it ; and to the
dr\' larder : beyond the kitchen is the wet larder, and beyond
this is the rest of the servants' department, of which the bake-
house occupies a wing balancing the chapel wing. The mouths
of the two ovens of the bakehouse are shown, but the paper was
too small to allow their full extent to be indicated. There is no
upper plan, but from notes on this one it seems that the long
gallery was over the arcade at the back of the hall, and that the
great chamber was over the parlour and its vestibule. There
is an arcade on either side of the front porcii, and another
between the wings on the opposite side of the house. It is
worthy of note that although the front and back facades are
of different lengths, each of them is symmetrical in itself. This
variation is the result of considerable ingenuit\' in planning.

K.A. u

232

AN UN-NAMED PLAN.

=7_=-zr=zf^ H

216. — An Un-named Plan (packs 117, iiS

1. Hall. 5. Buttery. 9. Pastry.

2. Principal Stairs. 6. Winter Parlour. :o. Inner Court.

3. Parlour 7. Back Stairs. n. Open Arcade.

4. Lodging 8. Kitchen. 12. Outer Court.

THE TRADITIONAL PLAN MAINTAINED. 233

The whole plan is worth attention as a specimen of the usual
type treated in a broad and dignified manner.

The Cliftons had been seated at Clifton, near Nottingham, for
some time prior to the reign of James I.; the family still resides
there, but there is nothing in the existing house to connect it
with this plan of Thorpe's. Sir Gervase Clifton lived from 1586
to 1666, and was created a baronet in the year 1612. This plan
must therefore have been drawn subsequent to that year, as it
is entitled " Sir Jarvis Clifton's." There is nothing to show
whether it is an original design or a survey of an existing house :
the clean way in which it is drawn points to the latter assump-
tion ; but if it is an original design it is interesting as showing
at what a late date the old type of plan was still employed.

The next plan (Fig. 216) has no title. It shows a house
with a courtyard in front and two long wings at the back,
forming a nearly square block. The arrangement follows the
established lines : a porch leads into the screens and thence
into the hall, which again has the dais indicated. Owing to
the exigencies of the external treatment, the bay window is not
placed at the end of the dais. A door between the latter and
the fireplace leads into a vestibule with the chief staircase in it ;
beyond is the parlour, with a bay window looking into a small
courtyard, and beyond the parlour is another room. On the
servants' side is the buttery with its stairs, and then the winter
parlour, of which the bay window balances that of the hall.
A vestibule containing the back staircase separates these rooms
from the kitchen, which has a bay window looking straight
across at the bay of the parlour ; beyond the kitchen are two
rooms, the first of which is probably a larder, while the other is
certainly, on account of the ovens, either the bakehouse or
" the pastry." There is an arcade at the back of the front
wing, occupying one side of the inner court. The fourth side
of this court is enclosed by a wall, but the draughtsman has
indicated it in two separate positions, thus making it appear as
though there were a solid wing on this side. In this plan,
also, the only indication of the upper floor is given in the
note written on the hall, " Great chamber over this to y""
Skryne " (screen).

The plan shown in Plate LXXXV. has no title, but it has
the advantage of ha\ing every room named ; and its elevation
is also drawn, which was not the case in either of the two

y 2

234 RKMARKABLE CONFECTION KRY.

preceding examples. The plan follows the familiar lines ; it
has a long narrow body, and at each end a long narrow wing at
right angles to it, with a staircase turret at the internal angles.
The porch and screens are in the usual relation to the hall,
beyond which are the parlour and two "lodgings," each of
which has a small inner room attached. The first of these
lodgings is a thoroughfare room, but there is an external door
in the passage connecting the two, which enables the hall to be
gained bv crossing the court, thus affording an alternative route
of a kind. On the servants' side of the house are the buttery,
the pantry, the winter parlour, the larder, kitchen, bolting-
house, and pastry. The kitchen has the usual small oven ; the
pastry has the invariable two, one somewhat larger than the
other. The two wings are treated symmetrically on the
principal sides (towards the court), one incidental result being
that the pastry gets vastly more light than the kitchen. It has
already been suggested that the winter parlour was placed on
the servants' side in order to be near the kitchen. The bolting-
house was the room where the meal was bolted, that is, sifted.
The " pastry " was, as its name implies, the room in which were
made pies, " cates," confectionery, and the "pretty little tiny
kickshaws" which Justice Shallow ordered when he was fur-
nishing his table for the entertainment of Sir John Falstaff.
The housewives of the time were accomplished in the making
of such dainties. The narrator of the Progress of James I. in
1603 remarks upon the delicate fare provided by Sir Anthony
Mildmay at Apethorpe, rendered "more delicate by the art
that made it seem beauteous to the eye ; the Lady of the house
being one of the most excellent Confectioners in England, though
I confess many honourable women very expert." When Queen
Elizabeth was entertained at Elvetham by the Earl of Hertford
in 1591, a banquet was served in the evening "into the lower
gallery in the garden," when a thousand dishes were served by
two hundred gentlemen, with the light of a hundred torches,
and among the more notable dishes were some tours de force in
sugar-work, representing the royal arms, the arms of all the
nobility, figures of men and women, castles and forts, all kinds
of animals, all kinds of birds, reptiles and "all kind of worms,"
mermaids, whales, and " all sorts of fishes " : all these, we are
told, were standing dishes of sugar-work. It is not suggested
that the lady of the house herself produced these masterpieces ;

Plate LXXXV.

, i ^ .?..^:^ .s...fi:

UNNAMED PLAN AND KI.ICVATION.

(pages 89, 90.)

Plate I.XXXVI.

SIR W^'- HASERIDGE."

(paces 147, 148,)

Hall.

Inner Room.

II.

Survaying Place.

Parlour.

Huttery.

12.

Kitchen.

Principal Stairs.

Lodging.

Dry Larder (Wet under)

N'estibulc.

Winter Parlour.

14.

Pastry.

[-odgiriK

If.

Hack Stairs.

15-

Courtyard.

PICTURESQUENESS IN THE ELEVATION. 235

but ladies were certainly skilful in the making of cakes, and it
was a recommendation in actual life, as well as in one of the
plays of the time, that the heroine could " do well in the pastry."

The elevation is treated, on the whole, in a quiet and dignified
manner, but the handling of it from the parapets upwards shows
a determination to obtain that picturesqueness of outline which
was considered essential. The means to this end are curved
gables, quaint pinnacles, and rather elaborate lanterns, of which
there are two alternative designs provided, as there are also of
the small gables or dormers on the parapet. The type of chimney
shown is one of the more reasonable which were employed.

The plan on Plate LXXXVI. shows a slight variation of the
usual type, inasmuch as the wings, instead of being narrow and
only one room thick, are two rooms thick. In other respects it
follows the familiar lines. On one side is the hall with its dais
and bay window ; then the grand staircase and a vestibule giving
access to the parlour and a group of two lodgings, the remainder
of the wing being occupied by a room which — if the ovens are
anything but a repetition of those in the corresponding wing —
must be the bakehouse. On the other side of the house are
the buttery, a lodging, the winter parlour, the back stairs and
vestibule, the kitchen, dry larder, and pastry ; the wet larder,
according to a note, is under the dry. There is no arcade here.
This plan is entitled " Sir \Vm. Haseridge," and the upright
(as the elevation was called) has on it the initials D. H. and the
date 1606 (Plate LXXXVI I.). This is important, as it shows
that at that time the old relation of the hall to the rest of the house
was still retained. This house, in spite of its title, has not been
identified with any existing building. A family of the name of
Haselrigge has lived at Noseley, in Leicestershire, since early in
the fifteenth centur}', but the existing house has nothing in
common with this plan. The elevation is treated in a simple
manner, with very few foreign flourishes.

In the next example (Figs. 217, 218, 219) we ha\e j^round plan,
upper plan, and elevation : a valuable example, inasmuch as
it is one of the few cases in which all three drawings are
given ; the upper j^lan is interesting, as it shows the position
of the two chief rooius, the galler\' and great chamber. The
disposition oi the grotmd floor conforms to the usual t}pe, but
is varied so as to enclose a small central court, somewhat after
the fashion of Harlbcjrough (I'ig. 49) ; but here all the principal

2i6

A VALUAHLK EXAMPLE.

rooms are on one floor, whereas at Barlborough the kitchens
are in the basement. The accommodation here comprises the
hall, grand staircase, and parlour on the one side, and buttery,
winter parlour, back stairs, and kitchen on the other. There
is a vestibule to the kitchen, which probably would have been

217. — An Un-named Ground Pi.an (pages 217, 21?

1. Hall.

2. Principal Stairs.

3. Parlour.

4. Inner Room.

5. Buttery.

6. Winter Parlour.

7. Back Stairs.

8. Survaying Place (?).

9. Kitchen.

10. Inner Court.

called the " survaying place " had it been named, similar rooms

being so designated in Figs. 224, 226. The use of the survaying

place is not anywhere explained, but most likely it was a serving

room, where the dishes were overlooked before being taken to

the hall or the winter parlour. There is a staircase from the

kitchen which presumably led down to the larders, pantries,

* In order to bring this plan within the limits of the page, the terrace walls on
either side have been brought nearer to the house than they are on the original
drawing.

SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS.

237

and other subsidiary rooms. The manner in which the middle
bay window on the kitchen side serves to hght the vestibule
and the back stairs (through a borrowed light) should be noticed
as an instance of the subordination of the plan to the uniformity
of the exterior. Here, for the first time, occurs an example of
the use of sanitary conveniences : it will be seen that neither
downstairs nor up are they placed in a manner that would be

21H.— Ui'i'KK Plan ok I'k;. 217 (i-a(;ks 217, 21H).

11. Great ChainbcT. 14,14. Hedrooiiis.

12. Principal Stairs. 15. Back Stairs.

13. Gallery. 16. Inner Court.

tolerated at the present day. Nor indeed were the\' arranged
at this {)criod with anything like the same attention to isolation
and means of ventilation which was bestowed upon such places
in mediaval times. The central court is shown with a room
and staircase projecting into it, but this excrescc:nce was very
wisclv crossed out, for the court was small enough without it,
and couUl never have been either cheerful or contlucive to health.
The upper plan shows the long galler}-, 80 feet long b\- 20 feet wide.

23«

UPPER FLOOR PLAN.

and the great chamber, 45 feet long by 23 feet wide. To these two
rooms nearly the whole space is sacrificed, there being in addi-
tion only two fair-sized bedrooms and two smaller apartments,
besides those which may have been contrived in the roof. Both
the gallery, the great chamber, and the parlour are shown with
an inner porch, such as occurs at Sizergh Castle (Fig. 148), and at
Broughton Castle, in Oxfordshire (Plate LL), Bradfield, in Devon-
shire, and a few other houses. The elevation (Fig. 219) resembles
that on Plate LXXXV. It is treated in a simple and unostenta-
tious way, but the most is made of such features as the bay

219. — Elkvation of Figs. 217, 218.

windows, chimney-stacks, and gables. The latter have the curly
outline which is prevalent in the Thorpe collection, but which, as
already said, does not appear in the same proportion among such
of the actual buildings of the time as have survived. The front
chimneys are of the same pattern as those on Plate LXXXV.

The foregoing examples are a few out of a great number
which conform to the traditional arrangement of the hall. The
vast majority of the plans follow this type, but there are some,
which we will now proceed to consider, in which the hall
receives a different treatment, thus indicating that important
change which resulted in its becoming a place of entrance

INTRODUCTION OF DINING-PARLOUK

239

instead of what it had been for four centuries — the centre of
household Hfe.

On some of these plans the room which is usually called the
parlour is marked " d)' pier " or dining parlour. This shows
that even the eating of meals, one of the functions for which
the hall had always been used, was being transferred from that
apartment to smaller and more comfortable rooms. The heads
of the household, more particularly, sought the quiet of a smaller

220. — An Us-NAMKi) Plan.

1. Hall.

2. I'arlour.

3. Principal Stairs.

4. Chapel.

5. I.odKint,'.

6. Uutlery.

7. Winter Parlour.

H. Hack Stairs.

g. Siirvaying Place.

10. Kitchen.

11. Pastry.

12. Courtyard.

apartment, and with them they took their special friends,
leaving persons of less importance to tlinewith the household in
the hall. There is a letter from a Mr. Marlivale, of C'heviiigttJii,
written t(j Sir Thomas Kytson, of Hengra\e, complaining of
having been placed to dine in the hall with the steward instead
of with the superior persons in the parlour. As Sir Thomas
died in 1540, the practice of withdrawing from the great hall
must have begun previous to that date. On one of Thorpe's
plans he has marked a room as the " Servants' dining-room,"

240

CHANGES IN THE HALL.

r^ f^*A

3b:

1^^ r-s

U L

"s. r

£5

cr-^

which indicates
a further deser-
tion of the hall,
and f r o m the
other end. The
purposes for
which the hall
had been used
being thus pro-
vided for else-
where, it became
no longer neces-
sary to plan it
on the old lines.
The first change
that took place
was at the end
where the screens
were. The
screens, indeed,
disappeared, and
in order to go
from the front
door to the kit-
chen department,
the hall itself had
to be traversed.
The following ex-
a ni pies s h o w
various instances
^ of this change,
but in the absence
of particulars as
to the name and
date of most of
the plans, it has
been impossible
to arrange them
chronologicalK' : what sequence there is, is a sequence of stages
in the development of the new idea of using the hall as an
entrance.

221. — Ground and Upper Plans, un-namei> (page 85).

1. Hall.

2. Parlour.

3. Principal Stairs.
4,4. LodKing.

5. Kitchen.

6. Buttery.

7. Back Stairs.

H, 8. Open Arcade.
9. Great Chamber.
10. Gallery.

II. Stairs.
Other Rooms on Upper Floor are Lodgings.

DEPARTURE FROM TRADITIONAL PLAN.

241

The example in Fig. 220 has no name nor an}' writing upon
it beyond the numbers of the stairs. The curious point about
it is that the screen is in the side of the hall instead of at the end ;
otherwise it preserves most of the old arrangements. Although
the rooms are not named, they are easy to identify. On the
famil}' side are the hall, with its dais, the parlour, staircase,
chapel and " lodgings." On the servants' side are the buttery,
winter parlour, back stairs, kitchen and pastry. Owing to the
altered arrangement of the screens there is no thoroughfare
leading straight
from the front
door to the court
beyond.

In the next ex-
ample (Figs. 221,
222) we have a
further departure
from the old type.
Screens of a kind
there are, but the
front door leads
only to the hall
(through a vesti-
bule), and the hall
has to be traversed
to gain the kit-
chen. The buttery
is in an entirely
novel position, and
the tendency
clearl)' is to preserve the front door for the family, and to rele-
gate the servants to their own entrance. A curious point is that
the only wa}- from the kitchen to the butter}-, to the upper floor,
or to the outside, is through the hall. In spite of these changes
the dais still remains, as though the old custom of dining in
the hall survived, notwithstanding the constant traffic which
the service of the kitchen must have entailed. The upper plan
shows the long gallery — apparently 62 feet long b}- only 10 feet
wide — and the great chamber, 40 feet by 21 feet, which is over
the hall. The draughtsman has aj^parently been led b}- the
symmetry of his arrangements into placing the galler}- on the

222. — Ki.KVATioN OK Plans in Imo. 221 (pack 85).

242

DEPARTUK1-: FROM TRADITIONAL PLAN.

wron^ facade in his upper plan. According to a note on the
ground plan it should be at the back, and the elevation con-
firms this disposition. Owin^ to the situation of the hall it

223. — Un-samki) Plan and Ei.kvation (page 34).

1. Hall.

2. Parlour.

3. Withdrawing Koon'

4. Closet.
5,5. Lodsing.

6. Principal Stairs.

7. Buttery.

8. Back Stairs,
g. Kitchen.

lu. Larder.

11. Bolting-house.

12. Pastry.

can no longer obtain light kom the sides, nor can there be any
bay window to the dais : the only light it receives is from a large
window at one end, which must be greatly darkened by the
arcade in front of it, carrying the gallery. The great chamber
is subject in a less degree to similar disadvantages, receiving

HALL BPXOMING AN ENTRANCE.

243

light only from one end. The treatment of the exterior is some-
what after the fashion of Wollaton, but of a plainer kind ; there
is a central block
surrounded b y
rooms roofed at a
lower level, and at
each corner is a
pavilion. It is quite
possible that this is
merely an exercise
in design, and that
it was never car-
ried out, nor
even thoroughly
digested.

In the next ex-
ample (Fig. 223) the
idea of the entrance
hall is further de-
veloped. The front
door opens into a
passage off which
the hall is ap-
proached, but with-
out a di\iding wall.
There is no dais,
and the parlour is
entered from the
passi
fr(

of the hall. The
latter apartment is
still central, and
divides the family
rooms from those of
the servants. There
are fresh designa-
tions bestowed
upon some of them : the parlour and the lodgings we know, but
in addition to these there is a "closset" and a "wth," or with-
drawing room. The buttery is as near to its old position as the

lassage instead of f
rom the upper end 8

I-'OK Ml(. WlI.L^' I'oWKI.I.

(I'AGKS 265, 266).

1. Hall.

2. Diiiin^ Parlour.

3. Principal Stairs.

4. 1.<»\ku\k-

5. Iiiiiir I,o<l^iii>;.
f). Wiiilcr Parlour.

7. IJiittcry.

8. Siirvayiiig Place.

9. Back Stairs.

10. KitcluMi.

11. Lardi'r.

12. C<jurt.

244

HOUSE FOR MR. WILLIAM POWELL

new arrangement allows, and beyond it is the familiar kitchen,
with the larder, the pastry, and the bolting-house leading out of
the latter. The elevation is again perfectly simple, and calls for
no remark beyond pointing out the alternative methods shown
of roofing the two central turrets. The sketch plan and elevation
should be noticed, jotted down at the side of the main subject,
and embod3'ing a smaller version of a somewhat similar idea.
The plan and elevation entitled " for Mr. Will- Powell "

225.— Mr. Johnson Y'i Druggyst (pagk 31).

1. Hall. 5. Back Stairs.

2. Parlour. 6. Kitchen.

3. Principal Stairs. 7. Courtyard.

4. Buttery. 8. Open Arcade.

(Fig. 224) have not been identified with any existing building.
The elevation is treated more after the English manner, par-
ticularly in regard to the gables, than any of the preceding.
In the plan the hall is frankly made an entrance hall, without
any attempt at making it a living-room. It still occupies a
central position, but there are no screens, no dais, and no bay
window. The rooms are all named : the family side includes
the dining parlour — now so named for the first time — a
" lodging," and an " inner lodging." The opposite wing con-
tains the winter parlour, the buttery, now attached to the

AND FOR MR. JOHNSON THE DRUGGIST.

245

servants' entrance, the " survay," or serving place, the kitchen,
and larder. The house would seem to be built of wood and
plaster, since all the walls are drawn some 6 inches thick, the
fireplaces only being of the ordinary thickness.

The plan for " Mr. Johnson y^ Druggyst " (Fig. 225) shows
a further variation of the hall, which here has a screen and
passage at each end. The dais idea has entirely disappeared,
and the bay windows are placed for effect only : the central
position is still retained, as also are the two wings, divided
into the usual rooms. There are two front doors, one to each
passage at the ends of the hall. The buttery occupies the old

226.— An Un-namki) Plan (hack 72).
Hall. 5. Survayiiig Place.

Dinins Parlour 6. Kitchen

Buttery. 7. Scullery.

Graiui Staircase. K. I.arder.

9. Hack Stairs.

relation to one of these passages, while the other takes up the
space which would formerly have been devoted to the dais.
The relation to each other of the several rooms in the two
wings follows the old lines ; it is in the hall that the essential
change appears. A note on the plan says that the gallery,
80 feet long and 15 feet wide, occupies the whole length of the
front fagade, in the centre of which is a turret ; there is also a
turret in the middle of each side, over the two staircases. The
small sketch at the side of the finished plan should be noticed,
as it is another instance of how the draughtsman jotted down
a rough variation of the same general disposition of rooms.
There is also a sketch for a mullion.

246

COMPLETE CHANGE OF PLAN.

In Fif^. 226 is a yet further variation of the treatment of the
hall. It is no longer in the centre of the building, but becomes
an ordinary thoroughfare room in one corner. The front
entrance leads into a corridor, and immediately opposite to it
is the great staircase. This is an entirely novel treatment, and
indicates a complete revolution in the planning of houses. The
hall is no longer the central feature, but gives place to the
staircase. For the rest, the old apartments remain ; there is

the buttery lying
<>=t<^^U(>gr~| between the stair-

case and the hall,
inconvenient-
ly mixed up with
the family rooms,
equally inconve-
niently cut off
from the kit-
chens. The
dining parlour
lies beyond the
hall and far
away from the
kitchen, and
the kitchen is
approached
through the
"survaying
place," and at-
tached to it is a
new room, the
"scullery." So
far as the main lines go, the house is simple and dignified,
but the plan is neither so striking nor so convenient as those
of the old type.

The last plan of the series is that of a house for " Sir Jo.
Danvers, Chelsey " (Figs. 227, 228), and there are two points to
be specially noticed in it — one is that the kitchen and its offices
are all underground, the other is that the hall is of the type
usual in many Italian houses ; it extends right through the
house from front to back, and has smaller rooms opening from
it on each side. In Italy, the hall and the room over it occupy

^ c^u^T

227-— "Sir Jo. Danvers, Chelsey." Ground Plan (pages 21, 22).

1. Waste Hall. 3. Parlour.

2. Hall. 4. Chapel.

5. Kitchen below.

HOUSE FOR SIR JOHN DANVERS.

247

the whole of this space, and the staircase is among the rooms
at the side, but at Sir John Danvers' house the staircase is
in the hall itself, thus dividing it into two portions, the outer
one of which is named "waste hall," and curtailing the effective
space of the chamber over it. The device of placing the
kitchen and offices in a basement was not often adopted in
English houses;
space was generally
plentiful, and the
native taste was
rather in favour of
the long and low
treatment. But
occasionally, where
space was limited,
or where some
special notion con-
trolled the design,
as at Lyveden New
Building, or where
the Italian manner
was closely fol-
lowed, the basement
was utilized for the
purpose of the kit-
chens. The sketch-
elevation of Sir
John Danvers'
house points to-
wards a more com-
plete acceptance of
classic treatment ;
it is widely different
from the extensive
fa9ades and returned wings which are associated with the
idea of an I^llizabethan or Jac(;bean house. Sir John built a
house (but whether to this })articular plan, or not, is not
certain) at Chelsea, on the site of one which had been the
residence of Sir Thomas More ; and he seems to have done so
in the early years of the seventeenth century. It is more
than likely that he was attracted by the Italian model, since we
K.A. K

-Sir Jo. Danvkks, Chklsky. Uitkr Plan and

Hl.KVATION (I'ACKS 21, 2j)

248

CHANGE IN TREATMENT OF ELEVATIONS.

learn from Aubrey*
that " 'twas Sir John
Dan vers of Chelsey
who first taught us
the way of Italian
gardens. He had well
travelled L^rance and
Italy, and made good
observations. . . , He
had a very fine fancy,
which lay chiefly for
gardens and architec-
ture." There is an-
other rough sketch of
an elevation on page
178, accompanied by
a plan, where the
Italian treatment is
still more marked.
The centre of the
fagade consists of two
rows of columns,
superimposed, and
forming an open
loggia on each floor;
they carry a pedi-
ment of flat pitch.
This sketch is of con-
siderable interest,
since it connects
Thorpe, who is the
representative of
Elizabethan and
Jacobean design, with
the far more Italian-
ized style of his suc-
cessors.

Two other eleva-
tions are illustrated,
in addition to those which have accompanied some of the

* John Aubrey's Xntiiial History of Wiltsliliw

229. — An Un-namei) Hi.kvation. " mknt iok onk ok thk
svdes of a house about a cort and may uk madk
a front for a housf; " (paok ii5).

THORPE'S ELEVATIONS.

249

foregoing plans, in order to sh
pervades most of the sketches
in Thorpe's book. They are
both isolated examples, not
attached to any plan, and not
named. Indeed, the first of
them (Fig. 229) was probably
merely a sketch, as it bears the
note, " ment for one of the
sydes of a house about a cort
and may be made a front for a
house." It is quite English in
character, and is singularly free
from the curly gables and
fantastic pinnacles which
appear on most of Thorpe's
elevations, and were derived
from Dutch sources. The sec-
tions through the wings should
be noticed, as this is the only
instance in the whole collection
in which anything like a com-
plete section is given. The
section on the right hand is
evidently taken through the
hall, and shows its open-
timbered roof of hammer-beam
type.

The second example (Fig.
230) is nearly as simple in its
treatment, but the gables break
out into rather extravagant
curls. The general treatment,
with the large gables, the
dormers, and the projecting
chimney-stacks, is not unlike
that of the west front of Kirby
(Figs. 77, 107), but this eleva-
tion does not tally with the plan
of Kirby, which is not subject t(j
This drawing bears the note.

ow the kind of feeling: which

230. — An Un-NAMKI) lU.KVArioN, "THK <iAKI)I-N
SYI)K, I.ODOINC.S HKI.OW AMI (.Al.I.KKV
ABOVK. J. T. ' (I'AllK 108).

the same accurate sjtnmetry.
" The garden svde, lodgings

25U

KXKRCISKS IN INGHNUITV OF PLANNING.

below and j^allery above. J. T.," and as it is initialed by Thorpe,
it helps to identify as his many of the other elevations.

One other plan is given (Fig. 231) as an example of Thorpe's
ingenuity in planning. It consists of three rooms arranged
within a circular balustrade and surrounded by a circular

231. — An Un-named Plan (pagks 145, 146).

1. Entrance.

2. Hall (Kitchen below).

3. Parlour.

4. Lodging Chamber.

5. Inner Chamber

II. Terrace.

6. Buttery.

7. Woodyard.

8. Closet,
g. Stairs.

10. Open Space.

terrace. The angles formed where the three rooms join are
occupied by three towers, one of which contains the porch, the
other two the staircases. On the ground floor one of the rooms
is the hall, one the parlour, one a bedchamber. The kitchen
was to be under the hall. It should be observed how the large
fireplaces are arranged so as to occupy some of the triangular
space enclosed by the three rooms ; and how the odd corners

LIST OF APARTMENTS. 251

left are devoted to the buttery, a closet, and a wood store. The
bay window is different in each room, and is so planned as just
to extend outwards as far as the surrounding balustrade. Having
thus examined the main features of the design, observe how a
number of alternative sketches have been made for filling in
with cupboards the angles made by the circular walls of the
turrets and the walls of the rooms : observe also that on one of
the circular staircases an equilateral triangle has been drawn,
evidently as an alternative way of treating the turrets, and
observe further how in the parlour and bedchamber a sugges-
tion is made to have a semicircular recess at one end, such as
was not infrequent late in the seventeenth century, but which
never occurs in an Elizabethan plan. All these points are
interesting, because they show how the draughtsman elaborated
his design ; and when he had finished this, he sketched a varia-
tion of the same idea at the side, in the upper part of the sheet.
He was also undecided about the position of his steps on to the
terrace, for he drew them first in three sets, opposite to the three
bay windows ; afterwards he sketched another set in pencil
(shown by dotted lines on the drawing) in a more convenient
situation just opposite the porch, and wrote on the old set
** Stayres heare," and on the new " or heare." On his main
staircases, too, after drawing the steps, he has crossed out three
or four and written " half-pace," which means " half-landing."
It will not be uninteresting to add to these illustrations of
Thorpe's plans a list of the names of apartments, &c., to be
found in his book appended to one or other of the drawings.

Hall. Lodging,

Parlour. A nobleman's lodging, coin-

Dining parlour. prising

Dining chamber abo\e hall. His ante-camera.

The dining chaiubcr. Bedchamber.

Winter parlour. Wood, coal, and privy.

An ordinary winter parlour. Servants' lodging.

The great parlour with the Officers' lodgings.

great chamber over it. A bed chamber.

Great chamber. An inner chamber.

Gallery. Chaplin.

The long gallery. His study.

Withdrawing chamber. Study.

252

LIST OF APARTMENTS.

Chapel.

Outward chapel.

Library above.

Buttery.

Butler's lodging.

Pantry.

Pantler's lodging.

Breakfast room.

Kitchen.

The great kitchen.

A privy kitchen.

Dry larder.

Wet larder.

Pastr\'.

Work room for the pastlers.

Bakehouse.

Privy bakehouse.

Meal house.

Bolting house.

Survaying place.

Scullery.

Spicery.

Trencher.

Pewter.

Milk house.

Brew house.

The boiling house.

Porter's lodging.

Hynds' hall.

Lesser hall for h}'nds.

Servants' dining-room.

Waiters' chamber.

Waiters' bedchamber.

Steward's lodging.

His clerk.

Brush.

Wood, coal, and stool.

Cellar.

Wine cellar.

A wine cellar and for beer.

Privy wine cellar.

The Queen's wine cellar.

My lord's wine cellar.

A cellar for beer.

Entry.

An entry through all.

Lobby.

Ante-camera.

Closet.

A well light.

A little court for light, &c.

Common vault.

Court.

A tennis court.

A large terrace.

Terrace.

A back walk.

Garden.

Orchard.

Woodyard.

Kitchen garden.

Washy ard.

Stable.

CHAPTER XII.

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNERS OF THE SIXTEENTH

CENTURY.

In the foregoing pages examples have been given of the
architectural work of the sixteenth century— examples taken
from all parts of England, and illustrating all kinds of features.
From these it will have been gathered that the same general
character pervaded the whole country at any one time, but
that there was a great variety of treatment. This variety
arose not merely from a difference in arrangement of uni-
versally accepted features, or from different methods of hand-
ling the same kind of ornament, but from actual differences
between the features themselves and between the kinds of
ornament, and it points to the employment of men who varied
to a considerable degree in the amount of their training as well
as in its direction.

It will therefore not be without interest to glance briefly at
what is known of the more prominent men who were employed
in producing the architecture that has been under considera-
tion, and at the methods which prevailed of supplying designs.

Unfortunatcl}-, little detailed information has yet been
obtained, or is obtainable, concerning these men, and what
we do know about them is neither so full nor so clear as to have
emerged entire!}' from the perplexing mists of controversy and
to have attained the serene heights of incontrovertible fact.
We know, for instance, that Henry VIII. emplo}ed many skilled
foreign workmen, especially Italians. But very little work exists
at this day which can be pointed out as theirs. We also know
that early in the second half of the sixteenth century many
Dutch artizans found refuge in England from the rigorous
measures of Alva, that licences were given to various towns to
receive them, and that a number of other towns petitioned to
have strangers allotted to them : most of these towns were
situated in the counties bordering on the sea in the East and

254 ITALIAN ARTISTS IN ENGLAND.

South. But masons, joiners, and artificers in the other trades
connected with building, do not seem to have been a large
proportion of those immigrating.

The most interesting piece of foreign work, inasmuch as it
was the first done by Itahans in England, can, luckily, be
identified in all important particulars, because the contract
for it still exists. It was Henry VII. 's tomb, designed, and
largely executed, by Torrigiano.* But beyond this tomb,
and probabl}' that of Margaret, the mother of Henry VII, ,
and possibly that of Dr. Young in the Rolls Chapel, no
English work of Torrigiano's is known. After him came
Benedetto da Rovezzano, who partly executed an even more
splendid tomb for Cardinal Wolsey, which was to have been
placed in the specially erected chapel in St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, but which Henry VIII. took to himself on the
Cardinal's fall. Wolsey petitioned the King for his own figure
— which was to have lain upon the tomb, and could hardly be
expected to answer the same purpose for its new owner — and
for such other parts as it might please the King to give him. But
Henry retained the materials and proceeded to adapt them for
his own monument, whereon he and his queen, Jane Seymour,
were to have reposed. His queen, however, was soon replaced,
and the tomb was still unfinished at his death, and was never
carried to completion. Its metal parts were finally melted
down by the Parliament Commissioners a hundred years later,
but the marble sarcophagus lingered on, and was eventually
removed to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and utilized in
the monument of Lord Nelson. Another Italian who was
employed by Wolsey, and subsequently by Henry VIII., was
Giovanni da Majano, whose name appears in accounts of the
time as being paid for certain work ; but the work itself has
disappeared, except the terra-cotta roundels, containing busts
of Roman emperors, built into the walls of Hampton Court.
Toto del Nunziata was another skilful Italian whose name
appears in accounts, and he is said by Vasari to have built
Henry VIII.'s principal palace. This is generally considered
to have been Nonesuch, in Surrey, of which there is nothing
leit. but which, as already stated, must have presented examples
of most admirable work in the way of sculpture and painting.!

* See page i2.
t See page 33.

HOLBEIN IN ENGLAND. 255

Nicholas of Alodena, described as a carver, also worked for
Henry, and remained in England for some years after his
death, but the work attributed to him is only conjectural.
Indeed, the share taken by the Italians of Henry VIII. 's time
in the design of English work, is still a matter of controversy
to be waged by the learned, and has not yet descended to the
more certain level of the text-book. What we do know is,
that Torrigiano executed Henry VI I. 's tomb under a con-
tract, and that a few other Italians of eminence resided for
longer or shorter periods in England, together with a
considerable number of their compatriots of less distinction.
These men must have exercised considerable influence upon
their English companions, and although their own style of
ornament did not become universal, they must have prepared
the way for the general adoption of the other versions of
Italian detail which marked the second half of the sixteenth
century.

The same remarks apply to Holbein, although the designs
which he executed for work in England are much more
numerous than those of any of his contemporaries, and have
been identified beyond doubt as his. That is to say, in addition
to his pictures, a large number of his drawings remain, princi-
pally for articles of goldsmith's work ; but the objects them-
selves have mostly disappeared. One of the largest of his
drawings, however, is that of a wood chimney-piece, which,
from the initials upon it, was intended for Henry \TII. Some
architectural work has been attributed to Holbein, but only on
conjecture. Amongst it may be mentioned two gateways at
Whitehall, now removed ; part of a front at Wilton, in Wilt-
shire, as well as a little garden-h(juse there ; and the splendid
screen at King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Hut there is no
actual evidence to connect him with these works, and we
should be mistaken in regarding him in an\- way as an architect
in the sense in which we understand the term.

The architect, indeed, as a distinct indixidiial, does not
seem to have arisen in those early days : the architect, that is,
who not only designed the f)lan and elevations of the building,
but also the details of its various parts and of its ornament.
Inigo Jones may be taken as the first Englishman who com-
bined the functions of planner and designer of details ; previous
to his time the work entailed in the designing of a house was

256 CRAFTSMEN SUPPLIKD THEIR OWN DESIGNS.

much subdivided, the plan and elevations being provided b}'
the surveyor, and each trade producing its own special details
as the work went on. Shakespeare only uses the word
"architect" once, and then not in connection with building
operations. He gives us, however, a sketch of how to set
about building, in the Second Part of King Henry IV.
"When we mean to build," says Lord Bardolph, "we first
survey the plot, then draw the model; and when we see the
figure of the house, then must we rate the cost of the erection. . . .
Much more in this great work , . . should we survey the plot of
situation, and the model ; consent upon a sure foundation ;
question surveyors." It was the surveyors, such as John
Thorpe, who drew the model, which comprised the plans
and an elevation, or a perspective view indicating the treat-
ment of more than one front. These drawings were then
carried out by the workmen on the spot, who provided their
own details. In some of the simpler buildings no surveyor
was employed, but rough plans were prepared by the builder
himself, not so much to work from, as to indicate, for the
purpose of a contract, the general extent and appearance
of the building. In others, again, no plans were used, but
the work was set out on the spot, and built to the requisite
height under the supervision of the master mason. It is
almost certain that in some cases only a plan was provided,
without elevation ; in the Thorpe collection a large proportion
of the plans have no elevation to correspond ; and Henry VIL,
in his will, orders his tomb to be placed in the midst of his
new chapel at Westminster according to " the plat [i.e., plan]
made for the same chapel and signed with our hand." At
St. John's College, Cambridge, the contractors who built the
second court were bound to erect it according to certain
" platts and uprights " {i.e., elevations), thus showing that
the " plat " did not include elevations as well as plan.

Such contracts as have been preserved relating to work
of the sixteenth century, go to show either that the various
tradesmen provided their own designs, or that they were to
take some already executed work as a pattern. There were
separate contracts for the separate trades, but most of them
were with masons, joiners, and glaziers. The masons who
built the second court at St. John's were to make the windows
after the fashion of those in the court already built. The

PARTICULARS OF JOINER'S WORK AT QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 257

joiner who fitted up the chapel was to make his work like
that in Jesus College and Pembroke Hall, " or better in every
point." The joiner who executed the stalls and the fretwork
of the ceiling in the chapel at Trinity College, was to make
the stalls like those at King's College, while the frets, battens,
and pendants of the ceiling were to be made " according to
the pattern showed to the master and other of the said College
for the said frets, battens, and pendants." The glazier who
provided the windows of the hall and chapel at St. John's,
was to make them of " good and able Normandy glass of
colours and pictures as be in the glass windows within the
College called Christ's College."

These contracts are useful because they state expressly the
sources whence the design was to be taken ; but where the
work was not done by contract, such accounts as have been
preserved point in the same direction. After the masons had
finished the second court at St. John's, including the plastering
of the walls and ceilings, there appears an entry in the accounts
for the payment of one Cobb for " frettishing " the gallery and
the great chamber — that is, for working the ornamental plaster
ceiling; and another for the payment of the joiner for the
wainscotting of the gallery and for the two chimney-pieces
there. No mention is made of any particular design, and
the presumption is that the workmen supplied their own.
This presumption is stronger in the case of the panelling of
the hall at Queen's College, where ever}' item of cost appears,
as well as the names of the various workmen emplo}ed.

It is interesting to see how the names of the workmen
gradually changed. The first entry is on the last day of
September, 1531, when Matthew Hlunt and Robert Cave were
paid for " w(jrking on the panelling of the College hall." In
November they are joined by one Dyrik Harrison, who does
the same kind of work ; in December, one Lambert comes,
and Matthew l^lunt disappears ; a few days afterwards a certain
Arnold joins them, and subsequently a Peter. In January,
Giles Tainbeler, carver, is paid for nine capitals, and in l'"ebruary
for thirteen more, and he then disajipears. But his place
seems to have been taken by D}rik Harrison, who thence-
forward is paid, not for ordinary joiner's work, but for carving
capitals, shields, arms, and lines of " antique crest " and
"antique border," up to the middle of July, when he receives

258 DESIGNS FOR TOMBS

his final payment " by order of the President." In the mean-
time Robert Cave's name has ceased to be entered, but Arnold,
Lambert, and Peter still continue. After Harrison's departure
Lambert seems to have done the special work, since in August
he gets paid for certain columns and for the " extreme parts of
the cresting." His is the last name of the joiners which
appears, and in September the work was finished. It would
almost seem as though Giles Fambeler, whose name looks
anything but English, had been employed for some two
months, just to show how the new carving should be done, and
that from him Dyrik Harrison, whose Christian name suggests
a Dutch connection, picked up a knowledge of the fashionable
ornament sufficient to enable him to take Giles's place ; and
that Lambert in his turn succeeded Harrison. Even if this
supposition is larger than the facts warrant, it must have been
in some such manner as this that the new forms were dis-
seminated through the country. It is worthy of note that the
joiner employed at Hengrave, in 1538, six years after this
work at Queen's, was named Dyrik, and it is pleasant to
imagine (Hengrave being some five-and-twenty miles from
Cambridge) that it might have been the same Dyrik Harrison
who had picked up his first knowledge from Giles Fambeler.

In such matters as tombs it is beyond question that the
workmen supplied the designs. In the year 1525 there is an
entry in the accounts of St. John's of a small sum " given to the
master mason of Ely for drawing a draught for my lord's tomb,"
meaning Bishop Fisher's. In 1533 " Mr. Lee the free mason "
was paid for making and setting up the tomb. Upon the Bishop's
execution, the monument was taken to pieces and thrown aside,
but towards the end of last century the remains were discovered
during the process of clearing away the rubbish in an '"old dis-
used chapel." A rough drawing was made of them, from which
it is evident that the design was quite in the Italian style. It
shows an altar tomb with a pilaster at each corner, ornamented
with arabesques similar to those on Henry VII. 's tomb. The
side is occupied by a large panel supported by two amorini,
and surrounded with foliage and scrollwork ; the end has a shield
within a garland. The whole work is described by an eye-
witness as being elegant, neat, and ornamented in great taste,
from which we may gather that both in design and execution
it was a worthy specimen of the style prevalent in Henry VIII. 's

SUPPLIED BY THE MASONS. 259

time. We have already seen that it was designed by the
master mason at Ely, and executed by Mr. Lee, the free mason.
If these two were not one and the same man, at any rate there
is no reason to suppose that they were other than Englishmen.*

Some fifty years after Bishop Fisher's tomb was erected,
there was drawn up a contract (in 1581) between the executor
of Thomas Fermor, of Somerton, in Oxfordshire, and Richard
and Gabriel Roiley, of Burton-upon-Trent, " tumbe makers."'
The latter agree " artificially, cunningly, decentl}', and sub-
stantially to devise, work, set up, and perfectly and fully finish "
a very fair tomb of very good and durable alabaster stone and
of certain specified dimensions. It is to have on it " a very fair
decent and well-proportioned picture or portraiture of a gentle-
man representing the said Thomas Fermor," with certain
specified accessories; and also "a decent and perfect picture
or portraiture of a fair gentlewoman with a French hood, edge
and habiliments, with all other apparel, furniture, jewels, orna-
ments and things in all respects usual, decent and seemly for a
gentlewoman." There are also to be the "decent and usual
pictures" of a son and two daughters with escutcheons in their
hands — somewhat after the fashion, no doubt, of those on the
Bradbourne tomb in Fig. 9. The son is to be in armour and
as living; one of the daughters is to be "pictured in decent
order and as living," the other " as dying in the cradle or
swathes." There are to be four shields, one containing "the
very true arms " of Thomas Fermor ; two others his arms and
those of his two wives, severally ; and the fourth the arms of
his second wife. They are all to be placed as most may serve
for the " shew and setting forth of the said tomb." Once
again, towards the end, it is stated that all the "devising,
colouring, gilding, garnishing, workmanship, carriage, con-
veying, setting up, and full finishing of the said tomb," is to be
done by the Roileys ; but the executor will provide " wains,
carts and cattle" to draw the parts of the tomb to Somerton.
The price for the tomb is to be ^40.

It is here expressly stated that the workmen are to do the
"devising" as well as the making of the tomb. The features
which it is to comprise are stated, but the designing and
arranging of them are left to the workmen. It is interesting to

* For particulars of these contracts, &c., at Camljridge, see Willis and Clark's

Architectural History of the University of Cambridge, Vol. II.

26o LORD HURGHLEV AS DIRECTOR.

notice that the male figure is to be the portraiture of a gentle-
man representing Thomas Fermor, but it does not seem to be
implied that the likeness was to be very accurate. In the case
of the lady, evidently no resemblance was expected, and we are
left to conjecture whether it was the first or the second wife who
was the more nearly represented. All those who are familiar
with Elizabethan tombs will recognize the son and daughter
holding escutcheons, and the child in "swathes," as well as the
four shields bearing the arms of Thomas Fermor and his two
wives. If additional proof were wanted that the design was
left in the hands of the workman, it is to be found in the stipu-
lation that everything is to be placed so as best to " set forth "
the tomb. This important part of the business is not to be
arranged by the executor or any one acting on his behalf, but
by the contracting tomb-makers.

Tombs are comparatively small structures, and might possibly
have been subjects of special custom ; but the same custom
prevailed in the building of large houses like Burghley House
and Cobham Hall. When the latter building was in a suitable
condition, the plasterer was sent for in order that he might
submit patterns and models of the ceilings for Lord Cobham
to select from. During a considerable part of the time occupied
in building the earlier portions of Burghley, a number of letters
passed between the foreman and Lord Burghley, in which the
foreman sought instructions from his lordship about many
minute particulars, which would certainly have been settled by
the architect had there been one. Among Lord Burghley's
papers is one showing the plan and elevation of a window,
endorsed in Burghley's own hand " Henryck's platt of my bay
window " ; suggesting that, as occasion arose, his lordship
applied to some skilful craftsman for drawings. It is certain
that he made a point of studying books on architecture, for in
August, 1568, he wrote to Sir Henry Norris, ambassador in
France, asking him to provide for him " a book concerning
architecture, entitled according to a paper here included, which
I saw at Sir Thomas Smith's ; or if you think there is any
better of a late making of that argument." The enclosure
containing the title of the book is not in existence, so we do
not know what it was ; but from this reference we gather that
Sir Thomas Smith (who was a Secretary of State, and had
been ambassador to France) was interested in architecture as

MK. SECRETARY'S PAVING STONES. 261

well as Lord Bur^hley, and that Sir Henry Norris was suffi-
ciently acquainted with the subject to be able to recommend
the latest work dealin^^ with it. Some years later Lord
Burghley was again asking for a French book on architecture,
but this time he gave the title, in phraseology indicating that
he was something of a student of the subject. "The book I
most desire," he says, " is made by the same author, and is
entitled ' Novels institutions per bien baster et a petits frais,
par Philibert de Lorme,' Paris, 1576." From these instances
it would appear not improbable that had Lord Burghley
lived in the days of Pope, he might have shared with Lord
Burlington the reputation of being one of the foremost archi-
tects of the age ; but as a matter of fact he did not pretend
to that distinction : all that he did, apparently, was to direct
the energies of others who had received special training in
architectural matters.

The Henryk who provided the platt of Lord Burghley's bay
window was a Dutch mason in the employ of Sir Thomas Gres-
ham — who built the first Royal Exchange, or Bourse, as it was
called — and he passed backwards and forwards between London
and Antwerp as occasion demanded. Many of the materials
for Gresham's Bourse came from the Low Countries, and were
shipped thence under the superintendence of Gresham's agent,
Richard Clough. Clough's letters from Antwerp, where he was
stationed, give in quaint phraseology a good deal of information
as to the progress of the work which was being prepared over
there both for Sir Thomas Gresham and the more exalted
" Sir William Cecil, the Queen's Majesty's principal Secretary,"
afterwards Lord Burghley. In July, 1566, Clough congratulates
himself on Gresham's liking Henryk so well, and (mi the work
being s(; well forward, that when Henryk returns to Antwerp
he can get on with the rest. By the beginning of August
Henryk had arrived, and " your carpenters also, whom I do
mean shortly to return." In the next few letters he is greatly
troubled about "Master Secretary's" paving stones. On the
29th S(!ptember, he says that he calls daily upon Henryk, who
is looking daily for them, and he has sent a man to the place
where they are in making in order to hasten their departure.
Notwithstanding this, on the 20th October Master Secretary's
paving stones were not come, " but Henryk saith he kncnveth
well they will be here within a day (^r two," and then he will

262 HKNRVK AND HIS EMPLOYERS.

not fail to send them away out of hand, even if he has to "hire
a small hoy of purpose." But delays in the delivery of goods
vexed the souls of overlookers in as great a degree then as now,
and still on the loth November " Master's stones are not come,
which maketh Master Henryk almost out of his wit, for I never
fail a day but I am once a day with him, so that they cannot
be long, unless they be drowned by the way." The hopeful
expectation was fulfilled, for a fortnight later Clough writes,
"and as touching Master Secretary's stones, I do not doubt
but that you have received them long since ; and that they
have been so long — Henryk saith he could do no more and
if his life had been upon the matter." So the paving stones
were sent off at last, and at the same time Henryk sent a
pattern how they should be laid ; it was unnecessary to send a
man, for he thought "that him that paved Master Secretary's
house can so well lay those stones as any that he should send
from hence."

The trying episode of " those stones" being closed, Clough
returns to the subject of the Bourse, and promises to send off
further materials ; on the 5th December he says he has shipped
a certain amount " in Cornelius Janson's sprett," and trusts
that before Easter everything will be despatched. Soon after
this, it seems, he went away to get married, and his letters
cease ; but in the following April (the 27th) an apprentice of
Gresham's informs him of such matters as had passed in
Antwerp since Clough's departure, among which was the
discharge from the " Prince's men " of two of Gresham's
retainers, whom he intended to send to London "in one of the
ships laden with stone for the Bourse," of which there were
three ready to depart " as to-morrow." As Easter Day fell on
the 30th March in the year 1567, Clough's hope that everything
would be despatched by then was not absolutely fulfilled.

Henryk was now apparently sufficiently at liberty to be
allowed to turn his attention from Gresham's work to Cecil's,
and on the 21st August, 1567, the former writes to the latter,
" As for Henryk, you shall find him so reasonable as you
shall have good cause to be content, and by this post I have
given order for the making of your gallery, which I trust shall
both like you well in price and workmanship." Four months
later, on the 26th December, it was a door for Cecil which was
in question, and as " Henryk my workman " intended to go over

WORKMEN AND THEIR PATTERNS. 263

sea after the Christmas holidays, and to stay till April, Gresham
desired to know whether Cecil would have his " port (door) set
up before his departure, or else at his return." In the following
February, Gresham again writes to Cecil reminding him that
" Henryk hath lost the pattern of the pillars for your gallery in
the country, so he can proceed no further in the working thereof
until he have another." He urges Cecil not to fail to send the
pattern at once, as Henryk would be back in London by the
last day of March at the farthest. This inability of Henryk's
to proceed without the " pattern " shows that in this case, at
any rate, he did not supply the design. But already four
years earlier (in January, 1563) there had been some correspon-
dence between Clough and Cecil about a gallery and a pattern
which the latter had sent ; and if the two galleries were one and
the same, it was probably the old pattern which Henryk had to
work to, and there was no need for him to devise a new one. In
the case in which Clough was concerned there was some dis-
crepancy in the pattern or instructions sent by Cecil for the
pillars and arches, which required correction ; he therefore sent
back the pattern, so that Cecil might confer with his mason at
home. As to a mason going over from Flanders to England,
there was no need for it, since the work would be so wrought
that it could not be set amiss, besides which a pattern in paper
should be sent. The Dutch mason's advice was that the pillars
should be made all of one stone, and the arches accordingly,
" for they must be made, to be well made, either antique or
modern, and this, with the whole pillar, is antique ; wherefore
according as I shall hear from your honour, so I shall proceed
therein." The difference intended to be conveyed between
"antique" and "modern" is not very clear, inasmuch as
" antique " was the term generally applied in describing work
executed in the style which we call Renaissance. But this is a
detail which does not affect the general conclusions to be drawn
from the whole correspondence, which are, first, that there is
no one concerned in these various transactions who acts in the
capacity of the architect, but tliat when instructions are required
by the workmen they are sought from the proprietor himself:
second, that Dutch workmanship and design were procured
by men of eminence in England : and third, that English work-
men were thought to be quite as capable of dealing with the
worked materials as any that could be sent from abroad.
R.A. S

264 BOOKS ON ARCHITFXTURE.

The books on Architecture which were pubhshed during the
sixteenth century point somewhat in the same direction, namely,
that there was no all-controlHng architect, but that buildings
were carried out by co-operation in design as well as execution.
At the same time, they make it evident that the idea of the
architect as the person who should have chief control had
arisen: an idea which took more and more hold until it received
its first striking embodiment, so far as England is concerned,
in Inigo Jones. Hans Bluom's book on the Five Orders,
published at Zurich in 1550, is declared on the title-page to
be useful to painters, sculptors, workers in brass and wood,
masons, statuaries, and all who require sure measure ; no men-
tion being made of architects. The same omission occurs in
the English translation published in 1608, which mentions on
the title-page free-masons, carpenters, goldsmiths, painters,
carvers, inlayers and Anticke-cutters, who must not be taken
for anything but cutters of " antique " patterns. The address
to the reader professes that the book is offered for the benefit of
*' Masters, Builders, Carvers, Masons, Lymners, and all sorts of
men that love beauty and ornament." The publisher of Vries's
book of moimments of 1563 exhorts, on his title-page, all
painters, statuaries, architects and masons to inspect, buy and
use it ; and the same author's book on Perspective of 1604 is
addressed to painters, sculptors, statuaries, smiths, architects,
designers, masons, clerks, woodworkers, and all lovers of the
arts. We have, therefore, the appellation of " architect "
introduced, but it is ranked with the statuaries, masons, and
smiths ; and indeed the term was probably used in its original
signification of " master-workman."

There was a book published in 1600, of which the title is
interesting, although the contents do not enlighten us in regard
to the subject under enquiry. It was called " The hospitall
of incurable fooles : erected in English, as near the first
Italian modell and platforme, as the unskillful hand of an
ignorant architect could devise " ; but beyond the use of the
word " architect," and the deductions to be drawn from its
connection with the " Italian modell," there is no help to be
obtained in this quarter.

Some further light is thrown on the term by John Shute,
who published his book The Chief Groundes of Architecture
in 1563. Shute calls himself a " Paynter and Archytecte,"

THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN ARCHITECT. 265

and in the heading of one of his chapters he speaks of an
"Architecte or Mayster of Buyldings." This is the signifi-
cation of the term which became gradually accepted, but there
is no evidence that in Shute's time (that is, in 1563) a master
of the buildings was generally employed, or that being
employed he was designated an architect, John Thorpe
was called a " surveyor," Robert Smithson, who died in
1614, fifty years after Shute, is designated in his epitaph as
'' architector and surveyor unto the most worthy House of
Wollaton,"

All the evidence points therefore to co-operation in design as
well as execution, and while men like Thorpe provided plans
and "uprights," each trade provided its own details. This
view will account for much of what is otherwise very puzzling —
the diversity in character between buildings supposed to have
been the work of the same " architect." The difficulty largely
disappears if we suppose the small scale drawings to have been
supplied by the "surveyor," and then elaborated on the works
by the foreman and the various craftsmen. But that there
was a desire among wealthy patrons to establish an educated
class of " architects " is proved by the Introduction of Shute's
book, for he tells us there that he was sent to Italy by the
Duke of Northumberland in the year 1550 for the express
purpose of studying architecture, and that having there studied
it and amassed a number of drawings and designs of sculpture,
painting, and architecture, he thought good on his return
to set forth some part of them for the profit of others, espe-
cially touching architecture. How far Shute himself was able
to put his knowledge to the test of practical experience is not
known, for no buildings are identified as his, and he died in
1563, the same year in which he published his book. He
speaks of his patron having shown the results of his studies
to Edward \T. after his return : Edward died in 1553, and
there were ten years, therefore, during which Shute might have
put in practice what he learned in Italy.

The history (jf architectural design during the sixteenth
century cannot, therefore, be written round the names of great
men in England as it can in Italy, and in a less degree in
France. Those who do most towards giving character to a
building are those who determine its })lan and general out-
lines; and the men who did this to our I'2nglish houses were

s 2

266 CO-OPERATION IN DESIGN.

the surveyors. Of these John Thorpe is the only one about
whom anything much is known ; but enough is known to
place him in a high rank as a designer. There must have been
many others, but their names have disappeared and their fame
has evaporated. A list of all those who could be considered
architects has been drawn up by Mr. Wyatt Papworth,*
but the names of those prior to Inigo Jones include patrons,
masons, and carpenters as well as surveyors, and the task still
remains to assign to each his proper share in the production of
the architecture of his day. This architecture was not the
work of a single class of men, but resulted from the joint efforts
of many minds directing many different tools. High and low,
rich and poor, gentle and simple, cultured and uncultured, all
combined to the same end, and the authors of the archi-
tectural books of the period knew their business when they
appealed on their title-pages to so many different artificers.

* The Renaissance and Italian Styles of Architecture in Great Britain, 1883.

A LIST OF SELECTED WORKS ON

EARLY RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
IN ENGLAND.

I. WORKS ON THE ARCHITECTURE OE THE TUDOR
PERIOD, &c.

DOLLMAX (F. T). — An Analysis of Ancient Domestic Architecture

in Great Britain. 2 vols. 4to. 1864.
Hunt (T. F.). — Exemplars of Tudor Architecture. 8vo. 1836.
L.v.MB (E. 13.). — Studies of Ancient Domestic Architecture. 410. 1846.
PuciiN (A.). — Specimens of Gothic Architecture in England. 2 vols.

4to. 1 82 1.
PUdiN (A. and A. W.). — Examples of Gothic Architecture in England.

3 vols. 4to. 1 83 1.
Turner (T. H.) and Parkkr (J. H.). — Some Account of Domestic

Architecture in England during the Middle Ages. 3 vols. 8vo.

1859— 1877.

ii. gener.al works on the architixture of thic
elizabi:than and Jacobean period; also books
OF refi:rence, &c.

.\rchitkctural Association Sketch Book, Thk.
Old Series. 12 vols. Folio. 1868— 1880.
New Series. 12 vols. Folio. 1881 — 1892.
Third Series. Folio. 1893 — and in progress.
Bl.oMKlKl.i) (R. T). A History of Renaissance Architecture in

Flngland. 2 vols. Imp. 8vo. 1897.
Clayton (J.). — .Ancient Timber Edifices of England. Folio. 1846.
(ioTCH (J. A.). — Architecture of the Renaissance in England. 2 vols.

Folio. 1 89 1 1894.
Hahkrshon (M.). Ancient Half-Timbered Edifices of England. 410

1836.
Hakkwii.i, (F.).— An .Attempt to Determine the Exact Character

of Elizabethan Architecture. 8vo. 1835.
Ham. t'S. C.j. l5aronial Halls and Ancient Edifices of England.

2 vols. 4to. 1850.
Nash (J.;. — .Mansions of England in the Olden Time. 4 vols. Folio.

1 839 -1 849.

268 A LIST OF SELECTED WORKS.

Nash (J.)- — Mansions of England in the Olden Time. 4 vols. 410.
1869.

P.\P\vORTH (\V.). — The Renaissance and Italian Styles of Architecture
in Great Britain : A Chronological List of Examples, 1450— 1700.
8vo. 1883.

Richardson (C. J.). — Architectural Remains of the Reigns of Eliza-
beth and James I. Folio. 1840.

Richardson' (C. J.). — Specimens of the Architecture of the Reigns of
Queen Elizabeth and King James I. 4to. 1837.

Richardson (C. J.). — Studies from Old English Mansions. 4 vols.
Folio. 1841 — 1848.

Shaw(H.). — Details of Elizabethan Architecture. 4to. 1834.

III. WORKS ON THE ARCHITECTURE OF PARTICULAR
DISTRICTS, MONOGRAPHS, ike.

Cole (Rev. R. E. G.). — History of the Manor and Township of

Doddington. Svo. 1897.
Cope (Sir W'. H.). — Bramshill ; its History and Architecture. 4to.
Davie (W. Galsworthv) and E. Guv Dawker. — Old Cottages

and Farm Houses in Kent and Sussex. 4to. 1900.
Elvard (S. J.).— Some Old Wiltshire Homes. Folio. 1894.
Gage (J.). — History and Antiquities of Hengrave. 4to. 1822.
Gotch (J. A.). — The Buildings Erected in Northamptonshire by

Sir Thomas Tresham. Folio. 1883.
Harrison (F.). — Annalsof an Old Manor House. 410. 1893.
Nevill (R.).— Old Cottage of Domestic Architecture in South- West

Surrey. 4to. 1890.

NiVEN (W.). — Monograph of Aston Hall, Warwickshire. 4to. 1881.

Illustrations of Old Staffordshire Houses. 4to. 1882.

Illustrations of Old Warwickshire Houses. 4to. 1878.

Illustrations of Old Worcestershire Houses. 4to. (?)

Palmer (C. J.}. — Illustrations of An Old House at Great Yarmouth.

4to. 1838.
ROUNDELL (Mrs. Charles) Cowdrav.— The History of a (ireat

English House. 410. 1884.
T.wlor (H.).— Old Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire. 4to. 1882.
Willins (E. p.).— Some Old Halls and Manor Houses in Norfolk

4to. 1890.

I\'. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS CONSULTED
IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS WORK.

ArcH/EOLOGI.\ : or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, pub-
lished by the Society of Antiquaries.

Archaeological Journal, \'o1. VIII. for Contract for Thos.
Fermors Tomb in Somerton Church ; Vols. V. and XXXIX. for
Nonesuch Palace.

A LIST OF SELECTED WORKS. 269

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS {continued).

Arch.bological Journal, Vol. LI. 1894. "On the Work of
Florentine Sculptors in England in the Early Part of the Sixteenth
Century," &c., by Alfred Higgins, F.S.A.

The Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1837, for Nonesuch Palace.

Journal of the Society of Arts, April 24, 1891. "Decorative
Plaster Work," by G. T. Robinson, F.S.A.

Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society.

Transactions of the R. I. B. A., May 18, June 8, 1868. " On the
Foreign Artists employed in England during the Sixteenth Century,
and their Influence on British Art," by M. Digby Wyatt.

W^ILTSHIRE ARCH.t;OLOGICAL AND NATURAL HiSTORY MAG.A.ZINE.

Androut Du Cerceau (Jacques).— Les plus excellents bastiments

de France. Folio. 1576 — 1579.
Androut Du Cerceau (Jacques). — De architectura opus. Folio

•559-
Aubrey (J.). — Wiltshire Topographical Collections, 1659 — 1670. 4to.

1862.
Bloo.me (H.). — The Book of Five Columnes of Architecture, «&c.

Translated by I. T. Folio. 1608.
Bluom (Joannes, sdi/w as Hans Blooiitc). — Quinque Columnarum

Exacta Descriptio. Folio. 1550.
BOORDE (A.). — Compendyous Regyment, or a Dyetary of Helth.

i2mo. 1542.
Braun ((iE-ORGE^i. — Urbium pnccipuarum mundi theatrum quinlum.

1582. (For Nonesuch Palace.)
Britton (J.). — Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain. 5 vols.

4to. 1807 — 1826.
BURGON (J. W.).--Lifc and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham. 1839.
C.\HALA. — Sive scrinia sacra. Folio. 1691.
Dallaway (Rev. James).— A Series of Discourses upon Architecture

in England. 8vo. 1833.
DiETTERl.EiN (Wendelj. Architectura und Austheilung der V.

Seulen. Folio. 1593.
I3oi,LMAN (F. T.). — The Priory of St. Mary Overie, Southuark. 410.

1881.
Evelyn (J.).— Memoirs and Correspondence, 1641 1706.
Gedde (W.).- -A Bookc of Sundry Draughtes. 8vo. 1612; reissued

1898.
Harrls (Sir N.j. -Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher

Hatton. <Svo. 1H47.
Hartshorne (Miss).— Memorials of Holdcnby. 1868.
Hentzner (P.). Journey into England in 1598. ICditcd by Horace

Walpolc. 1797-
KlI' (W.) and Harrison (S.).- The Archs of Triumph, erected in

honour of James I. Folio. 1604.

270 A LIST OF SELECTED WORKS.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS {continued).

Law (E.).— History of Hampton Court Palace. 3 vols, 8vo.

1888— 1891.
Lethahy (W. R.). — Leadwork, Old and Ornamental. 8vo. 1893.
Nichols (J.). — Progresses. F"estivities, and Pageants of Queen Eliza-
beth. 3 vols. 4to. 1823.
Nichols (J.). — Progiesses, Processions, Festivities, and Pageants of

King James I. 4 vols. 1828.
L'Ormk (Philihert DE). — Nouvelles Inventions pour bien bastir.

Folio. 1 561.
Pepys (S.). — Diary, 1659 — 1669 ; Memoirs and Private Correspondence.
Rye (W. B.). — England as seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth

and James I. 4to. 1865.
ScOTT (Sir George Gilbert). — Gleanings from Westminster

Abbey. 8vo. 1863.
Shute (Joh\). — The Chief Groundes of Architecture. Folio. 1563.
State Papers. — Domestic Series. Elizabeth and James.
TwYCROSS (Edward). — The Mansions of England and Wales.

Folio. 1847 — 1850.
Vries (Jan Vredeman de). — Book of Monuments. 4to. 1563.
Vries (Jan Vredeman de). — Architectura, ou bastiment prins de

Vitruve, &c. Folio. 1577.
Vries (Jan \'rei)EMAN de). — Perspective. Oblong 4to. 1604.
Westlake. — A History of Design in Painted Glass. 4 vols. 4to.

1 88 1 — 1894.
W^ILLIS (J.) and Clark (J. W.). — The Architectural History of the

University of Cambridge. 4 vols. 8vo. 1886.

INDEX

Note. — The ordinary figures denote references to pages of text, those in
black type denote references to illustrations in the text, and the
Roman numerals are for plates.

Abbott's Hospital, Guildford . . i66

,, doorway.. .. 149

,, key-plate .. 154

latch . . . . 150

Additions to existing houses . . 73

Almshouses 210

Althorpe, Hawking-tower 212, 199, 200

Alva 253

Ampthill, long gallery 195

Andrew, Sir Thomas, tomb of 16, 8
ANssi-LE-p-RANC, plan and elevation

copied by John Thorpe 227, 213,

214
Apartments on John Thorpe's

plans, list of 251

Ai'ETHORPE Hall 105

,, ceiling iiSi

,, cont'ectionery . . 234
,, curved gables 122, 109
,, parapet .. .. 123

Arcade, the open 63

Architect, his position in i6th

century 255 — 2O6

Arnold, a joiner 257

Arthur, Prince, chantry in Wor-
cester Cathedral .. .. II, I

Arundel, Earl of 34

AsHKouRNE Church, tombs, 13, 16, 2,9

AsKEWE, Lady Anne 143

AsTBURY Church, font cover . . 221

ASTLEY Hall .. .. III.XXXIII.

AsTON Hal! 70 72, gS, 99

,, ceilings 179, Lxx., Lxxi.

,, longgallery 195, 19O, Lxxvi.

,, nortli wing 54

,. plan 53

,, south front 81

Aubrey, John 35

Audley End 73. 144

,, ceilings . . . . 179. 1^2

,, frieze 182, 168

,, long gallery . . • • i95

,, parapet . . . . 123, 112

,, staircase .. 193, lxxiv.

Axbridge Church, ceiling .. .. 223

Aylesford Hall, doorway . . 93, 75

Azay-le-Kideau, Chateau de . . 230

Bacon, Lord 76,88

Sir Nicholas .. 88,89,90
Bakewell Church, tomb in . . 7
Balliol College, Oxford, glazing 199

Baluster, pierced t7^

Banbury " Reindeer " Inn . . i(>2,

177. 181

ceiling lxix.

side of room xlix.

BANyiETiNfi Hall at Whitehall .. 9

house 13''

,, at (iorhambury 90
,, at C h i p pin g

Campden . . 132
Bakdwkll Manor House, chimney i.;8,

116

liAKLiiOKouciM Hall .. f>7 '''8,235

,, ,, cliimney-piece i68,

I.VIll.

,. entrance front 50
,, plan 49

Harrington C"ourt .. no, xxxii.

liAKsHAM, ICast. Sci- llast Harsiiam.

liASiNr. Church, I'aulet tombs. . 2(), vii.

IJasingstoke, Chape! of Holy (ihost 17
glazing I')')

Bay windows ''■

272

INDEX.

Bean Lodge, Petworth, chimney 130,

123
Beckington Abbey, ceiling 177, 178,

162, 163

,, ,, door . . 155, 140

Benedetto da Kovezzano . . . . 254

Benthall Hall 156

,, ceiling . . . . 180, 165
,, chimney-piece 171, 156
., panelling 156, 157, 158,

XLUI.

,, staircase .. 193, 179

Bingham Melcombe 17

Black and white houses . . . . 106

Blickling 73

ceiling 181

chimney 130

curved gables .. ..122

part of entrance front xxxvii.

staircase 192

Blunt, Matthew, a joiner . . . . 257
Bluom, Hans, his book on the Five

Orders 264

Blvthborough Church, pulpit 220, 207

Boccaccio 2

Boleyn, Anne 28

Bolsover Castle 103, 87

,, chimney-pieces 171,

157, LXIV.

,. plan . . . . 104, 88
Books on Architecture published

during the i6th century . . 264

Booroe, Dr. Andrew . . . . 56, 62

his Dyetaryo/Helth quoted 57

Boughton House, chimney-piece i68,

LVI.

BoLRNE Pond, Colchester, mill 212, 204
Bocrton-on-the-Water, cottage 112,

96
Bkadbourne, tomb of .. .. 16,9

Bradfield 163, 238

Bramall Hall 107

Bramshill 105

parapet 123, iii

rain-water head ,. 131, 129
Brandon, Charles. Duke of Suffolk 53
Bredon Church, Reed tomb. . 218, 204
Brigstock, village cross 211, lxxx.
Bristol, door in a house at 164, liii.
,, in St. Peter's hos-
pital . . . . 166, LV.
old houses at 201

Bristol, Red Lodge .. .. 157, 163

Broadway, doorway at . . . . 92, 74

Tudor House 118, xxxv.

Bkomley-by-Bow, chimney-piece 172,

LXV.

Broughton Castle, inner porch 163,

238, LI.

Brunelleschi 6

Buckhurst House 73

the long gallery 195

BuRFORD Priory, window tracery 223

Burghley House . . g, 98, 128, 260

general view xxviii.

,, long gallery .. 195

staircase 187, lxxii.

Burghley, Lord . . 75, 76, 144, 146

letters to (and from) 260,

261, 262

Burlington, Lord 261

Burton Agnes 70, 91

,, bay windows.. 112,95

,, ceiling 183

,, plan 52

Burton Latimer, school . . 211, 197
Bury St. Edmund's, glazing at

Church of St. James . . . . 199
Busts on houses 120

Cabot 2

Cambridge,

King's College, fan-vaulting

in chapel 3
glazing . . 199
screen in
chapel 28, III,

255. VIII.

Peterhouse, woodwork in

chapel 223,212

Queen's College, panelling 257
St. John's College, contracts 256
Trinity College, contract for

woodwork 25b

the hall 159, xlv.

Canterbury, corbels . . 206, 188, 189

house in High Street 202,

185

Carbrook Hall, Sheffield . . . . 155

ceiling 181

frieze . . . . 184, 170
panelling 155, xlii.

Casement fasteners 166

Cassell 145

INDEX.

273

Castle Ashby, chimney-piece 172, lxvi.

parapet 124

Castlemaine, Countess of . . . . 34
Castle Rising, door at . . . . 152, 139

Cave, Robert, a joiner 257

Thomas, tomb of . . 15, 5, 6
Cecil, SirWilHam. S^^LordBurghley.

Ceilings in houses 173 — 184

,, in churches 223

Cellini, Benvenuto 7

Chalfield, Great 42

hall 45

.. plan.. .. 43,33

Chambord, Chateau de 230

Change of detail from Italian to

Dutch 39

Channel Row, house for Lady

Derby 205

Chapel Royal, St. James's, ceiling 176

Chapman, a mason 36

Charles 1 5

Charles II 34

Charles VIII. (of France) tomb at

St. Denis 12

Charlton, Wiltshire . . . . 98, 80

ceiling 178

frieze 1S2, 168

Charterhouse, The, staircase at

192, 181
Charwelton Church, tomb in 16, 8

Chastleton, ceiling 183

plan 90, 91,

92, 72

Chelvey Court, pew .. .. 157,143

porch . . 83, 84, 64

Cheney Court 101,84

,, ,, doorway.. .. 87,68

Chenonceau, Chateau de . . . . 230
Chest at St. Mary Overie, South-

wark 39. X-

Chester, the Rows at 207

Chesterfield ("hurch, Foljambe

tombs 218, 203
pulpit 221, 208

Chkvington 231)

Chichestkk tomb. North I'ilton 218,

202, L.XXXI.

ClIIMNEY-I'IKCKS .. .. > ^'7 1 7 J

Chimneys 125 130

typical chimney of the

Midlands 119

Cmi'CHAsE Castle, porch . . 85, xxi\'.

Chipping Campden almshouses 208, 193

banqueting

house . . 137, 132

,, chimney.. 128,120

market - house 211,

ig6

Christchurch, Hampshire, choir

stalls 23, 17, 18
Draper's chantry 22, 16
Salisbury chantry 17,

20 — 22, 14, 15, v., VI.

Churches, work in 2:5

Claverton, terrace . . 133, xxxviii.

Clegg Hall 106, 90

Clifford, Lady Anne 144

Clifton Maubank 64

Clifton, Sir Jarvis (or Gervase),

John Thorpe's plan of house, 231.

LXXXIV,

Clough, Richard . . . . 260, 261, 262

Cobb, a plasterer 257

Cobham Hall, Kent 130,260

CoBHAM, Lord 260

CoKAYNE, tomb of 11,2

Cold Ashton 102

doorway . . 86, 87, 67
general view .. .. 85
gateway .. 79, 81, 58

plan 102, 86

Columbus 2

Compton Winyates 33, 47—49, 94, 128
details from

church 223, 211
entrance porch xii.
general view . . xi

plan 37

CoNDovKK Hall .. .. 104,105,89
CoNFECTioNicKY, remarkable . . 234

CoNisnEAD I'riory i'>5

Constantinople, fall of .. .. 2
Contract for glazing at St. John's

("cjllege, C^'imbridge 257
,, piinelling at Hen-
grave Hall . . . . 148
,, second court at St.
J ohn's (■ o 1 1 ege,
Cambridge . . . . 256
,. tomb for 'iliomas

I-'ermor . . . . 251)
,, woodwork at 'Irinity
College, Cambridge 257
Copernicus 9'

274

INDEX.

Copt Hall, the long gallery . . . . 195
Corbels to overhanging storeys . . 206
CoRSHAM Court . . . . 99, 100, 82

almshouses 208

reading-desk 192
Coventry, Ford's Hospital . . . . 207

CowHRAY House 105

vaulting of porch 19,
13. IV.
windows 109, no, 93
Craftsmen provide their own

designs 256

Cranborne, porch 91, xxvi.

Croscombe Church, woodwork . . 219
Crosses, market and village. . .. 211
Cross, St., Winchester, screen 17, 24, vii.

Dais, the 43

Dale, Richard 58

Dante 2

Danvers, Sir John ; plans and
elevation of his house by John

Thorpe 246, 227, 228

Dartmouth, butter-market . . . . 201

Decoration of rooms 145

Deene Hall 148

ceiling.. 177, 134, lxviii.
Defensive precautions abandoned 73
Derby, Lady, house for . . . . 205
Designs, the providers of . . . . 256

DiNiNCKHOFF, Bernard 198

Dissolution of the Monasteries . . 5

DODUINGTON Hall 69

,, entrance front

with gatehouse xxi.
,, lay-out 77, 78, 56
,, parapet .. .. 123

.. plan 51

,, porch 82, 83, 63

Door furniture 165, 166, 150 — 155

Doors 164

Doorways (entrance) and porches

83—93
Dramatic entertainments .. .. 138
Draper's chantry, Christchurch 22. 16
Drawswerd, Sheriff of York . . 11
Drayto.n House, chimney .. 128, 121
Droitwich, chimney at. . .. 126,114
Drury, Elizabeth, tomb of . . 16, 10

Du Cerceau 95

copied by John Thorpe 227
DuRDANs, The 35

Dutch character of detail . . . . 39

Dutch, imitation of the 8

influence on English archi-
tecture 9, 120

influence on John Thorpe 230

refugees 253

Dyrik, a joiner 258

East Ardsley Old Hall 106

Eastawe, John 56

East Barsham 17.47

plan 36

East Quantockshead 169

staircase 192, 174

Edington Church, pulpit 221, lxxxiii.

Elevations by John Thorpe lxxxvii.,

214, 215, 219, 222, 223, 224, 228,

229, 230

Elizabethan mansion, new style

to be found in 5

Elizabeth, Queen 138, 140

Eltham Palace, roof . . . . 28, 25

Elvetham 234

Enfield, chimney-piece at .. ..172
English workmen, character of

their work . . 95
Italianizing of 16
Evelyn, John, his notes on None-
such Palace 34

EwEN, Nicholas 11

Exeter, Guildhall 210

house formerly in North

Street 201, 184

External appearance of an Eliza-
bethan house 95

ExTON Church, tomb 4

Hall 99, 123, XXIX.

parapet no

Eyam Hall, garden 135, 133

terrace steps .. xxxix.

Faerie Queen, the 5

Famueler, Giles, wood-carver . . 257
Fan-vaulting .. 3, 10, 19, pi. i., iv.

Fermor, Thomas 258

contract for his
tomb . . . . 259

Finials

Finstock Manor House. .
Fisher, Bishop, his tomb
Florence Cathedral

117, lOI

118, 102
.. 258

Foljambe tombs, Chesterfield 218, 203

INDEX.

275

Font covers 221

Ford House, Newton Abbot,

chimney-piece .. .. 170, lxii-

Fountains Hall 92

Fox, Bishop of Winchester . . 24, 25

France, Renaissance in 3

Francis I. of France 7, 8

French influence on English Archi-
tecture . . 8, 152

,, ,, on John Thorpe 230

Gables 116

of timber houses .. .. iig

curved 120

Gallery, at Gorhambury . . . . 90

minstrels' 43

the long 63, 195 — 197, Lxxv.,

LXXVI.

Garden at Holdenby 76

Gardens 133

Gardiner's chantry, Winchester

Cathedral 25

Gascoigne, George. . . . 141, 142, 214
Gatehouses and lodges . . 78 — 83
Gayhurst, pillars in garden. . 133, 130
porch of house .. 85,66
Gayton Manor House, door. . 166, lv.

Gedde, Walter, glazier 199

patterns from his

' Booke of Sundry Draughtes "

LXXVIII.

General aspect of an Elizabethan

house 94

Germany, Renaissance in . . . . 3

Gests 143

Giles Famteler, wood-carver . . 257
GiLLiNG Castle, glass at. . .. 198, 183

Giovanni da Majano 254

Glazing 197 — 199

Glinton Manor House . . 100, xxix.

Gorhamhury 88 - 91

porch 70

Gothic and Classicdetail mixed 17 — 33
Architecture contrasted

with Classic 2, 4

Great chamber, the 194

Great Snoring 17.47

Greek literature 2

Gresha.m, Sir Thomas . . . . 2f>o, 261
Guildford, Abbott's Hospital. See
Abbott's Hospital.

Haddon Hall 47. 94. 105

.. ceilings 177, 181, 161, 166
,, door furniture 167, 151,

153

,, frieze 184

,, long gallery 195, lxxv.
,, panelling 153, 154, 135

XL., XLI

, rain-water heads 131,

124, 125, 126

,, screen . . . . 149, 135

,, terrace .. 133, xxxviii.

Half-timber houses 56

Hall, the chief apartment . . . . 41

its treatment 159

its decay 72

Hambleton Old Hall 71

parapet .. 123
porch. . 89, 91
staircase 192, 173

Hampton Court 29

,. ceilings 33, 149, 174—
176, 158, 159, 160,

LXVII.

chapel roof. . • • 33
door to great hall 28
early work at . . 29

.. glazing 197

long gallery . . 197

roof of great hall 28,

30, 161, 26, 27

roundels .. .. 254

size of courts 35, 76

tapestry . . . . 147

Hamstall liidware, lodge . . . . 79

Hardwick Hall, chimney-piece 169, lxi,

,, plaster frieze 1C4, 184,

LII.

Harrington, John, Lord . . . . 100
Harrington, John, tomb of . . . . 15. 4
Harrison, Dyrik, a joiner .. 257, 25S
Harrison, Stephen, joiner and

architect 140

Haselkiggk 235

Haserid(;k, Sir Wm.. plan and
elevation for his house by
John Thorpe 235, lxxxvi., lxxxvii.
Hatfield House chimney-piece . . 169,

I.IX.

doorway . . Hf>, xxv.
staircase . . . . 192
window-head . . 99A

276

INDEX.

Hatton, Sir Christopher 63, 76, 77, 81,

96. 143, 144

Hawking-tower at Althorpe 212, igg,

200
Hawstkad Church, tomb in. . 16, 10

Heneage, Sir Thomas 144

Hengrave Hall .. 33, 54 — 56, 128, 258
,, contract for panel-
ling 148

corbelling of bay 44
entrance gateway xiv.

glazing 198

plan 42

west front . . . . 43

Henrick, or Henryck 260

Henry VH.'s Chapel, Westminster 3, 10,

pi. I.

stalls ..26,21,22

tomb 7, 10—15, 253,

pi- II., 3

will 256

Henry VHI., his influence on

architecture . . 7
,, ,, he annexes Wol-

sey's tomb . . 254

Hentzner, Paul 33

Hereford, house in High Town 203, 186

Hertford, Earl of 234

Hesse, Landgrave of 145

HiGHLow Hall, gateway. . 134, x.xxix.

Hoghton Tower 105

,, bay window of hall iii,

Holbein 7

his work in England . . 255

HOLDENBY House I44

court 78

gateways 80, 81, 61
., lay-out . . 75, 55
,, long gallery .. 195

HOLMSHURST Il8, XXXV.

Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke 17

glazing .. 199

HosPiTALLof Incurable Fooles.the 264

Houses enlarged to receive royalty 144

in streets 200

proclamation as
to materials. . 203
HuDDiNGTON Court House, chimney 127,

Ightham Church, glazing from 197, 182

Imber, Lawrence 11

Ingelby Manor 106, 91

Inner porch to rooms . . . . 163, li.
Interior features of houses . . . . 138
Invasion of the foreign style . . lo

Ipswich, old houses at 201

Islip, Abbot of Westminster . . 8

Italian detail in tombs. . . . 10 — 26

workmen .. .. 18 — 24,253

Italy, its influence on architecture i — 9

James I., King 140

Janson, Cornelius 261

Jenins, Robert 11

John of Padua 8

Johnson the druggist, Mr., plan of

his house by John Thorpe . . 245,

225
Jones, Inigo . . 6, 9, 42, 63, 64, 72, 263
JoYNER, Michael 28

Kelmarsh Church, window tracery

222, 210
Kenilworth Castle, princely plea-
sures 141

Kentwell Hall 99. 83

Kenyon Peel, gateway . . . . 82, 62
King's College, Cambridge. See

Cambridge.
King's Lynn, Chapel of the Red

Mount 19, IV.

Kip, William 140

Kirby Hall.. 60 — 64, 73, 81, 95, 96, 105
bay windows 112, xxxiii.
chimney . . . . 128, 118
courtyard, south side

of XVII., 76

finials 118

gables 121

hall, roof of . . . . 161, 147

parapet 123

plan 46

plan by John Thorpe xviii.
porch, detail of . . . . xix.
west front . . . . 77, 107

Kitchen, the 41

Kneelers 117,101

Knockers 167, 155

Knole House 73, 130, 131

■ . hall 159, 145

lead rain-water head 128
Kytson, Sir Thomas . . 148, 149, 239

INDEX.

277

Lacock Abbey . . . . 17, 36 — 38, no
chimney.. 128, xxxvi.
chimney-piece 168, LVii.

„ ,, stables 32

,, stone tables . . 30, 31
tile paving . . . . ix-
tower at S.E. corner 29

Lambert, a joiner 257

Landgrave of Hesse 145

Langton Chapel, Winchester Ca-
thedral 27

Lavenham Church, the Spring pew 27,

23. 24
Layer Marney, tombs at . . 17, 11, iii.
Layer Marney Tower . . 17, 33, 52 — 54,

no, 128

,, ,, details xiii.

entrance tower . . 41

Lay-out of houses 74

Lebons, John 11

Lechlaue, " Swan " Inn . . 207, 191

Ledbury Market-house 107

Lee, Mr., free mason 258

Leeds, St. John's Church . . . . 222
screen.. 219

Leicester, Earl of 142

Leicester, Old Town Hall . . 162,

XLVIII.

Leominster, The Grange . . . . 107

Levens Hall, door 164, liv.

Lilford Hall, bay window 112, xxxiv.
curved gables 123, XXXIV.

Lilly the CJrammarian gi

Lincoln, Earl of 145

Lingfieli), gateway .. .. 134, 131
Little Charlton, ceiling .. 184, 171

LocKi'LATEs 152

Lodge, the 74

JUDGES and gateways . . 78-83

Loggia, the Italian 4'. ^3

LoNGLEAT 97.78

LoRME, Phililiert de 261

LOSELEY 35. 143

Louvre, the 145

LuMLEY, Lord 34

Lyddington, doorway at . . 92, 73
Lyveden Old Huilding, staircase 192,

172. 175
New Hiiilding . . . . 247

Madrit, Chateau de . . 228, 230
Majano, Giovanni da 254

Manners, Sir John 131,181

Margaret, mother of Henry VII.,

her tomb 11,253

Market-houses 207,210

Marlivale, Mr., letter of . . . . 239

Marney, Sir Henry 53

Marney, Henry, Lord, his tomb 11,

pi. III.

Mary, Queen 34

Mary, St., Overie, chest at . . 39, x.
Mayfield, house at . . . . 108, 92

Michael Joyner 28

Middle Temple Hall .. .. 159,161
,, glazing .. 198

MiLDMAY, Sir Anthony 234

Mill at Bourne Pond . . . . 212, 198

Minstrels' Gallery 43

Modena, Nicholas of 255

Monasteries, dissolution of . . . . 5

Montacute House . . 64—67, 73, 105,

123, 128, 133, 184

part of entrance

front . . . . XX,

plan 47

plasterfrieze 168,169
west front . . 48

Montagu, Sir Edward 168

More, Sir Thomas 247

More, Sir William, of Loseley . . 143
MoRETON Old Hall.. .. 56 — 59, 107
,, entrance porch xv.
,, gable . . . . XVI.
,, glazing 197, Lxxvii.
,, plan .. .. 45

Mount Cirace Priory
MoYNS Park

Nailsea Court, dcjor

porch
Neker, Thomas
Nelson, Lord . .
Nicholas of Modena
Nine Worthies, the
Nonesuch Palace . .

106, XXX.

.. 130

155. 141
«5. 65
.. 148

■ ^54
■• ^55

()6, 88, 142

53—3Ci. 76
banfjueting house 136

garden 134

NoRKis, Sir Henry .. .. 260, 261
Nokthami'tonshikic cottage, a . . 100
North Pilton, Chichester tomb .. 218,

202, LXXXI.

Nokthumherlani), Dnke of . . .. 265

NOSELEY 235

278

INDEX.

Nottingham, houses on the Long

Row 207

NuNziATA, Toto del . . 34 note, 254

Oakwell Hall 106

OcKWELLs Manor House, staircase 192,

177, 178

Offley, Hugh 39

Orations, Latin 141

Orton Waterville, corbel . . 206, 190

OuNDLE, gateway of almshouses 81, 60

OxBURGH Hall, described . . . . 45

entrance tower . . 35

„ plan . . . . 44, 34

Oxford, Baliol College, glazing . . 199

house in the High Street 202,

LXXIX.

Queen's College, glazing 199
,, Wadham College, screen

in hall 159, 161, xliv.
Wadham College, window

tracery 222

Paganino 12

Pageants 139

Pageny, Master (Paganino) . . . . 12

Palladio ; . . . 95

Panelling of the time of Henry

vni 136, 138

Papworth, Mr. Wyatt 265

Parapets 123, no, in, 112

Parlour, the 41

Paulet tombs in Basing Church 26, vii.

Pavia, Certosa of 6

Pegme, or triumphal arch . . . . 140

Pendants of ceilings 167

Pepys, notes on Nonesuch Palace 35

Peter, a joiner 257

Peterhouse, Cambridge, wood-
work in chapel 223, 212

Petrarch 2

Phelips, Sir Edward 65

Pilton Church, font cover .. 221, 209

Pitchford Hall 107

PiTTi Palace 6

Plan : development of house plan 41 — 72
Elizabethan house plan .. 59

E type of plan 67

H type of plan 64

old type still preserved at
Oxford and Cambridge . . 42
Plan of Althorpe Hawking-tower 200

Plan of Anssi-le-Franc . ; . . 213

,, Aston Hall 53

,, Barlborough Hall .. .. 49

,, Bolsover Castle .. .. 88

,, Burton Agnes 52

,, Chalfield, Great .. .. 33

,, Chastleton 72

,, Clifton, Sir Jarvis, his

house 86

,, Cold Ashton 86

,, Compton Winyates . . 37
,, Danvers, Sir John, his

house 227, 228

,, Doddington Hall .. .. 51

,, East Barsham 36

,, Eyam Hall, garden .. 133

,, Hengrave Hall .. .. 42

,, Holdenby, lay-out .. .. 55
,, Johnson the druggist, his

house 225

,, Kirby Hall 46

,, by John Thorpe

XVIII.

,, Montacute House . . . . 47

,, Moreton Old Hall . . .. 45

,, Oxburgh Hall 34

,, Powell, Mr. W'"., his house 224

,, Sutton Place 38

,, Wollaton Hall 79

Plans from John Thorpe's book 226 —

252, LXXXIV., LXXXV., LXXXVI., 2I3,
216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 223, 224,

225, 226, 227, 228, 231

Platts, or plans 256

Porches 83 — 93

Porter, the 73-79

Powell, Mr. W"'.,plan and eleva-
tion for his house, by John

Thorpe 244, 224

Printing, invention of 3,6

Progresses of the Sovereign . . 138
Pulpit in Winchester Cathedral. . 27
Pulpits 220

Quantockshead, East 169

staircase.. 192, 174
Queen's College, Oxford, glazing 199

Rainham Hall 72

Rain-water heads 130

Red Lodge, Bristol, panelling . . 157
inner porch . . . . 163

INDEX.

279

Red Mount, Chapel of, King's Lynn 19
Reed tomb, Bredon Church 218, 204

Reformation, the 3

" Reindeer " Inn, Banbury. . . . 162
ceihng 177, 181, lxix.
panelled room 162, xlix.

Renaissance in letters 2

style 2, 3

Richmond, Countess of, tomb 11, 253

Richmond Court 126

Rodes, Francis 168

Roiley, Richard and Gabriel, tomb

makers 258, 259

RoTHWELL, cottage at .. .. 119,103

market-house . . 185, 210

RovEZZANO, Benedetto da . . . . 254

Royal Exchange, Gresham's 261, 262

Rules of architecture 6

RusHTON Hall 105

,, chimney of Triangu-
lar Lodge . . . . 122
,, curved gables 122, 108,

,, finials 118

, , parapet 123

,, rain-water head . . 131

Rydge, Richard 28, 29

Rye, St. John's Hospital . . . . 208

Saint Germain, plan copied by

John Thorpe 228

Salisbury Chantry, the, at Christ-
church. See Christchurch.
Sandwich, corl^els on " King's

Arms" . . . . 206, 187
Queen lilizalxjth's visit

to 141

Savile, John, describes visit of

James I. to Theobalds . . . . 77

Schools 211

Scole, sign of the " White Hart" 213

coi
Screen at Tilney All Saints . . 219,

LXXXIL

at St. Cross . . . . 25, vn.
at Winchester Cathedral 24, :o

of churches 219

i){ hall in houses and ccjI-

leges 159

Screens, " the screens " in a house 42,

160
Seymour, Jane, arms 33

R.A.

Seymour, Jane, tomb 254

Sharington, William 36 — 38, 128, 168

Grace (his wife) . . 38

Sherborne, rain-water head 131, 127

Shrewsbury, market-house . . 210, 194

school 211

Shute, John, his Chief Grotuides of

Architecture 263

Silkstede, Prior, his pulpit . . 27
Sizergh Hall, ceiling . . 179, 181, 164

door 164

frieze . . . . 184, l.
inner porch . . 163, 283
panelling 163, 164, l., 148
Slaugham Place, the long gallery 195
Smaller rooms, the treatment of 162

Smith, Sir Thomas 260

Smith.son, Robert 265

Snoring, Great 17. 47

South Wraxall, ceiling . . .. 177, 178
chimney-piece 169, lx.
great chamber 162,

XLVII.

Spain, Renaissance in 3

Sparke, John 56

Speke Hall 107, XXXI.

Spencer, Robert, Lord 212

Sir William, u^mb at
Yarnton . . . . 218, 205
Spring Pew, Lavenham Church 27, 23,

24
Stafford, Sir Humphrey . . . . 63

Staircase, the grand 47

at Benthall Hall.. 193, 179

at Kirby 63

Staircases 185 — 194

examples from John
Thorpe's drawings. . 1S9,

190, LXXIIl.

in I'rance 185

Stanford Church, panelling 151, 137
tomb in . . 15, 5, 6
Stanninge, or Hawking-tower .. 212
Stanwav, gatehouse .. .. 79, xxii.
curved gables .. .. 123
St. Cross, Winchester, screen 25, vii.
.. lames. Chapel Royal, ceiling 176
,, Margaret's Westminster, glaz-
ing 199

.. Mary Overie, Southwark, chest 39, x.
.. Neot's Church, C'ornwall, glaz-
ing 19'J

2«0

INDEX.

Steventon, cottage at 112, 119, 97, 105
Stokesay Castle, gatehouse . . 79, 57
Stonegrave Church, screen . . 220
Stowe -Nine- Churches, reredos

and screen 157,142,144

STRATFORn-ON-AvoN, housc at . . 202,

LXXIX.

Sutton Court, near Guildford . . 33
Sutton Place (or Court) near

Guildford 17, 49 — 52

,, ,, details 39

.. part elevation of

courtyard . . . . 40

,, plan 38

SwiNSTY Old Hall 106

Symmetry in plan . . . . 41, 49, 60

Tailor, Thomas 70

Tapestry 146, 134

Temple Newsam 125

Terra-cotta detail 18

Texts on walls of churches . . . . 224
Theobalds . . . . 73, 77, 144, 146
Thorpe, John . . . . 8, 78, 195, 256,

264
his book of drawings 226
., his plan of Kirby

Hall . . . . 62, XVIII.
,. ,, his plans for London

houses . . . . 203
,, his study of foreign

books 227

Tilney All Saints, screen 219, lxxxu.
Toller Fratrum, chimney . . 127, 117

Tomb, contract for 259

Tombs, development of style in 10 — 26,

216
Andrew, Sir Thomas 16, 8

Bradbourne . . 16, 9

Cave, Thomas .. .. 15,5,6
Chichester . . 218, 202, lxxxi.

Cokayne 11,2

Drury, Klizabeth 16, 10

Foljambe 218, 203

Harrington, John . . 15. 4

Henry VH. 7, 10 — 15, 253, 3, 11.
Marney, Henry, Lord 11, iii.

Paulet 26, vii.

Reed 218, 204

Spencer, Sir Wm. . . 218, 205
Vernon. Sir George .. t6, 8

Torrigiano 7. 13

employed on Henry
VIL's tomb . . 12, 254
ToRRisANV, Peter (same as Torri-
giano) 12

Toto del Nunziata . . . . 34 note, 254

TowN-HALLs 209

Treeton, cottage at .. .. 119,104

Tresham, Sir Thomas 210

Triangular Lodge, Rushton,

chimney 128, 122

Trinity College, Cambridge, the

hall 159, 161, xlv.

Upper Slaughter, porch
Uprights, or elevations.

. 85, xxiv.
. 226, 256

Venice, palaces at 7

Vernon, Dorothy 131, 181

her legend 196

Vernon, Sir George . . 131, 181, 196

tomb of 16, 8

Verrio's ceilings 181

Verses, Latin 141

Virtue, Robert 11

VlTRUVIUS 6

Vries, or Vriese 95

his books on architecture . . 264
copied by John Thorpe 228, 215

Vyne, the, Hampshire 17

.. glazing 199

panelling .. .. 23, 152, 19

Wadham College, Oxford. See
Oxford.

Walker, Humphrey 11

Wardour Castle, archway to stairs 87,

XX v.
Warwick, house at, staircase 192, 180
Westminster, Henry Vn.'schapel 3,

10, pi. I.

tomb 7,

10—15,253,

3.plii-

stalls 26.

21, 22

Weston, Sir Richard . . . . 52, 53

Westwood, curved gables . . . . 123

gatehouse .. . . 79, xxiii.

Whiston, chimney-piece 171, lxiii.

Whitehall, gateways at . . . . 255

Wilton House, work at . . . . 255

INDEX.

281

Winchester Cathedral 17

Gardiner's
chantry 25
., ., Langton's

chapel 27
Prior Silk-
stede"s
pulpit 27
screen in
choir 23, 25,
20
St. Cross, screen 25, vii.

Windows 100 — 115

sections of jambs, etc. .. 98

Window tracery 222, 210

WiNWiCK, gateway 79, 59

WoLLATON Hall 73

chimneys . . . . 128
corner tower . . 106
curved gables 120, 122
general view xxvii.
long gallery . . 195

WoLL\TON Hall, parapet . . . . 123

,, plan .. .. 97,79

roofofhall.. 161,146

window-sill 114, 99

WoLSEY, Cardinal . . . . 7, 147, 154

his tomb . . . . 254

his work at

Hampton Court 29

Wood panelling, development of. . 14S

WooLLAS Hall, porch . . . . 87, 69

screen . 160, xlvi.

Worth Church, Sussex, pulpit 220, 206

Wren, Sir Christopher. . . . 6, 35

Wrest 144

Wright, Robert, glazier . . . . 19S

Wymondham Church,sediliai7, i2,32a.

market-house 210 — 195

Yarnton, Spencer tomb . . 218, 205

York, old houses at 201

Young, Dr., his tomb 254

THE END.

HRAUIIURV, AONKW, I'V CO. I,l»., l-klNTKKS, t.ONDON AND TONHRIDGK.

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Return this material to thi H^ran?^*"^^
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Full text of "Early renaissance architecture in England; a historical & descriptive account of the Tudor, Elizabethan & Jacobean periods, 1500-1625, for the use of students and others"

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