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the gm of

Prof. F.L. Olmsted

NGLISH

CO U NTRY

DTTAGES

SPECIAL
WINTE R

NUMBER

OF 'THE

STUDIO
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lUJNBS NH

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FIN

Bradt)urp» jIaneiD Si CoT^

f'KIAK.> fK

i»v «p<cin( iin oil.

NEWMAN,

MANUFACTURING ARTISTS' COLOURMAl

E\'ERY REQinSlTI'

Ulater, 0)1 and Fresco colours.

and ^ABLi, B'

24 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

, r

SOLID OAK
PANELLING

FINISHED TO

ANY SHADE

PROM

1/6

A SQUARE
FOOT FIXED

DK8IQN8
POST PR ■ K

ILJ

LIBERTY. CO \

REGENT ST
ONDON

AD. 1

Art Wall Papers

ir- ^ ^B^t^ ^^t V

TBB OOLDBN PH&ASANT. Ss. p«r Ptoo^

P«M»ra« Ml flppfiMMoa. TA* Lmrmst S ^ mroom to toaJoa.

eHAS. liowLETi eo., im.

. PATENT .

COPPER TOP TABLES

in greal variety of pattern of top and
style of frame.

SPECIALLY SUITABLE FOR
YOUR COUNTRY COTTAGE.

Full particulars from any Ironmongery or Furnishing
House, or direct from the miakers :

JOSEPH 8ANKEY ft 80N8, LTD.,

BIL8TON,

Art MetahWart Manufacturers.

Telegrams: Sankby, Bilston. Telephone: B Bilston.

AD. II

A CHARMING FEATURE

among

Present-day Je'wels
of advanced Character

is the introduction of

QUAINT AND UNIQUE
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Brooch in beaten Silver with

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only

Graceful mount for a
Turquoise Matrix as a
Pendant in Gold

Pendant in Gold

setting with Turquoise

Matrix centre and

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Pendant in antique Silver mount
with beautiful enamel in centre

Above Designs are
the property of and
manufactured by
MURRLE,
BENNETT
AND Co., LiMrrsD
13 Charterhouse St.,
LONDON. E.C.

AToid Machine-made Jewelry, it lacka originality.

AD III

(

I
i

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i

BARTHOLOMEW » FLETCHER

217 & 218 Tottenham Court Road, London, W.

ONEJOF THE LARGEST STOCKS OF ANTIQUE FURNITURE IN LONDON.

;

METAL- CASEMENTS

■Hi

HID

Leaded • Lights
Stained * Glass
Door * Furniture

Decorative
Leadivork

Horticultural
Buildings

No. 6 * Catalogue
on • application

HENRYHOPE6SONS-LIMITED
55. Lionel 'Street, Binninghana t^

AD. IV

H£AI^&50N:r|

COTTAGE FURNITURE

CARRIAGE
PAID

on all
orders
over 40 •
to any
Station

in
England

or
Wales

^£

CARRIAGE
PAID
on all
arders
over 40s.
to ftn
St&tion

in
England

or
Wales

A SIMPLE LIVING-ROOM
IN A COUNTRY COTTAGE

A Cheap Set of Plain OaR Furniture made by Hand

6' " Oak Table . it2 : 10 : Oak Chair . . . 12/6
4' e>" „ Dresser i^ : 15 : „ Armchair . . 22/6

WRITE FOR No. 133 ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET

|195*TOTTENHAM COURT RO'W'I

AD. V

YOU ARE INVITEO TO INSPECT

THE TWO CHARMING

Bungalow Cottages

CONTAINING

niraa Bedrooms, Living Room, Hall and Kitchen,

ERECTED AND FURNISHED
COMPLETE IN THE SHOWROOMS.

Specially designed for OETZMANN & CO by
W. Henry WhiU, Esq., F.R.I.B.A.

ESTIMATED COST TO BUILD, ABOUT £200.

ACTUAL COST of FURNISHING

(including Linen, Plate, China, Cutlery, Glaas, etc.)

45 Guineas.

on2M4m5€

. nAMP5T]^iSLD ROAD.W

CbntinHalion noiitli oT T6ll<Ni1tiim*€ourr JtL
" GOOD TASTE with ECONOMY "

IS THE

KEYNOTE OF OETZMANN A Co.-.

SPECIAUY DESIGNED FURNITURE Fo>COnA6Eo> FLAT

lUustrated Caialoeue of Cottage and Flat Furniture p<ni fret.

TO BUILD ARTISTIC COTTAGES CHEAPLY
Arohiteots should speoHV for OETZMANN'S
Registered Windows, Doors, Grates, Ao. .*.

••BUNGALOW
COTTAGES

AND VhBIR

FURNISHING,"

An Illustrated Book-
let of 40 pages, con-
taining Plans and
Estimates of 10 difTer-
ent Cottages, costing
from ;^2oo to £soo
to build, and schemes
of Furnishing at 45
and 60 Guineas.

GRATIS

AND

POST FREE.

CORNER OF LIVING ROOM.
Showing Inglenook with Bookshelf over

eEwoiiE mipyE fobiitoie

A good Selection
of various periods
in Stock . . .

J. W. PARTRIDGE,

Is THE ONLY satisfactory

furnishing for

OLD ENGLISH COTTAGES.

Write

for detailed

Price List.

ALVECHURCH,

\' -^^BlM^M

I -

^>^'S^ *

PERMANENT TIMBER
DWELLIN6S.

Warmer, Drier, Cheaper.

and more Picturesque

than Brick.

V9serlptitf€ Catalogs, 34 pp.,
post\ft99, 3d,

THE

Wire Wove Roofing Co.,

108 Qtteea Victoria Street,
LondoA, E.G.

AD. VI

THE CAMERA ' ^^ '^ '

Connoisseur

Is the New

No. 4a *

FOLDING Kodak

This splendid Camera is a triumph in
camera making* It is constructed on the
well-known Kodak system^ and is loaded
and unloaded in daylight* Photography
by the Kxlak method dispenses entirely
with the dark room* Everything can be
done in daylight^ including developing and
printing* The No* 4a Folding Kodak
gives 6\ by 4? pictures on roll films or
plates^ and includes every necessary move-
ment* Price £7 s 7 : O.

Other Kodaks from 5/- to £%.
PuU pmrtlculmn In tbe Kodmk Book, /ree — -

KODAK, Ltd., 57^1 ClerkenweU RomI. LONDON, E.C.

Branckts—^^ Bold Street, LIVERPOOL ; 78-74 Buchanan Street, GLASGOW ; 59 Brompton Road, S.W. ;
60 Cheapside, E.C ; X15 Oxford Street, W. ; 171-173 Regent Street, W. ; and 40 Strand, London, W.C

UP TP THE MARK.

ESSEX

WALL-PAPERS

II46IIG VICTORIA STKCCT.
WE3TA\IN3TER

CORRESPONDENCE

IN ALL BRANCHES OF

MAGAZINE A NEWSPAPER

ILLUSTRATION.

^HROUGH the agency ot this school Students are obtaining
« Press introductions and publication of their drawings in
first-class periodicals.

Our Copyright System has received the highest Press recom-
mendations, and we can give most satisfactory references from
pupils.

There are always excellent openings for clever drawings.
Illustration is profitable as a hobby or. profession. We teach
you to produce . .

SALEABLE BUCK-AND-WHITE WDBK.

Send stamped envelope for illustrated prospectus to Secretary

THE PRE88 ART SCHOOL,

128 Drakefell Road, NEW CROSa LONDON, 8.E.

.\D. VII

THE "HEAPED" FIRE

(bratt's patent)

Simple
Efficient
Economical
Labour-Saving

A London architect writes, "16 March, 1906 : I am
pleased to say that your * Heaped * Fires supplied to this
house have met with a greater appreciation even than I have
yet heard ....... especially in respect to their heat-
producing and heat -retaining qualities, and the small con-
sumption of coal."

TO »£ SEEU IH cACriON
IN OUR SHOfF ROOMS,

Bratt, Colbran & Co.

10 Mortimer St., Cavendish Sq., W.

ESTA&LISH£D IM THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

ha9fil WffiSONS

LINENS

Successors M,

NO SUCH

TABLE DAMASK

is made for customary use as WILSONS^ for
they use better yarns than other Manufacturers*
They employ the most skilled Hand Loom Weavers
in Ireland, and they bleach on the grass.
Their designs are by CaValier W. Crane,
Lewis Day. R. Anning Belt, Dr. Dresser,
etc. They offer over 50 of these* all artistic*
As there is only one prof it* they sell at a low price.
Illustrated Lists and Samples post free* and
enquiries welcomed.

188 REGENT

THE nCKED PROP-
UCTIONSSFHUSH

hand^loSms Uitel591iew5oiKlSt LONDOK W

AD. VIII

MAPLE & CO

THE FINEST SELECTION OF

FRENCH MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECES

A Characteristic Example of a French Chimneypiece at

MAPLE & GO'S GALLERIES

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD LONDON

AD. IX

"THE STUDIO" CHRISTMAS CMOS

PRINTED IN COLOURS EXPRESSLY FOR "THE
STUDIO" FROM DESIGNS BY JOHN HASSALL, R.I.,
MRS. BURLEIGH AND MISS ETHEL LARCOMBE.

A SAMPLE SET OF FOUR CARDS MAY BE OBTAINED EARLY
IN NOVEMBER, PRICE ONE SHILLING (POST FREE, ONE SHILLING
AND A PENNY). ANY ONE OF THESE CARDS CAN BE SUPPLIED
SEPARATELY AT THE FOLLOWING PRICES i

For so, Price ISs. 6d., With Kame and Address 17Sa 6d<
„ 75, „ 17«. 6d., 23s. 6d.

„ 100, „ 22s. 6d., SOs.

INCLUDING ENVELOPES.

AS A LIMITED NUMBER ONLY ARE BEING PRINTED, ORDERS
ACCOMPANIED BY REMITTANCE SHOULD BE SENT AT ONCE EITHER
THROUGH A STATIONER OR DIRECT TO THE OFFICES OF

"THE STUDIO," 44 LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.

"THE STUDIO" YEAR-BOOK
OF DECORATIVE ART, 1907

TO ARCHITECTS, DESIGNERS,
CRAFTSMEN, AND OTHERS

The Editor wishes to remind those who are
submitting designs for this volume that all
Drawings, Photographs, etc., should be in his

hands by NoVcmber 3rd.

AD. X

MR. MURRAY'S BOOKS.

THE SHORES OF THE ADRIATIC.

An Architectural and ArcHoeological Pilf^mage. The
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FIVE ITALIAN SHRINKS. . With an

Essay on Early Tuscan Sculptors. S. Augustine at
Pavia; S. Domenic at Bologna; S. Peter Martyr at
Milan; The Tabemacolo at Florence; S. Donato at
Arezzo. By W. G. Waters, Translator and Editor of
Montaigne's "Travels in Italy," etc. With numerous
Illustrations.

A NEW EDITION of CROWE and CAVALCASBLLE'S

HISTORY OF PAINTING in Italy,

Umbria, Florence, and Siena, from the 2nd to the
i6th Century. With Editorial Notes by Langton
Douglas. Six Volumes. With upwards of 200 Illustra-
tions. Square Demy 8vo. 211. net each Vol.

Vol. I.— Early Chrlstiaii Art. I ^^^^ ReBdy,

Vol. il.-aiotto and the QlottMqaes. I '^^^ ^cmuy.

Mr. A. H. HALLAM MURRAY'S BEAUTIFUL COLOUR BOOKS
THE HIGH ROAD OF EMPIRE. Reproductions
in Colour of 47 Water-colour Drawings and numerous
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ON THE OLD ROAD THROUGH FRANCE TO
FLORENCE. Reprodnctions in Colour of 48 Water-
colour Sketches. With text by H. W. Nevinson
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JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street, W.

Messrs. BELL'S BOOKS.

Full UttofUaun. Mi's Booki for Archittcti, and Mlnittture
CaUlogut of 000 At on Art, po$t froe on application.

IF YOU ARE
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"'Ttia Bia&ll Boue ' wtthta tb.m fDflmniiij;
Df tbM cltl9']pue *i not fxmctlT ». wot^
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faJH., How VTf vbikrmiot A^A 4*tirmVle
each M. houje mmr 1m iai4« li i1i««h bj
iDid« or Uifl U^TUtimtJOBm tktt t^vmp^^T
th» 7DlmD« " 191^410017 HEULD-f
'*Tht vbol4 bovli M fhJ u v> ATf mbU

|a?E0T4T0r]

ORDER MR. . .
G. A. B. DEWAR 8
NEW BOOK. . .

THE FAERY

Rbady Shortly .

YEAR

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Xa this Tolnm* th« Mttlior rMordi hU

of Mrda and b Mta iMlag tiMraIn eon-

UiB«d. Th« Ulwtntiou f 4«T0tMl

tonraluMMlnXiigUiid. . . . •

ALSTON RIVERS
FICTION . .

The Vipbr op Milan. Marjorie Bowen. 6s.

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ENGLISH DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN
THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES. A selection of Examples of smaller
Buildings, Measured, Drawn and Photographed. With
an Introduction and Notes. By Horace Fibld and
Michael Bunney. With nearly 200 Illustrations—
partly from carefully measured Drawings, partly from
Photographs. With scarcely art exception, these build-
ings have not been illustrated before.

" An admirable and th wmjhlypranicil pi! :e of ^>rk. ■ • • '
u impossible to have anything but praise for a volume which is
well<oiiceived and has been well-executed aind handsomely pro-
duced. The black-and-white drawings are specially excellent."

GnartliaM.

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prove a good infloence, and prevent his running riot."

Manchtsitr Gumrdian.

Large crown 8vo, 7l. 6d« net.

A SHORT HISTORY OP RENAISSANCE ARCHI-
TECTURE IN ENGLAND, 1500- 1800. By

Reginald Blomfield, M. A. With 133 Illustrations.

"This most interesting and welMUustrated handbook, llie
book b to be commended to every student, and to every lover of
architecture **— Architectural Rtzn'ew,

LONDON :
QEORQE BELL A SONa. York House. Portucal StrMt, W.O.

Important Neiv Volumes.

THE MACWHIRTER
SKETCH BOOK.

Being: Reproductions of a Selection of Sketches m
Colour and Pencil from the Sketch Books of
John MacWhirtkr, R.A., designed to assist
the Student of Landscape Painting in Water-
Colour. Wiih 24 Examples in Colour, many
Pencil Sketches, and an Introduction by Edwin
Bale, R.I. 5J.

LANDSCAPE PAINTING
IN OIL COLOUR-

By Alfred East, A.R.A.

With Reproductions in Colotur, and Black-and-
White Plates. lor. 6d, net.

COUNTRY COTTAGES

AND

WEEK-END HOMES.

By J. H. Elder-Duncan.

With numerous Illustrations and Plans of Cottages
by well-known Architects. 5j. net.

CASSELL 6 Co.. Ltd.. London, E.C.

AD. XI

Readers of **The Studio" who desire to enhance the

Comfort and Distinction

of their rooms by the addition of notably tasteful and interesting

Furniture, Carpets, Curtains, &c.

— At the most competitive London prices —

are specially invited to write for Hamptons' Illustrated Catalogues,

which may be had post free, together with specially prepared

furnishing schemes, etc., on receipt of particulars

of the applicants' requirements.

ffampton'^ No. C ZOfti A^ft, Sideboard in Kahne&nr, adapted by
Hampton t from ah old Chippendale Mod*l.

For many other Examples of Best Current Values in Dining
Room Furniture, see Catalogue No. C 329 sent post free.

HAMPTONS

Pall Mall East. Trafalgar Square. London, S.W.

An. xn

OLD ENGLISH
COUNTRY COTTAGES

Edited by Charles Holme

OFFICES OF ,THE STUDIO,' LONDON
PARIS, AND NEW YORK MCMVI

11^.4, ^0^.

i-partment of architect >-c

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

%.^\o

■ I

S^*^^'^*^M>^,^

HORLEY, OXFORDSHIRE, from a pen and

WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY SYDNEY R. JONES.

PREFATORY NOTE.

" Would it look well in a painting ? " is a test question which it
has been recommended should be considered when the enquirer is
in doubt as to the artistic value of some structural or ornamental
object. A favourable answer is by no means an infallible guide to
the principles of Art ; but the enquiry is, nevertheless, sufficiently
useful to warrant it being made upon many occasions. When we
consider it in relation to the rustic dwellings with which our
English country landscape is dotted, we find the answer to be over-
whelmingly in favour of those of ancient build. The modern ones
with their yellow bricks, slate roofs, tarred weather boards and
corrugated iron, are entirely opposed to all ideas of the beautiful.
The ancient cottage harmonises with its surroundings, the modern
one is at variance with them. The mere age of the former may
add an element of beauty to it, but to the latter even the weathering
of the years will have no very kindly influence. To preserve
some record of these fast disappearing old buildings has been the
object of the Editor in the preparation of this volume. He, how-
ever, makes no claim to have exhausted the subject. To do so
within the compass of a single volume, or, indeed, of many, would
be impossible. But he trusts that the material which has here been
accumulated may be of interest and service both to present and
future students of the subject. He desires especially to record his
thanks to Mrs. Lionel Beddington, Mrs. Bolton, Mr. R. L.
Gunther, Mr. W. F. Unsworth, Mr. Herbert Alexander, A.R.W.S.,
Mr. Wilfrid Ball, R.E., Mr. E. A. Chadwick, Mrs. Stanhope
Forbes, A.R.W.S., Mr. Wilmot Pilsbury, R.W.S., Mrs. M.
Stormont and Mr. Grosvenor Thomas, for their kindly loan of the
paintings reproduced in colours herein. Also to Sir Benjamin
Stone, M.P., and Mr. T. A. Cossins, for the valuable assistance
they rendered Mr. Sydney R. Jones in the preparation of his
drawings which illustrate this volume, by placing at his disposal
their wide knowledge of the subject.

Z v'^'3te";-*-j.^v;-,#««j^.^.^,„.

Ill

ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

AFTER

Mrs. Allingham, R.W.S.
Herbert Alexander, A.R.W.S.
Mrs. Allingham, R.W.S.
Mrs. M. Stormont
Walter Tyndale

E. A. Chadwick
Wilfrid Ball, R.E.

Wilmot Pilsbury, R.W.S.

Wilfrid Ball, R.E. ...

E. A. Chadwick

Wilmot Pilsbury, R.W.S.

Grosvenor Thomas

Mrs. E. Stanhope Forbes,

A.R.W.S

Miss Rosa Wallis

" HoUingbourne, Kent "

" Cranbrook, Kent "...

•* Haslemercr, Surrey "

"Witley, Surrey"

" Steep, Hampshire " (two
drawings)

" Whitbourne, Herefordshire "

" Long Wittenham, Oxford-
shire" ...

"Tewkesbury, Gloucester-
shire" ...

" Welford-on-Avon, Glouces-
tershire"

" Long Wittenham, Oxford-
shire * ...

" Suckley, Worcestershire "...

" Pershore, Worcestershire "...

" Lustleigh, Devonshire " ...

" Landewednack, Cornwall "...
'' A Cottage Garden "

...

Fronth

piece

Opposite page

102

115

120

))

141

144

^57

CONTENTS.

PACE

Introduction

.• «•• ••• •*• ...

I. — Kent, Sussex, Surrey and

Hampshire

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF

Biddenden, Kent

Canterbury „

15. »9

Cranbrook „

i3> 14

Goudhurst „

16, 17, 18

Penshurst „

».. ... ... ...

iO, 21, 22

Sandwich „

23, -24, 26

Tonbridge „

Upper Deal „

By worth, Sussex

28, 29

Crawley „

Fittleworth „

...

30.3'

Little Dixter „

North Chapel „

Northiam „

27, 34

Petworth „

32,33

Rye

••

Chiddingfold, Surrey...

Guildford Castle „ ...

...

Witley „ ...

Grey well, Hampshire

... ... ... ...

Upton Grey „

39,40

Weston-Patrick „

42,43

n. — Suffolk and Norfolk

WITH illustrations OF

Kessingland, SuiFolk

Lowestoft „

...

Southwold „

... ... ... ... ...

Walberswick „

... ... ... ••. ...

50, 53

Weston „

47,48,49

Filby Broad, Norfolk

Yarmouth „

55,56,57

in. — Cheshire, Shropshire ane

) Herefordshire

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF

Alderley Edge, Cheshire

65, 66

Chester „

Congleton „

•• ... ... »». •••

Nether Alderley • „

•• ... ... ... •••

PAGE

Presibury, Cheshire
Sandbach „

Bromfield, Shropshire

Craven Arms „

Culmington „

Harton „

Much Wenlcxrk „

Eardisland, Herefordshire

Ledbury

Ley

Orleton

Pembridge

.72

68,

,69

80,

,81

77i

IV. — Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, and North-
amptonshire

with illustrations of

Arlington, Gloucestershire
Bibury „

Campden „

Ebrington „

Northleach „

Stanton „

Upper Guiting „

Upper Swell „

Welford-on-Avon „
Weston sub-Edge „
Willcrscy „

Burford, Oxfordshire
Ducklington „
Alport, Derbyshire
Bake well „
Haddon „

Taddington „
Youlgreave „

Oundle, Northamptonshiie

Roth well „

V. — Worcestershire and Warwickshire

WITH illustrations OF

Atch Lench, Worcestershire

Broadway „

Chaddesley Corbett „

Cleeve Prior „

100

96,97

92.93

lOI

102

85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90

90,91

104

103

no. III, 112

108, 109

107

113

IIO

105

106

126

117, 119, 120, 121

118

127

vii

PACE

Cropthorne, Worcestershire ... ... ... ... ... 125

Ripple „ 123

Yardley Wood „ 124.

Alveston, Warwickshire 137

Charlecote „ ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 135

Hampton-in-Ardcn „ ... ... ... ... ... 130

Hampton Lucy „ ... ... ... 138

Hill Wooton „ 132, 133

Knowle „ ... ... ... 136

Lapworth „ 140

Leek Wooton „ ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 132,134

Ludington „ ... ... ... ... ... 131

Mill Street „ 129

Shottery „ \ ... 139

Solihull „ 135

Warwick „ 128

VI. — Devonshire and West Somersetshire 141

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF

Dawlish, Devonshire ... ... ...

Tburlcstone „ ... ... ... ...

Combe Florey, Somersetshire ...

Crowcombe „ ... ... ... ...

Dulverton „

Minehead „ ... ...

Norton Fitzwarren „
Selworthy „
Williton „

Conclusion 157

illustrations of architectural and other details :

Casement Fittings 58, 122

Chimneys IS? 25, 50, 135, 148

Door Handles, Knockers, Latches and Lock Plates ... ... ... ... 159, 166

Doorheads, Doorways and Entrances ... 16, 30, 32, 36, 47, 66, 72, 75, 96, 106, 108,

no, 126, 132, 146, 151, 154, 156, 160, 162

Exterior Decoration 163, 165

Fireplaces and Accessories ... 27, 34, 42, 43, 48, 66, 86, 92, 98, no, 161, 163

Gardens and Trees 18, 80, 81, 87, 89, 107, 120, 121, 124, 127, 135, 140

Metal Work 43, 58, 122, 159, 161, 163, 166, 167

Stonework ... .. ... 160, 165

Windows and Glazing 15, 19, 30, 128, 160, 163, 164

Wood Brackets ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 19, 163

vin

...

143.

144

...

»45

...

154

...

152

...

»53

148,

'49.

150

...

146,

156

...

147.

151
155

INTRODUCTION

HOLLINGBOURNE, KENT, from a water-COLOUR drawing by MRS. ALLINGHAM, R.W.8.

(By Permission of Mrs. Lionel Beddington.)

introdi<;ti()n

C^ i P^''^ ^*^ the i ' : '

such a direi't .• .
tion, as the ';).; .
of Englaml, in *'
of the town, \v '^
the lonely n • • .
beautiful witn* -
and pride cu v
pcnter. I^^-^:^.;■
the wonder u**- ,

t!-at half a day's journey from cottage- * .
Lob and thatch. To understand fully tlu- •
•uie has to realise that EngUnd is dlvid..:
•nd that their inhabitants have n-Jt alvvays * •
"iime parts came directly under xVx intiavi^^

• ider that of the towns, vhiie ihi>-c in r^;.. •
/ighbourhood of the church .mi the iMnu".

• ne members of the town ::M'!d^ were ....
hen they were brought int- i -i ? .vt '.viih t! v- v .
lie, and again probably dun.. * \ « • hu.ijin;^ • r *

1* towns nor the guiUls, the ( ^ur- •. nor tiie alien, .. .

' the ifHlividualitv ai -i t.ha-in • \.\\: ct)untry e •
a travx-lling bo.iy of craft^nu*:;. ;f t!:ere wei-
impctU' to the d^. vel-^pmentvor i iisfnet f:r p.'i'i

\ pcrmanrnt and ahi<!'.nj^ influeiv.^" \* a.- tli^n unph
' conrigui .itiun of tlie |.»nd, the nvur' :al<:, tliC eliip ::
A'ould be iiithcult xn tind a more n iking illu^*.
than in il-e^o cottai^cs ij.; >';/hout \\^^

h .1

•igh the V
ing, a:-..!

ki;owle^Lie *'f b'lildi:..

■»•:: N(*ld()m

ani

j'i art, in n-
» t.'st inip(^^M

carPL-'.^rrr re.,^ ird'.n.

tO-Ct'«\

.il m . V.
.-. \r ...

The (
•'•n to .:
or ad'-
little in .
• '-le wa' '.
.'. !s hai^ .
•! '< d'.r •' % • M\inanc>^:iip, li^in;^* the nui'ii/'-
tv\s c.ur All:, sometimes badly, L>ut n;\^.'
invention a\ » MMiral as thev were unrcr. » '•
-• way we I.-- : . .;;e e-sciiti.'jlv difibrent. \S nfi
. 'aduallv fk. a fwethods of doing thinL:^, -I'^v

•ntratiofj tiJ ^en^ r;Ui'>n r. ♦•
' I orn, V-'. ••i^' \.u 'cd I."'-'
\\\.\\\ w:ih [TV-rr imuL''! "'•
•^' .J'l iir. r^. !' r in-! ij i: •

•." . : , anvi u\' r'jin.iined a
'. -^ \'Marv ard i uaK ar.d
, :» !)eit)re liu ^n.

I'arh '^X\ e

.•If as an ^i:\-
traditions cf *'
•; expressivui. ' •

•: than his <■ .
"i wif^i a !!!}■•«;
: , . !'e camel ;

lilt!, hehind, i \.
r'»e ^ 'H.-wIiiL'. <
• t i)is i)x -:

1 ^ ■ jM A WATth-Cr)L'JUH DRAWING BY MRS. ALLlNGr •

INTRODUCTION

.rr

HERE is probably no object so much a natural
part of the English landscape, nor which makes
' M such a direct appeal to the heart and imagina-

V_>^ tion, as the old country cottage. In every part

of England, in the village and on the outskirts
of the town, in the hamlet and standing on
the lonely moor, there still remain these
beautiful witnesses to the vitality, freshness,
and pride of the village mason and car-
penter. Passing from district to district
the wonder grows at the many types, and
that half a day's journey from cottages of stone there are cottages of
cob and thatch. To understand fully the significance of these changes
one has to realise that England is divided into geological provinces,
and that their inhabitants have not always sprung from the same stock.
Some parts came directly under the influence of the alien, and others
under that of the towns, while those in remote parts developed in the
neighbourhood of the church and the manor.

The members of the town guilds were possibly another influence
when they were brought into contact with the village craftsmen at fair
time, and again probably during the building of the church ; but neither
the towns nor the guilds, the church nor the alien, are sufficient to account
for the individuality and charm of the country cottage. The appearance
of a travelling body of craftsmen, if there were such, may have given
an impetus to the development of a district or particular locality, but the
real permanent and abiding influence was that which came from the soil.
The configuration of the land, the materials, the climate — these are constant.
It would be difficult to find a more striking illustration of inspiration
through the soil than in these cottages throughout England. Scholarship,
learning, and a knowledge of building and art, in the sense understood
by us to-day, are seldom seen, and it is almost impossible to conceive of
the local mason or carpenter regarding himself as an artist. Content to
carry on from generation to generation the traditions of the locality in
which they were born, work varied little in expression, but much in
detail. The craftsman with more imagination than his fellows gave a
new turn to the mouldings, finished a gable with a finial of a fresh
pattern, or added another variety of walling ; one carried through his
work a little in advance, and one remained a little behind, but the work
as a whole was customary and usual, and the following on of what
their fathers had done before them. Each gave of his best, his quota
of simple and direct workmanship, using the materials that were to hand,
sometimes wisely and well, sometimes badly, but always inspired with a
fancy and invention as natural as they were unconscious. The way they
built and the way we build are essentially different. With them the tendency
was to add gradually new methods of doing things, slowly increasing their

store of ideas, from which they drew, as they drew water from the well
on the village green. The source of inspiration for all of them was the
same. With us the tendency is to reduce the many ways to as few as
possible, and in the place of local materials to substitute a manufactured
one that can be applied universally. If ah inventive genius like
Mr. Barriers sentimental Tommy " finds a way ** to place upon the markets
of the world a material that fulfils the function of a wall, roof, floor, and
foundation, indeed all that is generally required in a modern cottage, he
will earn the gratitude of those well-meaning philanthropists who want
" cheap " cottages. The links are broken in the old building traditions of
the country side, not merely through the exodus of the rural population
and the change in social conditions, but by the almost complete abandonment
of the old conceptions of life and work. The cottages of the past were
built for use by the villager, whereas the new are built for cheapness and
profit or by philanthropists, a distinction perhaps without a great
difference. To build once more in the same spirit must mean a return to
their traditions, the reopening of local quarries, the revival and encourage-
ment of local industries, methods of work, pride in craftsmanship and the
total abolition of " cheapness " as a standard for approval. And this will
come to pass just as surely as the day follows the night and spring the winter,
and in due season will blossom work as beautiful as that done by the men who
laid stone to stone on the Cotswold Hills, or of those who thatched the
barns and hayricks of Norfolk and Suffolk. No aspect of English building
is so full of surprises as the study of countryside architecture. One
village is mediaeval and another classic in spirit, while again others have
the characteristics of both. At one side of a county are cottages of brick,
at the other, of stone ; galleting in Kent differs from galleting in Surrey.
Brick walls are as varied in bond as the courses of the masonry. Neatness,
order, and well-kept hedges and gardens in one district, the reverse in the
next. These expressions, local and particular, noticeable everywhere, have
given to our villages their individual stamp. A natural conservatism
and narrowness of outlook, an absence of easy means of communication
between districts lying apart, have helped to foster and encourage the local
methods of work. Alterations and new fashions in detail came so slowly,
and fresh methods of building once perhaps during a generation, that even
in the districts where it is possible to trace the foreign influence, the native
workmen have moulded afresh the ideas of the foreigner, adding local
character in the course of transmutation. In the treatment of surfaces the
villager was a master. " What/* says the late J. D. Sedding, " was roughish,
tool-marked freestone in the old building, is smooth, machine-dressed bath-
stone in the new. What was built of many-tinted, thin, uneven-shaped
bricks in the old place, is built of regular shaped and of hard, monotonous
colour in the new ; what was of coarse plaster in the old, is smooth,
speckless stucco in the new. What was rough-burnt tile or hand-shaped
timber, or hand-cast plaster,or hand-wrought iron in the old, is machine-made,
dead, textureless in the new." The use of contrasting materials was common,
sometimes deliberately adopted, and sometimes, we suspect, owing to a
limited supply of a material. Comparatively smooth stone was introduced

into rough brick, flint intermingled with brick, stones projected from wall
faces, joints were galleted and geometrical patterns were stamped in plaster,
and the simpler device of leaving the trowel marks or dotting with marks,
not unlike those made by the gouge in woodwork, were among the
methods used by the plasterer. There are cottages between districts
which have methods commbn to both, tile-hung dwellings with stone slates
and rough-cast walls jostling those of stone.

In the arrangement of materials, whether of one or of many, the village
workman displayed a happy knack of doing the right thing in the right
place, but in putting them together he was not always so successful, and
seldom satisfactory from the sanitary expert's point of view. The rain was
allowed to drop from the eaves without any means to collect it, the water
to sink into the foundations, and walls were sometimes badly built ; but
in spite of these drawbacks, and possibly partly owing to them, the appeal
of the country cottage is universal. To the painter they are a subject for
the brush ; to the pen-and-ink artist, a study in black and white ; and to
the architect, a temptation to crib. The old cottage appears to have
always exercised an uncanny power over the mind of the painter, for there
is a singular unanimity amongst them to paint it in a state of collapse, with
pigs in the foreground, a ragged cottager at the door, and sometimes a
ladder leaning against it, like a flying buttress, as if the painter felt that
without this support it would never stand up at all. Nor is it only to the
professional person that they appeal. The saying, " Love in a cottage,**
still has its significance for all simple and homely people, and in the last
generation our fathers and mothers regarded the cottage as the
ideal home ; the drawing-books of their children were not thought
complete without an example of " The Country Cottage " set before
them as the crowning achievement and completion of their education
with pencil and pen.

The plan seems to have had an origin quite distinct from that of the circular
hut. At first ii was merely a copy of the simple rectangular structures
erected for the housing ot the oxen. It was built in bays to accom-
modate what was called a long yoke of oxen, that is four abreast, and
the bays divided by two pairs of bent trees, in form resembling the lancet-
shaped arches of a Gothic church, and placed at i6-feet intervals. These
were set upon the ground, united at their apex by a ridge tree, and the
framework strengthened by two tie-beams and four wind braces, and
fastened together by wooden pegs. The couples or trusses were usually
known as " forks," and curved for the object of giving more head room.*
There is a cottage at Crudgington, in Shropshire, in which the main
timbers follow the principle of this construction. The angle posts at the
corners of the gable ends 'spring from the ground and curve more or less
towards the ridge, and at the eaves' level the timbers correspond to the
cross-piece in the construction of the old barn ; the rest of the timbering
fijls in the space between in the usual way. During the first stages of
cottage building this was undoubtedly the architectural unit, the length of

1 " Evolution of the English House," by Sidney O. Addy, M.A.

the dwelling determined by the number of bays or half bays and the rooms
required. In a later development it was increased in width by the
addition of outshoots at the side, like the transept of a church, much in
the same manner that the outhouses are tacked on to a modern dwelling.
In this simple fashion developed the plan of the ancient cottage, any
variations of it arising from some special requirements. Although this
plan persisted for so many generations, modifications crept in owing to the
nature of the materials. The cob walls of a Somersetshire or Devonshire
cottage were nearly always built with rounded angles, and in instances
which have come directly under the observation of the writer, cottages at
the corners of two roads were planned to follow semi-circular lines. Of
this influence of material upon the form the general appearance of the
cottages in other districts afford examples. For instance, when stone slabs
of a large size were used for covering the roof, the pitch was flat, as at
Horsham and the surrounding neighbourhood, and in other parts the
pitch of the roof for tiles was something between thatch and the heavy
stone roofs. Returning once more to the plan, a comparison of districts
tends to show that originally all were based on the same simple parallelo-
gram, with or without outshoots on one side, or by the addition of other
bays when more accommodation was required. In some cases the cottages
were only one bay, that is sixteen feet, with perhaps an outshoot on one
side and the oven projecting beyond. In a Surrey cottage showing
additions to the old portion, the original structure measures exactly sixteen
feet, but in the new part the principle of the " bay " was not observed.
Occasionally the additions were made on the long side, and the roof
continued down over the new part. As long as the cottage was built with
" forks '* as couples and wattle and daub as fiUing-in, it was not unreasonable
to expect a more or less close adherence to the architectural unit ; but it
appears to have been followed when the construction was of stone. Many
of the Cotswold plans are either multiples of the " bay '* (sixteen feet) or
the "half bay" (eight feet). This may be a coincidence, but the
survival in one material of the old method formerly used in another has
often been noticed by writers on architecture. The width of the cottages
in both Surrey and Gloucestershire was generally from sixteen to eighteen
feet. Another example of the influence of material upon planning is the
position of the fireplace and oven. In cottages of wood construction and
plaster fiUing-in they were nearly always kept oh the outside walls, and were
of great bulk, while in the stone examples this was only done to a limited
extent, the fireplace in many instances, probably the majority, being built
inside the main structure. Wherever the fireplace is placed on the cross
walls, the stairs almost invariably adjoin it, the limited space necessitating
winders both at the beginning and the end. The fireplace and chimney-
stack were often preserved when all else had been pulled down. In Kent, for
instance, chimney stacks are frequently built in English bond, the rest having
been rebuilt in Flemish. As a general rule in the early cottages the bricks
are laid English bond, while Flemish is adopted in those of a later date.
Although the plan remains much the same all over England, except for
such relatively unimportant points as have been noted, the difference in the

types of buildings is remarkable. A comparison of a Cotswold and a Somer-
setshire cottage shows how the material has affected the result. Nor is
there so much variety, skill, and thought in the Southern as in the Northern
examples. The neatness and order found in Gloucestershire, and the care
in thatching, are missing in the Somersetshire and Devonshire cottages.
There is a want of tidiness in the methods of the latter. A hard-and-fast
classification of these types is unnecessary — and, indeed, would be difficult
to arrange satisfactorily — but certain counties may be grouped and localised
by the materials commonly used in the neighbourhood. In Suffolk and
Norfolk flint and brick walls and pantiles are the chief materials for cottages,
while the long barns characteristic of this part are of tarred weather-
boarding, with wonderful steep-pitched thatched roofs. Somersetshire and
Devonshire build cob and slatey stone walls, plastered and whitewashed,
and roofed with thatch. Half-timber and brick, brick and plaster walls,
with tiles and thatched roofs, were general in Warwickshire and Worcester-
shire ; and in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey brick and timber, plaster, weather-
boarding and weather-tiling were used for the walls, and tiles for the roofs.
Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire depended chiefly on stone ; and Cheshire,
Shropshire, and Herefordshire, like the Midland counties, used half-timber
and brick, and brick and plaster for the walls, and stone slates for the roofs
in Cheshire, and tiles in the other two counties. Derbyshire used stone,
like the Cotswold district.

Some of the most interesting villages are more or less characteristic of two
districts. Mickleton, in Gloucestershire, although some little distance south,
after the Warwickshire border has been crossed, supplies an instance of
this mingling of two types. There are cottages of whitewashed brick, that
have thatched roofs, walls of rough-cast with stone slate roofs and dormers,
arranged like those in Warwickshire ; cottages of brick and timber, the
brick whitewashed, and the whole erected on a stone base covered with
stone slate roofs, and others of brick and timber with thatched roofs. The
mixture of brick and stone is common. The workmanship in the masonry
is as careful, and the reverse, as in more typical Gloucestershire villages ;
in some cases it is coursed and in others partly coursed and partly irregular.
In the same village there are the characteristic stepped brick verges usual
in Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Ebrington, two or three miles to
the east of Chipping Campden, in the district of stone walls, muUioned
windows, and stone slates, is a village of cottages built of stone walls, very
few muUioned windows, with roofs of thatch, a few only being of stone.
While Mickleton is well within the borders of Gloucestershire, and
Ebrington is close to the finest examples of stone cottages, Broadway,
in Worcestershire, is almost entirely characteristic of the Gloucestershire
type. At Welford-on-Avon, in Gloucestershire, and close to the boundaries
of Warwickshire, the cottages are more characteristic of the last-named
county. They have the same frieze-like scheme of walling over the
ground-floor windows, obtained by the sills of the dormers ranging with
the eaves. This is a strongly-marked feature of Warwickshire, and it is
also found in the borderland cottages, while the tradition survives in stone
in some of the Cotswold villages.

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DIVISION I

KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY,
HAMPSHIRE

I.— KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY, AND

HAMPSHIRE

ENT, Sussex, and Surrey are three of the most
delightful counties in England, and three of the
richest in cottages that depend for their dis-
tinctive character upon the effective use of
three, four, and even five materials. A certain
number of them are on somewhat similar lines
to those in Shropshire and Herefordshire; but
it is proposed here to consider more especially
the examples of brick and timber, weather-
boarding, tile-hanging, and tile roofs in West
Kent and Surrey ; those roofed with stone at
Horsham and the surrounding neighbourhood ; those of stone roofed with
thatch, found in Sussex ; those of flint and stone roofed with tile, to the
east of Kent ; and
some of those in
Hampshire with tile-
hanging and tile
roofs. Roughly and
briefly, the general
character of the early
ones is mediaeval both
in construction and
feeling, while that of
those later in date is
classic in spirit, re-
taining much the
same method of con-
struction and work-
manship. This classic
— or, to be more ac-
curate, Georgian —
spirit which pervades
so many of them
asserts itself in the
proportions, the un-
broken eaves, the
absence of dormers,
and the subordination
of the gables that
generally break out
of the roof at a low
level, leaving the
main roof uninter-
rupted between the tonbridge, kent

1 1

large chimneys flanking the gable ends, or divided by one large stack in
the middle. At HoUingbourne (see frontispiece) and at Witley (opposite
P^g^ 38) is seen this horizontal character, and also in the cottage at
Penshurst (page 20) and those in the foreground of the drawing of
Goudhurst (page 17). A comparison of the roof coverings in these
counties with those of the Cotswold district shows what great differences
may arise in the use of two dissimilar materials. In the Cotswold we have
narrow spans, steep stone-slated roofs, with an almost universal gable treat-
ment; in the above counties wider spans and a general tendency,
particularly in later work, to lower-pitched roofs, hipped at both ends.
The only district where stone-slated roofs were hipped was in the heart of
the tile counties. Here there are a number, the builders merely following
the tradition of tile-roofing. In one example near Crawley, North Sussex,
(page 35), and in another just over the border, at Chiddingfold, Surrey
(page 37), the hipped ends have the same little gablets that occur in so
many of the Surrey cottages, and less often in Kent and Hampshire. These
grew out of the manner of constructing the hipped ends. As no ridge-board
was used, " it was therefore obviously inconvenient to run the hip-rafters
together to a point, and they were therefore run each to about nine inches
below the junction of the pair of rafters. This of course caused the little
gablet,"^ and gave a piquant effect to the ends, as seen in the drawings

1 "Old Cottage and Domestic Architecture, South-West Surrey," Ralph Nevill, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.

BIDDENDEN, KENT
12

CRANBROOK, KENT
13

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facing page 40. It is worth noticing, as
an illustration of the conservatism of these
cottage builders and their tenacity in
keeping to the old ways, that the form
of roof adopted to take the chief roofing
material of a district was followed when
a sudden change in the geological forma-
tion of the county compelled them to
use another. For instance, when heavy
stone slabs were used for the roof in the
middle of a tile district the hipped ends
were retained, although the pitch of the
roof was made flatter, as in the cottage
illustrated on page 35. Or, again, if
thatch was used in Sussex, the tile roof of
hipped form still persisted (see drawing
on page 31); and in the Cotswold district,
if thatch took the place of stone slates,
the roofs were gabled, as in the cottage

CANTERBURY, KENT

UPPER DEAL, KENT

illustrated on page 85 ; even
the stone-coped gables were
retained in some cases with
the thatched roof.
There is a rather picturesque
method of treating the walls
in Surrey. Small pieces of
ironstone are inserted in the
joints of the brickwork ; if a
stone wall and the blocks do
not hold up to the corners,
these are also filled in as well
as the joints : this forms a
kind of mosaic and gives
colour and variety to the wall.
In Kent another method is
adopted for the coursed rag

-^^™MfJfei

masonry ; in this case small pieces of flint are placed in the joints
close together and in a sloping direction, giving an effect like a
conventional rope pattern. The use of brick in these counties varies con-
siderably. The chimneys of the cottage at Pcnshurst, in Kent (page 21),
show two or three methods. For instance, the set-offs of the buttresses are
obtained by laying the bricks at right angles to the slopes, and just under
the base they are laid on the flat. This chimney, flanking the side wall of
the cottage, with the lower part of stone and brick, and above the
base all in brick, is a charming example of a well-proportioned Kent
chimney. The whole cottage shows an exceptional and effective use of brick
and timber, plaster and tiles and weather-boarding in the gable end. These
chimney shafts throughout this county are of extraordinary beauty and
proportions. Every village, one might say almost every cottage, shows
some individuality, either in the plan of the flues or in the oversailing of
the brick caps ; and yet withal it is impossible to mistake a Kent chimney
for one of any other district. Near Newenden (page 25), the panels are
plastered between the end pilasters ; and occasionally the contrast between
the plaster and brick is
reversed, the piers being
plastered and the panels
of brick. The cap is
formed by two slightly
projecting courses of
brick, one beyond the
other, two more courses
above to form another
set-off, and a necking
two or three courses
below. At Petworth,
in Sussex (page 25), the
long sides are broken
by the projecting withes
of brickwork that pro-
bably divide the flue,
and the cornice is car-
ried round it, formed,
in the way already de-
scribed, by courses of
brick. Byworth, in
Sussex (page 25), is
another interesting ex-
ample, much the same,
only with two project-
ing withes close to-
gether, and the top
courses forming the cap
of another profile. At
Northiam, to the east of

GOUDHURST, KENT

GOUDHURST, KENT
17

GOUDHURST, KENT
l8

Sussex and on the borders ot Kent (page 25), the plan of the stack
is again somewhat different, the cornice is without necking and the
arrangement of the set-offs changed. A rather unusual type occurs
at Sandhurst Green (page 25), in Kent; four octagon-shaped shafts rise
from a square base with a space between each. Most of them rise

out of the roof without any base
except for the projecting course,
forming a kind of drip above the
tiles. The width of these chimneys
does not alter very much, the great
majority being i foot 10^ inches,
that is two-and-a-half bricks, and
occasionally three bricks wide.
It has already been pointed out that
the brickwork in the earlier cottages
is of English bond, and of Flemish in
the later examples. The number
of courses in a given height is also
different, the former taking five
courses to eleven-and-a-half inches,
and the latter four or thereabouts ;
the joints, too, in English bond are
wider; and in Flemish bond flared
headers are almost invariably used.
Another method of bricklaying is
to place the bricks on end, with
stretchers also placed on end, but

WOOD BRACKETS IN KENT

parallel instead of at right
angles to the wall face, the
courses then being 4^ inches
deep instead of 2^ inches.
Between half- timber work
they are laid in courses or
stretchers or herring - bone
fashion. In other walls the
bricks are occasionally laid
one header to three stretchers,
and in Sussex, in the stone
district, bands of stone are

WINDOW IN WOOD AND PLASTER
CANTERBURY, KENT

sometimes introduced in brick walls of English bond. Brick dentil
courses, the dentil the width of a header, are common in Sussex, under
the tile-hanging of the first floor, and dentils the width of a small closer,
with the same space between, were noticed at Chiddingfold, Surrey.
The cottage near Crawley, in Sussex (page 35)', close to the borders of
Surrey, is a typical example of the curious mixture of stone-slate roofs, tile-
hung first storey, with timber and brick on the ground floor. Hipped at
one end like a tile roof and gabled on the return, which juts out at the further
side in a picturesque fashion, it illustrates one of those rare examples of
ornamental and plain tiling used successfully. The iron stays supporting
the gutter are brought in most effectively. Altogether, this is a charming
cottage, charmingly drawn. At Goudhurst, probably the most beautiful
village in Kent (pages 16 and 17), some of the cottages have a distinctly
Georgian feeling, while others are of an earlier type. In the foreground
of the larger drawing the open wooden loggia on the right shows a favourite
way of treating a shop. In the middle distance are examples of weather-
boarded cottages ; and up the street, at the far end, tile-hung fronts.
Another characteristic village is Cranbrook (page 13), and the cottage
(page 14) shows a combination of wood and brick and wood and plaster,
with pierced and carved barge boards on the overhanging gable ends ; in
the later examples these are often placed directly on the wall face, as at
Wilsley House (opposite page 9), a good type of the half-timber dwellings
in and around this village. Most of the early cottages are of timber
framing and plaster. The timber, in nearly every case, is of oak, and

PENSHURST, KENT
20

PENSHURST, KENT
21

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" the panel is formed by fixing upright hazel rods in grooves cut in top
and bottom, and by then twisting thinner hazel wands hurdlewise round
them. The panel is then filled up solid with a plaster of marly clay and
chopped straw, and finished with a thin coat of lime plaster."^
One of the features of the Surrey cottage, indeed of all those counties where
tile was the principal roofing material, is the skill with which the tiling is
adapted to its purpose. It covers the slopes of the buttresses and the
gathering in of the big chimneys ; it covers the roof and first-floor walls,
works round the valleys and hips, and while never attaining to the freedom
of Continental work of the same kind, suggests the possibilities of further
development in its use. This art of covering surfaces with tiles was
thoroughly understood by these cottage builders. They also used tiles in
the cornices of the chimneys, introduced them into stone walling to make
good, and sometimes covered their brick copings. The cottages at Witley

(page 38) and those at the entrance to Guildford Castle (page 37), both
in Surrey, show the usual use of this material, the first-floor storey of the
gable end in the example

at Witley projecting

over the bay on the

ground floor. In the

tile-hanging, the lifting

forward of the lower

courses was assisted by

projecting a course of

brick about an inch-

and-a-half, the edge of

the lowest and double

course covering part

of the brickwork that

jutted out.

At Goudhurst this

outward curve is ex-
aggerated into a hood

extending the whole

length of a row of cot-
tages, projecting two

feet from the wall faces

and supported by wood

brackets placed at regu-
lar intervals to take the

plate and ends of the

tiling. At Haslemere,

in Surrey, the soflfit

of a similar arrange-
ment takes the form of

' ** Old Cottage and Domestic
Architecture, S.-W. Surrey," R.
NeWU, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.

SANDWICH, KENT
23

SANDWICH, KENT
24

a cove, the tiling being very cunningly hipped at the ends and joined
up with the lean-to roof. At Tuesley, in Surrey, the same thing occurs
without the plaster cove, the brackets jutting out like struts. Cottages
where weather-boarding takes the place of tile-hanging, or hides the
timbers and plaster of older fronts, are often covered with it entirely,
with the exception of the base. When the lower edge of the boarding
is left square, about five inches show with three-quarters of an inch
projection beyond the one below. It is stopped at each end by small
strips the whole height of the building, the narrow width facing out-
wards. The finish at the brick base or at the first-floor level is flat,
and not tilted outwards as in tile-hanging. Sometimes the boarding
has an ovolo on the bottom edge ; the vertical joints are over one another
in many cases, but generally come in the most haphazard fashion. In
the timber and brick and timber and plaster fronts, the sizes of the
timbers do not appear to keep to any particular scantling, the intermediate
and the horizontal pieces often being of comparatively small dimensions

and varying from 4^
ins. to 6 ins., and when
less it appears as if the
carpenter had deliber-
ately placed them on
the flat, with the
narrow width of the
timber exposed. The
corner posts are from
9 ins. to 12 ins., and
the braces larger. In
one instance a careful
afterthought was
noticed. On the first
floor the curved braces
springing from the cill
beam to the outside
parts were tenoned and
pinned direct into the
upright, while on the
floor above a splayed
piece or thickening
out near the top of
the corner post was
introduced to give an
additional thickness
and strength where it
received the curved
brace.

Another use of tile,
particularly noticeable
in parts of Surrey and

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Kent, is found in the copings and cornices of brick, where a fillet of one or two
tiles is introduced to form a member. An instance of this occurs at Wingham
in Kent, at Godalming and Farnham in Surrey, and at Sandwich in Kent
(pages 23 and 24). In this last county generally there are some interesting
examples of brick and stone treatment. Evidently inspired by Dutch
methods, they yet show an unmistakable English character in their direct
and simple construction and good decorative effects. The fronts of the
buildings are panelled out in brick, and the panels formed by the projecting
strips or pilasters of the same material. These projections vary from i in.
to i^ in., and in some cases 2^ ins. Simple geometrical patterns, such
as squares and circles, connected by strips with bands above and below,
toothed strips, and dressings of brickwork to the windows projecting in
the same way, diamond and elliptical shapes raised on brick courses, and
brick corbel courses, are all characteristics of this work. In the cornices of
a few of the chimneys a member is sometimes formed of two or three
bricks in depth. Another simple way of using brick is on the coped gables.
A course of brick is carried beyond the face of the wall below, then come
two bricks leaning towards each other, these being finished with others
laid longways on. In Surrey and Kent the mediaeval spirit continues more
in construction than in the general form. The feeling for horizontal lines
is noticed, for the cornice running from end to end of the unbroken eaves of
even the simplest work soon became dominant after the early decades of the

LITTLE DIXTBR, NORTHIAM, SUSSEX

Renaissance. Hawkhurst, in Kent, and the Cockshot cottages between the
same village and Highgate, in Kent, both illustrate this tendency; and
frequently in these cases where gables occur, the horizontal feeling is
retained by the line and shadow caused by the projection of the gable
beyond the face of the work beneath. Probably one of the reasons for
the classic character of these cottages was due to their being near London
and the larger towns that came more directly under the influence of the
Renaissance revival. It is possible that the examples, and they are many,
which have projecting wings at either end and a recessed hall, are a develop-
ment of the classic tradition. It is a usual form with the old farm-houses
in these districts. There is one at Compton, in Surrey, and at Goudhurst, in
Kent. In Surrey it is tile-hung, and in Kent timber and plaster are used on
the ground and first floors. In the details of the woodwork and in some of
the metal fittings there is a curious mingling of classic detail with mediaeval
peculiarities of construction and methods of working: The doorway at
the Post Office, Wickhambreaux, is constructed on mediaeval principles,
the jambs are chamfered, and the mouldings cut out of the solid ; but,
instead of stopping on a splayed rail, they return all round the panel.

BYWORTH, SUSSEX

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BYWORTH, SUSSEX
29

The scroll-work too in the
tympanum is of Classic
character. Or take again
the barge board at Wing-
ham, Kent ; it is essen-
tially Gothic in its pierced
work, but the moulding
under the' tiles has a hint
of Classic feeling ; and so
also has the window head
of the bay windows at
Canterbury (pages 15 and
19). In the stairs at Stone-
hurst, Surrey, there is also
this combination of Classic
mouldings with Gothic
construction and ornament.
The mouldings of the newels and

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RYE, SUSSEX

^ FITTLEWORTH, SUSSEX

balusters are classic, while the construc-
tion of the staircase is mediaeval as
well as the powdering of the surface
with stamps of varying forms. A
characteristic of these old timber and
plaster cottages is the plastering being
flush with the timber.
The metalwork in these counties is
of exceptionally fine character, and
most of it is simply the shaping ot
the material into forms suitable for
the purpose they have to fulfil ; so,
one might say, is the iron saucepan
and the metal teapot produced to-day^;
but the early work happens to be
both simple and beautiful, whereas
the later is merely simple, common-
place and vulgar. Take any one ot
the objects of metalwork of the
interior at Weston-Patrick, in Hamp-
shire (page 43). The copper pot
with its iron handle, the wooden
coflFee mill, the copper saucepan or
the simple fire-dogs — every one is
beautifully shaped, with special atten-
tion given to the purpose for which it
is intended, and the demands of neces- ^
sity and construction ; such as the
method of relieving the strain on the
handle of the copper saucepan where
it joins the side of the pan, or the

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FITTLEWORTH, SUSSEX
31

dainty scroll at the end of the semi-circular handle that hooks through
the eye attached to the copper pot, the shaping of the feet of the
fire-dog, or again the single shaped rod of the interior (page 42),
on which the curtain is drawn. Another interior of a cottage near
Northiam, in Sussex (page 34), shows the ingle from the inside of the
hearth. It gives a good general notion of its ample dimensions, with
the oven doors and the corbelling over of the flue ; the arched flying
buttress in wood was evidently introduced to reduce the strain on the
corbelling, an arrangement arising out of the old canopy of wood and
plaster framework resting upon the chamber floor, and probably the
origin of the stone chimney pieces of the large manor-houses. There
is a large oak beam spanning the opening, a raised hearth in the middle,
and a fireback.

Round about Maldon,and other parts of Essex, and indeed in many quite out-
of-the-way districts, it is surprising how much really beautiful and refined
detail there is to be found in the doors, windows and circular bow- windows
of the village shops. Over
and over again it strikes one

what remarkably able crafts- ,. '-^' "~

men there were in these 1

villages up to quite recent
years, for the work is very
late, and has often an Adams
feeling in it, although in no
way as elaborate in character.
Pents with dainty and simple
strap work on the soffits of
wood, delicate reeding, and
wonderfully refined contours
to mouldings and modillions
are commonplaces, and must
have been executed long
after the introduction of
machinery for building pur-
poses. Surrey and also Kent
are full of this work. In
Devonshire and Staffordshire,
districts as far apart as these,
is seen this type of refined
and elegant detail, difficult
to associate with the village
and small town. It is simi-
lar in character to many of
the old shop fronts still
existing in different parts of
London, and to the entrance
doors of the houses in the
squares about Bloomsbury.

PETWORTH, SUSSEX

NORTH CHAPEL, SUSSEX

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DETAILS OF FIREPLACE ACCESSORIES AT WESTON-PATRICK, HAMPSHIRE

DIVISION II.

SUFFOLK AND NORFOLK

II.— SUFFOLK AND NORFOLK

^'Hi I

HE re-introduction of brickwork in England," says Mr.
Reginald Blomfield, " was probably due to two causes —
first, to the scarcity of building stones in the neighbour-
hood, and secondly to the large immigration of Flemings
into the Eastern Counties." It is therefore singular
that so few examples of cottages on the east coast of
Suffolk and Norfolk show the same wonderful skill in
the use of brick as in Kent. The larger houses, some
of the smaller ones, and occasionally the buildings in
the towns, are treated in the fanciful, picturesque and
masterly way common in the Netherlands. At Yar-
mouth, the rows (pages 56 and 57), and a street in Sandwich (page
24), possess a distinctly foreign character. The steep mansard-shaped
gable at the end of the lane on the left (page 57), the cobble paving and
narrow width of flagging
down the middle, the
open gutters next the
walls, are all suggestive
of an alien influence.
But the villages and the
country districts appa-
rently were only in-
fluenced indirectly,
owing probably to the
natural tendency of the
foreigner to prefer the
large towns, and even
there he does not seem
to have actually engaged
in building. From the
lists of the artizans who
settled in the towns on
the east coast, it is seen
that only a small number
of foreigners were actu-
ally connected with the
building trades. At
Sandwich, in East Kent,
three joiners, one car-
penter, and one smith
are mentioned. The
natural inference is that
the foreigner was more
responsible for peculiari-
ties than essentials ; and
this is so, for in spite of weston, Suffolk

a foreign flavour about both the cottages and the scenery, the principal
characteristics are those common to English work. There is the
same simple, direct and intimate way of treating materials, added to
a love of quaint conceits and a more fanciful but less workmanlike
notion in the use of them. There is a playfulness too in the methods
of using brick and flint, and in some of the gables, simplified treat-
ments of the extravagant and fantastic curves loved by the Dutchmen.
But these are few and far between ; the majority of cottage gables
are almost as English in feeling as the stone buildings of Gloucestershire.
At Weston, in Suffolk (page 49), the Dutch influence is noticeable in
the brick quoins (page 164), the rounding of the gable at the apex,
and in the filling of the tympanum of the arches over the doors (page 47),
windows, and again in the dentils under the soffits. The finish of
the four-and-a-half brick arches, which slightly project from the face of
the main wall (page 164), is much the same method adopted at the inter-
section of the contrasting curves in the cottage at Yarmouth (page 55).
Notwithstanding these suggestions of foreign detail, there is an English
character about the build-
ing, with its high-pitched
gable and strong-looking
chimney, backed up by the
smaller gable jutting out
from the main roof.
The gable ends of the cot-
tages, without showing
much variety, differ in
most instances from those
in stone and other brick
districts, by leaving out the
projecting member of the
coping. These flush-coped
gables, with the bricks tail-
ing into the wall three, four
and even five times in its
length, are peculiar to Nor-
folk and Suffolk. The
general rule is to tail in the
bricks at the springing, in
the middle, and just below
the apex, the portions
between these triangular
shapes being brick on edge.
In the cottages near Filby
Broad, Norfolk (page 54),
the sloping buttress in the
foreground shows brick
quoins stretching into the
flint at right angles to the

WESTON, SUFFOLK

WESTON, SUFFOLK
49

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slope, a similar method to
that which has been de-
scribed. An interesting finish
to the apex of a gable was
noticed at Filby Broad : the
bricks were laid on edge, but
instead of finishing as a point,
a cut brick was inserted, point
downwards, in the triangular
space left where the bricks on
edge meet at the junction of
the slopes. A small pedestal
in brick was then built on
the top, and finished with
another brick at right angles
to the face of the gable.
The gables at Southwold, in
Suffolk, and at Yarmouth, in

Norfolk, are Dutch in character, and much the same in outline and treat-
ment. At Southwold (below), in following the line of curves, the bricks
arc laid longitudinally and on the flat, and one curve overlaps the other —
a reminiscence probably of the fantastic curves of Dutch stonework. At
the junction of the concave ramp with the pedimcntal treatment of the
top, the brick coping runs across the face of the gable, the end of the
upper curve jutting beyond. At Yarmouth (page 55), the bricks arc laid
on edge and overlapping, not unlike that already noted in the finish of
the arches over the doors and windows at Weston.

WALBERSWICK, SUFFOLK

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SOUTHWOLD, SUFFOLK

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LOWESTOFT, SUFFOLK
51

There are !a numbcrfof beautiful curved gables at Norwich, but in the
villages along the coast of Suffolk and across the middle of Norfolk there
are practically none, and only one example of the crow-stepped variety — just
beyond Filby Broad — came under the notice of the writer. At Pulborough,
in West Sussex, there is a crude form of crow-stepped gable in stone, each
step chamfered on the upper edge. This form of gable is of brick origin,
and suggests at once the need of steps, a bit of design directly inspired by
the material. The ornamental iron wall ties were seldom absent from
both the simple and curved gables, either in the form of an 5 or a long
thin piece hammered into a heart-shape at both ends. There were
sometimes two and even three in a gable, two about halfway up, and
when a third was used it was placed just under the apex.
Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the cottages in Norfolk and Sufiblk
is the flint and brick wall. The flints arc white and black, rough and
rounded, the latter still known as cobbles or " petrified kidneys." Both the
smooth and rough were used in a variety of ways. They might be ranged
upright in rows, as in one of the group of cottages at Lowestoft, with the
lighthouse showing above the trees in the background (page 51), or inclined
to the right in one course, and to the left in the next. An uncommon method,
suggestive of the galleting in Kent, was to alternate a row of brick headers
with a row of flints all sloping in one direction. Another was an
imitation of Flemish bond, the stretcher of brick, the space usually occupied
by the header being filled in with flint. In some cottages at Lowestoft,
opposite those seen in the admirable drawing on page 5 1 , a very eflPcctive
diaper of brick headers and flint was used, the quoins of the windows and
the external angles of the dwelling being of brick. The brick headers at

KESSINGLAND, SUFFOLK
52

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Filby Broad (below) were introduced into the walling in a haphazard
fashion ; and this seems to have been the most general custonn. The
illustration of the gatehouse at Sandwich, in Kent (page 26), is an instance
of the overlapping of the characteristics of two districts, the ground storey
walling being a series of diapers of flint and stone, while the upper portion
is weather boarded, and the roof is of small tiles. Another method of using
flint stone and brick was noticed in some boundary walling. The base of
the wall and the coping were of stone, the rest of the wall (about 8 feet
high) was divided horizontally by a brick band of headers, placed midway in
the height, another course of brick came under the stone coping, ^while
stretchers and headers built in alternate courses divided the wall vertically
into squares, the filling-in being of flint. The tower on the ramparts
at Yarmouth, in Norfolk, is a remarkable example of the use of flint and
stone, the upper portion being divided horizontally and vertically by pro-
jecting bands of stone, and the square faces between are of black flints.
These black flints were used a great deal in this form of inlaid work, but
more often in the churches than in the cottage dwellings.
About all this walling there is a playful and almost casual handling of
materials that yields the same happy results as those obtained in the use
of other methods and other materials by the builders in Kent and Surrey ;
and in both cases the tendency is to reach effects by the use of a variety of

FILBY BROAD, NORFOLK

YARMOUTH, NORFOLK

material and colour — quite the reverse of the means adopted by the stone-
masons in the Cotswo.ld Hills, where the results are attained by practically
one material.

Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex also are rich in good ornamental plaster-
work, more especially in the Suffolk villages. At Stanstead and Clare,
for instance, there arc some fine examples of this external decoration.
Mr. Reginald Blomfield, in his history of the Renaissance in England,
finds an English and foreign tendency in the plaster-work of the sixteenth
century, the first being attributed to the English workmen, and the other
the result of employing Dutch and German workmen. The principal
motive in this design consists in variations of strapwork, and to this
influence may be attributed the work at Stanstead and other villages in
the same district. An interesting example is the front of the houses at
Clare, in Suffolk. The elevation of the ground-floor storey is covered with
scroll-work on a geometrical basis, and the upper storeys and gables with a
running pattern ; and a similar pattern forms the frieze between the two
storeys. A cottage at Wyvenhoe, near Colchester, in Suffolk, has a playful
interpretation of the same work.
It is divided into panels and filled
with a scroll -like pattern and
interlacing foliage, suggesting
the ingenious work of a German
smith. Mr. G. T. Robinson, in
his preface to Mr. William Millar's
work on plastering, quotes an in-
teresting reference to this almost
extinct plaster -work or stucco :
" Some men will have their walls
plastered, some pargetted and
white-limed, some rough-cast, some
pricked,some wrought with plaster-
of-Paris." The pricked work is
probably the method still used
sometimes in the county of Essex.
A great amount of plaster- work
was done in these districts at the
beginning of the sixteenth century
and onward, the surfaces diapered
and stamped with all kinds of pat-
terns, produced probably by press-
ing wooden or metal tools into the
plaster when moist. " About this
time," says Mr. Robinson, " the
plasterer's and pargettor's art and
craft had now become of such
importance that it was formed
into a separate guild and com-
pany in London, in 1501, by Yarmouth, Norfolk

YARMOUTH, NORFOLK
57

Henry VIL, who granted them ' the right to search, and try and make and
exercise due search as well, in, upon, and of all manner of stuff touching and
concerning the art and mystery of pargettors, commonly called plaisterers, and
upon all work and workmen in the said art and mystery, so that the said
work might be just, true and lawful, without any deceit or fraud whatsoever/"
The steep pantile roofs of the cottages in Norfolk and Suffolk were probably
in the first place copied by the same workmen who thatched the stately
and dignified barns in these counties. Unlike the majority of modern
workmen, the villagers and the craftsmen of the small towns did not always
follow the same occupation all the year round. At one season a man was
building, at another probably engaged in bringing in the harvest and
thatching the hayricks, and shaping them on the lines of the cottage
buildings. It has been noticed by some authorities that the measure-
ments of the ricks and the cottages
occasionally tally almost exactly. At
first sight this seems preposterous, but
nothing could have been more natural
to the craftsman than to follow the
shapes and measurements with which
he was familiar. And it may well be
that the barn builders were the cottage
builders also. It was of common occur-
rence that a man followed many trades
in the country districts. In the records
of Barnstaple Church there is mention
of one, David Bedman by name, who
worked at tiling, rung the bells, cleaned
the pillars and walls of the church, made
Communion bread, and cleaned the
churchyard. In our grandfathers* time,
and even now in some country districts,
it is possible to find men who are able
to turn from one occupation to another.
A remarkable instance of this versatility
came under the notice of the present
writer in a Devonshire village. A man
was skilled in the making of both furni-
ture and violins ; and not only could he
make these things, but he could make
them well. In another case, in Stafford-
shire, one of the workmen could lay a
floor, repair walling and brickwork, make
farm gates, thatch a roof, and thresh.
It is significant, that in districts where
thatch is the prevailing covering for the
roof, that the same method of keeping
the thatch in place on the hayricks is
still adopted. An interesting detail in

CASEMENT FITTINGS

connection with the ricks of East Suffolk and West Norfolk are the finials
at either end, made out of the thatching material ; they resemble an
opening flower on the end of a long stem.

The barns, to which we have referred, are covered with the most decorative
thatching of any district in England. The shaping of the edges, of the
double cresting over the ridge, and of the edges down the roof when carried
out in a series of slopes, extend the whole length of a big barn, and form
certainly one of the most beautiful objects in the landscape. Imagine for
a moment the yellow-green undulating plains stretching away as far as the
eye can reach, brilliant red patches of poppies here and there, the large
church towers, the upstanding sails of the ships that float on the unseen rivers,
and then these occasional black weather-boarded buildings covered with
thatch running from end to end, with the edges cut and shaped in all
manner of scolloping and other patterns.

Although it is extremely diflicult to determine to what extent the Flemings
influenced the architecture of the villages and the cottages, it was probably
less in Norfolk and Suffolk than is usually assumed. For instance, chimneys,
a feature where one would naturally expect some details of definite Flemish
character, there are none to prove their skill in brick building. There are
one or two crude examples of circular plan at Blythburgh, and another
variety at Walberswick (page 50), but for the most part the chimneys are
disappointing, and generally finish with a double course of projecting
bricks. Another detail, the dormer, with roof of flatter pitch than the
main roof, may be foreign, but seems more likely to have arisen from the
difficulty of covering a small gabled or hipped roof with pantiles. The
most remarkable point illustrated by these dwellings is the wonderful
conservatism with which the builders clung to their methods of using
materials ; as, for example, in the high-pitched gable, with its iron ties
and monograms, and the simplicity characteristic of English work which
persisted from generation to generation. The Englishman is generally
provincial and hates new ways, like Coggan, Thomas Hardy's rustic.
Says he : "I won't say much for myself, but I've never changed a single
doctrine. I've stuck like a plaster to the old faith I was born in. I hate
a fellow who'll change his old ancient doctrines for the sake of getting to
heaven. I'd as soon turn King's evidence for the few pounds you get."
Of a piece with this religious constancy are the remarks of Mr. Poyser
in " Adam Bede." He says : " I'm none for worretting," rising from his
chair and walking slowly towards the door, " but I should be loath to
leave the old place and the parish where I was bred and born and father
before me."

WHITBOURNE, HEREFORDSHIRE, from a water-colour drawing by E. A. CHADWICK.

(Copyright Reserved.)

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DIVISION III.

CHESHIRE, SHROPSHIRE
HEREFORDSHIRE

III.— CHESHIRE, SHROPSHIRE AND
HEREFORDSHIRE

O two districts could illustrate with more point the
variety of types in the English cottage than the counties
on the east coast north of the Thames, and those of
Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. The remark-
able contrast between them is more than one of detail,
for neither the materials nor the construction are the
same, and in the general effect there can be no com-
parison whatsoever. The one is simple both in form
and construction, the other rich in effect and more
complicated in structure. The one is chiefly red on

the landscape, the other chiefly black-and-white. The one has steep

roofs, the other steep and flat. Those to the east are little known,

those towards the north-
west are well known.

To the great majority of

the public, the study of

architecture is generally

of little interest, but

these cottages of black-
and-white, more especi-
ally those of Cheshire,

have always found a

place in the heart of

the incorrigibly senti-
mental Englishman.

More generally known

than those of any other

counties, they have been

freely imitated with a

wanton disregard for the

real origin of their

charm. The picture

painter, the scene painter,

the man in the street,

the man who lives in

the suburbs, and last but

not least the speculative

builder with romantic

tendencies, are all united

in their admiration; and

truth to say, this lively

preference for the obvious

in cottage architecture

NETHER ALDERLEY, CHESHIRE

is easier to understand than the attitude of the architect who rhapsodises
over them, and yet on the first opportunity feebly plants on the plaster-work
of his client's house a few thin upright and cross pieces and dignifies
it by the name of half-timbering. Architects and their clients started with
the placid assumption that these half-timbered cottages could be built
without the necessity of using the original methods of construction. In no
buildings has the construction been so deliberately made the foundation of
all that was interesting and beautiful in their design as in these old cottages,
for with the exception of the small pieces of wood that helped to form
the geometrical patterns and diapers of black-and-white, no timbers
were introduced except for some definite work in holding the building
together. Whether the result was to be simple or elaborate, it was always
based on the main lines of the construction ; nothing, therefore, could be
more ludicrous than to imagine that this system of building might be copied
by planting on the plaster these boards, or by whitewashing brickwork, and
mimicking the timber by painting. The beauty of the old cottages was more
than skin deep, or rather more than the depth of paint and one-inch boards.
In the south of Cheshire,
the painting of the white-
washed brickwork with
vertical and horizontal
black stripes is the favourite
method of restoring, and
very often the timbers are
not even correctly copied.
If such things are done in
the name of restoration, it
is almost impossible to ex-
pect that new buildings
will fare any better. The
fact is, no cottages are so
difficult to build as those
in the spirit of the old
timber-and-plaster dwell-
ings, and yet no style has
been cribbed more often,
and with such disastrous
results. In view of this
popular if questionable ap-
preciation, it is strange how
little the originals have
been looked after. Timbers
have been covered with
plaster-work, or superseded
by neat brickwork, carving
has been damaged or re-
moved altogether, and
stone roofs have been taken

CHESTER, CHESHIRE

ALDERLEY EDGE, CHESHIRE

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middle towards the outer edges, sometimes
four ; if in two, from
the middle to the top
and bottom edges ; if
in four, towards the
four outer corners of
the stone. This only
occurs when the ma-
sonry is built of large
stones worked fairly
smooth, as in the cot-
tage near Prestbury
(opposite), but in other
instances the wall is of
rough and irregularly
coursed stones, com-
paratively small, with
the large bonding
stones at the angles
and in the walls of the
chimneys. The height
of the wall varies. At
Much Wenlock many
of the buildings are
stone up to the first-
floor level, but the
general rule is two to
three feet, the wood

off and covered
with the common
thin slates of
ordinary manu-
facture.

The same method
of construction
used in the large
halls is followed
in the cottages.
There is the same
low wall, often of
tool -marked ma-
sonry, the stones
as much as three
feet long, one foot
deep and ten
inches wide ; and
the tool marks
always from the
in two directions, at others in

PRESTBURY, CHESHIRE

framing being set back about an inch to two inches. The stone base
of the corner house at Much Wenlock (below) is only about eighteen
inches from the level of the ground to the framing, and even lower
where the ground rises. A part of the house to the left is built entirely
of stone, and probably is of later date. These additions, wholly of stone
or of brickwork, and often white-washed, occur frequently and with
the most happy results. At Prestbury village, in Cheshire, for example,
some of the half-timbered dwellings are side-by-side with others of
this white-washed character, the wood frames of the windows set in a
little way, with the wide leads of the transomed windows painted white.
The contrast is a^ pleasant one, and a happy relief from the black timbers
of the other cottages. The windows of many of them are opened and shut
with window-fasteners of fascinating design.

It has been said that the chief characteristics of these cottages and large
timber buildings are their geometrical patterning within the main timbers,
the heavy scantlings of the woodwork and the flat pitch of the roofs. These
details are a more incidental than essential feature of the style. Much
of the patterning of the more elaborate examples in Cheshire could be
omitted, as it has been to a large extent in Shropshire and Oxfordshire.
The scantlings of the half-timber work are not always heavy, and the roofs
were probably, many of theni, originally thatched. It is true that a
number of the gables have the flat pitch necessary for heavy stone slates,
but the majority are at an angle suitable for thatching. Moreover, those

MUCH WENLOCK, SHROPSHIRE

which are thatched suggest that it is the material for timber cottages, like
those at Bromfield, in Shropshire (below), the cottage at Alderley Edge, in
Cheshire (page 65), and the Boar Inn at Sandbach, in Cheshire. The chief
characteristics are the methods of construction, which have already been
detailed in Mr. E. A. Quid's interesting notes on timber buildings. He
says : ** Stout oak sills are laid horizontally upon a low wall of stone or brick,
and into these are tenoned upright posts, the larger ones being placed at
the external angles. Upon these upright posts, horizontal heads are placed
just below the level of the chamber floor, and the intervening spaces formed
into panels with thinner pieces, the whole being framed and tenoned
together and pinned with oak pins. The joists of the floor are then laid,
resting upon the horizontal heads, and frequently being partly supported
by internal beams, which appear in the ceilings of the house. Upon
the ends of the joists the sill of the upper storey is laid, and the framing
is, more or less, a repetition of that below, the head forming a support
for the spars of the roof, and being frequently carried over at the ends as
a wall plate to carry the overhanging gables." Where timber ridges occur
they are generally directly beneath the rafters and placed anglewise.
The sizes of the timbers vary considerably. At Alderley Edge some of
the angle posts measure 8 ins. and 9 ins. square, and the other timbers
7 ins. and 8 ins. on the face, the wooden pegs pinning them together project
f in. and of the same diameter. They appear to be slightly wedge-shaped,
probably to allow for the tightening up of the framing when the usual
and inevitable shrinkage had taken place after exposure to wind and
weather. The panels between the framing are of brickwork, which here,
as in many other cases, project. This may be due to the shrinkage of the
timber, for it is sometimes flush in the same building. When the panels

BROMFIELD SHROPSHIRE
70

CULMINGTON, SHROPSHIRE
71

are of plaster, they "are filled in with a basket-work osier foundation,
daubed over with clay strengthened with straw or stringy weeds. The
finishing coat is of plaster on both sides, richly matted with hair, and
frequently set back half an inch or more/' ^ In the panels of a cottage at
Alderley Edge, the woodwork is arranged in the form of diapers — the
plaster squares alternating with the wood — and pinned into the cross-pieces
and uprights. In the same cottage the pattern occurs in diamond-shaped
panels in the gable. The general effect is rich and barbaric, a characteristic
noticeable in the carving and the gouge cuts on the barge boards and brackets.
Many of the details recall the work of savage races, such, for instance, as
the zig-zag cuttings on the windows in Church Street, Ledbury, the brackets
and barge boards at Middlebrook, the scolloping of the edges of the beam
on the gables at Alderley Edge. Another characteristic bit of detail is
the doorway at Congleton in Cheshire (page 66), with its shaped lintel, the
initials and date in the middle, the enriching of the beam over the lintel
with scolloping in the middle member, and dentils beneatTi. The timbers
as they get nearer the top of the buildings are filled in with the geometrical
patterns, like those in the
gable at Prestbury (page S^=

67). The large spaces ' **

between some of the tim-
bers is generally an altera-
tion or restoration filled in
with brick. The illustra-
tions of the cottages at
Alderley Edge, Prestbury,
and Sandbach (pages 65
and 67) are all typical of
the elaborate patterning.
Directly Shropshire is
approached, the timbering
becomes less playful and
more in vertical and hori-
zontal lines — as, for in-
stance, at Craven Arms
(page 73). The corner
posts are generally thicker
than the rest, and strutted.
Among some of the geo-
metrical patterns arc the
diamond and the quatrefoil,
while at Alderley Edge
the curved pieces of wood
in the cove are pierced in
the form of a cross.
Another fine example is

' ** Old Halls in Lancashire and
Cheshire," by Henry Tayler.

BRUMFIELD, SHROPSHIRE

CRAVEN ARMS, SHROPSHIRE

HARTON, SHROPSHIRE
74

that at Prestbury, in Cheshire (page 67). An interesting detail
noticeable in the chimney of this cottage is the drip in stepped brick,
a common enough detail in Worcestershire and Warwickshire. In
Herefordshire and Shropshire the timbers are not so close together, nor is
there the same tendency to run to pattern as in Cheshire. Many of the
cottages, in fact, have a near relationship to those in the South-Eastern
counties, although generally the construction is much in advance of the
majority in Kent or Surrey. This superiority was due to two reasons, first,
to the fact that, unlike Kent and Surrey, where bricks and tiles were used
as much as wood, in Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire wood was
the chief material ; and, secondly, to the influence of that remarkable
man John Abel, the carpenter-architect of Hereford. With him, as with
the other little known cottage builders of these counties, the terms " to
build " and " to timber " were synonymous.

This carpenter exercised considerable influence in his own county and in
Shropshire. His work is restrained, and shows a careful consideration
for the right spacing
of the timbers,
which places it

much above the
over - elaborated
Cheshire fronts.
Nothing could be
more effective than
the zigzag disposi-
tion of timbers on
the Market House
at Ledbury, being
both decorative and
constructive. The
examples at Pem-
bridge (pages 'j'j
and 78), and Orleton
(page 79), in Here-
fordshire, and the
Reader's House at
Ludlow, in Shrop-
shire, are either his
work or influenced
by him. He lived
to the age of ninety-
seven, and a few
years before his
death made his own
monument, engrav-
ed his own effigy
and those of his
two wives, and the

LEY, HEREFORDSHIRE
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symbols of his occupation, the rule, the compass, and the square, and,
alas ! wrote his own epitaph, as follows : —

** This craggy stone a covering is for an architect's bed,
That lofty buildings raised high, yet now lies down his head,
This line and rule, so Death concludes, are locked up in store,
Build they who list or they who wist, for he can build no more.
His house of clay could hold no longer.
May Heaven's — frame him a stronger. , .

Vive ut vivas in vitam aeternam." ^

The esteem in which the known man, John Abel the carpenter, was held
in Hereford and the immediate district is only one instance of the
important position generally occupied by the unknown village carpenter
or smith. It is certain that the local craftsman was by no means the
negligible factor in the village life that he is to-day. His position was
often an official one, his pay coming to him through grants of land, and
while many of the trades or crafts were hereditary, the trades connected
with commerce and the supplying of goods from distant markets were not
so. Those who produced, those who built the walls, hammered the gates,
and chiselled the wood
were the privileged folk
of the village commu-
nity, and not those who
were merely a superior
kind of pedlar like the
modern manufacturer.
Amongst savages the
smith was one of the
most important members
of the tribe, and the
number of village inns
called after the principal
trades or crafts is another
instance of the important
position the mason, smith
and carpenter held in
the village. It is prob-
able that in addition to
gathering at the inn for
convivial meetings, they
settled points of detail
and construction over
their tankards of beer.
The chimneys of the
cottages in Cheshire
have not much charac-
ter, but in Shropshire

A "Ancient Timber Edifices
of England," by John Clayton,
A.R.I.B.A.

PEMBRIDGE, HEREFORDSHIRE

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ORLETON, HEREFORDSHIRE
79

there are examples almost equal to those in Kent. At Craven Arms
(page 73) there is a remarkably fine one with well-proportioned brick
shafts springing from the large projection carried up in stone. At
Whitbourne, in Herefordshire (opposite page 61), there is an interestmg
chimney in brick, with an unusual cap connecting two shafts of different
design. A peculiar feature was noticed at Wellington. The projecting
V-shapes on the shaft were abruptly finished square a few courses below
the capping, and suggested that the bricklayer felt he was unable to
mitre his capping round the projection. In another unusual group of
shafts in this village there are five flues, the middle one placed angle wise
and the others attached to each of its sides, thus forming a star-shaped
plan of plain, square shafts, which rise off a square stone base. The
same plan occurs at Cressage. Besides the timber cottages in these counties
there are some rough-cast examples with beautiful thatched roofs ; and
on the moors between Buxton and Macclesfield, on the borders of
Derbyshire and Cheshire, are a number of whitewashed dwellings. These
are simple, crude rough-stone structures, with plain square chimneys of
the same material, and the
roofs covered with stone
slates ; the mouldings, if
any, are of the most primi-
tive character, and the walls
either lime-whited or left
untouched. The moorlands
on each side of the steep road
that leads out of Buxton
(also in the direction of the
inn called "The Cat and
Fiddle," and from there
down into Macclesfield) are
dotted here and there with
these single cottages and
farm buildings.
To follow this building
tradition in preference to
that of the more usual wood
and timber dwellings in the
same county, would seem to
be most in harmony with
the geological formations of
the north. In Derbyshire
to the east, and Lancashire to
the north of Cheshire, stone
is the prevailing material
and is used in a somewhat
similar, though at the same
time more elaborate, manner
than is usual on the moors.
80

EARDISLAND, HEREFORDSHIRE

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;THAMPTONSHIRF.

DIVISION IV.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE, OXFORDSHIRE,
DERBYSHIRE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

IV.— GLOUCESTERSHIRE, OXFORD-
SHIRE, DERBYSHIRE AND NORTH-
AMPTONSHIRE.

HE charm of the Cotswold cottage and village is unique.
The wonderfully quiet and mellow beauty is best appre-
ciated, perhaps, on first entering a village or hamlet
towards the evening. Often at the foot of the hills the
approach is made under ideal conditions. Half-way
down the incline glimpses are caught between the trees
of grey and yellow stone walls, and to the right and left
the ground rises and curves gently upward in long
stretches of rolling upland, covered with waving corn
ripe for the harvest, alternating with green fields and
patches of newly-turned-up soil. Behind the village
wafer sun in a sky the colour of lead, and as the

there is a red

visitor draws near, the many gables and chimneys stand out in sharp

silhouette. The hills round about are touched with the sombre glow of

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WELFORD-ON-AVON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

the vanishing sun, while here and there the chimney of a cottage and the
tower of the church are splashed with ruddy light. The hollows in the
hills are in shadow, birds are asleep, the villagers at rest, and everywhere
there broods that intense stillness of departing day, broken by the faint and
melancholy sound of the breeze blowing across the fields of corn. In the
glare of the morning sunlight the village is difFerdrit, but its fascination
remains the same, for, like all great work, it has the power to stamp upon
the mind and heart that distinct and lasting impression which only strong
and simple nature can give.

With the exception perhaps of Yorkshire, and parts of Lancashire, there
are no counties, in which the cottages are so characteristically English as
those up and down the Cotswold Hills. They are all offsprings of the spirit
which hovers about the moors of Yorkshire and Lancashire, of Wuthering
Heights and of lonely Egdon Heath. Stone is used throughout — stone
for the walls, stone for the windows, and stone for the roofs. They
can generally be dated between the latter part of the sixteenth and the
end of the following century. In the earlier buildings there is a distinct
Gothic feeling akin to the Perpendicular work of the previous century,
particularly noticeable in buildings like the almshouses at Campden,
in Gloucestershire (page 93), the house and shop at Burford, in Oxford-
shire (page 104), and the entrance at Roth well, ia Northamptonshire
(page 106). This mediaeval character never disappeared entirely, although
there crept into the details and mouldings some of the classic forms

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WELFORD-ON-AVON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
86

WELFORD-ON-AVON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

which had already become the current design of the larger towns.
The parapet of the cottage at Weston-sub-Edge (page 90) is probably
a Renaissance innovation, and is found again at Burford, in Oxford-
dwellings of a more classic character. But fashions in
come and might go, the heart of the Cotswolds was
always retained in its essentials the villagers' expression of
ages. And just as long as the builders of these cottages

shire, in the
details might
mediaeval and
the middle

remained in close touch with their materials and the villages in which
they first saw the light, this spirit dwelt in their work. The late examples
in Campden and Mickleton are clothed with new mouldings and newer
forms, but the spirit and the methods are the same. There is no other
district in England that has expressed so simply and so beautifully in terms
of building the unity between the soil, the dwelling, and its inhabitants.
The spell of the severe outlines, the fascination and charm of the simple
details, the quaint fancy and the appearance of strength suggested by the stone
walls and slate roofs, are full of a magic that no number of visits can dispel.
These men from the Cotswold District knew instinctively the value of
the rightly-placed
ornament and the
accumulation of well-
proportioned parts to
form a unity of ex-
pression, and the place
for simplicity and the
position for playful-
ness. Their strong in-
dividuality is shown
in the design of the
kneelers at the foot
of the gables, in the
finials, and the tablets
(page 165), contain-
ing the names or
initials and date of
those who occupied
and possibly built the
cottages; they even
show the changes of
occupants. Many of
them are admirable
and complete little
masterpieces of well-
cut lettering. Names
in full occur on some,
and others in addition
bear a quaint legend
or device. The ar-
rangement of the

WELFORD-ON-AVON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

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lettering alters considerably, the later ones being freer in treatment ; their
spacing is charming, and no two are alike. The tablet at Stanton
(page 165), dated 1604, with the names "John, James," nicely arranged
below the date, is a good type of one of these well-proportioned panels ; less
careful and more fanciful is the one at Minster Lovel (page 165), with the
initials " H.H.," and dated 1694. There is one at Matlock on the
Wheatsheaf Inn that suggests the wheat.

The walling is full of variety in Derbyshire ; the large size of the
stone-dressed quoins is characteristic, and measures as much as 2 ft. long,
12 ins. deep, and 5 ins. on the bed. The doorway at Youlgreave
(page no) is a typical specimen, with roughly chamfered edge on the
jambs, the head being left square. In some the faced edges are
carefully dressed for an inch and the rest slightly boasted and often
crudely honeycombed. Others are chiselled in definite lines along
the length of the stone. Another method was roughly to smooth
the stone, dress the edges for an inch, and work the rest of the
stone as if a comb had been drawn across it. This applies only to the
dressings, the rest of the walling was more or less rough, and in some of
the cottages stones here and there projected as much as 6 ins. without being
squared off. All the work in Youlgreave is coarse, the panels of doors and
windows often set forward an inch beyond the wall face, and in some instances
considerably more. The entrance to a cottage at Bakewell (page 108)
shows this characteristic. In the example at Taddington (page 113)

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CAMPDEN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
92

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the stone head and sill of the windows are continued as much as 9 ins. beyond
the outer line of the jambs, a method of construction made necessary by the
small width of the stone that was carried up without any bonding into the
walling, except at the top and the bottom. This primitive arrangement is
common in both Derbyshire and Lancashire, where the ordinary walling was
also built round the windows without any dressing whatsoever, in the same
way as at Ebrington, in Gloucestershire (page loi) ; the lintels and sills
(if any) were of wood. The same feature occurs in Oxfordshire. At
Chipping Campden the stones of the masonry are dressed with a good deal
of care and laid evenly in courses of varying depth, or in deep bands
alternating with narrow ones. The walling at Rothwell, in Northampton-
shire (page 106), is built in this way. It is noticeable that in many cottages
the stones of the masonry are of larger dimensions in the lower part of the
building, and then, as if to guard against a too sudden transition to smaller
work an occasional deep band is introduced into the thinner courses. At
Bibury, one of the most beautiful villages in Gloucestershire (pages 96
and 97), where the ordinary roughly coursed masonry is almost universal, one
of the chimney gables is banded with smooth-dressed masonry, and pigeon-
holes are introduced in others with a thin projecting course of stone beneath.
These stone bands occur again at Little Rissington and in some farm buildings
outside Burford. A variation of the dry walling used so much for the
gardens, fences, and the divisions between the fields, occurs both here and
at Burford. Instead of being constructed in the usual way, entirely without
mortar, three and four jointed courses are alternated with six or seven dry.

UPPER GUITING, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
94

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In all the varieties of walling there are none that show mere cleverness.
When a change occurs, it is for some obvious reason. It might be quarried
in block, or it might be in thin layers, or courses of red iron stone might
alternate with those of limestone ; but whatever method was followed, it
was determined very largely by the local quarry. It was not invariably so,
for the carefully dressed stone in the majority of chimney shafts and in the
bay windows occur side by side with ordinary walling in the rest of the
cottage. Large stones were generally used, too, for the jambs of the stone
dormers. Before a satisfactory treatment of this feature was accomplished
it went through three developments, not necessarily arising out of each
other, but gradual improvements that might occur in one village and not
in another, even where the rest of the work was of a superior character.
At Chipping Campden, for instance, where perhaps there is the best masonry,
the early dormer is .general, while at Bibury, where the masonry is not so
carefully finished, the dormer has blossomed into one of a thoroughly stone
character. The original dormer was a copy of the wood and plaster type
common in the adjoining counties, such as those at Broadway, in Worcester-
shire (page 119), and at
Ducklington, in Oxfordshire
(page 103). It was not an exact
reproduction, the tile roof of
Warwickshire and Wor-
cestershire changing into one
of slate as in the Cotswold
counties. This survival of
form, change of material, and
general overlapping of types
is particularly characteristic
of the cottage at Broadway
(page 119). Another interest-
ing detail is the coping at
Weston-sub-Edge (page 90) ;
a rather unusual arrangement
was adopted, the walls were
coped, the gables running out
without any coping. The
absence of this detail in so
many of the small gables
probably grew out of these
modifications of the original
dormers. Instead of wood
frames, stone muUions were
adopted, and the plaster
cheeks and fiUing-in over the
windows were avoided by run-
ning the roof down to the
eaves level, as at Upper Swell
(page 102), Upper Guiting

BIBURY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

BIBURV, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
97

STANTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

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ARLINGTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
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(page 94), and Arlington (page 100), forming a gable rising from the face of
the cottage. This is peculiar to Bibury and the surrounding neighbourhood,
and is only occasionally seen in the north of Gloucestershire. The village
of Willersey (page 95) shows dormers with and without coping, and raised
very little above the stone slates, there being no bye-laws requiring that
they should be 1 5 ins. above the roof. The group of cottages at Bibury are
remarkably fine examples of the simpler work in Gloucestershire. A charac-
teristic detail is the weathering at the base of the chimney in the gable
end (page 97), which follows the same pitch as the gable, like the examples
at Stanton (page 98) ; but in some cottages, like those at Chedworth,
Arlington and Gretton, it is taken straight across. At the Post Office,
Weston-sub-Edge (page 91), the gable coping is continued up the face of the
chimney the width of its projection from the wall. The arrangement of
the flues is generally in the form of a square or oblong stack, but there are
instances in which the plan is that of a cross, and in others placed angle-
wise, as in the almshouses at Campden (page 93). A small space is left
between them and the two shafts, connected at the top by the necking
and capping, and at the
bottom by the base.
The doorways and door
heads are very varied;
on many of them the
builders lavished all their
knowledge of detail, as
at Willersey, Broadway,
Aldsworth, Stow-on-the-
Wold (page 162). The
first one has come under
the influence of classic
forms, and the example
at Aldsworth (page 162)
shows a stone head sup-
ported on wood corbels;
this may be a restoration,
but certainly appears to
be original. The finial
on the gable is another
detail to which a great
amount of attention was
given. That at Stanton
(page 1 65) is a usual type
of quite Gothic character,
while the one at Arling-
ton (page 165) is classic
in feeling. Some of the
doorways show the in-
fluence of the Perpen-
dicular style, with double

102

\<^. ^

UPPER SWELL, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

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' >'v \r.i;\ftr'n (page loo), forniing a gable rising from the f
i ' . :^ peculiar to Bibury and the surrounding neighbuu '.
• • ♦ ' .r- ?i ilv seen in the north ot Gloucestershire. Tfie ^ *
f. -,S) >hows dormers with and without coping, and r •
' '. rio vtiie slates, there being no bye-laws requini:.'
• .' I . ifrs. .i!n,vc the n»of. The group of cottages at Bib'i-',
' ;: ' • \. :i;-!.-^ •>^' the simpler work in Gloucestershire. A c!> •
. , I ." vNCvithcnng at the base of the chimney in the ^i.J
. • -i V ^! ♦'?l!'j\vs the same pitch as the gable, like the exam; .' -
• ji \, ; but in some cottages, like those at Chedxstrc! .
• ' ' v.rerton, it i^ laken straight across. At the Post Or^^.c,
.!>-i^dge (pagr y 1 j, t/ic gable coping is continued up the face i»f the
I he width or it: nrt^jection from the wall. The arrangement of
IS generally in the form of a square or oblong stack, but there are
in which the }>!an is that of a cross, and in others placed angle-
in the al.'i ! -uses at Campden (page 93). A small space is left
them .iM ; trc two shafts, connected at the top by the necking

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DUCKLINGTON, OXFORDSHIRE

103

mouldings and a fillet between the inner moulding following the line of the
four-centre arch, and the other taken up and carried across square. Not-
withstanding the variety of simple detail, the flights of fancy are practically
confined to these doors, the finials, the tablets, and the metal-work.
Chimneys, windows, and mouldings are repeated time after time with
little variation, and the fenestration of windows and disposition of the
masses of masonry seldom indicate any new and startling departure. The
builders kept to the well-beaten track of tradition ; what was good enough
for the father was good enough for the son. Everything tended to unity
of eflfect ; and this, perhaps more than their picturesqueness, is the distinctive
and distinguishing feature of the Cotswold village and cottage. It consti-
tutes their chief claim to rank with the best English work of any period.
Other villages may show greater variety, a more individual treatment of
detail and a less conservative regard for tradition, but nowhere else do
the methods, the details, and the materials combine to achieve such
wonderful and complete unity of expression, such abiding tranquil beauty.
It is strange that in spite of their good proportions and beauty, the men who
built them were occasionally careless in their construction, and ignored too
often that " the said work shall be
just, true and lawful without any
deceit whatsoever." There were
scamps then as now, but in the
main they sought perfection or
workmanship, knew what was
good and what was bad. Their
cottages are eloquent of beautiful
walls, so well built that they will
probably be standing long after
much present-day building.
One of the charms of the Cots-
wold cottages is the high-pitched
roof covered with stone slates,
the larger ones hung at the eaves,
the sizes getting gradually smaller
towards the ridge. Mr. Guy
Dawber, in his notes on " Old
Cottages, Farm-houses and other
Stone Buildings in the Cotswold
District," gives the names of these
slates. He says, " The bottom or
under slates at the eaves, the one
bedded on the top of the walls, is
called a ' cussome.' This has a
slight tilt downwards, to throw the
water off, and projects some 7 ins.
or 8 ins. Above this the eaves com-
mence with long and short * eigh-
teens,* down to long and short

104

BURFORD, OXFORDSHIRE

OUNDLE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

'elevens'; then we have long and short 'wivetts/ * becks/ 'bachelors,'
' movedays,' * cuttings,' and long and short 'cocks' at the apex under the
cresting. They are hung dry with oak or deal pegs, which are driven
tight into holes in the slates, whilst they are being sorted to sizes, or else
nailed in the ordinary manner. When plastered or torched with hair
mortar, level with the underside of the laths, they will last for years, as so
many existing buildings testify. The 'valleys' are formed of the same
slates, in a wide sweep with no hard line of demarcation where the roofs
intersect, laid in regular formation and ranging with the ordinary slating.
Each valley slate has its distinctive name, the centre one being the
' bottomer ' with two ' lie-byes ' on either side, and above and below in
the next courses two ' skews ' to break joint."

The cottages of Derbyshire have a distinct character of their own, although
the material is the same. The stone-work is bolder and coarser in detail,
the builders less playful, and the work generally much more akin to the
cottages of Lancashire than of the Cotswold district. The transom in the
windows is a feature which we think is not found in Oxfordshire or
Gloucestershire. The Derbyshire mill at Alport (page 1 1 1), without having
any particular architectural " features," is typical of the stone walling in
the district ; and also the pair of cottages in the same village (page 112),
although they might easily be taken by the unobservant for Gloucester-
shire examples. Examples of the Derbyshire cottages occur at Bakewell
(page 108). They are reached by steps and have the plain jambs to doors
and windows with large stone quoins. There is a Gothic feeling in

105

the door head, and in the detail of the lintel over the window in the example
shown ; all the stone jambs, lintels and sills are square, with neither chamfer
nor moulding. Characteristic also are the piers each side of the entrance
at the foot of the steps, made in one stone, with half-round tops, and the
stone built in end-ways on.

A fine door at Youlgreave (page no) shows again the coarse feeling in the
huge lintel and large quoins; the jambs of the doorway are chamfered, but
the lintel is taken across square. The tablets are not so well designed as in
Gloucestershire, and are much more primitive. The one at Ashfbrd
(page 1 60) has the initials "F.H. A." and the "1680" arranged in the simplest
and most prosaic way : " F." is placed at the top, " H.A." is placed below, and
the date beneath. It is not particularly happy; nor is the one at Little
Longstone, with the initials "Z.E." and the date " 1 575 " planned in the apex
of the gable, a favourite position for them in Derbyshire. The detail of
the doorway at Ashford is much like the Cotswold example at Stow-on-the-
Wold, only the brackets supporting the pent are without fluting, and in the
former there is a bed moulding carried round the top of the corbel or bracket.
Some of the details of kneelers are
worthy of study ; those at Stanton and at
Alport (page 1 60) are typical. All of these
border on crudeness ; for instance, the
peculiar way the coping is carried over
the corbelling ; note, too, how deep the
corbel stone is carried back into the
wall. A very simple form of door-head
is that at Ashford (page 160), merely a
flat piece of stone carried at each end
by two small projecting brackets. A
curious plan for a window jamb is
noticeable at Alport (page 160).
No one can visit these counties of
stone architecture without being con-
scious of the certainty in their work,
and the unhesitating use of the tra-
ditional methods of building towards
the accomplishment of the final result.
There are no superfluous bits of orna-
ment, no dragging in of unnecessary
moulding, and no affectation of sim-
plicity. From the foundations to the
ridge the building rises without effort,
without needless divagation, each part
well proportioned, each part related to
the other, and the whole harmonious
and complete.

In the relation of the garden to these
cottages there is apparently no conscious
approach to anything like deliberate

106

ROTHWELL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

HADDON, DERBYSHIRE
107

design, unless we except the lodge-keeper's garden at Haddon (page 107);
for the rest there are certainly noticeable definite characteristics Avhich
bring them more into line with the "formal garden" than with the
irresponsible vagaries of the landscape gardener. Without being limited
or curtailed by the rigid and more architectural character of Haddon
or Levens, the small spaces in front of the cottages are generally laid out
with some regard to the house and the passer-by. At Ebrington it was
noticed that a clipped tree, cut in the form of a peacock or other bird,
had been planted in the corner of the garden just at the bend of the
road. Happily and well placed, it gave character to the cottage and
pleasure to those that passed by. It is extraordinary the number of
charming effects that are realised in all these old country gardens,
without overcrowding the very limited area. Nothing could have been
easier than to unduly emphasize some portions at the expense of others,
or to allow one part to dominate the rest. It may be, that in examples
like those at Witley, in Surrey (opp. page -157), and at Goudhurst, in
Kent (page 18), the blaze of colour and the want of neatness justifies
itself; but as a rule the villagers generally attempted to reduce their
gardens to some sort of order. Not-
withstanding the playfulness and irregu-
larity of many of them, the smallest
show some regard for careful arrange-
ment. Half the charm of the example
at Welford-on-Avon, in Gloucestershire
(page 89), is derived from the straight
avenue, terminating at the far end in
the arched opening, cut and shaped in
the hedge. It is generally around some
such simple idea as this that the garden
is laid out, the degree of primness of
the hedges and the flower beds depend-
ing upon the idiosyncrasies of the
owner. At By worth, in Sussex (page 29),
there is another simple and effective
example, with a shaped shrub at the
gates and flowers blooming on the
boundary wall. Cut yews on each side
of the entrances are often seen, and
carefully clipped privet hedges three or
four feet wide. At the back of a cottage
at Broadway, in Worcestershire, there
is an old garden surrounded with high
walls covered by fruit trees, and the
middle bed crowded with hollyhocks
and other old-fashioned flowers. Between
the centre plot and the narrow bed next
to the walls is the pathway paved with
stone flags.

loS

BAKEWELL, DERBYSHIRE

BAKEWEIX, DERBYSHIRE
109

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DIVISION V.

WORCESTERSHIRE, WARWICKSHIRE

v.— WORCESTERSHIRE AND
WARWICKSHIRE

SLOW journey of many stops taken through Cheshire
and Shropshire, across the top of Worcestershire and
Warwickshire from west to east, and then southward
towards the north of Gloucestershire, shows within a
small area and with certain limitations the gradual
changes which took place in the development of the
ancient cottage. To the first stage belong those of
wood and plaster, to the second those of timber and
brick, to the third those of brick, and then finally those
of stone. These changes, it need hardly be said,
did not follow nor necessarily grow out of each other,
like all consistent and respectable traditions have a way of doing, but
jumped forward and backward in each county in the most wayward and
irresponsible fashion ; and in this respect the cottages of Warwickshire and
Worcestershire were no exception. The majority of them are of brick and
timber, with many later examples of brick that retain the same proportions
and some of the peculiarities of the earlier buildings. In no detail is this so
apparent as in the dormer and the unbroken frieze between the top of the
ground-floor windows and the underside of the eaves. The frieze runs

//I - - -^ —'•*-*'

^°kc

BROADWAY, WORCESTERSHIRE
117

from end to end of one or a number of cottages, and is as chaiacteristic as
the dormer, and the frequent raising of the ground-floor three and four
steps above the road. In the cottages at Chaddesley Corbett, in Worces-
tershire (below), the effect of this deep frieze is partly lost owing to the
vertical and sloping half-timber work, but directly the brick and timber is
translated into brick the frieze effect becomes emphasised, as at Ludington,
in Warwickshire (page 131). These are practically the cottages in the
foreground atKnowle (page 136) turned into brick with the same propor-
tions, only the roof and dormers are covered with thatch instead of tiles.
At Solihull there are a number of them which follow still more closely
the characteristics of the half-timber cottage, these having actually the
same number of steps up to the front doors.

Where they differ is in the glazing of the windows and the frame,
which is set back an inch, instead of being flush, as in the early cottage ;
and in the use of brick walls instead of timber framing and brick panels.
The dormer not only persists in the brick, but in the stone district
as well, both in the older stone - muUioned type and the Georgian
examples, as for instance at Broadway, in Worcestershire (page 119), and
many of those at Mickleton, in Gloucestershire. This resemblance is
perhaps all the more remarkable as both the materials and the methods of
construction are dissimilar. In the south-eastern counties and those ot
Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire, where the methods are much
the same, there are only a few examples of dormers which in any way
resemble them. Most of these are gabled, a few hipped, and others arc

CHADDESLEY CORBETT, WORCESTERSHIRE
118

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119

covered by part of the main roof, which is carried over the window at a
flatter pitch, as at Shottery (page 139) and Pershore (opposite).
Although these are some of the chief points which distinguish these cottages
from those of other counties where the same materials were used, there is
altogether a less careful consideration of external detail and a greater tendency
to repeat in one village what has been done in another. The chimneys, for
instance, are nearly all finished with one or two projecting courses and one
above set flush with the brickwork below. Occasionally the stacks are placed
angle-wise on the plan, as in the cottages at Chaddesley Corbett (page 118),
in Worcestershire, and at Hampton Lucy, in Warwickshire (page 138) ; but
these are exceptions, for generally there is neither the same fancy, skill, nor
careful consideration of those little points of detail which add to the charm
of the cottages in Kent. The middle cottage at Shottery, in Warwickshire
(page 139), shows an attempt to do without a gutter next to the chimney
by continuing the roof above the ridge till it meets the stack ; but this is
obviously an afterthought, and not a very happy one ; and then again, with
one or two exceptions, such as the example at Charlecote, in Warwick-
shire (page 135),
no attempt is made
to connect the chim-
ney flanking the side
walls with the main
roof, a detail that is
solved satisfactorily
over and over again
in Surrey. The
projecting stepped
brickwork, occasion-
ally used for the drip
of the chimney,
above the tile roof,
is similar to that
already noted at
Alderley Edge, in
Cheshire (page 65);
but in this district
it is more often
made to fulfil the
purpose of a verge
in the later cottages.
When used in this
position the little
triangular spaces left
on the upper edge
are filled in with
mortar, the roofing
tiles being laid direct
upon it. This same

120

BROADWAY, WORCESTERSHIRE

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121

method of using brick has been noticed in the finish or a brick
label. An unusual use of brick, perhaps too ingenious to be ancient,
was noticed at Bromsgrove, near Birmingham. The bricks are laid
with the width as face work, one course of stretchers alternating
with another of one stretcher, and two headers, one on each side and
placed on end ; by this wonderful arrangement the headers are left
projecting beyond the face of the shaft in every other course. The pigeon-
holes which have been noticed in the cottages and farmhouses of the
Cotswold are carried out here in brick on similar lines, a course of headers
taking the place of the stone bands, and the openings cut in the four
courses of brick between those that project. The base for the framing is set
up on stone (page 1 34) or brick. Mill Street, Warwick (page 1 29), has both.
The wood sill of the half timbers, which in Cheshire is almost invariably
set back from the masonry, is flush with the base, and the uprights recessed
instead. These uprights, in the dwellings halfway up the street, average
7 ins., the spaces between 10 ins., and are filled in with brick. The brick-
work throughout
these counties is
usually laid Flemish
bond, four courses
to 1 1 ins., and with
wide joints. At
Hampton Lucy, in
Warwickshire (page
138), there is an
exceptional brick
cottage covered
with thatch, the
others in the village
being half timber
and brick, and brick
with the usual
characteristics of
frieze and dormer.
Custom, tradition,
and especially mate-
rial, rooted to the
soil the various types
of cottage building,
but in the metal
work of the villages
there are charac-
teristics more obvi-
ously common to
all. For instance,
a Worcestershire
o r Warwickshire
fire - dog was not

122

CASEMENT FITTINGS

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123

necessarily so different from a Gloucestershire example, for the material
and the purpose would be the same, while in the cottages of the
same districts neither the methods of construction nor the materials
were alike. Much more depended upon individual fancy and workman-
ship. Windows in the stone counties repeat time after time, but the window
fasteners are seldom the same. The great charm about this work lies in
its unconscious regard for essentials ; for instance, there is not much that
can be said for the pot cranes beyond the fact that they supplied a need
in the most economical and straightforward way. All that was required
was an upright, an arm and its support, and that was what the smith gave
his customer, adding a little incidental decoration by the way. In one
instance the end is turned and finished with a scroll, in another the
support for the arm is considered, while in a third the end of the arm is
beaten into a leaf None of this is very great art, perhaps, but sufficient to
raise it from the commonplace; just that labour and cunning which separate
the good from the cheap. The notion that good work, good proportions and
intelligent arrangement of parts are as cheap as badly executed or badly-
planned work, is the result
of ignorance. This old
metal work, no less than
the cottages in which it is
found, is the outcome of
long service and association
with materials, of innumer-
able failures and successes,
and of a constant if varying
desire to produce what is
good and beautiful. It is
never cheap nor hurried,
but has the stamp of
leisurely production. That
the makers were proud of
their work is often reflected
in it ; names occasionally
occur on the pieces, and
the finish and execution
leave little to be desired.
Ironwork was occasionally
introduced as a support
for the pents. Brackets
of scroll work occur at
Belbroughton, in Worces-
tershire, and less elaborate
ones can be seen at Welford-
on-Avon, in Gloucester-
shire (page 162) ; garden
gates were also carried out
in wrought iron. There is

124

YARDLEY WOOD, WORCESTERSHIRE

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a simple and effective treatment at Binton, in Warwickshire (page 167),
and although one questions the wisdom of stopping the uprights below the
top bar, the effect is light and appropriate. Another more satisfactory and
elaborate piece of work is the window balcony at Henley-in-Arden, in
Warwickshire (page 167), unfortunately mutilated, but with sufficient remain-
ing to give an idea of what it was like in its complete condition. The
scroll work is welded to the uprights at three points in the height, and
the middle piece above the bar leans forward, supported by a stay from the
upright. The cast and wrought-iron knockers, the lock plates, latches
and handles, are all of interesting detail, and range from the severe circular
cast brass knocker to the florid wrought example.

Other interesting pierced and cut work is noticeable among the lock
plates (page 166), and the footman in bright iron at Welford-on-Avon, in
Gloucestershire, is a splendid example of wrought, hammered and pierced
work of interlacing pattern and of simple construction (page 161). Of this
simplicity the village smith may have been in ignorance, for it is probable
. that if he could have engraved on the pieces, cast portions of them, or had
thoughts of combining
these methods to make
them more elaborate, he
would have done so to the
best of his ability and as
far as his knowledge carried
him, like he did in the rest
of his work. That was
his simplicity, and quite
a different thing to the
affectation of it that is so
detestable in much modern
work. The latches, handles
and casement fasteners
(pages 58 and 159), are of
the kind that we should
expect to find in a cot-
tage ; but many of the
others are remarkable for
their exceptional refine-
ment. The scroll-work, for
example, on one of the
fasteners illustrated on
page 122 is of dainty and
delicate workmanship, and
would be as much in har-
mony with the interior of
a mansion as of a cottage.
The same characteristic is
noticeable in the footman
(page 161), the metal work

126

ATCH LENCH, WORCESTERSHIRE

il#^r^.- ,^■•-

CLEEVE PRIOR, WORCESTERSHIRE

127

at Weston-Patrick (page 43), to which we have already referred, the soft
modelling of the cast-iron fire-dogs and firebacks in Sussex (page 163), and
the examples at Chiddingfold, in Surrey, and Sandhurst Green, in Kent
(page 161). The half timber might be casual and the brickwork poor,
but the metal work here, as elsewhere, was generally up to a high standard
of workmanship and in advance of the other trades, with the exception,
perhaps, of the Cotswold district, which seems to have developed more or
less on the same level. The other trades might be wanting, but the smith
could always be relied on to supply fine and interesting work.
Between the forged gates next to the roadway and the cast brass
knocker on the cottage door was the garden, "the betweenity,"
as the late J. D. Sedding called it — a link to connect the dwelling
with its natural surroundings, a small space, but arranged as care-
fully by the order-loving owner as the " formal garden " of the large
manor-house ; for whatever may be the merits of the landscape system,
there can be no question that
the charm of the old cottage
garden lies in its order, neat-
ness, and making the most of
the small area. There was
no room either for pergolas,
bridges, sun-dials, summer-
houses and broad terraces.
These were for the squire at
the manor-house ; but in the
design of the approach, the
fencing, the walls, the gates,
the planning of the old-
fashioned flower-beds, the cut-
ting of the occasional clipped
trees and hedges, and the arch
over the entrance, the cottager
found ample scope for his
fancy. If the cottages were
close on the road, without
front gardens, some natural
beauty near at hand was
shaped and fashioned, brought
to order, and made part of the
village. It might be a clump
of trees, a pond, as at Upton
Grey, Hampshire (page 40),
or the village green with the
road on each side. Here
might be the village cross or
the village pump ; round the
trees, seats, and the pond em-
phasized with posts and guard Warwick

128

W:!:'"'A^-

«xr

129

rails. One of the characteristics of the old cottage garden is the division
which cuts it off from the roadway and its neighbours. It cannot be said that
every district had its own type of garden, but many of the details have their
local peculiarities. The cottage at Hill Wootton, in Warwickshire (pages
132 and 133), shows a type of division common enough in a great many
parts of the county. The palings are nailed to two rails, one at the top and
one at the bottom, these being generally housed or tenoned into the posts,
placed at regular intervals from 9 ft. to 10 ft. apart. The tops of the
uprights are either square or shaped. A more interesting example is the
fence common in Kent and Surrey. The posts are about the same distance
apart, and of sufficient depth from front to back to take the rails and
boarding, and to allow for a projection on the outer face. The rails, three
in number and of triangular section, are placed one just below the top of
the fence, another about 9 ins. below, and the third kept well above the
ground. They are tenoned and pinned into the posts, and the boards are
wedge-shaped, each set a little behind the other ; they arc then nailed to
the rails, the nails taking a zigzag pattern. The boards vary from 2^
to 4 ins. wide. At
Blythburgh, in Suf-
folk, the same fencing
has been used, with
the boarding reversed
at every post. There
are other varieties of
the fence, but this is
the method generally
adopted. Wattled
fencing is found occa-
sionally in Gloucester-
shire, and a thatched
example was noticed
at Filby Broad, in
Norfolk. Dry stone
walls are usual in the
Cotswold, and in
Devon slaty stone
walls, wh i t e wash ed ,
are general. The
garden walls in Nor-
folk and Suffolk are
often flint, with brick
copings and bases,
and brick dressings
next to the gateways.
Another form of gar-
den fence is similar
to the partial filling
in of the porch at

HAMPTON-IN-ARDEN, WARWICKSHIRE

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SOLIHULL, WARWICKSHIRE

Some of the yew trees at the
entrances to the gardens, or that
form avenues, like those at Cleeve
Prior, Worcestershire (page 127),
are cut into all manner of won-
derful and fascinating shapes. At
Cleeve Prior are to be seen, hand
in hand, " the glorious company
of Apostles," and the Evangelists,
memoralised in the form of six-
teen yews. Those at Broadway,
Worcestershire (page 120), are
of the simpler variety ; more
elaborate examples are found at
Yardley Wood (page 124), where
the lower part of the trees is
arched over the entrance and the
tops shaped like cones. The
" pleaching," or cutting and trim-
ming of the trees at Lapworth,
Warwickshire (page 140), is re-
markably fine. At Solihull,
Warwickshire (above), there is a
single yew tree, the lower part
cut away on one side to form an
arbour, and on the top is perched
a bird. Another example at
Risley Hall, Derbyshire, is in the
form of two doves ; and there are
other interesting trees at Ripple,

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Atch Lench in Wor-
cestershire (page 126) :
an example occurs also
at Milton Bryant, in
Bedfordshire (page 168).
At Cranbrook, in Kent
(page 14), the fence is
of four rails between
pairs of posts set some
distance apart and filled
in with cross-pieces that
leave openings of dia-
mond shapes. In addi-
tion to these are the
clipped hedges of haw-
thorn and holly.

CHARLECOTE, WARWICKSHIRE

^35

Worcestershire (page 123). It is these flights of fancy and imagination,
in the hedges and trees of the gardens they adorned, that formed the link
between the dwelling and the world of nature ; for while there is underlying
all the same natural love of order and beauty that we find in the cottage, it
is more freely expressed, and less hampered by the restrictions of the builder
and craftsman. One of the most charming and engaging descriptions of the
old gardq;! was written by William Lawson early in the seventeenth century.
He says, " What can your eye desire to see, your eare to heare, your mouth
to taste, or your nose to smell that is not to be had in an orchard with
abundance and beauty ? What more delightsome than an infinite varietie
of sweet smelling flowers .? decking with sundrye colours the greene mantel
of the earth, the universal mother of us all, so by them bespotted, so dyed,
that all the world cannot sample .them, and wherein it is more fit to admire the
Dyer than imitate his workmanship, colouring not only the earth but decking
the ayre, and sweetening every breath and spirit. The rose red, damaske,
velvet, and double double province rose, the sweet muske rose double
and single, the double and §ingle white rose, the faire and sweet scenting
woodbind double and single ; Purple cowslips and double cowslips, primrose
double and single, the violet nothing behind the best for smelling sweetly,
and a thousand more will provoke your contente, and all these by the skill of
your Gardener so comely and orderly placed in your Borders and squares." ^

^ Quoted from "The Formal Garden in England," by Reginald Blomfield and F. Inigo Thomas.

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DIVISION VI.

DEVONSHIRE, WEST SOMERSETSHIRE

VI.— DEVONSHIRE AND WEST
SOMERSETSHIRE.

EVONSHIRE is the most beautiful county in England, and
shares with West Somersetshire the distinction of a cottage
tradition more rural than that of any other. Homely, com-
fortable, and hospitable-looking are the best terms to describe
these cottages. Architecturally interesting they would hardly
be called by the unsympathetic stranger, but to the thorough-
going born-and-bred countryman of these counties, who never
— if he can help it — takes five minutes to do a thing when
ten will do equally well, these old places are the best
and most beautiful in the world. As simple and homely
as the " gert Jan Ridd," they are the work of men such as he, who
thought, laboured, and lived in a leisurely fashion as only the true native
could and does do to this very day. This cottage-building tradition seems
to be as extinct as that creature the " dodo," although the villager still
holds to the ancient ways of his forefathers of spending twice as long over
a job as any other known workman and charging half as much. Here,
at least, is the spirit of the old builders that gave much and asked little —
that gave us the buttressed, plastered, and whitewashed cob walls, the big
square chimneys, and the somewhat casually-thatched roofs of the Devon-
shire and Somersetshire cottages. There is not one built severely square,
and but few have a complete gable or hip. They follow the contours of

DAWLISH, DEVONSHIRE

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DAWLISH, DEVONSHIRE
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(Copyright Reserved.)

LANDEWEDNACK, CORNWALL, from a water-colour
DRAWING BY MRS. E. STANHOPE FORBES, A.R.W.S.

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the ground haphazard — picturesque and rambling, like the talk of a native,
they are as pleasant to look at as the other is to listen to. The walls never
seem upright, the windows appear to be placed anywhere, and the thatch
does not cover the roof so carefully and neatly as it might do. Casual and
careless, with many faults, and no finish, might fairly be the description
given to them by a foreigner. Every part seems wanting, but the whole has
that indefinable charm that probably springs from their relationship to the
surroundings. Of these cottages it can truly be said that they are growths
of the soil, trimmed and clipped somewhat by man, but never enough that
they can be described as " works of art." There is a little design perhaps,
some putting together of mud material, some thatch, and that is the
cottage ; but the rest somehow escapes us, for one finds the trees, the
hedgerows, the orchards, the sun, the rain, and the rocks have a real and
intimate part in the result, as will be seen in the illustrations on
pages 147 and 150, and opposite page 141.

In some villages the cob walls have been built direct on the rock,
after the side has been roughly hewn to a vertical or slightly battering
face, and the top made level for the
cob. When of a rocky character this
natural foundation seems to have taken
the place of the usual base of stone or
brick. Upon it was built the cob
wall in layers of about 1 8 ins. of mud,
gravel, or small gritty stone, trodden
down by the feet, and battered with
a wooden beater. A wisp of straw
was carried by the workman under
his arm, who, as needed, strewed it
beneath his feet. After the wall was
up the surface was chopped down,
faced with plaster, and then white-
washed. The base was generally
tarred, as in the cottages at Dawlish,
in Devonshire (page 143), and at
Minehead and Dulverton, in Somer-
setshire (pages 149 and 153). In the
fence or boundaries the walls were
sometimes left without plaster.
In parts of Somerset the cottages are
built of a pinky stone of roughly
coursed masonry, and at Crowcombe
some of the boundary walls are of
random rubble, the cavities and joints
of which are plastered with mortar,
and a jointer or similar tool drawn
across the face of it. When the walls
are built of stone they are generally
about 1 8 ins. thick, with the external

V-

NORTON FITZWARREN, SOMERSET

146

SELWORTHY, SOMERSETSHIRE
H7

and internal coats of plaster in addition. Cob walls are 2 ft. thick, more
or less. In the case of a big door or gateway being introduced,
the angles are protected with masonry tailing into the cob work, and tor
the same reason the corners of dwellings and of windows are rounded
in many instances. The windows are small and set back from the face
of the wall, the angles rounded or occasionally, as at Crowcombc, the
plaster is finished with a smooth face for the width of 4 or 5 ins. round
the openings, which, without exactly being an architrave, gives the
suggestion of one.

The buttresses, generally of stone, introduced to strengthen the walls, are
a characteristic feature and frequently of enormous size, the projection at
the base measuring as much as 2 ft. 6 ins., the width 3 ft., and diminishing
from the bottom to the top in one long slope (page 143). They are generally
placed either at the ends or at certain points along the front, and frequently
in a line with the chimney stack, rising from the ridge. Most of them
are built of slatey stone whitewashed and without any coat of plaster. When
the angles of the cottage are not strengthened by these buttresses they are
rounded, and where the
walls are of the common
slatey stone and finished
with plaster, the corners
are still rounded, proba-
bly copied from the cob
walling. The chimneys
are of the same stone
and carried well up above
the eaves, and then com-
pleted with a projecting
course of slate (page 153),
and in some cases with
abput 9 ins. of similar
rough masonry inclining
inwards like the slope of
a buttress. Others are
taken up in stone suffici-
ently high to clear the
eaves of the roof, with
the upper part in brick,
as, for example, at Mine-
head in Somersetshire
(pages 149 and 1 50), and
at Thurlestone in South
Devon (page 145). The
village of Braunton, in
North Devon, has a
number of these sturdy
chimney stacks with
brick tops, that look

148

MINEHEAD, SOMERSETSHIRE

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like later additions, the height of the brickwork in many cases not being
more than i8 ins. to 2 ft. The chimneys that flank the fronts of the
dwellings almost invariably project considerably into the roadway or
garden, and the slopes, which diminish its bulk towards the top, are either
covered with slates or pantiles, as in the cottage at Minehead (page 150),
and also in the one at Dawlish (page 144). The diversity in the number and
direction of these slopes is remarkable, and gives considerable character to
this striking feature of the cottage. Another variety of chimney top to that
which has already been described is also depicted in the cottage illustrated
on page 150. Four small brick piers are placed parallel to the faces of
the masonry, or in some cases angle-wise ; these support a thin stone
slab, leaving an opening on each side. A drip of slate is built iato the
walls following the line of the roof in a series of steps where the chimney
appears through the thatch.

The boundary walls of stone are sometimes coped with slate and sloped inward
from each side of the wall. The dry walls, more often used for ditching
than the fences between gardens, arc laid in courses of the usual slatcy
material, one course sloped in
one direction, and the next in
the reverse. In looking along
these courses of stone the efl?ect
is one of light and shade, grey
and bluish-grey bands that rise
and fall at every change in the
level of the ground.
Thatching was the common
method of roofing in the coun-
ties of Devonshire and Somer-
setshire, but like the building
of cob walls, it has gradually
fallen into disrepute except for
a little patching and the occa-
sional covering of an old dwel-
ling. This is partly the result
of enforcing unsuitable bye-
laws upon the rural districts,
and the extra expense entailed
ift keeping it in good order
and repair. The short-sighted
desire for cheap labourers* cot-
tages, and the additional trouble
of looking after this form of
roof are also amongst some of
the other reasons for its almost
complete disuse in this country.
In Kent and Sussex, and two
or three other districts, there
has lately been some attempt to selworthy, Somersetshire

carry on the traditions of the beautiful craft of thatching, but the tendency
of local authorities is to discourage its use. The number of thatched cot-
tages of considerable age which have survived the risks of fire, would probably
astonish these unenlightened authorities. Not only is it in Devonshire
and Somersetshire that the use of thatch has been so general, but there are
beautiful examples to be found in nearly every district throughout England,
indeed it would be difficult to improve upon some in Sussex, Gloucester-
shire and Oxfordshire (opp. pages 83, 98 and 102). A particularly fine
example was noticed just outside Mayfield. The hazel rods, used for the
purpose of keeping the thatch in place, were laid over the ridge,
the hips and the eaves crossing and recrossing one another, and
caught under the loops of the pegging pieces at the intersections. In
Suffolk and Norfolk, Berkshire and Hampshire, and in all the wood and
timber counties, numbers of thatches are to be seen ; and in the stone district
the thatching is neat and worked round the windows and dormers in the
most delightful manner. In Somersetshire very few hazel rods are used
at the ridge and the eaves, while in Devonshire the thatcher did not
appear to trouble much how his thatching was finished. It is neither so
carefully nor so completely executed as in other counties. A peculiarity of
the method in Somersetshire was to bring the thatch to a point at the
end of the ridge above the line of hazel rods, that are laid along the
thatch just beneath the cresting.

At the village of Williton, in Somersetshire (page 155), there are some fine
examples of hipped thatched dormers, with the cocked-out ridge, and a
suggestion of the double cresting along the main roof, so characteristic of the
barns in Norfolk and Suffolk. Ridges have been noticed in Devonshire

CROWCOMBE, SOMERSETSHIRE

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finished with single hazel rods bent to the form of a triangle, the points
of the bases touching — a feature that has been copied by the brickmakers
in the district as a pattern for their tile ridging. In the one case it
looks rather well, in the other hideous.

The old name for a thatcher was " helyer/* and long after slating had to
some extent taken the place of thatch, the slater was known by that name,
the slates being called " belying stones." In North Devon small grey slates
of a pleasant colour were frequently used on the projecting portions that
stopped at the first-floor level. Walled-in and open porches, small bays and
ovens, and similar parts were nearly always roofed in this way when the
rest of the covering was of thatch. Some of the roofs in the small
towns have similar slate roofs ; and at the seaside village of Morthoe the
sides of the chimneys of a farmhouse were hung with them, diamond shapes
being introduced into the plain slate hanging. Examples of the small roofs
occur at Braunton, Dawlish and Thurlestone (pages 143, 144 and 145).
In many of the villages the narrow side-walks and the garden paths
arc laid with small pebbles at right angles to the curb, in some simple
pattern that suggests strips,
obtained by alternating rows
of thin pebbles with thick
ones, and occasionally rising
to the dignity of a diamond-
shape in a different coloured
pebble.

If we would have again the
varied details and homely
beauty of the old cottage
in Devonshire and else-
where, there must grow up
a living tradition, based on
a knowledge of the original
work, to replace our ideal
of " cheapness." To make
the cheap production of
things the criterion by which
they are to be judged means
poor work, inefficient crafts-
men, and the ultimate degra-
dation of our surroundings.
We must revive the old-
fashioned belief in perfection
of workmanship, use, and
beauty. Then, and only
then, will play the fountains
of invention and beauty
in every village and hamlet
up and down the country-
side.

COMBE FLOREY, SOMERSETSHIRE

154

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CONCLUSION.

VERY visitor to an English village appreciates the pic-
turesqueness of the old cottage, and everyone can enjoy
what has been so well called " the artless inadvertences,
the casual patchwork of the old walls, the overlapping
of successive developments, the unsophisticated craft of
it," and all those incidental beauties that have grown
since the day of completion, when Time began to colour
the walls and roofs in his own fashion ; and successive
generations patched and repatched, and added a portion

here and a portion there to the original structure. As a rule the

admiration goes no further, and the visitor leaves the scene with a more or

less confused notion of gables, dormers, roofs and chimneys, covered with

vegetation, that he remembers vaguely long after and sufficiently well to

describe as ^' picturesque." As far as it goes this may do well enough, but

unfortunately out of this nebulous impression there has grown the idea that

the old country cottage is a haphazard arrangement of one or two rooms

pitchforked together anyhow, and developed in a happy-go-lucky fashion

into the picturesque object, the old English cottage. In only a modified

sense is this true, for however much the cottage was added to, altered or

patched, the simple oblong plan and elevation of four walls remained

the backbone of its

beauty. It might

be lengthened, and

the width increased

by one or even two

aisles; bays and

porches, too, might

be added, but the

central form, definite

and unmistakable,

always dominated.

Directly this was

lost sight of and

the original purpose

ignored or forgotten,

the additions and

" picturesqueness "

became meaningless.

In all the finest

examples, whether

many gabled as those

in the Cotswold, or

roofed like those in

Kent, the persistence

of the main lines of iron door latches and handles

159

the plan in the expression of the exterior controls and gives significance
to all the rest.

With so many materials and such a variety of methods in use, one
is apt to over-estimate the "picturesque" and to under-value the less
obvious but more important qualities of order and balance. And yet
there can be no question that the latter were always at the back of the
builder's mind. Behind individuality, local peculiarities, the unusual and
spontaneous, these were unceasingly at work. Out of this sprang their
originality and freshness. New ways were but the improving, ordering,
and more effective arrangement of the old. Variety with them meant steps
towards the final and perfect arrangement, and change for its own sake was

an "originality" of
which they were
probably never
guilty. The addi-
tional course of
bricks in the Kent
chimney, the modi-
fication of a stone
muUion in the Cots-
wold windows, or
the invention of a
new frill for the
edging of a thatch
roof in a Norfolk
village, were changes
made for improve-
ment's sake. The
feverish anxiety to
be new and diflFcrent
never entered the
slow and leisurely
minds of the villa-
gers ; and so slow
were they to change
that they clung to
old methods when
new ones with ad-
vantage could have
been adopted ; but
transitions from one
material to another
often came too
quickly for the
builder to accom-
modate himself at
once to the pecu-
DETAiLS OF STONEWORK liarities of a new

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material. Some of these changes have
been noticed already in preceding chap-
ters : Sussex, for instance, where the
old ways of working a material were still
retained when the material itself was
different. Warwickshire and Glouces-
tershire showed a similar although not
so marked a change, as certain features
were as suitable for the stone slates of
Gloucestershire as for tiles, such as the
gable dormers and steep roofs of the
Warwickshire cottage.
Another change occurs in passing from
the east to the west of Norfolk. Instead
of the brick and flint, the materials com-
monly used on the east coast, stone with
galleted joints became of frequent occur-
rence. This galleting is unlike that in
Kent, Surrey or Sussex. The joints of

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DOORHEADS
162

DOORHEADS

the masonry are as wide as in
Kent, but the small stones are
placed on the flat and a little
distance apart.

It is to be observed that
while the characteristic uses
of a local material enable us
to discriminate between one
neighbourhood and another,
it would be a mistake, as we
have seen throughout the
foregoing pages, to assume
an entirely consistent develop-
ment of cottage architecture
in one district. A village

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may have some peculiarly local detail, as
for example at Stanway, where the thatched
roofs are finished at the ridge by a twisting
of the thatch into a rope pattern ; or the
exceptional walling that has been noticed at
Middleton ; or again the elaborate fixing of
the thatch roof on a cottage near Wellington,
in Shropshire. Even the brick barns vary in
the honeycombing of the walls for ventila-
tion. In Worcestershire the perforations
are in long parallel lines ; in Cheshire and
Shropshire they are arranged in the form of
diamonds and half diamonds, with the points
towards each other, while in Norfolk they
are in alternate courses of one and two
openings. Another particularly local varia-
tion has been noted in the wood and timber
district, where the panels between the wood

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS
164

WATCHET, SOMERSETSHIRE

framing, instead of being finished,
as usual, with a coat of plaster richly
matted with hair, have been filled
in with a mixture of crushed alabas-
ter and lime, finished to an almost
smooth face, the alabaster coming
from the quarries near by. This use
of an unusual material or method,
or the alteration of a traditional
form, did not mean that the builders
dropped the old way for the new ;
the introduction of hipped roofs,
for instance, was not the beginning
of the end for the gable. Indeed,
nothing is more remarkable than

its persistence from the earliest to the latest
examples of the old cottage. With the excep-
tion of the county of Kent the gable pre-
dominates everywhere, the half-gable and half-
hipped and the wholly-hipped roof being rare
in comparison with the other form. The
steep pitch of many of the pantile roofs in
Norfolk and Suffolk is probably the continuance
of the same form when thatch was the com-
mon roofing material ; the same steep pitch
is noticeable in the Cotswolds and in the Mid-
lands. One might say of these cottages that
changes were so slow that they always appeared
the same to the villager ; decade followed
decade with few alterations, and outside influ-
ences only touched remotely the newly-built
cottages that were added along the sides of the
street. And the past was always with them ;
never a new building that had not something

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DETAILS OF EXTERIOR DECORATION

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DETAILS OF STONEWORK

of the old, never a detail
that was not related to one
already in the cottage next
door ; and every Sunday, as
the villager went down or up
the road to the church, he
saw very much what he had
always seen. In the back-
ground of the village stood
the church, the pivot upon
which the whole village life
revolved. The inn was on
one side of the church, and
on the other abutted the
cottages of the village, tailing

165

(I©

away down the street. The church and the cottages grouped round
about it are frequently the most beautiful part of the village. They
form, too, the last bulwark against the cheap and pernicious influence of
modern town life and its uninteresting methods of building. The further
away from the church and the nearer to the outskirts of the village
the more obvious becomes the encroachment of the cheap cottage,
with its tin enamelled bath and conveniences, well ventilated and
drained ; and the gardens, with their little rockeries, bounded by the
ugly cast-iron railing, and the pathway of hard stable-brick to the entrance-
door. This is the popular idea of the country cottage to-day. The
type is almost universal, and its cost, if not its characteristics, is the
standard for all others. The " hundred-and-fifty-pounds '* cottage is only
the *' ideal " in another garb. Cheapness, not good building, is its first
aim — something pretty at the price, and cheaper if possible.
It is strange and wonderful that an intelligent person should imagine that
good work and good building can be obtained without an increased expendi-
ture of time and thought, and that, with such an idea, the new could be
possibly as good as
the old. Money
spent in competi-
tions to achieve
the impossible,
would be far better
laid out in the en-
couragement of
village industries,
and in picking
up again the local
and traditional
methods of work.
Or it might be
used for the edu-
cation of local
authorities in mat-
ters which affect
the village crafts.
They require it ;
for of what use
can it be for edu-
cational bodies
like the Art
Workers' Guilds,
the Arts and
Crafts Schools in
town or village to
increase the num-
ber of workers
really interested

1 66

CAST AND WROUGHT IRON DOOR
KNOCKERS AND LOCK PLATES

in what they attempt to do, if local bodies discourage the use of traditional
methods and material. This is one of the most pressing problems of beautiful
building, both in the towns and in the agricultural districts. On the one
hand there is the gradual increase of interest in the Arts and Crafts Schools,
turning out from year to year a number of able craftsmen ; while on the
other hand there is the discouragement by local authorities of some of the
very trades being taught in the schools. The establishment of more craft
schools in the villages, locally controlled, is probably one of the steps towards
the revival of country crafts along the old lines, providing there grows up
at the same time a more intelligent recognition by the public of the beauty
of good work in preference to that which is poor and cheap, and of which
we seem to be getting, perhaps, a little ashamed.

That the new cottage, with all its modern appliances, is a dismal failure,
there can be no doubt. Quite apart from any sentimental or historical
considerations, the old English cottage is altogether more admirable and
pleasant to live in than the new. The walls, notwithstanding what has
been said of their defects in construction, are generally more satisfactory
than 9-in. walls and rough-cast ; the materials are better and used
generously. The plan, too, is superior, for it is based on an architectural
idea— "the bay" with transepts or aisles, whereas the new is merely an
economical and convenient arrangement of rooms without relation to a
central idea.

G. Ll. Morris.

WROUGHT IRON WORK

167

i6K

2
(A

THE AOLIAN ORCHESTRELLE. MODEL F.

TO EVERYONE

HIS OWN ORCHESTRA.

WITHOUT the resources of
the modern orchestra the
hearing of much of the
grandest music ever written
would have been absolutely denied
to the world. Music, the most
spiritual of the arts, so long crippled
by imperfect mechanism, has now at-
tained full power of instrumental ex-
pression. This realisation of music,
alike to the composer, the performer,
and the auditor, is consummated in
the iEolian Orchestrelle.

In appearance this instrument some-
what resembles an upright piano; but
whereas the piano is a stringed instru-
ment, the ^olian is of the organ
principle. Its notes are produced from
pipes, the simple sounds of which are
softened and refined by qualifying
tubes and special air-chambers. This
treatment greatly increases the volume
of sound. The tone of the Orches-
trelle is unique. With its equipment
of stops, faithfully producing the
effects of flute and horn, of clarinet

AD. XIII

and piccolo, of violin and Velio, all
the wood-winds, strings and brasses,
it is more than an organ adapted to
the requirements and limitations of a
private house ; it is the evolution and
perfection of a newmusical instrument.

There is no music which the Or-
chestrelle will not produce with a
purity, delicacy, and range of tone
possessed by no other instrument. It

a complete orchestra, embodying

THE iT.OLIAN ORCHESTRELLE. MODEL V.

all the resources of a full band of in-
strumentalists. It can be played
directly from the keyboard or by
delicate mechanism actuated through
the perforations of a music-roll, thus
relieving the performer of the technical
drudgery of playing the notes and, at
the same time, requiring his control
of expression and time through the
stops. For the Orchestrelle is not an
automatic instrument ; it undertakes
the production of the notes as the
fingers of a pianist are trained to pro-

AD. XIV

duce them mechanically. But the
brain of the player is no less at work
upon the music of the Orchestrelle
than it is upon the fingers of the
pianist. In each case it is the mind
and emotion of the performer that
give individuality, colour, and effect
to the music. This may be thought
impossible, and Madame Melba has
confessed to the prejudice. She has
also recanted, and written : " When I
first heard of the ^olian Orchestrelle,
I was unable to understand how a
musical instrument requiring no tech-
nical knowledge could be artistic from
the musician's standpoint. I do not
think it possible for anyone to under-
stand it unless they do as I did — see
it and hear it played."

The musical value of the iEolian
Orchestrelle is immense — incalculable.
All music is its province, and perfect
rendering its Jbrte. It brings all the
resources and entertainment of the
concert-hall straight into the home.
It offers the whole wealth of music
to the lover of harmony.* For in-
stance, if Brahms be the favoured com-
poser, there is no occasion to sit out
four-fifths of a concert to attain the
desired fifth. The iEolian renders
all Brahms when, where, and as re-
peatedly as desired. The iEolian does
not dictate the nuances^ tones, varia-
tions of rhythm and execution ; it
places these in the hands of the player,
and he may either regulate the time,
expression, and stops according to the
markings shown on the roll, or he
may vary them according to his own
sense of music. The hand-player has
drilled his fingers into such certainty
and automatism of action that they
undertake the executive work for
him. The iEolian Orchestrelle under-
takes the same work for anyone, so
that, in the words of De Reszke, the
famous tenor, " If the performer can

grasp the inspiration of the composer,
the instrument aflFords him every
facility for interpreting the music
with feeling." All that gives colour,
expression, and individuality to the
music is of the player's, making. In
other words, he has a- technically-
skilled orchestra entirely subordinate
to his own will. Two renderings of
any particular orchestral work would
no more agree than if they were
played manually, for the iEolian is
not a mechanical instrument ; it is
played with brains.

Famous musicians throughout the
world are united in their appreciation
of the ^olian Orchestrelle. Pianists
like Paderewski, de Pachmann, Hof-
mann ; singers like Melba, Calve, and
the brothers De Reszke ; violinists
like Ysaye and Sarasate ; composers
like Puccini, Luigi Arditi, and Mas-
senet ; teachers like Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, Sir Hubert Parry, and
Dr. Turpin — these are musicians
whose critical and artistic power no
one can question, and they, with many
others, hail the ^olian Orchestrelle

The virtuoso appreciates the iEolian
Orchestrelle because he, above all, can
recognise the wonder of its technique,
its marvellous beauty of tone and
unique combination of the power and
tone-effects of all musical instruments.
Moreover, he is aware of its inestim-
able value in the musical education
of the public and in the cultivation
of a love of music. No other instru-
ment, places the whole of orchestral
music within the productive capacity
of everyone who has musical taste,
whatever his lack of technique.

Paderewski has written that the
iEolian Orchestrelle combines "all
the effects which can be produced by
the most skilful manipulation of a
grand organ with those of an orchestra.
The execution of even the most com-

plicated passages leaves nothing to be
desired ; and what adds to the instru-
ment's value is the magnificent re-
pertoire which, with great care and
perfect taste, has been prepared for it.
I consider this instrument not only a
source of delight to music-lovers, but
also a benefit to art itself, as by
means of the iEolian the masterpieces,
through a thus easily obtained pro-
duction, will greatly gain in apprecia-
tion and popularity."

To the student or amateur, with
his imperfect technique, the JEoW^in

THE ^OLIAN ORCHESTRELLE. MODEL V.

Orchestrelle, with its faultless render-
ing of any score, subject to the control,
in time, tone, and expression, of its
player, affords an intimacy with the
works, or any particular work, of any
composer that no series of concerts or
lectures would afford. The owner
of an iEolian, and no one else^ has
always at his command the means of
playing and hearing at any time, and
as many times and in as many varia-
tions of time or expression as he likes,
the — for example — Ninth Symphony
of Beethoven.

AD. XV

THE AOLIAN ORCHESTRELLE. MODEL O.

The iEolian Orchestrelle is made
in several models at a wide range
of prices. More practical informa-
tion, and a proper realisation of
the JEo\i2Ln's place in music, can be
obtained in one visit to the iEolian
Hall, at 135 New Bond Street, than
can be gleaned from pages of printed
matter. The Orchestrelle Company
is always pleased to welcome any
music-lover who wishes for a practical
demonstration, and anyone who can-
not make it convenient to call, is
invited to write for descriptive
Catalogue 20.

THE ^OLIAN ORCHESTRELLE. RENAISSANCE MODEL.

THE ORCHESTRELLE COMPANY,

.^OLIAN HALL, 135-6-7 NEW BOND STREET, LONDON, W.

AD. XVI

5407 028

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