EXTERIOR FEATURES (continued).

GENERAL ASPECT, EXTERNAL APPEARANCE, WINDOWS, &C.

Before proceeding to enter one of these doorways and to examine the interior treatment of an Elizabethan house, it will be well to look at the exterior more closely. We find that the effect, although often elaborate and striking, is produced by very simple means. The picturesque appearance of Haddon and Compton Winyates is chiefly due to the irregularity of the plan, which in the case of the former was largely the result of a gradual growth, extending over some centuries. The stately effect of the Elizabethan house is the result of regularity and symmetry in the plan, and its picturesqueness springs from its windows, gables and chimneys. The English designer avoided, as a rule, very large plain surfaces and long unbroken faÇades, differing in the latter respect from his Italian contemporaries. He diversified his long fronts by throwing out bay-windows; he broke up the skyline with gables; he grouped his chimneys so as to add emphasis to the design; and there were always the mullioned windows, of which the relatively small divisions gave scale and life to the whole. There are many houses which have no further attempt at ornament than these features, and these are felt to be quite sufficient; but occasionally, when a great effort was demanded, the Elizabethan designer borrowed his ornament from abroad, and added a multiplicity of pilasters and niches to his walls, extravagant and fantastic curves to his gables, while, in order to avail himself of classic forms to the full, he turned his chimneys into the semblance of columns. His zeal was not always accompanied by knowledge; he sometimes misapplied his borrowed features; he too frequently regarded a pilaster as in itself an agreeable ornament, without troubling to bring it into scale with the building or with his other pilasters used elsewhere, and without providing for it even a semblance of anything to support. The more ignorant masons evolved designs which bore but a distant resemblance to the originals which inspired them. All this is true, and it is so manifest that one cannot be surprised at the opprobrious epithets bestowed upon work of this period by purists of other schools. Still, in spite of errors and ignorance in the application of ornament, there is an exuberant vitality about the buildings of the time which accords with the vitality of its literature. Moreover, their character is essentially English: an Elizabethan house could no more have been designed by Palladio or Du Cerceau or Vriese than a play like those which Shakespeare gave us could have been written by one of the novelists, essayists, or dramatists of Italy, France and Germany, from whom the Englishman, however, did not hesitate to borrow some of his material.

External Appearance.

The courtyard of Kirby Hall is one of the finest examples that is left of the period (Fig. 76), and although pilasters of different scale are employed as ornamental features rather than as constructional, the whole effect is both dignified and picturesque. The mullioned windows have a lively simplicity, the large pilasters prevent monotony, and the small detail about the central porch contrasts happily with the plainer treatment of the main walls. The external faÇade on the west, though not symmetrical, is kept in subjection; the strong horizontal lines of the strings and cornices bind it together, and the great chimney stacks are so ordered at regular intervals that they alone would give dignity and rhythm to the front (Fig. 77). The work on this front is not all of one time, though the various parts cannot be separated by many years, and it is quite possible that the curved gables were added by a somewhat later hand. Sir Christopher Hatton's successor may have modified this faÇade towards the end of the century, when he built the stables, which have now disappeared.

Kirby is freer in its treatment than Longleat, in Wiltshire, which has to submit to a more severe symmetry (Fig. 78). The windows here are rather overpowering, but the whole effect is restful, owing to the strong horizontal lines, while the projecting bays entirely relieve it from monotony. There are no gables, and apparently never were, which is a somewhat unusual circumstance, considering the date of its erection, 1567. Wollaton, near Nottingham (Plate XXVII.) bears some resemblance to Longleat in its detail, but it is far more fantastic in its treatment, and its plan places it in a category almost by itself. It cannot be called a typical house either in its arrangement or its design, although from its striking appearance and excellent state of preservation it is frequently quoted as such. Its plan shows a central hall, surrounded by a range of rooms, with a projecting pavilion or tower at each of the four corners (Fig. 79). The general effect is undoubtedly impressive, but the ornament is overloaded, and shows a too careful study of extravagant Dutch models. The work, however, and the design are those of well-instructed masons, familiar with the features they were handling. Wollaton is another instance of combining a central hall with a central doorway. The present flight of steps inside the front door, together with the doors in the long sides of the hall immediately opposite, is comparatively modern. The original approach, after entering the front door, was up a flight of steps to the right, at the top of which, by turning to the left (as at Fountains Hall), the screens were gained, and the hall was entered in the usual way.

At Burghley House we revert to a simpler treatment. The main walls are of plain masonry pierced with windows, and divided by the usual horizontal cornices (Plate XXVIII.). Diversity is obtained by projecting turrets, lofty bay windows, and the boldly-curved entrance porch on the north front. There are no gables, the skyline being broken by the turrets, the chimneys, and the ornamental parapet. It is, perhaps, an exaggeration to say there are no gables, but there are none in the later part built between 1575 and 1587. The great hall has gables, but that was built some years earlier.

At Charlton, in Wiltshire (Fig. 80), there is an example of the open arcade, which became rather fashionable, but which later generations have, in many houses, found unsuitable to our climate, and of which the arches have in consequence been filled up. The gables here are ornamented with a kind of filigree, which is more curious than beautiful. At Aston Hall, near Birmingham, the south front presents another instance of an open arcade (Fig. 81), and a good deal of picturesqueness is imparted by the broken outline of the gables. Corsham Court, in Wiltshire, shows a more restrained treatment (Fig. 82). The animated effect is obtained by a number of plain gables, and by square projecting windows crowned with flat pediments, the whole bound together with conspicuous horizontal strings. At Kentwell Hall, in Suffolk, the dignified effect is produced by the combination of two turrets with the front gables, by projecting windows carried up the whole height of the building, and by massive chimney-stacks (Fig. 83). The approach is still on the axial line, although the present low wall is but a poor substitute for the usual enclosure; but in many of the examples cited the general effect is decidedly impoverished by the disappearance of the outer courts.

Coming now to somewhat smaller houses, we find the same simple materials relied upon, and producing equally good effects. In the ruins of the old Hall at Exton, in Rutland (Plate XXIX.), the front faÇade shows curved gables separated by a length of pierced parapet, and the side has three straight gables close together, with a huge stack of chimneys placed irregularly against them. The Manor House at Glinton, in Northamptonshire (Plate XXIX.), is even simpler; nevertheless, its curved gables, carefully wrought chimneys, and projecting porch give it a considerable amount of character. It is not on record when either of these houses was built, but Exton Hall was probably the work of John, Lord Harrington of Exton, the tutor of the Princess Elizabeth, only daughter of James I. There is nothing left inside the house, which was burnt down in 1810, but enough of the exterior remains to show that, like most manor houses in the district, it must have been a fine place in its palmy days. In the church at Exton are a number of exceptionally good monuments of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, commemorating the Harringtons and their descendants (see Fig. 6). The manor of Glinton was granted to the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough at the dissolution of the monasteries, and so remained till long after the house was built, which may therefore have been used as a country residence for the Dean. At Cheney Court, near Bath (Fig. 84), another house without a history, the treatment is quite simple, consisting of nothing more than three evenly placed gables along the side, and two others, in combination with large chimney-stacks, along the end. The reason for the sudden jumping up of the strings in the right-hand gable of the side is not apparent; but as a matter of fact, at the present time that part of the house is occupied by one tenant, while the remainder is let to another. This type of manor house, with its extremely quiet handling of gables, chimneys, and mullioned windows, is common all over the country, and so far as its exterior is concerned, it owes little besides its symmetrical disposition to the Italian spirit. An extra touch is given to the doorway here (Fig. 68), and the internal fittings show the foreign influence, but otherwise it is entirely a native production. The same may be said of Cold Ashton (Fig. 85), another house in the neighbourhood of Bath, but here the symmetrical treatment is more marked, as will be seen by looking at the plan (Fig. 86), and the chimneys are gathered into two groups which serve the whole house. This is an interesting example of the smaller kind of manor house, and it has been subjected to very few alterations. Its history is not recorded, but it was evidently built by one of the numerous squires of the time, who put his arms over the gateway on the road side (see Fig. 58). Judging by the two doorways remaining in the screen on the left of the central passage, one of which now leads into a pantry, the hall has been shortened by the space required for the pantry, but except for this alteration the plan seems to indicate the original arrangement, including that of the front garden, with its gateway and circular steps, its paved walk, and the flight of steps leading to the terrace in front of the house. The external detail throughout is of the simplest, but there is a good ceiling in one of the parlours, and some of the woodwork is of unusual elaboration. The character of the work points to the early part of the seventeenth century as the date of erection. In these simpler examples the windows do not occupy nearly so large a proportion of the wall space as they do in the more ambitious houses.

An interesting adaptation of the symmetrical arrangement of the forecourt and lodges is to be seen at Bolsover Castle (Figs. 87, 88), where the square house has been built on the site of the ancient keep, which no doubt largely controlled its size. There are no gables, all the roofs being flat; that over the house itself is approached by a staircase in a domed turret, and was intended as a place of resort. The usual picturesqueness of outline is obtained by various turrets and chimneys. In the illustration the two chambers in the sides of the courtyard are hidden behind those which form the entrance to it. It is not easy to say to what use these chambers were to be put. They are all furnished with fireplaces, most of which are carefully wrought, as though for the delight of the owner rather than of his retainers. The house itself is full of interest; all the rooms on the basement and principal floor are vaulted, and the vaulting ribs and corbels are managed with such care as was seldom bestowed upon those features even in the days of stone vaulting. This method of construction was rapidly going out of fashion, most of the houses of the sixteenth century having floors of joists and boards, the underside being ceiled in the early part of the century with wood, and in the latter with plaster. But at Bolsover, as late as 1613, we have stone vaulting beautifully wrought. There is a large amount of good panelling also left, and the chimney-pieces are unrivalled in any house of the time for their beauty and variety. Some of these will be illustrated when that subject comes to be dealt with. This part of Bolsover Castle, although so carefully built and embellished, is but a small portion of the whole scheme. There was an immense gallery in close proximity, which, however, has fallen to ruin. It is in a style somewhat later than its smaller neighbour, with gigantic doorways and unwieldy mouldings, and forms a link between Jacobean work and the more fully developed classic treatment of the close of the seventeenth century.

At Condover, in Shropshire (Fig. 89), an agreeable variety of treatment is introduced on the garden front by contriving to get a range of low rooms over the open arcade, the heads of the windows being at the same level as those of the principal rooms. The central gable on the same face is occupied by a bay window, which starts from corbels over the centre arch of the arcade and is carried up to the topmost storey. Variations like these serve to relieve the monotony which is sometimes to be found in the symmetrical houses of the period.

The amount of detail bestowed upon these houses varied according to their locality and the materials at hand. In Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, where the stone is hard, great simplicity is the rule. The entrance doorway usually received some attention, and the gables often had finials, but otherwise the work was of the plainest description. The roofs were generally of flatter pitch than in less boisterous districts, and the whole house gives the impression of rough sturdiness quite in keeping with the character of the owners. Compared with the work in Northamptonshire, as exemplified at Kirby, Rushton, or Apethorpe; in Hampshire at Bramshill; in Sussex at Cowdray; or in Somerset at Montacute, the work in the north is severe and wanting in detail. But it has its own charm, just as the rocky "edges" of Derbyshire, and its wild, boulder-strewn tors, with their memories of prehistoric tribes perched upon their bleak summits, have a grim fascination not less powerful than that which hangs over the forest districts further south, where ancient oaks, so old as to retain little beyond their huge trunks, call to mind the curious and cruel laws which once protected the animals that lived beneath their shade. Haddon Hall is a large house, and was the home of one of the first families of the county, but its stonework is comparatively plain. Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire, is another large house, but the detail is even simpler than at Haddon. Clegg Hall, near Rochdale (Fig. 90), is a good example of a Lancashire house of medium size, except that, compared with others to be found on the wolds and in the dales of that part of the country, it is unusually lofty. Mount Grace Priory, in Yorkshire (Plate XXX.), is of a more usual type, but even here there is rather greater liveliness than generally distinguishes the Yorkshire manor house; the windows are larger, and the dormers are of steeper pitch than is common. Oakwell Hall, East Ardsley and Swinsty Old Halls are good examples of their kind, with flat-pitched roofs, plain gables, and windows of many small lights. The courtyard at Ingelby Manor (Fig. 91) has an open arcade with some amount of detail about it, but the effect is grim and chilly, and serves to illustrate the mistake of transferring a child of the Italian sun to the bleak regions of Yorkshire. In some parts of Lancashire, in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and generally in the west, timber was much employed. The "black-and-white," or "magpie," or "post-and-pan" work, as it is variously called, has much charm about it, and appeals keenly to lovers of the picturesque. The contrast between the dark framework and the light-coloured plaster, together with the variety of line consequent upon the constructional necessities of the framework itself, insure a lively result; and when the straight lines of the greater part of the framing are relieved by the introduction of curved braces or more fanciful panels in the gables, the combination is very attractive. The effect is often enhanced by dainty little bits of detail in the wood finials and pendants and verge-boards, but even without these aids the texture of the wood becomes so beautiful through age and weather as hardly to require the help of a chisel. One example, Moreton Old Hall, has already been mentioned (Plates XV., XVI.); Speke Hall, in Lancashire, near the banks of the Irwell, is another (Plate XXXI.), and it has at the entrance a certain amount of stonework which adds considerably to the interest of the house. There is a fine example at Bramall Hall, near Stockport; a plainer one at Pitchford Hall, in Shropshire; while, among others, may be mentioned the Market-house at Ledbury and the Grange at Leominster, both in Herefordshire. Some examples, although not so many, are to be found in the southern counties; but all through Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire the usual treatment of cottages and small houses was to hang them with weather-tiling. The ground floor was generally of brick, the upper one was tile-hung: there was nearly always a good chimney, sometimes rising out of the roof, but often carried on a massive base which was continued down to the ground. The rich colours which come to these bricks and tiles with age tend to spoil those who live in their midst, and to make them look with a somewhat dull eye upon the quieter tones prevalent in stone districts. Examples of half-timber or "magpie" work, however, are not wanting amid the tile and brick, and one of the most elaborate is to be seen at Mayfield, in Sussex (Fig. 92), but it is far behind similar work in Cheshire and Lancashire in richness of detail. In the eastern counties, as in the southern, brick is the chief material, but here, too, plaster played an important part in clothing the construction. In the west all the detail was put into the wood; in the east it was put into the plaster, and there are many examples still left of elaborate modelling in plaster to be found upon houses and cottages in Essex and Suffolk. Cut flint was also largely employed for walls, and was used in combination with stone to produce highly-ornamental designs; but its employment seems to have largely died out with the Gothic forms in which it was so successfully manipulated. The brickwork, which in the early part of the century was very rich and elaborate, became much plainer towards its close, and indeed the terra-cotta and the wonderful chimney-shafts of Henry VIII.'s time are hardly to be found in the work of succeeding reigns. It is not in brickwork that we must look for Elizabethan detail, but rather in the easily-worked stone which underlies the central district of England from Devon and Somerset in a north-easterly direction to Rutland and Lincoln.

Plate XXX.

MOUNT GRACE PRIORY, YORKSHIRE.

Plate XXXI.

SPEKE HALL, LANCASHIRE.

91.—Courtyard, Ingelby Manor, Yorkshire.

92.—House at Mayfield, Sussex.

Windows.

It has already been said that an Elizabethan house depends for its picturesqueness chiefly upon its windows, gables, and chimneys. The mullioned and transomed window is indeed one of the characteristic features of the Elizabethan style, the openings being all rectangular. Already during the prevalence of Gothic forms the vertical spaces formed by the mullions of the windows had been divided horizontally by transoms, but this treatment was rather the exception than the rule. In Tudor times the windows were usually small, sometimes consisting only of one light, but often of two or even three, and occasionally being two tiers in height. The lights almost always had flat-pointed heads. The small size resulted from the old wish to have a defensible house, but as the need for such precaution lessened, the lights increased in number; the desire for well-lighted rooms led to still further extension and to doing away with the pointed heads in favour of straight ones. The gradual changes in the form of windows is well seen in the courtyard at Cowdray (Fig. 93). The window on the extreme right of the illustration, with its pointed arch and traceried lights, is Gothic; next to it comes a Tudor bay window, made up of a number of flat-pointed lights, which there was no need to restrict in this case, because the window looked into the court. To the left are two bays of Elizabeth's time, with rectangular lights three rows in height and many in width. At Barrington Court (Plate XXXII.) may be seen a more usual example of Tudor windows, as well as the twisted finials of which the early sixteenth century was so fond. Another kind of treatment is occasionally to be found, in which brackets are introduced in the upper lights, springing from the mullions and supporting the horizontal head. One version of this method is to be seen at Layer Marney in the windows over the archway (Plate XIII.), and another at Lacock Abbey (Plate XXXVI.). In the latter window should also be noticed the circle introduced at the crossing of the centre mullion and transom, which resembles the treatment adopted in the screen at King's College Chapel (Plate VIII.). The date of Layer Marney may be put at 1520, Lacock Abbey at about 1540, and the screen at 1535. The greatest development of windows was, however, to be found in the bay. The bay window is one of the most important features in the architecture of the time. English designers had always been fond of bay windows: they put them to the daÏs of their halls in quite early times, and there are many examples of small bays being corbelled out on an upper floor, where the exigencies of the ground plan did not permit of their starting from the ground. But as a rule these early bays were only one storey in height: as time went on, however, they grew to two storeys, and then to as many as the main building itself had. From being an adjunct they became a dominating feature, and most of the large houses of the time derive variety of outline and rhythm of composition from their bay windows. Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire (Fig. 94), has a fine bay at the end of the hall. It is only one storey high, but that storey is the full height of the building in that part. The sill is brought down lower than those of the other windows in order to enable the occupants of the daÏs to look out into the court. At Astley Hall, also in Lancashire (Plate XXXIII.), the two bays are the dominating feature of the front; indeed, the whole architectural interest of this side of the house lies in the management of the windows, for the doorway, flanked by double columns which lend their united strength to supporting a peaceable lion, is hardly worth attention. The long range of windows which reaches continuously from one end of the building to the other forms a striking feature, but must be a matter of much concern to the housewife who has to drape them on the inside, and to consider the claims of her carpet on sunny days.

93.—Cowdray House, Sussex. Part of Court.

94.—Hoghton Tower, Lancashire. Bay of Hall.

Plate XXXII.

BARRINGTON COURT, SOMERSET. (tudor.)

95.—Burton Agnes, Yorkshire (1602-10).

96.—House at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.

At Burton Agnes the grouping of a circular bay in the gable with an octagonal one just round the corner (Fig. 95) is very effective pictorially, and makes an interesting plan. The circular bays at Lilford, in Northamptonshire, set within the curved gables, produce a pleasing combination (Plate XXXIV.); but of all circular bays the palm must be assigned to the great twin bays at Kirby (Plate XXXIII.). It was not only in important houses that these striking features were introduced; they are to be found in all kinds of dwellings, and frequently impart interest to small and insignificant cottages, whether of stone, as at Bourton-on-the-Water (Fig. 96), or of wood and stucco, as at Steventon, in Berkshire (Fig. 97). In both these examples much of the pleasant effect is derived from the small size of the windows and the proportionately large space of plain wall between them; but the same effect can hardly be obtained in the present day, because the rooms have to be higher, and toleration is seldom accorded, either by private taste or public regulations, to windows which start a long way from the floor and end a long way from the ceiling.

Plate XXXIIIa.

Astley Hall, Lancashire.

Plate XXXIIIb.

Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire. The Bay Windows.

Plate XXXIV.

LILFORD HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (1635).

CURVED GABLES.

97.—Cottage at Steventon, Berkshire.

There was no great variety in the mouldings of the stonework. Several sections of jambs and mullions are shown on Fig. 98, of which No. 1 was most frequently used in Elizabethan and Jacobean work. The jambs and principal mullions had an outer member, slightly splayed, which formed a frame within which the subsidiary mullions and the transoms were enclosed, as may be seen by referring to Figs. 71, 96, and 103. Sometimes this outer member was moulded instead of splayed, as shown in No. 2 (Fig. 98), and occasionally an extra member was introduced close to the glazing line, as shown in No. 3. These three examples are all varieties of the same type. No. 4 shows a type with a hollow moulding, which was prevalent in Tudor work, as it had been previously in Gothic; and it remained in use, along with the plain splayed mullion, up to the time of the sash-window. Although it preceded the type No. 1, and might therefore be considered to indicate an earlier date, it is not by any means a safe guide, inasmuch as both forms were in use at the same time. No. 1, however, was not used before the middle of the sixteenth century, and may be taken as a fairly safe indication of a date subsequent to that time. No. 5 shows a sunk splay, and was occasionally used, but it is not frequently met with. The label shown on No. 4 was used in late Gothic work, and survived in some instances as long as the mullioned windows themselves; but in the more ambitious designs its place was taken by the lower member of a cornice founded on classic models. No. 6 is an example of a quite different type. In all the others, the windows were of the ordinary mullioned type, with a label (or cornice) over them. In No. 6 not only does the shape of the mullion follow a new idea, but the whole of the mouldings outside of it are carried round the head and jambs of the window to form a regular architrave: the effect can be seen in the windows at Wollaton, in Fig. 106. As this architrave projected beyond the face of the wall, the window-sill was brought forward to receive it, as shown on Fig. 99. The projecting sill is supported at each end by a quaint corbel, and the space between the corbels is filled by a projecting panel fashioned like a piece of fancifully-shaped leather nailed on to the wall, and having some of its cut ends curled up. This treatment of windows involved a considerable amount of labour and expense, and accordingly was not often adopted; but the use of the architrave became general during the seventeenth century, after the mullioned window had given way to sashes.

98.—Section of Window Jambs and Mullions.

99.—Window-sill at Wollaton Hall.

99A.—HEAD OF A WINDOW AT HATFIELD HOUSE.

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