or framed houses, because the framework is put up before the spaces are
filled up. The studs are upright between the posts, which are larger
than the studs. There are also “wattle,” and “dab-houses,” and sheds,
which are constructed of studs, sills, and wall-plates. Between or into
the studs are laid, horizontally, plaited or wattled strong hazel twigs,
or other underwood, and on both of these a thick coat of plaster or mud
is laid or dabbed. A wattle is a hurdle made of four or five upright
stakes, and hazel branches woven closely and horizontally into the
stakes--Anglo-Saxon, _watel_, a hurdle or covering of twigs; in some
counties they are called “flakes,” merely from their being thin and
flat. In Sussex and Devonshire, and in the South of England, wattled
hurdles are called “Raddles.” In a little Dictionary for children of the
date of 1608, we find “a hartheled wall or ratheled with hasile rods or
wands.” The word _hartheled_ is the same as hardilled, and the
Dictionary spells hurdill _hardill_, Ang.-Sax., _hyrdel_, Low Germ.,
_hoidt_, Dutch, _horde_. Germ., _hurde_. _Ratheled_ is from the same
derivation as _raddled_. What in one county is “wattle and dab,” is in
another “raddle and dab.” _Dab_ is here used as a substantive, but it is
properly a verb--to dab on, to sprinkle, or bespatter. In French,
_dawber_, or _dober_, to smear, hence “to daub.” These mud cottages are
very common even in the richest counties of England. In South
Northamptonshire are red sandstone houses frequently possessing stone
mullions in the windows, and dripstones.
Further northwards, as in Shropshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, we find
a better description of the half-timbered houses in many of the manor
houses built there. Lord Liverpool’s seat at Pitchford, near Shrewsbury,
illustrated by Habershon, is a fine and a very large example, although
the pattern is not so elegant as many of them. Joseph Nash and other
artists have made the best of these familiar to us by their
publications. Cheshire is the county most abounding in them. In the
southern part of the county of Lancashire they are called “post-and-pan
houses.” Post is an upright piece of timber, used in various ways, such
as gate-post, door-post, a jamb-lining. The word “post” is found in many
languages, commonly meaning an upright. In Ang.-Sax., _post_, a post,
Frisic, _post_, a beam, German, _pfost_, French, _poste_, Latin,
_postis_, a post.
“Pan,” in Lancashire, certainly means a beam, and is the common name for
it (beam not being used), although we do not find the word _pan_, a
beam, noticed in most of the glossaries as it deserves. In the Craven
Glossary, “_post_ and _pan_” a building of wood and plaster alternately.
_Pan_, totally to fit: “Weal and woman cannot pan, but woe and woman
can,” is the complete old English proverb, in which the word pan is
used. In the glossary of Tim Bobbin, “Pan” means to join or agree. In
Hunter’s Hallamshire Glossary “pan,” properly in building, is the
wall-plate--the piece of timber that lies on the tops of the posts, and
on which the balks rest, and the sparfoot also. _To pan_, to apply to
closely. In Brockett’s North Country work, _pan_ means to match, agree.
The idea of a pan for a beam would seem to be a shortened word for span,
but it comes, it is said, from the old word _pan_, denoting to close or
join together, to match, fit, apply, agree. From this, or the origin of
which, came pane, or panel of wood, or wainscot, pane of glass.
Ang.-Sax., _pan_, a piece, hem, plait; pan hose, patched hose, because
pieces are fitted into them.
In Warwickshire and Oxfordshire they call a post-and-pan house a
brick-_pane_ house, because the wood-work divides the building into
rectangular spaces, filled with _panes_ of brickwork.
In Forby’s Suffolk Vocabulary _pane_ is a division of work in husbandry,
also strips of cloth. The slits in Elizabethan dresses are called
_panes_. Du Cange, in his _Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis_, has
_panna_, a carpenter’s word, signifying a square piece of wood of 6 or 7
fingers on a side, which being placed on the rafters of the roof, and
retained by wooden supports, carries the asseres. The “Glossary of
Architecture” construes a pan as a lathe; but of this there seems some
doubt.
There is a remarkable example of the word _Panna_ in the Close Rolls of
the 9th of Henry 3rd, membrane 5, page 65, though the word in the
printed copy is erroneously spelt _pauna_.
[Sidenote: De postibus et pannis datis.]
Mandatum est Hugoni de Neville quod habere faciat Baldivinium de Veer
duos postes et duos _pannas_ in bosco nostro in Deresle, de dono nostro
ad se habergandum apud Thrapston. Teste rege apud Westmonasterium XV die
Octobris, anno nono.--That is: The King orders Hugh de Neville to give
Baldwin de Veer two _posts_ and two _pans_ out of the Royal forest of
Deresley to build a house at Thrapstone.--“Habergandum” is from
_habergo_, to build a house, which seems to be derived from the old
German _habe_, goods and possessions, and _bergen_; in Ang.-Sax.,
_boergan_, to defend, keep, and protect. _Habe_, goods, is from the
German _haben_, Ang.-Sax., _habban_, to have and possess. In Du Cange we
find “Habergagium vel habergamentum, domicilium domus,” that is, a place
to keep goods in. This account is given us by the writer in the
“Cambridge Portfolio,” who adds, “That it is probable the house alluded
to in Thrapstone was merely a shed.” He gives a great many derivations
from the word _pan_ in French. He says that _pan_ or _post_ is a _post_
and _pan_ wall, perhaps with boarding in the panes instead of brick or
stone. A post-and-pan house therefore signifies one formed of uprights
and cross-pieces, and this appears to be the most rational name for
them. The patterns of the woodwork are sometimes extremely elegant; at
Park Hall in Shropshire, one represents balustrading intermingled with
quatre-foiling, while the plaster ceilings inside the building are of
excessively rich character. In many of the old post-and-pan houses, the
windows are between every post, running the whole length of the house in
each story, rendering a remark of Lord Bacon’s true, that in such houses
you did not know where to become to get out of the sun or the cold. They
are now sometimes called “bird-cage houses,” from the effect at a
distance. Some of these old mansions had the hall extending to the roof,
and this was carried down to a very late period. At Kirby in
Northamptonshire, a seat of the Lord Chancellor Hatton, built by the
architect, John Thorpe, Inigo Jones altered the timbers of the hall roof
and gave them an Italianized character. He was, previous to his visit to
Italy, one of the chief and most celebrated masters of the then
fashionable Elizabethan style, which was carried down to a later period
than is generally supposed.
The superior class of wooden houses were for the gentry, the wattle and
dab houses for the hind. This cottage, then, must have been little
better than a miserable shed. Cottages still exist in the north of
England, amid the northern counties, that are bad at the very best. The
tenants have to bring everything with them, partitions, window-frames,
fixtures of all kinds, grates, and a substitute for a ceiling. Certainly
the improved concrete cottage, if it could be erected at a small
expense, would be a great advantage to them. Its partitions, and even
its roof, the latter covered with slate, might be securely formed of
strong hurdles, and a cistern for water easily placed just below it. The
walls, if covered with a good Portland cement face, will last for many
years, and, if the roof be so formed as to protect them, for warmth,
comfort, and cleanliness such cottages are unsurpassed.
It is to be regretted that the combination of workmen forming the
various Trades’ Unions, has so raised the price of labour that it has
reacted against themselves, and the workmen’s houses, roomy, and formed
of sound, lasting materials can no longer be constructed at a cost that
would allow a fair percentage on outlay.
Lord Bacon paid particular attention to building, and he had several
fine mansions. He received his Sovereign at one, _Gorhambury_, who on
her remarking its great size, said, “It was not that the house was too
big, but that her Grace had made him too big to inhabit it.” His essay
on building gives such a complete picture of what the nobleman’s house
was in those days, that it is here quoted.
“First, therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace, except you
have two several sides: a side for the banquet, as is spoken of in the
book of Esther, and a side for the household; the one for feasts and
triumphs, and the other for dwelling.
“I understand both these sides to be not only returns, but parts of the
front; and to be uniform without, though severally partitioned within;
and to be on both sides of a great and stately tower in the midst of the
front, that, as it were, joineth them together on either hand. I would
have, on the side of the banquet in front, one only goodly room, above
stairs, of some forty feet high: and under it a room for a dressing or
preparing place, at times of triumphs. On the other side, which is the
household side, I wish it divided, at the first, into a hall and chapel
(with a partition between), both of good state and bigness; and those
not to go all the length, but to have at the farther end a winter and
summer parlour, both fair; and under these rooms a fair and large cellar
sunk under ground, and likewise some privy kitchens, with butteries and
pantries, and the like. As for the tower I would have it two stories, of
eighteen foot high apiece above the two wings; and goodly leads upon the
top, railed with statues interposed; and the same tower to be divided
into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The stairs likewise to the upper
rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel, and finely railed in with
images of wood cast into a brass colour; and a very fair landing-place
at the top. But this to be, if you do not point any of the lower rooms
for a dining-place of servants; for otherwise, you shall have the
servants’ dinner after your own; for the steam of it will come up as in
a tunnel; and so much for the front; only I understand the height of the
first stairs to be sixteen foot, which is the height of the lower room.
“Beyond the front is there to be a fair court, but three sides of it of
a far lower building than the front; and in all the four corners of that
court fair staircases, cast into turrets on the outside, and not within
the row of buildings themselves; but those towers are not to be of the
height of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower buildings.
Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer
and much cold in winter; but only some side alleys with a cross, and the
quarters to graze, being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of
return on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries: in which
galleries let there be three or five fine cupolas in the length of it,
placed at equal distance; and fine coloured windows of several works: on
the household side, chambers of presence and ordinary entertainments,
with some bedchambers; and let all three sides be a double house,
without thorough lights in the sides, that you may have rooms from the
sun both for forenoon and afternoon:--cast it also that you may have
rooms both for summer and winter; shade for summer, and warm for winter.
You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass that one cannot
tell where to become to be out of the sun or cold. For embowed windows,
I hold them of good use (in cities indeed, upright do better, in respect
of the uniformity towards the street); for they be pretty retiring
places for conference, and besides they keep both the wind and sun off;
for that which would strike almost through the room doth scarce pass the
window; but let them be but few, four in the court, on the sides only.
“Beyond this court, let there be an inward court of the same square and
height, which is to be environed with the garden on all sides; and in
the inside, cloistered on all sides upon decent and beautiful arches as
high as the first story; on the under story, towards the garden, let it
be turned to a grotto, or place of shade, or estivation; and only have
opening and windows toward the garden, and be level upon the floor, no
whit sunk under ground, to avoid all dampishness: let there be a
fountain or some fair work of statues in the midst of this court, and to
be paved as the other court was. These buildings to be for privy
lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy galleries; whereof you
must foresee that one of them be for an infirmary, if the prince or any
special person should be sick, with chambers, bedchamber, ante-camera,
and recamera, joining to it; this upon the second story.
“Upon the ground story, a fair gallery, open, upon pillars, and upon the
third story likewise, an open gallery upon pillars, to take the prospect
and freshness of the garden.
“At both corners of the farther side, by way of return, let there be two
delicate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly hanged, glazed with
crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the midst; and all other
elegancy that may be thought upon. In the upper gallery too, I wish that
there may be, if the place will yield it, some fountains running in
divers places from the wall, with some fine avoidances. And thus much
for the model of the palace; save that you must have, before you come to
the front, three courts, a green court plain, with a wall about it; a
second court of the same, but more garnished with little turrets, or
rather embellishments upon the wall; and a third court, to make a square
with the front, but not to be built nor yet enclosed with a naked wall,
but enclosed with terraces leaded aloft, and fairly garnished on the
three sides; and cloistered on the inside with pillars, and not with
arches below. As for offices, let them stand at distance, with some low
galleries to pass from them to the palace itself.”
* * * * *
The vignette is an elevation, with enlarged details, of a design for a
weathercock or wind vane. In buildings where there are many on the roof,
they are sometimes seen pointing different ways, and it is of importance
they should be properly constructed. The construction necessary to
prevent these differences is shown in the two sections on each side the
elevation; _a_ is a gun-metal rod, in which is fixed the small steel rod
_b_; this moves in a piece of agate fixed in a small block of copper
_c_; the agate is marked black in the left-hand section.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 23._
A GARDEN SUMMER-HOUSE.
[Illustration: Perspective view and plan.]
This small circular erection was designed from the express directions,
as to style, size, form, and plan, of the gentleman for whom it was
made, and who had it constructed. It was of wood, standing on a brick
foundation, with a quaint room in the centre, completely lined with
match-boarding, stained oak and varnished, the ceiling having hanging
pendants. The lead lights of the sashes were glazed with various
specimens of old coloured glass.
[Illustration: Elevation.]
The view and plan are illustrated at page 262; the plan shows the
general arrangements; the porch had seats on each side, and the back
portion of the
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Detail showing construction.]
summer-house was enclosed for a single seat. The elevation given on page
263 shows, as well as the view, flower-pots on supports in the roof.
These were
[Illustration: Gate to a flower-garden.]
omitted in execution. The section shows the building as constructed; it
is taken through the porch. The interior room and the enclosed seat
behind the illustration gives the detail of a portion of the
construction.
[Illustration: Elevation.]
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
The building had no fireplace, being merely intended for summer use; it
was placed on an elevated site, and commanded a fine view.
No small structure can be made too expensive in construction if it is to
be placed in a beautiful flower-garden. However pretty its ornaments may
be, they are sure to pale by the side of the natural objects surrounding
it. The small gateway shown in view on page 265 was constructed entirely
in oak with a slab-slated roof. It stood at some distance from the
dwelling, to which it formed a conspicuous object, and it was the
entrance to an enclosed flower-garden. An elevation, section, and plan
of it are given on page 266.
* * * * *
The vignette represents an open ironwork console or holder for a
meat-jack for the kitchen fireplace: it is of French design.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 24._
A SMALL COUNTRY RETREAT, OR FRENCH MAISONETTE.
[Illustration: The front elevation.]
This is a study for a small villa in the modern French style, one which
has lately been introduced into several buildings of domestic character
in England, the woodwork being sent from France. The
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
chief feature of the style is the machine-cut ornamental wood; it is of
common deal, about an inch or a little more in thickness. When placed
up, and coloured a light fawn colour or plain yellow, it is extremely
pleasing, and has the merit of being very cheap.
The design has an ornamental iron verandah completely round two sides
of the building, with small upright standards taken through its roof,
which are
[Illustration: Section through length of building.]
connected together with zinc wire-work; the intention being to permit
flowering plants to grow over it, so that the front should be crowned
with flowers. The villa is only intended for summer use, being confined
in its accommodation. The ground plan, given on page 269, shows _d_ and
_e_, the drawing and dining
[Illustration: Transverse section.]
rooms, divided one from the other by curtains hanging on a glazed
screen; the length of the two rooms is 42 feet, their breadth 15 feet.
They are decorated gaily in French style; the room _c_ can be used as a
study, but it is intended for a sleeping room; the kitchen _f_ has a
large larder _h_, but it would be desirable if the kitchen was formed a
short distance away from the building, and connected with it by a
passage; the rooms _f_ and _g_ could then be made into a bed and
dressing-room. The wine cellar is at g, and a conservatory _i_, is
placed at the end of the building.
[Illustration: Plan of one-pair.]
The elevation of the front of the building and the two sections show the
general construction of the upper part of the house. This was in timber,
the flues alone being of brick.
The plan of the upper floor shows four rooms; each of the flues is
supplied with its pedestal, so that should the house be occupied in
winter, these upper apartments could be kept well aired by the fires in
the lower apartments, without any attention from the servants. The
framing of the upper portion is correctly shown in the section copied
from the working drawing.
[Illustration: Portion of verandah.]
All elevation of a small portion of the verandah, showing its iron work,
is given; and an illustration to a large scale shows its ornamental zinc
guttering, and the carved wood French ornament, a section showing how
they are fastened on; and the zinc gutter placed in front is likewise
given.
[Illustration: Elevation of zinc gutter, and cut woodwork.]
[Illustration: Section of the same.]
The following is a design in purely French taste for the circular top
over the entrance porch on the upper floor.
[Illustration: Cut woodwork.]
The roofs of buildings in this style should be covered with zinc. The
French are as much before us in their use of this metal as they are
with their cut woodwork.
Roofs covered with zinc could be made flatter, and have a covering or
floor of boards, each board ½ an inch apart. An illustration is given of
such a construction; it has a light iron railing with a scroll
[Illustration: Design for roofing.]
against the brick parapet; and supports a stand for flowers. With the
absence of offensive smoke, and with the use of the flue pedestal to
supply warmth, the upper parts of our houses could easily be formed into
conservatories.
The interior of the building was intended to be as profusely decorated
with the cut woodwork as the exterior. The staircase balusters were of a
rich pattern, the whole being stained after some ornamental wood, and
varnished.
[Illustration: Staircase balusters.]
The expense of constructing such a building would be 2450_l._
In this style cut-wood decoration the French certainly excel us. Some
English examples, very common in our railway stations, are shown below.
The most ornamental is a pattern used by the author some few years ago;
a rose is introduced to cover the fastening of the cut pattern to the
fascia behind.
[Illustration]
We have in England a carving-machine, known as Irving’s patent, that was
a few years since much worked at a manufactory in Pimlico by Mr. Pratt
of Bond Street. At one time it bid fair to exert a most important
influence upon the production of this kind of cut-wood decoration. It
could make such carvings with the greatest ease and rapidity, whether in
stone or wood. The machine was a simple drill in a moveable arm, worked
either by steam or a hand-wheel, on a moveable table; the combined
motion rendered it capable of carving any form, however intricate, from
the largest Gothic window-head, to the smallest screen. At Pimlico it
was under the architectural superintendence of R. W. Billings. It is
still used, together with Jordan’s patent for carving, at Lambeth.
* * * * *
The vignette gives a pattern for cut-wood balustrading.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 25._
AN ELIZABETHAN VILLA.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
This design was made a few years ago for a gentleman who was a great
admirer of our old English architecture, and who desired to have a
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
dwelling with its chief characteristics, both internally as well as
externally, but with all modern arrangements. He intended to purchase a
piece of land in the neighbourhood of London for the purpose of
erecting the structure upon it. Producing the design was a labour of
love to us both, and many a pleasant evening we
[Illustration: Balustrading of staircase.]
spent together in studying the details as to what we should like to have
in each room, without troubling ourselves about what the expense would
be; unhappily he did not live to carry out his intention, and the
drawings were laid aside.
[Illustration: Section of hall.]
The exterior is a study from the celebrated building, Rushton Hall in
Northamptonshire, erected in the
[Illustration]
reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas Tresham. On the estate in the forest,
about a mile from the house, is that curious and unique building, the
Triangular Lodge,[B] which served as a secret place of meeting for the
conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot.
The ground plan shows only a small and single staircase _b_;
considerable discussion took place upon this; the great staircase was
first planned in the hall _a_, but a billiard-table was imperative, and
the hall alone
[Illustration: Elevation of hall fireplace.]
could receive it. The smaller staircase was made ornamental, with carved
oak balustrades having a
[Illustration: Details of hall fireplace.]
small brass ornament between, for the children to lay hold of in getting
upstairs.
The hall was to be wainscoted all round; the illustration on page 283
shows one side, with the entrance into the dining-room; a section of the
moulding of the panels is given on page 283 of full size. A gilt
decoration was to have been put in each panel, as shown. An ornamental
plaster frieze, containing shields of arms
[Illustration: Hall stove.]
which were to be emblazoned, came over the panelling. An elevation of
the fireplace, to have been made in Caen stone, with its details on a
large scale, is given in cuts on pp. 284, 285.
[Illustration: Portion of hall ceiling.]
The fireplace is shown with fire-dogs to burn wood, with its iron
fire-back; but this was objected to, and
[Illustration: Section.]
the stove was selected; my friend having great interest in coal,
preferred it to wood.
[Illustration: Dining-room ceiling.]
The illustration on page 286 is a portion of the hall ceiling, copied
from a celebrated example of the time of Henry VIII. To illustrate every
room or give only one-third of the drawings made for this design would
far exceed the limits the present volume allows. Each of the three rooms
on the ground floor had
[Illustration: Pendant.]
decorated chimney-pieces, and carved architraves and panels to the
doors. The section shows the height of the rooms. The dining-room _e_
(see ground-plan) was
[Illustration: Pendant and centre ornaments.]
22 ft. by 20 ft.; the library _c_, 17 ft. by 15 ft., and the
drawing-room _d_, 24 ft. by 17 ft., with a large bay window opening on
to a terrace--their height 12 ft. 9 in.; _f_ is the lift and _g_ the
closet. Each of these rooms was to have ornamental flat plaster ceilings
with
[Illustration: Drawing-room ceiling.]
pendant ornaments. These are shown in illustrations on page 289.
The staircase led to a gallery in the middle of the building on the
first floor, dimly lighted at each end by the staircase and passage
windows. The first floor (page 292) contained a morning room, _a_, in
the centre, 15 ft. by 12 ft., with a bow window; and three bedrooms _b_,
_b_, _b_, with two dressing-rooms _c_, _c_, one with a bath and a
closet.
[Illustration: Library ceiling.]