MEDIÆVAL DOMESTIC FEATURES--DOORWAYS,
WINDOWS, FIREPLACES, CHIMNEYS, ROOFS AND
CEILINGS, STAIRCASES.
The treatment of special features in domestic buildings was (as
already pointed out) generally simpler than that of similar features
in churches, although it followed much the same lines in both cases.
On the whole, such things as doorways, windows, fireplaces, roofs
and ceilings were handled in houses with much simplicity during the
prevalence of the Gothic or mediæval styles. In this respect they
present a striking contrast to the elaboration bestowed upon them in
later years when houses were built for comfort and splendour, and
when a study of the methods of the artists of the Renaissance enabled
our English designers to indulge in determined efforts at magnificent
design.
It may be that in house-building the work was purposely subordinated
to that adopted in church-building: it may be that the fact of houses
being subject to attacks from which the sacred character of churches
preserved them, led to an avoidance of costly or elaborate ornament.
But, whatever the reason, the richest of domestic doorways and
windows cannot compare in splendour with the finer specimens of such
features in churches or cathedrals; and, as a rule, their richness
was restrained within severe and narrow bounds. In some of the more
important dwellings, especially in the earliest times, considerable
attention was bestowed upon doorways, and the employment of several
“orders,” or shallow arches placed in receding fashion one behind
the other, led to striking and even noble effects. Windows are such
vulnerable points that they were in early times almost always small
and plain. Ceilings were merely the constructional expression of the
floors of which they formed the under side. Fireplaces were only so
far ornamented as their construction seemed to suggest, especially in
the earlier examples. It was not until the time of Elizabeth that the
chimney-piece as a stately and predominating feature came into fashion.
[Illustration: 50. Warkworth Castle.
Entrance Gateway (late 14th cent.).]
* * * * *
During the mediæval period, throughout the whole of which it was
necessary to guard against assault, EXTERNAL DOORWAYS were
simple in treatment, and were protected either by being placed in
a recess commanded by openings through which arrows could be shot
(called oillets), or by being surmounted at greater or less height by
projecting stonework which concealed openings (called machicolations)
through which missiles of various kinds could be hurled upon the
heads of those attempting to force an entrance. In many cases, as
at Warkworth Castle (Fig. 50), both these methods of defence were
adopted. An oillet can be seen on the canted face to the left of the
doorway; the machicolations are carried across between the two turrets.
Frequently the entrance was further protected by a portcullis, or
massive grille of wood, which slid up and down in a groove in the
stonework. Nearly every castle and many of the fortified houses were
thus defended, and there are innumerable instances in which the grooves
may still be seen. These defensive arrangements are an interesting
subject, but are outside the present purpose, except in so far as
they affect the architectural treatment. Machicolations are sometimes
found over doors in dwelling-houses, but more generally in connection
with the gatehouse. They not infrequently occur at the summit of
towers, and impart the characteristic appearance produced by the heavy
projection which they necessitated. One result of the universal need
for protection was that doorways were generally small; small, that is,
in comparison with those that came into use in the seventeenth century.
Even the principal doors of a house were restricted in size, and were
generally in one sheet, not divided down the middle and hung on either
hand. The commonest form of fastening was a stout oak bar, which when
out of use was pushed back into a long recess in the wall, and when
wanted was drawn across the door far enough for its end to fit into a
shallow recess in the opposite jamb.
[Illustration: 51. Doorways.
(_a_) From Prebendal House, Nassington, Northamptonshire.
(_b_) Doorway (right) and Window (left), Rochester Castle,
Kent (_c._ 1130).]
[Illustration: 52. Hedingham Castle, Essex.
Entrance Doorway, with grooves for portcullis.]
[Illustration: 53. Hedingham Castle.
(_cir._ 1130).
Archway from Stairs to Gallery.]
Early doorways are usually round-headed; sometimes the sweep of the
arch was not fully semicircular but segmental. In important buildings
like Rochester Castle and Hedingham, the arches were either of several
orders or were richly ornamented with the zigzag or spiral mouldings
characteristic of the period (Figs. 51, 52, 53). In houses of less
importance, such as the prebendal house at Nassington, the treatment
was simpler (Fig. 51_a_). In this case, although the arch is
round, the label terminations show it to be of somewhat later date,
probably early in the thirteenth century, or nearly a hundred years
after those at Rochester and Hedingham.
[Illustration: 54. Aydon Castle, Northumberland (_cir._ 1280).
Doorway to Hall.]
[Illustration: 55. Bishop’s Palace, Mayfield, Sussex.
Doorway to Hall (early 14th cent.)]
[Illustration: 56. Northborough Manor House, Northamptonshire.
Doorways in the Screens (mid. 14th cent.).]
[Illustration: 57.
(_a_) Norrington Wilts (late 14th cent.).
(_b_) Eltham Palace, Kent (15th cent.).
(_c_) Lenham, Kent (late 15th cent.).
(_d_) Lacock, Wiltshire; from the Angel Inn (early 16th cent.).]
[Illustration: 58. Doorway from Harrietsham, Kent (late 15th cent.).]
Early in the thirteenth century arches became pointed, and doorways
followed suit; accordingly the example from Aydon Castle in
Northumberland (_c._ 1280), shows the later form (Fig. 54). It
is a good instance of the very general practice of entering the upper
floor through an external door approached by a flight of steps. The
marks where the protecting roof abutted against the wall are plainly
visible. As this doorway opened from an interior courtyard, special
measures of defence were not considered necessary. Of still later
date is the doorway of the Bishop’s palace at Mayfield, in Sussex
(Fig. 55). This charming little drawing not only shows the unusually
wide doorway, but also affords a glimpse into the great hall, with
its Decorated window and the springing of one of the stone arches
which carried the roof timbers. The Decorated period delighted in ogee
arches, ball-flowers, and crockets, and it bestowed them upon the
three doorways at Northborough (Fig. 56), which led from the screens
of the hall to the buttery, kitchen, and pantry. The illustration is
sketched from a point within the screens, and shows the inside of the
front door on the extreme right. The manor house at Northborough is
of very considerable interest in spite of the alterations which have
been found necessary to adapt it to modern uses. It retains its old
hall, now divided into two storeys; and the rather elaborate tracery
of its windows can still be detected, although built up in order to
accommodate the inserted floor. The house is approached across a court
into which access is obtained through a vaulted gatehouse, which has
suffered much mutilation. Most of the other buildings which form the
court are of the seventeenth century, and the whole group is full of
the suggestions prompted by time-worn buildings, especially where they
reveal themselves to the traveller in some remote village. It became
customary in the Perpendicular period to surround the pointed arch
with a rectangular frame, as shown in the various examples in Fig. 57.
The first step is taken in the doorway at Norrington in Wiltshire;
the idea is more resolutely carried out in the others. The Norrington
archway is boldly moulded, and it leads into a vaulted porch, a feature
less frequently found in houses than in churches. The doorway from
Eltham Palace has the spandrels, formed by the curved arch and the
rectangular frame, filled with tracery, and it is surmounted by a
bold square-headed label. The Lacock example shows a later type, in
which the pointed head is flattened in the manner customary in Tudor
times, a manner which lingered on, with variations, until well into the
reign of James I. The fourth example, from Lenham, is of wood, unlike
the others, which are of stone. It shows that the same treatment was
applied to both materials alike. There is another good example of a
late doorway in wood at Harrietsham, in Kent (Fig. 58). This sketch is
valuable as affording a glimpse into the screens of the hall, with
doorways on the right, leading to the servants’ quarters. The doorway
from the excellent half-timber house at Eastington, in Worcestershire,
is another good example in wood (Fig. 59). The beautiful doorways from
South Wingfield (Fig. 60, _a_, _b_) are specimens of the best
work of the Perpendicular period: that from Stanton Harcourt (Fig. 60,
_c_) is a good example of a small stone doorway with its original
oak door and iron hinges; it has a worthy companion in the little
door at Lacock. The last example in Fig. 60, _d_, shows a more
elaborately designed oak door from the school at Ewelme in Oxfordshire.
The fittings of the doors are worthy of attention; the wood handle
and iron knocker at Lenham, the knocker at Lacock, and the wood bolt
at Stanton Harcourt. When the doorways were of stone, the doors were
not hung in wood frames, but on stout hooks let into the stonework. It
was impossible, therefore, to shut them tight; there was always space
enough between the door and the stone to admit draughts and copious
piles of snow. In later years, as we shall see, door frames become
universal, but if found in mediæval houses they may be regarded as
insertions, unless the whole construction is of wood as in the examples
from Lenham and Harrietsham.
[Illustration: 59. Eastington Hall, Worcestershire.
Entrance Doorway (late 15th cent.).]
[Illustration: 60.
(_a_) Doorway of Porch, Wingfield Manor, Derbyshire (1435–40).
(_b_) Door from Hall to Garden, Wingfield Manor.
(_c_) Door in “Pope’s Tower,” Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire (late
15th cent.).
(_d_) Door to School, Ewelme, Oxfordshire (_cir._ 1440).]
[Illustration: 61. Hedingham Castle, Essex (_c._ 1130).
Window in Fourth Floor.
Plan.]
[Illustration: 62. Chacombe Priory.
Window (late 12th cent.).]
WINDOWS.--In all early houses the windows were small, owing to
the necessity for defence. On the ground floor they were little more
than narrow slits, three or four inches wide; but in the rooms less
directly exposed to attack, they were somewhat enlarged, although still
far short in area of the minimum required by modern by-laws, namely,
one-tenth of the floor space. They were unglazed, except in important
houses, such as those belonging to the king. Indeed, examples are not
infrequent, even in the fifteenth century, of windows never having
been glazed. Sheets of horn were sometimes used in order to keep out
the wind, without absolutely excluding the light. From the earliest
times windows were closed by shutters, which sometimes covered the
whole window, when it was not too large; and sometimes were provided
for each subdivision; for as already remarked, domestic windows were
often divided by cross-bars or transomes in order to obtain lights
of reasonable size in regard to the shutters. Tracery was sparingly
employed, and was usually not covered by the shutters; the openings
thus left formed useful outlets for the smoke, but must have been
considered by reflecting minds to be only a crude method of ventilation.
[Illustration: 63. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.
Window (13th cent.), showing Window-seats and Recesses for Shutters.
The glazing is of later date.]
[Illustration: 64. Little Wenham Hall, Suffolk (13th cent.).
(_a_) Window on Upper Floor.
(_b_) Window between Hall and Chapel.]
[Illustration: 65. South Wingfield Manor.
Window in Porch (1435–40.)]
The treatment of house windows corresponded with that adopted in
churches. First they were round-headed, as at Castle Hedingham (Fig.
61), and Rochester (Fig. 51, _b_). Then they became pointed,
with, perhaps, a dividing mullion, as at Little Wenham Hall (Fig.
64, _b_). The plain pointed heads were then bent into a trefoil
shape, as at Chacombe Priory (Fig. 62), or were made with a flat summit
and curved shoulders, as at Alnwick Castle (Fig. 63). Tracery was
occasionally introduced, as at Little Wenham (Fig. 64, _a_). This
illustration and that from Chacombe, as well as the view of Oakham
Castle (Fig. 15), show that the forerunner of the mullion was a shaft
dividing the lights. In subsequent examples the mullion will be found
fully established.
[Illustration: 66. Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire.
Window in Guest-house (late 15th cent.).]
[Illustration: 67. Brympton D’Evercy, Somerset.
Bay Window (late 15th cent.).]
[Illustration: 68. Fawsley, Northamptonshire.
Bay Window of the Hall (late 15th cent.).]
The stone window frame itself was placed at the outside face of the
wall, and as the latter was of great thickness, the space inside
was furnished with stone seats, which are well shown in the example
from Alnwick Castle (Fig. 63), where also the sinking to contain the
shutters is plainly visible. The shutter itself is shown in the Little
Wenham example (Fig. 64, _b_), and in the window at Stokesay (Fig.
23). The glazing of all these windows may be considered as inserted in
later years; but whether glazed or not, the lights were protected by
iron bars down to the end of the sixteenth century.
A Decorated window of the fourteenth century is given in the
illustration from the palace at Mayfield (Fig. 55), and again in
that of Penshurst (Fig. 71). The charming window from the porch at
South Wingfield of the Perpendicular period (Fig. 65), has unusually
elaborate tracery, but it serves to emphasise the resemblance between
domestic and ecclesiastical architecture, as also do the larger windows
from the same house--the bay, and the window in the gable of the state
apartment shown in Figs. 36 and 37.
An excellent example of the late fifteenth century is to be seen
at Abingdon Abbey, in the very interesting guest-house (Fig. 66).
These lights were not glazed, but were furnished with iron bars and
shutters. During the fifteenth century, owing to the less urgent need
for defence, windows increased in size, and by the end of that century
windows of six or eight lights, or even long ranges of lights, were not
infrequent.
One of the most striking features of domestic architecture, and one
which in the hands of Elizabethan designers often dominated the
composition of their façades, was the BAY WINDOW. By the later
architects it was repeated symmetrically so as to help the rhythm of
the design. But in mediæval times, with which we are now dealing, it
was treated as an isolated feature, and was seldom used except to add
to the amenities of the daïs in the great hall. In this position it
gave a little extra space, conveniently situated for the reception
of a sideboard. Its lights were brought down low enough to afford an
outlook, whereas the other windows of the hall were kept up some 10 or
12 ft. from the floor. Even when used singly and without any idea of
symmetrical repetition, the bay window was a commanding feature, and
was frequently the occasion of such happy architectural grouping as may
be seen at Brympton D’Evercy, in Somerset (Fig. 67).
[Illustration: 69. Sherborne, Dorset.
Oriel Window (15th cent.).]
It is not easy to say when bay windows were first introduced, but
apparently not earlier than the middle of the fourteenth century;
they were, however, generally adopted during the fifteenth, and the
Perpendicular style affords many beautiful examples. Among them may be
mentioned South Wingfield (Fig. 36), and Fawsley in Northamptonshire
(Fig. 68). The ceilings of these bays were not infrequently vaulted in
stone, with elaborate tracery and cusps, as is the case in this fine
window at Fawsley, the Deanery at Wells, the oriel at Great Chalfield
in Wiltshire, and many others. The great bay at Fawsley is of unusual
interest, inasmuch as there is a small chamber above it, which was
originally approached by a narrow newel staircase. Owing to its remote
position, tradition has assigned this chamber as the secret place
where the celebrated Martin Marprelate tracts were printed.
Bay windows were occasionally introduced on an upper floor,
being corbelled out from the face of the wall; such windows are
called oriels. There is a good example at Sherborne in Dorset, of
Perpendicular date (Fig. 69). The earliest known example of an oriel
window is at Prudhoe Castle, in Northumberland; it is not actually
corbelled out, however, but rests on a crosswall below.
[Illustration: 70. Glastonbury, Somerset.
Front of Wood House, showing Window and Doors.]
The construction of wooden houses, formed of stout uprights placed at
short intervals, lent itself freely to the introduction of long ranges
of window lights such as those in a street front at Glastonbury (Fig.
70), where the framing of the walls served also as the frame of the
window.
* * * * *
FIREPLACES occur in some of the earliest buildings; that
is, large recesses specially contrived in the walls, with an outlet
for the smoke carried up for some distance in the masonry. This
arrangement appears to have been adopted very generally, and was by no
means a luxury of later times. It is true that the alternative method
of a central hearth in the middle of the floor was also of frequent
occurrence. But both ways of heating were in vogue at the same time.
The wall fireplace is not the successor of the central hearth, but
if anything its predecessor. When it is remembered that in the early
keeps the various rooms were placed one over the other, it is clear
that the facilities for the escape of smoke from the lower rooms would
have been but small had the fire been on a central hearth. There would
indeed have been no exits for it but the small windows. Accordingly
most keeps are provided with fireplaces in the walls. A good example is
furnished at Castle Hedingham (Fig. 6). On the other hand, in the great
halls of the fortified manor houses, which were usually of one storey,
it was an easy matter to contrive an opening in the roof immediately
over the central hearth. This opening was protected by a ventilating
turret called the louvre, which kept off the rain, but allowed the
smoke--or as much of it as was not wafted about the room--to escape
through it. As the roofs were constructed of wood, so too of necessity
was the louvre, and owing to the lapse of time and to other destructive
agencies, both roofs and louvres of the early periods have perished.
In some houses, such as Stokesay, the central hearth of the great hall
still remains, while in the smaller rooms fireplaces of contemporary
date are also to be seen. It is clear that the central hearth was not
considered an intolerable nuisance, inasmuch as it survived until the
end of the fifteenth century and later: the great hall at Richmond
Palace, built for Henry VII., had one; so too had Deene Hall, already
referred to, which was built in the reign of Edward VI. The louvre
for the central hearth had a direct successor in the lantern light so
often seen in Georgian houses; the connection between the two may be
seen in some of the halls of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge,
where it is evident that the lantern light stands in the same place as
the ancient louvre, and is but a modernised version of that feature. An
excellent example of a central hearth in a great hall may still be seen
at Penshurst Place in Kent (Fig. 71). This, although of later date,
about 1350, is typical of all such cases.
[Illustration: 71. Penshurst Place, Kent.
The Great Hall.]
[Illustration: 72. Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire.
Chimney-shaft and Chimney-vent (13th cent.).]
[Illustration: 73. Abingdon Abbey.
Orifice of Chimney-vent.]
Although the early keeps were usually warmed (if warmed it may be
called) by fireplaces, there are exceptions such as the Peak Castle,
where there are no signs of such accommodation. How these places
were heated is not apparent, but as flues of lath and plaster were
occasionally used, and the hoods of fireplaces were sometimes formed
of wood, it is probable that a perishable expedient of this nature was
adopted.
[Illustration: 74. Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire.
Fireplace (13th cent.).]
* * * * *
CHIMNEYS.--It has already been pointed out that in quite early
times, as at Castle Hedingham, the fireplace flue was not carried up
to any great height, but was shortly conducted to an orifice in the
face of the wall (see Fig. 6). There is a fireplace of even earlier
date, similarly contrived, at Colchester Castle. It is doubtful whether
any example of a chimney-shaft of Norman times is to be found. One
of the earliest remaining chimney-shafts is at Abingdon Abbey on the
Thames in Berkshire (Fig. 72), a well-known river landmark. The large
square stack contains a single flue, which rises from the fireplace of
the upper room, and delivers its smoke through the vertical openings
at the summit. In the fireplace of the lower room the earlier method
was adopted, and the smoke emerged from the little projection in the
wall to the left of the base of the large stack: a plan of the orifice
is given in Fig. 73. The date of this work is about the middle of the
thirteenth century. The fireplace which is served by the large flue is
shown in Fig. 74. Of much the same date are the fireplaces at Stokesay,
of one of which the remains are shown in Fig. 75. The wooden kerb or
frame supported by the corbels appears to be of the original date, and
must have carried a wooden hood. But as a rule these hoods were of
stone as at Abingdon Abbey. The earliest fireplaces were flush with
the wall, but it was soon found necessary to introduce a projecting
hood in order to catch the smoke--a contrivance familiar to us, though
on a small scale, in many modern fire-grates.
[Illustration: 75. Stokesay Castle, Shropshire.
Fireplace in North Tower (13th cent.).]
[Illustration: 76. Aydon Castle, Northumberland.
Chimney-shaft (_cir._ 1280).]
A sort of compromise between a wall orifice and a chimney-shaft is
to be seen at Aydon Castle (Fig. 76), where there are also several
simple fireplaces with stone hoods, of about 1280 (Fig. 77, _a_,
_b_). The wall orifice was, no doubt, found to be insufficient for
its purpose, and the chimney-shaft was further developed. It should
be borne in mind that not every room was provided with a fireplace;
consequently the chimney-shafts were nearly always isolated features;
chimney-stacks combining several flues grouped together followed in
later years, when it became customary to warm more rooms. As in all
other mediæval work, the ornamental treatment of chimneys varied
with the changes of style. Of the late Decorated period is that at
Northborough (Fig. 78); of yet later date are those in the Vicar’s
Close at Wells (Fig. 79), and that at Harringworth (Fig. 80).
[Illustration: 77. Fireplaces.
(_a_, _b_) From Aydon Castle (_cir._ 1240).
(_c_) From Sherborne Abbey (15th cent.).
(_d_) From the Church House, Salisbury (15th cent.).]
[Illustration: 78. Northborough, Northamptonshire.
Chimney (14th cent.).]
[Illustration: 79. Vicar’s Close, Wells.
Chimney (15th cent.).]
Fireplaces in the meanwhile changed with the progress of years. The
hood which had been adopted in order to catch the smoke when the recess
for the fire was shallow, was in turn abandoned when the recess was
made deeper, and it became no longer necessary. The hoods had been
rather plain, gaunt features, devoid of superfluous ornament. As the
amenities of life increased with the diminishing need of defensive
precautions, so also did the desire for embellishment, and during the
Perpendicular period, a great amount of attention was bestowed upon
the decoration of fireplaces. The stone work which surrounded the
recess was panelled and cusped, and enclosed by shafts supporting a
cornice--the forerunner of our familiar chimney shelf (Fig. 77, _c_,
_d_). Heraldry began to play an important part in the decoration.
At Aydon may be seen (Fig. 77, _a_) the first uncertain step in the
direction to which Tattershall (Figs. 81, 82) and Fawsley (Fig. 83)
subsequently led. The richness to which the fifteenth century attained
was, however, far outdone by that which the Elizabethan designers
achieved a century later.
[Illustration: 80. Harringworth, Northamptonshire.
Chimney (15th cent.).]
There are no remains extant of quite early domestic ROOFS OR
CEILINGS; but from the appearance of the stone walls, it is
tolerably certain that they were built of wood. Stone vaulting very
seldom occurs except in a few rooms on the ground floor, and in such
cases it was probably adopted as a safeguard against fire. The little
keep or tower at Longthorpe in Northamptonshire has its ground floor
stone-vaulted: so, too, have many of the peel-towers of Northumberland.
But the great keeps at Rochester, Hedingham, and elsewhere, had roofs
and floors of wood. The huge beams which carried the floors no doubt
showed in the room below, but there is no evidence that in early times
any special attention was devoted to ornamenting the ceiling. In the
fifteenth century the constructional beams were moulded and arranged
with some regularity, as plenty of examples prove; and this, if any,
was probably the method adopted in early times.
[Illustration: 81. Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire.
Chimney-piece on Upper Floor, showing Heraldic Decoration.]
[Illustration: 82. Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire.
Chimney-piece on Ground Floor (1430–40).]
[Illustration: 83. Fawsley, Northamptonshire.
Chimney-piece in Great Hall (15th cent.).]
The great halls of manor houses, which, as already said, were usually
of one storey, were covered with fine open timber roofs, and although
no early examples are left, there are plenty of the fifteenth century
and even earlier. The construction of such roofs is probably more or
less familiar to most people. The outer covering of lead, slates, or
tiles rested on the rafters, which were supported on longitudinal
beams called purlins; these in their turn were carried by strongly
framed supports called principals (_i.e._, principal rafters),
which spanned the hall from side to side at intervals of twelve feet
or thereabouts. Sometimes, though rarely, as at Mayfield Palace (Fig.
55) and Ightham Mote in Kent, the principal was a great stone
arch.[3] But as a rule, it was of massive timber framed together,
and it was in the construction of this feature that the most obvious
opportunities for ornamental treatment occurred. In churches it was
carried occasionally to the most astonishing lengths; but in houses
this exuberance was restrained, and as a rule the open timber roofs
of houses, although extremely handsome, were quite soberly treated.
A fairly early example of the thirteenth century is to be seen at
Stokesay (Fig. 20). Of the fourteenth century may be mentioned Drayton
House in Northamptonshire (Fig. 84), now quite hidden by a ceiling
of much later years, and Penshurst Place (Fig. 71). Of the fifteenth
century is Little Sodbury (Fig. 85), while of the late fifteenth is
Eltham Palace (Fig. 86).
[Illustration: 84. Drayton House, Northamptonshire.
Roof of the Great Hall (_cir._ 1328).]
[Illustration: 85. Little Sodbury, Gloucestershire.
Roof of Hall (15th cent.).]
[Illustration: 86. Eltham Palace, Kent.
Roof of Great Hall (late 15th cent.).]
The Drayton example is interesting inasmuch as there are two types of
principal: the main principals carry the purlins, which in their turn
carry the intermediates; they are strengthened and supported where
this additional load comes, by curved braces or struts, which rest on
the wall at the foot of the main principals. Curved braces were very
commonly employed; they occur both at Little Sodbury and Eltham, and
in the latter case the curves are so designed as to form a feature in
the decorative effect. In this example it will be seen that a more
determined effort at design has been made, the whole work has been
more carefully thought out than in the others. It is, moreover, of the
hammer-beam type; that is, the main arch of the principal does not
spring from the wall itself, but from a projecting piece of timber (the
hammer-beam), which is supported by a curved strut springing from the
wall.
[Illustration: 87. Crowhurst Place, Surrey.
Ceiling with Moulded Beams.]
[Illustration: 88. Lavenham, Suffolk.
Ceiling with Carved Beams.]
[Illustration: 89. Lyddington, Rutland.
Hall of Bede House, showing Panelled Wood Ceiling and Traceried Cornice
(early 16th cent.).]
[Illustration: 90. Lavenham, Suffolk.
Part of Panelled Ceiling, showing Boss at the Junction of the Wood Ribs
(early 16th cent.).]
The open timber roof survived in places down to the early years of
the seventeenth century. But the fashion of having lofty halls then
gradually fell into disuse; halls were surmounted by a room above them,
and the need for a handsome roof disappeared, its place being taken by
a flat, decorated ceiling.
Ceilings, such as we conceive the word, were not known in mediæval
work, at any rate not until late in the fifteenth century. The ceiling
was, in fact, the underside of the floor above, and its ornamental
character was obtained by a regular disposition of the constructional
timbers, and by working mouldings on the latter. The effect was massive
and handsome, the ceiling (for want of a better word) being divided
into large deeply recessed squares or oblongs by heavily moulded beams.
Crowhurst Place in Surrey has a good example of this treatment (Fig.
87). In some instances the underside of the floor joists (_i.e._,
the smaller timbers which rested on the beams and carried the floor
boards) was carved, as in the curious example from a house at Lavenham
in Suffolk (Fig. 88).
The origin of the ceiling as distinguished from the underside of the
floor, appears to be found late in the fifteenth century, or early in
the sixteenth, when the practice was introduced of covering the lower
sides of the floor joists with flat boarding and dividing the level
surface into panels by means of applied mouldings. Such a ceiling is
found in the Bede House at Lyddington in Rutland, formerly a country
house of the Bishops of Lincoln (Fig. 89). The junction of the ribs was
sometimes ornamented with a carved boss such as is shown in Fig. 90,
also from a house in Lavenham. This simple method of treating ceilings
was developed in course of time into the elaborate plasterwork of
Elizabethan houses. The room at Lyddington has a very remarkable wood
cornice fashioned after the manner of the fan tracery prevalent at the
end of the fifteenth century (Fig. 91). But this kind of ornament was
not at all general, and it may be doubted whether any other instance of
it can be cited.
[Illustration: 91. Lyddington Bede House.
Traceried Cornice in Wood.]
* * * * *
STAIRCASES.--There is little to be said about mediæval staircases.
They were almost universally of the corkscrew type, the steps winding
round a central newel, as at Tattershall Castle (Fig. 43). There was
but little opportunity for embellishment, and accordingly none is
to be found, the nearest approach being the treatment of the stone
handrail already shown in Fig. 44. The steps were usually of stone, the
undersides being sloped off to afford as much head room as possible
below them. In some instances when the summit of the staircase was
reached, the roof of the enclosure was vaulted with some attention to
appearances, but beyond this the ornamental treatment did not go. There
are a few instances of these staircases being vaulted all the way up
in brick, the steps themselves being then built up on the top of the
vaulting. This was a clever and ingenious piece of brickwork, but was
not especially ornamental. Indeed we have to wait until the time of
Elizabeth for any display of fancy in the treatment of staircases; up
to that time they were strictly utilitarian in character.
* * * * *
The WALLS of mediæval houses were frequently left bare, but
when they were covered three methods seem to have been adopted. The
earliest was to apply a thin layer of plaster, a method which has
survived to the present day. But whereas nowadays the plaster is of
sufficient thickness to cover all the irregularities of the wall and
to be brought to a perfectly true and even surface, in early times it
was quite thin, and although it stopped all the crevices, it retained
the main irregularities of the wall, and produced a pleasant variety
of effect. The plaster was frequently decorated with coloured lines or
simple patterns, and occasionally with figure subjects. The next method
was to cover the walls with wainscot, that is, with oak panelling.
Of this treatment few, if any, examples survive; but, judging from
other Gothic woodwork, the panels must have been of considerable
size set in framing of large scantling. This work was also frequently
painted in colours and patterns. The third method and the last in
point of date, was to cover them with hangings--tapestry or arras,
as they were generally called, from the town where they were chiefly
manufactured--“the costly cloths of Arras and of Tours,” as Spenser
calls them.