Early Renaissance Architecture in England: A Historical & Descriptive Account of the Tudor, Elizabethan, & Jacobean Periods, 1500-1625Gotch, J. Alfred (John Alfred)
History
Early Renaissance Architecture in England: A Historical & Descriptive Account of the Tudor, Elizabethan, & Jacobean Periods, 1500-1625
is of Late Gothic character without any trace of the new style in its
decoration.
[Illustration: 36.--EAST BARSHAM, NORFOLK. GROUND PLAN (CIR. 1500-15).]
At East Barsham (about 1500-15) we get indications of the new style in
the treatment of parts of the ornament. The general feeling, however,
is still Gothic. There is not much of the plan to be made out, but
what there is shows a large entrance tower, with the porch of the hall
exactly opposite to it (Fig. 36). The hall has a bay window at the daïs
end, and, contrary to custom, a fireplace in the end wall. The kitchen
is to the right on entering, and is approached by a passage from the
middle of the screens. The whole arrangement is in the main of the
usual type, so far as it can be traced. The new feeling is indicated in
one or two panels which bear a head, but most of the ornament is still
of the Gothic type with cuspings, etc. At the neighbouring parsonage
of Great Snoring, which resembles East Barsham in general treatment,
some of the ornament is more decidedly Italian, with the characteristic
balusters and foliage.
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
COMPTON WINYATES, WARWICKSHIRE (ABOUT 1520).
GENERAL VIEW.]
Compton Winyates, in Warwickshire (about 1520), is a very complete and
charming example of its period. The plan conforms in its main features
to the ordinary type (Fig. 37). A certain amount of regularity is
imparted to it by reason of its being built round a rectangular court,
but of symmetry in it there is hardly a trace, and there is still
less in the grouping of the structure. Everything is as irregular
and picturesque as the most romantic could desire; the mixture of
materials--stone, brick, wood, and plaster--lends a delightful variety
of texture, tone, and colour, and makes the house, next to Haddon,
one of the most alluring in the country (Plate XI.). But our concern
at present is more particularly with the plan. This shows a courtyard
entered through a gateway which is opposite, though not exactly
opposite, to the door of the screens. On the left of the screens are
the buttery, the kitchen passage, and a staircase; on the right, of
course, the hall, from the upper end of which access is obtained to the
family rooms, the chapel, and--what previous plans have not shown--the
grand staircase. Of course, with the lofty hall cutting the building
in two halves, at least two staircases were necessary to get to the
upper rooms; as a matter of fact there were usually more than two, as
there are here: difficulties of planning being often removed, or at
any rate lessened, by this rather costly expedient. It will be seen
that the hall has a range of rooms at the back of it, and that its two
side walls are not, as usual, both external. The sides of the court
are formed, as they were at Oxburgh, of a number of small rooms, which
originally (in all probability) led into one another, the passage being
a later addition. The ornament, in which the house abounds, is all of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account