1. Meopham, Kent. 2. Wansford, Northamptonshire. 3. Sturmer, Essex. 4. Silchester, Hampshire. 5. Bignor, Sussex. ] [Illustration: FIG. 230.--Chimney and Dormer Window at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire.] [Illustration: FIG. 231.--The Stables, Neville Holt, Leicestershire.] Some compensation was afforded, however, by the introduction of the cupolas or lantern lights which were prevalent during the last half of the seventeenth century and the first few years of the eighteenth. There is an interesting drawing of such a feature for Whitehall by Inigo Jones in the Worcester College collection (Fig. 232). It is entitled in Jones’s writing--“June 1, 1627, for the Cloke house Whight hall.” Webb made use of the same kind of feature, and so did Wren and his contemporaries. There is a fine example on the stables at Neville Holt, in Leicestershire (Fig. 231), a building of great interest, possessing doorways of curious seventeenth-century detail; and another good specimen is at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (Fig. 233). The old hall was altered about the year 1742, when it was described as “very gloomy and dark,” and as being “roofed with old Oak Beams, very black & dismal from y^e Charcoal w^{ch} is burnt in y^e middle of y^e Hall; and over it in y^e middle of y^e Roof was an old awkward kind of Cupulo to let out y^e Smoak.”[81] The new cupola was considered, presumably, more elegant and less awkward than the old one. The reference to the ancient method of warming the hall by a fire in the middle of the floor is interesting, as showing how long the old practice lingered in places where those in authority were averse to change. A further example is shown in Fig. 234. [Illustration: FIG. 232.--Clock Turret, Whitehall. From a Drawing by Inigo Jones, dated 1st June 1627. ] [Illustration: FIG. 233.--Cupola at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.] [Illustration: FIG. 234.--Cupola at Caius College, Cambridge.] While fancy still played a part in the work of local masons, the little date-stones shown in Fig. 235 were built into some unpretentious houses in the Midlands; but a hundred years later the diligent pursuit of correctitude had banished such touches from the work of architects, and masons had lost the feeling which gave rise to them. They are, however, quite suggestive, and provide ideas for the perpetuation of the owner’s name and the date of his work--facts which are of interest in respect of all buildings. The example from Amersham is rather more ambitious, but hardly more successful (Fig. 236).