But, as already said, the new Italian fashion, although it affected the embellishment of the house, was long before it affected the plan. In the reign of Henry VII., indeed, it is nowhere apparent, either in plan or ornament. A few prominent dates are useful in fixing on the mind important changes of style; and the advent of the Renaissance manner into England can be fixed by remembering that it made its first appearance in the tomb of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey, which was erected by the order of Henry VIII. in the year 1516. Any work with Italian or Italianised detail, may safely be dated subsequent to that year. There is a considerable amount of work of this kind to be found up and down the country, but chiefly in the southern and eastern counties. The only building which it actually dominated appears to have been Henry VIII.’s house of Nonsuch in Surrey, now entirely destroyed; but in such isolated features as screens, panels, tombs, and doorways, it frequently occurs. [Illustration: 96. Sutton Place, Surrey. Part of the Courtyard (1523–25).] [Illustration: 97. East Barsham, Norfolk. The Gatehouse (_cir._ 1500–15).] During the reign of Henry VIII., who was a munificent patron of the arts, the new style did much to establish itself, but houses were still arranged on the traditional plan, and were rather haphazard in their disposition. The hall continued to be the principal room; it lay between the family rooms and the servants’ quarters. But it was supplemented by retiring rooms of greater size, greater comfort, and greater number. East Barsham (_c._ 1500–15), Thornbury Castle (_c._ 1511), Compton Winyates (_c._ 1520), the enlargement of Lytes Carey manor house (_c._ 1525), Hengrave Hall (c. 1538), Little Moreton (_c._ 1559), all these, and others that might be named, show the same free and irregular disposition, which had always been distinctive of the English house. Hengrave Hall (Fig. 98) is a stepping-stone from the mediæval to the Elizabethan type. It is full of irregularity, but it is planned on much more regular lines than South Wingfield, for instance. The entrance front is symmetrical, although not absolutely so; it has a large central doorway flanked by turrets, and is broken at intervals by other turrets--features quite familiar in sixteenth-century houses. It has a courtyard, encircled on three sides by a corridor, and the hall looks out on to the limited area of the court. The windows are small in comparison with the blank wall spaces, and the detail is Gothic, except for some quasi-Italian amorini supporting the oriel over the front door. While many of the old haphazard arrangements are retained, there is a certain attempt at orderliness and symmetry which points the way to the more regular planning of later years. [Illustration: 98. Hengrave Hall, Suffolk (_cir._ 1538). Ground Plan.]