Another of the special characteristics of houses of this period is the staircase. It has already been said that no examples are found previous to Elizabeth’s time of anything but extremely simple stairs, generally of the corkscrew type, but sometimes consisting of straight flights in the thickness of a wall. These forms were still in use in the latter part of the sixteenth century: Rothwell Market House in Northamptonshire (1577) was to have had a circular stair; and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire (1576) has nothing but plain flights of steps, nothing which can be considered an ornamental staircase. But these were the exceptions; the rule was to have a broad staircase, generally of wood, with short runs of steps leading from landing to landing: the newel posts were stout and tall, and carried up well above the handrail, their tops being either wrought into striking shapes, or crowned with heraldic animals. When the staircase extended to many flights, the effect was very fine, as may be seen in the example from Crewe Hall (Fig. 143). The handrail was massive, and the space between it and the stout string was filled with thick turned balusters, or occasionally with wood pierced in patterns. In a few instances a gate is to be found across the stairs, placed there to prevent dogs from roaming over the whole house. There is a good example at Hatfield House, and another at Cold Overton in Leicestershire (Fig. 144). At Rawdon House near Hoddesdon, there is a good staircase with heraldic newels and a pierced balustrade. It leads up to a landing on which is an elaborate doorway of one of the principal chambers (Fig. 145). Innumerable other fine staircases might be mentioned, but these examples will suffice to indicate the style prevalent in the time of Elizabeth and James. [Illustration: 145. Staircase and Doorway, Rawdon House, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.] [Illustration: 146. Astley Hall, Lancashire. The Long Gallery.] These staircases led up to important rooms: to the great chamber and the long gallery, as well as to the bedrooms. The great chamber was a room of state, and answered somewhat to the drawing-room of the present day. It was, of course, decorated in the usual way with panelled walls, fretted ceiling, and a large chimney-piece. So, too, was the long gallery, perhaps the most characteristic room of an Elizabethan house. The earliest instance of a long gallery seems to have been at Hampton Court, of a date about 1540. It continued in fashion, designers vying in their endeavours to give it extraordinary length, until the time of Charles I., when, under the changed ideas as to household arrangement which then prevailed, it disappeared. Its precise object is not quite clear. At Apethorpe it was intended as a music-room, as testified by the inscription on the chimney-piece:--