PART XI.
INTERIORS AND DETAILS.
It is remarkable what pretty bits of detail we often come across in old cottages; unfortunately, it is sometimes difficult to ascertain for certain whether these are “in situ” or whether they have originally belonged to more important buildings and have found their way down to the cottages, just as ladies’ dresses find themselves after some time in more humble hands than those for which they were originally intended. A beautiful partition, or screen, which we give from a small farmhouse or cottage at Toppesfield, in Essex, is a case in point; it may have always formed a portion of the building in which it now stands, or it may have been removed from some more stately one. It is singularly well preserved, but seems to be almost too elaborate and costly a work to have been made for a house which is little more than a cottage. However, as we have seen from examples at Clare and Newport, the exteriors of cottages were sometimes elaborately adorned; and if the exterior, why not the interior?
BRICK CHIMNEY, AMERSHAM.
The screen or partition at Toppesfield is carved in oak, and what is very remarkable is the fact that while the four lower ranges of panels are English in style, the top range, with the heads introduced, is like French work.
AT TOPPESFIELD.
The two mantelpieces and fireplaces, which we illustrate, are certainly in their original places, and have not been removed. The example from Alfreston dates from the second half of the sixteenth century, and the very singular one at Amersham from the earlier part of the seventeenth. The latter has a pretty but very uncommon feature about it. The ingle nooks are pierced by little windows, so that when sitting down to warm yourself at the fire you can look out of the window at the same time, a great advantage to the aged and infirm, who cannot move about very readily, and yet get tired of looking always at the fire or always out of the window.
Sometimes the ceilings of the rooms in cottages are very pretty examples of ornamental plaster work. A cottage at Margate, which was recently pulled down, had a singularly elegant plaster ceiling, with the same motto repeated over and over again, and in every case misspelt; the words were intended to be “Ich Dien,” but the mistake “Ich pien” was repeated throughout.
While speaking on ornamental plaster work it is known that during the sixteenth century rye-dough was frequently mixed with the plaster to obtain sharp and delicate work. This material dries very hard, as any of our girls who have been educated at a German school will know from their experience of black bread which is over a week old.
Our remaining sketch represents one of those prettily-cut brick chimneys which are so very ornamental in Tudor houses and cottages. The example here given is at Amersham. The two chimneys are almost of the same design, which in one case is nearly four times the scale of the other, and it is worthy of notice how totally different is the effect of the same pattern in a large and a small scale. A complete and thorough understanding of this fact is all important to the architect and the decorator! Chimneys are often very beautiful objects. Perhaps the most magnificent examples are to be seen at East Barsham Hall, near Walsingham, Norfolk. This building, the finest example of Tudor domestic work in the country, deserves better treatment than it has received. Portions of it are in ruins, and one part of it cooked up into a farmhouse. How it is that this splendid mansion was ever abandoned and left to fall into ruins is unintelligible. Nowhere is more elaborate or beautiful carved brickwork to be seen. Great coats-of-arms, badges, lions, and elaborate Gothic tracery are all to be found carved out of the finest red brick.
AT ALFRESTON, ESSEX.
But the beautiful architectural works in Norfolk, which are rapidly being reduced to ruins, are indeed a sad story for those who are interested in ancient memorials or beautiful works of art.
AT AMERSHAM. ([See page 716.])
(To be concluded.)