(PAGES 147, 148.)
The elevation is treated, on the whole, in a quiet and dignified manner, but the handling of it from the parapets upwards shows a determination to obtain that picturesqueness of outline which was considered essential. The means to this end are curved gables, quaint pinnacles, and rather elaborate lanterns, of which there are two alternative designs provided, as there are also of the small gables or dormers on the parapet. The type of chimney shown is one of the more reasonable which were employed.
The plan on Plate [LXXXVI]. shows a slight variation of the usual type, inasmuch as the wings, instead of being narrow and only one room thick, are two rooms thick. In other respects it follows the familiar lines. On one side is the hall with its daïs and bay window; then the grand staircase and a vestibule giving access to the parlour and a group of two lodgings, the remainder of the wing being occupied by a room which—if the ovens are anything but a repetition of those in the corresponding wing—must be the bakehouse. On the other side of the house are the buttery, a lodging, the winter parlour, the back stairs and vestibule, the kitchen, dry larder, and pastry; the wet larder, according to a note, is under the dry. There is no arcade here. This plan is entitled "Sir Wm. Haseridge," and the upright (as the elevation was called) has on it the initials D. H. and the date 1606 (Plate [LXXXVII].). This is important, as it shows that at that time the old relation of the hall to the rest of the house was still retained. This house, in spite of its title, has not been identified with any existing building. A family of the name of Haselrigge has lived at Noseley, in Leicestershire, since early in the seventeenth century, but the existing house has nothing in common with this plan. The elevation is treated in a simple manner, with very few foreign flourishes.
In the next example (Figs. [217], [218], [219]) we have ground plan, upper plan, and elevation: a valuable example, inasmuch as it is one of the few cases in which all three drawings are given; the upper plan is interesting, as it shows the position of the two chief rooms, the gallery and great chamber. The disposition of the ground floor conforms to the usual type, but is varied so as to enclose a small central court, somewhat after the fashion of Barlborough (Fig. [49]); but here all the principal rooms are on one floor, whereas at Barlborough the kitchens are in the basement. The accommodation here comprises the hall, grand staircase, and parlour on the one side, and buttery, winter parlour, back stairs, and kitchen on the other. There is a vestibule to the kitchen, which probably would have been called the "survaying place" had it been named, similar rooms being so designated in Figs. [224], [226]. The use of the survaying place is not anywhere explained, but most likely it was a serving room, where the dishes were overlooked before being taken to the hall or the winter parlour. There is a staircase from the kitchen which presumably led down to the larders, pantries, and other subsidiary rooms. The manner in which the middle bay window on the kitchen side serves to light the vestibule and the back stairs (through a borrowed light) should be noticed as an instance of the subordination of the plan to the uniformity of the exterior. Here, for the first time, occurs an example of the use of sanitary conveniences: it will be seen that neither downstairs nor up are they placed in a manner that would be tolerated at the present day. Nor indeed were they arranged at this period with anything like the same attention to isolation and means of ventilation which was bestowed upon such places in mediæval times. The central court is shown with a room and staircase projecting into it, but this excrescence was very wisely crossed out, for the court was small enough without it, and could never have been either cheerful or conducive to health. The upper plan shows the long gallery, 80 feet long by 20 feet wide, and the great chamber, 45 feet long by 23 feet wide. To these two rooms nearly the whole space is sacrificed, there being in addition only two fair-sized bedrooms and two smaller apartments, besides those which may have been contrived in the roof. Both the gallery, the great chamber, and the parlour are shown with an inner porch, such as occurs at Sizergh Castle (Fig. [148]), and at Broughton Castle, in Oxfordshire (Plate [LI].), Bradfield, in Devonshire, and a few other houses. The elevation (Fig. [219]) resembles that on Plate [LXXXV]. It is treated in a simple and unostentatious way, but the most is made of such features as the bay windows, chimney-stacks, and gables. The latter have the curly outline which is prevalent in the Thorpe collection, but which, as already said, does not appear in the same proportion among such of the actual buildings of the time as have survived. The front chimneys are of the same pattern as those on Plate [LXXXV].
217.—An Unnamed Ground Plan (PAGES 217, 218).[31]
1. Hall.
2. Principal Stairs.
3. Parlour.
4. Inner Room.