DETAILS FROM LAYER MARNEY TOWER, ESSEX.
41.—Layer Marney, Essex. Entrance Tower (1500-25).
Both these houses were built by men who had spent some time in France. Sir Richard Weston was there more than once, and was among those who were present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Sir Henry Marney, who built Layer Marney Tower, was one of those attending upon Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, when he took a great army to France in 1522.[10] But whether they took advantage of these journeys to bring back French or Italian workmen with them is not known. Unfortunately there is no documentary evidence to produce, and any opinion that may be formed can only be speculative. One thing is clear; namely, that no school was established over here of men working in the new style. The instances of its use are too few and isolated for that.
[10]"Architectural Notes on Layer Marney Hall, Essex," by C. Forster Hayward. Trans. Essex Archæolog. Soc. Vol. III. pt. I.
42.—Hengrave Hall, Suffolk. Ground Plan (1538).
At Hengrave Hall, in Suffolk (1538), the main dispositions conform to the usual type, but without any attempt at exact symmetry (Fig. [42]). The entrance leads into a court, round which a corridor is taken. This feature adds much to the comfort and convenience of the house, but it is a refinement in planning which was very seldom introduced. On the opposite side from the entrance is the hall, with the old position of the screens still preserved; to the right of the screens lies the kitchen wing. There is the usual bay window at the daïs end of the hall, and the family apartments are on the left. Owing to alterations the minutiæ of the original plan cannot now be traced; the general disposition alone can be recognised. The accompanying plan is from one made in 1775, since which time the whole of the kitchen wing has been pulled down and other alterations have been made. The general disposition shown on it may be taken as being like the original, and we see that the entrance is not in the middle of the side of the court, and that in order to obtain a symmetrical façade a wing was carried out to the right, whereby the entrance comes nearly in the centre, though not quite, and is balanced on either hand by projecting turrets corresponding one with the other.
43.—Hengrave Hall, Suffolk. West Front (1538).