90.—Clegg Hall, Lancashire.
The amount of detail bestowed upon these houses varied according to their locality and the materials at hand. In Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, where the stone is hard, great simplicity is the rule. The entrance doorway usually received some attention, and the gables often had finials, but otherwise the work was of the plainest description. The roofs were generally of flatter pitch than in less boisterous districts, and the whole house gives the impression of rough sturdiness quite in keeping with the character of the owners. Compared with the work in Northamptonshire, as exemplified at Kirby, Rushton, or Apethorpe; in Hampshire at Bramshill; in Sussex at Cowdray; or in Somerset at Montacute, the work in the north is severe and wanting in detail. But it has its own charm, just as the rocky "edges" of Derbyshire, and its wild, boulder-strewn tors, with their memories of prehistoric tribes perched upon their bleak summits, have a grim fascination not less powerful than that which hangs over the forest districts further south, where ancient oaks, so old as to retain little beyond their huge trunks, call to mind the curious and cruel laws which once protected the animals that lived beneath their shade. Haddon Hall is a large house, and was the home of one of the first families of the county, but its stonework is comparatively plain. Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire, is another large house, but the detail is even simpler than at Haddon. Clegg Hall, near Rochdale (Fig. [90]), is a good example of a Lancashire house of medium size, except that, compared with others to be found on the wolds and in the dales of that part of the country, it is unusually lofty. Mount Grace Priory, in Yorkshire (Plate [XXX].), is of a more usual type, but even here there is rather greater liveliness than generally distinguishes the Yorkshire manor house; the windows are larger, and the dormers are of steeper pitch than is common. Oakwell Hall, East Ardsley and Swinsty Old Halls are good examples of their kind, with flat-pitched roofs, plain gables, and windows of many small lights. The courtyard at Ingelby Manor (Fig. [91]) has an open arcade with some amount of detail about it, but the effect is grim and chilly, and serves to illustrate the mistake of transferring a child of the Italian sun to the bleak regions of Yorkshire. In some parts of Lancashire, in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and generally in the west, timber was much employed. The "black-and-white," or "magpie," or "post-and-pan" work, as it is variously called, has much charm about it, and appeals keenly to lovers of the picturesque. The contrast between the dark framework and the light-coloured plaster, together with the variety of line consequent upon the constructional necessities of the framework itself, insure a lively result; and when the straight lines of the greater part of the framing are relieved by the introduction of curved braces or more fanciful panels in the gables, the combination is very attractive. The effect is often enhanced by dainty little bits of detail in the wood finials and pendants and verge-boards, but even without these aids the texture of the wood becomes so beautiful through age and weather as hardly to require the help of a chisel. One example, Moreton Old Hall, has already been mentioned (Plates [XV]., [XVI].); Speke Hall, in Lancashire, near the banks of the Irwell, is another (Plate [XXXI].), and it has at the entrance a certain amount of stonework which adds considerably to the interest of the house. There is a fine example at Bramall Hall, near Stockport; a plainer one at Pitchford Hall, in Shropshire; while, among others, may be mentioned the Market-house at Ledbury and the Grange at Leominster, both in Herefordshire. Some examples, although not so many, are to be found in the southern counties; but all through Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire the usual treatment of cottages and small houses was to hang them with weather-tiling. The ground floor was generally of brick, the upper one was tile-hung: there was nearly always a good chimney, sometimes rising out of the roof, but often carried on a massive base which was continued down to the ground. The rich colours which come to these bricks and tiles with age tend to spoil those who live in their midst, and to make them look with a somewhat dull eye upon the quieter tones prevalent in stone districts. Examples of half-timber or "magpie" work, however, are not wanting amid the tile and brick, and one of the most elaborate is to be seen at Mayfield, in Sussex (Fig. [92]), but it is far behind similar work in Cheshire and Lancashire in richness of detail. In the eastern counties, as in the southern, brick is the chief material, but here, too, plaster played an important part in clothing the construction. In the west all the detail was put into the wood; in the east it was put into the plaster, and there are many examples still left of elaborate modelling in plaster to be found upon houses and cottages in Essex and Suffolk. Cut flint was also largely employed for walls, and was used in combination with stone to produce highly-ornamental designs; but its employment seems to have largely died out with the Gothic forms in which it was so successfully manipulated. The brickwork, which in the early part of the century was very rich and elaborate, became much plainer towards its close, and indeed the terra-cotta and the wonderful chimney-shafts of Henry VIII.'s time are hardly to be found in the work of succeeding reigns. It is not in brickwork that we must look for Elizabethan detail, but rather in the easily-worked stone which underlies the central district of England from Devon and Somerset in a north-easterly direction to Rutland and Lincoln.
Plate XXX.
MOUNT GRACE PRIORY, YORKSHIRE.
Plate XXXI.
SPEKE HALL, LANCASHIRE.
91.—Courtyard, Ingelby Manor, Yorkshire.