92.—House at Mayfield, Sussex.
Windows.
It has already been said that an Elizabethan house depends for its picturesqueness chiefly upon its windows, gables, and chimneys. The mullioned and transomed window is indeed one of the characteristic features of the Elizabethan style, the openings being all rectangular. Already during the prevalence of Gothic forms the vertical spaces formed by the mullions of the windows had been divided horizontally by transoms, but this treatment was rather the exception than the rule. In Tudor times the windows were usually small, sometimes consisting only of one light, but often of two or even three, and occasionally being two tiers in height. The lights almost always had flat-pointed heads. The small size resulted from the old wish to have a defensible house, but as the need for such precaution lessened, the lights increased in number; the desire for well-lighted rooms led to still further extension and to doing away with the pointed heads in favour of straight ones. The gradual changes in the form of windows is well seen in the courtyard at Cowdray (Fig. [93]). The window on the extreme right of the illustration, with its pointed arch and traceried lights, is Gothic; next to it comes a Tudor bay window, made up of a number of flat-pointed lights, which there was no need to restrict in this case, because the window looked into the court. To the left are two bays of Elizabeth's time, with rectangular lights three rows in height and many in width. At Barrington Court (Plate [XXXII].) may be seen a more usual example of Tudor windows, as well as the twisted finials of which the early sixteenth century was so fond. Another kind of treatment is occasionally to be found, in which brackets are introduced in the upper lights, springing from the mullions and supporting the horizontal head. One version of this method is to be seen at Layer Marney in the windows over the archway (Plate [XIII].), and another at Lacock Abbey (Plate [XXXVI].). In the latter window should also be noticed the circle introduced at the crossing of the centre mullion and transom, which resembles the treatment adopted in the screen at King's College Chapel (Plate [VIII].). The date of Layer Marney may be put at 1520, Lacock Abbey at about 1540, and the screen at 1535. The greatest development of windows was, however, to be found in the bay. The bay window is one of the most important features in the architecture of the time. English designers had always been fond of bay windows: they put them to the daïs of their halls in quite early times, and there are many examples of small bays being corbelled out on an upper floor, where the exigencies of the ground plan did not permit of their starting from the ground. But as a rule these early bays were only one storey in height: as time went on, however, they grew to two storeys, and then to as many as the main building itself had. From being an adjunct they became a dominating feature, and most of the large houses of the time derive variety of outline and rhythm of composition from their bay windows. Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire (Fig. [94]), has a fine bay at the end of the hall. It is only one storey high, but that storey is the full height of the building in that part. The sill is brought down lower than those of the other windows in order to enable the occupants of the daïs to look out into the court. At Astley Hall, also in Lancashire (Plate [XXXIII].), the two bays are the dominating feature of the front; indeed, the whole architectural interest of this side of the house lies in the management of the windows, for the doorway, flanked by double columns which lend their united strength to supporting a peaceable lion, is hardly worth attention. The long range of windows which reaches continuously from one end of the building to the other forms a striking feature, but must be a matter of much concern to the housewife who has to drape them on the inside, and to consider the claims of her carpet on sunny days.
93.—Cowdray House, Sussex. Part of Court.
94.—Hoghton Tower, Lancashire. Bay of Hall.
Plate XXXII.
