123.—Bean Lodge, Petworth, Sussex.
Rain-Water Heads.
Attention should be drawn to another feature of which nothing hitherto has been said, but which was one of the recognized means of obtaining effect—namely, the rain-water pipes. These necessary adjuncts to a building have ceased to play the important part which once they did; they are still tolerated, because they cannot be abolished, but they are only admitted grudgingly and of necessity. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a large amount of care was bestowed upon their design, and being made of lead they were susceptible of interesting treatment. Their use was in the nature of a novelty, since up to this time the water from the roofs had been allowed to splash on to the ground from projecting gargoyles. They very frequently carried either the date or the family crest upon them, and were often ornamented with pierced work. The examples shown in Figs. [124-126] are from Haddon Hall; two of them bear the cognizance of the Vernon family (the boar's head), and one that of the Manners family in addition (the peacock). Haddon passed into the possession of Sir John Manners, by his marriage with Dorothy Vernon, in the year 1567, and these lead heads must be ascribed to a date subsequent to the marriage, otherwise they would not bear the peacock of the Manners family. They still retain in their ornament some trace of Gothic feeling, but the topmost moulding, with the dentils beneath it, is clearly of classic derivation. The third head with the cresting of fleur-de-lys may well be of rather earlier date, and the work of Sir George Vernon, the father of Dorothy. Allied to the last example from Haddon is the rain-water head from Sherborne, Dorset (Fig. [127]), dated 1579, also with a battlemented cresting. At Knole, in Kent, is another good example (Fig. [128]) with a pierced front and two triangular projections ending in a pendant; the top is ornamented with a battlemented cresting, now mutilated. Another specimen, of somewhat plainer character, comes from Bramshill (Fig. [129]); it is dated 1612, and has its outlet towards one end, so as to bring the water horizontally along the wall for a short distance in order that the pipe may not interfere with some feature in the wall below. At Rushton there are some lead heads bearing the date 1627, which depend for their effect upon their shape rather than upon their decoration, which is practically limited to a very simple treatment of the cresting. These are two or three examples out of a great many that still remain, some of them being even more ornamental; the greater number, however, were more nearly allied to the plainer than the richer examples.
Plate XXXVII.
BLICKLING HALL, NORFOLK (1619-20).
PART OF ENTRANCE FRONT.
LEAD RAIN-WATER HEADS
