BROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIRE.
INTERIOR PORCH (ABOUT 1599).
148.—Panelling from Sizergh Hall, Westmorland (now in South Kensington Museum).
Sizergh Hall, in Westmorland, offered a still more elaborate example, which has now been erected in South Kensington Museum (Fig. [148] and Plate [L].). The panels here are not carved, but inlaid—a method of decoration much in vogue in Italy, where some exquisite drawing is bestowed upon it, but not prevalent in England. There are a number of instances in different parts of the country, but, compared with carving, inlay was seldom resorted to. The domed turret in the corner of the room should be noticed (Fig. [148]); it is, in fact, an inside porch contrived so as to allow access between two other rooms without having to come through the third. This device in planning is not of frequent occurrence, but when it was considered necessary much care was taken to produce an attractive feature. There are several in the southern counties, notably at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire (Plate [LI].), at the Red Lodge, in Bristol, and at Bradfield, in Devonshire. This room at Sizergh presents a fresh type of treatment in the junction of wall and ceiling. In previous examples the wood panelling was carried quite up to the ceiling; here it stops short by a foot or more, and the space thus left is occupied by a modelled plaster frieze which leads up to the ornamental ceiling. This method was adopted as frequently as the other; the depth of the plaster frieze varied a good deal, being in one of the rooms at Hardwick Hall as much as six or seven feet, and filled with figure subjects modelled in relief and painted, representing hunting and other woodland scenes: the space below the frieze is covered with tapestry instead of panelling (Plate [LII].).
Doors.
Doorways presented another opportunity for the display of design. At Sizergh the door is merely a portion of the panelling on hinges, the porch in which it is hung gives it the requisite importance; but as a rule the doorways were surrounded with a large amount of decoration. In important houses they were flanked with columns or pilasters, were surmounted with a frieze and cornice, and often with a pediment; obelisks stood over the pilasters; the frieze was fluted or carved or adorned at intervals with heads; some convenient panel was filled with the owner's arms; nothing was omitted that an extravagant fancy could suggest (Plate [LIII].). At Levens Hall, in Westmorland, there is a fine panelled room with a richly ornamented doorway (Plate [LIV].), in which fantastic figures support a cornice whereon is set up a panel for the owner's arms, flanked on either hand by a contorted animal. In the same district, at Conishead Priory, there is a panelled room of even greater elaboration than this at Levens. Some of the panels are ornamented with mouldings mitred into various patterns, but most of them have niches with pediments or raised panels surrounded with mouldings curved and straight and breaking back in a bewildering manner, while here, there, and everywhere are cherubs' heads and bunches of fruit—the whole effect being rather too bizarre.
149.—Doorway, Abbott's Hospital, Guildford, Surrey (1627).