Every house of any importance was surrounded with some kind of lay-out. The external courtyard, which originated from a desire for protection, was converted into a place of pleasure or state, yet still retaining the advantage of preventing unrestricted access. Small manor houses, such as that at Cold Ashton in Somerset, or Eyam Hall in Derbyshire, had at least a walled garden in front with a terrace approached up a flight of steps. Large houses had several courts in front, which had each to be traversed in turn before the front door was reached, as well as side courts and walled gardens. Many of them had a small entrance archway in the wall of the courtyard, generally of simple design, but imparting a touch of interest and romance to an otherwise unpretentious home, as is the case at West Burton in Sussex (Fig. 127). Nearly all these characteristic adjuncts have now been cleared away from our English houses, to their grievous detriment; and it has been remarked that had we but retained the shelter of our ancient garden walls, we should be under much less necessity to seek the warmth of the Riviera during the cold winds of spring. No better idea of the ancient aspect of Jacobean houses can be gained than from the views of Knyff and Kip; and although the accuracy of every detail cannot be guaranteed, there can be no doubt that the general disposition is fairly true to the facts. At Brome Hall in Suffolk (Fig. 128) the approach to the entrance front is across at least two courts, and if the outermost enclosure is anything more than the end of an avenue, there would be three. The other fronts are surrounded with walled gardens which extend a considerable distance on every side, and are backed up by plantations and a wide avenue. The house itself is plain in character, depending for its effect largely upon its symmetrical arrangement. There is a certain amount of richness about the porch and the tower over it; elsewhere the prominent chimney-stacks and the dormer windows are the dominating features. It will be observed that the sides of the first garden court (beyond the avenue) are formed of subsidiary buildings, the range on the left being one side of the stable court. It was quite customary to give architectural importance to the principal approach by means of inferior buildings, which in the present day are kept out of observation. At Longleat (Fig. 107) the lay-out is confined to three sides of the house; the approach lies along a raised paved walk. The “regular” and symmetrical fronts, which here also depend upon bay windows for their interest, enclose buildings which are less severely treated and which blossom out into many turrets. Much of this inside work is of somewhat earlier date, for Longleat was the result of several different building efforts which extended over a period of about thirty years, and concluded about 1580. In these descriptions it is Kip’s views which are referred to, not the present buildings, which have in most cases undergone alterations, especially in respect of their lay-outs.
129. Plan of the Lay-out of Lord Exeter’s House and Garden at Wimbledon, 1609.
From the Smithson Collection.
130. Powis Castle, Wales.
The grand period of garden design was to come later, in the early years of the eighteenth century, at the time when Knyff and Kip published their book. But if proof were wanted that the later draughtsman did not invent the elaborate surroundings of his houses, it is to be found among the Smithson drawings which were made in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. There are several plans of lay-outs in the collection, the most notable being the survey of Wimbledon House, made in 1609 (Fig. 129). This was a Cecil house, having been built in the year 1588 by either Lord Burghley or his son, afterwards Earl of Exeter. It stood on the edge of a high hill with a splendid prospect towards the north. The steepness of the ground on this side led to the formation of two courts, approached by fine flights of steps, and leading to a terrace off which the front door opened. Behind the house, to the south, lay the great garden, and on the east was a small sunk garden, called in later years the Orange garden. Smithson’s notes indicate the principal features: a banqueting house, hedges of thorn and quick-set cut very finely, quarters set with knots of flowers, rows of cherry trees, rows of lime trees, “both for shade and sweetness,” and various orchards. Here again we have striking evidence of how far we have travelled from the enclosures which surrounded the castles of two centuries earlier, even the largest, such as Kenilworth.
Everything, indeed, points to the new delight which people were taking in their homes; how they loved not only fine houses but fine gardens, seizing upon every change of level to introduce a terrace, and charmed with any opportunity to form a handsome flight of steps, such as that at Heath Hall (Fig. 124), or Powis Castle in Wales (Fig. 130). It is quite clear that the days were past when men merely ornamented what was essential to safety: they now revelled in their freedom from restriction, and indulged themselves in attractive design for its own sake.
CHAPTER X.
Elizabethan and Jacobean Houses—interiors.
The same impulse which brought about so great a change in external treatment, led also to corresponding developments in the internal decorations: magnificence and comfort went hand in hand. The great chimneys which have been referred to as forming such conspicuous features outside, implied a considerable increase of fireplaces within. Harrison, in his contribution to “Hollinshed’s Chronicles” (1577), mentions “the multitude of chimneys lately erected.” Every room of importance by this time had at least one, and the large rooms frequently had two. It was this multiplication of flues which led to their striking external treatment. The increase was only one of the effects of the continual pursuit of comfort which underlay all the changes in domestic arrangement. In other directions the pursuit was successful owing to the changed condition of the times, which no longer demanded security against attack. Elizabethan houses were built for comfort, and many of them for magnificence. Being no longer hampered by the need for precautions against forcible entry, designers laid themselves out to obtain a convenient disposition of rooms so far as that was compatible with a dignified, and often splendid, treatment, and the demands of a symmetry which grew more and more insistent. The accommodation of the larger houses of that time suffices for the present day, although its disposition is often at variance with our wants. The actual decoration of the rooms is still frequently taken as a model for imitation and even reproduction.