DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6910#0030
14
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
Unfortunately for us, these notices are so extremely vague, that they serve rather
as hints to the fancy, than as satisfactory evidences to the judgment. Hence the
diversity of opinions that prevail on this subject, and hence the imperious necessity
of obtaining and perpetuating correct delineations, with faithful accounts of the
most ancient structures. For it must be evident that authentic information relating
to the comparative state of the useful arts at different periods, constitutes an im-
portant object in the history of a kingdom, and serves materially to characterise the
manners, customs, and habits of a people.
The dissolution of monasteries by Henry the Eighth, occasioned an extraordinary
change in the features of the times ; and the state of Domestic Architecture has to
date a new epoch from that event. Many religious houses were then converted into
mansions ; and some of the newly-erected seats were built in imitation of the
monastic dwellings. " Layer Marney Hall," observes Morant,* "was a grand and
capacious house, wherein many persons could be conveniently lodged. The building
was square, enclosing a court, with a grand entrance towards the south." This
estate continued the property of the Marney family, from the time of Henry the
Second,f until the 3.5th of Henry the Eighth, when, with other lands in Essex, it
was obtained in exchange by Sir Bryan Tuke.J The present mansion appears to
have been built by Sir Henry Marney, " who was Captain of the Guard to Henry
VIII. made Knight of the Garter, Lord Privy Seal, 14th Henry VIII. and in the
same year was created Lord Marney."§ Towards the latter end of Henry the
Seventh's, and the beginning of Henry the Eighth's reigns, the mansions began to
lose their real castellated character, though still retaining many of its peculiarities :
small windows, thick walls, base courts, turrets, and a sort of embattled parapet still
continued.! Layer Marney Hall appears of this description : chequered compart-
ments of flint, and diagonal lines of dark glazed bricks, were frequently introduced
* History of Essex, 2 vols. fol.
t " Henry III. in the 48th year of his reign, grants to William de Marney leave to impark his wood of Lire,
within the precincts of the forest of Essex. And the same time he had liberty granted him to hunt within the
forest of Essex."—Salmon's History of Essex, fol. p. 447-
J Private Acts, 35th Henry VIII. ch. 9.
§ Salmon's History, &c. p. 448.
|| " Henry the Seventh granted a license, or permission, to fortify the Manor-house at New-hall, Essex, with walls
and towers; and Gosfield Hall, which was built in his reign, in a manner to evade the law, has a large quadrangular
court in the centre, and was equally strong and well secured as many baronial castles."—Beauties of England
and Wales. Vol. v. p. 265, 361.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
Unfortunately for us, these notices are so extremely vague, that they serve rather
as hints to the fancy, than as satisfactory evidences to the judgment. Hence the
diversity of opinions that prevail on this subject, and hence the imperious necessity
of obtaining and perpetuating correct delineations, with faithful accounts of the
most ancient structures. For it must be evident that authentic information relating
to the comparative state of the useful arts at different periods, constitutes an im-
portant object in the history of a kingdom, and serves materially to characterise the
manners, customs, and habits of a people.
The dissolution of monasteries by Henry the Eighth, occasioned an extraordinary
change in the features of the times ; and the state of Domestic Architecture has to
date a new epoch from that event. Many religious houses were then converted into
mansions ; and some of the newly-erected seats were built in imitation of the
monastic dwellings. " Layer Marney Hall," observes Morant,* "was a grand and
capacious house, wherein many persons could be conveniently lodged. The building
was square, enclosing a court, with a grand entrance towards the south." This
estate continued the property of the Marney family, from the time of Henry the
Second,f until the 3.5th of Henry the Eighth, when, with other lands in Essex, it
was obtained in exchange by Sir Bryan Tuke.J The present mansion appears to
have been built by Sir Henry Marney, " who was Captain of the Guard to Henry
VIII. made Knight of the Garter, Lord Privy Seal, 14th Henry VIII. and in the
same year was created Lord Marney."§ Towards the latter end of Henry the
Seventh's, and the beginning of Henry the Eighth's reigns, the mansions began to
lose their real castellated character, though still retaining many of its peculiarities :
small windows, thick walls, base courts, turrets, and a sort of embattled parapet still
continued.! Layer Marney Hall appears of this description : chequered compart-
ments of flint, and diagonal lines of dark glazed bricks, were frequently introduced
* History of Essex, 2 vols. fol.
t " Henry III. in the 48th year of his reign, grants to William de Marney leave to impark his wood of Lire,
within the precincts of the forest of Essex. And the same time he had liberty granted him to hunt within the
forest of Essex."—Salmon's History of Essex, fol. p. 447-
J Private Acts, 35th Henry VIII. ch. 9.
§ Salmon's History, &c. p. 448.
|| " Henry the Seventh granted a license, or permission, to fortify the Manor-house at New-hall, Essex, with walls
and towers; and Gosfield Hall, which was built in his reign, in a manner to evade the law, has a large quadrangular
court in the centre, and was equally strong and well secured as many baronial castles."—Beauties of England
and Wales. Vol. v. p. 265, 361.