DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6911#0128
DOMESTIC, OR CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.
93
intermediate spaces filled with laths and plaster. Some of the interior decorations
are coeval with the oldest parts, and display carved wainscot-work, stuccoed
ceilings, &c. In the parlour, on the left-hand side of the entrance, is a curious
chimney-piece, ornamented with caryatides, basso-relievos, and scrolls. These
represent, in different compartments and figures, Venus, Bacchus, Plenty, and the
story of Diana and Actseon. Attached to the ceiling, are the letters I M on a shield,
also profile heads, in relief, of a man, and a queen, with figures of fish, &c. Nu-
merous examples of timber buildings remain in different parts of England; but of
this class, the greater part are to be found in old cities and towns, where stone
and brick were rare, or were not brought into general use. In Exeter, Salisbury,
Bristol, Chester, Hereford, Coventry, Ipswich, Manchester, and several other towns,
where modern improvements, and uniform rows of buildings, have not wholly
superseded old plans, and old uncomfortableness, many of these houses are still
preserved. Of insulated country mansions, the residences of gentlemen of for-
tune, very few are remaining in England. In Lancashire, and some of the northern
counties, these edifices are, however, occasionally to be seen. Those of Hulme-Hall*,
and Ancoates-Hall, f near Manchester, are of this character. A more perfect
example, is that of Peel-Hall in the same county, belonging to three ladies named
Kenyon. In this house are two curious carved chimney-pieces. Timber, with
lath and plaster, and thatch for the roofs, constituted the chief materials in the
domestic dwellings of the English, from an early period till nearly the close of the
fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, when bricks began to be used in
the better sort of houses. The general adoption of these constitutes an important
epoch in civil architecture, for though it is evident that the Romans exercised the art
of making bricks and tiles, in Britain, yet it is generally allowed, that after their
departure, the practice was nearly or wholly discontinued, till the time already stated.^
In this class of buildings, which immediately followed, and imitated the castles,
we have several examples delineated in the present series. Of these, the earliest
in point of time, is
* A view of this is published in the ninth volume of the Beauties of England,
t See a print of this building in Aikin's History of Manchester.
I See an essay on this subject by Dean Lyttleton, in Archseologia, vol. i. p. 140; and another by Mr. Essex,
in the fourth volume of the same valuable series of antiquarian papers.
N. VOL. II.
93
intermediate spaces filled with laths and plaster. Some of the interior decorations
are coeval with the oldest parts, and display carved wainscot-work, stuccoed
ceilings, &c. In the parlour, on the left-hand side of the entrance, is a curious
chimney-piece, ornamented with caryatides, basso-relievos, and scrolls. These
represent, in different compartments and figures, Venus, Bacchus, Plenty, and the
story of Diana and Actseon. Attached to the ceiling, are the letters I M on a shield,
also profile heads, in relief, of a man, and a queen, with figures of fish, &c. Nu-
merous examples of timber buildings remain in different parts of England; but of
this class, the greater part are to be found in old cities and towns, where stone
and brick were rare, or were not brought into general use. In Exeter, Salisbury,
Bristol, Chester, Hereford, Coventry, Ipswich, Manchester, and several other towns,
where modern improvements, and uniform rows of buildings, have not wholly
superseded old plans, and old uncomfortableness, many of these houses are still
preserved. Of insulated country mansions, the residences of gentlemen of for-
tune, very few are remaining in England. In Lancashire, and some of the northern
counties, these edifices are, however, occasionally to be seen. Those of Hulme-Hall*,
and Ancoates-Hall, f near Manchester, are of this character. A more perfect
example, is that of Peel-Hall in the same county, belonging to three ladies named
Kenyon. In this house are two curious carved chimney-pieces. Timber, with
lath and plaster, and thatch for the roofs, constituted the chief materials in the
domestic dwellings of the English, from an early period till nearly the close of the
fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, when bricks began to be used in
the better sort of houses. The general adoption of these constitutes an important
epoch in civil architecture, for though it is evident that the Romans exercised the art
of making bricks and tiles, in Britain, yet it is generally allowed, that after their
departure, the practice was nearly or wholly discontinued, till the time already stated.^
In this class of buildings, which immediately followed, and imitated the castles,
we have several examples delineated in the present series. Of these, the earliest
in point of time, is
* A view of this is published in the ninth volume of the Beauties of England,
t See a print of this building in Aikin's History of Manchester.
I See an essay on this subject by Dean Lyttleton, in Archseologia, vol. i. p. 140; and another by Mr. Essex,
in the fourth volume of the same valuable series of antiquarian papers.
N. VOL. II.