DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32037#0064
40
ELTHAM PALACEj KENT.
side there was an embattled parapet, which has been destroyed; but the
cornice remains, and is studded with grotesque heads. The two bay-windows
are covered by common roofs, which are evidently modern substitutes for
the original finishing. The stone cornices remain, and have sculptured heads
in the centre and at the angles. The ancient roofs were probably flat, covered
with lead, and surrounded by stone parapets.
The longitudinal section exhibits one compartment of the roof, cut through
the ridge, together with the inside of the southern bay-window, and a part
of that beyond the next corbel. The beauty of the bay-windows makes them
worthy of the most careful examination.* The lights in these windows are
of a tall proportion, particularly in the lower division; the bottom of those
above the transom ranging in a line with the sills of the smaller windows.
These were placed high above the floor, as was done in almost all ancient
halls ; the plain walls below the windows being generally covered with hangings
of tapestry before the reign of Henry VIII., when wainscot panels were
introduced, and afterwards came into common use.
In this section the purlines, braces, and cornice of one bay of the roof, are
displayed, together with the profiles of two trusses. The moulding running
between the cornice and the lower purline probably formed the top of a
frieze, composed of ornamental tracery, which covered the feet of the rafters,
such as we find in the roof of Crosby Hall, and that of Christ Church, Oxford ;
but not a fragment of any thing of the kind now remains in Eitham Hall,
excepting this plain moulding.
Plate VI. — Doorway on the North Side of Eltham Hall.
No. 1. Is an exterior elevation of the whole design, of which the details
are finished in a neat and elegant style, this being the chief entrance; whilst
the opposite one is of a very plain character. The arch is described from four
centres, but is so little flattened at the point, that it rises very nearly one half
of the span. The blank arch over the mouldings was contrived for discharging
the superincumbent weight of the wall.
No. 2. In the spandrils of this door, one of which is here given on an
enlarged scale, the favourite badge of King Edward IV., a radiant sun,
surmounted by a rose, is sculptured in the middle of the tracery. The date
* The southern bay-window, here represented as perfect, ha,s been most shamefully mutilated,
by cutting out all the lower part, and inserting a rude wooden frame and doors, for the passage of
carts and waggons.
ELTHAM PALACEj KENT.
side there was an embattled parapet, which has been destroyed; but the
cornice remains, and is studded with grotesque heads. The two bay-windows
are covered by common roofs, which are evidently modern substitutes for
the original finishing. The stone cornices remain, and have sculptured heads
in the centre and at the angles. The ancient roofs were probably flat, covered
with lead, and surrounded by stone parapets.
The longitudinal section exhibits one compartment of the roof, cut through
the ridge, together with the inside of the southern bay-window, and a part
of that beyond the next corbel. The beauty of the bay-windows makes them
worthy of the most careful examination.* The lights in these windows are
of a tall proportion, particularly in the lower division; the bottom of those
above the transom ranging in a line with the sills of the smaller windows.
These were placed high above the floor, as was done in almost all ancient
halls ; the plain walls below the windows being generally covered with hangings
of tapestry before the reign of Henry VIII., when wainscot panels were
introduced, and afterwards came into common use.
In this section the purlines, braces, and cornice of one bay of the roof, are
displayed, together with the profiles of two trusses. The moulding running
between the cornice and the lower purline probably formed the top of a
frieze, composed of ornamental tracery, which covered the feet of the rafters,
such as we find in the roof of Crosby Hall, and that of Christ Church, Oxford ;
but not a fragment of any thing of the kind now remains in Eitham Hall,
excepting this plain moulding.
Plate VI. — Doorway on the North Side of Eltham Hall.
No. 1. Is an exterior elevation of the whole design, of which the details
are finished in a neat and elegant style, this being the chief entrance; whilst
the opposite one is of a very plain character. The arch is described from four
centres, but is so little flattened at the point, that it rises very nearly one half
of the span. The blank arch over the mouldings was contrived for discharging
the superincumbent weight of the wall.
No. 2. In the spandrils of this door, one of which is here given on an
enlarged scale, the favourite badge of King Edward IV., a radiant sun,
surmounted by a rose, is sculptured in the middle of the tracery. The date
* The southern bay-window, here represented as perfect, ha,s been most shamefully mutilated,
by cutting out all the lower part, and inserting a rude wooden frame and doors, for the passage of
carts and waggons.