DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32037#0079
WOLTERTON MANOR HOUSE* NORFOLK.
55
over the lower windows, placed alternately in panels. The turret, or buttress
at the angle, is decorated with the like armorial bearings, and in the upper
part with capital letters, all formed of moulded brick.*
Plate VI. — The tower exhibited in this Plate forms the most striking
feature of the whole house, and is a curious piece of architecture. It contains
three rooms, of which the two lowest are covered with vaulted roofs of brick,
ribbed and groined. The heights and other dimensions of these rooms are
shewn in the section, which passes through the centre of the tower from
front to back. The plan belongs to the second room, from which a spiral
staircase, in the turret at the south-east angle, leads up to the third room,
where there is a fire-place, shewn in the section. Undoubtedly, this tower
was intended for some important purpose, though it may not be easy to
ascertain what that purpose was. The middle chamber might be constructed
for the safe keeping of the family evidences, title-deeds, money, jewels, and
other valuable effects, being strongly arched and floored with brick; and
the upper room was probably a library or studying chamber. f The elevation
of this tower above the surrounding buildings would also fit it for the use
of keeping watch during the time of any disturbance in the country, and
for setting up a beacon; these precautions being commonly practised even
in later times than when Wolterton Manor House was built. J
Plate VII. — No. 1. gives an elevation of a turret at the east end of the
south front, with a plan shewing its form and breadth in two different parts,
and also the manner in which the bricks are put together.
* These letters are scattered over various parts of the house, among them we find H. R., for
Henricus JRex ; E. R., for Elizabetha Regina ; also the letters B.M. P. V. T. &c.
f At tlie top of one of the towers of Wressil Castle, a seat of the Lord Percy, “was a Study
caullid Paradise.”— Leland’s Itinerary, Yol. I. fol. 59. At Leckinfield, another residence of the
same nobleman, Leland also saw “ a little studying Chaumber eaullid Paradise.” A chamber in the
npper story of a tower at Stanton-Harcourt, county Oxon, formerly the residence of the ancient
family of Harcourt, is still shewn to the admirers of Pope as the study in which he composed some
books of his Homer.
J Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, a very fine specimen of contemporary architecture, had also a tower,
which was pulled down, with some other parts, in 1775. Beacons were commonly set on the
towers of churches, as well as on those of castles and mansions, so late as the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.
I
55
over the lower windows, placed alternately in panels. The turret, or buttress
at the angle, is decorated with the like armorial bearings, and in the upper
part with capital letters, all formed of moulded brick.*
Plate VI. — The tower exhibited in this Plate forms the most striking
feature of the whole house, and is a curious piece of architecture. It contains
three rooms, of which the two lowest are covered with vaulted roofs of brick,
ribbed and groined. The heights and other dimensions of these rooms are
shewn in the section, which passes through the centre of the tower from
front to back. The plan belongs to the second room, from which a spiral
staircase, in the turret at the south-east angle, leads up to the third room,
where there is a fire-place, shewn in the section. Undoubtedly, this tower
was intended for some important purpose, though it may not be easy to
ascertain what that purpose was. The middle chamber might be constructed
for the safe keeping of the family evidences, title-deeds, money, jewels, and
other valuable effects, being strongly arched and floored with brick; and
the upper room was probably a library or studying chamber. f The elevation
of this tower above the surrounding buildings would also fit it for the use
of keeping watch during the time of any disturbance in the country, and
for setting up a beacon; these precautions being commonly practised even
in later times than when Wolterton Manor House was built. J
Plate VII. — No. 1. gives an elevation of a turret at the east end of the
south front, with a plan shewing its form and breadth in two different parts,
and also the manner in which the bricks are put together.
* These letters are scattered over various parts of the house, among them we find H. R., for
Henricus JRex ; E. R., for Elizabetha Regina ; also the letters B.M. P. V. T. &c.
f At tlie top of one of the towers of Wressil Castle, a seat of the Lord Percy, “was a Study
caullid Paradise.”— Leland’s Itinerary, Yol. I. fol. 59. At Leckinfield, another residence of the
same nobleman, Leland also saw “ a little studying Chaumber eaullid Paradise.” A chamber in the
npper story of a tower at Stanton-Harcourt, county Oxon, formerly the residence of the ancient
family of Harcourt, is still shewn to the admirers of Pope as the study in which he composed some
books of his Homer.
J Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, a very fine specimen of contemporary architecture, had also a tower,
which was pulled down, with some other parts, in 1775. Beacons were commonly set on the
towers of churches, as well as on those of castles and mansions, so late as the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.
I