DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32039#0074
52
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE MANOR-HOUSE
heir, and to be upwards of thirty years of age, while Thomas Wayte was found
to be the heir of Margaret, his wife, and to be upwards of twenty-four years of
age; so that he must have married, for a second wife, this Margaret, who
was relict of Edward Wayte, of Draycot Cerne, and daughter of Philip Popham,
of Berton Sacy, in Hampshire ;• which may account for two coats of the arms
of Popham having been in the Manor-House, one without, and the other with
a crescent, the sign of cadence. The style of the Hall, which is the most
ancient portion of the “ Longe Howse,” would lead one to imagine that this
Robert was the projector, but no record can be found to assure us of the
exact time in which it was built; and the armorial bearings, in many in-
stances our best evidence, are of little assistance in this inquiry, as they were
clearly put up at a later period. They consist of shields sculptured on the
brackets supporting the arched timbers of the hall-roof, which, from their style,
cannot be anterior to the reign of Henry VII. or VIH.f Tbe roof itself, which
is richly ornamented with quatrefoils between the principal rafters, seems
coeval with the exterior.J
A visit to these abodes of “ the old English gentlemen ” cannot but impress
the contemplative mind with reverential awe, and a desire to investigate the
manners and customs of the times in which they were reared. They for the most
part assimilate in their general arrangements, which, even in Aubrey’s time, were
kept up in the north : he says—“ In Scotland, still the Architecture of a Lord’s ”
“ House is thus, viz. a great open Hall, a Kitchen and Buttery, a Parlour, over ”
“ which a Chamber for my Lord and Lady ; all the rest lye in common, viz. the ”
“ Men-servants in the Hall, the Women in a common Room.” Then it wasthat
“ the lords of manours kept good houses in their countries, did eat in their”
“ great Gothick halls at the high table, or oriele,§ the folk at the side tables;”
when “ the Halls of Justices of the Peace were dreadful to behold, the Skreens ”
“ garnished with Corslets and Helmets, gaping with open Mouth, with Coats”
“ of Mail, Lances, Pikes, Halberts, brown Bills, Batterdashers, Bucklers, and ”
“ the modern Colivers and Petronels (in King Charles the lst’s Time) turned”
* Esc. 25 Hen. VI. No. 16. t See Pl. XV. t See Pl. X. and XIV.
§ “ Oriele,” he says, “ is an Ear, but here it means a little Room at the upper End of the Hall, where stands a”
“ Square or round Table, perhaps in the old Time was an Oratory; in every old Gothic Hall is one, viz. at Dracot,”
“ Lehham, Alderton, &c. The Meat was served up by Watcli-Words. Jacks are but an Invention of the other Age
“ the poor Boys did turn tlie Spits, and lick d the Dripping-Pan and grew to be lusty Ivnaves. Here in the Hall were”
“ the Mummings, Cob-leaf-stealing, and great numher of Christmas Plays performed.”
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE MANOR-HOUSE
heir, and to be upwards of thirty years of age, while Thomas Wayte was found
to be the heir of Margaret, his wife, and to be upwards of twenty-four years of
age; so that he must have married, for a second wife, this Margaret, who
was relict of Edward Wayte, of Draycot Cerne, and daughter of Philip Popham,
of Berton Sacy, in Hampshire ;• which may account for two coats of the arms
of Popham having been in the Manor-House, one without, and the other with
a crescent, the sign of cadence. The style of the Hall, which is the most
ancient portion of the “ Longe Howse,” would lead one to imagine that this
Robert was the projector, but no record can be found to assure us of the
exact time in which it was built; and the armorial bearings, in many in-
stances our best evidence, are of little assistance in this inquiry, as they were
clearly put up at a later period. They consist of shields sculptured on the
brackets supporting the arched timbers of the hall-roof, which, from their style,
cannot be anterior to the reign of Henry VII. or VIH.f Tbe roof itself, which
is richly ornamented with quatrefoils between the principal rafters, seems
coeval with the exterior.J
A visit to these abodes of “ the old English gentlemen ” cannot but impress
the contemplative mind with reverential awe, and a desire to investigate the
manners and customs of the times in which they were reared. They for the most
part assimilate in their general arrangements, which, even in Aubrey’s time, were
kept up in the north : he says—“ In Scotland, still the Architecture of a Lord’s ”
“ House is thus, viz. a great open Hall, a Kitchen and Buttery, a Parlour, over ”
“ which a Chamber for my Lord and Lady ; all the rest lye in common, viz. the ”
“ Men-servants in the Hall, the Women in a common Room.” Then it wasthat
“ the lords of manours kept good houses in their countries, did eat in their”
“ great Gothick halls at the high table, or oriele,§ the folk at the side tables;”
when “ the Halls of Justices of the Peace were dreadful to behold, the Skreens ”
“ garnished with Corslets and Helmets, gaping with open Mouth, with Coats”
“ of Mail, Lances, Pikes, Halberts, brown Bills, Batterdashers, Bucklers, and ”
“ the modern Colivers and Petronels (in King Charles the lst’s Time) turned”
* Esc. 25 Hen. VI. No. 16. t See Pl. XV. t See Pl. X. and XIV.
§ “ Oriele,” he says, “ is an Ear, but here it means a little Room at the upper End of the Hall, where stands a”
“ Square or round Table, perhaps in the old Time was an Oratory; in every old Gothic Hall is one, viz. at Dracot,”
“ Lehham, Alderton, &c. The Meat was served up by Watcli-Words. Jacks are but an Invention of the other Age
“ the poor Boys did turn tlie Spits, and lick d the Dripping-Pan and grew to be lusty Ivnaves. Here in the Hall were”
“ the Mummings, Cob-leaf-stealing, and great numher of Christmas Plays performed.”