DOI issue:
Division I: Great Britain
DOI article:Quennell, Charles Henry Bourne: English domestic architexture
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37422#0022
ENGLISH DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
overcrowded with cooks lost its usefulness as a place of durance for
enemies.
As against this type, the Monastic Grange had its large Hall
carried up to the full height of the roof, giving a fine place of
assembly and a dignified appearance to the house on entry. Meals
could be served directly into the Hall from the adjoining kitchens,
and at the other end were the rooms to which the master of the
house, or visiting Abbot, could retire for privacy. Until the end
of the 16th century it remained the traditional plan, or rather it
was the stock on which was grafted all the improvements that
occurred to the builders from time to time. Screens were added
at the entrance end of the Hall, with minstrels’ gallery over ;
kitchens and offices were amplified ; winter parlours built so that
the rather draughty Hall need not be used in cold weather ;
and the number of private rooms for the family considerably
added to. The idea of the plan was the collegiate type, to be
seen at Oxford or Cambridge, and many points of resemblance
are at once apparent between any one of the Colleges and a large
Jacobean house.
It is not to be assumed that the builders of, say, the 13th century
at once forsook the Castle type of plan for that of the Grange ; it
was, on the contrary, a very gradual development, and Castles were
built, such as Tattershall, in Lincolnshire, in the 15th century which
were only glorified versions of the Norman keep.
One point must be noted, and that is the honesty of the con-
struction of these old houses, and the nearly exclusive use of local
materials. The type or plan might be much the same, but in a stone
country they built with stone, and in a brick one used brick. If oak
happened to he plentiful, then the houses were timber framed. It
was the obvious and economical thing to be done, and ensured a
certain harmony with surroundings that is so often lacking in modern
work through the importation of foreign building materials.
A race of efficient craftsmen, handing down the traditions of
building from generation to generation, were more concerned with
overcoming problems of construction than in trying experiments
with styles. They were safeguarded against this for the reason that
there happened to be only one style, that of the moment. So they
cheerfully added to cathedral or cottage as seemed best to them,
using the material at hand in their own way, rather than in that of
their great-grandfathers, and in so doing their heritage to us is a
series of buildings that can be read.
At the cost of being tedious, this necessity for tradition in
building must be emphasised. Having discovered our tradition it
4
overcrowded with cooks lost its usefulness as a place of durance for
enemies.
As against this type, the Monastic Grange had its large Hall
carried up to the full height of the roof, giving a fine place of
assembly and a dignified appearance to the house on entry. Meals
could be served directly into the Hall from the adjoining kitchens,
and at the other end were the rooms to which the master of the
house, or visiting Abbot, could retire for privacy. Until the end
of the 16th century it remained the traditional plan, or rather it
was the stock on which was grafted all the improvements that
occurred to the builders from time to time. Screens were added
at the entrance end of the Hall, with minstrels’ gallery over ;
kitchens and offices were amplified ; winter parlours built so that
the rather draughty Hall need not be used in cold weather ;
and the number of private rooms for the family considerably
added to. The idea of the plan was the collegiate type, to be
seen at Oxford or Cambridge, and many points of resemblance
are at once apparent between any one of the Colleges and a large
Jacobean house.
It is not to be assumed that the builders of, say, the 13th century
at once forsook the Castle type of plan for that of the Grange ; it
was, on the contrary, a very gradual development, and Castles were
built, such as Tattershall, in Lincolnshire, in the 15th century which
were only glorified versions of the Norman keep.
One point must be noted, and that is the honesty of the con-
struction of these old houses, and the nearly exclusive use of local
materials. The type or plan might be much the same, but in a stone
country they built with stone, and in a brick one used brick. If oak
happened to he plentiful, then the houses were timber framed. It
was the obvious and economical thing to be done, and ensured a
certain harmony with surroundings that is so often lacking in modern
work through the importation of foreign building materials.
A race of efficient craftsmen, handing down the traditions of
building from generation to generation, were more concerned with
overcoming problems of construction than in trying experiments
with styles. They were safeguarded against this for the reason that
there happened to be only one style, that of the moment. So they
cheerfully added to cathedral or cottage as seemed best to them,
using the material at hand in their own way, rather than in that of
their great-grandfathers, and in so doing their heritage to us is a
series of buildings that can be read.
At the cost of being tedious, this necessity for tradition in
building must be emphasised. Having discovered our tradition it
4