Part 10 (1/2)
CHAPTER XIII
THE MANOR-HOUSE
Evolution of a country house--Saxon house--Addition of separate sleeping-chambers--Castles--Tudor houses--Old manor-houses--Secret chambers--Rectories and vicarages--Duty of hospitality--Kelvedon Rectory--Allington--t.i.the-barns--Alfriston clergy-house--Almshouses-- Hermitages--Little Budworth--Knaresborough--Reclusorium or anchor-hold-- Laindon--Rattenden--Female recluses--Whalley.
The two princ.i.p.al houses in an English village are the manor-house and the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political Socialist and agitator ”the two arch-tyrants” of the labourers dwell, the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form such beautiful features of our English villages.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE]
[Ill.u.s.tration: OCKWELLS MANOR-HOUSE]
In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large hall, wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their meals. There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies' bower, usually separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way out through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid on trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the dais, as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The household and retainers dined in the s.p.a.ce below, which was strewn with rushes and called ”the marsh,” which, according to Turner's _History of Domestic Architecture_, ”was doubtless dirty and damp enough to deserve that name.” The timbers of the roof in the better houses were moulded, the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the hall was a screen, above which in later times was the minstrels' gallery. The screen formed a pa.s.sage which led into a separate building at right angles to the hall, containing the cellar, b.u.t.tery, and kitchen.
Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the ”great chamber,” where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the hall.
[Ill.u.s.tration: RICHMOND PALACE]
Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of _Piers Ploughman_, who wrote--
”Now hath each rich a rule To eaten by themselve, In a privy parlour For poor man sake, Or in a chamber with a chimney; And leave the chief hall, That was made for meals Men to eaten in.”
Evidently the author did not approve of the new fas.h.i.+on. But the advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country, once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the distinguis.h.i.+ng features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE, UFTON COURT]
The n.o.bles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary, and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead of castles men built palaces, the n.o.blest specimens of our English style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are its best examples.
During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The princ.i.p.al features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and n.o.ble staircase.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PORCH, UFTON COURT]
Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived cla.s.sic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete, and fas.h.i.+on dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses.
These new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades; but the architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a witty n.o.bleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that he had better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT]
The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently contain secret rooms and underground pa.s.sages, which were often used as places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berks.h.i.+re, which was held by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to the English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in Lancas.h.i.+re and Yorks.h.i.+re could tell of many a plot for the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to ”Bonnie Charlie,” while the chorus rang--
”He's over the seas and far awa', He's over the seas and far awa', But of no man we'll stand in awe, But drink his health that's far awa'.”
The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have pa.s.sed through the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much resembled. The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance protected by a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and travellers was always duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a heavy charge upon their income. Those who lived off the main roads used to provide accommodation for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the more frequented districts had frequently to entertain many travellers.
There _is_ a description of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Ess.e.x, in a deed dated 1356, which runs as follows:--
”One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent [Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end of the hall, and with a b.u.t.tery and cellar at the other. Also one other house in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the end of the said house _for guests_, and a bakehouse. Also one other house in two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a stable and cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient grange, to be built within a year at the expense of the prior and convent. He shall also have the curtilage with the garden adjoining the hall on the north side enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: WINDOW OF SOUTH WING, UFTON COURT]
Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman's house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of Winchester ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide ”a competent manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one end of the hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each, and a suitable kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a _stable for six horses_, all covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such place to remain to the use of the said vicar and his successors.” Unless the vicar was a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for six horses, and this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the steeds of his guests.