SOUTH SITCH, IDRIDGEHAY. 5 



this would have been rather an unusual position ; it seems likely 

 that there would have been a " lean-to " at the back for pantry, 

 etc. The entrance to the house was in the usual place opposite 

 the " speer," or side of the large chimney recess. The chamber 

 floor comprises three bedrooms, and in its plan seems to be 

 unaltered, except that a passage has been cut right through the 

 great chimney to connect this part of the house with the more 

 modern wing at the back. In the roof there are two large 

 rooms practically unaltered since their first erection. The original 

 staircase is worth noticing for the very small space which it 

 occupies. A modern architect, wrestling with the intricacies 

 of house planning combined with limited means and space, can- 

 not help envying his predecessors who could dispose of a whole 

 flight of stairs from floor to floor in an area of 6 ft. 6 ins. by 

 3 ft. The way in which the second flight of these stairs wriggles 

 itself up into the attics so as to give head-room both above and 

 below is quite ingenious. To suit a more luxurious age, a second 

 staircase of easier ascent has been added in the modem wing 

 of the house, but in the days when a step ladder was often the 

 only means of access to cottage bedrooms, these winding stairs 

 were probably considered more than adequate. 



The construction of the building is of a simple and substantial 

 character. The walls rest on a stone foundation forming a plinth 

 all round ; the framing consists of principal upright timbers from 

 8 ins. to lo ins. square and spaced at 4 ft. 6 ins. to 5 ft. apart, 

 framed into heads and cills and stiffened in the usual manner 

 by diagonal braces at the angles ; between these are framed the 

 intermediate timbers, about 7 ins. in breadth and little more 

 than that distance apart ; the spaces between the timbers have 

 originally, of course, been filled in with lath and plaster, but, as 

 has been before mentioned, the whole of the exterior has since 

 been covered with a coating of rough-cast or pebble-dashed 

 cement. If this coating were removed it is. easy to picture the 

 pretty effect of the black and white building, surrounded by its 

 old-fashioned garden and background of fine old trees. Whether 

 it would really be desirable to remove it is, however, question- 



