SOUTH SITCH, IDRIDGEHAY. 



Door made of yew tree wood. 



able. It is impossible to say how the original plastering between 

 the timbers is carried. At Somersall Herbert Hall, probably the 



finest timber building in Derby- 

 shire, the timbers are grooved 

 about an inch back from both 

 faces, and short oak laths are 

 slipped into these grooves to carry 

 the plaster ; but this must have 

 been rather a troublesome method, 

 as each lath required somewhat 

 careful fitting. 



Both the chamber and attic 

 floors are carried by heavy stop- 

 chamfered oak beams running 

 through the centre of the house 

 from end to end and supporting 

 the smaller floor joists. The 

 floors are the ordinary " plaster 

 floor " of the district ; these were formed by laying reeds across 

 the joists, on which was spread a layer of floor plaster, a coarse 

 quality of calcined gypsum, sometimes mixed with crushed brick 

 or other material ; this was usually finished to a thickness of 

 about li ins. and trowelled to a smooth face. These plaster 

 floors were in common use in Derbyshire and the neighbouring 

 counties up to the middle of 

 the last century ; before the 

 introduction of the power- 

 driven circular saw, when 

 every board had to be 

 laboriously cut by hand over 

 a pit, floor-boards were an 

 expensive luxury only found 

 in first-class work. 



The main entrance door 

 is original, and a good 



example of the heavy studded 



Bolt on door. 



