59 



The 16th century may be called the Tudor period. In it 

 numerous houses of the greatest size and magnificence were 

 erected, of which many examples still exist. Early in the 

 century wainscot came much into use for the principal rooms 

 and for the division of the chambers, the panels were small and 

 carved with every variety of pattern, the ceilings were also richly 

 ornamented by carving the massive oak beams and moulding the 

 joists or dividing the ceiHng into various geometric patterns with 

 oak beams and filling in the spaces with plaster, and occasionally 

 pendants were introduced. The stau'case became much ampli- 

 fied and elaborated, and the galleiy, which is a pecuhar feature 

 of Ehzabethan plan (being sometimes 150 feet long and used for 

 music and dancing) was introduced. In the matter of arrange- 

 ment, hitherto the increase in the number of rooms had produced 

 httle else than an increase in the doors of communication, but 

 now privacy was obtained by the introduction of corridors. The 

 great hall, which, continually increasing for four hundred years 

 attained its chmax in the 14th century, decUned in the 15th and 

 in the 16th still diminishes in importance, till in some instances 

 it disappears, the family parlour taking its place for the family 

 and the kitchen for the servants, the entrance hall being used 

 occasionally for festivity. The general decay of native woods 

 occasioned a universal disuse of this material for external pur- 

 poses about the latter end of the reign of Henry 8th, and_ in 

 the reign of Elizabeth numbers of the old timber walls having 

 gone to decay were rebuilt in stone ; an example of this 

 kind may be seen at Hoghton Tower, which was commenced in 

 1565 by Thos. de Hoghton, who was killed 3 years afterwards. 

 His son Eichard must have completed it withm a short time for 

 it was a sufficiently magnificent place to receive in 1617 the 

 honour of a royal visit from James I. 



In the 17th century a decided revolution took place both in 

 the arrangement and architecture of domestic work. The taste 

 for classical Uterature introduced the taste for classical archi- 

 tecture ; the old Enghsh model was entirely put aside, and a 

 new mansion to be in the fashion must be an ItaUan Villa with 

 the kitchens and offices in the basement, the family dwelling 

 rooms on the principal floor, with a large central saloon and 

 portico, and the bed-rooms on the floor above. Both wings of 

 the house must also be exactly alike. This district, however, 

 and the north generally, (being remote from the fashionable 

 centres) for a considerable time kept to the old plan, though 

 introducing in some measure the classical details. The. stair- 

 cases were made with open balustrades, some of them richly 

 carved. Galleries also were generally adopted for the larger 

 houses. Plaster work richly ornamented was frequent, and the 

 gardens were laid out in stiff geometric patterns, with terraces 



