10 TWBLFTH AKNUAL MEETING. 



fourteenth Century, althovigh if so, it is a very unusual 

 feature of that period. 



The great hall is much inodernized : the Windows and 

 fireplace and wainscotting are all modern, that is, not 

 mediaeval, but not very recent. The walls are original, 

 with two gable ends and a chimney on each, and in eacli 

 gable are Windows shewing that the buildlngs attached to 

 the hall at each end Avere origlnally much lower than the 

 hall. There is a peculiarlty in the chimneys, — the flue of 

 each is not carried down any lower than the head of the 

 window under it, and was origlnally open to the hall, so 

 that it would appear that the sraoke from the fire on the 

 hearth or reredos in the centre of the hall was allowed to 

 circulate freely among the open timbers of the hall and 

 escape at the two extremities without any central louvre ; 

 or these chimneys may have been an extra i^recaution in 

 addition to the louvre. The present roof is modern and 

 ceiled, and as no ancient view of the house is extant 

 shewing a smoke louvre, we have no evidence whether 

 there was one or not ; it is quite possible that this arrange- 

 ment of short chimneys open below to the hall may be an 

 earlier one than the smoke louvre in the centre of the hall. 

 The dais has disappeared, but the position of it is obvious 

 enough. At one end in the front of the house, where at a 

 later period the bay window would be, is a small square 

 room or closet, forming the basement of a tower, corres- 

 ponding to the porch at the lower end of the hall. Over 

 this closet is another small room, with a rieh Decorated 

 window with reticulated tracery in the front, and at the 

 back a small Avindow of the same period opening into 

 the hall ; this was probably the lady's bower or private 

 Chamber : the only access to it was by a newel staircase 

 from the small room below, and so from the hall; the 



