SPEKE HALL 



There are, alas ! but few now remaining of the timber buildings of the 

 sixteenth century that are either so important in size or so well-preserved 

 as this beautiful old Lancashire house. 



They were built at a time when the country had settled down into 

 a peaceable state ; when houses need no longer be walled and loopholed 

 against the probable raids of enemies ; when their windows might be of 

 ample size and might look abroad without fear. Many of them, however, 

 were still moated, for a moat was of use not only for defence but as a 

 convenient fish-pond, and as a bar to the depredations of wolves, foxes 

 and rabbits. 



The advance of civilisation also brought with it a greater desire for 

 home comforts, and the genius of the country, unspoilt, unfettered, 

 undiluted by that mass of half-digested knowledge of many styles that 

 has led astray so many of the builders of modern days, by a natural 

 instinct cast these dwellings into forms that we now seek out and study 

 in the effort to regain our lost innocence, and that in many cases we are 

 glad to adopt anew as models of what is most desirable for comfort and 

 for the happy enjoyment of our homes. 



Still, in these days we cannot build such houses anew without a 

 suspicion of strain or affectation. When they were reared, oak was the 

 building material most readily to be obtained, and carpenters' work, 

 already well developed in the construction of roofs, now given free scope 

 in outer walls as well, seemed to revel in the new liberty, and oak-framed 

 houses grew up into beautiful form and ornament in such a way as has 

 never been surpassed in this country. 



'76 



