STEPS AND GATEWAYS 



331 



piers which support some good iron gates, through which, 

 standing on the village road, a glimpse of the hall gardens 

 can be obtained. 



The tendency being, as already pointed out, towards a plain 

 treatment of the exterior, largely owing to the substitution of 

 sash-windows for mullioned, some amount of relief was imparted 

 by a rich treatment of the principal door, but there came a time 



FlG. 251. Gate-Pier at Uffington, near Stamford. 



]. A. Gotch, del. 



when even this modicum of decoration was abandoned, and the 

 exterior of a house was dealt with on purely utilitarian principles, 

 the necessary openings being provided, but devoid of any 

 attempt at ornament. But before this last stage of imaginative 

 poverty, or inertia maybe, was reached, doorways were provided 

 which gave a touch of fancy to an otherwise bald front. The 

 form of circular hood, supported by carved brackets and filled 

 with a fluted cove, usually described as a shell, is a common 



