I 1' 



MERE HALL 



DROITWICH 



Coi.OM.I. 



BEARCROFT 



THIS very fine and impressive TuJor mansion is a good 

 example of the timbered architecture f Hngl.m I. 

 In the forest Jays, when timber was in plenty 

 and stone costly or difficult to procure, wood and 

 brick were the materials with which the knight and 

 peasant constructed their picturesque abodes. The skill of 

 the architect and the builder was such that the tough oak 

 beams, well jointed in the framework, pegged and m 

 together, have withstood the storms of centuries in many a 

 place until to-day. Fragments of such archi ecture m iy he 

 seen all through England, frequently in the level plains, and 

 more seldom when the hills betoken the presence oi M 

 They remain in rustic places, with pleasant gardens about 

 them, but not many are the examples preserved >o well as 

 Mere Hall, or so suitably adorned with gardens such as \\e 

 depict. 



The timber style of architecture is generally associated 

 with Lancashire and Cheshire. In the oldest houses a low 

 stone wall carries che timber framing, and in the earlier 

 examples, as at Tabley, Baguley, Smithells, ;:nJ Samlesbury, 

 the beams are of enormous size. The framing took a 

 rectangular form, with diagonal struts, as .it Mi-re Hall, and 

 o:ten, as in the upper works and gables there, was enriched 

 by picturesque ad>rnm nt. I he panels were usually filled 

 with a basket-work osier foundation, covered with clay 



strengthened with straw or reeds, and finished with p : 

 within and without, which soim-tuneo was worked in mate 

 patterns. The gables were enrolled with pinnaJes and 

 elaborate hirge-boards. and th mullions and the window- 

 heads were be.iutifully moulded and sculptured. I he chimney 

 stacks were of brick or stone, and usually lofty and striking 

 features of the mansions. The post ion oi SIK h IVMSI-S was 

 usually capable of deU nee. Sometimes the house was ..n 

 a steep river brow; often, like a Roman station, it lay in 

 the fork of two rivers or streams, or it was entirely dt-l ended 

 by a moat ; and rarely, as at Tabley Old Hall, it sto.nl 

 detached upon an island. 



To endeavour to delineate the dwellings of our ancestors 

 is a tempting quest, and there is the rarest tasunati n in the 

 attempt to penetrate their recesses, to sit, as it were, in their 

 lofty bays, it may be even discover their hi. ii.ig places, a 

 issue from the hall and the porch, perhaps by a draw Iv 

 into the sweet gardens without. But we must not dwell much 

 longer upon structural m .tiers here. ( >ur purpose is with th.- 

 delightlul Worcestershire house m the salt region of Dr-nt.vich, 

 which demands attention, with its long succession of gables 

 and gablets, its nct.igon turret, and the tall chimn ys all 

 grouped, in that delightful garden, against a beautiful b.i.k- 

 grou:ul of trees. The approach is very charming, for the wax- 

 is al nig a splendid avenue o; ancient elms, s >m<- ot them 



THE FISi:-IO\L>. 



