V THE COURTS, TERRACES, WALKS 95 



This arrangement, however, was by no means 

 universal. The fore court and one or more 

 bass courts nearly always existed, but their 

 relative positions were modified to suit the 

 necessities of the site. In old prints and draw- 

 ings it is not always easy to classify the courts. 

 James, in his Theory of Gardenings distinguishes 

 between the fore court, the castle court or house 

 court, and the bass courts, and this is a very 

 convenient classification. The house court is 

 the court immediately in front of the house, 

 surrounded on three sides by the centre block 

 and two wings of the house. The fore court is 

 the court or courts in front of this, giving access 

 from the entrance to the house court. The 

 bass courts are the courts to the right or left of 

 the fore court, or on both sides of it, or even at 

 the back of the house, comprising the stables 

 and inferior buildings. Kip's views show several 

 different arrangements of the courts. The 

 house court was usually paved over its entire 

 surface, or two square grass plots were left 

 with broad flagged paths round the sides and 

 down the middle. This court was raised above 

 the fore court, and separated from it by a 

 balustrade or an iron railing on a dwarf wall, 

 with a flight of steps opposite the central path. 

 Fine instances existed at Badminton and Newn- 

 ham Paddox, in Warwickshire, and at Bretby, in 

 Derbyshire, now destroyed. Kip's view of the 

 latter shows a wide paved path the full width of 



