at Syndal House. 137 



shutters, attached to the plates inside with hinges, which, 

 during the winter nights, and especially frosty weather, are 

 kept closed. 



The cottage consists of only the ground-floor; its elevation 

 {Jig- 36.) is considered handsome. It stands in a gentle valley 

 in the park, about an eighth of a mile from the mansion. The 

 spot was chosen, on account of its soil and situation, for a 

 new kitchen -garden, which was begun at the same time as the 

 cottage. The prospect, though extensive, is not so much so 

 as that from the mansion, which is considered one of the 

 finest in Kent. The cottage fronts the east, looking over the 

 village of Ospringe towards Boughton-under-Blean and 

 Hearn Hill, bounded by the Blean woods, of which it takes 

 in an extensive range. To the north-east is seen to much 

 advantage, though in a valley, the town of Feversham, with 

 its handsome spire, and the tops of the houses rising above 

 its numerous orchards, in some of which are ancient pear 

 trees still in good condition, and producing abundant crops. 

 In the distance, and in the same line, may be seen the shores 

 of Sea Salter and Whitstable, with part of the Isle of Sheppy, 

 called Shellness. 



The centre of the building was furnished for the dairy-man 

 and his wife to reside in; the large sitting-room was intended 

 as a room in which the family might occasionally drink tea, in 

 the summer, and, during Sir Samuel's life, it was furnished 

 with his camp equipage. The left wing [fig. 34. c\ the dairy, 

 corresponds in size with the right, but is of a higher pitch 

 inside, as the floor is sunk about two feet below the level, and 

 paved with square 1 4-inch tiles. The shelf for the milk-pans 

 is made of black slate, supported by brick arches, each arch 

 forming a recess for a pan of milk. [Jig. 37.) In the space 

 between the doors is a small stone 37 



trough, supplied with water from the ^s^> «sgg> 

 cistern at the well,, by a pipe laid under ^PPIpf^lff^lpf 

 ground. In the centre stands a large _Jf U [^ 

 table. The two small windows (fig. 34. 

 oo) are blanks, forming niches in the inside, in which are placed 

 a bull and a cow. In the centre of the angles formed by the arches 

 supporting the shelf are fastened small rams' heads (Jig. 37.), 

 which give the interior of the milk-room an air of neatness and 

 taste. The covered shed (Jig. 34. e), next the dairy, is fitted up 

 with racks, in which the milk-pans and other utensils are set 

 to drain ; the other shed is fitted up with bins, &c, to keep the 

 corn and provisions for the poultry, and is made use of by 

 the dairy-man as a cellar to keep his beer, &c, in. As coolness 



