A HISTORY OF SURREY 



of this work which match the stairs at Slyfields and Shalford remain 

 at Guildford, and in the outbuildings at Slyfields are some original 

 window frames of this sort ; such are very rare. Leigh Place has some 

 of the best carved woodwork in the county. 



Building in Surrey seems always to have been of a refined and 

 cultured quality, as may be seen from the delicate Georgian bow windows 

 in the Guildford High Street and in other towns. Happily there is 

 much of this still left. 



Early stairs either went up between two walls, as at Crowhurst and 

 Alfold House, or wound round a central newel. Some of the latter are 



left, and often in unexpected 



places as at Hurst farm, Mil- 

 ford. At Cobden's, a small 

 farmhouse on the Sussex bor- 

 der, there is a stair that, starting 

 at the side of the ingle, winds 

 back in the thickness of the 

 wall over the top of the ingle 

 nook. This seems to have 

 been the normal position, but 

 the stairs are so impossible that 

 it is rare to find them left. 



Winding stairs were so 

 troublesome for furniture that 

 they were generally replaced 

 by square-planned stairs that 

 rapidly developed into the 

 usual balustraded form. An 

 interesting intermediate stage 

 is found at Rake House, Witley, 

 and a similar instance on a 

 larger scale exists at Borde Hill 

 near Cuckfield in Sussex. In 

 the former of these a central 

 square of four corner posts filled 

 in with plastering is carried 

 about 3 feet above the top 

 landing and finished with a 

 table top ; the stairs run round 

 this in short flights. The next 

 step was to fill in between the four posts with a balustrade, work the 

 newels, and ultimately cut these asunder and form ornamental tops to 

 them. 



There are many fine early staircases left, of which those at Sly- 

 fields, a house at Shalford (Fig. 19), and Smallfield Place near Reigate 

 are of similar character, with rusticated newels and balusters formed of 

 upright planks pierced and carved. Another form is that in which the 



476 



Fig. 19. Staircase at Shalford. 



