Old Cottages at Ruscombe 
PICTURESQUE ENGLISH COTTAGES AND THEIR 
DOORWAY GARDENS 
By P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.H.S. 
VIII 
/ I 'HE influence of foreign masons and artif- 
icers can clearly be traced in many of 
our cottage homes and humbler dwelling 
places. Cottages in our coast villages differ 
from those inland, and show the results of 
foreign intercourse and the exchange of ideas. 
Very potent has been that of the industrious 
Flemings who by their skdl have frequently 
improved our trade and manufacture, and 
stamped upon our buildings the impress of 
their peculiar style. We should naturally 
expect to find evidences of their presence in 
East Anglia, Kent, Lincolnshire, where they 
had flourishing settlements. All around Bos¬ 
ton there are fine brickwork buildings, 
fashioned after the model of those in the Low 
Countries. The builders, however, did not 
construct them in the Llemish fashion, and 
seem to have preferred the “English setting’’ 
to the “Dutch bond.’’ You can almost 
imagine yourself in the Netherlands as you 
walk along the wharves and banks of the 
narrow Wytham, and see the old warehouses 
with their red-tiled roofs, like those in Rotter¬ 
dam or Antwerp, and the picturesque gable 
lights. The stepped gables of many houses 
in East Anglia and the early use of brick show 
many evidences of Flemish influence in that 
interesting part of England. A row of cot¬ 
tages in the ancient town of Reading, Berks, 
is remarkable for its association with a com¬ 
pany of Flemish weavers. On account of 
the iniquitous persecutions of the Duke of 
Alva, they fled from their country and came 
to England. Queen Elizabeth had compas¬ 
sion on them, and built for them this row of 
houses against the wall of the refectory of 
Reading’s ancient abbey, which at the disso¬ 
lution of the monasteries came into the pos¬ 
session of her father, King Henry VIII. The 
little houses, therefore, have much interest 
attaching to them, and did good service, not 
only in sheltering the poor weavers, but also 
in preserving for future generations one of 
the walls of the abbey which otherwise would 
probably have shared the fate of other por¬ 
tions of the monastic ruins. 
Companies of Dutchmen, Flemings and 
Walloons fled from the fury of the Spanish 
soldiers and settled in East Anglia, the West 
Riding of Yorkshire, Rochdale and Saddle- 
worth, Colchester, Kent, and the eastern 
shore of Scotland. Flemish influence is 
strong in the Isle of Thanet. The village of 
Minster has several houses with curious 
gables built of brick which clearly show for¬ 
eign design. No part of the southeast corner 
of England retains so many examples of 
these graceful gables. The 1 hanet builders, 
influenced by foreign models, showed remark¬ 
able ingenuity and taste, and produced a 
great variety of design for such gables by 
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