House and Garden 
by South-country bricklayers, and is an in¬ 
stance of interesting survival of ancient usage. 
When we examine carefully the local pecu¬ 
liarities of the mason’s or carpenter’s work 
in a building, it 
is possible for 
us to find out its 
date and origin. 
An inexpe- 
rienced eye can 
with ease read 
the story of 
many of our 
buildings, a n d 
note such pecu¬ 
liarities as the 
noble towers of 
Somerset, the 
soaring spire of 
Northampton¬ 
shire, the tim¬ 
ber-roofs of 
East Anglia. 
The architect, 
who by trained 
experie nee 
knows the pecu¬ 
liar nature of 
the work of each 
district, can tell 
whence the 
masons came 
who constructed 
any particular 
building. Thus 
an examination 
of the peculiar 
characteristics of 
Wadham Col¬ 
lege, Oxford, 
shows that it 
was built by a gang of Somerset workmen. 
Many of the illustrations in this chapter are 
taken from the picturesque cottages in the 
village of Shere, Surrey. It is an important 
little place, and can boast of some antiquity. 
Many important families were connected 
with it, amongst whom were the Butlers, 
Earls of Ormond, the noble family of the 
Touchets, Lord Audley and the Brays. The 
manor was divided by Richard Fitz Geoffrey 
in the time of Edward, among his sisters, and 
became known as Shere Vachery and Shere 
Eboracum. The latter was called after the 
Latinized name 
of Richard, 
Duke of York. 
Audrey describes 
the old Rectory 
as “an extra¬ 
ordinary good 
Parsonage of 
old timber 
building encom¬ 
passed about 
with a large and 
deep moat which 
is full of fish. 
The tradition 
runs that this 
house was built 
on wool-packs, 
in the same 
manner as Our 
Lady’s Church 
at Salisbury; 
that is, it is like 
enough some tax 
might be laid on 
wool-packs to¬ 
wards the build¬ 
ing of it.” The 
village is a happy 
hunting ground 
for the searcher 
of old cottages, 
for the number 
of which Audrey 
accounts by tell¬ 
ing us that there 
was a very 
ancient manufacture of fustian there. In one 
of the views, there is in the distance a cottage 
with barge-boards which have good trac¬ 
ery. Most of the houses are timber¬ 
framed with brick-work panelling. The 
lattice-windows still remain in many of 
them, and few villages can boast of a more 
pleasing variety of rural dwellings than this 
little village of Shere. 
A SHERE WINDOW GARDEN 
Copyright , 1904 , by H. Troth 
