PICTURESQUE ENGLISH COTTAGES AND THEIR 
DOORWAY GARDENS 
By P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.H.S. 
X 
QNE of the 
m o s t i m- 
portant houses in 
every village is 
the village shop, 
a wondrous place 
wherein you can 
b uy a ny t h i n g fr o m 
a boot-lace to a 
side of bacon. 
Sweets for child¬ 
ren, needles and 
thread for the 
busy housewife, 
butter and cheese, 
tea and ginger 
beer—endless is 
the assortment of 
goods which the village shop provides. White- 
ley’s in London and, I know not what, in New 
York can scarcely rival its marvelous produc¬ 
tiveness. Very old and quaint is the building. 
There is one at Lingfield, in Surrey, which 
has performed its useful mission since the 
fifteenth century. It has a central recess 
with braces to 
support the roof- 
plate. Formerly 
there was an open 
shop-front with 
wooden shutters 
hinged at the 
bottom to the sills, 
on the tops of the 
stall-boards, and 
which could be 
turned down in 
the daytime at 
right angles with 
the front, and 
used for the dis¬ 
play of wares. 
In some cases 
there were two 
XV. CENTURY SHOP—LINGFIELD, SURREY 
shutters, the lower 
one hinged to the 
bottom sill, as I 
have described, 
while the upper 
one was hinged to 
the top, and when 
raised formed a 
pent-house roof. 
Shakespeare al¬ 
ludes to this when 
he says in Love's 
Labour's Lost , 
“with your hat 
pent-house like 
o’er the shop of 
your eyes.” The 
door was divided 
into two halves like a modern stable door. 
It is a very interesting shop—this one at 
Lingfield. You can see the corner and 
upright posts with their projecting brackets, 
and the ends of the girders and joists, stand¬ 
ing out and supporting the upright quartered 
sides of the upper storey. The spaces are 
filled with bricks 
placed “herring¬ 
bone” wise. When 
you enter the 
shop, you will 
notice the great 
diagonal beam 
with the joists 
framed into it, 
crossing each 
other at right 
angles. 
Rusk in would 
have been delight¬ 
ed by the sight of 
this old shop. 
His advice is 
sound enough: 
“Watch an old 
271 
SUTTON BARN—BORDEN, KENT 
