Broughton Castle 
Chamber” where the chiefs of the Rebellion hatched 
their plans. A great part of the walls in the north 
and east sides and the groined chambers belong 
to the same period, early fourteenth century; 
and the recent restorations show that the main 
walls of the great hall are of the same date. When 
the plaster was removed from the walls, a series 
of doorways of undoubted fourteenth century 
work was discovered, which seem to have led to 
the minstrel’s gallery. Also the remains of three 
magnificent windows of the Decorated style, which 
reach the whole height of the hall, were laid bare. 
A portion of the beautiful tracery which filled 
them has been discovered on the south side of 
the castle. 1 he hall appears to have been “Eliza- 
bethanized” in 1554, when the bay windows were 
thrown out and Tudor windows inserted in place 
of the earlier ones. This noble hall measures 
54 feet by 26 feet. Along the north side of the 
castle on the first floor runs a fine gallery 90 feet 
long by 12 feet 3 inches wide, with rooms opening 
out of it. The latest portion of the house is the 
dining-room, which has a fine ceiling and splendid 
chimney-piece. 1 he room is panelled throughout. 
and in the corner is an angle lobby or screen, form¬ 
ing the entrance. The original of this cjuaint 
and singular adornment is the interior doorway 
of the ante-chamber of the Hall of the Council 
of Ten in Venice. It is an elaborate work of beau¬ 
tiful detail, thoroughly Elizabethan in style. A few 
other houses in England have similar screens, 
notably at Bradfield and in a few Devonshire seats. 
The white paint has recently been removed from 
the oak panelling, and the large window at the 
north end re-opened, after being blocked for many 
years. This white paint had a signification, and 
was used in the houses of enthusiastic loyalists to 
testify to their zeal for the House of Stuart. The 
drawing-room has a fine ceiling dated I559> 
has rich pendants. King James’s bedroom, the 
entrance to which is from the gallery, has a large 
and very handsomely carved Jacobean chimney- 
piece of stone of unusual design, owing to the 
peculiar treatment of the figure sculpture. The 
two grand staircases were also erected in the resto¬ 
ration of 1554. The groined passage leading from 
the hall to the present dining-room is a fine speci¬ 
men of English architecture, as the removal of 
227 
