H ouse and Garden 
side of the house. Such interior decoration of 
these angle-posts may be seen in a house at 
Saffron Walden, Essex, and at the “Anchor 
Inn,” Basingstoke. The posts themselves 
were also richly carved. The village of 
Petworth, Sussex, and the “New Inn” at 
Gloucester furnish examples ot them. 
Having constructed our main uprights, 
we must place horizontal timbers which make, 
with the former, squares of framework. All 
the timbers are fastened together and ten¬ 
oned, the end of one being inserted into the 
socket or mortice of another, and secured by 
wooden pins. This is much better than the 
later practice of using iron bolts and straps. 
The sap of the oak often causes the iron to 
rust, and this produces decay in the timber 
and the subsequent weakening of the entire 
structure. The large squares are then divided 
by smaller timbers. The floor of the upper 
storey is formed by beams laid across the build¬ 
ing, projecting some two feet in front of the 
framing below, and holding the framework to¬ 
gether with the aid of other beams placed lon¬ 
gitudinally. Sometimes the projection of the 
upper storey was carried round the angles of 
the house, and continued on all sides. The 
projecting ends of the joists were rounded off', 
or moulded, but in the early years of the six¬ 
teenth century they were covered with a long 
fascia board either moulded and the upper 
part cut into small battlements, or carved with 
foliage. 'Phis is always a sign of early work. 
Having constructed our ground floor,we will 
proceed with the upper storey, which after the 
fashion of children making houses out of 
playing cards, is built up exactly in the same 
way. We must place the sill or foundation 
beams at the ends of the overhanging timbers 
and then fix uprights, as before, tenoning and 
pinning them and fastening horizontal tim¬ 
bers just as in the framework below. 4 
4 I am indebted for much information with regard to the building 
of timber houses to Mr. Charles Bailey’s “ Remarks on Timber 
Houses,” published in the “ Surrey Archaeological Collections,” Vol. 
IV., and to Mr. Dawber’s introduction to W. G. Davies’ “Old 
Cottages in Kent and Sussex.” 
OLD HOUSE AT KEEVIL 
1 1 5 
