Henry VIII. was not only a great builder himself; but encouraged his nobles to follow his example ; so that there was no lack of examples iu his reign. Henry, himself, is said to have built or repaired the following mansions :— Beaulieu, or Newhall, Essex.
Hemsdon, I lerts, originally built by Sir John Oldhall, temp. Edward IV.
Ampthil I, Bedfordshire.
Nonsuch, Surrey.
York Place, Westminster.
Bridewell and 13Iackfriars, London, for the reception of the emperor Charles V.
St. James's, Westminster.
Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, the jointure of the divorced Queen Catherine of Arragon.
Sheriff 11utton, Yorkshire, given for the residence of Henry, Duke of Richmond, the king's natural son.
King's Langley, Herts.
When the monarch set himself so vigorously to work in building and repairing, it is no matter of surprise to see his courtiers following in the same steps; and, accordingly, we find that ninny and sumptuous were the mansions erected by them. Foremost in such works stands Wolsey, amongst whose principal buildings may be enumerated Hampton Court Palace ; York I louse, afterwards Whitehall ; his epis copal residence at Esher, Surrey; the college of Christchurch, Oxford, and another at Ipswich. Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, erected a magnificent palace at Thornbury, Gloucestershire ; Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, one at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire; the Duke of' Norfolk, and his son, the Earl of Surrey, those of Kenninghall, Norfolk, and Mount Surrey, near Norwich. Amongst others may be mentioned 'Haddon 11a11, Derbyshire ; Coudray, Sussex, destroyed by fire in 1793; Hever Castle, Kent; Gosficid Essex, perlbct ; Hengreave, Hall, Sala:, perfect; Layer Marney, Essex, now in ruins; Raglan Castle, Mon mouthshire, in ruins; Hunsdon house, Hefts, rebuilt; South Wingfield, Derbyshire. dilapidated ; Hill Hall, Essex; Wolterton, East Barsham, Norfolk, in ruins.
The plan of the larger mansions of this period was quad rangular, comprising an inner and base court, between which stood the gate-house. On the side of the inner court, facing the entrance, the principal apartments were placed, amongst which may he enumerated the hall, the chapel, the great chamber and dining-room, and were connected with a gallery for amusements running the whole length of another of the sides of the quadrangle. Several examples of this description are to he found, of which Ilannaker House, near Midhurst, Sussex, will give us a good idea ; this mansion was built round a court, with the entrance under an embattled gate house, flanked by small octagonal towers on the south ; a square tower stood at the south-east angle; the chapel and other apartments on the east, and the hall and principal rooms on the north. In mansions of less pretensions, the gate-house stood in advance of the building, connected with it only by mantle walls, as at East Barsham, Norfolk.
The materials of which such buildings were constructed were either brick or stone, and sometimes both combined, the main building being of brick and the dressings of free stone; this practice was very common. Bricks of two colours, usually black and red, and sometimes highly glazed, were employed to variegate the surface, the darker-coloured bricks being disposed in the tbrm of lozenges and other figures ; and in sonic instances the brick-work was rendered in ornamental plaster, as at Nonsuch. Moulded brick-work and terra-cotta were also employed for decorative purposes; medallions, or busts of terra-cotta were frequently inserted in small circular and other-shaped cavities in the walls, and heraldic devices, cognizanees, &c. were dispersed in various parts of the building.
The details and style of ornament adopted in those houses are, for the most part, the same as those to be tbund in eccle siastical buildings of the same period, the principal difference consisting in the different composition and arrangement of the various parts. Amongst the more striking peculiarities
may be reckoned the gate-houses, the numerous turrets and chimneys, the beautiful bay and oriel windows, the roof, ceilings, and panelled wainscot round the internal walls.
The gate-houses were very prominent features in these buildings, of lofty elevation, containing several apartments; they seem to have received a great deal of attention as to design, &c., and were more beautifully ornamented than almost any other part of the building. They were mostly placed in the centre of one of the sides of the court, and were usually embattled, and flanked by more lofty turrets at the angles. Stair-case turrets, rising above the general eleva tion, served to relieve the general outline, and of these there were frequently several in the angles and other parts of the court as occasion demanded ; the gables, also, were often flanked with turrets. Grouping well with these turrets, the heavy masses of chimneys stood out in bold relict, and gave great character to the elevation. Previous to this date, chimneys had been rarely used, and, when employed, had been made of secondary importance in time general design ; but now they not only began to be extensively used, but formed very prominent objects in the elevation ; and re ceived, probably, as much attention in the design as any other part of the edifice. They were of lofty proportions, circular or octagonal in plan, and usually clustered together in groups of two, four, or more. The shafts were ornamented with various devices, as roses, fleur-de-lis, &c., moulded on the surface ; at other times they were carved with spiral flutings, and ornamented in an infinite variety of ways; the tops, or caps, as they may be called, were richly monlded, and, indeed, the inventive powers seem to have been exhausted in the multitude of designs for the enrichment of this member of the edifice. The projecting windows form it very character istic feature of the style : they are of two kinds, those which rise immediately from the level of the ground being termed buys ; and those which project out in the upper part of the building, being corbelled out so as to overhang that below, are termed oriels. Both kinds of windows are erected on plans of various figures, but more especially upon those of a rectangular, semi-octagonal, or semi-eircular plan. Some times they are restricted to a single floor, while at others they are carried up through several. The bay-window is very common in large halls, where it is found at the upper end forming a recess at the side of the dais ; sometimes we find a bay on either side of the dais; such windows were usually loftier than the others, being carried from about three feet from the ground to the ceiling. Oriel windows are principally confined to the buildings of henry \M.'s and the early part of henry VII l.'s reign, but bays were common in the reign of Elizabeth, Alany of the great halls of this period had open timber roofs, of bold construction and beautiful design : they are mostly what are termed hammer-be:min rumors. See 1ZooF. The most remarkable are those erected by Cardinal Wolsey, at Hampton Court Palace, and at Christ Church Oxford, both of \ vhieh are 40 feet in width : inany others are to be seen in the halls of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, and in the inns of court in London. The ceilings were usually of thnber, divided into compartments by the main timbers of the floor above, and sometimes into smaller compartments by the joists, the timbers being either moulded or chamfered on the edge. Sometimes the flooring-timbers are concealed by panels with ribs of oak, which divide the surthce into com partments of various forms, the ground between the ribs being either of wood or plaster. At the intersections of the ribs, bosses of foliage and devices in wood or plaster were frequently introduced.