Sidney Oldall Addy

“ Figure 4 is a fine relic of the old wood-carver's art, though it has suffered from coats of paint, and the graceful folds of the cowl or hood which surrounds the woman's head will be noticed in the drawing. It is the work of an accomplished artist. "The hall in the Ponds," or whatever its name was, has been a splendid specimen of an English house, standing alone in the fields, and close by the waters of the Sheath, yet within the precincts of the ancient borough. ”

“ Interesting and beautiful as some of this old work still is it has suffered much from the profane brush of the house-painter, who has daubed it without mercy. Figures 1 and 2 are the capitals of wooden pillars supporting the house, and are outside the building. All the heads are under canopies, and they were carved about the middle of the fourteenth century, if not earlier. Figure 2 is crowned, and another crowned head, said to be a king, has lately been taken from the interior of the house, and fixed on the highest part of the roof as a finial, so that it was impossible to make a drawing. ”

“ In dwelling-houses, or in such buildings as were not halls or barns, the internal "crucks" were covered by timber and plaster-work, and so the spaces between them formed separate rooms. Examples of houses built in this way still survive in Hallamshire, though they are steadily disappearing. For instance Stubbing House in Ecclesfield is built with "crucks" like those in the barn or large building at High Storrs. A portion of the kitchen of this house is shown in the drawing. Here the "crucks" reach almost to the ground, and are continued up to the roof-tree. ”

“ Over the laths a mixture of clay and straw was daubed so as to form a plaster. At Hagg Green the stoothing at the end of the barn divides that building from an old part of the house, as is apparent by the windows, now blocked up, in the continuous wall. It was evident on inspection of this example that the wood-work of the building figured in the drawing is much older than the outer stone-work, and from this we may infer that, as the wattle and daub which completed the building decayed, stone-work was afterwards substituted as being more durable. ”

“ Some old houses in Snig Hill, Sheffield, appear to be built entirely of wood and plaster, and they are a survival from the time when all the houses in the town were of that kind. The wooden framework of these buildings is covered with lath and plaster, which might as well be called wattle and daub. Mr. Keeling has sketched the whole street, and these old houses, with their projecting upper stories, will be seen on the left of his interesting picture. The houses are in a state of great decay ”

“ On the right of this drawing will be seen one of these timbers with a porch, all made of wood and plaster, beneath. This kitchen, which is very quaint and interesting, must at one time have been a parlour or better kind of living room. Upon a little cupboard which stands in the recess on the other side of the fire-place is a carving of a man in an Elizabethan dress standing by the side of a saddled horse, with the date 1569 carved in one corner. ”

“ A long straight pole is selected for the roof-tree. Six well-grown trees, with suitable branches apparently reaching to meet one another, and of about the same size as the roof-tree, are stuck upright in the ground at even distances in two parallel rows—three in each row. ”

“ In these examples the wattle and daub are only occasionally seen, but the great oak timbers remain. They are massive and strong, and fastened together by big wooden pins. It will be seen from the sketch of the interior of a barn or farm building at Hagg Green, between Stephen Hill and Bell Hagg, that not only are the timbers old and big, but that all the interstices between the great beams were originally filled up with stakes and wattles. ”

“ Besides the households of tribesmen of blood relations and pure descent, there were hanging on to the tribes or their chiefs, and under the overlordship of the latter, or sometimes of tribesmen, strangers in blood who were not free Welshmen; also Welshmen illegitimately born, or degraded for crime. And these classes, being without tribal or family rights, were placed in groups of households and homesteads by themselves. ”

“ The outer walls, often low, were generally formed of boards, or plaster and lath, so that with a small stone foundation for each cruk little masonry was necessary." Mr. Furness then drew my attention to fine specimens of this kind of timber-work at High Storrs, Ecclesall, and at the farm of Mr. ”