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ornamental cushion like that which supports Sir John ; her hands, which were raised in prayer, are gone. The hair, arranged in curls, is confined in a closely-fitting cap, which is surmounted by an upper head-dress, voluminous and widely spreading. It seems to be starched or wired, and has wings falling down behind the wearer's shoulders: inside it is trimmed with rich lace whose pattern suggests that known as "Honiton:" our dame came from Devon, so it is not unlikely. Ruff, bodice, and the long turned-back cuffs are all freely trimmed with this handsome garniture. The ruff, though still in rounded folds, falls down like a collar instead of standing up stiffly as it did in Elizabethan days. The bodice is very angular, with straight lines, perhaps pipings, of contrasting colour; a true lover's knot is placed on each shoulder and in the centre of the jacket, which is confined at the waist by a girdle of twisted stuff tied in a bow; the basque below the waist is cut into tabs, the central one rounded, the others of squarer form. Loose sleeves hang to the elbows, and closer ones appear under them finished with six-sided cuffs. The long skirt is probably worn over a farthingale or hooped petticoat, as it is very wide; it opens down the front, having nine ornamental clasps arranged in groups of three. An over-skirt is draped at the sides of the figure; both this and the skirt below have heavy folds. Rather large shoes, with flat heels, complete the costume. These effigies are very well executed, and compare favourably with Nos. 24, 25, and 26; they were not made on the spot, as, for convenience of carriage, the figures were constructed in two pieces, and the local workmen made a bad fit in Sir John's case when putting them together. The material used is an oolite stone.

This notice of Dame Elizabeth Carew concludes the series of recumbent lay effigies to be found in Pembrokeshire. In Rudbaxton Church there is a monument commemorative of the Howard family of Flether

Hill, 1665-1685, which contains four figures, two male, two female; it is described in Arch. Camb., 1888, p. 132, by Sir Stephen Glynne, and illustrated by our late Editor, Arch. Camb., 1889, p. 271. These figures are, however, on a huge mural tablet, and if we represented them among our recumbent effigies, it would necessitate the introduction of wall tablets from Tenby, Carew, and other churches.

MEDIEVAL HOUSE, DYSERTH,

FLINTSHIRE

BY DR. ROBERT COCHRANE, I.S.O., F.R.I.B.A., F.S.A.

I HAVE pleasure in complying with the request of the editor to furnish a short note on the remains of this interesting medieval house, which appears to have excited a good deal of interest, partly on account of its having been mistaken for an ecclesiastical structure, and chiefly because of the paucity in this part of Wales of remains of a similar nature with which it would be possible to institute a comparison.

Such houses are more frequently met with in the southern counties, where they are for the most part found as half timbered structures, especially in Kent, where they developed into the well-known type of yeoman's house in one direction, and in another merged into the ordinary plan of the smaller fifteenth-century house of the hall type, and later in the Elizabethan period into the manor house. This traditional plan is one which has the simplest arrangement of rooms possible, and comprises the three usual apartments—the hall, solar, and kitchen. Such structures have not attracted so much attention as the more imposing edifices, and are not often met with now in their primitive condition. In the majority of cases they were half-timbered houses and not of the most solid construction. Some surviving examples have been added to and altered to such an extent as to considerably deprive them of their original simplicity of arrangement, and in this way the earlier work has passed unnoticed, but to anyone acquainted with mediæval house planning there is no difficulty in distinguishing the hall, solar, and kitchen type, however disguised by additions and reconstruction or where only the

6TH SER,, VOL. XII.

3

W.

ruined walls are left standing, as in the case of houses built of masonry.1

The plan herewith is based on the measurements given at p. 56 of Arch. Camb., 1911, and on it is indicated the division by the usual timber partitions into hall, solar, and kitchen. The hall, or "houseplace," occupied the central portion and was approached from "the screens" or wooden partitions forming the passage between the two external doors. The hall was the principal apartment, and is in one story lighted by two windows of a larger size than for any of the other

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Ground Plan of Medieval House near Dyserth, Flintshire, known locally as
"Siamber Wen"

apartments. The fire was originally on the hearth, about the middle of the room, which necessitated a louvre in the roof for the exit of smoke.2

1 There is a good example of a half-timbered honse of this type at Shorne, near Gravesend, in parallelogram form, measuring about 46 ft. by 21 ft. It is described in Archeologia Cantiana, vol. xxvii. Other examples in Kent are to be found at Pattenden, Smarden, Biddenden, and Loddenden, all are rectangular in plan except the latter, which has a return; but all are altered internally and have had a cross wall and fireplace inserted in each. The best-known example is the house at Alfriston in Sussex.

2 In the story of the Nun's Priest, Canterbury Tales, the line "Full Sooty was hire bour and eke hire halle," shows contemporary appreciation of the discomforts of such a fire. Chaucer was clerk of the works at Westminster and Windsor, 1389-1391.

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