![]() This is the archetypal late-Elizabethan house: tall, compact and beautiful. It looks outwards rather than in on itself, whilst classical detailing such as the pilasters that flank the expanses of glass, and the roundels carved with busts of Roman emperors, show that Renaissance ideas were creeping slowly into Britain during the mid 16th century. Longleat House, Wiltshire, which was completed in 1580, exemplifies the confidence of Tudor craftsmen in a society that was more stable than that of their medieval ancestors. Christopher Wren rebuilt the south and east ranges for William and Mary between 16, and the Palace contains some remarkable Tudor work, notably Henry VIII's hammer-beamed Great Hall. The great house that Cardinal Wolsey began and then gave to Henry VIII in 1525, in a desperate attempt to stay in the King's favour, has undergone many changes since the 16th century. Its foundation stone was laid in 1446 by Henry VI and the structure, with its lacy perpendicular fan-vaulting, was completed by 1515 during the reign of Henry VIII. King's College Chapel, Cambridge, spans the period of transition between the Middle Ages and the Tudors. Haddon shows the quality which characterises the great medieval house, in which function dictates form. It was then carefully restored in the early 20th century. Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, was probably begun in the 12th century, but was remodelled and adapted at various times right through to the 16th century. Muscular pillars and round-headed arches make Durham one of the most imposing Norman buildings in England. The choir was extended in the Gothic style between 12. The structure was completed in 1097, providing a colonial stronghold and a powerful symbol of Norman domination.ĭurham Cathedral was begun by Bishop William de St Carilef in 1093 and completed about 1175. White Tower, at the heart of the Tower of London, was begun by Bishop Gundulf in 1078 on the orders of William the Conqueror. These were dark, primitive structures of one or two rooms, usually with crude timber frames, low walls and thatched roofs. Such people didn't matter very much to the ruling elite and so neither did their houses. The rambling manor houses of the later Middle Ages, however, were primarily homes, their owners achieving respect and maintaining status by their hospitality and good lordship rather than the grandeur of their buildings.įitness for purpose also characterised the homes of the poorer classes. Castles served their particular purpose and their battlements and turrets were for use rather than ornament. The great cathedrals and parish churches that lifted up their towers to heaven were not only acts of devotion in stone they were also fiercely functional buildings. And it is all the more remarkable because the underlying ethos of medieval architecture was 'fitness for purpose'. And although the Anglo-Saxons had a sophisticated building style of their own, little survives to bear witness to their achievements as the vast majority of Anglo-Saxon buildings were made of wood.Įven so, the period between the Norman landing at Pevensey in 1066 and the day in 1485 when Richard III lost his horse and his head at Bosworth, ushering in the Tudors and the Early Modern period, marks a rare flowering of British building. ![]() Romano-British culture - and that included architecture along with language, religion, political organisation and the arts - survived long after the Roman withdrawal. However, the truth is not as simple as that. ![]()
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