Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1914 — ENGLISH HOME OF 1272 [ARTICLE]

ENGLISH HOME OF 1272

In a fold of the Kentish hills, surrounded by apple orchards and hop gardens, there stands a humble building whose walls are eloquent of the past, a writer in the London Globe says. It is almost the only one of its kind left standing—so far as the exterior is concerned —in its entirety.

The adjoining land was granted to one of his knights by Edward I. in 1272, and the most reliable antiquarian opinion is in favor of the house having been built shortly after. Our knight, in the matter of building, did not despise the record of the past, for he adopted the Norman method, then dying but, of placing his living rooms on the second' floor. This made for safety and the ground floor apartments were simply windowless dimgeons and storerooms. In those days they built for strength, and the walls of Kentish rag are of great thickness, calculated to withstand the assaults of any quarrelsome neighbors, while the turret, which gives admittance by a stone spiral staircase to the living rooms above, is guarded top and bottom by massive oaken doors, and is ligbted by oylets through which a rain of arrows could be poured upon intruders below. The main style of the building is that of the transition from early English to decorated. Oblong in form, it has gables north and south, and at either end of the long east wall is a square projection. Ascending the stairs we find ourselves in a room of truly noble proportions, occupying the length and breadth of the building, 28 feet by 18%, and lighted by windows east, west, north and south. It is open to the roof, which contains nearly, if not quite, its original form, and has a fireplace and an "ambrey” or cupboard in which cooking and table requisites and alms for the poor were kept. In this ”aire” or aitre” the ily lived and worked, and here visitors and better class retainers slept. Here, perhaps, from the beams supporting the roof hung the store of dried provisions for winter use, and the herbs collected by the squire's dame. It was here in the “aire” that, at even, the family gathered round the firelight (candles were expensive luxuries in those days) to listen to story of battle or chase. The windows were > unglazed. but glass might be fixed in the shutters, the iron hook for which still remains. Oaken set ties did duty as Beats by day and as resting places at night and meals were served on a board placed on r trestles —hence, perhaps, the phrase "the festive b^ard.”

From the hall a doorway gives admittance to one those square chambers already noticed as built on the ends of the east wall. It is the “lord’s bhamber,” the sleeping room of the women and children. The walls are thick and lancet slits, high above reach, let in a dim light by day, while the shutter hooks, still tightly wedged in the wall, show how jealously the retreat was guarded by night. It was the inner sanctum, the most protected part of the house, where those dearest to the knight found refuge in troublous days and children obtained privacy from the more public life of the hall. The other projecting room throws further light on the dispositions of our knight. A soldier, a domestic man, a man of taste, he was also a man of religion. For this room, a little larger than the lord’s chamber, is the chapel. It has a long, narrow, early English window, and two smaller ones, and retains on window arch and piscina tracery of much architectural beauty.