Photo upload - yet another attempt!

[lou]

I have spent many a long hour now, on Flikr and Photobucket, trying to download and resize photos to share on this site without success. I think it's to do with the ridiculously complex connectivity between my computer and my husband's (he's meant to be the expert but has so far not delivered!) I'm therefore going to have another try at just uploading them directly so here goes. The house is beginning to resemble something that might be called a home at long last.

Just for info, following an earlier paint thread, I have shown the hall where I applied RoJ clairecolle and brick red soft distemper but as you can see, the walls are all just so wet from the hemp/lime plaster and, let's face it, our Welsh climate, that it's still all very patchy. I'm going to give it a couple more weeks with the windows and doors open but suspect I may have to resort to clay paint again. That does seem to cover a multitude of sins.

 

[philpjuk100]

Great lintel over the fire!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

And a rather lovely plank and muntin screen! Gosh, what a wonderful house!

 

[lou]

And a rather lovely plank and muntin screen! Gosh, what a wonderful house!

Thanks Gareth! I think you are a CO so I consider this praise indeed! From other posts I've read of yours I thought you might, and still may, disapprove of what we did, as the whole of this room, when we bought it, was sectioned off and covered with Victorian tongue and groove. With our CO's blessing, however, we agreed that it was worth sacrificing the Victorian additions to reveal the lovely proportions and features of the medieval hall. I can't upload the pic of how it looked unfortunately - too big!

The house is cruck hall, though as you can see from the picture, the roof has been raised so it only supports the roof on one side. The original cruck in the picture has been badly burned at one time though seems pretty solid otherwise. The little Tudor window in the earlier pic had been filled in and badly damaged but not so badly that it couldn't be saved, luckily.

 

[lou]

Great lintel over the fire!

Yes - this was our most exciting discovery, as it too was covered in tongue and groove. You can't really see it from the pic but there are several cuts in the stone at the lower edge which, apparently, deter witches from coming down the chimney. What a relief!

 

[Penners]

Great lintel over the fire!

Yes - this was our most exciting discovery...there are several cuts in the stone at the lower edge which, apparently, deter witches from coming down the chimney.

And apparently they work. There doesn't seem to be any sign of witches anywhere.

The lintel is great, lou, but surely your most exciting discovery must be that plank and muntin screen, with the complex ceiling timberwork above it. At first I wondered whether those truncated joists were the remains of a smaller, jettied building, but the location of the screen below them seems to argue against that, as does the fact that they look as though they've just been sawn off. So I wonder whether they are the remains of joists that were cut off in order to raise the ceiling, at some point in the history of the house. If they are, I wonder why there's no sign of any bevels or stops on them, which I would expect in a house of that quality.

The higher-level ceiling joists in the top right of the picture look much slighter than the old ones, so the modification was probably done on a tighter budget.

 

[lou]

Well, sort of , Penners
We were confounded by the apparently pointless truncated beams protruding into the hall until we read Richard Suggate's book on medieval houses of the Welsh Marches which illustrates exactly how these beams mimic those in larger gentry halls, and how they in turn mimicked grander houses and castles. The beams form a 'dais canopy' under which the owner sat at a bench to welcome his guests. I think they may have been covered with draping of some kind because they aren't finished well but I'm going to just leave them more or less as they are for historical interest.
But though the screen was a delightful feature, we knew it was there from the room behind where it was still showing with the remains of limewashing. The lintel , and the stone Tudor window were the real discoveries as there was no sign of either till we began picking away - as obsessive period property owners are wont....

Now it's almost a proper home again so maybe I should dress up in my medieval finery, greet selected local peasantry beneth the dais and ply them with mead and divers victuals (?) - or maybe just get the family round and get drunk....

 

[Penners]

I'm going to just leave them more or less as they are for historical interest.

Of course that's what you must do! What a very interesting explanation for them - I've never come across that before. However, given that explanation for their rather pretentious incorporation into the house, I still find myself wondering whether they wouldn't originally have been finished off rather more flamboyantly. So could they, perhaps, have been shortened at some point?

 

[lou]

So could they, perhaps, have been shortened at some point?

I agree they look unfinished which is why I thought they might have supported some sort of fabric perhaps. In the book I refered to, there's a drawing of the very same arrangement, this being common in houses of this area and period. The book's author has visited and didn't mention anything about them being shortened but perhaps I should ask him. These beams do also support the floor/ceiling of the room behind. If I had access to my printer I would try and copy the drawing but that's in London and I'm here - scraping paint and dirt off floors.