[Illustration: 98.--SECTION OF WINDOW JAMBS AND MULLIONS.]
[Illustration: 99.--WINDOW-SILL AT WOLLATON HALL.]
[Illustration: 99A.--HEAD OF A WINDOW AT HATFIELD HOUSE.]
GABLES, PARAPETS, FINIALS, CHIMNEYS, RAIN-WATER HEADS, GARDENS.
[Illustration: 100.--A NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COTTAGE.]
The gable is one of the characteristic features of the period. As a rule it was of steep pitch--indeed, in many thatched barns and cottages the apex is very acute (Fig. 100). In such cases the cottages generally had attic-rooms in the roof, which were lighted by dormer windows, over which the thatch was worked in such a way that they appeared to be a growth out the main roof rather than an extraneous window applied to it. In stone and brick houses the gable wall rose above the roof, and was coped with stone to prevent the wet penetrating into it. The coping rested at the bottom on a kneeler, which projected sufficiently to accommodate itself to the projection of the eaves, and at the apex it was usually crowned by a finial. A considerable amount of variety was introduced into the design of the kneelers and finials, and many a small house and cottage is redeemed from insignificance by the possession of one or two of these features (Fig. 101). Even where there was no finial, the mere fact of the apex of the coping projecting above the line of the ridge produced a point that showed against the sky, and helped towards the general picturesqueness of effect. In some of the more important houses the finials were worked with greater elaboration, and were placed not only on the apex of the gable but on the kneelers at its foot (see Fig. 108, and the dormer on Fig. 113; also Plate XXX.). The effect of plain gables contrasted with those having simple finials is shown on Plate XXXV., while examples of larger and more important finials may be seen at Kirby and Rushton (Figs. 107, 113), the prevailing forms being some variety of the obelisk.
[Illustration: 101.--STONE FINIALS AND KNEELERS.]
[Illustration: 102.--MANOR HOUSE, FINSTOCK, OXFORDSHIRE.]
[Illustration: 103.--COTTAGE AT ROTHWELL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. (1660.)]
The use of simple gables or their combination with dormer windows and chimneys, all without elaborate detail, is quite sufficient to impart interest to a building, which otherwise would have little claim to attention. Examples of these unpretentious houses are to be met with in every county; one or two are illustrated here from Finstock, in Oxfordshire (Fig. 102), Broadway, in Worcestershire (Plate XXXV.), and Holmshurst, in Sussex (Plate XXXV.). There is very little conscious effort about the design of either of these, beyond the introduction of a certain amount of symmetry. At Finstock Manor House there is a range of three equal gables occupying most of the front, and the door is in the centre. At Tudor House, Broadway, there are three gables, but they are detached from each other, and the middle one is rather larger than its neighbours; a bay window of two storeys occupies the centre of the front, and the very plainly treated door is at one end. The house at Holmshurst is, like most of those in the Weald, built of brick: it has stone windows, but very little detail, its effect depending upon the two gables, each flanked with a large chimney-stack.