ABSTRACT

If transitional houses were diverse in form and lavish in decoration, closed houses were uniform and plain in both plan and detail. The period from the late 16th century onwards is dominated by one type of house: the two-or more usually three-cell lobby-entry form, with internal, axial chimney stack and back-to-back fireplaces (Figs 3.4, 6.1-3; Plate 4c). This type of house is one of several found in the transitional period, as observed in Chapter 5, and builders and owners were certainly familiar with its logic and arrangement from an early date. A building contract of 1577 gives a detailed specification for this type of house (Johnson 1981:53). So just as the open period saw a general type in the open-hall house, so the closed period had the three-cell lobby-entry house.