Page:The Boynton family and the family seat of Burton Agnes.djvu/99

 THE HALL.

The residence of the Lord of the Manor of Burton Agnes has stood on the same spot, or near the same spot, from early times.

The building immediately to the west of the present mansion, though it has a most uninteresting appearance, contains in its basement what is among the earliest remains of domestic architecture, to be found in the district. The work belongs to the latter half of the 12th century. The basement chamber, where this early work is found, is covered with a groined vault with chamfered ribs, carried by cylindrical piers with volute capitals, and well moulded bases with griffes. This basement must have formed part of a considerable building—possibly it was the story under the great hall—and one naturally enquires who built it? The character of the detail points to the date of c. 1170, so that it is probably the work of Roger de Stuteville, whose daughter Alice married Roger de Merlay. Above this basement the remains of some old woodwork in what was possibly the great hall, point to work done in the latter half of the 15th century. Sir Walter Griffith, the builder of this portion of the old hall, lies buried before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, under a great tomb bearing his effigy, and that of his first wife.

The present Hall, like most Elizabethan houses, has as its prevailing characteristic, symmetry, and it is designed with a view to stateliness, rather than to what we understand as domestic convenience. As usual the hall occupies the central portion of the principal front, with the porch on one side opening into the screens—a survival of mediæeval arrangement—and balanced on the other side by a great bay opening from the hall itself. The side of the porch is richly treated with a fine display of heraldry; this front is flanked by gables of great projection, with semi-circular bays on the