Elizabethan & Jacobean

For most it is hard to distinguish Elizabethan and Jacobean housing from that of the Tudors. But an ever changing political and social climate in Britain nurtured a boom in building across the country and, despite only spanning a century, from around 1560 to 1660, evidence of this design era abounds in our historic buildings.

While timber-frame construction remained popular, by the end of the period it would become the preserve of the countryside. On the other hand, housing in the towns and of the elite was now increasingly constructed from brick and stone. It is the homes of the Elizabethans and Jacobeans that arouse thoughts of great houses, elaborate decoration and pristine symmetry. An air of grandeur was being developed in architecture – becoming increasingly flamboyant and including early, though somewhat wayward, uses of classical ornament. This was the period where the great country house would come into its own, establishing the foundations that would allow Palladianism to envelop our shores in the following centuries.

DESIGN EVOLUTION

Following the swathes of political, religious and social change experienced by the population in the late medieval and Tudor periods, the wool and cloth trades of Britain were creating ever greater