Illustration: Decoration of wooden gable at Ford's Hospital and ornaments at Bond's Hospital, Coventry, 16th century.
Many of the specifically English Arts and Crafts practitioners, critics and scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth century had mixed feelings as far as England and the sixteenth century were concerned. While some focused on the continuing indigenous traditions of the English craft system, others saw the increasingly invasive nature of the European Renaissance with its classically based ideas, as shifting emphasis away from traditions that were rooted in the native landscape to an indeterminate one somewhere in the Mediterranean. The two centuries that followed the sixteenth were considered by many in the Arts and Crafts movement to be the nadir of English decorative arts.
While obviously the cultural situation in England from the sixteenth century onwards was much more complex than any straightforward issues concerning English and European influences on any form of indigenous culture, it does not change the fact that many at the time believed the historical context to be real. What is perhaps more interesting is the underlying belief amongst many in the English Arts and Crafts movement, that English versus European ideas and traditions could be traced to class. There was a widespread belief that associated the continuing traditions of the English craft system with the common man. This belief was then placed directly opposite a further association that saw European derived fashions and ideas linked directly to the wealthier and more ephemerally minded aristocracy and their imitators.
Illustration: Decoration of wooden gable at Ford's Hospital, Coventry, 16th century.
These ideas spread out and eventually became associated with styles and materials so that the use of oak for example became associated with traditional English usage by the common man, while imported hard woods like mahogany became associated with the wealthier classes. Many saw oak as an honest, indigenous material used for generations by the English for anything from house building to furniture, while mahogany was seen as an affectation produced by the insecurity of the wealthy to display their superiority over the common Englishman. The use of oak by English Arts and Craft practitioners was not merely to connect with English craft traditions, but had much more to do with the underlying force of Socialism. Socialist ideals became more apparent and relevant as the English Arts and Crafts movement developed. While not every practitioner followed the Socialist cause, many did, and meaningful connections with the ideal of the working class of England were sought throughout the movement's development and rediscovery of indigenous craft traditions. The use of oak in non-affected and honest Arts & Crafts building projects and furniture design was used as a measure against much of what was seen as affected and status driven classically inspired architecture and furniture design used and bought by the aristocracy and wealthier sections of the community as an affectation and a means to suppress the indigenous common man.
Illustration: Decoration of wooden gable of house in Wells Street, Coventry, 16th century.
Although the beliefs and associations of the English Arts and Crafts movement should be taken seriously, they should also be seen within the context of the era they were developed. Many in the English Arts and Crafts movement were wealthy themselves and had little affiliation with the working class. Most had related to working class people as servants from birth and many struggled to find any meaningful relationship with the working man that wasn't based on these experiences. However, there was a concerted effort to try to build bridges and a genuine belief that all classes were inextricably linked and needed to respect each other in order to build a better England.
The belief in the English craft tradition and its superiority over that of the European, was based on a belief in the power of the indigenous rather than that of the international, and was not directly based on irrational bigotry towards Europe. There was a real interest in the English craft tradition, which produced a widening of both scholarly and practical understanding of the history of the early English decorative and architectural arts. One such was the examination of English timber and plaster buildings many of which during the nineteenth century were still standing and still in use. The use of decoration on the exterior of these buildings was most noticeable on the exposed oak gables either end of the building and above dormer windows. Much of the decorative carved work followed the traditions of English floral work, which was a medieval tradition that could be most clearly seen within the numerous churches and cathedrals throughout England. Although all of the examples shown in this article are from the sixteenth century, most are still steeped in the non-classically inspired traditions of earlier centuries. There is an elegant sophistication to much of the decoration and it is easy to connect the work with the Arts and Crafts movement, whether that be through similar nineteenth century wood carving techniques or into textiles and even wallpaper.
Illustration: Decoration of wooden gable to a window at Bond's Hospital, Coventry, 16th century.
It is the tracking down of the various forms of early English decorative work, much of it produced before the English adoption of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment ideals, which gave the English Arts and Crafts movement such an impetus. The reconnection, no matter how tenuous between the nineteenth century practitioners of the English craft tradition and those that worked mostly namelessly for generations from the sixteenth century back through the centuries to the earliest English traditions, drew attention to a more honest and practical approach to craft, decoration and ornament. It was one that produced conflict with those who followed a more classically trained tradition and who saw the indigenous elements championed by the Arts and Crafts movement as vulgar, amateurish and domestic. That a high percentage of the critics also happened to be aristocratically based is perhaps not a coincidence.
All of the illustrations shown in this article feature timber and plaster buildings from the English city of Coventry. Although much of the original work had been altered over the generations, the core decorative fabric of the timbers was still extent even up into the twentieth century. There are no real names associated with any of the carvings and it is unknown whether they were professional or gifted amateur, it would seem as with much of the English craft tradition, a little of both. Coventry itself lost a number of these ancient timber buildings in the Second World War, but more disastrously during house clearances in the 1930s where a number of these traditionally crafted homes were lost to the casualness of progress, whereas those damaged during the war were largely rebuilt where possible. Although Coventry was systematically bombed during the war, there is still much of the traditional English timber and plaster building to be seen, both in the city and the surrounding towns and villages. They of course include a generous proportion of decorative work found on their timber gables. Both Ford and Bond Hospitals are still in existence.
Illustration: Decoration of wooden gable to a window at Ford's Hospital, Coventry, 16th century.
A Coventry based website Historic Coventry is a good destination when exploring the unique quality and remaining housing stock using these irreplaceable traditions.
Reference links:
Discovering Timber-framed Buildings (Shire Discovering)
Old cottages, farm houses, and other half-timber buildings in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Cheshire
The Medieval English Domestic Timber Roof: A Handbook of Types (American University Studies IX : History, Vol 25)
Timber Building in Britain (Vernacular Buildings)
Timber Building in England from Early Times to the End of the Seventeenth Century
Timber Framed Buildings Explained (BRITAIN'S LIVING HISTORY)
Tudor Style
The Tudor & Jacobean Country House: A Building History
The Tudor House and Garden: Architecture and Landscape in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries (Studies in British Art)
Tudor Britain (History from Buildings)
The domestic architecture of England during the Tudor period: Illustrated in a series of photographs & measured drawings of country houses & other buildings with historical and descriptive text
The Tudor & Jacobean Country House: A Building History
