English Houses

This book is essential reading for property professionals and laymen alike. Anyone who would like to know more about the houses of England’s cities, towns and villages will benefit from reading this book. Through a wealth of pictures, easy to read comments and architectural notes the book helps the reader to identify the different architectural periods and understand the development of the construction of English houses. The book illustrates a number of influential styles and features of English houses throughout history. Also included are examples of houses that have been altered by several generations and different periods enabling the reader to trace trends and discover the more subtle nuances of English houses.

Houses are more than a shelter from the elements: they also offer an unparalleled insight into the beliefs, ideas and experiences of the people who built and lived in them. In this engaging book, Matthew Johnson looks at the traditional houses that still exist throughout the English countryside and examines the lives of the ordinary people who once occupied them. His wide-ranging narrative takes in the medieval hall and the community it framed; the rebuilding and 'improvement'of houses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and the rise of the Georgian Order in both architecture and eighteenth century culture. This passionate book is animated by the conviction that old houses are much more than just pretty tableaux of an idyllic, unchanging rural England. Vernacular houses are compared to their larger, 'polite' counterparts, and English houses are placed in the wider context of the British Isles and the Atlantic world beyond. The result is a dynamic, compelling account of the development of houses in the English countryside and through this, a portrait of changing patterns of social life from medieval to modern times. Richly illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings, this book will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the significance of our built heritage and the historic landscape.

Originally published in 1982, and based on extensive research in estates’ archives, this book outlines the changing fate of the 500 largest estates in England over the centuries. It examines estates in their heyday and looks at their changing role as they declined in the twentieth century, showing how some estates have survived and describing the differing uses to which country houses have been put.

"There is nothing quite like the English country house anywhere else in the world." So pronounces Vita Sackville-West in the beautiful essay that opens English Country Houses, a brief history of the English country house from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. People may know of Sackville West's novels, or her passion for gardening, or her relationship with Virginia Woolf, but few know of her efforts to boost the morale of her beloved England during World War II. Sackville-West spent her childhood years at Knole House, a stately country home that deeply influenced her life and work. In entertaining and accessible prose she brings a deep affection to the task of boosting the morale of a country beset by war. This volume in the Britain in Pictures series is a love letter to the elegant homes of the English countryside and served as a balm to a besieged country. Writing at the height of the Blitz, as cities lay in smoldering ruins after relentless bombing, Sackville-West demonstrates a yearning for the safety provided by these exceptional buildings. We discover the architecture of the stately houses, with details conveyed in such entertaining and vivid prose that the buildings and surrounding areas come to life. The story is not just about the buildings, however, but also about the people who built and lived in them, from the most common of squires to the highest-born kings and queens. Equal parts architectural history and cultural history, this insider's view is quintessentially British. Its elegant package, with a ribbon for bookmarking, makes it the perfect gift for any Anglophile.

Houses are more than a shelter from the elements: they also offer an unparalleled insight into the beliefs, ideas and experiences of the people who built and lived in them. In this engaging book, Matthew Johnson looks at the traditional houses that still exist throughout the English countryside and examines the lives of the ordinary people who once occupied them. His wide-ranging narrative takes in the medieval hall and the community it framed; the rebuilding and 'improvement'of houses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and the rise of the Georgian Order in both architecture and eighteenth century culture. This passionate book is animated by the conviction that old houses are much more than just pretty tableaux of an idyllic, unchanging rural England. Vernacular houses are compared to their larger, 'polite' counterparts, and English houses are placed in the wider context of the British Isles and the Atlantic world beyond. The result is a dynamic, compelling account of the development of houses in the English countryside and through this, a portrait of changing patterns of social life from medieval to modern times. Richly illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings, this book will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the significance of our built heritage and the historic landscape.

'This wonderful book makes me want to take a year off . . . and plunge off into what Jenkins has memorably Described as 'the theatre of our shared memory'' Adam Nicolson, Evening Standard England's houses are a treasure trove of riches and a unique, living record of the nation's history. Simon Jenkins's lavishly illustrated guide selects the finest homes throughout the land, from Cornwell to Cumbria, in a glorious celebration of English life. Ranges from famous stately homes and palaces to humble cottages and huts Organized county-by-county for easy use Features a ratings system for each house Highlights the very best 100 'Buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy and keep in the car' Daily Mail 'This is the perfect book to have beside your bed or on the back seat of your car . . . Jenkins's zeal is infectous. He quite rightly sees England's greatest houses as collectively nothing less than a wonder of the world' Geordie Greig, Literary Review 'A hertiage enthisiast's Ode To Joy' Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph 'A feast, enlivened by the sort of tasty snippets that only a master journalist can produce' Hugh Massingberd, Daily Telegraph

Most still privately owned, these manor houses are scattered all over England, & range from simple Norman halls to picturesque Tudor homes, many dating from the reign of the Stuarts.