John Allan & Nat Alcock 
West Country Households, 1500-1700 

Essays on the development of the post-medieval house, its contents and decoration.


During the last forty years, South-West England has been the focus of some of the most significant work on the early modern house and household in Britain. Its remarkable wealth of vernacular buildings has been the object of muchattention, while the area has also seen productive excavations of early modern household goods, shedding new light on domestic history.

This collection of papers, written by many of the leading specialists in these fields, presents a number of essays summarizing the overall understanding of particular themes and places, alongside case studies which publish some of the most remarkable discoveries. They include the extraordinary survival of wall-hangings in a South Devon farm, the discovery of painted rooms in an Elizabethan town house, and a study of a table-setting mirrored on its ceiling. Also considered are forms of decoration which seem specific to particular areas of the West Country houses. Taken together, the papers offer a holistic view of the household in the early modern period.


John Allan is Consultant Archaeologist to the Dean & Chapter of Exeter Cathedral; Nat Alcock is Emeritus Reader in the Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick; David Dawson is an independent archaeologist and museum and heritage consultant.


Contributors: Ann Adams, Nat Alcock, John Allan, James Ayres, Stuart Blaylock, Peter Brears, Tania Manuel Casimiro, Cynthia Cramp, Christopher Green, Oliver Kent, Kate Osborne, Richard Parker, Isabel Richardson, John Schofield, Eddie Sinclair, John R.L. Thorp, Hugh Wilmott,

Table of Content

Introduction

The development of the vernacular house in South-West England, 1500-1700 – Nat Alcock

The transformation of the building stock of Exeter, 1450-1700 – Richard Parker and John Allan

The appearances of Godolphin, 1300-1630 – John Schofield

Boiling furnaces, smoking chambers and malt kilns in West Country households – Peter Brears

The polychrome-decorated plank-and-muntin screen at Marker’s Cottage, Broadclyst, Devon, and its context – Eddie Sinclair

The polychrome-decorated plank-and-muntin screen at Marker’s Cottage, Broadclyst, Devon, and its context – Isabel Richardson

The interior decoration of an Elizabethan merchant’s house: the evidence from 41-2 High Street, Exeter – John R.L. Thorp

Sgraffito-decorated and painted plaster on Devon fireplaces – Ann Adams

North Devon relief-decorated ceramics in the household – Cynthia Cramp

The stained hangings at Yarde Farm, Malborough, south Devon – James Ayres

Culinary artefacts in West Country households, 1550-1700: form, function and nomenclature – Peter Brears

The archaeology of the West Country bronze foundries – Stuart Blaylock

Cast bronze cooking pots in England, 1500-1720 – Christopher Green

Table glass in the West Country home,
c. 1500-1700 – Hugh Willmott

Portuguese faience in South-West England – Tânia Manuel Casimiro

Dinner on the ceiling: the 17th-century plasterwork at 144 Fore Street, Exeter – Peter Brears

Pots and texts: understanding pots in use – Oliver Kent

Presenting an Elizabethan interior: the reinterpretation of St Nicholas Priory, Exeter – Kate Osborne

Presenting an Elizabethan interior: the reinterpretation of St Nicholas Priory, Exeter – John Allan