ll, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the "great
chamber," where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
hall.

[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE]

Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of _Piers
Ploughman_, who wrote--

"Now hath each rich a rule
To eaten by themselve,
In a privy parlour
For poor man sake,
Or in a chamber with a chimney;
And leave the chief hall,
That was made for meals
Men to eaten in."

Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country,
once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.

[Illustration: DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE, UFTON COURT]

The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary,
and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead
of castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English
style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are
its best examples.

During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in
importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a
grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was
increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The principal
features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and noble staircase.

[Illustration: THE PORCH, UFTON COURT]

Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
appear