The subject for the dissertation for my master’s degree was on Late-Tudor & Early-Stuart Gatehouses in Central Southwest England. The study of them introduced me to the ‘shell-headed alcove’ or ‘niche’. Several of them have the feature built into them. They are at a level where a person can sit. They are also found in pairs in loggias where two people can sit. This blog post is to give examples of the feature to demonstrate their fashion at the time.

Sebastiano Serlio’s Regole Generali Architettura was published in Europe between 1537 and 1547. It contained many illustrations, including the first illustrated orders of architecture. Tudor England was able to benefit from this book, although it wasn’t until 1611 that Robert Peake published an English edition of Serlio. However, the important treatises on classical architecture were potentially well known in England by the late 1

6th C as well as comprehensive pattern books. William Harrison in his book The Description of England, first published in 1577 wrote:

So if that ever curious building did flourish in England, it is in these our years, wherein our workmen excel and are in manner comparable in skill with old Vitruvius, Leon Battista, and Serlio.[i]

It appears that the form of ornamentation that appealed to gentry in the central southwest was the shell-headed niche. They are still present at Montacute House, Cathanger Gatehouse, Cothelstone Gatehouse, Wayford Manor, Waterston Manor, Lulworth Castle, Cranborne Manor, Sherborne New Castle, Berry Pomeroy Castle (ruined loggia), Longford Castle and Old Wardour Castle. There were on the gatehouse of Clifton Maybank, which was demolished in the late 18th century.

One thing worth noticing is the way the shell is positioned. On some it is the right way up with the hinge at the base. In others the hinge starts at the top. At Sherborne New Castle both (hinge at top, and hinge at base) are present on different sides of the house.

The form of ornamentation was popular with the mason William Arnold, who likely was the master mason for Montacute House, and Wayford Manor. He was the master mason for the initial remodelling of Cranborne Manor.

Below are the comparison of various examples of the shell-headed niches. The individual houses are described also.

COMPARISONS OF NICHES

 

EXAMPLES OF LATE-TUDOR & EARLY-STUART COUNTRY HOUSES IN THE CENTRAL SOUTHWEST WITH SHELL-HEADED NICHES

Old Wardour Castle

Old Wardour Castle, Wiltshire

The first recorded commission of Robert Smythson (1534/5-1614), a master mason and architect, was in 1538 at Longleat House in Wiltshire. In 1576 there is evidence that he was involved in the alterations at Old Wardour Castle, working for Sir Matthew Arundell. There is a Latin inscription over the entrance to the castle that bears the date of 1578. The niches are likely to be the classical touches of Symthson at Old Wardour.[ii]

Old Wardour Entrance

Old Wardour Castle Shell-headed Niche

Cothelstone Manor Gatehouse

Cothelstone Gatehouse with Manor behind

This is a rare survival of a 16th C gatehouse, sitting in front of a manor house with a court between it and the house. Often these gatehouses were demolished in the 1

Shell-headed niches in gate passage

8th C to open up parkland and expand views. This gatehouse has shell-headed niches in its gate passage and on the front and rear. The shell rises upwards from its hinge and does not fill the arch.

It is difficult to date with accuracy the gatehouse at Cothelstone. It is very similar to the gatehouse that existed at Orchard Portman (now demolished but a c. 1705 painting by Leonard Knyff shows the house, church, estate and gatehouse – the painting is in the Royal Collection A view of Orchard Portman on the Royal Collection Trust website). Orchard Portman dates from the mid-16th C and there were links between the Portman and Stawell families. However, shell-headed niches were rare in the mid-16th C.

There were niches on the Tudor façade of Somerset House in London, which was built around the mid-16th C, which was a neo-classical innovation at the time. It could be that Cothelstone gatehouse is mid-16th C, but the niches were inserted later.

Shell-headed niche in gate passage

Longford Castle

Longford Castle Entrance and Double Loggia

Longford Castle (originally called Longford House) was likely completed 1591 (the date on the house). It is possible that William Arnold worked or, or at least visited Longford Castle, getting his ideas for the shell-headed niche to produce at Montacute. He did introduce openwork stone finials at Montacute, which did exist at Longford (Longford blog post). [iii]

Sir Thomas Gorges (1536-1610), the builder of Longford Castle knew Sir Edward Phelips (c. 1555/60-1614), the builder of Montacute House.[iv]

Longford Castle entrance with shell-headed niche either side

The niches by the entrance doorway suggest possible seating for liveried retainers to wait upon the arrival of the owner or visitors.

Longford Castle Shell-headed Niche

Montacute House

Montacute House East Front

The builder of Montacute House was Sir Edward Phelips (c. 1555-1614) and his master mason likely William Arnold. The house was probably built between 1598 and 1601, making it a late-Elizabethan house. The east front has classical and Flemish-inspired features. The shell-headed niches providing a classical touch and seating.

Montacute Shell-headed niche with Jasper & Ron

The shell-headed niches are paired along the east front and single niches either side of the north door. It may well be that livered retainers had their rest seats, or it is where visitors waited. Maybe the niches were also employed as seats for those viewing masques that may have been performed in the east court. There may have been more niches in the gatehouse, which was demolished at some point in either the 17th or 18th centuries. The arrival at Monatcute would have been a grand sweep along the road from the east across the park to the gatehouse, where the elite would have dismounted or stepped out of a carriage. Then they would have walked through the gate passage to the east court and entrance.

I do wonder with the freestanding pillars and paired niches, whether the terrace was originally a loggia, set between the projecting wings of the east front. The roof of a possible loggia now gone. Other paired shell-headed niches such as at Berry Pomeroy and Cranborne Manor are set in loggias.

A1667 survey of Montacute House states[v]:

Out of the Porch of the house Eastward there is a descent of 4 Stepps into a large Tarris walk paved with Freestone and Rayles and Ballasters with very large high Pillers of Freestone and Piramids betweene

The survey then refers to the ‘descent of 6 Stepps into a faire Court with a Freestone walke in the midst leading to a Gatehouse….’

Without a roof it is an implied loggia. There is the string course and decorative band below it, which suggests there was no roofed loggia. A roofed loggia would have provided shelter from the elements but may take away light from the great hall and parlour. However, before the Clifton Maybank corridor was added there may well have been windows on the west side to enable the light. The description suggests rails, balusters and pyramid finials perhaps set between the pillars. I will have to investigate the possibilities next time I am at Montacute House!

Montacute Balustrade with Pyramid Finials

Berry Pomeroy

Ruined Loggia at Berry Pomeroy Castle, Devon

The loggia at Berry Pomeroy (circa 1600) is in ruins and only the base of double niches remains. The Seymour father and son had great ambition for Berry Pomeroy to be a grand house. The Beer stone ashlar loggia did have shell-headed niches as it was recorded by John Prince writing in 1701.

… a nobel walk whose length was the breadth of the court, arch’d over with curiously carv’d Free stone, supported in the fore part by several stately pillars of the same stone of great dimensions, after the Corinthian Order, standing on pedestals, having cornices or friezes finely wrought; behind which were placed in the wall several seats of Frieze-stone also, cut into the form of an escallop shell[vi]

Cathanger Gatehouse

Cathanger Gatehouse – facade facing the manor

Cathanger gatehouse is more of the vernacular style, a small building with a thatched roof but with some classical detailing. Cathanger Manor (later Farm) is on the Somerset Levels near Fivehead. The manor has an inscription on the exterior wall ‘John Walshe anno dom 1559 serveant at lawe’. However, the gatehouse is dated later at c. 1600.[vii] I do wonder if the classical detail like the shell-headed niches were added around 1600, with the original gatehouse build being earlier. The shells are reversed, with the hinge at the top, and only appear on the side facing the manor. The alcove design is comparable to those at Montacute House, which was completed circa 1601.

John Walshe, the builder of Cathanger, had a daughter Magaret, who married Lord Edward Seymour II (d.1593) of Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon. Their son was another Sir Edward Seymour (c. 1563-1613).  Potentially, Cathanger, a significant estate at the time, had its gatehouse upgraded with shell-headed niches around 1600. But the niche design may have not come from Montacute, but from Berry Pomeroy.

Cathanger Gatehouse Shell-headed Niche

Cranborne Manor

Cranborne Manor South Front

Robert Cecil (1563-1612), 1st Earl of Salisbury acquired the manor of Cranborne around the beginning of the 17th C. This provided the rangership of the royal hunting ground of Cranborne Chase. A good place to attract a hunting fanatic like James I. It had been a favourite hunting lodge of King John.[viii]

Cecil employed William Arnold to work on remodelling and extending the hunting lodge into a manor house. This started in 1601, and Arnold must have continued his work until around 1610, when he was employed as master mason for Wadham College, Oxford.[ix]

The South and North Loggias bear the shell-headed niches that are a feature of his work.

Cranborne Manor South Loggia

Cranborne Manor South Loggia Niches

Cranborne Manor North Side

Cranborne Manor North Loggia

Sherborne New Castle

Sherborne New Castle East Entrance

In around 1593 Sir Walter Raleigh gave up on his ambition to turn Sherborne Old Castle into a luxurious country house and turned his attention to the hunting lodge across the way. In 1617 Sir John Digby added the four wings with four further turrets to make an impressive house. Raleigh’s lodge sit at the centre, including the four inner polygonal turrets.[x]

It is likely the gateways either side were added in Sir John Digby’s time. The balustraded walls link up with the new wings and the carvings link to Sir John. Sir John Digby (1580-1653), along with Sir Robert Phelips (c. 1586-1638), the son of Sir Edward Phelips of Montacute House, were both involved in the diplomatic envoy to negotiate the Spanish Match (the proposed marriage of Prince Charles to the Spanish Infanta Maria Anna).

Sherborne New Castle East entrance Shell-headed Niche: The shell hinge is at the top & the shell falls downwards.

Sherborne New Castle West Entrance

Sherborne New Castle Shell-headed Niche: Shell hinge at base of rising shell.

PLANS & IDEAS

Architectural plans and ideas were shared at court and by visiting the country houses of one’s neighbours. The master masons would also be absorbing ideas of the latest fashion to ensure their patrons were well served. The shell-headed niche became a firm favourite of the local gentry in the central southwest of England. In 1626, Sir Edward Hext built almshouses at Somerton in Somerton. Here the niches are paired but are kept plain. The shell ornament, it seems, are for the gentry and nobility only!

Somerton Hext Almshouses

Somerton Text Almshouses Sign

NOTES

[i] William Harrison, The Description of England: The Classic Contemporary Account of Tudor Life, ed. Georges Edelen (Washington & New York: The Folger Shakespeare Library & Dover Publications, 2015), p. 199.

[ii] Mark Girouard, Old Wardour Castle, (London: English Heritage, 2012 repr. 2014), p. 5.

[iii] Mary Chisholm, ‘Finials & Niches – Tudor Ornamentation at Longford & Montacute’, Exploring Building History, 2019, < https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/finials-niches-tudor-ornamentation-at-longford-montacute/> [accessed 24 July 2024].

[iv] Mary Chisholm, ‘Finials & Niches – Tudor Ornamentation at Longford & Montacute’.

[v]  South West Heritage Trust: Somerset Archives, ‘Survey of the manor of Montacute: A very fair version, 1667, Phelips Manuscripts’, DD\PH/226/15.

[vi] Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Devon, 2nd edn (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 167-8.

[vii] Julian Orbach and Nikolaus Pevsner, Somerset: South and West (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014), p. 305.

[viii] Mary Chisholm, ‘Royal Hunting Lodge to Jacobean Statement: Cranborne Manor House’, Exploring Building History, 2019 < https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/royal-hunting-lodge-to-jacobean-statement-cranborne-manor-house/> [accessed 24 July 2024].

[ix] Mary Chisholm, ‘Royal Hunting Lodge to Jacobean Statement: Cranborne Manor House’.

[x] Mary Chisholm, ‘Sir Walter Raleigh in Dorset Part 3: Architectural Ambition – A New Castle for Sherborne’, Exploring Building History, 2020, < https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/sir-walter-raleigh-in-dorset-part-3-architectural-ambition-a-new-castle-for-sherborne/> [accessed 24 July 2024].