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40-429: A typical great hall was a rectangular room between one and a half and three times as long as it was wide, and also higher than it was wide. It was entered through a screens passage at one end, and had windows on the long sides, often including a large bay window. There was often a minstrels' gallery above the screens passage. The screens passage was divided from the hall by a timber screen with two openings. The portion of

80-412: A hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke . The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace , and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling. Mantelpiece is now the general term for the jambs , mantel shelf, and external accessories of a fireplace. For many centuries, the chimneypiece was the most ornamental and most artistic feature of

120-409: A later date, in consequence of the greater width of the fireplace, flat or segmental arches were thrown across and constructed with archivolt , sometimes joggled , with the thrust of the arch being resisted by bars of iron at the back. In domestic work of the fourteenth century, the chimneypiece was greatly increased in order to allow of the members of the family sitting on either side of the fire on

160-514: A neglected state as barns. There was a revival of the great hall concept in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with large halls used for banqueting and entertaining (but not as eating or sleeping places for servants) featuring in some houses of this period as part of a broader medieval revival , for example Thoresby Hall . Some medieval halls were also restored from neglect or ruin, like that at Mayfield Palace, which now serves Mayfield School . Minstrels%27 gallery A minstrels' gallery

200-441: A room, but as fireplaces have become smaller, and modern methods of heating have been introduced, its artistic as well as its practical significance has lessened. Where the fireplace continues up the wall with an elaborate construction, as in historic grand buildings, this is known as an overmantel . Mirrors and paintings designed to be hung above a mantel shelf may be called "mantel mirror", "mantel painting" and so on. Up to

240-662: A similar medieval style, as do the Inns of Court and the Livery Companies in London . The "high table" (often on a small dais or stage at the top of the hall, farthest away from the screens passage) seats dons (at the universities) and Masters of the Bench (at the Inns of Court), whilst students (at the universities) and barristers or students (at the Inns of Court) dine at tables placed at right angles to

280-447: A unique opportunity for the architect/designer to create a personal statement unique to the room they are creating. Historically the mantel defines the architectural style of the interior decor, whether it be traditional i.e. Classic, Renaissance , Italian , French , American , Victorian , Gothic etc. The choice of material for the mantel includes such rich materials as marble , limestone , granite , or fine woods . Certainly

320-446: Is a form of balcony , often inside the great hall of a castle or manor house , and used to allow musicians (originally minstrels ) to perform, sometimes discreetly hidden from the guests below. This architectural element –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fireplace mantel The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece , also known as a chimneypiece , originated in medieval times as

360-482: Is generally referred to as the 'upper' end, and the screens end as the 'lower' end. Even royal and noble residences had few living rooms until late in the Middle Ages, and a great hall was a multifunctional room. It was used for receiving guests and it was the place where the household would dine together, including the lord of the house, his gentleman attendants and at least some of the servants. At night some members of

400-450: Is of the opinion that the great hall retained vitality into the sixteenth century, with many of the most impressive halls being later, like those of Eltham Palace (1475-80) and Hampton Court Palace (1532-35). The hall would originally have had a central hearth, with the smoke rising through the hall to a vent in the roof, examples can be seen at Stokesay Castle and Ludlow Castle . Later chimneys were added, and it would then have one of

440-431: The great chamber and parlours , withdrawing rooms , and later for servants who finally achieved their own servants hall to eat in and servants’ bedrooms in attics or basements). By the late 16th century the great hall was beginning to lose its purpose. Increasing centralization of power in royal hands meant that men of good social standing were less inclined to enter the service of a lord to obtain his protection, and so

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480-470: The Middle Ages. A few university colleges, including Merton College, Oxford (1277), Peterhouse, Cambridge (1290), University College, Durham (between 1284 and 1311, originally for the Prince Bishop of Durham ), Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1350), and New College, Oxford (14th century), have medieval halls which are still used as dining rooms on a daily basis; many other colleges have later halls built in

520-650: The basis for the hall keep . Examples can be seen at Langeais Castle (France), Richmond Castle (England) and Chepstow Castle (Wales), as well as on the Bayeux Tapestry . Many large ground floor aisled halls were built in England following the Norman Conquest , as the key room in the new feudal society . The greatest was that at Westminster Palace , built by William Rufus as a setting for secular royal events. Even ground floor halls were increasingly built of stone as

560-468: The chimneypiece. Towards the close of the eighteenth century the designs of the Adam Brothers superseded all others, and a century later they came again into fashion. The Adam mantels are in wood enriched with ornament, cast in molds, sometimes copied from the carved wood decoration of old times. Mantels or fireplace mantels can be the focus of custom interior decoration. A mantel traditionally offers

600-526: The chimneypieces at Hampton Court , and the shelf was omitted. In the eighteenth century, the architects returned to the Inigo Jones classic type, but influenced by the French work of Louis XIV . and XV . Figure sculpture , generally represented by graceful figures on each side, which assisted to carry the shelf, was introduced, and the over-mantel developed into an elaborate frame for the family portrait over

640-449: The cooking. Commonly the fireplace would have an elaborate overmantel with stone or wood carvings or plasterwork which might contain coats of arms , heraldic mottoes (usually in Latin), caryatids or another adornment. In the upper halls of French manor houses, the fireplaces were usually very large and elaborate. Typically, the great hall had the finest decorations in it, as well as on

680-432: The early seventeenth century, when the purer Italian style was introduced by Inigo Jones , were extremely simple in design, sometimes consisting only of the ordinary mantel piece, with classic architraves and shelf, the upper part of the chimney breast being paneled like the rest of the room. In the latter part of the century the classic architrave was abandoned in favor of a much bolder and more effective molding , as in

720-402: The function of the hall began to narrow to solely a dining and circulation space, and architectural developments reflected that, with the rise of the wall fireplace and bay window (also known as an oriel) creating a more pleasant and specialised chamber. It was formerly considered that the decline of the hall began with the decline of feudalism in the 14th century. More recent scholarship, however,

760-456: The grandeur of an interior space rather than as a heat source. Today, fireplaces of varying quality, materials and style are available worldwide. The fireplace mantels of today often incorporate the architecture of two or more periods or cultures. In the early Renaissance style, the chimneypiece of the Palais de Justice at Bruges is a magnificent example; the upper portion, carved in oak, extends

800-528: The hall was merely the largest of several detached structures, rather than being a room within a single building. From later Saxon times, the standard manorial plan began to emerge - the excavated tenth century hall at Sulgrave (Northamptonshire) has a definite 'high' end with an attached stone chamber wing and 'low' end with a cross-passage, services and detached kitchen. In the late tenth century, first floor stone halls began to be built in both France and England, partly for reasons of security. This form would become

840-416: The hanging chandelier, often called the 'hart-horn' made of antler; ornamental weapons, commonly a halberd ; and the cloth and napery used for dining. Occasionally the great hall would have an early listening device system, allowing conversations to be heard in the lord's bedroom above. In Scotland, these devices are called a laird 's lug. In many French manor houses, there are small peep-holes from which

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880-401: The hearth, and in these cases great beams of timber were employed to carry the hood; in such cases the fireplace was so deeply recessed as to become externally an important architectural feature, as at Haddon Hall . The largest chimneypiece existing is in the great hall of the Palais des Comtes at Poitiers , which is nearly 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, having two intermediate supports to carry

920-444: The high table and running down the body of the hall, thus maintaining the hierarchical arrangement of the medieval domestic, monastic or collegiate household. Numerous more recently founded schools and institutions have halls and dining halls based on medieval great halls or monastic refectories. From the 15th century onwards, halls lost most of their traditional functions to more specialised rooms, first for family members and guests to

960-412: The hood; the stone flues are carried up between the tracery of an immense window above. The history of carved mantels is a fundamental element in the history of western art. Every element of European sculpture can be seen on great mantels. Many of the historically noted sculptors of the past i.e. Augustus St. Gaudens designed and carved magnificent mantels, some of which can be found on display in

1000-518: The house, and for large scale entertaining, as at Christmas, for dancing, or when a touring company of actors performed. With the arrival of ballrooms and dedicated music rooms in the largest houses by the late 17th century, these functions too were lost. Where large halls survived, it was usually due to continuing institutional use, especially as a courtroom. This change of use preserved the halls of Winchester , Oakham and Leicester Castles. Other halls, like that at Eltham Palace, remained standing in

1040-819: The household might sleep on the floor of the great hall. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance the hall was at the heart of residential complexes. Early examples were timber built and have vanished, only being known from documentary sources like Beowulf , and excavations. Archaeologists have uncovered Anglo-Saxon halls from the highest social levels at the palaces of Yeavering (Northumberland) and Cheddar (Somerset). The halls at both palaces were 120 feet (37m) long, that at Yeavering being seventh century and that at Cheddar (the first of several) being ninth century. Saxon halls were routinely aisled and occasionally had side walls that were bowed out in plan. At this point

1080-405: The largest fireplaces of the palace, manor house or castle, frequently large enough to walk and stand inside. Where there was a wall fireplace, it was generally at the dais end of the hall with the bay window, as at Raglan Castle, so the lord could get the most heat and light. The hearth was used for heating and also for some of the cooking, although most houses had a dedicated kitchen for the bulk of

1120-583: The late 17th century the halls of many new houses were simply vestibules , passed through to get to somewhere else, but not lived in. Several great halls like that at Great Hall in Lancashire were downsized to create two rooms. From the 16th century onwards it was common to insert a floor into the smaller halls to create a lower entrance hall and a commodious first floor chamber. The halls of late 17th, 18th and 19th-century country houses and palaces usually functioned almost entirely as impressive entrance points to

1160-1120: The latter was used only for public events, never used as a great hall here described). Penshurst Place in Kent , England , has a little-altered 14th century example, and Great Chalfield Manor has a similarly intact 15th century one. At the scale of yeoman housing, a restored 15th century hall can be seen in Bayleaf Farmhouse, now at the Weald and Downland Living Museum . Surviving 16th and early 17th century specimens in Britain are numerous, for example those at Eltham Palace (England), Longleat (England), Deene Park (England), Burghley House (England), Bodysgallen Hall (Wales), Darnaway Castle (Scotland), Muchalls Castle (Scotland) and Crathes Castle (Scotland). There are numerous ruined examples, notably at Linlithgow Palace (Scotland), Kenilworth Castle (England) and Raglan Castle (Wales). The domestic and monastic model applied also to collegiate institutions during

1200-417: The lord and his high-ranking guests was moved up to the first-floor level. This was called the salle haute or upper hall (or "high room"). In some of the larger three-storey manor houses, the upper hall was as high as second storey roof. The smaller ground-floor hall or salle basse remained but was for receiving guests of any social order. It is very common to find these two halls superimposed, one on top of

1240-640: The lord could observe what was happening in the hall. This type of hidden peep-hole is called a judas in French. In England, such an opening is referred to as a squint - there are two connecting the hall and great chamber in Stokesay Castle . Many great halls survive. Three very large surviving royal halls are Westminster Hall , Ridderzaal in Binnenhof and the Vladislav Hall in Prague Castle (although

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1280-439: The material became more widely available, though in thickly forested areas timber remained the material of choice. From the 13th century improved carpentry techniques meant that roofs could span greater distances, eliminating the need for aisles, and by c. 1300 the standard hall plan with the dais and great chamber at the upper end and the entrance, screens passage and services at the lower end had become commonplace. After this time

1320-432: The most luxurious of materials is marble. In the past only the finest of rare colored and white marbles were used. Today many of those fine materials are no longer available, however many other beautiful materials can be found worldwide. The defining element of a great mantel is the design and workmanship. A mantel offers a unique opportunity in its design for a sculptor/artisan to demonstrate their skill in carving each of

1360-471: The other, in larger manor houses in Normandy and Brittany. Access from the ground-floor hall to the upper (great) hall was normally via an external staircase tower. The upper hall often contained the lord's bedroom and living quarters off one end. In Scotland, six common furnishings were present in the sixteenth-century hall: the high table and principal seat; side tables for others; the cupboard and silver plate;

1400-421: The screen between these openings could be movable, as survives at Rufford Old Hall . At the other end of the hall was the dais where the high table was situated. The ceiling above the dais was often ornamented to denote its higher status. The lord's family's more private rooms lay beyond the dais end of the hall, and the kitchen, buttery and pantry were on the opposite side of the screens passage. The dais end

1440-493: The size of the inner noble household shrank. As the social gap between master and servant grew, the family retreated, usually to the first floor, to private rooms. In fact, servants were not usually allowed to use the same staircases as nobles to access the great hall of larger castles in early times , and servants' staircases are still extant in places such as Muchalls Castle. Other reception and living rooms in country houses became more numerous, specialised and important, and by

1480-404: The twelfth century, fires were simply made in the middle of a home by a hypocaust , or with braziers , or by fires on the hearth with smoke vented out through the lantern in the roof. As time went on, the placement of fireplaces moved to the wall, incorporating chimneys to vent the smoke . This permitted the design of a very elaborate, rich, architectural focal point for a grand room. At

1520-559: The whole width of the room, with nearly life-size statues of Charles V and others of the royal family of Spain . The most prolific modern designer of chimneypieces was G. B. Piranesi , who in 1765 published a large series, on which at a later date the Empire style in France was based. In France, the finest work of the early Renaissance period is to be found in the chimneypieces, which are of infinite variety of design. The English chimneypieces of

1560-406: The window frame mouldings on the outer wall. Many French manor houses have very beautifully decorated external window frames on the large mullioned windows that light the hall. This decoration clearly marked the window as belonging to the lord's private hall. It was where guests slept. In western France, the early manor houses were centred on a central ground-floor hall. Later, the hall reserved for

1600-403: The world's great museums. Exactly as the facade of a building is distinguished by its design, proportion, and detail so it is with fine mantels. The attention to carved detail is what defines a great mantel. Up until the 20th century and the invention of mechanized contained heating systems, rooms were heated by an open or central fire. A modern fireplace usually serves as an element to enhance

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