Tudor buildings – Research links

Tudor buildings

Below are some useful links and videos that you may find useful for your area of research. Enjoy!

How were rich and poor homes made?

One of the most distinctive things about a Tudor house was the black and white effect (see image below), because of their exposed wooden frames. There are many Tudor houses in England, some of which are still being lived in today. The town of Lavenham in Suffolk is famous for its Tudor buildings.
Many Tudor houses featured a wooden frame (joined together by wooden pegs and not nails), a tall chimney, a steep roof and an enclosed fireplace. The walls between the timber frame were made from wattle and daub, which was wood strips or sticks covered with clay and dung. The walls were often whitewashed.

Poor houses

Most homes had dirt floors, which were almost impossible to keep clean. People covered the floor with reeds or rushes and replaced them when they became too filthy.

Furniture – rich and poor

Even rich people did not always have a lavatory. Some castles and palaces did include a toilet, but it was little more than a raised hole in the floor above the moat. The toilet was not private as it is today, but was still called a privy.
Furniture in Tudor homes was often made of oak and was heavy and not very comfortable. Many people sat on benches and stools, instead of chairs.
http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-furniture.htm
http://elizabethanenglandlife.com/thetudorsfacts/tudor-furniture.html

Churches/Monasteries/Theatres

http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Tudor_Church.htm

Rich houses

During the late 15th century, glass was expensive and only a few people could afford glass windows. Most people took their windows with them when they moved.
Only rich people could afford carpets, although they were often hung on the wall, rather than placed on the floor.

Gardens

Very rich people in Tudor times liked to have a large garden, often containing a maze, fountains or hedges shaped like animals. Poor people had much smaller gardens and grew their own herbs and vegetables.

The Tudors followed Italian influence in creating gardens which mirrored the alignment of the house, creating a harmony of line and proportion that had been missing in the Medieval period. For the first time since the Romans left, sundials and statues were once more popular garden ornaments.
But the most prominent contribution of the Tudors to gardening was the knot garden. Knots were intricate patterns of lawn hedges, usually of box, intended to be viewed from the mount, or raised walks. The spaces between the hedges were often filled with flowers, shrubs, or herbs.
No Tudor gardens have survived intact, but some of the best examples still remaining can be glimpsed at Haddon Hall (Derbyshire), Montacute House(Somerset), and Hampton Court Palace (near London).
The latter has reconstructions of Tudor knot gardens, but these were planted in the early 20th century.
If the Tudors were heavily influenced by Italian ideas the Stuarts were slaves to the French fashion for formal gardens. The chief feature of this French style are a broad avenue sweeping away from the house, flanked by rectangular parterres made of rigidly formal low hedges. The prime survivors of this style can be seen at Blickling Hall (Norfolk), Melbourne Hall (Derbyshire), and Chatsworth House (also Derbyshire).
https://www.hobbies-and-crafts.co.uk/dolls-houses-miniatures/how-to/tudor/the-tudor-era-gardens-and-outside-spaces