styles may be seen in the galleries of the South Kensington Museum, among which that taken out of Sizergh Castle, Westmoreland, is, though rough in workmanship, a good example of ornamentation with native wood.
One of the most elaborate instances of room-decoration in woodwork of old times is seen in the dining-room at Gilling Castle, near York, formerly the property of the Fairfax family, now belonging to W.S. Hunter, Esq. It is a room about 30 by 20 feet, and is panelled with large panels of oak, in oblongs 2 feet 4 inches wide and 3 feet deep, surrounded by heavy carved mouldings. Each panel is inlaid with highly intricate and varied geometrical patterns in narrow lines of black and white wood, which I believe to be bog oak and holly, inlaid in narrow lines, and forming an elongated diamond in the middle of the panel.
Fig. 1. (1) Sapwood ; best taken off. (2) Feather-edged boards somewhat variable in width and thickness, but following the natural line of cleavage on the medullary rays of the wood.
Figs. 2 and 3. Methods of quartering by the saw.
The four corners of each panel are also inlaid with flowers done in similar wood. This work runs from the ground up to about 10 feet high, above which an elaborate decoration in colour, containing many family trees and coats of arms, reaches to the ceiling. Some good judges think this is the most beautiful room in England, but without resorting to such minute and fanciful patterns, I may safely say that good plain oak panelling, in which the stiles and rails are duly proportioned, and the silver grain well matched in each panel, gives not only the handsomest and richest effect of any wall covering I know, but is also the most durable, improving in colour with age, and if done with one’s own timber, affords an interest which no Italian frescoes or plaster work can give.
In the chapel, in the hall, and in the Earl’s study at Powderham Castle, Devonshire, are very good examples of pews and panelling, both of the linen pattern and carved panels, but though the linen pattern was once a favourite one, and is still copied by some decorators, it seems to me a mistaken notion to imitate the folds of a textile material in wood, and especially in oak.
