Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 20
Thornbury Castle
(Gloucestershire),
1514, a testament to
the skill and artistry of
the Tudor brick hewers,
and possibly one of the
finest examples of cut
and rubbed chimney
stacks. (Courtesy of N.J.
Moore)
Among the best surviving examples to be seen are those at Tattershall Castle
(Lincolnshire),
c
.1440, St Oysyth's Priory (Essex),
c
.1475, and Thornbury Castle
(Gloucestershire), 1514 (Fig. 20); which is perhaps the finest cut-moulded
chimney in Britain. Other excellent examples of cut and rubbed chimney
stacks from this period are those at Chenies (Buckinghamshire),
d
.1523-26
(Fig. 21), Plaish Hall, Longville (Shropshire),
c
.1540, Aston Bury, Stevenage
(Hertfordshire),
c
.1545 and Stutton Hall (Suffolk),
c
.1553. Both Lloyd (1925,
81-2) and Wight (1972, 100) relate the tragic story of the construction of the
ornamental chimneys at 'Plaish Hall' for Sir William Leighton, who was Judge
of the Shrewsbury Assizes. Discovering he had sentenced to death, for sheep
stealing, the only bricklayer that could be found in the locality to craft the
patterned chimneys he desired, Judge Leighton had the death sentence sus-
pended and the poor man taken from his cell to Plaish in order to build them.
His craftwork done he was returned to his cell from whence he was hanged.
