Doorways at Norwich and Canterbury
Photos © S. Alsford

Doorways at York
Photos © S. Alsford

Few doorways to domestic buildings survive that are clearly medieval, although some from the sixteenth century are much of the same style. Those shown above are:

• (top right) The doorway to a typical Kentish merchant's house of the fifteenth century, in All Saints Lane, Canterbury.
• (top left) South door of Dragon Hall, Norwich, a fourteenth-century residence converted (ca.1450) into a trading hall by merchant Robert Toppes. It was likely he who added, to the entrance of the original residence, this impressive stone doorway, perhaps purchased second-hand from some religious institution, to impress clients entering the cloth emporium; Toppes' coat-of-arms may have adorned one or more of the shields.
• (bottom left) Doorway to a sixteenth century house in Colliergate, York.
• (bottom right) The door into the lower level of Barley Hall, York, beneath the exterior staircase.

Windows at Barley Hall, York
Photos © S. Alsford

Window technology has developed far more than that of doors, and so little now remains in medieval houses of the original windows. Barley Hall provides reconstructions of those: (left) a large window, with multiple folding shutters, threw plenty of light into the Great Hall; (top right) single-shutter window in the storeroom, covered with treated linen to let in light but keep out drafts; (bottom right) window in the upper floor parlour. Even in a building such as London's Guildhall only one of the medieval windows has survived.

Medieval roof support structures have occasionally survived, in part because hidden from view and interference. The crown-post roof truss is the most striking form. The timbers on which roofing was laid were supported by multiple arms attached to the central post; the post itself sat atop one or more tie-beams, which distributed the weight of the roof back into the walls of the building. These elaborate support structures are usually found in large rooms such as halls.

Roof support structures:
(top left) The merchant's 'showroom' at Dragon Hall, Norwich (ca.1450); (top right) the chapel of the Poor Priests Hospital, Canterbury (1373); (bottom) the Merchant Adventurers Hall, York
(late 14th century)
Photos © S. Alsford

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