INNER HALL
All notes are subject to revisionand we welcome further referenced information.
The Inner Hall was probably once a wing of some significance, enjoying warmth of the sun. Gomme & Jenner (1979) refer to it as Elizabethan but its origins are possibly from the 1300s well before the adjoining SW wing was built in the late 1500s.
THE WINDOWS
Image: FAM volunteer
The Perpendicular window: (up to early 1500s). This notable feature looked out onto the sheltered open service court and the 1500s kitchens (now demolished). It was the template for close copies and variations around the west courtyard from the early 1800s and its own location was also changed. This courtyard was converted to a glazed wintergarden in 1885, but reroofed in the 1970s with no natural light.
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The other window: Study of two drawings c1800 to 1825 shows a much smaller, lower window in the Inner Hall and the Perpendicular window across the end of the adjacent passageway, now the entrance to the bar. The size and location of this passageway suggests it may have started life as a cross passage or another stair access to rooms above, before the window and the 17th c staircase were built on the opposite side of the Great Hall.
THE STONE FIREPLACE
Imager: FAM volunteer (2021)
The stone fireplace set in the chimney breast bears a date of 1695, exposed during the 1970s works. In the adjacent passageway behind the fireplace is a low 14thc/15thc stone dressed doorway. If original, it was probably blocked c1695 when the Inner Hall fireplace was created, if not earlier.
The original fireplace may have been adjacent to windows in a sunny south wall before the construction of the SW wing and later grand 1690s+ chimneypiece.
THE BLOCKED DOORWAY
Image: FAM volunteer (2021)
In the adjacent passageway behind the fireplace is a low 14th century/15th century stone dressed doorway. If original, it was probably blocked c1695 when the Inner Hall fireplace was created.
THE WALLS
Image: Mb6059 ©Bristol Culture
The walls: Finishes are a mix of hard plain painted plaster & panelling. Early photos show the panelling and over mantle above the fireplace as typically dark from Victorian times. Before that, panelling was brighter. Elizabethen panelling was often decorated with geometric patterns and wildlife images.
TODAY
Image: FAM volunteer (2021)
Today the room serves as little more than an inner circulation area with doorways to 5 separate rooms and has no natural light.