When the Lord shut the iron-strapped door, as long as his provisions lasted, he was master in his tower right enough. Not that it could have been easy living. In 1644, when tower-houses were still being built in the country, because of the troubles then, a Frenchman came across them in his travels, but didn't think much of them: he said, Nothing but square towers without windows or even small openings to give any more light than a gaol. They have almost no furnishings, and for bedding they put down reeds in the summertime and straw in the wintertime, to the depth of a foot, and open their windows; and one of them decorates the ceilings with rough sticks.
The last bit is guessing, I can't work out what he's talking about. But then, it's been awhile since I studied seventeenth-century interior decoration.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-04-06 09:32 am (UTC)When the Lord shut the iron-strapped door, as long as his provisions lasted, he was master in his tower right enough. Not that it could have been easy living. In 1644, when tower-houses were still being built in the country, because of the troubles then, a Frenchman came across them in his travels, but didn't think much of them: he said, Nothing but square towers without windows or even small openings to give any more light than a gaol. They have almost no furnishings, and for bedding they put down reeds in the summertime and straw in the wintertime, to the depth of a foot, and open their windows; and one of them decorates the ceilings with rough sticks.
The last bit is guessing, I can't work out what he's talking about. But then, it's been awhile since I studied seventeenth-century interior decoration.