[Illustration]
This picturesque specimen of olden architecture stands upon the Norton
Lees estate, on the northern verge of Derbyshire upon the adjacent
county of York; about a mile from Sheffield, and eight miles north of
Chesterfield, and but a short distance from Bolsover Castle, pictured
in No. 566 of _The Mirror_. "The estate, in the reign of Henry VII.,
was the property of the family of the Blythes of Norton, two of whom
arrived at great honours in the church; one of them, John, being the
Bishop of Salisbury, and the other, Geoffrey, Bishop of Lichfield and
Coventry."[1] The above was the mansion of the family: its
picturesqueness is of pleasing character; and our inquiry into the
probable age of the structure has naturally enough led us into a few
observations upon the early domestic architecture of this country. The
subject is, however, too rife with interesting details for the present
occasion; so that all we now purpose is by way of reference to the
specimen or illustration before us.
[1] Rhodes's Peak Scenery, Part IV.
The house at Norton Lees has been supposed by some persons to be as
old as the reign of Richard II.; but Mr. Rhodes observes, "that it was
erected many years after this period can hardly be doubted." Certain
features of resemblance assist its appearance of antiquity, as the
wooden framework, which is observable in the oldest specimens of
house-building in this country.
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