several variations to this house type: in some cases there was no partition between the open hall and service area, although there was probably some form of removable screen, and in some cases there were opposed entrances with the solar overshot. Next in size was the three-bay house with a single-bay open hall and a single-bay service room at one end with chamber above and a single-bay parlour with solar above at the other end.
By far the most common to survive today are the houses of four bays containing a two-bay open hall flanked at each end by a two-storey bay. Entry to the hall was either direct at the lower end of the hall or, more commonly, by way of a screens-passage. The screens-passage could be situated either within the hall or within the service room with the upper floor overshot. This four-bay house plan could be extended at either the parlour or the service end by an additional bay.
(142) The layout of the basic four-bay house was similar to that of
the earlier aisled construction. The parlour with solar above abuts the upper end of the hall, with the service rooms and a chamber over at the lower end. There was either a single door at the upper end, which gave access to the parlour with a stair leading to the solar above, or, in the larger house, two doors, one at either end of the partition, giving access to the parlour and to the stairs to the solar above. These doors were sometimes flanked by short projecting screens shielding the dais from the doorways. At the lower end of the hall there were one, two or three doors, one clearly indicating a combined buttery-pantry, while two indicated a separate buttery and pantry. When a third door was provided, this gave access either to the chamber stair or, less common,
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