In _The Charm of the English Village_ I have tried to describe the
methods of the construction of these timber-framed houses,[11] and it
is perhaps unnecessary for me to repeat what is there recorded. In
fact, there were three types of these dwelling-places, to which have
been given the names Post and Pan, Transom Framed, and Intertie Work.
In judging of the age of a house it will be remembered that the nearer
together the upright posts are placed the older the house is. The
builders as time went on obtained greater confidence, set their posts
wider apart, and held them together by transoms.

[11] _The Charm of the English Village_, pp. 50-7.

[Illustration: Gothic Corner-post. The Half Moon Inn, Ipswich]

Surrey is a county of good cottages and farm-houses, and these have
had their chroniclers in Miss Gertrude Jekyll's delightful _Old West
Surrey_ and in the more technical work of Mr. Ralph Nevill, F.S.A. The
numerous works on cottage and farm-house building published by Mr.
Batsford illustrate the variety of styles that prevailed in different
counties, and which are mainly attributable to the variety in the
local materials in the counties. Thus in the Cotswolds,
Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Westmorland, Somersetshire,
and elsewhere there is good building-stone; and there we find charming
examples of stone-built cottages and farm-houses, altogether
satisfying. In several counties where there is little stone and large
forests of timber we find the timber-framed dwelling flourishing in
all its native beauty. In Surrey there are several materials for
building, hence there is a charming diversity of domiciles. Even the
same building sometimes shows walls of stone and brick, half-timber