Great chamber

Great chamber

The great chamber was the second most important room in a medieval or Tudor English castle, palace, mansion or manor house after the great hall. Medieval great halls were the ceremonial centre of household and were not private at all; the gentlemen attendants and the servants came and went at all times. The great chamber was at the dias end of the hall, usually up a staircase. It was the first room which offered the lord of the household some privacy from his own staff, albeit not total privacy. In the middle ages the great chamber was an all purpose reception and living room. The family might take some meals in it, though the great hall was the main eating room. In modest manor houses it sometimes also served as the main bedroom.

By the seventeenth century communal meals in the hall had been abandoned and the great chamber was the best dining room. There was often a more modest room called the parlour where the family took its meals when eating alone. Large houses gradually acquired a greater range of specialised living rooms, such as libraries, drawing rooms and music rooms. By the early 18th century great chambers had been replaced by rooms called "saloons" and these soon lost their function as dining rooms.

Many great chambers survive. Hardwick Hall has a very large and little altered example from around 1600. In many other cases they were redecorated and given more specialised functions as drawing rooms or ballrooms or libraries.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Great Chamber — ♦ Solar, owner s bed sittingroom, master bedroom. (Wood, Margaret. The English Medieval House, 412) Related terms: Castle, Great Hall …   Medieval glossary

  • Chamber — may refer to: Chamber (comics), a Marvel Comics superhero associated with the X Men Chamber (firearms), the portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired Chambers (law), the rooms used by a… …   Wikipedia

  • Great hall — For other uses, see Great hall (disambiguation). The Great Hall in Barley Hall, York restored to replicate its appearance in around 1483 A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, nobleman s castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages …   Wikipedia

  • Great room — The term great room denotes a roomspace within an abode which combines the specific functions of several of the more traditional roomspaces (e.g. the family room, the living room, the study, etc.) into a singular unified space. Different great… …   Wikipedia

  • great room — noun In many modern homes, the room that replaces the living room. See Also: great chamber, great hall …   Wiktionary

  • great hall — noun a) The main room of a palace, castle or large manor house in the Middle Ages, or in a country house of the 16th and early 17th centuries b) The principal building of a manor or castle compound See Also: great chamber, great room …   Wiktionary

  • Great Hall — The building in the inner ward that housed the main meeting and dining area for the castle s residents. Long ago, the great hall at Hemyock was converted into the present manor house. Related terms: Great Chamber …   Medieval glossary

  • Great National Assembly — Marea Adunare Naţională Type Type Unicameral Timeline Country …   Wikipedia

  • Chamber of Darkness — #7 (Oct. 1970), cover art by Bernie Wrightson. Publication information Publisher …   Wikipedia

  • Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia — Chamber of Deputies مجلس النواب تونس Majlis al Nuwaab Type Type …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”