About Early Furniture

Early furniture was sparse, and often crude in construction.
Beds were simple frames supporting a straw or feather mattress. Far from having individual bedrooms, an entire family might share one bed.
Chests and coffers provided storage and seating. Chairs were strictly status symbols, reserved for the master of the house or honoured guests. Most people sat on stools or benches. Tables were planks laid on trestles.
Simplest furniture was constructed by nailing or pegging planks together. More elaborate furniture used heavy framed panelling.
In wealthy households, simple furniture would have been concealed under rich cloth. Exposed timber was painted, as was stone and plasterwork.

If the owners were affluent enough and the piece of furniture important enough, carving was used. In the Middle Ages, this was often based on Gothic stone tracery.

The finest furniture was made of oak, which was hard and resistant to woodworm. Everyday furniture made of softer woods has not usually survived.

rough carving

Pastime with good company
by Henry VIII

joseph's workshop

gothic panel

Great houses could command the skills of master craftsmen, to produce furniture which would emphasise the wealth of the owner and form a fitting display for the gold plate and pewterware of the household. In more modest households, village carpenters would attempt to imitate, more crudely, the fine work of noble households

Tudor and Jacobean Furniture

Gothic and Renaissance influences combined in early Tudor furniture. By Elizabethan times, reflecting the growing wealth and confidence of England, carving and turning became increasingly flamboyant and exuberant, with great emphasis on display (if not on good taste or comfort).

Dutch Table

In the second half of the 17th Century, styles and fashions began to change. Walnut replaced oak as the favourite wood, and materials such as cane created a new style of furniture. heralding the era of the cabinet maker.

tudor carving

In the 17th Century, the extravagance was toned down and styles were more restrained, with greater classical influence. The basic strucure of furniture however remained much as it had been for the last 200 years.

carolean chairs