Under Edward I the mediaeval prosperity of the English may be said to have culminated. It declined under the weak or warlike reigns of his successors, until during the Wars of the Roses much that civilization had gained seemed to have been lost. The Tudor accession brought the Wars of the Roses to an end and inaugurated a new epoch.
The sites of new dwellings were not chosen based on inaccessibility like those of the castles. Now, instead of seeking a defensible position, people preferred situations that were pleasant and salubrious, where they might live protected from the cold winds, and where gardens and orchards might be cultivated advantageously. Thus, like the earlier monastic edifices, a gentleman’s house was more often built in a valley than on a hilltop. There was more room for expansion, and near the house the grounds under cultivation could be extended to answer the increasing demands for various kinds of plantations.
At first both house and gardens still seem to have been protected not only by walls, but with a moat. Such was the residence of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, at Thornbury. From a 1521 description (which is all that remains of...
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