Minding your Manors

[Aisling <irishash@eircom.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52672

Manawydan wrote:

> If it was huge, it wouldn't have been called a manor! Among the 
> 19th century English aristocracy, it was the smaller landowners 
> (the squires)who would have lived in manors. A house would have
> been much bigger than a manor. 


Jo Serenadust replied:

> This may be a US/UK difference, but since I live in a house, I'm 
> having a very hard time believing that it's bigger than the Malfoy 
> manor. Surely the quirarchy (I love this term!)would still be
> living on a fairly grand scale. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding 
> what you 
> wrote, but wouldn't a manor still be quite large and impressive 
> compared to say, Privet Drive (and certainly The Burrow!)?


I think that the confusion here arises from the fact that an 
18th/19th century house is not the same as a 20th/21st century house. 
An example of this is  visible <a 
href="http://www.gardensireland.com/newbridge-house.html" 
target="_blank">here</a>. The house is very large and, although the 
link doesn't show this, the interior is full of spacious rooms with 
high ceilings, richly decorated and furnished with loads of expensive 
antiques - things like huge paintings in gilt frames would be the 
norm in a house from that period.   
So even though a manor would be considered a step-down, it would be 
far superior to modern suburban houses like the Dursley's.


*emerging from lurkerdom*,
Aisling