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![[picture: Old England: Photograph of the book]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/tn/cimg4699-old-england-book-on-eazel-q75-500x436.jpg "[picture: Old England: Photograph of the book]")
Old England: A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal and Popular Antiquities, Charles Knight (1791 – 1873) London, Charles Knight and Co., Ludgate Street, First Edition, 1845, two volumes, folio, pp. viii, 392; vi, 386, 24 chromoxylographs (incl. frontis.). Many wood-engraved text illustrations.
My copy has contemporary (worn) half-calf with gilt backs; there is some light foxing and dampstaining to the plates and margins of some leaves. Ref. Abbey, Life, 43; purchased D. & E Lake Toronto, 1992.
This book has been reprinted, but the reprint is out of print; you can search for a used copy on Amazon.
I have typed in the index to the book so that you can ask me for other scans if you like.
I have the first few sections online as Old England: A Pictorial Museum if you want to read the actual book!
The book starts with Druidical and Prehistoric remains and continues on to have Castles, Manors and stately homes, Churches, Abbeys and Cathedrals and much more.
Charles Knight also produced an illustrated edition of the Works of Shakspere, as he spelt it.
There is an entry in the Nuttall Encyclopædia for Charles Knight.
Some of the engravings were done by the Dalziel brothers; I have some images from their autobiography, A Record of Work.
Contents
Volume I
Book I. Before the Conquest.
Chapter I. The British Period. [Fig. 1]
Chapter II. The Roman Period. [Fig. 80]
Chapter III. The Anglo-Saxon Period. [Fig. 189]
Book II. The Period From the Norman Conquest to the Death of King John. A.D. 1066—1216.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 334]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 491]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 795]
Book III. The Period From the Accession of Henry III. to the End of the Reign of Richard II. A.D. 1216—1399.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. Fig. 814]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 929]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities.
Book IV. The Period From the Accession of Henry IV. to the End of the Reign of Richard III. A.D. 1399—1485.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 1150]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 1279]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 1335]
Although some of the images here are from Volume II, I plan to move them into their own darling little folder, and will make a second table of contents.
This book is online at archive.org (Vol I and Vol II), although the OCR has done a really bad job, and the scans are lower resolution and not cleaned up. But you could use it to request a specific image, and I will scan it for you if it’s not here yet.
Title: Old England: A Pictorial Museum
City: London
Date: 1845
Total items: 407
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: Coronation of Henry IV (Harleian MS. No, 4679)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/1151-Coronation-of-Henry-IV-q75-284x200.jpg "[picture: Coronation of Henry IV (Harleian MS. No, 4679)]")
Coronation of Henry IV (Harleian MS. No, 4679)
The image is taken, I think, from Harly MS. 4380, folio 186, verso; this is the second volums of Froissart’s Chromicles Vol IV part 2 (1470), and was drawn some three hundred years after the event. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 38.---King's Coty House]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0038-Kit's-Coty-House-q75-225x200.jpg "[picture: 38.---King's Coty House]")
Another picture of King’s Coty’s House; compare Fig. 37. There is also a picture of this in Francis Grose’s Antiquities.
“Antiquaries have puzzled themselves about the name of this Kentish monument. Kit, according to Grose, is an abbreviation of Catigern, and Coty is Coity, coit being a name for a large flat stone; so that Kit’s Coty House is Catigern’s House built with coits. Lambarde expressly says, “now termed of the common people here Citscotehouse.” The familiar name has clearly no more to do with the ancient object of the monument than many other common names applied to edifices belonging to the same remote period. No one thinks, for example, that the name of ‘Long Meg and her daughters,’ of which we have spoken, can be traced back even to the Saxon period. The theory of the earlier antiquaries that the monuments which we now generally call Druidical belong to a period of British history after the Christian era, and commemorate great battles with the Saxons or the Danes, is set at rest by the existence of similar monuments in distant parts of the world; proving pretty satisfactorily that they all had a common origin in some form of religious worship that was widely diffused amongst races of men whose civil history is shrouded in almost utter darkness. Palestine has its houses of coits as well as England. The following description is from the travels of Captains Irby and Mangles: “On the banks of the Jordan, at the foot of the mountain, we observed some very singular, interesting, and certainly very ancient tombs, composed of great rough stones, resembling what is called Kit’s Coty House in Kent. They are built of two long side stones, with one at each end, and a small door in front, mostly facing the north: this door was of stone. All were of rough stones, apparently not hewn, but found in flat fragments, many of which are seen about the spot in huge flakes. Over the whole was laid an immense flat piece, projecting both at the sides and ends. What rendered these tombs the more remarkable was, that the interior was not long enough for a body, being only five feet. This is occasioned by both the front and back stones being considerably within the ends of the side ones. There are about twenty-seven of these tombs, very irregularly situated.” These accomplished travellers call these Oriental monuments tombs, but their interior dimensions would seem to contradict this notion. The cause of these narrow dimensions is clearly pointed out; the front and back stones are considerably within the ends of the side ones. Kit’s Coty House (Figs. 37, 38) has no stone that we can call a front stone; it is open; but the back stone has the same peculiarity as the Palestine monuments; it is placed considerably within the side ones. The side stones lean inwards against the back stone; whilst the large flat stone at top, finding its own level on the irregular surfaces, holds them all firmly together, without the mortice and tenon which are required by the nicer adjustment of the superincumbent stone upon two uprights at Stonehenge. It is evident that the mode of construction thus employed has preserved these stones in their due places for many centuries. The question then arises, for what purpose was so substantial an edifice erected, having a common character with many other monuments in this country, and not without a striking resemblance to others in a land with [more...] [$]
![[picture: King's College Chapel, Cambridge.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/v2p277-kings-college-cambridge-q67-143x200.jpg "[picture: King's College Chapel, Cambridge.]")
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.
The Sixteenth-Century chapel at King’s College in Cambridge University is famous not only for its music but also for its fabulous architecture. This 1845 engraving shows not only the amazing vaulted stone ceiling but [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 29.---Arch-Druid in his full Judicial Costume.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0029-Arch-Druid-in-his-full-Judicial-Costume-q75-142x200.jpg "[picture: 29.---Arch-Druid in his full Judicial Costume.]")
29.—Arch-Druid in his full Judicial Costume.
A fanciful drawing of an Arch-Druid (archdruid) in his full costume, judicial presumably meaning that he is ready to judge over people. An old and stern-looking man with a long flowing beard wears a robe fastened about his chest with a buclked belt. One bare foot protudes from beneath his robe, showing him to be barefoot. His righ thand is raised, although whether in benediction or to request a cup of mead is unclear. He has [...] [more...] [$]
Old England: A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal and Popular Antiquities, Charles Knight (1791 – 1873) London, Charles Knight and Co., Ludgate Street, First Edition, 1845, two volumes, folio, pp. viii, 392; vi, 386, 24 chromoxylographs (incl. frontis.). Many wood-engraved text illustrations.
My copy has contemporary (worn) half-calf with gilt backs; there is some light foxing and dampstaining to the plates and margins of some leaves. Ref. Abbey, Life, 43; purchased D. & E Lake Toronto, 1992.
This book has been reprinted, but the reprint is out of print; you can search for a used copy on Amazon.
I have typed in the index to the book so that you can ask me for other scans if you like.
I have the first few sections online as Old England: A Pictorial Museum if you want to read the actual book!
The book starts with Druidical and Prehistoric remains and continues on to have Castles, Manors and stately homes, Churches, Abbeys and Cathedrals and much more.
Charles Knight also produced an illustrated edition of the Works of Shakspere, as he spelt it.
There is an entry in the Nuttall Encyclopædia for Charles Knight.
Some of the engravings were done by the Dalziel brothers; I have some images from their autobiography, A Record of Work.
Contents
Volume I
Book I. Before the Conquest.
Chapter I. The British Period. [Fig. 1]
Chapter II. The Roman Period. [Fig. 80]
Chapter III. The Anglo-Saxon Period. [Fig. 189]
Book II. The Period From the Norman Conquest to the Death of King John. A.D. 1066—1216.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 334]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 491]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 795]
Book III. The Period From the Accession of Henry III. to the End of the Reign of Richard II. A.D. 1216—1399.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. Fig. 814]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 929]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities.
Book IV. The Period From the Accession of Henry IV. to the End of the Reign of Richard III. A.D. 1399—1485.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 1150]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 1279]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 1335]
Although some of the images here are from Volume II, I plan to move them into their own darling little folder, and will make a second table of contents.
This book is online at archive.org (Vol I and Vol II), although the OCR has done a really bad job, and the scans are lower resolution and not cleaned up. But you could use it to request a specific image, and I will scan it for you if it’s not here yet.
Note: If you got here from a search engine and don’t see what you were looking for, it might have moved onto a different page within this gallery.
![[picture: 2404.---Belsize House.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/2404-Belsize-House-265x200.jpg "[picture: 2404.---Belsize House.]")
