Elizabethan Townhouse found on infil.com
Elizabethan Era
Towards the end of Henry VIII’s reign very little building occurred in England. The debts run up by the spendthrift Henry meant that the country verged on bankruptcy. The wool trade, which had carried the economic life of the country in the late medieval period, was no longer as prosperous as it had been. There was less disposable wealth for architectural projects. Under Elizabeth, the fifth and last Tudor monarch, the county’s economy began to revive. The new queen encouraged a return to farming, and the resulting recovery put a reasonable amount of wealth into the hands of a large number of people. This created the Elizabethan passion for tearing down old houses and building anew. Dubbed the “Great Rebuilding, ” homeowners of all classes yearned for improvements.
