Sir Thomas Drewe built The Grange
early in the reign of James I, between 1603 and about 1619. The original configuration
of the house is hard to discern, but it might have been in the form of the
letter “I” – which would have been something of a tribute
to James in that Icabus, was also a form of James at the time. At one end
of the house, facing the garden, were the public rooms, with entrance opening
onto a central hall, which functioned as a room. The service rooms were at
the other end. The house also had an enclosed courtyard at its service end;
this configuration reached back to earlier building traditions and remained
in later homes. The paneled room was on the southeast corner of the house.
