Short answers, pulled from the story.
Tudor architecture is the term for English architecture produced during the Tudor period, spanning 1485 to 1603. It represents a transition from the Gothic Perpendicular style toward a Renaissance aesthetic, derived from Italy via France and the Low Countries, accompanied by a shift from religious to secular building.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries redistributed large amounts of land to the wealthy, triggering a secular building boom and providing a source of reclaimed stone. Church building was brought to a near-complete stop, and did not resume on a major scale until the 1660s. The stone and wealth freed by the Reformation fuelled the construction of country houses rather than churches.
Prodigy houses were the grand mansions built by Elizabethan courtiers and "new men" enriched through royal service to accommodate Queen Elizabeth I on her annual progresses around the country. Famous examples include Burghley House (begun 1577), Longleat (begun 1568), and Hardwick Hall (1590-97), known for vast glazed windows, fantastical skylines, and classical ornament from Flemish pattern books.
Rushton Triangular Lodge in Northamptonshire was built between 1594 and 1597 by Sir Thomas Tresham (1543-1605) as a covert expression of Catholic faith. The building is triangular in plan, with three triangular gables on each face, three floors, and windows of trefoils and triangles, encoding the Trinity and the Catholic Mass. Tresham spent much of his later life in prison for his Catholic beliefs.
The names of several significant designers from the Elizabethan period are known, including Robert Smythson, William Arnold, and John Thorpe. Smythson is attributed with Longleat (1567), Hardwick Hall (1590-97), and Wollaton Hall (1580-88), while Arnold is credited with Montacute House (1598). John Thorpe left a large archive of architectural drawings that help historians understand buildings since demolished.
Dartmouth Castle, begun in the 1480s and completed in 1493, is the earliest artillery fort in England. It was finished after pressure from Henry VII and features wide rectangular openings designed to house guns defending the river against enemy ships, marking a shift from medieval fortification to designs built around gunpowder weapons.