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Title: The Baronial Halls; vol. 2 of 2 - Ancient Picturesque Edifices of England
Author: Hall, S.C.
Language: English
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THE
BARONIAL HALLS,
AND
ANCIENT PICTURESQUE EDIFICES OF ENGLAND.
FROM DRAWINGS BY
J. D. HARDING, G. CATTERMOLE, S. PROUT, W. MÜLLER, J. HOLLAND,
AND OTHER EMINENT ARTISTS.
EXECUTED IN COLOURED LITHOTINTS, BY DAY AND SON AND HANHART.
THE TEXT BY S. C. HALL, F.S.A.
EMBELLISHED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
WILLIS AND SOTHERAN, 136, STRAND.
MDCCCLVIII.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
SAWSTON HALL CAMBRIDGESHIRE From a _J. Dafforne_.
Drawing by
BRERETON HALL CHESHIRE -- _H. L. Pratt_.
CREWE HALL -- -- _C. J. Richardson, F.S.A._
DORFOLD HALL -- -- _C. J. Richardson, F.S.A._
MORETON HALL -- -- _H. L. Pratt_.
PLÂS HOUSE CORNWALL -- _J. Gendall_.
NAWORTH CUMBERLAND -- _George Cattermole_.
NAWORTH, LONG GALLERY -- -- _George Cattermole_.
HADDON HALL DERBYSHIRE -- _T. Allom_.
HADDON HALL, INTERIOR -- -- _T. Allom_.
HARDWICK HALL -- -- _Lake Price_.
FORD HALL DEVONSHIRE -- _J. Gendall_.
SHERBORNE LODGE DORSETSHIRE -- _C. J. Richardson, F.S.A._
AUDLEY END ESSEX -- _J. D. Harding_.
AUDLEY END, INTERIOR -- -- _J. D. Harding_.
FEERING HOUSE -- -- _F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A._
HOREHAM HALL -- -- _F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A._
ST. OSYTH’S PRIORY -- -- _J. Dafforne_.
BERKELEY CASTLE GLOUCESTERSHIRE -- _J. G. Jackson_.
BRAMSHILL HAMPSHIRE -- _F. W. Hulme_.
HATFIELD HOUSE HERTFORDSHIRE -- _F. W. Hulme_.
KNEBWORTH -- -- _F. W. Hulme_.
HINCHINBROOK HOUSE HUNTINGDONSHIRE -- _G. H. Harrison_.
CHARLTON HOUSE KENT -- _J. Holland_.
COBHAM HALL -- -- _J. D. Harding_.
COBHAM CHURCH, INTERIOR -- -- _J. D. Harding_.
HEVER CASTLE -- -- _G. F. Sargent_.
KNOLE, RETAINERS’ GALLERY -- -- _S. Rayner_.
PENSHURST, FROM THE PARK -- -- _J. D. Harding_.
PENSHURST, THE COURTYARD -- -- _J. D. Harding_.
HALL I’ THE WOOD LANCASHIRE -- _J. D. Harding_.
SMITHELL’S HALL -- -- _J. S. Dodd_.
SPEKE HALL -- -- _J. D. Harding_.
SPEKE HALL, INTERIOR -- -- _Thomas Allom_.
TURTON TOWER -- -- _J. S. Dodd_.
[Illustration:
Drawn by J. Dafforne. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
SAWSTON HALL CAMBRIDGESHIRE.]
SAWSTON HALL
CAMBRIDGESHIRE.
[Illustration: S]awston Hall is situated to the right of the long and
straggling village of Sawston, on the high-road to Cambridge, from which
it is distant about six miles. For many centuries it has been the
residence of the Huddlestons, an ancient and honourable family, of the
Roman Catholic faith. The mansion lies low, and is partially hidden by
thickly-clustered cottages and gardens. It is a large quadrangular
building, erected during the reign of Queen Mary, under circumstances
which we shall presently explain. It retains much of its original
character, both externally and internally; and, although it cannot boast
of great architectural beauty, it may be considered as a good example of
the gable-ended style of the sixteenth century. The principal entrance
is by a low door-way, underneath a porch, leading into a spacious hall,
paved with Kettering stone and black marble, and lighted by two windows,
exhibited in the appended wood-cut, and a large bay-window
[Illustration]
on the same side.[1] The wainscotting has been stained to imitate
walnut-wood. The walls are adorned by several finely-painted portraits.
Of the rooms on the upper floor there are none that demand especial
notice: two of the bed-chambers are, however, hung with faded tapestry,
concealing doors that lead to remote parts of the building. The antique
damask bed-furniture and quilted coverlets are relics of ages long
passed away. The Gallery, hung with old family portraits, extends nearly
the whole depth of the mansion--being upwards of one hundred feet long
by about eighteen wide, with oak panels to the ceiling. A door-way in
the court-yard conducts to a neat chapel, containing a window of stained
glass, and an altar of fine Egyptian marble, inlaid with lapis lazuli.
The venerable edifice
[Illustration]
derives its principal attraction from its associations with the olden
time: it is impossible to wander through its now nearly deserted
apartments, without reading a solemn and impressive passage from
history. Its great characteristic is solitude. The present occupant--a
bachelor of venerable years--is almost the last of a distinguished and
honourable race, leading a secluded life in the house consecrated by a
long line of noble ancestors. Though dwelling apart from the business
and turmoil of life, secluded alike from the toils and anxieties of the
world, where
“Silence pervades the halls of revelry;”
there are, nevertheless, many who can testify to the active benevolence
of his nature, to his worthily representing the virtues of generations
of great and good men; and that when he dies “his works will follow
him.”
In supplying some details of the family history, we avail ourselves of
the genealogical roll, which the courtesy of the venerable
representative permitted us to inspect. We copy the superscription: the
document itself is upwards of eighteen feet long, and contains a
multitude of names
“Writ in the annals of their country’s fame.”
“This Pedegree, Genealogy, or liniall Descent of the Ayntient and
Rightworthey Famylie of Hodlestone of Salstone, in the Countey of
Cambridg, and of Hodlestone, Lords of Milham, in the Countey of
Cumberlande, and of divers other Manners and Lordshipps, shewing theire
Matches and Aliances with many Princely, and Honorable, and Right Noble
famyleyes, faithfulley and carefulley Drawne and Collected out of the
Publick Recordes of this Kingdom, Ayntient deedes and evidences, bookes
of Arms, and other venerable Prooves, by John Taylor, at the Lute, in
fleetstreet, Anno 1641.”
The pedigree on the maternal side begins with Henry I., continues
through the various monarchs who filled the throne of England down to
Edward III. and John of Gaunt, whose sole daughter, Joane, became the
wife of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, by whom she had a son,
Richard, married to Alice, daughter and heir of Thomas Montague, Earl of
Salisbury; at whose death, in 1428, the earldom became extinct, but was
afterwards revived in the person of the aforesaid Richard, from whom
descended Joane (wife of William Fitz-Allan, eighth Earl of Arundel),
Richard Earl of Warwick, the “King-maker,” and John Marquis of Montagu,
slain with his brother at the battle of Barnet. This last married
Isabella, daughter and heiress of Sir Edmond Inglethorpe, Knt., by whom
he had five daughters, coheiresses, of whom one, Isabella, was the wife
of Sir William Hodleston, Knt., of Salston, in the county of Cambridge;
to him the estate descended in right of his wife. The deed of
conveyance, dated 17th Henry VII., is in the possession of Mr.
Huddleston.
On the paternal side, the list commences with Nigell de Hodleston,
settled in Cumberland at the time of Henry I., which Nigell, surnamed
Propositus (provost or warden), “gave to the Abbey of Selby two
carrucates of land and a half in Millum, and parte of his tythe in
Hodleston, with the socage, &c.” About the same period mention is made
of Godard de Millum, who gave to the Abbey of St. Mary of Furney’s
certain lands “for the safety of his soul, and of all his ancestors.”
Sir Adam de Hodleston sat in Parliament as Knight of the Shire, in the
third of Edward II., and afterwards became connected by marriage with
Miles de Stapleton de Bedell, of the county of York. Millum Castle was
fortified and embattled, in 1335, by Sir John de Hodleston; and a
Richard de Hodleston was a man-at-arms at the battle of Agincourt, in
the retinue of Sir William de Harington, Knight of the Garter. He was
knighted after the engagement, by the king.
From an intermarriage among the descendants of Nigell and Goddard,
sprang the above-mentioned Sir William Hodleston, whose grandson,
John,[2] (afterwards knighted by Mary), was united to Bridgett, daughter
of Robert Cotton, of Landwade, or Lanwood, ancestor of the present Sir
Vincent Cotton; for him, or by him, Sawston Hall, as it now stands, was
erected.
The circumstances connected with the building of Sawston Hall are akin
to Romance. The popular tradition is, that it was erected at the cost of
Queen Mary, who, when a fugitive from her enemies, after the death of
Edward VI., found shelter in the ancient house of the Huddlestons. Her
pursuers reached the Hall within a very short time after she had quitted
it; and in their rage of disappointment at losing their prey, burnt to
the ground the mansion that had harboured her. She is said to have
witnessed the conflagration from a distant hill; and to have exclaimed,
“Let the house burn; I will build Huddleston a better.”
“She kept her word:” writes a modern historian. “Sawston Hall was built
by her order, and at her cost.” Unfortunately, however, there exists
evidence that the Queen forgot her promise, if she ever made it, to her
preserver. It is believed, indeed, that “she gave the stone from
Cambridge Castle to rebuild the House,” but it is certain that, at
least, it was unfinished many years after Mary’s death, although
commenced during her lifetime. In the court-yard are two stones, which
record the dates--probably of the commencement and termination of the
building. Upon one are the initials, J. H., and the date 1557; on the
other, those of E. H., (Edmund, son of Sir John,) with the date 1584.
The village of Sawston stands in the hundred of Whittlesford, and
deanery of Camps. There are four manors in this parish--Pyrotts,
Dernford, Dale, and Huntington--all now the property of Mr. Huddleston.
The manor of Pyrotts continued until the year 1329 in the immediate
descendants of Pirotus, who held it under Eudo Fitzherbert, Steward of
the Household to William the Conqueror. Sir Edmund de la Pole died,
seised of this manor and Dernford, in 1419. Mr. Huddleston’s ancestor
came into possession of them--which had descended from the De la Poles
through the Ingeldesthorps to the noble family of Neville--by his
marriage with the daughter of the Marquis Montagu. The manors of Dale
and Huntington were purchased by Sir Edmund Huddleston before the year
1580; the manor of Dale, or Le Dale, had been in the Saliston, or
Sawston, family, who held it under the manor of Pyrotts by the service
of finding an armed soldier whenever the owner of that manor should
attend the King to the wars. Near the entrance to the park, there
formerly stood an ancient cross, the shaft and pedestal of which alone
remain. It forms the subject of our initial letter.
[Illustration]
The church of Sawston, which abuts on the park, appears to have been
built about the thirteenth century; like most of the churches of
Cambridgeshire, it possesses a fine open porch. Sir John Huddleston, who
spent the greater part of his fortune in the service of Philip of Spain
after Mary’s death, lies buried in the chancel here. The following
inscription is engraved on a brass plate placed on the tomb, represented
in the annexed woodcut.
“Here lyeth entombed the bodye of Sʳ John
Huddleston, Knighte, vice-chamberlayne unto
King Phylipe, and captaine of his garde; and
one of Queen Marye’s most honorable pryvie
Councell, who died yᵉ fourthe day of Novembr,
in the yeare of our Lorde God 1557.”
[Illustration: BRERETON HALL, CHESHIRE.]
BRERETON HALL,
CHESHIRE.
[Illustration: B]RERETON.--This Mansion, designated by Webb “the stately
House of Brereton,” with which the name of Elizabeth, our maiden Queen,
is much associated, stands in a beautiful green vale, fertilized by the
little river Croco. It is within five miles of Congleton, and three of
Sandbach. The plain of Cheshire displays great richness and exuberance
in this neighbourhood; and although “evil times” have fallen upon the
ancient demesne of Brereton--the park having been stripped of its old
familiar trees--it has recently resumed a character of graceful serenity
and luxuriance.
Brereton Hall has a western aspect, and looks across the pleasant
valley, along which the little stream before mentioned pursues its
course, in a direction parallel to the front of the House. In form the
plan of the original building somewhat resembled the letter E,
consisting of a long front, graced by two octagonal turrets, and two
wings, having the gables slightly advancing on the front, but receding
backwards a considerable distance. Behind the two stories of apartments
above the basement, which were only one room in depth, ran a long
corridor, on each floor, communicating with the wings. Amongst the
various mutations which time and an attention to convenience and comfort
has brought with it to the Hall, a geometrical staircase has been made
in the back wall of the corridor, and a large block of offices has been
built between the receding wings behind.
Camden, speaking of Brereton, tell us that Sir William Brereton “added
much credit and honour to the place by a magnificent and sumptuous house
that he had there built.” The building is of brick, quoined with stone.
That Queen Elizabeth laid the first stone of this house, and visited it,
at a subsequent period, when hospitality presided in its halls, we have
not only the authority of unquestioned tradition, but also that of
numerous memorials scattered on its walls. The central portion of its
exterior seems to have been especially devoted to ornament, and also to
defence. On each side of the door-way, there rises from the ground an
octagonal tower or turret, projecting by five of its panes from the
wall, and formerly ascending above the building, to terminate in a dome,
but now surmounted by a low stone battlement. Immediately over the
centre of the door-way the sculptures begin by the shield of the
Brereton Arms, bearing two bars sable, being suspended on an ermine
mantle, from a helmet supporting the crest--the head of a muzzled
bear;--below which is the date 1586. In the spandrels of the elliptical
arch of this entrance the arms are repeated with different quarterings,
a rose being superadded on each side. We next come to a division,
reaching quite across the central part of the front, from the outer side
of one turret to that of the other, which is richly adorned. In the
first place, it is divided into a number of compartments by a series of
short carved pilasters, doubled at every angle of the turrets. Square
sculptured stones occupy some of the compartments thus formed. In the
middle, however--the place of honour--are the arms of Queen Elizabeth,
with the garter, bearing the motto, the crest and supporters, on a
tablet of good dimensions. On one side of these is a large rose, on the
other a portcullis, both crowned, and both also surmounted by the
letters E. R. This ornamental stage of pilasters and sculptures, with
the heraldic insignia, is repeated above the square-headed windows, the
royal arms again occupying the centre. Each turret has a chalice in high
relief on its front pane, below the battlements. But, besides these
decorations, so distinctive of the taste of the age in which it was
erected, this “stately house of Brereton” bears, in this part, and
especially on the different faces of the turrets, and near their tops,
to command various angles, as well as different distances, another
interesting indication of the days of “good Queen Bess,” happily now
grown so unfamiliar to our view. We allude to the numerous large
portholes which still frown over the peaceful vale. Above the rise of
the roof the turrets are conjoined by a closed gallery, occupied by
borders and other decorative sculptures, and supported by a depressed
arch of some magnitude. The embattled parapet is continued from the
turret on each side, along the front of the house to the gables of the
wings, being in the place of an open balustrade, which formerly rose
here. Each end of the house is furnished with a large bay, both at the
front and the side, which are occupied by windows, and surmounted by a
pediment containing sculptured ornaments. The effect of this entire
front, over which the gray tint of the masonry prevails, being rich in
its antique decorations, is solemn and imposing. Yet it excites, rather
than satisfies our curiosity.
On ascending the flight of steps in the entrance-hall, we immediately
perceive that modern alterations have greatly effaced the impression of
former days with which we had expected to have been greeted. There still
remain, however, many notable traces left behind. In a good apartment,
opening into the corridor, on the left, is a richly sculptured
Chimney-piece, which has been removed from a lodging above, called Queen
Elizabeth’s Room. On a panel over the fire-place, bordered with carving,
the Brereton Arms were formerly emblazoned in inlaid wood of different
colours, upon their ermine mantle, which gave rise to the appellation of
Queen Elizabeth’s Fan. The original panel is still in the house, though
much dilapidated; but the heraldic achievements have been reproduced by
the hands of the painter. The Drawing-room in the south wing has a fine
bay window, and retains the old oak wainscoting. The ornamental
Chimney-piece in this room is divided by pilasters into three panels,
having carved borders, and containing the Brereton Arms. But the chief
apartment of the House is in this wing--the spacious and magnificent
Dining-room. This noble apartment is rich in the usual armorial
decorations. Over the massive architectural Mantel-piece of the period,
the pilasters of which reach from the floor to the ceiling, the arms of
Queen Elizabeth are fully displayed; the supporters being the golden
lion and the red dragon, the latter the cognizance of the Tudor family.
The letters E. R. occupy the sides of the royal crest, whilst the words
_Vivat Regina_, and the date, 1585, occur below. The family crest and
motto, “_Opitulante Deo_,” are not omitted. Indeed the armorial bearings
richly emblazoned, with various quarterings, are repeated again in the
window in stained glass. Around the entire circuit of the room, except
over the fire-place, where the vacancy is filled up by a scroll and
figures supporting a celestial globe, immediately below the ceiling,
there runs a curious series of heraldic achievements in carved oak, now
emblazoned afresh. They represent crowns and shields bearing the arms of
forty-three different states and principalities; to each of which is
attached a scroll, with the name of the King or Emperor in Latin. In the
windings of every one of these scrolls there is placed a large white,
and also a red rose. The shield of the King of Jerusalem (REX
HIERUSALEM) bears an ornamented cross, and his crown is a crown of
thorns. It might be difficult to divine the meaning of this display of
escutcheons and names. If they were intended to represent the allies of
the Queen, or those of her family, allegory seems to have been
intimately mingled in the device, from the celestial globe above her
head, glittering with golden stars on cerulean blue, to all the
subsidiary parts.
Queen Elizabeth’s room is a good-sized square apartment immediately over
the entrance-hall; formerly panelled round the lower part of the walls,
but now presenting no evidence of its former high destiny. Other
bed-rooms, however, retain their ancient ornamental chimney-pieces, in
alabaster and stone, supported and divided by odd-looking pilasters in
the Elizabethan style. The oft-repeated Arms of Brereton, painted and
sculptured, occur again and again. In a room south of the entrance they
are given with supporters, viz., dexter, a greyhound, sinister, a
muzzled bear; and each of the panels at the sides bears a coronet, from
which is suspended a medal containing a flourished cipher of the name,
_W. Brereton_. In this part of the building some of the old oak
floorings remain. A bed-room in the north wing has an alabaster
chimney-piece, with the date 1633 on it. In a room in the south wing,
formerly the drawing-room, there is an oaken wreath with acorns round
the family crest, finely executed in a close-grained stone. A portion of
the ancient oaken staircase, leading from the grand dining-room below to
this apartment, is still preserved. The landing of this staircase is
curious, as exhibiting the former state of the house unchanged. Around
the top of the walls, below the ceiling, is painted a long series of
escutcheons bearing the arms of various Cheshire families, with the name
on a label attached to each. And the window is occupied in its upper
part by six compartments, containing the heraldic devices of the five
following families, whose names and the dates are inscribed below, (the
sixth is vacant,) viz.,--
LEIGH OF BOOTHES.
MANWARINGE OF CROERTON.
TROWTEBEKE, 1577.
CORBET DE LEGH.
RADELIFFE, 1577.
Brereton occurs in the Survey--when it formed part of the territorial
possessions of Gilbert de Venables, Baron of Kinderton. A family, which
assumed the local name, had a grant of it as early as the reign of
William Rufus. This is the parent stock of the very widely-spreading
family of Brereton; and they are to be traced here to about the year
1200. Sir William Brereton, 13th in descent from the founder, was
engaged in the wars in Ireland. In 1534, with his son John, he was
inshored at Howth with 250 soldiers, well appointed. In the same year he
went to summon the strongly fortified castle of Maynooth, which he took
by storm, running up “the highest turret of the castle, and advancing
his standard on the top thereof, notifienge to the Deputie that the fort
was woone.” Another Sir William built this stately mansion, and
entertained his royal guest within its halls. In 1624 Sir William
Brereton was created Lord Brereton of Leighlin in Ireland, on the death
of Francis Lord Brereton. In the wars between Charles I. and the
Parliament, another Sir William of this family, but not of Brereton
Hall, the famous parliamentarian general, took a very conspicuous part.
So early as August, 1642, he began to beat up for recruits, and in the
severe contest of the following years, attended by such various fortune,
he many times commanded in this county. In June 1644, he received the
appointment of Major-General of Cheshire from the Parliament; and
ultimately took the strong fortress of Beeston Castle, and the city of
Chester itself, by siege; which put an end to the war in this county.
Lord Brereton, of Brereton Hall, however, who had espoused the cause of
the King, fled before his nephew the parliamentarian general, to
Biddulph Hall, in Staffordshire, whither Sir William pursued him, and
took him prisoner.[3] In 1722, the male line of the family. In 1722 the
male line of the family became extinct by the death of Lord Brereton.
The Hall and estates subsequently passed, through female inheritance, to
A. Bracebridge, Esq.[4] In 1817, to satisfy certain claims upon it, the
estate was dismembered by Act of Parliament; and, after being many years
uninhabited, Brereton Hall was purchased by the present proprietor, John
Howard, Esq.
The Church, now a rectory, and dedicated to St. Oswald, is within a
stone’s throw of the Hall. It is a plain building, in the perpendicular
style, encompassed with trees;
[Illustration]
amongst which are one or two venerable yews, standing in the churchyard
itself. The original chapel was built in the reign of Richard
Cœur-de-Lion; but of this ancient structure it is doubtful whether any
traces remain in the present building. One of the large windows on the
north side of the chancel was formerly filled with stained glass. The
subject contained four figures, representing the persons who slew Thomas
à Becket, and a fifth, supposed to be Henry II. By an instrument yet
extant, it appears to have been portrayed by order of Sir William
Brereton in 1608. Perhaps the object of most interest in this church at
present is the armour which is ascribed to Lord Brereton. The harness is
suspended
[Illustration]
from the north wall of the chancel. The shirt to which the rings have
been attached (see our initial letter) remains, but they have dropped
off. It is surmounted by his helmet, bearing the family crest. Below
these hang the gauntlets and spurs; and above the whole a banner has
waved, now presenting only its bare staff. Attached to the wall, on the
same side of the chancel, is a monumental tablet with a Latin
inscription, to the effect,--that this church being in ancient times a
donative chapel in Astbury parish, the ancestors of Sir William
Brereton, Baron of Malpas, who erected this monument in 1618, were
buried in the church-yard of Astbury. Accordingly, in this latter
place, on the north side of the church, we find some curious ancient
monuments. A fine canopied tomb, in the decorated style, open at both
sides, covers two stone effigies, of a knight armed cap-à-pie, with his
feet resting on a lion, holding a heater-shaped shield on his left arm;
and his lady, with her hands conjoined on her breast, her feet resting
on a dog. Within the arch of the canopy is the following inscription,
surmounted by the arms of Brereton:--
“HIC JACENT RADULPHUS BRERETON MILES; ET DOMINA ADA, UXOR SUA, UNA
FILIARUM DAVIDIS COMITIS NUNTINGDONIS.”
On the left side of this beautiful monument is placed a stone coffin
with effigy in flowing robes, a coif, and a beard, in form resembling
that of some of the Egyptian deities, being wider as it descends. The
head rests on a pillow; the hands are joined in the attitude of prayer;
and the feet are placed on an animal, resembling a dog. On the right
side of the canopied tomb is another coffin and effigy of a knight in
armour, of apparently the latter part of the fourteenth century. The
heater-shaped shield has traces of heraldic bearings, seemingly the two
bars of the Breretons. This figure has been richly harnessed. The head
has been covered by the conical-topped helmet, with the chain camail
falling from it over the neck; but some modern stonecutter has done his
utmost to transform these military habiliments into an old-fashioned
wig.
Cheshire abounds in ancient Halls; and a very large number of them
having received but little injury from time, or the more evil influence
of “renovators” and “improvers,” continue in a comparatively primitive
state. Several still remain to the descendants of worthies by whom they
were erected; unhappily, Brereton is not one of these; but we trust it
is in safe hands, and that it is destined to sustain no farther insult
or injury from convenience or caprice.
[Illustration:
Drawn by C. J. Richardson, on Stone by W. Walton.
CREWE HALL CHESHIRE]
CREWE HALL,
CHESHIRE.
[Illustration: C]REWE HALL--situate about four miles from the town of
Nantwich--affords a striking example of the singular changes to which a
baronial residence and its dependencies may be subjected in this
utilitarian age. Formerly, it occupied the centre of a sequestered
valley--now and then, when the wind was southerly, the ti-ri-la of the
horn of a distant “stage” to Chester, fell upon the ear of secluded
villagers; it was almost the only sound that connected them with the
business of actual life. The lord of the mansion and his humble
neighbours, dwelling apart from the stir of traffic and the din of
commerce, scarcely heard even those “rumours of oppression and deceit”
that followed or preceded “unsuccessful or successful war;” content, in
their “dreary contiguity of shade,” to be overlooked and unheeded by the
busy world about them. The picture at Crewe is now a new one: it is the
largest of all the railway stations between Birmingham and Liverpool:
the moaning of steam-engines never ceases there; a smoke perpetual
gathers over the trees; travellers are rushing backwards and forwards
every hour of the day; the noise unnatural is also unceasing, and is
audible for miles around, breaking the calm of night in the country, and
making the day seem devoted to unhealthy and unpeaceful toil. The
contrast between what this pretty hamlet was and is, becomes the more
striking because, as yet, the station is at some distance from the
gigantic warehouses, engine-room, and coke-stores, which have suddenly
grown into existence here. A small inn--new, but not much out of keeping
with the ancient aspect of the place--stands beside “the station,” and
on the main road which leads from Crewe Hall to Nantwich; the former
being distant about a mile, the latter about four miles.
Crewe Hall is the seat of the Right Hon. Hungerford Crewe, third Baron
Crewe, who was born in 1812, and succeeded his father in 1835. His
grandfather, the first peer, represented Cheshire in parliament from the
year 1768 until his elevation to the upper house in 1806. The manor was
from a very early period the property of the family of Crue, or Crewe,
and some remains of a far more ancient seat are still to be found in
the neighbourhood. “About the year 1300, Joan, eldest daughter and
co-heiress of the last male heir of the elder branch of the family,
married Robert Praers, whose grand-daughter conveyed the manor to Sir
Robert Foulshurst.” From this family it was purchased, in 1578, by Sir
Christopher Hatton. “A fortunate lawyer” had the means of restoring it
to the race to whom it had originally belonged. About the year 1610 Sir
Randal Crewe, Serjeant-at-Law, descended from Patrick, a younger brother
of Thomas de Crewe, bought it from Sir Christopher’s heirs, and erected,
between the years 1615 and 1636, the present mansion. In 1684 the male
line became extinct, by the death of John Crewe, Esq.; Anne, his eldest
daughter, having married John Offley, Esq., of Madeley Manor, their
eldest son, John, subsequently took the name of Crewe in 1708, and, as
we have stated, the family was ennobled in 1806.
The hall is a remarkably beautiful structure, and a fine example of the
architecture of the period. It is characterised by a distinguished
architect as “undoubtedly one of the finest remaining specimens of the
English branch of the Italian cinque cento, which may be considered to
have arrived at its full state of perfection during the reign of James
I.” According to some passages in Fuller, at the period of its erection
it must have been classed among the more sumptuous edifices of the
kingdom. He says, “Nor must it be forgotten that Sir Randal first
brought the model of excellent building into these remote parts--yea,
brought London into Cheshire, in the loftiness, sightliness, and
pleasantness of their structures.” Although it has undergone many
improvements, it has lost but little of its original character. “It
consists of two lofty stories, surmounted by a sculptured open parapet,
concealing, in some degree, the high roof, from which rise the chimneys,
representing detached octagonal columns, with their plinths, bases, and
capitals.” The central compartment--the line of the front being broken
at each extremity by bow windows--is composed entirely of stone, and is
rich in decoration; the arch of the doorway is supported by four fluted
Ionic columns, on sculptured pedestals. A dwarf wall and balustrades
surround the edifice at its base; and the courtyard, now a prettily laid
out lawn and garden, is entered by some finely modelled gates of
cast-iron, produced at the foundry of Messrs. Bramah. The
[Illustration]
exterior is now undergoing thorough repair under the superintendence of
Mr. Edward Blore. Mr. Richardson has supplied us with the appended copy
of the decoration, in carved stone, which surmounts the entrance, and
also of one of the exterior ornaments, of which we have formed an
initial letter.
The interior of this fine old mansion is in the purest possible state;
such alterations as time or circumstances may have rendered necessary
have been effected with judgment, skill, and taste. “It presents an
extraordinary variety of decorated ceilings, enriched plaster-work, and
carved wainscot, the design and execution of which are masterly, fully
equalling the choicest specimens of the French _renaissance_ of the
reign of Francis I.” It contains some bas-reliefs of a very early age,
and these, probably, were removed from the still older mansion of the
Crewes. It must also have undergone some changes at so late a period as
that of Charles II., and these, no doubt, were rendered necessary in
consequence of two sieges to which it was subjected during the civil
wars. In 1643 it was garrisoned by the Parliamentary troops, who were
besieged there by the Royalists under Lord Byron, to whom they yielded
in consequence of failure of food and ammunition: “becoming prisoners,
stout and valiant soldiers, having quarter granted them.” During the
subsequent year the mansion was taken by the troops of the Parliament,
and, in like manner, the garrison was permitted to go out in honourable
safety.
The hall, which is somewhat low and narrow, is of carved oak; to the
left is the dining-room,
[Illustration]
of which the accompanying print, in lithotint, affords a satisfactory
idea. The screen of richly carved oak is as fresh and sharp as if it had
been painted by the artist only yesterday. The fireplace of cut stone is
inlaid with marbles of various colours and countries. Opposite the
screen is a fine oriel window; and the ceiling is of exquisite design,
and remarkably bold in character. A side entrance leads through “the
carved parlour” to the upper rooms by a staircase of surpassing beauty,
“made gay” by painted monsters of all kinds, bearing blank shields. The
several apartments, drawing-rooms, and bedchambers, are furnished with
great taste; the library is exceedingly fine and spacious: here, as in
other parts of the house, we find treasures of ancient art, and, among
them, very choice productions of the modern school of England. At the
extremity of the hall is the chapel of the mansion, small in size but of
exquisite workmanship, being formed entirely of carved oak, to which
Time has given the sombre tint that ever harmonises well with the
sacred character of the structure. The chapel contains a painted window
by Willement, and two noble paintings by Giordano. The roof is of white
and gold, with a single pendant; the gallery is for the servants, and
there is a small place at the entrance for dependants.
On the whole, there are in England few fresher or finer examples of the
period of its erection.
[Illustration
F. W. Hulme, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton M & N Hanbart Lithogʳˢ
DORFOLD HALL, CHESHIRE]
DORFOLD HALL,
CHESHIRE.
[Illustration: D]ORFOLD HALL, now the seat of Mrs. Tomkinson, was built
by Ralph Wilbraham, Esq. in the reign of James I.--according to Lysons,
in the year 1616--on the site of a still older mansion. It is situated
about one mile from Nantwich; it is a brick building with stone
dressings. The staircase and the great chamber are still perfect. The
ceiling of the latter room is an extraordinary specimen of decorative
plaster-work; the form is of the kind called “waggon-headed.” It is
completely covered with a pattern, in bold relief, of the most
complicated description, ornamented with shields of arms and various
Tudor emblems. Few
[Illustration]
such curious specimens of the intricate design of the period can now be
found. Over the doorway in the great chamber is a shield of the arms of
the Wilton family. Mr. Richardson, in his observations on old English
mansions, observes there is every reason to suppose that Dorfold Hall,
Crewe Hall, and Aston Hall, near Birmingham, were built in successive
order by the same architect; many of the ceilings, fireplaces,
staircases, &c. are nearly the same in all the three houses. The early
rudeness of the style is seen at Dorfold Hall, its purity in Crewe Hall,
and the commencement of its deterioration in Aston Hall.
The front of Dorfold is highly picturesque. The two small lodges seen in
front belong to the original construction; but modern domestic
arrangements requiring more room than was afforded by the old building,
the small offices between the house and the old lodges have been added.
If the reader can suppose these away, and a formal balustrade or wall,
with gates in the centre, connecting the old lodges in front, he will
have the exact appearance of the house in the olden time. All the old
buildings were then supplied in front by great courtyards, into which
carriages never entered, either from their being of too lumbersome a
construction, or with a view to state. It may be hinted that the
buildings of the reign of Elizabeth exhibited a considerable portion of
the proud, haughty character of the sovereign.
Dorfold, like many of its neighbours in Cheshire, was besieged by the
army of the Parliament during the Civil Wars.
The interior of the Hall bears many unequivocal proofs that refined
taste prevails over all its arrangements. The new furniture is in
keeping with the old carvings; illustrated books, and prints in harmony
with the impressive character of the time-honoured structure, are
profusely scattered upon the tables and along the walls. Dorfold has
fallen into “good hands;” its peculiar beauties and its interesting
associations are appreciated and valued; and the spirits of its ancient
owners may contemplate with approval the efforts of its existing
proprietors--shoots from a noble and honourable stock.
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ M & N Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
MORETON HALL, CHESHIRE.]
MORETON HALL,
CHESHIRE.
[Illustration: The] subject of our present delineation--MORETON HALL, is
situated amidst the sandy plain of Cheshire, on the Staffordshire border
of the county. Its eastern aspect is bounded by that range of hills
which extends from Scotland southwards into the centre of England, and
which here presents some of its most remarkable features in the high
hills called “Mow Cop” and “Cloud,” both being upwards of 1000 feet
above the sea-level. The former is surmounted by a ruined tower, and by
a singular isolated rock called “The Old Man of Mow.” The latter is an
abrupt and dome-shaped termination of a portion of the range to the
northward. From the Hall, these hills present objects of interest not
devoid of richness, as on this side they are clothed with the dark
verdure of the Scotch fir. Moreton Hall--or, “Little Moreton Hall,” as
it has been denominated to distinguish it from the residence of the
Bellots in the immediate neighbourhood, seated on the plain below--is an
ancient timbered house, partly embosomed in trees, but attracting the
eye from a distance by the interrupted outline of its numerous roofs,
its strange columnar chimneys,--in form resembling rows of prismatic
crystals, some of them being rendered more picturesque by the
o’er-covering
[Illustration]
ivy,--and its black beams and diaper-like patterns distinctly traced on
the white ground of the intervening plaster. On a nearer approach we
discover the house to be encompassed by a narrow moat, beyond which, and
at its south-western corner, is a small conical mound, prettily
surmounted by a sycamore tree. The house is approached from the south
over a stone arch of antique form, and bearing the Moreton arms on
either side. The square Portal, with a sun-dial over it, is adorned with
some bold carvings of foliage in oak on the top and sides. These are
repeated on the inner opening at the entrance into the Court; each
door-post here being crowned by a halbert-bearer in high relief. Over
this portal is a lofty range of building, consisting of a number of
small wainscotted rooms, and an oaken staircase, which ascends to the
long room or gallery, 68 feet in length, running over the top of the
whole. This room is lighted from the south by a window its entire
length. Like all the other apartments, its walls are lined with
wainscot, except the ends, where, at the upper part, are figures and
tablets, bearing inscriptions, in stucco. That at the western end
represents blind Fortune with her wheel, bearing this motto on the rim:
“Qui modo scandit corruet statim.” The inscription is:
“The wheel of Fortune,
Whose rule is ignoraunce.”
That at the opposite extremity, Fate supporting a globe with one hand,
and holding a pair of compasses in the other. The inscription:
“The speare of Destiny,
Whose rule is knowledge.”
This apartment has a pitched roof, and an oaken ceiling, open to the
rafters. Tradition relates that Queen Elizabeth, while on a progress
through Cheshire, danced here, and that Oliver Cromwell made use of it
as a council chamber during the Civil Wars.
Having passed through the portal and under the building surmounted by
the long room, we enter a small Court, which is one of the most curious
parts of this ancient residence. There are seven doors opening
[Illustration]
into it; the principal entrance, (that which leads into the hall,) being
nearly opposite to the portal. Besides other windows, there are two
large gabled bow-windows, which light the Banquetting Hall, the antique
form and curious glazing of which excite immediate attention. Indeed,
the glazing of most of the windows of the house is very remarkable; the
panes being small, and joined by slips of lead, so as to represent many
pretty patterns. Upon bands around these windows are the following
inscriptions:--“God is al in al thing. This window where made by William
Moreton, in the yeare of oure Lorde MDLII.” “Rycharde Dale, Carpēder
made theis windows, by the grace of God.”[5]
One of the entrances from the court, on the right, leads into a small
chapel, which, by the lapse of time and disuse, has lost much of its
sacred character. Almost the only indication of its former purpose is a
series of tablets suspended on the walls and bearing inscribed on them,
in old English characters, numerous texts of Scripture.
The principal entrance leading into the house is closed by an antique
oaken door, having a small wicket in it fastened with a ponderous bolt.
This door is rendered still more impregnable by many a coat of
whitewash. On passing through it we are ushered into a large wainscotted
apartment, having seats attached to the wainscot all round,--the ancient
Banquetting Hall. In it we observed a fine old long table of oak. This
apartment is lighted by the large windows already described, which
contain, like some other windows of the house, small portions of stained
glass, consisting of the Moreton and other arms. An inner door in the
wainscot leads from the Banquetting Hall into the family apartment,
which likewise looks into the court. This room has an ornamented
chimney-piece, which is surmounted by arms in stucco, bearing the motto
“Honi soit qui mal y pense,” and a large A on each side.
Many of the rooms have floors made of plaster. The fastenings of some of
the doors of the upper rooms are curious; they consist of a large iron
ring standing out from the middle of the door, through which is passed a
bar of wood. This reaches across, and rests on the jambs on either side;
a very secure mode of fastening to those who happen to be on the right
side.
In the fine old parish church of Astbury, within two miles of Moreton
Hall, there is a side chapel, at the east end of the north aisle, of
great antiquity, divided between the two manorial proprietors of Little
Moreton-cum-Rode. In the east window, which formerly contained some
splendid stained glass, there now only remains the arms of one of the
Blundevilles, the famous Earls of Chester. The three wide steps which
led to the altar, a piscina, on one side, and a closet for relics, on
the other, are almost the only remnants of its ancient purposes. At the
Moreton end of this side chapel there are three large plain marble slabs
over altar tombs, bearing the following inscriptions:--
DAME MARY JONES,
died the 19th of April, 1743,
aged 85.
SIR WILLIAM MORETON, KNT.,
Recorder of the City of London,
died the 14th of March, 1763,
aged 67.
DAME JANE MORETON,
died the 10th of Feb., 1758,
aged 61.
There is a fine oaken cabinet in Moreton Hall, which, from the labels in
old law-hand, has most likely belonged to the above-named Sir William
Moreton.
The house belongs to a lady of the Moreton family,--in whose possession
it is said to have remained since the 13th century. An adjacent meadow
was formerly the mill-pool of the Hall. In front of the house there
formerly stood the steps of an old cross, which have been removed. It is
probable that they now surround the cross piled up in the garden, and
upon which is placed an old sun-dial. Of this cross, or rather, the
remains, Mr. Pratt (the artist to whom we are indebted for the
illustrations of this subject) made a drawing, which forms our initial
letter.
Odd Rode, or Little Moreton-cum-Rode, are noticed as two manors in “The
Survey,” and were subsequently granted to Hugh de Mara and Wm. Fitz
Nigel. They are described in Domesday, as having inclosures for taking
wild deer, and an aerie for hawks. The present divisions of the township
are distinguished by the names of Little Moreton and Rode. A branch of
the Grahams of Lostock settled in Little Moreton early in the thirteenth
century, the third of whom assumed the name of Moreton, and his
descendants in the male line continued till the death of Sir W. Moreton
in 1763, when his nephew, the Rev. Richard Taylor, took the local name.
In the 12th Henry VIII. Sir W. Brereton made an award between Mr. Wm.
Moreton and Mr. Thos. Rode, of Rode, in a dispute “which should sit
highest in the churche, and foremost goo in procession:” when he very
judiciously awarded between these two sticklers for precedence “That
whyther of the said gentylmen may dispende in landes by title of
enheritaunce 10 marks or above more than the other, that he shall have
the pre-eminence in sitting in the churche, and in gooing in procession,
with all other lyke causes in that behalf.”
We fear we must ascribe the rumoured subterranean passages of Moreton
Hall, running under the moat to chambers hid in the mound, to no higher
authority than that wild fancy which thus gilds, to its own delight,
antique and curious buildings in all parts of our country--that native
spirit of poetry,--
“One with our feelings and our powers,
And rather part of us, than ours,”
without a sprinkling of which, this world in all its teeming beauty
might be too much of a dull reality.
[Illustration:
F W Hulme Delᵗ. on Stone by W Walton M & N Hanhart Lithogʳˢ]
PLACE HOUSE,
CORNWALL.
[Illustration: P]LACE HOUSE, formerly called the “Plâs” (a corruption of
“Palace”), from its having the reputation of being once the residence of
the Earls of Cornwall, stands on elevated ground in the centre of Fowey,
a seaport-town on the southern coast of Cornwall. It is a fine pile of
building, a large portion being very ancient, though the exact date
cannot be ascertained with certainty; there is, however, abundant
evidence to prove that many parts of it existed so far back as 1455,[6]
and were probably built about that time; a period to which also is
assigned the re-erection of the church close by, a handsome and lofty
fabric of the perpendicular English style of architecture: the two
buildings are composed of similar materials.
The ancestors of its present possessor, J. T. Treffry, Esq., have
occupied Place House, without intermission, as we believe, for many
centuries past, and exercised considerable influence in Fowey, which was
formerly a place of far greater importance than it is now. The townsmen
acquired wealth and fame by deeds of war during the reigns of Edward I.,
Edward III., and Henry V., and they furnished more ships to the fleet of
Edward III. before Calais than any other port in England. Among the
gallant men who fought and won at Cressy, we find Sir John Treffry, to
whom, chroniclers say, the French king surrendered himself on the field.
His heroism at Poictiers is commemorated on a stately monument in Fowey
Church, which bears the following inscription:--“The atchievements of
John Treffry, who, at the battle of Poictiers, fought under Edward the
Black Prince, and took the French royal standard; for it he was made a
Knight-Banneret by King Edward III. on the field of battle.” In addition
to this title, Sir John was rewarded for his valour with an honourable
augmentation to his arms; viz. supporters, and as a quartering, the
_fleur-de-lis_ from the arms of France, which are still to be seen
painted on the windows of Place House.
The French frequently attacked Fowey, and, according to Leland, “most
notably about 1457, when the wife of Thomas Treffry, with her servants,
repelled their enemies
[Illustration]
out of the house, in her husband’s absence; whereupon he builded a right
faire and strong embateled tower in his house, and embateled it to the
walls of his house,--in a manner made it a castle, and unto this day it
is the glorie of the towne building of Foey.” This tower we have
engraved. John Treffry, most probably a son of the aforesaid Thomas, was
high-sheriff of Cornwall in 1482; he left issue several sons, of whom
three are portrayed on a large tomb in the adjoining church: one of
these, Sir John, was a person of considerable eminence, and, with his
brother William, was attainted by Richard III., but afterwards restored
by act of parliament to their estates, in the reign of Henry VII. Thomas
Treffry, member for the county during the first two parliaments of
Philip and Mary, was compelled to leave the country for having opposed
the marriage of Mary with the Spanish monarch.
From this last period to the present time we find no names of note in
the genealogy of the family; but the estate appears to have been handed
down, from one generation to another, in almost unbroken succession; the
various members in possession holding a
[Illustration]
distinguished position among the old county gentry.
Place House contains numerous apartments, many of which are highly
interesting. In the hall is a richly carved ceiling of oak, and on the
walls are emblazoned the arms of Edward VI. and the first Earl of
Bedford, with quarterings, all well executed; also the arms of Treffry
and Tresilhneys, quartered in Queen Elizabeth’s time. In several other
parts are likewise the family arms, quartered according to the various
periods to which each is assigned. One of the ancient gateways is
indicated in the appended cut.
[Illustration:
G Cattermole, Delᵗ on Stone by W Walton M & N Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ]
NAWORTH,
CUMBERLAND.
[Illustration: N]AWORTH is one of the few remaining Castles of the
Border rescued from the grasp of Time by the noble descendants of its
ancient lords. It is the property of the Earl of Carlisle--the
representative of “centuries of Howards”--who, according to Sir Walter
Scott, “deserves high praise for the attention bestowed in maintaining
the curious and venerable pile in its former state.” While, however, his
Lordship has taken especial care to arrest the progress of Time over the
old walls, he has been wisely cautious to prevent “repairs” from being
unseemly patches upon the honoured face of “hore antiquitie.” Its
condition is sufficiently dilapidated to carry instant conviction of its
age; but nothing out of keeping with the solemn dignity derived from the
weight of years is permitted to appear. To its early and existing
condition his lordship has himself made happy reference, in some
descriptive lines to this--the famous stronghold of generations of his
ancestry:
“O Naworth! monument of rudest times,
When Science slept entombed, and o’er the waste,
The heath-grown crag, and quivering moss, of old
Stalk’d unremitted war!
* * * * *
If now the peasant, scar’d no more at eve
By distant beacons, and compelled to house
His trembling flocks, his children and his all,
Beneath his craggy roof, securely sleeps;
Yet all around thee is not changed; thy towers,
UNMODERNISED BY TASTELESS ART, remain
Still unsubdued by Time.”
The Castle stands on “a pleasant eminence” at the head of the Vale of
Lanercost, or St. Mary’s Holme, and not far from the beautiful and
picturesque ruins of Lanercost Priory, which cover the dust of the
ancient Lords of Naworth,[7] and many other gallant chieftains who
formerly held sway over the wild Border.
The approach to it is peculiarly striking. “The front is strengthened by
a curtain wall, and a gateway embrasured, and the corners of the chief
building on this side by lofty square towers.” On the north, it impends
over the river Irthing, at a great height; the banks shagged with wood.
“The whole house,” says Pennant, “is a true specimen of ancient
inconvenience, of magnificence and littleness; the rooms numerous,
accessible by sixteen staircases, with most frequent and sudden ascents
and descents into the bargain; besides a long narrow gallery.” “The idea
of a comfortable dwelling,” according to a more recent writer, “was,
indeed, entirely excluded; the whole internal contrivance seeming only
calculated to keep an enemy out, or elude his vigilance should he happen
to get in; its hiding-holes are numerous; but it seems probable that
many of its close recesses are even now unknown.”
We have no certain information as to the period of its erection.
Tradition reports it to have been built by the Dacres; but “by which of
them has not been ascertained.” The earliest mention of it occurs in the
reign of Edward the Third, when “Ranulphus Dacre, who had married the
heiress of the Multons, obtained a license to fortify and convert his
mansion here into a castle.” In the family of the Dacres it continued
until the year 1569, when, by the death of the last heir-male of the
family, it passed to the Howards--by the marriage of William Howard,
third son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, with the Lady Elizabeth, sister of
the last Lord Dacre.[8] When visited by Camden, in 1607, it was under
repair; according to Bishop Gibson, it was “again repaired and made fit
for the reception of a family by the Right Hon. Charles Howard,
great-grandson to the Lord William.” By its present noble owner, the
Earl of Carlisle, it is, as we have intimated, preserved from farther
injury at the hand of Time,--and is the occasional residence of some
members of his family, who resort to it in “the sporting season.”
The romantic fame of Naworth is derived from Lord William
Howard--“belted Will Howard,” one of the heroes of Border Minstrelsy.
The commencement of his chivalrous career was the first chapter to a
volume of romance. He was the third son of the fourth Duke of Norfolk,
and grandson of the famous Earl of Surrey--
“Who has not heard of Surrey’s fame?”
His father lost his title, his estates, and his head, on Tower Hill; and
bequeathed him to the care of his elder brother, as “having nothing to
feed the cormorants withal.” He was married, in 1577, to the Lady
Elizabeth Dacre, the ages of both together being short of
eight-and-twenty. During the whole of the reign of Elizabeth, however,
he and the several other members of his family were cruelly
oppressed--subjected repeatedly to charges of treason, and kept in a
state of poverty “very grievous to bear.” On the accession of James the
Second their prospects brightened. Lord William was received into
special favour; and, about the year 1603, turned his attention to the
repairs of his Baronial Castle of Naworth--removing thither various
paintings and articles of furniture from mansions still more neglected
or dilapidated. Almost immediately afterwards he made it his permanent
residence, having been--probably in the year 1605--appointed to the
office of the King’s Lieutenant and Warden of the Marches.[9] The
onerous and difficult duties imposed upon him he discharged, it would
seem, with equal fearlessness and severity: so that, to quote from
Fuller, “when in their greatest height, the moss-troopers had two fierce
enemies--the laws of the land and Lord William Howard of Naworth, who
sent many of them to Carlisle, that place where the officer always does
his work by daylight.”
Although formidable to his enemies, the Lord William was fervent and
faithful to his friends. His attachment to his Lady (whom he survived
but a year) was “of the truest affection, esteem, and friendship;” and
his love of letters, and the refined pursuits of leisure and ease,
rendered him remarkable, even among the intellectual men of the period.
To the courage of the soldier, “Belted Will” added the courtesy of the
scholar, and, although “the Tamer of the wild Border” has been often
pictured as a ferocious man-slayer, incapable of pity, history does him
only justice in describing him as a model of chivalry, when chivalry was
the leading characteristic of the age. He died in 1640, leaving issue by
the “Lady Bessie” ten sons and five daughters--the eldest being the
ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle.
This Border Castle--the Caste of “Bauld Wyllie”--remains then, as we
have said, one of the least impaired and most interesting of the feudal
dwellings of Ancient England. It is nearly quadrangular in form; of
prodigious strength; and many indications of its early defences yet
remain. The only access to it is from the south, on which side it lies
low, and presents its principal front, “extending two hundred and eight
feet.” Formerly (according to a MS. dated 1675), “it was surrounded by
pleasant woods and gardens; ground full of fallow dear, feeding all
somer time,--brave venison pasties; with great store of reed dear on the
mountains, and white wild cattle, with black eares only, on the moores;
and black heath-cockes, and brown more-cockes, and their pootes.”
The interior is even more primitive in character than the exterior. “The
long Gallery” (which Mr. Cattermole has pictured), “extending one
hundred and sixteen feet in length, is filled with many curious and
interesting antiquities; among them are said to be the saddle, gloves,
and belt of “Belted Will Howard.” It contains also various portraits of
Members of the heroic race. The old windows are narrow and grated,
[Illustration]
and the doors almost wholly cased with iron, moving on ponderous hinges,
and with massive bolts, which ‘make a harsh and horrid clang that echoes
fearfully through the winding passages.’ ‘The Great Hall,’ measuring 70
feet by 24, is lighted by a range of windows, placed high up near the
ceiling, and a large oriel window at the southern end. The ceiling is
formed of wood panels in large squares, in number above one hundred, on
which are painted portraits of the Saxon Kings, and the Sovereigns of
[Illustration:
G. Cattermole, Del Stone by W. Walton M & N Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ
NAWORTH, CUMBERLAND.]
England, down to the Union of the Houses of York and Lancaster, with
many other noble personages; ‘they have, however, no recommendation but
their antiquity.’ The Minstrels’ Gallery has been removed. In the Dining
Hall are two portraits of the Lady of Lord William--one in her
fourteenth year, just after she became a bride; the other when her years
were three-score ten and three. The Chapel retains much of its original
condition--a pulpit and stall of oak, and a painted window, exhibiting a
Knight and Dame kneeling, being among the most remarkable objects that
yet endure. The apartments of Lord William Howard are, however, those to
which the chief interest is attached. They are entered at the east end
of the long Gallery. The approach to them was secured by iron-bound
doors, several in succession, containing numerous huge bolts, running
far into the stone work. The strongest defends a narrow winding
staircase, up which only one person can pass; a short dark passage leads
to the bed-chamber; (pictured on the opposite page) in which the
‘original furniture’ is preserved.”[10] Among the rest, the plain and
simple bed on which, it is said, belted Will slept. Above the stone
mantel-piece are three sculptured shields with the arms of the Dacres.
Above the bed-room, reached by the narrow stone staircase referred to,
are the Library and the Oratory of Lord William.
The Library, here pictured, still contains some curious MSS., with a
large collection
[Illustration]
of rare old books, many of them having the autograph of Lord William.
“Not a book has been added,” according to Pennant, “since his days.” The
windows of this apartment are narrow, and are reached by an ascent of
three steps:--“such was the caution of the times.” The ceiling is richly
carved; the corbels and bosses being embellished with armorial devices;
the skirting of the room is of oak, “black from age.” Lord William
was--as he is styled by Camden, “a lover of the venerable antiquities,”
and in this apartment much of his leisure time was spent.[11]
The other Chamber which tradition closely associates with the memory of
the Lord William, is “the Oratory,” situated near the Library. “It is
fitted up with plain
[Illustration]
wainscot, painted red, and ornamented with escallop-shells and
cross-crosslets--armorial devices of the Dacres and the Howards. There
are also some fragments of what is supposed to have been the rich screen
of the Rood-loft of Lanercost Priory Church, consisting of carved
ornaments of pierced work, in wood, richly painted and gilt, nailed up
on the walls of the apartment.” The Confessional is a small dark closet
within the Oratory, unfurnished. The dungeons of the Castle consist of
“four dens, under the great square Tower at the south-west angle.” They
“instil horror into the beholder:” there is no chink or crevice for the
admission of light; and, in one of the cells, a ring, to which prisoners
were chained, is still appended to the wall. In a note to “The Legend of
Montrose,” Sir Walter Scott states that a private staircase led to these
dungeons from the apartment of Lord William. The author of a little
book, “A Guide to Naworth and Lanercost,” from which we have borrowed
some of our details, sought for this passage in vain.
Few of the ancient Baronial dwellings of our English nobles possess a
deeper interest than that of Naworth. It supplies a striking and
emphatic illustration of the rude and lawless period of its erection,
when security was the object chiefly aimed at; but mingling adornment
with strength, and being a refinement upon the cheerless and gloomy
structures of the Anglo-Norman chiefs; “expanding into a mixture of the
castle and the mansion;” and marking the splendour of our early nobles,
“before they exchanged the hospitable magnificence of a life spent among
a numerous tenantry, for the uncertain honours of Court attendance, and
the equivocal rewards of ministerial favour.” To borrow an eloquent
passage from the “Border Antiquities:” “The vast and solid mansions of
our ancient nobility were like their characters--greatness without
elegance; strength without refinement; but lofty, firm, and
commanding.”
[Illustration:
Day & Son, Lithʳˢ to The Queen.]
HADDON HALL,
DERBYSHIRE.
[Illustration: H]ADDON is, in the Domesday Book, mentioned as a berewick
in the manor of Bakewell; it was granted by the Conqueror to his natural
son, William Peverel, and it is not improbable that some parts of the
present building were constructed about that time. It remained in the
possession of the Peverels two generations only, and was then granted by
one of the family to a retainer named Avenell,[12] on the tenure of
knight’s service. In the reign of Richard I., or that of John, it again
changed owners, passing by the marriage of the coheiresses of the
Avenells into the families of Vernon and Bassett. “The heiress of
Vernon, in the reign of Henry III., married Gilbert le Francis, whose
son Richard took the name of Vernon, and died, in 1296, at the age of
twenty-nine. This Richard was common ancestor to the Vernons of Haddon,
Stokesay, Hodnet, Sudbury, &c.” Haddon continued a joint possession of
these two families until in or before the reign of Henry VI., when the
whole became vested in the Vernons, who had purchased Bassett’s moiety.
Haddon was in the possession of the Vernons more than three centuries
and a half, and several of its lords held situations of great interest
and responsibility. Sir Richard Vernon is mentioned as Speaker of the
Parliament held at Leicester in 1425; and his son, also named Richard,
was the last person who held for life the important office of Constable
of England. The grandson of the latter, Sir Henry Vernon, had charge of
the education of Prince Arthur, son of Henry VIII., and is said to have
had his royal pupil residing with him for some time at Haddon. Sir
George Vernon, the last of this branch of the family, was distinguished
for his magnificent style of living, the number of his retinue, and
unbounded hospitality, which procured for him the appellation of “King
of the Peak.” His possessions amounted to thirty manors, all of which on
his death, in 1565, descended to his two daughters, Margaret and
Dorothy. On a division of the property, the Derbyshire estates were
assigned to Dorothy, the younger of the coheiresses, who married Sir
John Manners, second son of Thomas first earl of Rutland, ancestor of
the present noble owner, his Grace the Duke of Rutland.
Haddon was a favourite place of residence of the Earls of Rutland, and
also of the first Duke, who was raised to that dignity by Queen Anne, in
1703, and who, during the life of his father, was summoned to Parliament
by writ, as Baron Manners of Haddon.[13]
The first Duke resided here in great state, maintaining seven score
servants, and keeping Christmas with open house, as his father had done
before him, “in the true style of old English hospitality.”[14] In the
reign of Queen Anne, the family finally quitted Haddon as a place of
residence, and in 1760 the old hall was despoiled of nearly all its
moveable furniture, which was taken to Belvoir Castle, where it still
remains. Since that period Haddon has been carefully preserved, and,
except on one or two occasions, when the festivities of the place were
for a moment revived, a solemn stillness has reigned throughout its
precincts, broken only by the tread of the occasional visitor.
The Hall occupies a situation of extreme beauty, being placed on a bold
shelving
[Illustration]
mass of limestone, at the base of which runs the river Wye. It is
surrounded by well-grown woods, and offers an almost infinite variety of
rich subjects for the artist. It has much of the appearance of an old
fortress, but is in reality little fitted for defence; the greater part
of the present building having been erected by the Vernons and Manners
in times when moral force and law had happily taken the place of the
tenure by which property was maintained in earlier ages. The buildings
cover a considerable space of ground, and are arranged in the form of a
double square, enclosing two quadrangular courts. The entrance-tower, at
the north-west corner, is one of the more ancient parts of the
structure. The entrance is by a large arched gateway, leading to a
flight of old dilapidated steps, on ascending which the visitor finds
himself in the first great court.
The interior of the building has been so well and so minutely described
by Mr. King, in the “Archæologia,” that we will transfer some of his
remarks to our pages. Beginning, then, with this tower, he says:--
“The approach is by a steep hill, which a horse can scarcely climb, and
which continues quite to the great arched gateway that forms the
entrance: this is directly under a high tower, and seems originally to
have had double gates. From hence you pass into a large square court,
entirely surrounded by the apartments, and paved with flat stones. But
you ascend it, at the corner, by a flight of angular steps, just within
the gate, in such a manner that it is impossible to have admittance
otherwise than on foot, and no horse or carriage could ever approach the
door of the house. After crossing this court, you come to a second
flight of steps, which lead up directly to the great porch, under a
small tower, on passing through which you find yourself behind the
screen of the Great Hall,--a room that was originally considered as the
public dining-room for the lord and his guests, and, indeed, after
them, for the whole family; for, in tracing the ancient apartments,
there appears manifestly to have been none besides of sufficient
magnitude for either the one purpose or the other.” From this hall a
flight of steps leads to the upper chambers.
[Illustration]
Over the doorway of the porch of the Great Hall are the arms of the
Vernons and of Fulco de Pembridge, Lord of Tonge, in Shropshire; the
latter Sir Richard Vernon was entitled to in right of his wife, who was
the daughter and sole heiress of Sir Fulk de Pembridge. From this
circumstance, it has been conjectured that he built this part of the
house.
The provision made in the adjoining offices for the convenience and
attendance of the several servants of the household is very curious. On
the left hand of the great door of entrance, directly behind the hall
screen, are four large doorways, with high pointed arches, extending, in
a row, the whole length of the hall, and facing the upper end. The first
of these still retains its ancient door of strong oak, with a little
wicket in the middle, just big enough to put a trencher in or out, and
was clearly the butler’s station; for the room within still retains a
vast old chest of oak, with divisions for bread, a large old cupboard
for cheese, and a number of shelves for butter. “Besides, out of this
apartment (which is itself spacious, and separate from the rest of the
house) is a passage, down steps, to a large vaulted room, arched with
stone, and supported by pillars, like the crypt of a church, which,
though very light and airy, was cool, and manifestly designed for the
beer-cellar, there being still remains of a raised low benching of
stonework all round, sufficient to hold a prodigious number of casks,
and a neat stone drain all along before it, underneath, to carry away
any droppings. Through this great arched room is also another passage to
what was obviously the brewhouse and bakehouse, where are remains of
places for vast coppers, coolers, and ovens. Near adjoining are
store-rooms for corn and malt, and a communication from thence with the
outside of the building for bringing in of stores. But in other respects
this whole suite of offices was quite unconnected with the other
offices, and had no kind of communication either with them or with the
rest of the mansion, except by the door of entrance near the hall, in
which is the little wicket.”
The second pointed arch--next to the buttery, and facing the hall in
like manner--is the entrance of a long, narrow passage, leading, with a
continued descent, to the great kitchen, and having in the midway an
half door, or hatch, with a broad shelf on the top of it, whereupon to
place dishes; to which, and no further, the servants in waiting were to
have access. “The next, being the third of the great pointed arches,
behind the screen, at the bottom of the hall, opens merely into one very
small vaulted room, unconnected with any other: that was clearly the
wine-cellar; which (according to the frugality and ideas of early times,
when wine was considered merely as a cordial and dram) needed to be but
small.” The fourth great arch is at the bottom of a great steep
staircase, quite distinct from the grand staircase of the house, and
leading up to a prodigious variety of small apartments, which seem to
have been designed for the reception of guests and numerous retainers,
there being others, of a still inferior sort, in other parts of the
house, for servants; especially in the range of building opposite to the
great door of the hall.
Such was the use of these four great arches behind the hall screen, and
we may with great propriety conceive, that they were the stations of the
butler, the clerk of the kitchen, the cellarer, and the chamberlain, or
steward of the household, of this great family. “The provision for the
officers and attendants being so great, we shall yet find here, as in
all very ancient mansions, that the apartments of the lord of the castle
(or what we should now call the state apartments) were very few in
number, and little adequate to the rest, according to our modern and
more refined ideas.”
The great hall of entrance, just described, was the only large apartment
for dining. At the upper end remains the raised floor, where the table
for the lord and his principal guests was placed; and along one side of
the hall, and also over the screen at the lower end, is a gallery,
supported by pillars; from whence (when the lord and his company had
retired to the apartments above, and the inferior members of the family
had supplied their places) the country guests and their hospitable hosts
occasionally beheld the revels.
The Great Hall still contains the old oaken table, at which the lord
feasted his more
[Illustration]
favoured guests. The Minstrel’s Gallery is carved and panelled, and
ornamented in the true old fashion, with the antlers of stags--memorials
of the chase. There is no ceiling; the roof and rafters are exposed to
view; the fireplaces are large; and the walls are wainscoted all round,
to a certain height. From this great hall, at the upper end, in the
corner on the left hand, are two passages; one opening upon the terraces
in the garden, inviting the guests to refresh themselves; and the other
leading to the grand staircase, and the principal apartments above.
“This staircase is formed of large blocks of stone; which can hardly be
said to be
[Illustration]
either jointed or joined, and from the top of it, on the right, you
enter what we should now call a drawing-room, hung with arras, and
having a large bow-window as the only light to it, at one corner, and a
little door at the other, behind the arras, leading into the gallery
just mentioned, which goes round two sides of the hall. This room,
however, (whatever name we might now give it) was called the
_Dining-room_, and probably had that appellation because the lord of the
mansion did, even originally, on some particular occasions, _here_
entertain a few of his visitors of high dignity and rank; and because
afterwards, in latter ages, it became more commonly appropriated to that
purpose, when greater distinction was ordinarily made between the
guests.”
This room is low; the ceiling is divided by five beams, which were once
gilt and otherwise decorated. It has a rich cornice, and the walls are
covered with oak wainscoting. It contains a fine oriel window, decorated
with arms, emblems of the chase, and royal portraits, said to be those
of Henry VII. and his queen, whose son, Prince Arthur, as we have seen,
was partly educated here. In this room is a portrait of the king’s
jester, “Will Somers.” Under a carving of the royal arms is the
following pithy exhortation, in old English, Drede God and honor the
King; a right good old-fashioned mode of exhibiting moral precepts, a
custom more honored in the observance than the breach.
“On the left of the passage, at the head of the great stairs, you ascend
again by five or six enormous semicircular steps (framed of solid masses
of timber, as ill joined as the stone steps), to a fine long gallery,
110 feet in length, and 17 in width, which is now all wainscoted, in a
curious manner, with fine oak, the frieze being adorned with _boars’
heads_, _thistles_, and _roses_. This wainscoting, though modern in
comparison with the antiquity of the house, is yet become in these days
very ancient, and conveys an excellent idea of the magnificence of the
intermediate ages. There is a great square recess in the midst of the
gallery, of fifteen feet by twelve, besides several great bow-windows;
and the whole puts one very much in mind of the galleries in the old
palaces in France, so often mentioned by Sully and the French
historians.”
This magnificent Gallery, or ball-room, is said to have been erected in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It occupies the whole south side of the
inner court. Its narrowness seriously impairs what is otherwise a very
beautiful design: its height is fifteen feet. The floor is of oak,
respecting which tradition gives a curious story; to the effect
[Illustration:
From a drawing by T. Allom. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ to The Queen.]
that the boards were all furnished from _one_ tree that grew in the
garden, and that its roots were cut into the circular steps by which
entrance to the gallery is gained. The windows contain the armorial
devices of the successive owners, and those of Prince Arthur. The
ceiling is extremely beautiful, graceful, and elegant, in a high degree,
[Illustration]
and is a fair specimen of an age that, more than any other, produced
wonderful designs of this description. The architecture of Elizabeth and
James had nothing to shew more beautiful than its ceilings. From this
gallery a short passage leads to a room named by Mr. King “My lord’s
parlour,” but on insufficient authority. From this apartment there is a
passage, through ill-framed doors, to a flight of stairs, leading down
to the principal terrace of the garden.
The “garden at Haddon” has been time out of mind a treasure-store of the
English landscape-painter; one of the most favourite “bits” being
“Dorothy Vernon’s walk,” with the door out of which tradition describes
her as escaping to meet her lover, Sir John Manners, with whom she
eloped.[15]
“All these rooms, except the gallery, were hung with loose arras, a
great part of which still remains; and the doors were concealed
everywhere behind the hangings, so that the tapestry was to be lifted up
to pass in or out; only for convenience there were great iron hooks
(many of which are still in their places), by means whereof it might
occasionally be held back. Few of these doors fit close, and wooden
bolts, rude bars, and iron hasps, are in general their best and only
fastenings. Besides the gallery, the dining-room, and these three
apartments, there were only two others, and those but small ones, which
could be said to belong at all to the principal suite. One of these
apartments, however, is very remarkable; having an odd cornice, with a
deep quadruple frieze, three or four feet in depth, if not more, formed
of plaster, and adorned with a running foliage of leaves and flowers, in
four compartments, like bands, or fillets, one above another. The room
is hung with arras, as the others are; but from a quaint sort of
neatness appearing in the whole of it more than in them (we quote again
from Mr. King), “I am much inclined to call it _my lady’s chamber_.
There is, behind the tapestry, the door I mentioned, leading to a steep
flight of narrow steps, which descend into the great court, not far from
the arch belonging to the chapel, and which gave her an opportunity of
going thither rather a nearer way than the rest of the family, and
without crossing so much of the great court. All the rest of this great
pile of building (containing another large square court besides that we
have been speaking of) is filled with small trifling apartments, not one
of which deserves description, but which formed a labyrinth almost as
inextricable as that of Crete, and which could be of no use but to lodge
a vast host of dependents, retainers, and servants.”
The Chapel is placed at the south-west corner of the Hall. It is of
great antiquity, and
[Illustration]
contains many objects of interest, although it is of comparatively small
size. It has a body and two aisles: the pulpit and reading-desk are on
the left side. The pews of the family are high, of rich old oak, which
was originally gilt. There is, also, a rich Gothic window, which
formerly contained much painted glass, of old date, part of which was
stolen some years ago. The roof was reconstructed in 1624 by Sir George
Manners. Part of the chapel is exhibited in the appended engraving.
One remark only we have space to add. The evil hands that have fallen
upon so many of our national edifices have spared Haddon; the ruthless
improvements of “classic Goths” have been forbidden here. This we owe to
the noble house of Rutland: who claim, therefore, a debt of gratitude
alike from those who love nature and those who venerate antiquity.
[Illustration:
W. Walton, Del et lith. M & N Hanhart Lithogʳˢ.
HARDWICK HALL, DERBYSHIRE.]
HARDWICKE HALL,
DERBYSHIRE.
[Illustration: H]ARDWICKE HALL is situated about six miles from
Chesterfield, and the same distance from Mansfield, in the picturesque
and beautiful shire of Derby. The name does not occur in Domesday Book:
Hardwicke, at the Conquest, formed part of the manor of Steinesby, which
was granted to Roger of Poictou; by King John it was transferred to
Andrew De Beauchamp; in 1258 it passed to William De Steynesby, whose
grandson, John, died possessed of it in 1330. Soon afterwards, the
family De Hardwicke were here established, and remained in possession
for six generations: their pedigree closes with Elizabeth Hardwicke, the
wife of Sir William Cavendish; and Hardwicke, with its princely domains,
has continued in the possession of her lineal descendants, through the
noble family of Cavendish, to their representative, the owner of the
Mansion and Estate, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire and Baron Cavendish
of Hardwicke.
Previous to the erection of the present Hall, a still more magnificent
structure existed here; but, from vestiges of the ruins which yet
remain, its date is not placed at a very remote period from that of the
building we describe, which was erected between the years 1590 and 1597,
by the lady of Sir William Cavendish, then the relict of the Earl of
Shrewsbury.[16] The character of the founder is thus recorded by
Lodge:--“She was a woman of a masculine understanding and conduct;
proud, furious, selfish, and unfeeling; who lived to a great old age,
and died immensely rich, without a friend;” Fuller writes of her as “a
woman of undaunted spirit;” while her monument, in All Saints’ Church,
Derby, describes her as “beautiful and discreet.” She was the wife of
four husbands--but had issue by only one, the founder of the famous
family of Cavendish.
Hardwicke has, for a very long period, derived romantic interest from
the popular belief that it was one of the prisons of the lovely and
persecuted Queen of Scots. It is, however, certain, that although for a
time in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, she never was immured at
Hardwicke, her prison having been one of the Earl’s “strong castles at
Sheffield;” where she passed twelve weary years in “melyncholy and
grefe,” in “sickness and despair”--the victim of unceasing suspicion,
“in the hopeless monotony of sedentary employment, with an impaired
constitution and a restless mind”--treated with so much severity by the
Countess as to extort from the more humane Earl, in one of his petitions
to the Queen, a complaint against his “wyked and malysious wyfe.”[17]
The House, which has undergone no material change since the time of its
erection, according to Lysons, “exhibits a most complete specimen of the
domestic architecture which prevailed among the higher ranks during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth;” and it remains in its original state, “with
little or no alteration.” The Poet Gray, adopting the popular error,
pictures it as so primitive in character that “one might think the
Scottish Mary was but just walked down into the Park;” and Mrs.
Radcliffe, who described the mansion at some length in her “Tour to the
Lakes,” (1795,) notes the “proud, yet gentle and melancholy look of the
Queen as she slowly passed up the Hall,” and contrasts it with the
“somewhat obsequious, yet jealous and vigilant air” of my Lord Keeper
Shrewsbury.
The name of the Architect who designed and superintended Hardwicke is
unknown; “Gerard Christmas, John Thorpe, and the Smithsons, father and
son, who built Wollaton Hall, in the vicinity, present a probable claim
to this monument of their professional talents.” It is built of stone,
and round the top is a parapet of open work, in which frequently appear
the initials of the founder--E. S.--“memorials of the proud Dame’s
vanity.” The principal front comprehends two hundred and eight feet in
extent.
The structure crowns the summit of a small hill, that commands an
extensive view of the adjacent country, and overlooks a valley of vast
extent, which combines every component of the best English scenery. The
eminence rises somewhat abruptly but very gracefully, and terminates in
a terrace, from whence the prospect is inconceivably grand and
beautiful. Looking over the tops of magnificently grown oaks and yews,
and other forest trees, with which the slopes, immediately beneath, are
thickly studded, the eye ranges over a wide-spreading landscape, to
which Nature has been abundantly bountiful; and the whole is bounded by
the far-famed Peak.
The mansion is of great extent--massive and firm in construction; solemn
and stately grandeur is the great characteristic of the time-honoured
pile; its general form is square; at each corner is a high tower, square
also. The exterior retains all the peculiar features of the age of its
erection. The Entrance Hall is large, and fitted up with oak
wainscotting and rich old tapestry--said to have been woven from the
designs of Rubens. It contains a statue, by Westmacott, of the unhappy
Queen whose melancholy history is so intimately associated with that of
the founder of Hardwicke. The Minstrel Gallery is still there, recalling
the days of its ancient hospitality and festivity. The litho-tint print,
from a drawing by Mr. Lake Price, exhibits one of the finest of the
apartments--the State-room, or Presence-chamber; the walls are partly of
wainscot and partly hung with tapestry--an adornment with which the
rooms at Hardwicke are profusely enriched. The cabinets, chairs, and
other articles of furniture, are in admirable keeping; and among them is
a large table of the time of Elizabeth, curiously inlaid with an odd
mixture of heraldic badges, musical instruments, and games. The
State-bed shown in the centre of the picture was brought hither from
Chatsworth; it is never used, but is kept “for show.” The Picture
Gallery extends in length 169 feet; and is filled with family portraits.
Scattered about this Gallery are
[Illustration]
curious specimens of ancient furniture. Among them is an interesting
couch, which is said to have belonged to the old House. It is of plain
but elegant design: the cushions being elaborately wrought in silk and
gold on velvet, that may almost be said to be falling to pieces with
age.
The passages and two principal staircases are broad, massive, and
commodious; here, as in all other parts of the mansion, every available
space is covered with tapestry, pictures, rich carved work, or subjects
in relief. The house may, indeed, be likened to a richly illuminated
black-letter history; every wall tells a story, and every piece of
furniture suggests one,--all being of a quaint but impressive character,
and in happy unison with each other and with the genius of the place. On
the whole, perhaps this famous house is, in all parts and points, as
deeply interesting a relic of the olden time as can be found in England.
It is a treasury of antiquities, where, in a brief hour or two, a rich
store of knowledge may be gained of the size, general character,
furniture, and appointments of an English mansion of the seventeenth
century.
The old Hall, as we have observed, stands very close to that which, for
the purpose
[Illustration]
of distinction, is styled “the new;” although much of it remains in a
tolerably safe condition, it is somewhat perilous to explore the
interior. A correct idea may be formed of its present state from the
annexed engraving. Some of its windows still contain the old rough glass
of diamond shapes set in lead; but, for the most part, they offer free
ingress and egress to the winds, and succour to the ivy that twists
luxuriantly about the mouldering mullions and broken walls, reaching
above the ruins of even the highest summits. The only specimens of its
interior decorations now existing, are
[Illustration]
subjects in relief over the fire-places, and the most remarkable of
these is in a large room on the upper floor. We engrave one of them,
taken from a lower room.
The gratitude of all who venerate Antiquity, and enjoy the refreshment
derived from ancient Art, is due to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire,
who freely permits the visits of those who desire to examine the two
structures--the old and the new. Unceasing care and vigilance are
exercised to keep them in order, and prevent as far as possible the
inroads of Time. This object is not achieved without great expense;
expense incurred entirely to give pleasure to others--the thousands by
whom the seat of his ancestors is examined every summer. We deeply
lament to add, that utterly unworthy persons occasionally obtain access
to the apartments--that fellows who richly merit a flogging at the
cart’s tail, have defaced many of the decorations by scrawling upon
them, not only their own degraded names, but words even more deserving
the epithet “infamous.”
[Illustration:
F.W. Hulme, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
FORD HOUSE, DEVONSHIRE.]
FORDE HOUSE,
DEVONSHIRE.
[Illustration: F]ORDE HOUSE, surrounded by lofty hills, rests in the
centre of a lawn of considerable extent, having at its eastern extremity
a beautiful sheet of water, distant about a mile from the town of Newton
Abbott, at the foot of Milbourne Down. Although this ancient and
celebrated mansion is not externally profuse in architectural
decoration, it affords an accurate idea of the residences of the gentry
in the reign of James I. Its elevation exhibits great simplicity, with a
tendency to decoration, shewing an immense improvement in the style of
building, compared with the heavy and incongruous houses of the previous
era; its principal front having a centre with two wings, the central
[Illustration]
projection being ornamented with a cupola or belltower; whilst numerous
large windows, having their compartments divided by stone mullions, give
to it a character which time has not altered.
It was erected in the year 1610 by Sir Richard Reynell, Knt., second son
of Richard Reynell, Esq., of East Ogwell. Risdon, in his “Survey of
Devon,” gives the following account of Forde:--“Within the parish of
Wolborough is Forde, fairly seated, which, at the surrender of such
structures, was purchased by Taverick, whose heirs were wedded to Drew,
Marshall, and Hayman; they alienated their estate to Sir Richard
Reynell, Knt., a flourishing branch of the house of Ogwell, who has
beautified the old buildings with new edifices; and having issue one
only daughter, Jane, wedded her according to her worth, to Sir William
Waller, Knt., descended from an ancient family in Kent.” The daughter
and heiress of Sir W. Waller, Margaret, married Sir W. Courtenay, a
direct ancestor of the present Earl of Devon, a nobleman universally
beloved; since which period it has continued in the Courtenay family.
Respecting the interior of the house, although much has been done to
render it adapted to modern habits, still much remains of its former
state to give a correct idea of byegone days; its magnificent ceilings,
its oaken staircase, its panelled hall, and massive doors, tend to
recall those times when grandeur and security were more considered than
the finished decorations of the present day. The Hall is entered by a
low stone porch, which forms the central projection of the house; it is
thirty feet long and twenty feet wide. It is lighted by two large
mullion-latticed windows, having inserted in stained glass the arms of
Reynell, Waller, and Courtenay. It is wainscoted throughout, and the
fireplace stands in relief, having for its base two doric columns, which
support a superstructure of smaller
[Illustration]
columns, with elaborate decoration. The ceiling is formed into a variety
of geometrical figures, and ornamented with numerous allegorical
subjects, whilst a deep frieze, consisting of winged horses in plaster,
meet the wainscoted sides of the Hall.
A finely carved oaken staircase, of considerable width, the balustrades
of which are massive and highly decorated, leads to the Great
Drawing-room, and to King Charles’ Bed-chamber. Its disused bed and
antique chairs add to the interest of the place, and remind the visitor
of its former illustrious occupant. It may be justly said of Forde, that
it has lost little of its pristine interest by the modern alterations it
has undergone.
For many years past Forde has had various occupiers. At present it is
let on lease to Henry Cartwright, Esq., a gentleman much respected. In
1844, Mr. Cartwright served the office of high-sheriff, and since then
has continued an active Justice of the Peace.
The family of Cartwright is among the most ancient of the British
Commoners; as we find that Sir Hugh Cartwright, temp. Edward, led the
van at the battle of Poictiers; and in the reign of Henry VII., 1485, by
the marriage of Hugh Cartwright with Matilda Cove, four great branches
sprung; one of whom, William, Captain in the Navy (temp. Charles I.),
obeying the authority of his Royal Master against that of the
Parliament, was by the latter deprived of his honours, and, dying in
poverty, left an only son, William, the great-great-grandfather of the
present occupier of Forde, who settled in Devonshire soon after the
Reformation. By maternal descent, Mr. Cartwright is joint representative
of the ancient and ennobled family of Anson. His grandfather, W. Anson,
was first cousin of the Hon. Lord Anson, and last male branch of the
Anson family. Mr. Cartwright married Miss Minet, daughter of J. Minet,
of Baldwyn’s Park, Kent, Esq., and grand-daughter of Sir Charles Pole,
Bart., of Wolverton, by whom he has issue Anson, Reginald, and others.
[Illustration:
F.W. Hulme, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
SHERBORNE LODGE, DORSET.]
SHERBORNE LODGE,
DORSETSHIRE.
[Illustration: S]HERBORNE LODGE, now the seat of Earl Digby, stands upon
a rising ground, at a little distance from the ancient castle. It is
surrounded by a large park, which, according to Leland, was in his time
“inclosed with a stone waulle.” The Lodge is built on a singular plan,
in the form of the letter H, with hexagonal towers at the four corners,
and two others on each side of the centre of the principal front. The
general appearance of the building is peculiar rather than picturesque;
but, notwithstanding, it offers much that is interesting and worthy of
admiration. The centre part is said to have been built by Sir Walter
Raleigh, who, “by his merit and the royal favour,” obtained a grant of
the Manor and Castle of Sherbourne, and many other lands belonging to
the See of Sarum. He is said to have spent much time here, beginning
“very fairly to repair the castle” (the ruins of which still remain);
but, altering his purpose, “he built in the park adjoining to it, from
the ground, a most fine house, which he beautified with orchards,
gardens, and groves of much variety and delight,” so that for the
“pleasantness of the seat and the delicacies belonging to it, it is
unparalleled by any in these parts.” Notwithstanding these laudations of
what Sir Walter had done, he appears to have left much of his plan
incomplete.[18] Two wings were added soon after the Restoration, by the
Earl of Bristol, who appears to have drawn freely on the ruins of the
castle for the required materials.
The house contains many interesting and valuable pictures, chiefly
portraits of remarkable historical personages. Among them is a good
specimen of Cornelius Jansen; a portrait of Elizabeth, Countess of
Southampton; also a portrait of Henry, first Earl Digby, by Sir Joshua
Reynolds. But the most remarkable is a picture of the famous procession
of Queen Elizabeth to visit Lord Hunsdon, at Hunsdon House, in
Hertfordshire; she is carried in an open sedan by eight of her principal
noblemen. Vertue ascribes this picture to Gerard, her majesty’s
painter.
Sir Walter is said to have used unfair means to gain possession of this
property, “being
[Illustration]
charged with having persuaded Bishop Coldwell to pass it to the Crown,
on his election to the See of Salisbury, after which Sir Walter obtained
a grant of it;” which, however, in the end proved a snare to himself,
for it excited envious and malignant feelings in his fellow-courtiers,
whose machinations were not without influence in promoting his
subsequent disgrace and death. In a letter to his wife, written after
his condemnation, he desires her to procure his dead body, and lay it
either at Sherborne or in Exeter church, by his father and mother. It
does not appear that he was buried at either place.
The grounds around the Lodge and Castle ruins were laid out and
“improved” by Brown, of whose skill in landscape gardening they present
a fair example; of which one of the most noticeable features is a large
artificial lake, formed by confining within the grounds what was
formerly an inconsiderable stream, but which is now considered one of
the most beautiful and extensive pieces of water in the west of England.
Sherborne contains several interesting remains, of which we have given
two,--the Abbey
[Illustration]
House (introduced above) and an old mansion in St. Swithin’s Street; the
latter conspicuous for a beautiful oriel window. The whole neighbourhood
is, indeed, rich in antiquities, of a rare and curious order; not the
less valuable because of their association with the romantic history of
one of the most remarkable men of a remarkable age; in particular we may
make reference to an ancient dwelling, now a country inn, which supplies
abundant evidence of former state and splendour; although now applied to
“base uses” of which its founders must have had little apprehension.
[Illustration:
J.D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithog{rs}.
AUDLEY END, ESSEX.]
AUDLEY END,
ESSEX.
[Illustration: A]UDLEY END, the most celebrated of the mansions in
Essex, takes its name from Sir Thomas Audley, Chancellor to King Henry
VIII., to whom the Abbey of Walden and most of the lands at the west end
of the parish had been granted at the Dissolution by Henry VIII.; and
who is believed to have fixed his residence there, although, as Lord
Braybrooke remarks in his history of this house, “the fact cannot now be
established. Horace Walpole, notwithstanding, and, after him, Mr. Gough,
assumed that Audley Inn was the original designation; but for this
assertion no authority whatever is adduced: not to mention that many of
the neighbouring hamlets are still distinguished by the names of North
End, Sewer’s End, Sparrow’s End, &c.; and that similar instances
frequently occur in different parts of the County of Essex.”
The manor of Walden having been originally granted to the celebrated
follower of William the Conqueror, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of
Essex, after many mutations, again reverted to the crown, and so
remained till May 1538; when it was granted by Henry VIII., with the
recently dissolved Abbey of Walden, and the greatest part of the
advowsons and estates belonging to that foundation, to Sir Thomas
Audley, from whom are descended the Earls of Suffolk, Berkshire, and
Carlisle, the Earls and present Marquis of Bristol, and the Lords Howard
de Walden; besides the Earls of Binden and Lords Howard of Escrick,
whose titles are extinct.
Sir Thomas Audley, a clever and crafty man, was the principal instrument
in the hands of the king in effecting the dissolution of the religious
houses; by which he also greatly enriched himself, for the rapacity of
Henry never exceeded that of Sir Thomas, who was all his life employed
in asking for grants and emoluments, under the plea of ill-paid services
or absolute poverty--an excuse as disgusting as it was untrue; and
nothing can exceed the fawning perseverance of his begging-letters, as
printed by Lord Braybrooke in his “History of Audley End,” or the
meanness of soul that runs throughout them, and which his lordship, with
right feeling, does not do otherwise than unequivocally condemn. The
first step in the king’s favour made by Sir Thomas (after he was, at the
recommendation of the Duke of Suffolk, to whom he was steward or
chancellor, introduced to Henry) was occasioned by his conduct as
Speaker of the Long, or Black Parliament, to which office the king had
caused him to be elected, which first sat in November 1529, and
continuing, by prorogation, six years, effected the dissolution of all
the religious houses whose revenues did not annually exceed 200_l._
“To enable us justly to appreciate the importance of this measure,
it must not be forgotten that by this one act three hundred and
seventy-six monasteries were simultaneously suppressed, and their
revenues, of the yearly value of 32,000_l._, placed at the king’s
disposal, together with their personal property, amounting to
100,000_l._; and so absolute was the monarch’s authority, and so
abject the servility of his Parliament, under the guidance of their
Speaker, that no opposition was offered to the bill during its
progress through the House of Commons. We may easily imagine that
Henry was not a little pleased with these proceedings; and Audley’s
services became so necessary to him that he was, in the ensuing
year, constituted Attorney-General for the duchy of Lancaster, and,
in November following, made King’s Sergeant; and so rapid was his
promotion, that, on the 20th of May, 1532, we find him, upon the
resignation of Sir Thomas More, knighted, and appointed Keeper of
the Great Seal; and, in January 26, 1532-3, Lord Chancellor. In the
exercise of his new functions Audley proved as subservient to the
wishes of his royal master as he had shewn himself upon all former
occasions; and having, while Speaker, gratified the king, as well
as the people, by passing six bills to restrain the power of the
clergy, and greatly forwarded the measure of dissolving the lesser
religious establishments, he now undertook the arduous task of
obtaining the surrender of the more wealthy foundations; and in
this enterprise his endeavours were shortly crowned with complete
success; and, before the expiration of two years, the king found
himself in possession of all the remaining monastic establishments,
producing, with those already dissolved, an annual income,
according to Hume, of 142,914_l._”[19]
Henry thus acquired ample funds for the remuneration of those ministers
and favourites who had been the instruments of his tyranny, and who had
ensured the consummation of his grand designs; amongst these Audley, as
the principal actor, was not forgotten, and he revelled in the church
spoliation he had ensured his master. The rich priory of Christ Church,
Aldgate, with all the church plate and lands belonging to that house,
was first granted him; and afterwards many portions of the estates
previously belonging to the lesser religious houses of Essex, with
licenses to alienate them, of which he duly availed himself. Thus St.
Botolph’s priory at Colchester, with all its revenues, the priory of the
Crouched Friars in the same town, and Tiltey Abbey, near Thaxted, were
added to the list of his monastic spoils, after the gifts from the king
in 1538, on Sir Thomas’s application, of the rich abbey of Walden, with
all the estates, manors, and advowsons thereunto attached. He was also
created Lord Audley of Walden, and installed a Knight of the Garter.
“Yet,” says Lord Braybrooke, “instead of Audley’s being contented with
these repeated marks of the royal favour, we are compelled to admit that
every grant which he obtained encouraged him to importune the king for
further recompense; and his letters, preserved in the Cottonian library,
prove that, in making these applications, he was mean enough to plead
poverty as an excuse, and even to assert that his character had suffered
in consequence of the public services which he had been obliged to
perform.” With a watchfulness for every advantage which might accrue to
him, and a continued solicitation for gifts, he continued to enjoy the
king’s confidence till his death, in 1544. He is buried in the church of
Saffron Walden, where a plain altar-tomb of black marble perpetuates his
memory.
Sir Thomas Audley left two daughters, and the youngest, dying in 1546,
left the eldest (Margaret) sole heiress. She married Lord Henry Dudley
at the early age of fourteen; he was arraigned for high treason in 1533,
and, pleading guilty, was ordered for death; but Mary pardoned him, and
restored his property. He was killed at the battle of St. Quintin’s, in
Picardy, in 1557, and his widow, in the same year, married Thomas, the
fourth Duke of Norfolk, dying herself at the early age of twenty-three.
The Howards thus became possessed of Audley End; but the duke’s
ill-judged project of forming a matrimonial alliance with Mary Queen of
Scots, under the impression that, if they both survived Elizabeth, he
should eventually become king-consort of England, was a scheme which
cost him his life; he was beheaded for high-treason on Tower Hill, June
2, 1572--a sentence which he bore with exemplary fortitude.
His son, Lord Thomas Howard, was the builder of Audley End. He was
restored in blood by act of Parliament in 1583, and, when very young,
embraced the military service, but abandoned it for success at court,
where he sought every opportunity of ingratiating himself with the
queen, and succeeded, in a great measure, in obtaining her countenance.
During the next reign, almost the whole of his life was passed at court;
and although the high and lucrative offices which he held afforded him
more ample means of displaying his magnificence than those enjoyed by
his ancestors, he contrived to eclipse them all in extravagance; and we
are assured that in the building of Audley End alone he expended a no
less sum than 190,000_l._ He was much honoured by King James I., and was
advanced by him to the Earldom of Suffolk, and made Lord Chamberlain,
and afterwards Lord High Treasurer of England. Lady Suffolk was,
unfortunately, a woman of a covetous mind, and having too great an
ascendancy over her husband, used it in making him a party to her
extortions on persons who had business to transact at the Treasury, or
places to obtain at court; and her husband was charged with
embezzlement, deprived of his office, and fined 30,000_l._, but which
was reduced by the king to 7000_l._ He was generally considered to have
been chiefly guilty only in concealing the mal-practices of his wife,
who eventually died in debt and difficulty.
From this period the history of the possessors of Audley End is a mere
confused piece of family biography, of little interest to the general
reader: they seem never to have recovered the charges entailed upon them
by the building of Audley End, and constant curtailments of the house
and park were made by each succeeding owner up to the partition of the
estates in 1747. The cost of the original building appears to have
involved Lord Suffolk greatly, for we learn from one of his letters,
printed in the “Cabala,” that, at the period of his committal to the
Tower, he was in debt nearly 40,000_l._, though he had then recently
sold the Charter House to Mr. Sutton for 13,000_l._, and disposed of his
property at Aynhoe in Northamptonshire; and he died possessed of
Lulworth and Framlingham Castle, and Charlton in Wiltshire, with the
estates belonging to them, as well as Suffolk House in the Strand,
besides the large Essex property derived through his mother, Margaret
Audley. At all events the cost of the building must have been very
serious, nor did the charge of maintaining it prove less formidable; so
much so, in fact, that none of the possessors of Audley End, after the
death of the first Earl of Suffolk, were enabled to keep an
establishment suitable to the size and magnificence of the house. Earl
Theophilus and his son James, the third earl, seem, indeed, to have
resided there; but the latter, of whom it is not recorded that he took
any active part during the Commonwealth, lived in retirement, and, after
the Restoration, gladly availed himself of the opportunity of alienating
the house and park to Charles II., and thus dispose of a possession
which, from his being unable to enjoy it, could only be considered as a
source of mortification.
At this period the house was of regal magnificence, and consisted,
besides the offices, of various ranges of building, surrounding two
spacious quadrangular courts; that to the westward was the largest, and
was approached over a bridge across the lake, through a double avenue of
limes, terminating with a double-entrance gateway, flanked by four
circular towers. The apartments on the north and south sides of the
principal court were erected over an open cloister, and supported by
pillars of alabaster; while, on the eastern side, a flight of steps led
to the entrance-porches, placed on a terrace running parallel to the
great hall, which formed the centre of the building, and which is now
the principal front of the mansion, despoiled as it at present is of its
grand entrance-court. Beyond the hall was the inner court, surrounded by
an arcade, over which were the principal apartments, the three sides of
which only remain, while the chapel beyond has been entirely demolished.
It will thus be seen that the present house is but a wreck of the
original building.[20]
Of the original architect, Lord Braybrooke thus writes: “According to
Horace Walpole, Bernard Jansen was the architect employed; but after
hazarding this assertion he contrives to establish a stronger claim in
behalf of John Thorpe, who built many of the houses of the nobility
about that period, and whose partiality for what Walpole terms barbarous
[Illustration]
ornaments and balustrades he especially notices; adding, that some of
his vast bow-windows advanced outwards in a sharp angle, and thus
actually describing a portion of the principal court at Audley End long
since demolished,” but represented in our woodcut from Winstanley’s view
of the original house, where one occurs at each side of the principal
entrance.
Thorpe’s claim to the erection of Audley End has been further confirmed
by the discovery of the ground-plan of the house, corresponding to that
engraved by Winstanley, existing among the curious volume of original
plans and drawings made by John Thorpe himself, formerly preserved at
Warwick Castle, and afterwards in the possession of Sir John Soane. Upon
this plan a variety of pencilled alterations might be traced. “And there
appeared,” says Lord Braybrooke, “so strong a family likeness (if such
an expression may be used) in the different elevations throughout the
volume, that no doubt could be reasonably entertained as to their all
being the work of the same individual. The house has always been
supposed to have been commenced in 1603, and to have occupied thirteen
years before it was entirely finished; and the date of 1616 still
remains upon one of the gateways.”
In 1666 the house was sold to Charles II. (who liked it as well for its
regal magnificence as for its convenience to Newmarket) for the sum of
50,000_l._ a portion being paid, and 20,000_l._ being left on mortgage.
In 1670 the court was regularly established there, and the queen very
frequently resided in the house. “Lord Suffolk and his successor, the
fourth earl, seem to have resided at Chesterfield Park after the sale of
Audley End, which was committed to the charge of one of the family, who
held the office of housekeeper and keeper of the wardrobe, with a
salary; and this arrangement continued till 1701, when the house and
park were reconveyed to Henry the fifth Earl of Suffolk, upon condition
of his relinquishing all claim to the 20,000_l._ which had remained on
mortgage from the year 1668; nor is it clear that any interest had been
ever paid upon it.”
The work of demolition commenced in 1721, when the three sides of the
grand quadrangle, which formed so magnificent an entrance to the house,
were demolished by the advice of Sir John Vanburgh, with the kitchen and
offices, which occupied a considerable space behind the north wing of
the building; and the chapel and cellars, which projected at each
extremity of the gallery wing, were probably soon afterwards removed,
leaving the inner court only untouched; the entire building being then
in the form of an open square. In 1747, Lord Effingham, who succeeded
the Earl of Suffolk, sold the house and park to Elizabeth countess of
Portsmouth for 10,000_l._, which sum included the timber, 500 head of
deer, a water-mill, and the right of presentation to the Mastership of
Magdalen College, Cambridge. There was a debate at this time about
pulling the house entirely down and selling the materials, and for which
a valuation was actually made; or else, for converting the buildings
into a silk-manufactory, for which the spacious premises and mill near
the stables seemed well adapted. At this time the house was rapidly
going to decay, the windows were without glass in many places, the
furniture taken away, the cupola in the centre in danger of falling from
every high wind, and the eastern wing with its noble gallery so unsafe
that Lady Portsmouth levelled it to the ground in 1749. This splendid
gallery occupied the whole of the first floor of the demolished wing,
and measured 24 feet in height, 226 feet in length, and 32 feet in
width, exclusive of the bow in the centre, which was sufficiently
spacious to contain a full-sized billiard-table. The whole room was
fitted up with wainscot, in which a profusion of ornamental carving was
introduced. The Labours of Hercules were represented in oak upon the
chimney-piece; and upon the stuccoed ceiling, the Loves of the Gods.
The Countess of Portsmouth at her death bequeathed her possessions, in
default of issue, to John Griffin Whitwell, eldest son of her sister
Anne, afterwards confirmed Lord Howard de Walden and Baron Braybrooke of
Braybrooke, in the county of Northampton. This nobleman, at great
expense, restored the dilapidated house at Audley End; and continued his
repairs and renovations until he had succeeded in making this noble
relic again habitable.
The present aspect of the house, as seen from the main road to Newmarket
and
[Illustration]
Cambridge, is depicted in our plate. Upon crossing the modern bridge
which leads to the town of Saffron Walden, a gate to the left leads up
to the house. It is the gate already noticed as bearing the date of
1616, and is here engraved. The way in which the noble trees hang their
branches in the richest profusion over it renders it a most picturesque
object; it is surmounted by a lion standing on a cap of maintenance,
beneath which is inscribed:--
JOAN. B. II. DE WALD. REST. ET. ORN. M.DCC.LXXXVI.
A semicircular walk leads to the mansion. The doors, both back and
front, of the principal entrance, are exceedingly fine specimens of
wood-carving. They are extremely massive, and carved in a geometric
pattern; the circular portion above being filled in the front door
[Illustration]
with figures emblematic of the arts of Peace, that of the back leading
into the garden, representing War in a chariot drawn by wolves. We have
engraved this beautiful door. It originally led into the inner court; it
now leads to the arcade facing the garden, which is believed to have
been the site of the ancient monastery, as many stone coffins have been
discovered there.
Entering a small vestibule the great hall lies to the right; it is
ninety feet in length, twenty-seven feet wide, and twenty-nine feet
high; it is too square to be considered in good proportion, a fault
found by all since its first erection. Its principal feature is the
magnificent oak screen, which occupies the entire north end. It is most
elaborately carved and ornamented with a great variety of grotesque
figures executed in bold relief, and is said to have been originally
procured from Italy; but of this there may be entertained considerable
doubt, as it is precisely similar in its details to many others which
still exist and are of English workmanship. The fireplace is of similar
design, and our initial letter exhibits one of its many beautiful
compartments. The hall is wainscoted, and is lighted by five windows,
that in the centre having a large projecting bow, extending from the
cornice to the floor which is paved. It is hung with family pictures,
among which those of the Cornwallis predominate--the ancestors of the
present Lady Braybrooke. The ceiling is of plaster, divided into forty
square compartments, formed by the massive oaken beams supported by
richly-carved brackets. These compartments are filled with the crests
and cognizances of the Howard family, worked in raised stucco and
encircled by a border. A gay effect is produced by the many silken
banners which hang from the walls.
Opposite the fine old wooden screen is an open one of stone, for which,
says Lord Braybrooke, “we are indebted to the bad taste of Sir John
Vanburgh, who removed the south wall to enlarge the hall, which had been
censured by Evelyn and others as too small in proportion to the rest of
the house, and being desirous at the same time to obtain sufficient
space for a double flight of stairs leading to the saloon”--the subject
of our second plate; it is in every sense a magnificent room, and is
sixty feet in length, twenty-seven feet three inches wide, and twenty
feet eight inches high. The description of the noble owner must be here
quoted: “It was originally called the Fish-room, after the dolphins and
sea monsters represented in bold relief upon the ceiling, which is of
stucco, and divided into thirty-two compartments with raised borders.
From each angle of these compartments hang pendants of considerable
dimensions elaborately wrought, and producing a striking and singular
effect. The fittings of the wall are of wood-work, painted in white and
gold, and carved up twelve feet from the ground; the cornice and frieze,
being supported by pilasters placed at equal distances, the spaces
between which are allotted to portraits, in whole-length, of the
different persons connected with the history of Audley End, let into
arches serving as frames, and the spandrils of which are filled with
rich foliage. Upon the wall above the cornice, which has a bold
projection, are quatre-feuilles, worked in stucco, probably added after
the room was finished, and not in character with the ceiling. The frieze
is deep, and decorated with lions’ heads and a variety of other
patterns, carved in wood. The pilasters are also surmounted by grotesque
heads. The large western bow, to which we ascend by three steps,
commands a
[Illustration]
fine view of the grounds, the river Cam, and the ancient stables beyond,
here engraved; they are of red brick and are exceedingly picturesque,
embowered as they are in antique trees. The chimney-piece is completely
in keeping with the rest of the apartment, and, though not dissimilar to
those already described, greatly surpasses them in the beauty of the
carved work and the brilliancy of the gilding. In the centre are
emblazoned the arms of Thomas Earl of Suffolk, impaling Knivett and his
quarterings, and encircled by the Garter. The female figures and ancient
heads on each side, as well as the arms and crests of Lord Howard de
Walden and his two wives, were painted by Rebecca.”
[Illustration]
The suite of rooms in connexion with the saloon are fine and contain
some good ceilings and fireplaces. In one of them is preserved the
interesting relic here engraved. Its history is thus told on a brass
plate inserted in the back:--“This chair, once the property of Alexander
Pope, was given as a keepsake to the nurse who attended him in his
illness; from her descendants it was obtained by the Rev. Thomas Ashley,
curate of the parish of Binfield, and kindly presented by him to Lord
Braybrooke in 1844, nearly a century after the poet’s decease.” It is
apparently of Flemish workmanship, and of rather singular design; in the
central medallion is a figure of Venus, holding a dart in her right
hand, and a burning heart in her left. The narrow back and wide-circling
arms give a peculiarly quaint appearance to this curious relic of one of
our greatest poets.
The upper and lower floor of this wing are connected together by a fine
oak staircase,
[Illustration]
represented in the accompanying woodcut. It reaches from the ground to
the upper story in such a manner that a person ascending the whole
height goes two and a half times round the well which it includes. This
well, a narrow oblong, is a frame-work of upright posts extending from
top to bottom; and these posts, being divided into shorter lengths by
the various traverse of the stairs and landing-places, are ornamented in
a sort of pilaster fashion, and connected by arches at the top of each
opening: the balustrade of the stairs being formed by a repetition of
such an arcade on a smaller scale. A similar staircase of oak, of a
plainer character, is in the opposite wing.
The chapel is in “Strawberry-Hill Gothic.” The library contains about
seven thousand books of varied standard literature. The pictures
throughout the house are not very remarkable. The park is extensive and
contains some magnificent old trees, the views being relieved by sloping
elevations.
Nearly opposite the dated gateway to the mansion, already engraved and
described, is the entrance to the village of Audley End, which is
approached through an avenue of trees,
[Illustration]
which hide it from the road. The first view of its humble habitations,
as delineated in our engraving, is very striking, and as simply antique
as need be. Its old gables and deep-bowed windows, over which climb the
honeysuckle and ivy, tell at once the age of their erection, and carry
the spectator back to the days of Elizabeth. It is a compact little
village, of about forty cottages, which form a narrow street of close
tenements, all of which may be detected at a glance. The ground on which
the village is built rises and falls in picturesque undulations; and at
its farthest extremity, the gables seen in our next cut belong to the
ancient brick tenements, picturesque in decay, of which a view is here
given. They are thus described in the volume so
[Illustration]
frequently quoted:--“The buildings surround two courts, one of which is
appropriated to ten old women, permitted to reside there by Lord
Braybrooke, to whom the premises belong. The other court is occupied as
a farm-house, together with the old chapel, long since converted into a
barn; but there are no traces of its former destination, excepting an
iron cross on the eastern gable, and the lofty ceiling, supported by oak
beams; and this part of the building is in a very ruinous state.”[21]
These premises were, doubtless, originally erected for purposes of
charity, and perhaps placed under the control of the monastery, having
no especial endowment. At a later period, Thomas first Earl of Suffolk
made some allowance to the inmates, and the building is described in the
parish register as “my lord’s almshouse;” but his widow discontinued the
payments, nor is there any tradition of their having been since claimed
as matter of right.
“It is recorded in one of the chronicles of Walden Abbey, that on the
festival of St. Mark 1258, when Fulco Bishop of London, and Hugo de
Balsham Bishop of Norwich, consecrated the church of Walden, Bishop Hugo
performed the same ceremony for the chapel of the _Infirmaria_, and
granted an indulgence to those who visited it on the feast of its
dedication. It also appears from an inquisition, dated the forty-sixth
of Edward III., that Humphrey Earl of Essex, Hereford, and Northampton,
was seised, _inter alia_, of the advowson of the hospital of the Abbey
of Walden; we may therefore suppose the almshouses, or the site which
they occupy, to have been the place alluded to, and this conjecture is
confirmed by the premises having been described in some old leases as
the Hospital Farm.”[22]
[Illustration:
F. W. Fairholt, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
FEERING HOUSE, ESSEX.]
FEERING HOUSE,
ESSEX.
[Illustration: F]EERING is situated on the highroad between London and
Colchester, and is a picturesque and secluded village, full of antique
houses and quiet tenantry, through which runs the Eastern Counties
Railway,--the modern “improvement” that looks strangely out of place in
connexion with the associations engendered by so retired a spot. It is a
place whose history is almost unrecorded. Morant, in his “History of
Essex,” says:--“This parish is of pretty great extent, and lies partly
on the London road, being divided from Kelvedon by the river Pant. The
name is formed from two Saxon words, signifying Bull’s meadow or
pasture. In records, it is called Feering, Feringes, Frearing; and in
Domesday Book, Pheringas and Ferlingas. In Edward the Confessor’s reign,
Harold, afterwards King of England, and Brictmar, had the chief part, if
not the whole, of this parish. At the time of the general survey it was
holden by the Abbot of Westminster and Ralph Peverell; and from thence
were derived the two capital manors here, Feringbury and Prested Hall.
The former is a considerable estate, for many years part of the revenues
of Westminster Abbey, by whom given I cannot find; however, they were
possessed of it in 1343, and continued so till their dissolution, when
it came to the crown. Henry VIII., upon his erecting Westminster Abbey
into a bishoprick, endowed it, among other things, with the manor and
rectory of Fering, and the advowson of the vicarage, January 20, 1540.
But Edward VI. suppressed that bishopric, and gave the premises, April
12, 1550, to Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London, and his successors.
Queen Mary I. confirmed the same, March 3, 1553, to Edmund Bonner,
bishop of London, and his successors for ever; and they have remained
possessed of them ever since. Prested Hall, sometime written Persted and
Porsted, and in Domesday Book, Peresteda, was holden by Ralph Peverell
at the general survey; but it had belonged before to one Brictmar. The
mansion-house stands about half a mile from the church, a little way
south from the London road. In the reign of King Henry II. Brien, son
of Ralph, held this lordship of the honor of Peverell of London.” There
are two lesser manors in the parish called Chambers and Howchins, alias
Fowchins; the latter “standing a little way from the road leading from
Marks Tay to Coggershall. The lands lie partly in the adjoining parishes
of Little Tay and Great Tay. It appears to have been what anciently
belonged to Hugh de Feringe, who took his surname from this parish. In
the year 1332 he and Alianore, his wife, gave it to St. John’s Abbey in
Colchester;” and at the dissolution it reverted to the Crown.
The most interesting old house in the parish or neighbourhood is the one
which forms the subject of our plate, and which stands close to the edge
of the river Pant, or Blackwater, a small stream, seen in the back-view
of the ancient mansion given in our initial letter; the triple gable
here peeps above a rich group of old trees, and the carved barge-boards
and richly clustered chimneys invite the traveller’s nearer view.
Crossing the small bridge, he will find his expectations in no degree
disappointed; the mansion exists in pristine purity, with all its richly
carved decorations untouched by modern hands. From this point our view
of the exterior is taken. The elegant pendants to each gable, the
involuted foliage running along the beams and barge-board, the decorated
spandrils, the antique bow-windows, and the beautiful porch, elaborately
carved and covered with ivy, at once meet the view, and greatly excite
curiosity as to whether the interior in any degree corresponds with so
perfect a piece of antiquity. An entrance is no way difficult of
[Illustration]
accomplishment. Alas, for worldly grandeur! this mansion, upon which the
art and expenditure of the sixteenth century was lavished, is now an
ale-house; and not even one of a first-rate class--being only “licensed
to sell beer.” Few but the poorest class of labourers sit in the
parlour, which forms the subject of our plate, and its beauties are
unappreciated. To which of the families of note in the olden time (and
many resided here) this mansion belonged, cannot now be ascertained with
any certainty; whether Ridley or Bonner (names which give rise to so
many and such varied associations) once sat in these rooms is
unrecorded, but the taste and expenditure here exhibited denote the
superiority of the original occupant. It is seldom we see a more perfect
and remarkable specimen of the in-door aspect of a gentleman’s house in
the early part of the sixteenth century; all here is original, and all
perfect; no plaster-work is any where visible, but walls, ceilings, and
floor, are of oak; the massive beams of the roof boldly cut in a pattern
of running leaves, the angles of the smaller ones tastefully chiselled
and sculptured; figures of angels playing on the lute are upon the beams
in the bay-windows, in which is preserved some of the original painted
glass, “richly dight,” and exhibiting the crowned monogram of the
Virgin, an eagle bearing a scroll, and the royal arms of England, with
the initials E. R. on each side of them. The walls of the room are
entirely covered with carving in a series of patterns, the lower ranges
of which are of that species termed “the napkin pattern,” most
delicately and beautifully chiselled, and untouched by the painter, as
well as uninjured by time. The uppermost range of panels are cut in oval
frames, from the centres of which peep forth, in high relief, a series
of male and female heads, cut with a vigour and truth at once bold and
effective; the head-dresses of all are remarkable, and present a
singular variety of fashions. Mr. Fairholt, in his “Costume in England,”
has noticed that the principal attention of the ladies was given to this
portion of dress, and that they sometimes consisted of a mere “heap of
finery, combining cap, coverchief, and hood, which was at that time the
extreme of fashion.” This remark is fully carried out in the series we
now describe, no two of which are precisely alike, yet all are elaborate
in design and elegant in ornamental detail. Beneath them run a series of
elongated panels, containing smaller heads in the centre of arabesque
ornaments, which are thrown up in strong relief, as the ground of the
panel is painted blue; the projecting pillars which support the main
beams are similarly decorated; and the door is also carved all over with
the napkin pattern, and has the original ring-handle upon it, as well as
the chased steel lock. A more perfect interior of this peculiar period,
or a more elegant one, could not be found. Our view comprehends one half
of the room, reaching to the central beam, the other half of the room is
dark and dingy, and has been separated in a more modern style from the
older and larger room. A fire-place and a carved locker are preserved;
and the pattern of the pomegranate and its leaves, rather lavishly
introduced here, would seem to point out the period when the house was
erected--as the pomegranate was the badge of Catherine of Arragon, the
first wife of Henry VIII.
This fine old mansion stands on the boundary of the parish of Feering,
the village and church being about half-a-mile, or more, distant, and a
little out of the main road. It is, as we have observed, quiet and
secluded, in a fertile county, embracing the ordinary flat, fertile, and
extensive views for which Essex is remarkable; but little of
modernisation appears there, and the visitors would seem to be “few and
far between.” From the churchyard the view is very extensive. Morant
says:--
“The church, dedicated to All Saints, stands high and pleasant. The body
of the church and the chancel are tyled, but a north or south aisle
adjoining to the church are leaded. The south wall and the porch are of
brick; and in the windows are pictured a shuttle and three feathers,
with the letters H. P., which gave rise to the vulgar tradition that
they were built by a weaver. At the west end there is a square tower of
stone, containing eight bells.
“This church was given with the manor to Westminster Abbey. It was
originally a rectory and sinecure, but in Henry the Third’s reign a
vicarage was here ordained, and endowed in the patronage of the rector
or possessor of the sinecure: afterwards the rectory or great tithes
were appropriated to the said abbey and convent, and they remained
patrons of
[Illustration]
the vicarage till their suppression; and then they were granted to the
see of London, as hath been mentioned above.”
The most remarkable feature of the interior is the roof of oak, the
beams and king-posts are richly sculptured, and in good preservation; it
contains no old tombs or brasses; the font is simple, and the only
objects worthy of note are some remains of distemper-painting on the
north wall: a figure of St. Christopher bearing the infant Saviour is
still visible, together with the fragments of an elegant diaper-pattern,
which had probably originally covered the entire wall.
The porch, which we engrave, is entirely built of fine red brick, in
which the elegant windows, niches, tracery, battlements, and pinnacles
of the later Gothic architecture, are beautifully formed and finished
with a sharpness and accuracy which may almost be said to be peculiar to
this county, as we seldom meet with brick-work in this style so rich in
design and execution elsewhere.
[Illustration:
Drawn by F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
HOREHAM HALL.]
HOREHAM HALL,
ESSEX.
[Illustration: I]n a retired part of the county of Essex, at a short
distance from the road, in a secluded and lonely spot, stands the
picturesque Hall which forms the subject of our plate. The mansion is in
the parish of Thaxted, and is about two miles south-west of the church.
This manor is supposed to be part of the two fees and a half which the
heirs of Walter de Acre held in Thaxted, Chaure, and Brokesheued, under
Richard de Clare, who died in 1262. It was afterwards in the possession
of the important family surnamed _de Wauton_; for William de Wanton or
Wauton, who died in 1347, held the manors of Chaureth and Horam of the
Lady Elizabeth de Burgh and her ancestors, by the service of three fees,
as of the Honour of Clare. The next possessor upon record was Sir John
Cutt or Cutts, who erected the mansion immediately preceding or early in
the reign of Elizabeth; he was a man of great wealth, and built at
Salisbury Park near St. Alban’s, and at Childerley in Cambridgeshire,
according to Leland, who tells us concerning the present building in his
“Itinerary,” (vol. i. p. 30, pt. 1), that “Old Cutte builded Horeham
Hall, a very sumptuous house in Est Sax, by Thoxtede, and there is a
goodly pond, or lake, by it, and faire parkes there about.”
[Illustration]
Thaxted eventually became the property of Sir William Smijth of Hill
Hall, in whose family it has remained to the present time.
Of the learned Sir Thomas Smijth, the secretary to King Edward VI. and
Queen Elizabeth, there is still preserved an ancient portrait on panel,
which is let into a circle over the carved fireplace of one of the
parlours. It is remarkable as being one of the very few portraits
painted by Titian. Another interesting relic preserved in the Great Hall
is the side-saddle of Queen Elizabeth; the pommel is of wrought metal
and has been gilt, the ornament upon it is in the then fashionable
style of the Renaissance; the seat, of velvet, is now in a very ruinous
condition; but it is
[Illustration]
carefully kept beneath a glass case, as a memento of the queen’s visits
to this place. When princess, Elizabeth retired to Horeham as a place of
refuge during the reign of her sister Mary; the loneliness of the
situation, and its distance from the metropolis, rendered it a seclusion
befitting the quietude of one anxious to remain unnoticed in troublous
times. A room on the first floor in the square tower, seen to the right
in our view, is shewn as that in which Elizabeth resided. She found the
retirement of Horeham so agreeable, that often after she had succeeded
to the crown she took a pleasure in revisiting the place.
The exterior features of the building are characteristic of that period
when strength and security began to give way to domestic comfort and
elegance; there is a mixture of the
[Illustration]
castle and the mansion in Horeham that marks a transition period in
architecture. One great feature of an earlier style of defence still
remains in the moat which originally surrounded the building, but which
is now partly filled up: at the back of the mansion, as shewn in our
cut, it seems still to encircle the building. The old walls which form
the boundary of the garden, and are washed by the water, are stone, and
antique. Some fine cedars of ancient growth still flourish by its side,
to add a sombre, dignified beauty to the scene. There is a grandeur
about old trees which cannot be imparted to a mansion by artificial aid,
and which tell forcibly its antiquity. Modern antiques may easily be
called into existence by the builder, but the “ancestral trees” are as
proud a memento of the early date of an ancient mansion as the
coat-armour sculptured on its front.
The Hall is small; it has a minstrel’s gallery, and the dais opposite is
still preserved. It is lighted by a magnificent oriel window, and has a
greater air of comfort than is found in those of grander proportions.
The other rooms have been so much modernised, to suit the habits and
tastes of the present age, that scarcely a relic remains to shew their
original state.
[Illustration:
W. L. Walton, Del et lith. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
ST. OSYTH’S PRIORY.]
ST. OSYTH’S PRIORY,
ESSEX.
[Illustration: St.] OSYTH’S PRIORY--an ancient and very venerable
edifice--is situated on an estuary formed by the Rivers Stour and
Blackwater, distant about twelve miles south-east from Colchester. The
village in which it stands was originally named Cice, or Chich; and
although its chroniclers give us no information as to its Saxon
derivation, there is no lack of knowledge concerning its comparatively
modern name--St. Osyth. But it is obtained from tradition and Monkish
legends; from which we learn that the virgin saint was the daughter of
Frithwald, King of East Anglia, betrothed to Sighere, the Christian king
of the East Saxons; by whom, however, she was freed from marriage bonds,
and permitted to found a church and institute a nunnery of Maturines of
the order of the Holy Trinity--which she did at Chich, a village given
to her by her generous lord. Her establishment was subsequently
plundered and destroyed by the Danes, under Inguar and Hubba, and the
royal lady was herself beheaded beside a fountain, at which, with her
hapless maidens, she used to bathe.[23]
The parish of St. Osyth was anciently part of the royal demesnes. Canute
granted it to Godwin, Earl of Kent, who gave it to Christ’s Church,
Canterbury, with permission of Edward the Confessor. Prior to the
Conquest it must have passed into other hands, for we find at the time
of the Survey it belonged to the bishop of London. Richard de Belmeis or
de Beaumes, consecrated Bishop of London in 1108, obtained the manor and
church of Cice, in order to build and endow a monastery there for canons
of the order of St. Augustine, which was done about 1118; and the tithes
being appropriated to the monks, they served the cure by one of their
own canons. At the Dissolution, the amount of all the revenues was found
to be, according to Speed, £758. 5_s._ 8_d._ Dugdale says it was £677.
7_s._ 2_d._ The abbot, prior, and eighteen canons, subscribed to the
King’s supremacy--which shows the number then maintained. Alaric de
Vere, the first Earl of Oxford, had a son a canon here, who wrote the
Life of St. Osyth, about 1160. Soon after the suppression of religious
houses, Henry VIII. granted it to Thomas Lord Cromwell. On his disgrace
and attainder, the property reverted to the Crown.
Edward VI., for the sum of £3974. 9_s._ 4½_d._, disposed of it to
Thomas, Lord Darcy of Chich, Knight of the Garter and Chamberlain of his
household, by whom it was converted into a residence. This nobleman was
son of Roger Darcy, sheriff of Essex and Herts in 1506, and squire of
the body to Henry VII. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John de Vere,
Earl of Oxford. John, second Lord Darcy, was united to Frances, daughter
of Richard, Lord Rich, by whom he had a son, Thomas. He was united to a
daughter of Sir Thomas Kytson, of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk; created in
1621 Viscount Colchester for life, with remainder to his son-in-law, Sir
Thomas Savage; five years afterwards he was advanced to an earldom, by
the title of Earl Rivers, which became extinct in 1728. This Sir T.
Savage, upon whom the titles were entailed, dying before his
predecessor, Elizabeth, the Earl’s eldest daughter, took the title of
Countess Rivers. She it was who suffered the loss of so much property
during the civil wars. In 1694, the Hon. Richard Savage came into
possession of the titles and estates; he was Lieutenant-General of
Horse, Lord-Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of the County; but having no
legitimate male issue surviving, he gave St. Osyth to a natural
daughter, the wife of Frederick de Nassau, Earl of Rochford, a branch of
the regal line of the House of Orange, whose father came over into
England with William III., at the Revolution. The Earl died in 1738,
leaving two sons, the eldest of whom, William Henry, was secretary of
state in the year 1772. The title became extinct in 1830, and the
possessions devolved upon their present owner, Frederick Nassau, Esq., a
collateral branch of the same family, by whom the Mansion is occupied.
Although the ruins of the ancient monastery are scattered in rich
profusion in all directions around the present dwelling-house, it is
somewhat difficult to determine
[Illustration]
its exact site; arches, towers, and picturesque remains, meet the
visitor at every point, but so situated as almost to defy an attempt to
fix the original plan. The entrance to the residence is through a noble
gateway, flanked, by projecting towers of unequal proportions, with
posterns; the whole being divided into numerous apartments, forming a
building of considerable size and extent. The ceiling is beautifully
groined, and in excellent preservation. As the structure occupies rather
high ground, the Towers are distinctly visible to vessels skirting the
eastern coast, from which it is distant about three miles. The gateway
opens upon a spacious quadrangle, in the centre of which stands a
well-executed figure of Time supporting a sun-dial. Our principal
drawing exhibits parts of the northern and eastern sides of the square;
the other sides consist principally of domestic offices, the larger
portions of which are formed from the old buildings. Those in which the
family now reside are of comparatively modern date, and look out upon an
extensive park, finely wooded and well stocked with deer. In the
grounds, and about sixty yards from the house, is a square brick pillar,
surmounted by an urn; on one side of the pillar is a tablet with the
following inscription, to mark the boundary of the old priory: it was
erected at the time of the Commonwealth--“Vetus hæc Quam cernis maceries
conservata est Ad Augustiniani cœnobii limites designandos Tu vero inter
loci huius amœnitates Tuorum temporum felicitati Gratuleris ablegata jam
ista superstitione quæ Domicilium tam superbum segnitiæ consecravit et
socordiæ A.D. CIƆIƆCCLX.”
At right angles, with the gateway extending outwardly, is a long
battlemented wall, with a fine Norman archway; near the farther
extremity, are several mullioned windows, now blocked up, and a doorway
approached by deep steps. It is generally supposed that the court-house
stood here; for on the steps the manorial court is still opened by the
lord of the manor, or his representative. In the grounds, beneath a
tower of considerable elevation, may be seen the ancient chapel of the
monastery, with its adjoining cells; but the place
“Where monks their orisons and vespers sung,”
is now literally “a cage for unclean birds,” and a receptacle for
garden-tools and decayed fruits and vegetables: it is still in good
preservation, though damp and rottenness have discoloured the
well-proportioned pillars and groined arches of the
[Illustration]
ceiling. Without admitting or denying the truth of the inscription we
have quoted concerning the holy men of other days, it is certain, that
to them we are indebted for the noblest examples of ecclesiastical
architecture of which the world can boast; and the ruins of St. Osyth’s
Priory exhibit no mean specimen of their skill and industry.
The interior of the present mansion presents nothing that demands
particular notice, except one room called the “King’s Room,” fitted with
the furniture of the chamber in which George II. died (the Earl of
Rochford was groom of the stole at that period), consisting of the satin
mattress, crimson bed hangings, &c. &c.
The Church is a very ancient structure, built partly of brick, and
partly of flint and stone, situated nearly opposite the Priory. It has
recently undergone a thorough internal repair; new pews have been
erected, and a neat Gothic organ has been placed in a newly constructed
gallery. The roofs, which are lofty, are supported by massive oaken
beams, resting upon arches that spring from hexagon columns fluted on
four of their sides--the rafters in the northern aisle are boldly and
richly carved in various devices. While the repairs were in progress,
the Font, which had hitherto presented a plain surface, was accidentally
found to be finely ornamented; and the mortar with which the interstices
were filled being removed, it now presents the appearance exhibited in
our cut--the initial letter. The chancel is separated from the nave by a
low screen, behind which are the pews allotted to the Priory. The church
contains several monuments--chiefly raised in honour of the Darcys.
St. Osyth, standing as it does, in an isolated spot, and almost apart
from the business of active life, is scarcely known even to the Tourist.
It is, however, full of deep interest, and, we feel assured, might throw
considerable light upon the architecture of very remote periods; at all
events, it would afford enjoyment and information amply to repay a
lengthened visit of the antiquary.
[Illustration:
F. W. Hulme, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. L. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
BERKELEY CASTLE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.]
BERKELEY CASTLE,
GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
[Illustration: B]ERKELEY is one of the most ancient of the manors of
England; it is styled a royal demesne and free borough in Domesday Book,
and, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, a religious house existed
there for nuns. This, having been forfeited, was granted to the famous
Earl Godwin; and a tradition still endures, that the crafty earl
obtained it by corrupting the inmates of the nunnery, whose dissolute
conduct he afterwards reported to the sovereign. By this wicked means he
obtained their possessions; but his consort, Gueda, refused maintenance
from lands thus acquired, and her lord assigned to her use the manor of
Woodchester. The history of the castle is full of the deepest interest,
from the Conquest to the close of the Civil War, and a few facts
collected from the statements of its many historians cannot fail to be
acceptable to our readers. William the Conqueror bestowed the manor on
Roger, surnamed De Berkeley, one of the soldiers of his invading army:
his grandson taking part with Stephen against Henry II., was deprived of
his inheritance, which was given by the king to Robert Fitzhardinge,
governor of Bristol, “a Dane of royal descent,” in reward for eminent
services; and with the posterity of this renowned knight the manor has
ever since remained.[24] By this Robert the castle is believed to have
been founded, and of the original structure the Keep is undoubtedly a
part. About the year 1186, the lord of Berkeley having occasion to widen
the castle moat, trespassed a few feet on the churchyard, which had been
granted by Robert Fitzhardinge to the abbey of St. Augustin at Bristol.
Richard, the first abbot, indignant at this infringement of
ecclesiastical rights, according to Fuller, “so persecuted him with
church censures, that he made him in a manner cast the dirt of the ditch
in his own face,” compelling him not only publicly to confess his fault,
but to bestow upon the abbey a portion of land, “pro emendatione culpæ
suæ.” About the middle of the thirteenth century the castle was
strengthened and beautified by Maurice, lord of Berkeley, walks and
gardens were formed around it, the course of a small river was changed
for its convenience, and pools and ponds were made for fish. By Edward
II. the castle was granted in succession to his favourites, Piers
Gavestone and Hugh Spencer, but his rebellious queen at the head of her
army restored it to its legitimate owner. Soon after this event, in
1327, the castle became the scene of a frightful tragedy--the murder of
the king under circumstances of unparalleled atrocity. Edward, then
imprisoned at Kenilworth, having been compelled to resign the crown in
favour of his son, was transferred to the safer keeping of Berkeley
Castle; but its lord manifesting proof of sympathy with the unhappy
sovereign, his relentless queen, by the counsel of her paramour,
Mortimer, placed in charge over him Sir Thomas Gournay and Sir John
Maltravers, who had the custody of the royal prisoner “month about.”
These men, taking advantage of the sickness of Berkeley, in whose
custody the king then was, and while he was incapacitated from attending
to his charge, entered the castle and took possession of the royal
person. The very place where the act was committed is still preserved
nearly intact; it is a detached and dismal chamber, then only lighted by
arrow slits, situated over the steps which lead into the keep, and its
appalling name of “The Dungeon Room,” is retained to this day. His
murderers threw the king on his bed, and so perpetrated the murder as to
avoid all external evidence of the cruel deed:--
“Mark the year and mark the night,
When Severn shall re-echo with affright;
The shrieks of death through Berkeley’s roofs that ring--
Shrieks of an agonising king!”
“His crie,” writes Hollinshed, “did move many within the castell and
town of Berkelei to compassion, plainelie hearing him utter a waileful
noyse, as the tormentors were about to murder him; so that dyvers being
awakened therebye (as they themselves confessed) prayed heartilie to God
to receyve his soule, when they understode by his crie how the matter
went.”[25] It is said that the monasteries of Bristol, Kingswood, and
Malmesbury, refused to receive the body, which was ultimately buried at
Gloucester, attended thereto, according to Fosbrooke, by the Berkeley
family, his heart being put in a silver vessel.[26]
Various additions were made to Berkeley Castle by subsequent lords.
Thomas, the eighth lord, in 1342, rebuilt the high tower on the north
side of the Keep (then in a state of decay), at a cost of 108_l._ 3_s._
1½_d._; it was called “Thorpe’s Tower,” from the tenure of one Thorpe,
who held his lands at Wanswell by the guard of it. “This lord also, at
subsequent periods, built that portion beyond the keep on the north-east
side, and gave to the castle its present shape and circumference.”
The records of the castle exhibit many singular and striking evidences
of the peculiar customs and manners of the several ages through which it
has passed. In 1250 the lord of Berkeley feasted with fish during Lent
the convent and abbey of Gloucester;[27] in 1273 marl was first used as
manure on the lands of Berkeley, which then let for sixpence per acre.
Thomas, the sixteenth earl, was much given to hunting;[28] in 1550 he
had a princely residence in Shoe Lane (then a fashionable quarter), and
used to hunt daily in Gray’s Inn Fields and about Islington. In 1572, on
the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Berkeley, “27 stagges were
slaine in one day,” much to the displeasure of the earl, who “sodainely
and passionately” desparked the ground. The visit was supposed to have
been contrived by the Earl of Leicester, in order to provoke Lord
Berkeley, and thus “draw upon him the royal disfavour.”
The castle was the last place which held out against Cromwell; it was
surrendered on the 26th September, 1645, the soldiers marching out
without arms, the officers with arms.[29]
Bounded on the north by the churchyard and on the south by a
bowling-green, bordered
[Illustration]
with a yew-hedge clipped into fantastic forms and arcades by the
gardener’s art, a small embattled gate-lodge affords access to the outer
court of Berkeley Castle. This court, having on its south side the
beautiful park scenery, and in front of the spectator the fine and
massive walls of the Keep, with the Thorpe Tower bearing on its summit
the Berkeley banner, forms a picture of true baronial grandeur. The
inner gateway still retains the groove of its portcullis, and is flanked
on either side by cannon taken from St. Jean d’Acre during its siege by
the Hon. Captain Berkeley, when commanding the Thunderer. Over the
archway is a state-room, from which a narrow winding passage, cut in the
thickness of the wall, affords a communication with the keep.
Emerging from the gateway, the visitor enters a quadrangle formed by the
buildings erected by the eighth Lord Berkeley, the keep, and the tower
said to have been the scene of the unfortunate Edward II.’s murder.
Crossing the quadrangle, the hall is entered by an open porch having a
doorway of singular form. The hall has lost many of its ancient
features, but is still a very fine apartment, sixty-one feet in length,
thirty-two feet six inches in breadth, and of the same height. At the
entrance end is the minstrels’ gallery, with doorways under leading to
the steward’s room and buttery-hatch, and at the opposite extremity is
the dais, raised two steps from the floor. Large and deeply recessed
windows on the sides give light to the apartment, and from the upper end
the staircase is entered, which affords access to the principal
apartments. In the chapel is an eagle lettern, supporting a Bible of the
date of 1640; there is also a cast of the face of Charles I., and a
fragment of Roman sculpture. The drawing-room, dining-room,
breakfast-room, music-room, and the several other chambers, are all well
“fitted up,” and contain some family portraits and pictures of a good
but not superlative class of art. Many articles of furniture, of the
time of Elizabeth and James, are interspersed throughout the rooms,
among which may be named a handsome bed in the little state-room, and
another in the room said to have been occupied by Queen Elizabeth. There
is also a room called Admiral Drake’s room, containing a bedstead,
chairs, and wash-hand-stand of ebony, all of which were used by him
during his voyage round the world.
The objects of more peculiar interest, however, in this noble building
are the apartments connected with Edward II.’s imprisonment and
tragical fate; viz. the Dungeon-Room, and the chamber adopted by general
tradition as the scene of his murder. A passage by the side of the
former receives light from the window which opens into the court, and
this passage also affords communication with a small room which may have
been a guard-chamber; but the Dungeon-Room is itself without light, and
a trap-door in the floor discloses when opened a darksome, dry well,
sunk down some nine or ten yards. It has been asserted that the
[Illustration]
smell from dead carcases thrown into this well was one of the sources of
annoyance to which the monarch was subjected, and this would seem to
identify the room as his place of abode; but Hollinshed’s statement
“that his crie was heard by many in the town of Berkelei,” is held as
more applicable to the room adjoining the keep, which we now
describe.[30]
To the left on entering the inner quadrangle, and attached to the Keep,
is a square tower of two stories, and on a platform of four or five
steps stands an early English arch, surmounted by a still earlier Norman
label-moulding, attesting the antiquity of this tower. A flight of steps
from thence gives access to the level of the base court of the keep. At
the side of these steps a narrow gangway or gallery, protected by a rude
and antique timber-shed roof, leads to a room of irregular form and
small dimensions extending
[Illustration]
over the staircase, lighted by two deeply recessed windows opening to
the outer court, and secured by a strong oak door communicating with the
before-named gallery.
An old chair, an old carved four-post bedstead, and in a most
suspiciously recessed angular nook, an old black-looking pallet-bed,
form the furniture of this room, all, though tattered and time-worn,
bearing evidence of some former splendour in decoration. It does not
require much stretch of imagination for the adoption of this chamber as
the scene of
“Murder most foul and most unnatural!”
And a bust of the wretched king standing in one of the window recesses,
with its face veiled in shadow, seems mutely but powerfully to appeal to
[Illustration]
those feelings of pity which cannot fail to be excited by the view of
this dreary abode of royalty.
Emerging into the open court, a highly enriched Norman archway is found,
which forms the entrance into the courtyard of the keep, where, at some
ten or twelve yards above the base-court, a number of wild ducks are
quietly domiciled in a small pond formed in its centre, and where they
have remained for some years contrary to their nature, apparently
without a wish for change. From thence the ramparts are ascended, and a
fine view is obtained of the surrounding country.
The Church is a fine early structure adjoining the castle, and attached
to its south side is the mortuary chapel of the Berkeley family--a
richly groined edifice, divided
[Illustration]
into two compartments by a handsome stone screen, the inner or eastern
apartment containing several monuments of the family. The altar end is
blocked up by a fine Elizabethan tomb of Sir Henry Berkeley, who died in
1613; his first wife’s effigies are placed by his side. Under an arch,
opening into the south side of the chancel, is a highly enriched and
decorated altar-tomb, on which lie the effigies of another Earl of
Berkeley and his son. It is a beautiful specimen of the period, divided
into fourteen niches, having floriated canopies, under which are figures
on pedestals--the Virgin and Child, St. Christopher with our Saviour,
St. George and the dragon, and St. Peter, are among the number.
The groining of the chapel is curious, as containing in its several
bosses and panels a connected set of emblems referring to the awful
mystery of the Holy Trinity, with a most unaccountable interpolation of
the monkish satires of the fox preaching to geese, a monkey holding a
bottle, &c.
The churchyard contains a monument to the last of those privileged
characters, the “fool” or jester of the nobility. He was in the employ
of the Earl of Suffolk, and appears to have been lent to Lord Berkeley.
He was buried 18th June, 1728. At the end of the monument are the arms
of the earl, and on one side this inscription,--
“My lord that’s gone, himself made much of him!”
On the opposite side are these lines written by Dean Swift, who was
chaplain to Charles Earl of Berkeley:--
“Here lies the Earl of Suffolk’s fool,
Men call him Dicky Pearce;
His folly served to make men laugh,
When wit and mirth were scarce.
Poor Dick, alas! is dead and gone--
What signifies to cry?
Dickies enough are left behind
To laugh at by and by.”
The village bears the half-maritime character usual in places near the
sea, or an arm of
[Illustration]
the sea, and has some old buildings about it, of which the annexed
sketch is a specimen. It may, however, be justly celebrated as the
birthplace of Dr. Jenner, by whom cowpock inocculation was first
introduced. He was buried at Berkeley, and will ever be remembered with
gratitude as the successful combatant of that fearful disease, whose
ravages were so finely alluded to by Admiral Berkeley, when, advocating
his claims in the House of Commons, he said, that “not a _second_ is
struck by the hand of Time but a victim is sacrificed at the altar of
that most horrible of all disorders--the small-pox.”
Wandering through the ancient and venerable Halls, consecrated by time,
the mind associates with every solemn nook some memorable passage of its
eventful history. Ages have wrought comparatively little change in its
external and internal aspect. There are no indications of ruin, and few
even of neglect, in this famous baronial castle. The fancy is scarcely
taxed to behold again, seated on the dais, its powerful lords--mirrors
of chivalry: we seem almost to hear the minstrels recite the praises of
descendants of the royal Dane, who fought and conquered by the side of
the Conqueror; we behold his successors, in one unbroken line for
centuries, surrounded by their vassals, holding regal sway; we tread the
very steps which a deposed and death-doomed monarch trod in grievous
captivity; and although we shudder at entering the dark chamber in which
he was so foully murdered, we feel pity for, rather than anger towards,
that “Lord of Berkeley” who was certainly guiltless of the deed, and
whose weapon would have forced aside the hands of remorseless butchers.
Berkeley Castle is a fine study for the antiquary; a full page for the
historian: it illustrates with singular force the customs of our
ancestors; exhibits their state of perpetual “watch and ward;” the
frowning Keep speaks audibly; and every winding staircase and chamber,
small or large, is fertile of story.
The neighbourhood, too, retains much of its primitive character. One may
imagine the peasants and farmers, whose quaint homesteads environ the
strong castle--the dependants and retainers of four centuries ago.
So few of these “old places” have been preserved to our time,
“unimproved” by modern “taste,” that a visit to Berkeley is like a
refreshing draught of pure water in an arid plain, to those who mourn
over removals of the ancient landmarks of their ancestors.
“In surveying Berkeley Castle,”--we quote the fine apostrophe of
Dallaway--“this proud monument of feudal splendour and magnificence, the
very genius of chivalry seems to present himself amidst the venerable
remains, with a sternness and majesty of air and feature which shew what
he once has been, and a mixture of disdain for the degenerate posterity
that robbed him of his honours. Amidst such a scene the manly exercises
of knighthood recur to the imagination in their full pomp and solemnity;
while every patriot feeling beats at the remembrance of the generous
virtues which were nursed in those schools of fortitude, honour,
courtesy, and wit--the mansions of our ancient nobility!”
[Illustration:
Drawn by F. W. Hulme. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ
BRAMSHILL, HAMPSHIRE]
BRAMSHILL HOUSE,
HAMPSHIRE.
[Illustration: B]RAMSHILL HOUSE is one of the most perfect of the
remaining mansions of the time of James the First. It is said to have
been erected for the excellent Prince Henry--by whom it was never
inhabited, his death having occurred before the building was completely
finished. It became the property of the Lords Zouch, from whom it
subsequently passed to the family of Cope--the present proprietor being
Sir John Cope, Bart. The wings are comparatively plain, constructed of
brick, with stone dressings; but the centre is elaborately built of
stone, finely carved and profusely decorated. It supplies a striking
example of the peculiar architecture of the period, when “Italian
improvements” were earliest introduced into, and mixed up with, our “old
Gothic manner.” This central portion of the structure is carried up in
rich compartments, with pilasters, from story to story, surmounted
[Illustration]
by a pediment of the same character, which bears the coronet of the
Prince for whom the building is said to have been designed.
The interior is even more primitive and unimpaired than the exterior.
The old Hall is floored and wainscotted with oak; the ceiling is
enriched, and the walls are hung with family portraits in antique
frames, in admirable keeping with the staid and solemn aspect of the
venerable structure. The apartments throughout the mansion are of the
same interesting class. In the principal drawing-room, the needle
rivals the pencil upon the tapestried walls; every chamber retains
unaltered its ancient character: the furniture and “garnishings” are of
other days; the massive fire-places still afford space for the
hospitable yule log; and in the chairs and couches that throng the
several apartments, we see the quaint and elaborate carvings and
embroidered coverings which exhibit the skill and industry of gone-by
times. All things within the mansion are in harmony with the impressive
grandeur it derives from age. Circumstances have happily existed to
prevent the coarse assaults of the modern Renovator; and Bramshill House
remains--and, we hope, will long continue--a fine example of the period
of its erection.
Such “Houses” are rarely encountered now-a-days--a mansion so little
altered, within and without, that Imagination may readily recal its
ancient occupants, peopling the long galleries, shadowed recesses, and
spacious Hall, with the formal and stately Dames and Knights of the
period when it was erected. There are, indeed, few places that are so
easily associated with the past; one might almost fancy that the very
chairs and tables have been unmoved during two whole centuries.
The House is auspiciously situated: it stands on rising ground, and
commands extensive prospects of the surrounding country. It has recently
obtained augmented importance in consequence of the visit of Her
Majesty, Queen Victoria, who, while a guest of his Grace the Duke of
Wellington, examined the old mansion of Bramshill, which is distant
about six miles from Strathfieldsaye.
[Illustration:
F. W. Hulme, Delt. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE.]
HATFIELD HOUSE,
HERTFORDSHIRE.
[Illustration: H]ATFIELD HOUSE is finely placed on the summit of a
gently swelling hill, close to the little town of Hatfield. Few old
English mansions have a more general or varied interest. Whether we
consider its architectural merits, its historical associations, or the
picturesque attractions by which it is surrounded, its claims to our
regard are neither few nor small. Seven centuries have passed away since
Hatfield became a place of note; and the crown, the mitre, and the
coronet, have successively held sway over its destinies. Of the
architectural glories of Hatfield, little now remains of a date anterior
to the time of James I., in whose reign the present noble house was
built by John Thorp. A part, however, of the previous _palace_ of
Hatfield still exists, interesting as the place of residence of the
Princess Elizabeth, afterwards queen, during the reign of her sister,
Mary. Nor was her residence here, though compulsory, a state of
imprisonment and oppression, as some have said; for it has been proved,
from various records, that she met with considerate treatment, and lived
in a state befitting her high rank and queenly prospects. On the death
of Mary, Elizabeth proceeded hence to take possession of the
throne.[31]
Since the reign of James I., Hatfield has been the property and
principal residence of the family of Cecil. William Cecil, afterwards
Lord Treasurer Burleigh, laid the
[Illustration]
foundation of the greatness of this family. “This distinguished
statesman,” says Sir Robert Naunton, “was the son of a younger brother
of the Cecills of Hertfordshire, a family of my own knowledge, though
now private, yet of no mean antiquity, who, being exposed and sent to
the city, as poor gentlemen used to do their sons, became to be a rich
man on London Bridge, and purchased (estates) in Lincolnshire, where
this man was born.” First he became Secretary to the Protector Somerset,
and afterwards, on the accession of Elizabeth, he was appointed
Secretary of State. In 1561 he was made President of the Court of Wards.
His great talent and assiduity won for him much regard at court, where
he was treated with great favour. In 1571 he was created Lord Burleigh,
and continued to maintain his distinguished position in the State till
his death, in 1598. He resided chiefly at Theobald’s, where he often had
the honour of entertaining his sovereign, who was “sene in as great
royalty, and served as bountifully and magnificently, as at anie other
tyme or place, all at his lordship’s chardg,” &c.
Robert, the youngest son of Lord Burleigh, became possessor of Hatfield
by exchange with the king, James I. He inherited much of his father’s
talent and wisdom, “with a more subtle policy and a superior capacity
for state intrigue.” For certain secret services to James, during the
life of Elizabeth, he was raised by the king to the peerage. Afterwards
he was created Viscount Cranbourn, and, in the year following, he was
made Earl of Salisbury. After filling the office of sole Secretary of
State, he succeeded, on the death of the Earl of Dorset, to the high
post of Lord Treasurer. “Shrewd, subtle, and penetrating,” he discharged
his duties with great ability, and while attending to the interests of
his country forgot not his own, having, “by various methods,” increased
his inheritance to a very ample extent. He died in 1612. The title and
estates then descended to his only son, William, who died in 1668, and
was succeeded by James, the third earl. The fourth earl, also named
James, died in 1694; his great-grandson, the seventh earl, was created
Marquis of Salisbury by George III., in 1789. He was the father of the
present noble representative of the family of Cecil.
Hatfield House is of vast extent; it is of brick, with stone dressings.
It was built between the years 1605 and 1611, by Robert Cecil, first
Earl of Salisbury. After being suffered to fall into decay, it was
restored and beautified by the sixth earl, about the middle of the last
century. In 1835, a great part of the west wing was destroyed by fire,
little being left of that part of the house besides the outer walls. On
this mischief occurring, occasion was taken to effect a general
reparation, which was brought to a close last year (1846). The house is
in the form of an half H, comprising a centre and two wings, the hollow
part being towards the south. The centre is a magnificent example of the
Palladian style, and, although of mixed architecture, presents, in its
totality, a design of great richness and beauty.
The basement-story contains an arcade, with eight arches, divided
externally by pilasters, whereof the upper parts are fluted, and the
lower parts enriched with Elizabethan arabesques. The lower pilasters
are Doric, the upper Ionic. The wings are massive, and comparatively
plain, supported at each corner by square turrets, seventy feet high to
the gilded vanes; the space between, comprising three stories, is
relieved by a fine oriel window, of two stories. The centre tower, over
the grand entrance, is also seventy feet high; it has three stories,
with coupled columns at the corners, the whole having an agreeable
pyramidal effect. The third story of the tower contains a clock, and
also the armorial bearings of the founder, with the date 1611, in which
year the present house was finished. The length of the southern front is
300 feet, the centre being 140 feet, and each wing 80 feet wide, with a
projection from the centre of 100 feet.
[Illustration]
The northern front is plain--a severe simplicity, nearly allied to
grandeur, being its chief characteristic; the centre compartment, with
its entrance-doorway below and noble clock-tower above, being the only
elaboration it contains. Of this front we give a view, as seen from the
avenue of trees which marks the approach on this side.
The south front contains the principal entrance, and, from its symmetry
and ornate character, is, architecturally at least, the principal one.
The east front has, however, certain advantages, which go far towards
making it the most interesting, as it is certainly the most picturesque.
The view in that direction, whether _from_ the house or _of_ it, is by
far the most pleasing, as the founder well knew when he caused the
principal apartments to be placed on this side. The view from these
rooms is of remarkable interest and variety: first there is a noble
terrace-walk, with an enriched parapet, over which the eye wanders at
will among the clustering flowers of the Elizabethan garden, and from
them to the Maze; beyond which is the Park, with its fine sheet of
water, surrounded by noble old trees, their deep green reflexions broken
ever and anon by the splash of leaping fish, or the sedate movements of
the stately swans.
The interior well sustains the rich promise of the exterior. Convenience
of arrangement and sumptuousness of decoration are every where united.
Two grand staircases, one in the corner of each wing, lead to the
principal apartments. These staircases are of oak, richly carved. That
in the north-west angle was formerly called the Adam and Eve staircase:
much of it is of recent date, having been redecorated since the late
calamitous fire. The north-east staircase is all old, and exquisitely
carved. This staircase leads almost direct to King James’s Room, one of
the noblest apartments of the house, the extreme magnificence of which
no words can describe: in truth it is too rich, and the eye turns
involuntarily towards the grand oriel windows for relief. The ceiling is
of exquisite design, and was, till recently, plain white; now it is all
gold and colour. The chimneypiece is massive, of white marble; and a
central niche over the fire contains a life-size statue of James I. in
dark stone. The fire-dogs are of silver; the furniture and the six
chandeliers are gilt; the curtains are of white satin; the chair and
sofa coverings are crimson velvet; and the carpet, “patent Axminster,”
is of Elizabethan design, worked in brown, gold, scarlet, and blue. This
room contains some of the most important pictures. The Gallery extends
the whole length of the south front: it is about 160 feet long, and 20
feet wide. The ceiling is of remarkable beauty, one of the finest
examples of a period that was most prolific in such designs. The walls
are panelled with oak, and covered with a profusion of carving and other
embellishment. Our further remarks on the interior must be brief; many
interesting matters we must altogether omit. We hasten, therefore,
through the Winter Dining-Room, and pass into the Library, in which,
among other treasures, there are some rare old documents. From the
Library we may pass into the gallery of the Chapel, which contains a
curious old organ, a large window of richly painted glass, and some good
pictures. On the north side of the house is the Great Hall; it is 50
feet by 30, and is lighted by three bay-windows, rising the whole height
of the hall. At the eastern end is a massive screen, supporting a
gallery above, the whole covered with carvings of heraldic badges and
other decorations.
The Park is full of fine trees, which from many points offer beautiful
little pictures, more particularly when seen in combination with the
house or garden terraces. One of these “bits” we have engraved for the
initial letter.
[Illustration:
F. W. Hulme, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
KNEBWORTH, HERTFORDSHIRE]
KNEBWORTH,
HERTFORDSHIRE.
[Illustration: K]NEBWORTH Manor and Fort were granted at the Conquest by
William I. to his favourite counsellor and captain, Eudo, surnamed
Dapifer. Knebworth was fortunate in the rank or fame of its successive
owners during the early periods of our history. In the reign of Edward
I. its ancient fort was possessed by the powerful Robert de Hoo; in that
of Edward II. it had passed to Thomas de Brotherton, fifth son of Edward
I. by marriage with his daughter Margaret, afterwards created Duchess of
Norfolk. Its next owner was the famous Sir Walter Manny. It devolved by
heritage on Anne, daughter of the Duchess of Norfolk, and wife to John
de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke. In the reign of Henry IV. it became the
property of John Hotoft, Knight of the Shire for Herts; an eminent man
in that reign, and subsequently Treasurer to the Household of Henry IV.
His daughter married Sir Robert de Lytton, of Lytton in the Peak of
Derbyshire, Governor of Bolsover Castle, and Grand Agister of the
Forests in the Peak. His grandson (also named Robert), early in the
reign of Henry VII., purchased the property of his maternal ancestry,
and thus became Lord of Knebworth. This second Sir Robert de Lytton was
of great note and power in his time: his family had always espoused the
cause of the House of Lancaster; he fought with Henry VII. at the battle
of Bosworth, and was by that king made Keeper of the Great Wardrobe,
Under-Treasurer of the Court of Exchequer, one of the Privy Council, and
Knight of the Bath. He is mentioned by Perkin Warbeck, in one of his
manifestos, as exercising considerable influence in the councils of
Henry VII., and was one of the most powerful of that king’s supporters,
in point of possessions and descent. He held rich lordships in
Derbyshire, Cheshire, Northamptonshire, Herts, and Essex. Knebworth
became his principal residence. He enlarged the fortress, and changed
its character into the elaborate and enriched architecture, which the
part of the house now standing, and originally reconstructed by him,
still retains.
The family of Lytton had been settled in Cheshire and Derbyshire from
the period of the Conquest. Sir Giles de Lytton, nephew to the great
Hubert de Lacy, Earl of Chester, whose arms he quartered, followed
Richard III. to the Holy Land, and fought with him at Askalon. The
Lyttons continued to hold offices of state or trust under successive
monarchs till the reign of Elizabeth. Under Henry VIII., William de
Lytton was made Governor of Bulloign Castle. Under Elizabeth, Sir
Rowland de Lytton, Lord Lieutenant of Essex and Herts, commanded the
forces of those counties at Tilbury Fort; and was Captain of that flower
of English chivalry, the band of Gentlemen Pensioners, so renowned in
the reign of the Virgin Queen.[32] Sir Rowland Lytton married Anne,
daughter of Oliver, the first Lord St. John of Bletsoe, and
great-granddaughter of Margaret Beauchamp by her first husband, Sir
Oliver St. John. By her second marriage with the Duke of Somerset, this
Margaret was the grandmother of Henry VII.; so that Anne, Lady Lytton,
claimed the honour of a blood-relationship with Elizabeth, who favoured
Knebworth with several visits during her reign.
In the reign of Charles I., Sir William Lytton, Knight of the Shire for
Herts, adopted the popular cause, supported by Pym, Elliott, and
Hampden, and was one of the commissioners sent to treat with the king at
Oxford; those commissioners being chosen from the most powerful country
gentlemen of the party. He seems to have been a moderate man, and a
sincere patriot; for he opposed the ascendancy of Cromwell no less than
the despotism of Charles, and was one of the refractory members whom
Oliver confined in Hellhole. By his marriage with Ruth, daughter of Sir
Thomas Barrington, of Barrington Hall, Sir William Lytton allied his
house with the blood-royal of the Plantagenets; Ruth Barrington being
fourth in descent, through the Countess of Salisbury and Richard de la
Pole, Knight of the Garter, from George, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel,
daughter of Earl Warwick the King-maker.
In the reign of Anne, the heir-male of the Lyttons dying without issue,
the estate passed to his cousin, William Robinson, _ceu_ Norreys, of
Guersylt, Denbighshire, and Monacdhu, in Anglesey, who, on the maternal
side, descended from the Lyttons, and on his father’s, from a race still
more ancient; tracing, indeed, in a direct and acknowledged line, from
the heroes and princes of our earliest history,--Elystan Glodrydd, or
the Glorious (godson of King Athelstan), Prince of North Wales, and Lord
of all between Wye and Severn; Karadoc Vreicfras; Roderic the Great; and
Cadwallader the last of the British kings. His ancestor, Sir William
Norreys, married Anne, sister of Owen Tudor, and grand-aunt to Henry
VII. His son, Sir Robert, married Anne, daughter of Sir W. Griffiths,
Grand Chamberlain of Wales, and his name was of such eminence in the
wars of the time, that his son, according to Welsh custom, took the name
of Rob’s or Robin’s son, which was afterwards borne by the descendants
indiscriminately with the proper patronymic of Norreys. Through later
intermarriages this family claim also descent from the Norman houses of
Grosvenor, Stanley of Hooton, Brereton of Malpas, and Warburton of
Ardely. The great-granddaughter of this William Robinson, who took the
name and arms of Lytton on succeeding to the estates of his maternal
ancestry, was Elizabeth Warburton Lytton, who became sole heiress and
representative of the families of Lytton and Robinson. She married
William Earle Bulwer (brigadier-general), of Heydon Hall and Wood
Dalling, Norfolk; lands which had been in possession of his family since
the Conquest. (See Burke’s “Commoners,” and Bloomfield’s “Norfolk.”) By
this marriage there were three sons: 1st, William Lytton Bulwer, the
present possessor of Heydon; 2nd, the Right Hon. Henry Lytton Bulwer,
Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid, to whom his grandmother
bequeathed a considerable fortune; and Sir Edward Bulwer, Bart., who
succeeded to his mother by will, in December 1843, and took the surname
and arms of Lytton.
The ancient house of Knebworth is described in an early number of the
“Gentleman’s Magazine.” It was a large quadrangular building, the front,
or east side, being part of the early fortress, and dating as far back
as the time of Edward III. Three sides of the pile were, however,
removed, as both too vast and too ruinous to inhabit, by the late Mrs.
Bulwer Lytton; and the fourth side, which was built in the reign of
Henry VII. by Sir Robert Lytton, forms the present residence. It was
repaired and restored by Mrs. Bulwer Lytton and the present possessor,
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
The house stands on what Sir Henry Chauncy calls “a dry hill in a fair
large park, stocked with the best deer in the county, excellent timber
and well wooded, and from whence you may behold a most lovely prospect
to the east.”
The exterior consists of two wings of the purest Tudor architecture,
flanked by highly ornamented turrets, surmounted with cupolas and gilded
vanes. The windows are all in stone mullions with small panes, and most
of them in stained glass. At the east or entrance-front is a tall square
tower, with flag turret and massive projecting porch. The west or
garden-front is peculiarly elaborate, and covered with the profuse
heraldry of the period, in arms, rebuses, badges, &c. The centre is
formed by a circular tower, squared towards the base, with projecting
embayed window, and the initials R. L. (Robert Lytton), with the date
1499, over the door. On this side, a garden stretches into the park,
laid out in the style favoured in the reign of James I., with
stone-pierced balustrades, straight walks, statues, and elaborate
parterres. The other sides of the house, viz. the north and east, are
approached by stately avenues of limes and chestnuts.
On entering through the porch there is a narrow corridor, covered with
armour of different dates. Over a door leading to the butteries hang a
crusader’s chain-mail, and the gigantic double-handed swords of the same
age. But the chief part of the armour here is of the more recent date of
the Civil Wars.
On entering the park from the London road is a picturesque Lodge, which
formed part
[Illustration]
of the ancient gateway in front of the quadrangle, and was removed by
Mrs. Bulwer Lytton to the present site. The road winds through a richly
wooded deer-park for about three-quarters of a mile, and, skirting the
garden-front, approaches the house at the east.
The Mausoleum, a beautiful Palladian building of stone erected by Mrs.
Bulwer Lytton, and the grey, venerable Church, which stands within the
park, about one hundred yards from the house, partially serve to break
the wide prospect to which Sir Henry Chauncy refers.
To the left is the Screen Hall, about fifty-six feet long, twenty-four
broad, and thirty in height; the ceiling of this hall is of the date of
Henry VII., the screen was added in the reign of Elizabeth, and the arms
of Sir Rowland Lytton, quartering those of Booth and Oke, of which
families he was heir-male, are carved on the panels. Above the screen is
the Minstrels’ Gallery. The oak panels that surround the hall and ascend
to a considerable height, with the columns at the extreme end, are of
the date of Charles I., and above them are carved deers’ heads with
gigantic antlers. There are three figures in complete knight’s armour in
this hall, of the several dates of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and James
I.; and trophies, of the dates of Elizabeth and Charles I., are
suspended on the piers between three Gothic pierced windows. The
fire-dogs on the ample hearth are peculiarly massive, and of the time of
Henry VII., having the supporters assumed by Sir Robert de Lytton. One
of the doors at the extreme end is connected with a curious relique of
ancient manners, of which a few similar instances are still to be found
in our old halls; it leads to a spacious cellar raised on arches, to
which it was the custom, in the less sober age of our fathers, for the
revellers to retire after dinner, with the noble design to drink out a
bin undisturbed. The corresponding door gives access to the Oak
Drawing-room, a room thirty-six feet in length, paneled in deep
wainscot, with a curious and massive chimneypiece rising to the ceiling,
and carved with the arms and supporters of Lytton. The upper
compartments of the stone mullion windows are emblazoned with the arms
of Booth, Godmanston, and Oke; quarterings brought into the family by
the marriage of Sir W. Lytton (temp. Henry VIII.) with the heiress of
the Booths. This room is hung round with portraits, chiefly those of the
family, but with some of a more general interest. There are small heads
of Elizabeth, Mary Stuart, and Cardinal Wolsey, a fine portrait of
Algernon Sidney in his youth, another of Andrew Marvel, two by Rubens of
the Duke of Alba and Clara Eugenia, one of Galileo, and one of the
Elector Palatine, husband to Elizabeth Stuart. This room communicates
with the Library; a spacious apartment, with one large deep-set oriel
window, facing the garden. The bookcases, of carved Gothic work in dark
oak (surmounted by the crest of Norreys, the Cornish chough, which,
according to Welsh heraldry, denotes royal descent), line the room
throughout. The chimneypiece, of carved stone, is blazoned with the arms
of Grosvenor, Stanley, and Robinson, Beaufort, St. John, and Lytton; and
the stained glass of the windows contains other armorial bearings of the
joint descents of the families of Lytton and Robinson. In this room are
two antique tall bronze candelabra, with lamps inlaid with silver, which
were dug up in Apulia, and purchased by Sir Edward at Naples. The
Neapolitan government refused for a long time to permit them to leave
the country, and it was only upon the decision of a learned antiquary,
that they were of the date of Joan of Naples, and not Roman antiquities,
that they were consigned to their present proprietor. Assuming that date
to be correct, though there is strong evidence to believe them genuinely
Roman, they are wonderfully well preserved, and their shape and form are
of exquisite taste and workmanship. From this room we pass to the
Staircase, formed by a double flight of oak stairs, with curiously
wrought balusters, ornamented with lions supporting armorial shields.
Two long mullion windows with richly stained glass, illustrating the
descent of Ruth, Lady Lytton, from the Neviles and Plantagenets, light
this interesting part of the house. The walls are covered with armour,
banners, and portraits; among the last is a full-length of the Regent
Murray, another half-length of Henry, Prince of Wales, and a vast
equestrian portrait of the Emperor Charles V.: the rest are family
portraits, including one of Sir Edward by Von Holst. Ascending the
flight to the right, we pass through a carved screen-work into the
lobby, leading to the State Apartments, four in number. The first is a
small square room, extremely curious from the antiquity of its
decorations. The wainscot, in oak carving, represents the Cardinal
Virtues; the walls are covered with gilt stamped leather, and the
ceiling is blazoned with heraldry. In this room are some interesting
portraits, viz. of the Earl of Strafford and his widow, of Lord Darnley,
of Sir Philip Sidney, said to be given by him to Sir Rowland Lytton, of
Sir Robert Cecil (first Lord Salisbury), said also to be a gift, of
Bussy d’Amboise, _homme de sang et de feu_, and Sir Francis Russell, who
married a daughter of Sir William Lytton. There is a curious oak
cabinet, of the reign of Henry VIII., in this room. Passing through a
carved oak door we enter the next in the suite, a somewhat long but
narrow room, hung with rich tapestry glitteringly wrought in bugles.
Between the windows is a superb Venetian cabinet, in tortoiseshell and
silver. There is a picture by Rembrandt, called “_The Magician’s
Study_,” over one of the doors; and above the high oak chimneypiece is a
portrait of the young Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I.
Folding-doors open from this room into the oval room, and thence into
the principal drawing-room, formerly called the Presence Chamber. These
rooms are decorated en suite; the ceilings represent nearly ninety
quarterings, and the frieze the principal descents, by alliance, from
the Tudors and Plantagenets; corresponding heraldic devices are blazoned
on the windows of the whole suite. The walls are in green and gold,
depicting the crests, badges, and motto of the family. There are several
excellent pictures in these rooms; viz. a “_Magdalene_,” by Carlo Dolce,
in his best manner; a most beautiful “_Madonna_,” by Gallego, a Spanish
artist little known in this country, but of high repute in his own: he
was a pupil of Albert Durer. Nothing can exceed the finish and exquisite
colouring of this lovely picture. There is also a “_Holy Family_,” by
Albert Durer; the head of the Virgin is beautiful. “_The Flight into
Egypt_,” by N.Poussin; a portrait of Marie de Medici by Tintoretto; and
the celebrated masterpiece of Lancret, so often engraved, of “_The
Dancing Group_.” There is also a charming bit by Charles le Brun; a
portrait of Edward VI., given by him to Sir William Lytton; an
“_Oriental Fair_,” finely painted, the artist unknown; a
“_Battle-piece_” by Wouvermans; a landscape by Salvator Rosa, “_Acis and
Galatea_;” and four full-length family portraits connected with the
genealogical decorations of the apartments.
The furniture throughout this suite corresponds with the antiquity of
the apartments and character of the decorations, comprising some rare
and genuine examples of the taste of our forefathers. There are, in
particular, two tables in ivory and ebony of the reign of Henry VIII.;
two cabinets in oak and gold of that of Henry VII.; an early Venetian
table of extreme beauty; and several chairs in the old Genoese cloth of
gold, as fresh as if wrought but yesterday. Here are also two of the
ivory and gold chairs formerly belonging to Tippoo Saib, presented by
Lord Wellesley to Queen Charlotte, and sold after her death; and some
fine specimens of sculpture on marble pedestals: the “_Laura_” of
Canova; the “_Mercury_,” and “_Shepherd’s Boy_” of Thorwaldsen; the
“_Flora_” of Gibson, presented to Sir Edward by that exquisite artist;
and the busts of the four Italian poets, Petrarch, Ariosto, Dante, and
Tasso, in alabaster. At the end of the old Presence Chamber formerly ran
the Picture Gallery, removed by Mrs. Bulwer Lytton. The suite now
terminates by a stained glass window, on which is painted the
full-length of Henry VII. with the subjoined inscription:--
“_King Henry the VII., to whose blood are akin the heirs of Sir Robert
de Lytton of Knebworth, K.B., Privy Councillor and Keeper of the Great
Wardrobe, A.D. 1508; 1st. by Margret Beauchamp, from whom descended Anne
St. John, wife of Sir Rowland Lytton, temp. Elizabeth. 2dly. by Anne,
sister of Sir Owen Tudor and wife of Sir William Norreys, temp. Henry
VII., from whom descended William Robinson Lytton, temp. Anne._”
The chimneypiece is a beautiful Gothic specimen of carved stone gilt and
blazoned, with the following punning motto on the frieze,--“_A Dieu foy,
aulx amys foyer._”
Returning to the staircase we descend the first flight, and turning to
that at the left pass by a full-length statue, in carved wood, of Sir
Walter Raleigh; to a lobby, communicating on one hand with the
Minstrels’ Gallery, on the other, through a very curious oak door, to
the Round-Tower Chamber. This last is covered with stamped leather,
white and gold, and commands, from the deep-set window, a beautiful view
of the gardens. It contains portraits of Madame Dubarry, mistress to
Louis XV.; of Ninon de l’Enclos; and one or two other persons of better
repute: amongst them, Viscountess Falkland, daughter of Sir Rowland
Lytton--a charming face. In a lobby adjoining the tower is a stone bust
of Prince Charles Edward. In the Music Gallery is a long picture of
“_Moses in the Bulrushes_,” which unluckily hides the old _œil de bœuf_,
so rare in English halls. A corridor leads from the Music Gallery to the
principal sleeping chambers, which are, for the most part, in character
with the rest of the house.
The _Falkland Room_ is uniformly in the style of Charles II., with
family portraits of that date: viz. Margaret, daughter of Sir William
Lytton, and wife of Viscount Hewyt; another daughter, Dorothy, wife of
Sir Francis Barrington of Barrington; a third, Judith, married to Sir
Nicholas Strode; and fourth, Elizabeth, married to W. Windham of
Felbrigge, ancestor of the celebrated statesman. Over the chimneypiece
hangs a half-length of Charles II. in armour.
Another room, called _the Hampden_, is of a much earlier style of
decoration and furniture than that which the name betokens. The curious
old bed, the wardrobe, chimneypiece, &c., are about the time of Henry
VIII. or Edward VI.
But the two most interesting rooms in this part of the house are, 1st,
that called Queen Elizabeth’s, which is carved entirely, with
magnificent old tapestry in fine preservation, and in which are a vast
bed of carved oak, a rude chimneypiece supported by quaint stone
figures, &c.; 2d, the room called Mrs. Bulwer Lytton’s, and occupied by
her in her lifetime. This contrasts with the rest of the house, and is
entirely modern. The walls, paneled in wainscot, white and gold, are
hung round with her own drawings and paintings, some of which are of no
common merit for a lady artist; here also are collected the portraits of
her immediate family, her three sons, her mother, Sir Edward’s children,
&c. But the feeling which dictated the character of this room is best
told, perhaps, by the following inscription over the chimneypiece:--
“_This room, long occupied by Elizabeth Bulwer Lytton, and containing
the relics most associated with her memory, her Son trusts that her
descendants will preserve unaltered. Liberis Virtutis exemplar._”
The Village is long, straggling, primitive, and rural; the cottages
neat, and all provided with gardens. In the centre is an alms-house for
widows, built by the late Mrs. Bulwer Lytton, whose interest in all
that concerned the poor of the neighbourhood, or the maintenance of the
several duties connected with property, is visible everywhere.
[Illustration]
The Church of Knebworth is worth visiting. In the private Chapel of the
family are some very beautiful and costly marble monuments to several of
the Lyttons, surmounted by faded banners, and the crested
helmets of some of that line, said, by Mr. Pratt, to be among the finest
and rarest specimens he has seen in England: their dates appear to be
those of Henry IV., Henry VII., and Elizabeth.
A very interesting little tale was published in the last century, called
“Jenny Spinner, or the Hertfordshire Ghost,” the scene and incidents of
which are laid at Knebworth, and founded upon the traditional
superstition that in certain apartments, called “the Haunted Rooms,” the
whirr of a spinning-wheel was heard at night. The book is extremely
rare, and appears to have furnished Sir Walter Scott with the idea of
the parish-clerk of Gandercleugh, in “Old Mortality.”
As the seat and residence of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart., the
accomplished Author who occupies so prominent a position in the Literary
History of the age and country, Knebworth cannot fail to possess an
interest beyond that which it derives from antiquity and picturesque
character; we, therefore, have devoted to it greater space than we are
usually able to appropriate to a single subject.
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. L. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
HINCHINBROOK]
HINCHINBROOK HOUSE,
HUNTINGDONSHIRE.
[Illustration: H]INCHINBROOK--the seat and residence of John William
Montagu, seventh Earl of Sandwich--is situated within “a short mile” of
the ancient town of Huntingdon. Few mansions in England possess a deeper
interest, or have weightier associations connected with them; for,
although not actually born within these walls, here the Protector,
Oliver Cromwell, passed many of his boyish days: here occurred not a few
of the incidents which formed his character; and here, probably,
originated that peculiar temperament which afterwards gave birth to
mighty issues.
The House stands upon the site of a very ancient Priory of Benedictine
Nuns, said to have been founded by the Conqueror; the “holy ladies”
having been removed thither from Eltesly, in Cambridgeshire, where,
according to Leland, “was sumtyme a Nunnery, where Pandonia, the
Scottish virgine, was buried, and where there is a Well of her name yn
the south side of the quire.” The site of this Priory was granted--29
Henry VIII.,--to Sir Richard Williams, the lineal representative of the
Welsh Lords of Cardigan and Powis, whose father having married the
sister of the famous Earl of Essex, assumed the name of CROMWELL. Sir
Richard rose rapidly into favour with his uncle’s imperious master, the
Eighth Henry, obtained the lucrative appointment of one of the Visitors
of Religious Houses, and on the Dissolution had a lion’s share of rich
Abbey lands; becoming, in consequence, one of the wealthiest commoners
of England. In 1546, he was succeeded by his son, Sir Henry, called,
from the liberality of his largesses, “the golden knight.” By him the
mansion at Hinchinbrook was built, partly out of the materials of the
adjacent nunnery, the memory of which is still preserved by the names,
“Nun’s Bridge,” and “Nun’s Meadow,” continued by tradition to places on
the west side of the park. In 1564, the mansion had the honour of
receiving Queen Elizabeth as a guest. Sir Henry left a large family. Sir
Oliver inherited Hinchinbrook, and Robert, the second son, was the
father of the Protector. The uncle was also the godfather of Oliver
Cromwell; and in this house many of his boyish days were passed.
From causes insufficiently explained, the revenue of Sir Oliver
dwindled; and, being under the necessity of alienating part of his
hereditary estates, he sold Hinchinbrook to Sir Sidney Montagu, of
Barnwell, knight--the ancestor of the present Earl of Sandwich--in whose
family it has since remained. Thus, the heir apparent, afterwards the
Protector, instead of inheriting a large patrimony, had but a poor
prospect; his father, to augment his income, became a brewer, dwelling
in a comparatively “meane house within the towne;”[33] and it is matter
for curious speculation how far the visits of James I. to Sir Oliver
impaired the fortunes of the house, and the consequent impoverishment
may have biassed the character of his nephew; who, possibly, if he had
been heir to the enormous estates acquired by his grandfather, might
have been contented with his destiny, and have never drawn a sword which
continued out of the scabbard until a monarch had perished on a
scaffold.[34] In Huntingdon, Oliver Cromwell was born, on the 25th
April, 1599, “by birth,”--as he described himself in Parliament
fifty-five years afterwards,--“a gentleman, to live neither at any
considerable height nor yet in obscurity;” and in the church which
adjoined his father’s house, the church of St. John, long ago removed,
he was christened, four days afterwards, as appears by the entry (of
which we made a fac-simile copy) in the books, now preserved in the
church of All-Saints.
[Illustration]
Above this entry some loyalist had written, “England’s plague for five
years,” which the pen of some Parliamentarian had afterwards struck
through. The hand-writing of this pithy sentence seems, to judge from
the characters and the ink, nearly as old as the registry itself.
Fortunately there is one object associated with the early life of
“Oliver, Lord Protector,” which the rude hand of a modern Vandal has not
been able to desecrate or even touch. The Grammar School remains
uninjured even by time; it stands
[Illustration]
in the centre of the Town, opposite to All-Saints Church;[35] and in its
interior as well as exterior seems to have undergone very little change
since Oliver’s master, Dr. Beard, flogged him there--as tradition saith
he did--for dreaming that “he saw a gigantic figure come to his bedside,
and tell him he should be greater than a King;” and where, not long
afterwards--it is said, on the same authority--while acting the part of
“Tactus” in the play of “Lingua,” it was his business to “stumble at a
crown and regalia,” and to repeat the lines commencing--
“Was ever man so fortunate as I,
To break his shins at such a stumbling-block.”
The ancient and venerable school-room, retaining, as it does, so much of
its primitive character, is an object of intense interest; the thick
walls, with their latticed windows, seem utterly unchanged; the very
desks, heavy with ink blotches, and the deeply-carved names of hundreds
of heedless urchins, may have been--possibly are--the very desks at
which young Oliver sate, when “now a hard student for a week or two, and
then a truant or otioso for twice as many months.”
In this town, which he afterwards represented in Parliament, he passed
not only his boyhood, but the years of his prime; selling, in 1631, the
small remnant of his property there, and removing to St. Ives, whence,
on the death of his maternal uncle, Sir Thomas Steward, he removed, in
1636, to the Isle of Ely. It was at Huntingdon, however, he made his
first essays in the cause of Freedom. Here, in 1639, he met the King’s
Commissioners, who were working injustice towards those who had
reclaimed the Fens; here he argued with and confuted them; boldly
confronting the Crown-partisans, and thwarting the measures of the
Court; so that thenceforward, until he achieved a higher title, he
obtained the popular appellation of “Lord of the Fens.”
During his greatness, his native town seems to have seen very little of
him; his fate was perhaps that of prophets generally, who “have no
honour in their own country.” It is on record, however, that one day
marching through it, he met in the main street a reverend divine, by
whom his life had been saved from drowning when a boy. On reminding the
clergyman of the fact, “the general” received for answer, “Yes, I well
remember it, and wish I had put you in, rather than see you thus in arms
against your King.”[36]
Hinchinbrook House is scarcely less intimately connected with Oliver’s
early history, than is Huntingdon town; independently, therefore, of its
intrinsic value, its associations
[Illustration]
are of surpassing interest; and it is surrounded by very valuable
remains of antiquity--the ancient borough of Godmanchester[37] being
especially rich in relics of very olden times. The reader will perhaps
consider we have done well in procuring a copy of one of them--the old
Court-House--the speedy removal of which is one of the “threats” of the
age. Causes tried “in open court” is a phrase familiar to all; but in
ancient times, the courts were literally “open”--not to suitors alone,
but to wind and weather. That at Godmanchester continued “open” until
the passing of the Reform Bill. It stands in the middle of the highway
where two roads meet, and is a venerable building of timber and
plaster, having upon its front the date 1679; probably that of its
latest alteration or reparation--for some portions of the building are
certainly much older. It is inclosed in a small court-yard by a mud
wall; and remained perfectly “open” up to the memorable year 1832, when
for the comfort and convenience of a
[Illustration]
new race of Aldermen, unaccustomed to privations, it was bricked and
plastered in. Here then, until within the last few years, was justice
ministered openly as in the most ancient times, when a broad tree not
unfrequently formed the sole shelter for judge and people. Down to a
comparatively late period the law courts were thus held both in
Guildhall and Westminster-hall, in London. In a much earlier age
Parliament was similarly seated; Richard II. erected for the Members a
temporary wooden house, while rebuilding Westminster-hall; and this
house was open on all sides to the weather and to all men; the members
being protected by 4,000 Archers placed around them by the King--“to
secure freedom of debate,” as Pennant slily remarks. Such open
meeting-houses were by no means uncommon in the olden time; the
Godmanchester Court-house is interesting as the last remaining relic of
the custom. Another valuable relic of antiquity we found in the Church
of Godmanchester; chained to the pulpit was a poor-box formed of oak
strongly banded with iron. We thought it desirable to preserve a copy of
it, which we have given above.
Hinchinbrook, as we have stated, passed from the family of Cromwell to
that of Montagu; having been purchased by Sir Sydney Montagu, in 1627.
It is the present
[Illustration]
seat and residence of his lineal descendant, John William, the seventh
Earl of Sandwich--a family ennobled by talent and bravery, but also by
remote and honourable descent. Although the venerable structure has
undergone sundry changes, chiefly the consequence of a fire which
consumed a considerable portion of it in 1828, it retains much of its
original character. The court-yard, reached through a winding avenue of
trees, is entered through a singularly picturesque gate-way, which forms
the subject of the appended engraving. It is built of stone,
embellished and carved with more than ordinary skill. The gates are of
thick oak; there are two--one to open and give admission to carriages,
the other to foot passengers, who are protected by a solid balustrade,
also of oak.[38]
The exterior, as we have intimated, has been considerably impaired by
fire; and sufficient care does not appear to have been taken with its
subsequent restoration. Notwithstanding, it continues to “display in its
parts the architectural taste of the earliest as well as of the latest
period of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, possessing the irregularity of design
peculiar to the era.” The bay-windows are profusely embellished with
shields of the family of Cromwell, the arms of Queen Elizabeth, and “a
variety of heraldic cognizances denoting the honours of the Tudor
line,--the falcon, the portcullis, a ton with a branch, and roses of
different forms, which are upon the upper cornice of each window.” The
interior has been almost entirely modernized; but the “furnishing” is in
good taste, and is made to harmonize as nearly as possible with the era
in which the fame of the venerable structure was achieved. The walls are
covered with family portraits--principally the “living likenesses” of
Lely. The library is of oak--richly and elaborately carved by the hand
of some great old master.
[Illustration:
J. Holland, Delᵗ. on Stone, by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
CHARLTON HOUSE, KENT]
CHARLTON HOUSE,
KENT.
[Illustration: C]HARLTON--according to Philipott, “anciently written
Ceorleton, that is the town inhabited with honest, good, stout, and
usefull men, for tillage and countrye businesse,” the name being derived
from the Saxon word Ceorle, a husbandman, “from which radix ‘Churle’
cometh,” and so Churleston, whence Charlton--is a village in Kent
distant seven miles from London, and standing on the summit of a hill,
which commands an extensive view of the Thames, and the opposite shores
of Essex county.[39] In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the Manor was
held by two brothers, Godwin and Alward; the Conqueror bestowed it upon
his half brother Odo, Bishop of Baieux; subsequently, it came into the
possession of Robert Bloett, Bishop of Lincoln, who gave it, about the
year 1093, to the Prior and Monks of Bermondsey. After the suppression
of that Monastery, it passed into the hands, severally, of Sir Thomas
White, Anne Lady Parry, and Thomas Fortescue. In 1604, it was granted by
James the First to John Earl of Mar, by whom it was sold immediately
afterwards to Sir James Erskine, who re-sold it, in 1607, to Sir Adam
Newton; his son, Sir Henry Newton, (who had taken the name of
Puckering,) “a great royalist who suffered much by sequestration,”[40]
alienated it in 1659, to Sir William Ducie,[41] afterwards Viscount
Downe, by whose representatives it was disposed of to Sir William
Langhorne, an East India merchant; from him, failing male issue,
inherited “his kinswoman,” Mrs. Margaret Maryon, widow, whose son John
bequeathed it to his niece, whose daughter Jane inheriting, conveyed it
by marriage to Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, Bart., whose grandson, Sir
Thomas Maryon Wilson, Bart., now possesses the estate.
The Wilsons are a family of great antiquity, descended from William
Welson or Wilson, chancellor to William the Conqueror:--From Thomas
Wilson, of Elton, in Yorkshire, 1250, was descended Sir Thomas Wilson,
Knight, LL.D., Dean of Durham, principal Secretary of State to Queen
Elizabeth; not only an able statesman, but one of the most eminent
scholars of that age. He was knighted and made Dean of Durham and Master
of St. Katherine’s, near the Tower, by Queen Elizabeth, in reward for
important and continued services. The baronetcy was conferred, in 1660,
upon his descendant, William Wilson, of East-bourne, son and heir of
John Wilson, of Sheffield-place, Sussex, for his fidelity and
distinguished conduct on the side of the monarchy, during the civil
wars. The present baronet is the eighth in succession; a magistrate for
Kent, Sussex, and Surrey; a deputy-lieutenant, and captain in the West
Kent Militia; and was High Sheriff of Kent in 1828. Sir Thomas is also
Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, where he inherited considerable
property.
The Manor House of Charlton was built by Sir Adam Newton, between the
years 1607 and 1612. Sir Adam was tutor to Prince Henry, the son of
James the First; and, according to contemporary authorities, it was
erected for the Prince, a statement which receives confirmation from the
royal arms placed over one of the recesses of the saloon, while the
plume of ostrich feathers--the cognizance of the Prince--occupies a
similar position opposite.[42] Evelyn speaks of it as “a faire house
built for Prince Henry.”[43] The interest of Charlton House is greatly
enhanced by the fact that here was formed the mind of the estimable
youth; here he was trained to virtue. After the lamented death of his
beloved pupil, Mr. Newton, “though made treasurer to Prince Charles,
spent the remainder of his days chiefly in study and retirement.”
The Mansion, as we have intimated, stands on the summit of a hill, which
overlooks the Thames. The trees, by which it is surrounded, are of
magnificent growth. Hasted speaks of a long row of cypress trees, “which
seem to be of great age, and are, perhaps, the oldest in England; “they
have all--save one--been removed by the hand of Time. The ancient
gateway, now disused, immediately fronts the principal entrance; (we
have adopted it as our initial letter). It is a remarkably elegant
erection, attributed, not without reason, to Inigo Jones, who resided
for some time in a house, still standing, in the immediate
neighbourhood. The Mansion forms an oblong square, with projections at
the end of each front, crowned by turrets, and an open stone balustrade
of peculiar character, carried round the summit of the front. The centre
projects; on either side of the arched entrance, surmounted by a niche,
are two Corinthian pillars; above are two pillars carved in grotesque
ornaments; the projection, running to the roof, being richly decorated
with carved cornices and brackets.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The spacious Hall is of oak, panelled, and has a gallery at the western
end, of comparatively recent date; the centre drop depending from the
ceiling, ornamented only at the angles, possesses great beauty. At the
bottom of the grand staircase is the dining-room; and adjoining to this
the Chapel, the ancient doors of both being beautifully carved in oak.
The staircase leading to the principal apartments, which are on the
upper floor, is of massive chesnut, its arabesque balusters being
surmounted by capitals of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. On
the upper floor are the saloon, long gallery, and suite of
drawing-rooms, all with highly-wrought chimney-pieces, in stone or
marble, and ornamented ceilings. The ceiling of the saloon is composed
of exquisitely-worked arabesque ornaments intermixed with fruit and
flowers, and decorated with pendants. The chimney-piece is of alabaster
and black marble, in which the Greek and arabesque are united, supported
by two finely-sculptured figures of Vulcan and Venus. The gallery, 76
feet in length, is of panelled oak, with an elaborately-wrought
arabesque ceiling. Between the gallery and the saloon is the
chimney-piece here represented. It is carved with the story of Medusa,
underneath which
[Illustration]
are two allegorical basso-relievos. In the drawing-room, on the other
side of the saloon, is a chimney-piece, “so highly polished,” that--if
we may credit the testimony of Dr. Plot--“the Lord of Downe did see in
it a robbery committed on Shooter’s Hill; whereupon sending out his
servants the thieves were taken.”
The House contains a good collection of family portraits, and a Museum
of curious and interesting objects in Natural History, gathered chiefly
by the late Lady Wilson, and augmented by the present Baronet during
travels in the North and South of Europe.
The Park--although small, containing about 100 acres--is exceedingly
beautiful; full of finely-grown trees, among which are several yews of
venerable antiquity, a perfect avenue of which still leads to the garden
north of the House. The gardens are laid out with considerable taste,
and abound in shrubs brought from various parts of the world. The
annexed print represents a graceful and picturesque “drinking-house,” in
the grounds fronting the Mansion; overlooking it is the solitary tree of
cypress, the only one which endures of the “Row” of which Evelyn
speaks.[44]
Charlton Village, until late in the last century, was famous for a
“disorderly fair” called “Horn Fair,” according to Philipott, “by reason
of the great plentie of all sorts of winding hornes and cups and other
vessels of horne there brought to be sold.” That which had been
instituted for a useful purpose degenerated in time, and became a
nuisance to the neighbourhood, until its excesses were suppressed by the
grandfather of
[Illustration]
the present Baronet.[45] It is now held in a field at the end of the
village, and is one of the most orderly fairs in the neighbourhood of
the Metropolis.
The present Church of Charlton is of a date a little more recent than
the Mansion.--It is built, however, on the site, and partly with the
materials, of an ancient structure. It is dedicated to St. Luke, and
seems to have been surrendered to the crown with the Manor of Charlton,
and the rest of the possessions of St. Saviour’s, at its dissolution,
June 1st, anno 29 King Henry the Eighth, 1537, and to have remained part
of the Royal demesnes till James the First granted it with the Manor to
Sir Adam Newton, who dying before he was enabled to repair or rebuild
it, “left,” according to Philipott, “the care with his cost, to enlarge
and beautify God’s house,” to his executors, who “most amply discharged
that trust, and in a manner new builded a great part thereof, and
erected the steeple new from the ground, and furnished it with a good
ring of bells, decorating the same Church without and within so worthily
that it surpasseth most in the shire.” The Patron of the Church is Sir
Thomas Maryon Wilson; the Rector is the Rev. Arthur Drummond, who
married a sister of the present baronet. The structure is of red brick,
consisting of a Chancel, a Nave, and North Aisle. At the West end is a
square brick Tower embattled. In the Windows of the Chancel are several
Coats of Arms in stained glass--principally those of Lee Warner, Bishop
of Rochester; Newton (uncle of Sir Adam, one of his executors) Blunt, of
Wricklemarsh; Peto, quartering Langley and Loges; Puckering; Sir William
Langhorne, impaling Manners,--Sir William’s first wife being a daughter
of the Earl of Rutland; Puckering impaling Chowne, Wilson quartering
Smythe, Haddon, and Weller, &c.
The Church contains Monuments to Sir Adam Newton, the founder of the
Mansion, and his Lady, with a Latin inscription written by himself; of
Sir William Langhorne and his wife Grace, daughter of John, Earl of
Rutland, and relict of Viscount Armagh; Brigadier Michael Richards,
Surveyor-general of Ordnance to George the First; James Craggs, Esq.,
Postmaster-general, 1721;[46] John Turnpenny, Esq., “who by industry
acquired, by economy improved, and with equity dispensed, a considerable
fortune among his surviving friends”; Sir John Lambert Middleton, Bart.;
Edward Falkingham, Esq., Comptroller of the Navy, 1757; and of the
father and grandfather and other members of the family of the present
baronet. A bust by Chantrey, with an inscription, is also placed here
over the remains of the amiable and excellent Right Hon. Spencer
Perceval, who fell by the hand of an assassin, when Prime Minister of
the country, in 1812. He married Jane, second daughter of Sir T. Spencer
Wilson. The lamented Edward Drummond, also the victim of assassination,
having been mistaken by the murderer for Sir R. Peel, to whom he was
private secretary, is buried in a vault in the churchyard. He was
brother of the present rector.
Few mansions of its date--although that date is no more remote than the
beginning of the seventeenth century--have retained, with less injury,
the peculiar characteristics of the age of James the First. The present
estimable possessor is fortunately anxious to preserve it in its purity;
the necessary repairs have been conducted with judgment and taste; and,
as an example of the architecture of the period, it may be regarded with
exceeding pleasure--a pleasure enhanced by its vicinity to the
Metropolis.
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
COBHAM HALL, KENT.]
COBHAM HALL,
KENT.
[Illustration: T]HE COUNTY OF KENT holds foremost rank among the Shires
of England; not alone because of its picturesque beauty, its great
fertility, the full and important page it occupies in British history,
the abundance and richness of its antiquities, the peculiarities of its
laws, the primitive character of its customs, or its ecclesiastical
pre-eminence; but, chiefly, because it is regarded as our great Island
bulwark--our “Vanguard of liberty,”--
“A soil that doth advance
A haughty brow against the coast of France.”
Very few of our counties contain so many perfect examples of structures
such as it is our purpose to depict. THE BARONIAL HALLS of Kent, and the
ANCIENT CHURCHES of Kent, are among the most remarkable, picturesque,
and unimpaired EDIFICES of the kingdom. Upon Kent, therefore, we shall
draw rather extensively for the present Work; and although necessarily
discursive, we may derive from the vast store of wealth with which it
supplies us, ample to excite and interest the lover of picturesque
beauty and antiquity. Its proximity to the Metropolis--from which, if we
measure distances by time, it is separated by little more than two
hours--supplies a sufficient motive for the selection of COBHAM HALL,
and the several striking objects in its immediate vicinity. It is
situated about four miles south-east of Gravesend, nearly midway between
that town and Rochester; but a mile or so out of the direct road. The
narrow coach-paths which lead to it are shaded by pleasant hedge-rows,
and run between lines of hop-gardens--our English vineyards, infinitely
more graceful and beautiful accessories to the landscape than the
stunted grape-shrubberies of France.
The mansion stands in the midst of scenery of surpassing loveliness;
alternating hill and valley, rich in “patrician trees” and “plebeian
underwood;” dotted with pretty cottages, and interspersed with
primitive villages; while, here and there, are scattered “old houses” of
red brick, with their carved wooden gables and tall twisted chimneys;
and glimpses are caught, occasionally, of the all-glorious Thames.
A visit to Cobham Hall, therefore, furnishes a most refreshing and
invigorating luxury to dwellers in the Metropolis; and the liberality of
its noble owner adds to the rich banquet of Nature as rare a treat as
can be supplied by Art; the Hall,--independent of the interest it
derives from its quaint architecture--its fine, although not unmixed,
remains of the Tudor style--contains a gallery of pictures by the best
masters of the most famous schools, large in number and of rare
value.[47]
Before we commence our description of the Hall, the Demesne, the Church,
the College, and the village of Cobham,[48] it is necessary that we
supply some information concerning the several families, under whose
guardianship they have flourished.
Cobham Hall has not descended from sire to son through many generations.
Its present lord is in no way, or at least very remotely, connected with
the ancient family who for centuries governed the “men of Kent;” and
who, at one period, possessed power second only to that of the
sovereign. That race of bold barons has been long extinct, the last of
them dying in miserable poverty; and if their proud blood is still to be
found within their once princely barony, it runs, probably, through the
veins of some tiller of the soil.
The Cobhams had been famous from the earliest recorded times. In
Philipott’s “Survey of Kent,” 1659--it is said that “Cobham afforded a
seat and a surname to that noble and splendid family; and certainly,”
adds the quaint old writer, “this place was the cradle or seminary of
persons who, in elder ages, were invested in places of as signall and
principall a trust or eminence, as they could move in, in the narrow
orbe of a particular county.” Henry de Cobham was one of the
Recognitores magnæ assisæ--who were “in some proportion equivalent to
the judges itinerant”--in the first year of King John. No less than four
Kentish gentlemen of the name embarked with the first Edward in his
“victorious and triumphant expedition into Scotland,” and were knighted
for services rendered to that Prince in his “successful and auspicious
siege of Carlaverock.” With John de Cobham, distinguished in the reign
of Edward the Third, the male line determined; Joan, his daughter, is
said to have had five husbands, by only one of whom,[49] Sir Reginald
Braybrooke, she left issue, Joan, who being married to Sir Thomas Broke,
of the county of Somerset, Esq., “knitt Cobham, and a large income
beside, to her husband’s patrimony.”[50] Their eldest son, Sir Edward
Broke, was summoned to Parliament, as Baron Cobham, in the 23 Henry VI.
In 1559, Sir William Broke entertained Queen Elizabeth at Cobham Hall,
in the first year of her reign, “with a noble welcome as she took her
progress through the county of Kent.” His son and successor, Henry Lord
Cobham, was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; but “being too deeply
concerned in the design of Sir Walter Raleigh,” he was deprived of his
estates, “though not his life.”[51] His younger brother, George, was
executed; but Lord Cobham “lived many years after in great misery and
poverty,” dying in January, 1619; and sharing the humble grave of some
lowly peasant, apart from the magnificent tombs which cover the remains
of his great and gallant ancestors. He is said, by Weldon, to have been
reduced to such extreme necessity, that “he had starved, but for a
trencher-scraper, sometime his servant at Court, who relieved him with
scraps.” His estates, at the time of their confiscation, are estimated
to have been worth 7,000_l._ per annum; and he possessed 30,000_l._ in
goods and chattels. His nephew was “restored in blood; “but not to the
title or property. These were transferred--“the manor and seat of Cobham
Hall, and the rest of Lord Cobham’s lands”--by James the First to one of
his kinsmen, Ludovick Stuart, Duke of Lennox; whose male line became
extinct in 1672. The Lady Katherine, sister of the last Duke of Richmond
and Lennox, married into the princely family of the O’Briens of Thomond;
but the Duke “dying greatly in debt,” the estates were sold. Cobham Hall
was purchased by the second husband of the Lady Katherine, Sir Joseph
Williamson, who resided there for some time.[52] In 1701 he died,
bequeathing two-thirds of his property to his widow. This proportion
descended, on her demise, to Edward Lord Clifton and Cornbury,
afterwards Lord Clarendon, who had married the sole child of the Lady
Katherine, by her first husband, Henry Lord O’Brien;[53] and on his
death, without issue, in 1713, his sister, Lady Theodosia Hyde,
inherited. She married John Bligh, of the kingdom of Ireland, Esq.;[54]
created, in 1721, an Irish Peer by the title of Lord Clifton of
Rathmore, and, in 1725, Earl of Darnley in that kingdom. For some years
the estate was in Chancery. After a tedious suit, it was purchased by
Lord Darnley for the sum of 51,000_l._, to the third part of which a
Mrs. Hornsby became entitled, as relict of the gentleman to whom Sir
Joseph Williamson had devised one third part.[55] The present Peer, the
sixth Earl of Darnley, was born on the 16th April, 1827, and succeeded
his father, the fifth Earl, in 1835. He is hereditary High Steward of
Gravesend and Milton. His father, the fifth Peer, married--in 1825--Emma
Jane, third daughter of Sir Henry Parnell, Bart., created Lord Congleton
in 1841. This estimable lady resides at Cobham Hall. The late Peer died
in consequence of an injury received from a woodman’s axe, while he was
trimming trees in a plantation adjoining his mansion. His death was the
subject of universal sorrow; in his own immediate neighbourhood, it was
mourned as a private and personal loss.
Such is a brief history of the several noble families through whom the
mansion, demesne, and estates, of Cobham have passed.
THE HALL is backed by a noble Park, amply stocked with deer, and
containing trees, of great variety and immense size, some of them
measuring above thirty feet in circumference. It comprises 1,800 acres,
and encloses an area of about seven miles. The old approach, long
disused, was through an Avenue of lime-trees, consisting of four rows,
and extending more than half a mile in length from the dependent
village. The present entrance is through a red-brick, turreted, Gateway,
adjacent to which is “the Lodge.” On nearing the House, the eye
encounters a Cedar of magnificent growth, and to the left are the
Gardens, into which there are two Terrace-walks; one from the great
gate, and another, at a considerable elevation, from the suite of
apartments which constitute the first floor. The View taken by Mr.
Harding pictures the more ancient portion of the venerable edifice--the
north wing; with which the south wing mainly corresponds. They are,
however, connected by a centre, built by Inigo Jones; and
[Illustration]
this centre, which consists of a façade with Corinthian pilasters, is
sadly out of keeping with the quaint gables, octagonal turrets,
ornamental door-ways, carved cornices, projecting mullioned windows, and
elaborated chimneys, which distinguish the earlier dwelling of the
Cobhams. In front, this incongruity is sadly apparent; but examined from
either of the sides it is not perceived. The additions made by Inigo
Jones are injurious, because they impair the harmony of the building;
although, considered apart, they are worthy of his high fame. The nature
of the architecture and the singular contradiction it exhibits, cannot
be better shown than by reference to this engraving of one of the
projecting entrances, of stone, extending to the roof, by which the
wings are backed--including one of the ancient latticed windows on
either side. The structure thus assumes the form of a half H, the wings
being terminated by octagonal towers; a sunken wall in front encloses a
quadrangular Lawn, ornamented with vases and statues. The wings exhibit
the dates--1582 and 1594--and retain all the characteristics of the
later Tudor style; although, as we have intimated, it has been
materially corrupted by the several alterations to which it has been,
from time to time, subjected. The ordinary entrance to the house is
through a vaulted Passage, “built in the form of a Gothic cloister by
James Wyatt,” which contains the arms of the Cobhams, with the date
1587. This passage leads to the grand Staircase, and the several
apartments on the ground-floor. The first to which strangers are
conducted is the Dining-hall; which contains an elaborately carved black
and white marble Chimney-piece, having quaint and curious figures and
buildings; and a series of Portraits of rare excellence. The Music Room,
one of the suite added to the ancient building, affords a brilliant
contrast to the sombre and solid character of the dining-room. It
contains but one picture--full-length Portraits of the Lords John and
Bernard Stuart, sons of the Duke of Lennox--a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyke.
The Chimney-piece is formed of the purest white marble, sculptured in
bas-relief after Guide’s Aurora, by the elder Westmacott, with fauns,
life-size, as supporters. The Ceiling was designed by Inigo Jones; it is
divided into several square and circular compartments, with a deep oval
in the centre, “superbly gilt and enriched by appropriate ornaments,
among which are twelve pendent coronets.” The apartment is in length 50
feet, in breadth 36 feet, and in height 32 feet; and although superbly
ornamented and richly gilt--the Pillars, of the composite order, being
of white marble, and the lining of scagliola--the whole is in fine
harmony with the grace and chasteness of the design. There are two
Galleries, one of which contains an Organ. The Vestibule is a small
chamber, decorated with valuable Vases of verde antique. The Library
contains a series of Portraits of eminent literary men--Bolingbroke,
Sidney, Shakspere, Swift, and others; none of them, however, advance
strong claims to originality. On the walls of the great staircase are
hung several large pictures, which may bear examination before the
gallery is entered. The most remarkable is attributed to Domenichino.
The grand Staircase conducts, first to the Portrait Gallery, and next to
the Picture Gallery. The walls of the former are hung with portraits,
among which are many of exceeding interest, including those of heroes,
statesmen, kings and queens, church-reformers, and poets, mingled
without regard to date or order.[56] The Picture Gallery is the great
“show-room” of the house. It is a noble apartment, the walls of which
are
[Illustration]
covered with works of art, of rare value and unsurpassed excellence, the
productions of nearly all the great masters of Italy; including
admirable examples of Guido, Titian, Salvator, Rubens, Raphael,
Spagnoletto, P. Veronese, Giorgione, N. Poussin, and Guercino. Every
part of the venerable edifice contains, indeed, some object of interest.
The rooms, and halls, and galleries are thronged with rare and beautiful
works of
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
COBHAM CHURCH.]
art; a series of perfect Vases from Herculaneum lie on the tables of the
Picture Gallery; several antique Busts and Statues line the Hall; a
magnificent Bath, of red Egyptian granite, is placed in the
entrance-passage; and the furniture and interior decorations are all of
corresponding excellence and beauty. Not the least interesting among
relics of the olden time, is a Carriage, of which we append a copy. Its
date is probably not more remote than the reign of Charles the Second.
It is in a good state of preservation, and stands in one of the
Out-offices, of which there is an extensive and remarkably commodious
range.
Although necessarily limited in our description of Cobham Hall, we have
sufficiently shown the rare treat a visit to it will afford to those
who, “in populous city pent,” desire to convert occasional holidays into
contributions to intellectual enjoyment. The Hall and its contents will
amply repay examination; and the noble Park is full of natural
treasures--thronged with deer, singularly abundant in singing-birds, and
containing trees, unsurpassed in magnificent size and graceful
proportions. One of the walks conducts to a hillock, from the summit of
which there is a splendid prospect of the adjacent country, commanding
views of the Thames and Medway, and taking in the venerable castle,
cathedral, and town, of Rochester; the dockyards at Sheerness; and the
whole course of the great English river to its mouth at the Nore. The
pedestrian, pursuing this route, will pass the Mausoleum, an elegant
structure, built conformably with the Will of the third Earl of Darnley;
and designed for the sepulture of his family. It was never consecrated:
in consequence, it is said, of a dispute respecting “terms,” and is now
rapidly falling to decay. The basement story contains a vault and
sarcophagus, surrounded by recesses for coffins. The Chapel is above.
The exterior consists of four wings, with columns, sustaining
sarcophagi, and surmounted by a pyramid.
But Cobham has other objects of interest--the venerable Church, and no
less
[Illustration]
venerable “College.” The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, stands
upon elevated ground, at the entrance to the village. It consists of a
nave, aisles, and chancel, with an embattled tower, entered by an
antique porch. The Tower is obviously of a more recent date than the
Chancel; the former is very ancient. As in many of the Kentish churches,
the Walls were formerly painted in fresco, of which evidence may be
easily obtained by those who will examine them narrowly; the steps of
the altar are paved with encaustic tiles, of about the period of Edward
III.--of various patterns, but most of them containing the fleur-de-lis;
the Stalls, of old oak, appear to have been worm-eaten for centuries.
The whole aspect of the place indeed supplies indubitable proof of very
remote antiquity[57].
The modern “fittings up”--the painted pews--contrast strangely with the
age of the
[Illustration]
structure. The Roof of huge oak rafters, the Gothic arches, the
Brasses--broken or entire--which cover the floor, the quaint Monuments
let into the walls, the delicately-sculptured Piscina, the Sedelia of
carved stone, the singular Font, the rude Vestry-room with its massive
oak Chest, the Scripture passages painted on the walls--all bespeak the
antiquity of the building. But the most primitive portion of it is the
Chancel, on either side of which are five latticed Windows, the south
side being entirely, and the north side being partially, blocked up with
rough stones. Nearly in
[Illustration]
the centre is the still beautiful Tomb of Sir Thomas Broke, the Lady
Joan, and their ten sons and four daughters. It is of white marble; over
which, upon a black slab, lie the effigies of the knight and dame. On
either side, are those of five of their sons, kneeling, and wearing
tabards, with their swords girded on. The figures of the four daughters
are carved on the east and west ends of the superb monument. It bears
the date 1561, under the arms of the Brokes quartered with those of the
Cobhams. On the floor of the chancel are the famous “Cobham Brasses,”
the most perfect and the most numerous assemblage now existing in the
kingdom. The series consists of thirteen, recording the memory of the
Cobhams and Brokes, “Lords and Barons of this town of Cobham, with many
of their kindred, who for many descents did flourish in honourable
reputation.” Of the thirteen, eight are in honour of the knights, and
five are memorials of the dames. Of one of them we procured an
engraving, in order to convey a somewhat accurate idea of the style and
character of the series. It is to the memory of Sir Nicholas Hawberk,
the third husband of Joan Lady Cobham; the carving, in this example, is
very elaborate and refined. The knight is represented with folded hands
under a canopy, “habited in plate armour, standing on a lion, with a
sword and dagger dependent from a rich girdle, and has on a skull-cap,
with a hauberk of mail.” The summit of the canopy is divided into three
compartments, highly enriched with finials and pinnacles, and exhibiting
the Trinity in the centre, and at the sides the Virgin and Child, and
St. George killing the Dragon. At the feet of the knight is a youth
standing on a pedestal. An inscription round the verge of the slab
records the marriage of Sir Nicholas with Joan de Cobham[58].
“The College of Cobham” is now only a collection of alms-houses, to
which presentations are made--of old people, without restriction to
either sex--as vacancies occur, by the parish and ten other parishes
adjacent. It lies immediately south of the church, and is entered by a
small Gothic gateway. Its occupants are twenty aged men and women, who
[Illustration]
have each a little mansion, with a neat garden and an allowance monthly,
sufficient to secure the necessaries of life. It is a quadrangular
building, of stone, measuring about 60 feet by 50; and contains a large
Hall, with painted windows, a roof of blackened rafters, an old oak
screen, and a fireplace of cut stone. The history of the college is
curious and interesting. A college or chauntry was originally founded
here, about the year 1362, by John de Cobham, thence called “the
Founder,” in the reign of Edward III. Towards the end of the reign of
Elizabeth it was rebuilt, as appears by a record--“finished in
September, 1598”--inscribed over the south portal, under the arms and
alliances of the Brokes Lords Cobham. The endowments of the old
foundation were ample; and were, with the college itself, bestowed by
Henry VIII. at the Dissolution, upon George Lord Cobham, who had the
“King’s roiall assent and licence by hys Grace’s word, without any
manner of letters patent, or other writings, to purchase and receyve to
his heires for ever, of the late Master and Bretheren, of the colledge
or chauntry of Cobham, in the countie of Kent, now being utterly
dissolved, the scite of the same colledge or chauntry, and al and
[Illustration]
singular their heridaments and possessions, as well temporall as
ecclesiasticall, wheresoever they lay, or were, within the realm of
England.” The walls of the ancient college may be clearly traced, and a
small portion still endures, comparatively uninjured. It is a Gateway,
surmounted by the arms of the Cobhams, luxuriantly overgrown with ivy,
forming a fine example of picturesque antiquity. The present structure
was erected pursuant to the will of Sir William Broke, Lord Cobham, who
devised “all those edifices, ruined buildings, soil and ground, with the
appurtenances which sometime belonged to the late suppressed college,”
for the use of the “new” college. By an act of the 39th of Elizabeth the
wardens of Rochester Bridge, for the time being, were made a body
corporate, and declared to be perpetual presidents of the new college,
the government of which they retain to this day.
The dependent village of Cobham is one of the neatest and most pleasant
of the many fair villages of Kent.
Although in the course of our work we shall picture many nobler and more
perfect examples of the domestic architecture of “Old” England than is
supplied by Cobham Hall, we shall be enabled to call attention to few
that afford so rich a recompense at so small a cost:--taking into
account its genuine remains of antiquity, the magnificent works of art
that decorate its walls, its easy access from the Metropolis, and the
primitive character and surpassing beauty of the locality in which it is
situated.
[Illustration:
G. F. Sargent, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. L. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
HEVER CASTLE, KENT.]
HEVER CASTLE,
KENT.
[Illustration: H]EVER CASTLE is situated in that district of the County
of Kent called “the Weald.” It was erected in the time of Edward III.,
by William de Hevre, who had obtained the King’s license to embattle his
Manor-house; dying soon afterwards, the estate was inherited by his two
daughters; one of whom married a younger son of the Lord Cobham, who
purchased the remainder, and by whose grandson the whole was disposed of
to Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who was Lord Mayor
of the City in the 37th Henry VI. He was the founder of a family, whose
short-lived power forms a brilliant but melancholy page in British
History. His grandson, Thomas, the father of “the unfortunate Anne,” was
created, by Henry VIII., Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; but dying without
issue male (his son having been executed during his lifetime), his
remorseless son-in-law seized on the estates “in right of his late
wife,” which in the 32nd year of
[Illustration]
his reign, he granted, for her life, to Anne of Cleves, the wife he had
then repudiated. Sir Thomas Boleyn is buried in the Church of Hever; his
tomb is in the chancel; a fine relic of ancient splendour, which time
and neglect have essentially impaired. After the decease of Anne of
Cleves, Hever passed successively through the hands of the Waldegraves,
the Humfreys, the Waldos, and the Medleys, in whose possession it is at
present.
The Castle is still in good condition, and is kept in sufficient repair.
A moat surrounds it, formed by the river Eden; over which a drawbridge
leads to the principal entrance--a centre flanked by round towers,
embattled and machicolated, and defended also by a portcullis. The inner
buildings form a quadrangle, inclosing a court. Our view is taken from
the entrance to the orchard, on the east side of the moat; thus
presenting the east and north sides of the building.
A “great staircase” conducts to the several apartments and “the long
gallery;” from
[Illustration]
this gallery there opens a small recess, said to have been the council
chamber of the eighth Henry during his frequent visits to the Castle.
Our print exhibits also the trap-door, from which there is a narrow and
gloomy passage to the dungeons and the moat. To this awful-looking
place, so suggestive of sad thought, tradition has given the name of
“the hunger hole.” A chamber, with which are associated feelings
scarcely less painful, is the antechamber that leads to the bed-room of
Queen Anna Boleyn. This suite is said to have constituted her prison
after her “disgrace”--if the term may be applied
[Illustration]
to the change of circumstances to which she was doomed by the inhuman
despot to whose merciless keeping a stern fate had consigned her
destiny. The Castle and its neighbourhood contain many traditions
connected with the sad story of the ill-fated Anne. Hever was the
residence of her earlier and happier years; in this Castle she was wooed
by her King; from hence she was conducted in triumph to a throne. And
from the lone chamber she here occupied, she was led to a still more
fatal prison and the scaffold. In the immediate neighbourhood, a hill is
pointed out, upon the summit of which it was the custom of King Henry to
wind his bugle-horn in token of his approach, when, with his retinue, he
drew near the dwelling of his “Lady-love.”
[Illustration:
S. Rayner, Delᵗ. on stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
KNOLE, RETAINER’S GALLERY.]
KNOLE HOUSE,
KENT.
[Illustration: K]NOLE HOUSE adjoins the pleasant and picturesque town of
Sevenoaks. The principal approach is by a long and winding avenue of
finely-grown beech-trees, through the extensive Park--the road, sloping
and rising gradually, and presenting frequent views of hill and dale,
terminated by the heavy and sombre stone front of the ancient and
venerable edifice. Passing under an embattled Tower, the first or outer
quadrangle is entered; hence there is another passage through another
tower-portal, which conducts to the inner quadrangle, and so to the
“Huge Hall, long Galleries, spacious Chambers,”
for which Knole--one of the stateliest of the Baronial Mansions of
England--has long been famous. No precise date can be assigned to the
structure; it is certain that so far back as the Conquest there was “a
residence” here; we have, however, no authentic records of its occupants
until early in the reign of John, when “the Manor and Estate” were held
by Baldwin de Bethune, from whom they passed by marriage to the
Mareschals, Earls of Pembroke, one of whom--a “rebellious
Baron”--forfeiting, the lands were bestowed upon Fulk de Brent, a low
soldier of fortune--“a desperate fellow,” as Camden terms him, whose
arms had been useful to the King and his son, Henry the Third. Upon the
subsequent disgrace of this mercenary, the lands reverted to the Earl of
Pembroke; from whom they passed to the Bigods, the Grandisons, the Says,
and--in the reign of Henry the Sixth--to James Fienes, summoned to
Parliament in the twenty-fourth of that Monarch’s reign as Lord Say and
Sele; and murdered in Cheapside by order of “Jack Cade.” His son and
heir conveyed the estates to Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury,
who having “rebuilt the Manor-house, and enclosed a Park round the
same,” bequeathed it, in 1486, to the See. Knole thus became the
dwelling-house of the several Archbishops until the twenty-ninth of
Henry the Eighth, when Cranmer, “willing to surrender a part of the
possessions of the Church to preserve the remainder,” granted Knole and
its appurtenances to the King. By Edward the Sixth they were given to
the Dudleys: on the failure of the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on
the throne, they reverted to the Crown. By Queen Mary they were
presented to Cardinal Pole. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, after
having been held for a brief time by the Earl of Leicester, they were
bestowed upon Thomas Sackville, created Baron Buckhurst and Earl of
Dorset. In this family they have ever since remained; the present owner
of the noble Mansion and Estates being the Countess Amherst, relict of
the sixth Earl of Plymouth, and daughter of the third Duke of Dorset,
co-heiress, with her sister the Countess De la Warr, of her brother, the
fourth Duke, who died “of full age, but unmarried and without issue,” in
1815.[59]
Knole House is full of highly honourable and deeply interesting
associations with the past. Seen from a distance, the Mansion appears
irregular; but, although the erection of several periods, and enlarged,
from time to time, to meet the wants or wishes of its immediate
occupiers, it exhibits few parts out of harmony with the whole; and
presents a striking and very imposing example of the earlier Baronial
Mansions, such as it was before settled peace in Britain warranted the
withdrawal of all means of defence in cases of attack from open or
covert enemies.--The neighbourhood, as well as “the House,” is
suggestive of many sad, or pleasant, memories: from the summits of
knolls in the noble and well-stocked Park, extensive views are obtained
of the adjacent country; scattered about the wealds of Kent are the tall
spires of scores of village churches; Hever--recalling the fate of the
murdered Anna Boleyn and the destiny of the deserted Anne of Cleves;
Penshurst--the cradle and the tomb of the Sidneys; Eridge--once great
Warwick’s hunting-seat; the still frowning battlements of Tunbridge
Castle;--these and other objects, within ken, demand thought and induce
reflection; both of which obtain augmented power while treading the
graceful corridors and stately chambers of the time-honoured
[Illustration]
Mansion. The walls are hung with authentic portraits of the great men of
various epochs, who, when living, flourished here; not alone the noble
and wealthy owners of the old Hall, but the worthies who sojourned there
as guests--to have sheltered, aided, and befriended whom is now the
proudest, as it will be the most enduring, of all the boasts of lordly
Knole.[60]
Visitors are generously admitted into the more interesting and
attractive of the apartments; and they are full of treasures of
art,--not of paintings alone, although of these every chamber is a
store-house, but of curious and rare productions, from the most
elaborate and costly examples of the artists of the middle ages, to the
characteristic works of the English artisan during the reigns of
Elizabeth and James, when a vast amount of labour was bestowed upon the
commonest articles of everyday use. The collection of Fire-dogs at Knole
is singularly rich; those which adorn “the Cartoon Gallery” supply us
with our initial letter; but every room throughout the Mansion contains
a pair equally curious and fine--the greater number being of chased
silver. The chairs and seats of various kinds, to be found in all parts
of the House, are so many models for the artist. The best are placed in
“the Brown Gallery”[61]--a long and narrow apartment, panneled, roofed,
and floored with oak; here the antique fastenings to the doors and
windows are preserved in their early purity; the stained windows are
fresh as if painted yesterday; while the walls are covered with historic
Portraits, giving vitality to the striking and interesting scene--and
seeming to remove two centuries from between the present and the past.
Similar wealth (wealth in the best and truest meaning of the word) is
[Illustration]
to be found in every chamber. The Great Hall has its “dais,” its
“Minstrels’ Gallery,” and even its oak tables where retainers feasted,
long ago. The bed-rooms are distinguished as, “the Spangled,” “the
Venetian,” “the King’s,” &c. &c. Of the last named we give an engraving.
The furniture here is entirely of silver; the state bed is said to have
cost £8000. The room was prepared and furnished for the reception of
James the First. The Portraits scattered through the various apartments
are, many of them, of rare value. They include the principal nobility
and statesmen of the reigns of Henry the Eighth and his children. Among
the other pictures are choice examples of Titian, Corregio, Vandyck,
Rembrandt, and Reynolds. In a window of the Billiard-room is a painting
on glass of a knight in armour, representing the famous ancestor of the
Sackvilles; and in the Cartoon Gallery are, also on glass, the armorial
bearings of twenty-one of his descendants, ending with Richard, the
third Earl of Dorset. Of the several “galleries,” and the drawing-rooms,
it is sufficient to state that they are magnificent in reference to
their contents, and beautiful as regards the style of decoration
accorded to each. There is, indeed, no part of the noble building which
may not afford exquisite and useful models to the painter; a fact of
which we understand the noble owners are fully aware, for to artists
they have afforded repeated facilities for study. It will not be
difficult to recognise, in some of the best productions of modern art,
copies of the gems which give value and adornment to the noble House of
Knole.
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
PENSHURST FROM THE PARK.]
PENSHURST,
KENT.
[Illustration: P]ENSHURST! How many, and how glorious, are the
associations connected with this ancient house--“the seat of the
Sidneys!” Every great name, memorable in the Augustan age of England, is
linked with it for ever; while its venerable aspect, the solemnity of
surrounding shades, the primitive character of the vicinity, together
with its isolated position--far away from the haunts of busy men--are in
perfect harmony with the memories it awakens. Here lived the earliest
and bravest of the Anglo-Norman Knights. Here dwelt the ill-fated
Bohuns--the three unhappy Dukes of Buckingham, who perished in
succession--one in the field, and two on the scaffold. And here
flourished the Sidneys! Here, during his few brief years of absence from
turmoil in the turbulent countries of Ireland and Wales, resided the
elder Sidney, Sir Henry, who, although his fame has been eclipsed by the
more dazzling reputation of his gallant son, was in all respects good as
well as great--a good soldier, a good subject, a good master, and a good
counsellor and actor, under circumstances peculiarly perilous. This is
the birth-place of “the darling of his time,” the “chiefest jewel of a
crown,” the “diamond of the Court of Queen Elizabeth.” Here, too, was
born, and here was interred the mutilated body of, the “later Sidney;”
he who had “set up Marcus Brutus for his pattern,” and perished on the
scaffold--a martyr for what he called “the good old cause,” one of the
many victims of the meanest and worst of his race. With the memories of
these three marvellous men--the Sidneys, Henry, Philip, and
Algernon--are closely blended those of the Worthies of the two most
remarkable Eras in English History. Who can speak of Penshurst without
thinking of Spenser!
“For Sidney heard him sing, and knew his voice;”--
of Shakspere--of Ben Jonson, the laureate of the Place--of Raleigh, the
“friend and frequent guest”--of Broke, whose proudest boast is recorded
on his tomb, that he was “the servant of Queen Elizabeth, the
Counsellor of King James, and THE FRIEND of Sir Philip Sidney”--of the
many other immortal men, who made the reign of Elizabeth the glory of
all Time!
Reverting to a period less remote, who can think of Penshurst without
speaking of the high spirits of a troubled age?--
“The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington,
Young Vane, and others who called Milton--friend!”
Although its glory is of the past, and nearly two centuries have
intervened between the latest record of its greatness and its present
state,--although it has been silent all that time,--a solemn silence
broken only by the false love-note of an unworthy minstrel, for the
names of “Waller and Sacharissa” dishonour rather than glorify its gray
walls--who does not turn to Penshurst as to a refreshing fountain by the
wayside of wearying History?
Penshurst--“the seat of the Sidneys”--adjoins the village to which it
gives a name. It is situated in the weald of Kent, nearly six miles
south-west of Tonbridge, and about
[Illustration]
thirty miles from London. The neighbourhood is remarkably primitive. As
an example of the prevailing character of the houses, we have copied a
group that stands at the entrance to the Church-yard--a small cluster of
quiet cottages, behind which repose the rude forefathers of the Hamlet,
with brave Knights of imperishable names; and facing which, is an Elm of
prodigious size and age, that has seen generations after generations
flourish and decay. The sluggish Medway creeps lazily round the Park,
which consists of about 400 acres, finely wooded, and happily
diversified with hill and dale. A double row of Beech-trees of some
extent, preserves the name of “Sacharissa’s Walk;” and a venerable Oak,
the trunk of which is hollowed by Time, is pointed out as the veritable
tree that was planted on the day of Sir Philip’s birth; of which Rare
Ben Jonson thus writes,--
“That taller tree which of a nut was set,
At his great birth when all the Muses met:”
--to which Waller makes reference as “the sacred mark of noble Sidney’s
birth;” concerning which Southey also has some lines; and from which a
host of lesser Poets have drawn inspiration.
Until within the last twenty or thirty years, the house was in a sadly
dilapidated state. Its utter ruin, indeed, appeared a settled thing,
until the present proprietor, Lord De L’Isle, set himself to the task of
its restoration. It is now rapidly assuming its ancient character--a
combination of several styles of architecture, in which the Tudor
predominates. One of Mr. Hoarding’s drawings represents it “under
repair,” as it now is; the other gives a view of the Mansion, from the
principal approach, through the Park. In the first, the back-entrance to
the Hall is seen between two rude buttresses, and the roof of the Hall
is shown above the broken wall. Opposite, is the old Court-yard Bell,
which bears the date of 1649. It is supported on a wooden frame, richly
covered with ivy. A print of it forms the Initial Letter to this
History. In Mr. Harding’s second view is exhibited the West Front, the
north front being seen in quick perspective; on the left, is “Sir
Henry’s Tower,” containing his arms, and an inscription stating that he
was Lord Deputie General of the Realm of Ireland in 1579. This Tower
terminates the north wing, the only part of the building as yet
completely restored. In the north wing is the principal entrance, by an
ancient gateway leading through one of the smaller Courts to the great
Hall. Over this Gateway is an antique Slab, setting forth that “The most
religious and renowned Prince, Edward the Sixt, kinge of England, France
and Irelande, gave this house of Pencestre, with the Manors, landes and
appurtenaynces therunto belonginge unto his trustye and well beloved
servant syr William Sidney, Knight Banneret.”
The Exterior of the Mansion is, however, an assemblage of erections of
various times, and furnishes some examples of singular incongruity. But
the “restorations” are proceeding
[Illustration]
in good taste and with sound judgment; and the Seat of the Sidneys will,
in the course of a few years, regain its rank as one of the finest and
most extensive edifices of the County of Kent.
The Interior is also in progressive improvement; but the new and the old
are at present awkwardly and ungracefully mingled. The “Hall” is still
comparatively untouched, and the more interesting of its characteristic
features are in no peril of further destruction; the business of the
architect being limited to repairing the inroads of time. The pointed
timber Roof, upon which the slates are laid, is supported by a series of
grotesque figures (corbels), each the size of life. The Screen of the
Gallery is richly carved and panelled. The Gallery--“the Minstrels’
Gallery”--fills the side opposite the Dais. The Gothic Windows are
narrow and lofty. Every object calls to mind and illustrates a Feudal
age. The oak Tables, on which retainers feasted, still occupy the Hall;
in its centre are the huge Dogs, (pictured on the preceding page), in an
octagonal enclosure, beneath the louvre, or lanthorn, in the Roof, which
formerly
[Illustration]
permitted egress to the smoke. A stone Staircase (indicated in the
appended print) leads from the Hall to the Picture Gallery and the State
Apartments. They are filled with family Portraits, all of which possess
considerable interest, although few are of much worth. Among them are
several of Sir Philip and Algernon Sidney; one of Sir Philip’s sister,
the Countess of Pembroke, to whom he addressed the “Arcadia,” and who is
immortalised by Ben Jonson in his famous Epitaph to “the subject of all
verse;” and one, by Lely, of the “Sacharissa” of the muse of Waller. A
small Chamber in the Mansion contains, however, a few treasures of rarer
value than all its copies of “fair women and brave men.” Among some
curious family relics and records, is a lock of Sir Philip Sidney’s
hair; it is of a pale auburn. A lock of the hair of the ill-fated
Algernon is also with it; in tint it nearly resembles that of his
illustrious great uncle.
But “Penshurst Place” is interesting chiefly because of its
associations; and these are indeed of a high order. Our history of the
family is, necessarily, brief. Until the reign of Edward the Sixth, the
Manor of Peneshurste[62] had received a rapid succession of lords. In
the reign of Edward the First, it was in the possession of Sir Stephen
de Peneshurste, or Pencestre--“a very learned man,” according to Harris,
and a “famous warden of the Cinque Ports.” In that of Edward the Second,
it was the property of Sir John de Pulteney, who “had licence to
embattle it,”--and who was four times Lord Mayor of London. In that of
Richard the Second, it was sold to the Regent Duke of Bedford. On his
death, his brother, “the good Duke Humphrey,” inherited; and on his
death--by murder, at Bury, in 1446--the estate reverted to the Crown,
and was granted by Henry the Sixth to his kinsman, Humphrey de Stafford,
Duke of Buckingham. In his family it remained until the reign of Henry
the Eighth, when, by the attainder of Edward Duke of Buckingham, it fell
again to the Crown. By Edward the Sixth, it was given to Sir Ralph Fane;
but on his execution, as an accomplice of the Protector Somerset, it was
by letters patent granted to Sir William Sidney (one of the heroes of
Flodden Field) and his heirs--Sir William being lineally descended from
Sir William Sidney, Knight, Chamberlain to the Second Henry, “With whom
he came out of Anjou.” In 1553, his son, Sir Henry, inherited. Sir Henry
was from infancy bred at Court, being “a companion, and many times a
bedfellow,” to the young Prince, afterwards Edward the Sixth, by whom he
was knighted. He was twice Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of
Elizabeth--a period of trouble and continual danger; during which he
discharged his duty as an energetic soldier, a sound practical reformer,
and a merciful man. The Historians of his time describe him as “of a
very public spirit, of great abilities, modest, pious, and patient; and
in his younger years, for comeliness and beauty, the ornament of the
Court.”
Sir Philip Sidney--styled “the Incomparable”--was his eldest son; and at
Penshurst he was born, on the 29th of November, 1554. His life was one
scene of romance from its commencement to its close. His early years
were spent in travel; and on his return, he was married to the daughter
of Sir Francis Walsingham, a lady of many accomplishments, and of
“extraordinary handsomeness;” but his heart was given to another. The
Lady Penelope Devereux won it, and kept it until he fell on the field of
Zutphen. Family regards had forbad their marriage; but she was united to
the immortal part of him, and that contract has not been yet dissolved.
She is still the Philoclea of the “Arcadia,” and Stella in the Poems of
Astrophel. It is unnecessary to follow, in detail, the course of Sir
Philip Sidney’s life. There is no strange inconsistency to reason off,
no stain to clear, no blame to talk away. We describe it when we name
his accomplishments. We remember it as we would a dream of uninterrupted
glory. His learning, his beauty, his chivalry, his grace, shed a lustre
on the most glorious reign recorded in the English annals. England
herself, “by reason of the wide-spread fame of Sir Philip Sidney,” rose
exalted in the eyes of foreign nations. He was the idol, the darling, of
his own. For, with every sort of power at his command, it was his creed
to think all vain but affection and honour, and to hold the simplest and
cheapest pleasures the truest and most precious. The only displeasure he
ever incurred at Court, was when he vindicated the rights and
independence of English Commoners in his own gallant person, against the
arrogance of English Nobles in the person of the Earl of Oxford. For a
time, then, he retired from the Court, and sought rest in his loved
simplicity. He went to Wilton; and there, for the amusement of his dear
sister, Mary, Countess of Pembroke, he wrote the “Arcadia,” between the
years 1579 and 1581.[63] Again, however, he returned to Court, and his
Queen seized every opportunity to do him honour. He received her smiles
with the same high and manly gallantry, the same plain and simple
boldness, with which he had taken her frowns. In the end,
Elizabeth--who, to preserve this “jewel of her crown,” had forcibly laid
hands on him when he projected a voyage to America with Sir Francis
Drake, and laid her veto on his quitting England, when he was offered
the crown of Poland--could not restrain his bravery in battle, when
circumstances called him there. At Zutphen, on the 22nd of September,
1586, he received a mortal wound.[64]
We may place implicit faith in the testimony of all the contemporaries
of Sir Philip Sidney--and by all of them he is described as very near
perfection; their praises must have been as sincere as they were hearty;
for his fortune was too poor to furnish him with the means to purchase
them with other than gifts of kindly zeal, affectionate sympathy,
cordial advice, and generous recommendations to more prosperous men.
From Spenser himself we learn, that Sidney
“First did lift my muse out of the floor.”
In his dedication of the “Ruins of Time” to Sidney’s sister, he speaks
of her brother as “the Hope of all learned men, and the Patron of my
young Muse.”--“He was,” writes Camden, the great glory of his family,
the great hope of mankind, the most lively pattern of virtue, and the
darling of the learned world.” Sir Philip dying without issue, he was
succeeded by his brother, Sir Robert, created Lord Sidney of Penshurst,
and afterwards Earl of Leicester, by James I. He died at Penshurst in
July 1626, and was succeeded by his son, Robert. “Though never of their
faction,” he remained in retirement at Penshurst during the domination
of the Parliament and the rule of the Protector, and died there in
November 1677, in the 82nd year of his age. His eldest son succeeded to
the title and estates, and lived in troubled times the life of an easy
gentleman. Not so the second son--the famous scion of the Sidneys, whose
name is scarcely less renowned in history than that of his great-uncle,
Sir Philip. Algernon Sidney was born at Penshurst in 1621. He had
scarcely reached the age of manhood when he was called upon to play his
part in the mighty drama then acting before the
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
PENSHURST, KENT.]
world. He joined the Parliament, and became a busy soldier--serving with
repute in Ireland, where he was “sometime Lieut.-General of the Horse,
and Governor of Dublin”--until Cromwell assumed the position of a
sovereign, when Sidney retired in disgust to the family seat in Kent,
and began to write his celebrated “Discourses on Government.” At the
Restoration, he was abroad, and “being so noted a republican,” thought
it unsafe to return to England; for seventeen years after this event he
was a wanderer throughout Europe,--suffering severe privations--“exposed
(according to his own words) to all those troubles, inconveniences, and
mischiefs, unto which they are liable who have nothing to subsist upon,
in a place farre from home, wheare no assistance can possibly be
expected, and wheare I am known to be of a quality which makes all lowe
and meane wayes of living shamefull and detestible.” The school of
adversity failed to subdue the proud spirit of the republican; and on
his return to his native country--in 1677--at the entreaty of his
father, who “desired to see him before he died,” the “later Sidney”
became a marked man, whom the depraved Charles and his minions were
resolved to sacrifice. He was accused of high-treason--implicated in the
notorious Rye-house plot--carried through a form of trial on the 21st of
November--and beheaded on Tower-hill on the 7th December, 1683.
Philip, Algernon’s brother, the third Earl, died in 1696. Three of his
grandsons were successively Earls of Leicester. Jocelyn, the last Earl
of this family, died in 1743, leaving no legitimate issue. His next
brother, who died before him, had however two daughters, to whom the
estate devolved as coheiresses, after a long course of litigation with a
natural daughter of the late Earl. In the division of the property,
Penshurst
[Illustration]
Place was allotted to the youngest, Elizabeth, who was married to
William Perry, Esq., of Turvile Park, Buckinghamshire. After the death
of her sister, Lady Sherrard, Mrs. Perry was enabled, by purchase, to
re-unite a part of her moiety to the Penshurst estate. This Mrs.
Elizabeth Perry had an only son--Algernon Perry Sidney--who died in his
mother’s life-time, but left two daughters; the eldest, Elizabeth, was
married to Bysshe Shelley, Esq.; their son, John Shelley Sidney,
inherited Penshurst and the manors and estates in Kent; he was created a
Baronet in 1818; and his son, who married one of the daughters of his
late Majesty William the Fourth, was elevated to the Peerage, by the
title of Lord De L’Isle and Dudley, in 1835.
Consequently, Penshurst, “the seat of the Sidneys,” is now the
inheritance of a very remote branch of the illustrious family.
The Church at Penshurst is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It
immediately adjoins the Park; and is connected, by a private walk, with
the garden of the Mansion. It is an ancient and very venerable
structure, containing many monuments to the Sidneys,
[Illustration]
and to members of the families of Draynowt, Cambridge, Egerton, Head,
Darkenol, Pawle, and Yden. The most interesting and beautifully wrought
of the tombs is to the memory of Sir William Sidney, Knight Banneret,
Chamberlain and Steward to Edward the VIth, and Lord of the Manor of
Peneshurste, who died in 1553. It stands in a small chapel at the west
end of the chancel, and at the foot of the tomb is a very antique
figure, carved in marble, supposed to be a memorial to Sir Stephen de
Pencestre. Below, is the vault which contains the dust of generations of
the Sidneys. Sir William Sidney’s monument is a fine example of art,
elaborately and delicately sculptured; it contains a long inscription,
engraved on a brass tablet, the lettering in which is as clear and as
sharp as if it were the work of yesterday. The roof of this Chapel is
peculiarly light and elegant. In both the exterior and interior the
Church is highly picturesque. The oak gallery is one of the earliest
erections of the kind that followed the Reformation. In our view of the
exterior is introduced the entrance to the Sidney vault--a modern
addition to the Church.
In all respects, therefore, a visit to PENSHURST--now, by railroad,
within an hour’s distance of the Metropolis--may be described as a rare
intellectual treat; opening a full and brilliant page of history,
abundant in sources of profitable enjoyment to the Antiquary, affording
a large recompense to the lover, or the professor, of Art, and
exhibiting Nature under a vast variety of seductive aspects.
[Illustration:
J. S. Dodd, Delᵗ Stone by W. Walton M. & N. Hanbart, Lithogʳˢ
THE HALL IN THE WOOD, LANCASHIRE]
HALL I’ THE WOOD,
LANCASHIRE.
[Illustration: H]ALL I’ THE WOOD.--This very ancient and venerable
edifice--with which, far more than with many of greater magnitude and
higher state among the old mansions of England, are associated ideas of
permanent utility and universal good--is situate about a mile from
Bolton, close to one of the admirably-managed cotton-mills of the
Messrs. Ashworth. It is surrounded by indications of commerce; the smoke
of many hundred factories impregnates the air, and renders even the
herbage stunted and dark; while numerous steam-engines are busily at
work drawing to the surface the coal, without which industry could avail
little in a locality so far inland, and where the water barely suffices
to aid the mighty machinery which supplies the world with the most
essential article of dress. Yet the neighbourhood is full also of tokens
of early Baronial splendour; and the “Halls” scattered in various
directions afford unequivocal proofs of its former dignity and
importance, ere the “‘Squirearchy” gave place to the “Manufacturers,”
who now fill every part of Lancashire with long, tall, and broad houses,
abounding in windows--grievously diminishing the picturesque, but
cheering and animating to those who know that in the nineteenth century
the pre-eminence of Great Britain must be secured by commerce and
manufacture. Close at hand are “Smithells,” formerly a seat of the
Ratcliffes, now the property of the Ainsworths; “Peel Hall,” still the
inheritance of the Kenyons; “Turton Tower,” once the seat of Humphry
Chetham; and “Worsley Old Hall,” the present residence of Lord Francis
Egerton. The greater number of these old houses, however, have
altogether changed owners;--many of them, as in the case of Hall i’ the
Wood, having been deserted, or left to humbler occupants, who care only
to keep the roofs above their heads, and attach small import to the
interest they derive from antiquity.
The house under especial notice at one time belonged to “the Norrises;”
from them, it passed to “the Starkies;” and towards the close of the
last century it obtained a celebrity--which must for ever render the
neighbourhood famous--as the humble dwelling of a humble artisan, who
largely contributed to the prosperity of his country. From him, indeed,
Hall i’ the Wood derives historic interest; the old and somewhat
dilapidated mansion, although divided and subdivided into tenements for
“working men,” should be as a place of pilgrimage to those who date the
modern supremacy of Great Britain from the improvements in manufactures,
which have upheld the State and sustained her power during peace, as the
courage, fortitude, and endurance of her sons had done during a
protracted war. In no part of England does the memorable line receive
stronger emphasis than in the small room of this comparatively deserted
house:--
“Peace hath her victories as well as War!”
The father of Samuel Crompton was a small farmer, residing at Firwood,
near Bolton, who, as was the custom in those days, mingled with the
business of a farmer the occupations of weaving, carding, and spinning.
Samuel was born in 1753; and while an infant, was removed with his
family to the scene of his after triumph, Hall i’ the Wood; which even
then must have been consigned by its earlier owners to the chances of
preservation from needy inmates. We borrow from various sources some
particulars concerning the eventful life and important labours of this
remarkable man--chiefly from a paper by John Kennedy, Esq., the generous
and consistent friend of Crompton.
At the age of sixteen, he learned to spin upon “a Jenny” (of Hargreave’s
make), and occasionally wove the yarn he had spun. His work, however,
being but indifferent, he was led to consider how it could be improved;
and the result was, ultimately, though at a far-off distance of time,
the construction of “the mule”--a machine which it is foreign to our
purpose to describe, but which gave to the cotton manufacture a degree
of perfection to which, without it, it could never have attained.
Crompton was only twenty-one years old when he commenced the
undertaking, which took him five years to effect--at least, before he
could bring his improvements to maturity. He experienced much difficulty
in consequence of being unable to procure proper tools with his limited
earnings, acquired by labour at the loom or jenny. Not being a regular
mechanic, and having to learn the use of the few he could purchase, it
is matter of surprise that even in five years he succeeded in making his
machine practically useful. His greatest trouble appears to have been
his inability to enjoy his little invention to himself, in his own room;
for the product of his machine obtaining a better price than other yarns
of those times, a report was circulated that he had devised some novel
mode of improved spinning: people, for miles round the country, gathered
about his dwelling; and, in many instances, actually obtained ladders,
and climbed up to his window to see him work. To avoid this intrusion,
he formed a screen; but the annoyance becoming so great, that he could
not proceed with his work to advantage, he at length laid the whole plan
before a number of gentlemen, who gave him one guinea each to look at
it. These sums amounted to about 50_l._, which enabled him to construct
another machine, still farther improved, and of larger dimensions (the
first machine consisted of not more than thirty or forty spindles). When
relating this little history to Mr. G. A. Lee and Mr. John Kennedy, Mr.
Lee having observed, “It was a pity he had not kept the secret to
himself,” he replied, “that a man had a very insecure tenure of
property, which another could carry away with his eyes.”
Unfortunately, therefore, Crompton never secured his invention by
patent; and the consequence was, that while hundreds of manufacturers
were making immense fortunes by the result of his ingenuity, he himself
lived in poverty, and died little better than a pauper. He was left a
widower when his children were very young, and his only daughter kept
his little cottage in King-street, Bolton, where he died. He erected
several looms for the fancy-work of that town, in which he displayed
great ingenuity. He was fond of music, and built for himself an organ,
which he had in his little cottage. In 1812 he made a survey of all the
cotton districts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and obtained an
estimate of the number of spindles then at work on his principle, which
amounted to between four and five millions (in 1829, the number was
seven millions). On his return, he laid the result of his inquiries
before Mr. Lee and Mr. Kennedy, with a suggestion that Parliament might
“grant him something.”
With these data before him, Mr. Lee entered fully into the case, and
made an appointment with the late George Duckworth, Esq., of Manchester,
who drew up a memorial to Parliament in his behalf. This was signed by
most of the principal manufacturers in the kingdom, who were acquainted
with his merits. He went to London himself with the memorial, and
obtained an interview with one of the members for the county of
Lancaster. He remained there during the session, and was in the House on
the evening that Mr. Perceval was shot, and witnessed the catastrophe. A
short time before this disastrous occurrence, Mr. Perceval had given him
a promise to interest himself in his behalf; and, in accordance with
this assurance, had brought in a bill, which was passed, for a grant of
5000_l._ in full, without fees or charges.
Mr. Crompton was now anxious to place his sons in some business, and
fixed on that of bleaching; but the unfavourable state of the times, the
inexperience and mismanagement of his sons, a bad situation, and a
misunderstanding with his landlord, which occasioned a tedious lawsuit,
conspired, in a very short time, to put an end to this establishment.
His sons were dispersed, and he and his daughter reduced to poverty.
Messrs. Hicks and Rothwell, of Bolton, Mr. Kennedy, and some others in
that neighbourhood and in Manchester, made, in 1824, a second
subscription, to purchase a life annuity for him, which produced 63_l._
per annum. The amount was raised in small sums from one to ten pounds,
some of which were contributed by the Swiss and French spinners, who
acknowledged his merits, and pitied his misfortunes. He died January 26,
1827, having enjoyed his annuity only two years, leaving his daughter,
his affectionate housekeeper, in absolute poverty. Such, unhappily, has
been the fate of many public benefactors. They have tilled the ground
and sown the seed, but others have gathered in the harvest.
“Hall i’ the Wood,” as we have intimated--the preservation of which as a
monument to the memory of useful industry, and its prodigious practical
results, may be regarded as a public duty--is falling gradually into
decay; but its condition is such, that a very trifling degree of labour
may effectually restore it. Its present occupants work at the
neighbouring factories: and although we found them taking some pride in
the aged walls
[Illustration]
they inhabit, from them we can expect nothing in the way of its
preservation. Surely it ought not to be left to the common fate of
common things! The accompanying print--from an excellent drawing by Mr.
J. J. Dodd, a most intelligent artist, by whom we were accompanied to
this “shrine” of manufacturing devotees--exhibits the principal front,
“Crompton’s Room” being indicated by the open window. The house is built
in the usual style of old dwellings of a better class in Lancashire,
being composed of “wood and plaster.” It has no projecting windows or
carved doors; the chief entrance, at the south gable, appears to have
been a later addition. It is of stone; and above it, in a square panel,
is the date 1648, with the initials A.N.A. Within, a staircase of
massive oak leads to the upper chambers; of which, one only--“Crompton’s
Room”--seems to have been treated with respect; but this also has been
doomed to periodical “whitewashings,” which, however, have failed to
efface a deeply-cut panel (given as our initial letter), interesting as
that upon which the eyes of “the Discoverer” must have often looked.
Seen from a distance, the house is highly picturesque; it stands on
high, rocky ground, which on one side is almost perpendicular to a great
depth, broken into masses, covered with moss and lichens, among which,
here and there, shoot out the branches of the oak and ash, which have
found places for their roots in the crevices of the rocks. Some of these
trees have been partially hurled down by frequent storms, and their
gnarled branches form singular contrasts with the silvery stems of a few
slender birch-trees, which flourish in young vigour by their sides. At
the foot of the precipitous descent, a broad and somewhat clear stream
winds its way over large stones, forming tiny waterfalls; passing under
a rustic wooden bridge, it makes its way through the adjacent valley to
supply many scores of mills and factories, creating wealth.
[Illustration:
J. S. Dodd, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
SMITHELL’S HALL, LANCASHIRE.]
SMITHELLS HALL,
LANCASHIRE.
[Illustration: S]MITHELLS HALL is situated about two miles and a half
from the populous and flourishing manufacturing town of Bolton. The
manor was dependent on the manor of Sharples, the lord of which claimed
from its owners a pair of gilt spurs annually, and--by a singular and
“inconvenient” custom--the unlimited use of the Smithells cellars during
one week of every year. It does not appear, however, that the lord of
Smithells was bound, at this particular period, to store his cellars
with any particular quantity or quality of liquor. Up to the time of
Henry VII. the Radcliffes were lords of Smithells; but Joan, the
daughter and sole heir of Sir Ralph Radcliffe, having married Robert
Barton, Esq., he became in that reign seized of the manor and lordship
of Smithells, where his posterity continued, until Grace, sole daughter
and heiress of Thomas Barton, Esq., the last male heir, was married to
Henry, eldest son of Henry first Lord Viscount Fauconberg, whose
descendant, Thomas, in 1721, sold the manor, which afterwards passed
into the hands of the Byrons of Manchester, by whom it was sold for
21,000_l._ to Mr. Ainsworth of Halliwell, an opulent bleacher, and a
descendant of the Ainsworths of Pleasington.
The period of the erection of the mansion cannot be accurately
ascertained; a date (1360)
[Illustration]
affixed above one of the gateways is obviously no authority. The rebus
of _a tun_, crossed by _a bar_, indicating, it is said, Andrew Barton,
the famous rover of Henry VII.’s reign, may probably indicate the
erection of part of the structure early in the sixteenth century. The
building consists of “post and plaster work,” black and white, with bold
trefoils and quatrefoils. At the western extremity is a shaded walk,
covered with ivy, leading to the principal entrance. The hall is
tastefully furnished with relics of the olden time--chairs and tables
coeval with the building--while its primitive character is augmented by
huge baskets of yule-logs. The leading feature of the house is the
magnificent oak dining-room, erected by the present owner, Peter
Ainsworth, Esq. M.P., in admirable keeping with the aspect of the
edifice in its several details.
The grateful acknowledgments of all antiquaries are due to Mr. Ainsworth
for the zeal he has manifested in preserving the ancient style of his
venerable mansion; the delicate care he has exhibited in preventing the
destruction of even the least important “bit” that may be preserved; and
the judgment he has exercised in effecting restorations and repairs in
perfect harmony. This feeling is especially evidenced by the manner in
which the dining-room has been constructed. It was rebuilt--an exact
resemblance of its former state,--and panelled with the old oak, the
workmanship of which is so pure as to bear comparison with the best
existing examples in the kingdom.
In a passage near the door of the old dining-room, at the foot of the
staircase leading to
[Illustration]
the chapel, is a natural mark in the stone-flag resembling the print of
a man’s foot. This appearance has given rise to a tradition that the
martyr, George Marsh, when brought before Sir Roger Barton for
examination in 1555, stamped with his foot in confirmation of the truth
of his opinions, and that a miraculous impression was made on the stone
as a perpetual memorial of the injustice of his enemies. George Marsh
was born at Dean, two miles south-west of Bolton. In the persecuting
days of Mary he underwent his first examination before Sir Roger Barton
in Smithells Hall, from whence he was transferred to Latham, previous to
his final committal to Lancaster Castle.
A small chamber behind the chapel contains a beautiful latticed window
of large size, and
[Illustration]
here tradition states the early martyrs endured much suffering. The
chapel has been fitted up in good taste, and is full of associations
with remote periods. It is not only used by the family and the
household, but, by the courtesy of Mr. Ainsworth, is open to all in the
neighbourhood who desire to attend divine service there.
The house, it will be seen from our engraving, is a fine example of a
class of architecture of which Lancashire still has many singular and
interesting remains. It is highly picturesque; and, notwithstanding its
situation in the centre of a manufacturing district, it commands
extensive and very beautiful views of a rich and productive valley.
The drawing and the sketches from woodcut illustrations have been
supplied to us by Mr. J. J. Dodd, an excellent artist of Manchester.
[Illustration:
J. I. Dodd Delᵗ. on stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
SPEKE HALL, THE GARDEN FRONT, LANCASHIRE.]
SPEKE HALL,
LANCASHIRE.
[Illustration: S]PEC, SPEAKE,--or SPEKE HALL, according to the more
modern reading,--is situate about seven miles from Liverpool, and nearly
the same distance from Prescot. The house and the estates
adjacent--after passing through “several hands”--are now the property of
Richard Watt, Esq., of Bishop-Burton, whose uncle, Richard Watt, Esq.,
merchant of Liverpool, purchased the manor from the Beauclerk family.
The house is, however, “let,” and is now in the occupation of Joseph
Brereton, Esq. The history of the mansion--preserved as it is from a
very early period--is curious and interesting. Speke, according to
Domesday Book, was “held by Uctred,” with “two caracutes of land,” and
was “worth sixty-four pence.” With Uctred, however, it did not long
remain; for, soon afterwards, we find it given by Benedict de Gerneth or
Garnet, with Annota his daughter and heiress, to Adam de Molineux, of
the Sefton branch of that very noble and chivalric family. From them it
passed--by marriage with Joan Molineux, daughter of Sir John Molineux,
Knt., of Sefton--to William Norris, Esq., of Sutton. From this union
sprung the Lord Norris, of Rycot, and the founders of several other
noble families of Lancashire and Berkshire.[65] It was held by the
Norrises, in direct descent, until the middle of the last century, when
it was inherited by Topham Beauclerk, Esq., by whose son it was
transferred to Mr. Watt.
Speke Hall is among the best specimens of its class that yet endure in
England. It is built of wood and plaster--the material employed in all
the Lancashire houses of the sixteenth century. It was formerly
surrounded by a moat, the remains of which are easily traced, although
long ago filled up by gravelled walks and flowering shrubs in rich
abundance. A stone bridge, with high piers, leads to the principal
front; and the house is entered through a picturesque stone porch,
immediately over which is the following inscription, in black letter of
antique shape:--
This worke twenty yards long was wholly built by E. N., 1598.
The annexed woodcut shows the Stone Bridge leading to the entrance arch,
from
[Illustration]
which there is a flight of stone steps communicating with the moat;
there appears formerly to have been a terrace walk on this side of the
house, the situation of which is shown by the figure looking over the
wall. The pinnacles and ornaments from the Gables on this side of the
building are quite gone, the only ornament now remaining is the string
course round the whole building which still remains in good
preservation; and the window over the arch has some bold mouldings, it
occupies the space below the second gable in the woodcut. A large room
in the further Gable, now used as a Laundry, is said to have formerly
been the Chapel: we may imagine this to have been the case by the
window, which is different in size and shape from the others. On the
right of the arch is a doorway leading to the moat by the flight of
stone steps, also to the terrace-walk before mentioned, which is only
continued on one side of the building. On each side of this doorway is a
large stone seat, one of which is shown in the woodcut. The arch is
ornamented with a number of small mouldings, which, commencing at one
base, is continued through the impost and architrave to the base
opposite.
Two large oak doors open from the porch into an inner court of an oblong
form, in
[Illustration]
length about twenty-four yards, and in breadth about seventeen. Two
enormous and very venerable yew-trees still flourish here--now only
picturesque ornaments in keeping with the solemn character of the
structure; but in ancient times, no doubt, they answered the purpose of
equipping many a stout English bowman, and may have aided the victors of
Crecy and Poictiers. The principal windows of the mansion look into this
court; several of them yet retain their costly ornaments, and everywhere
there is to be found some indication that wealth and taste were lavishly
expended in decorating the noble and beautiful structure.
Passing down the principal lobby, we enter the Great Hall on the right.
It is very lofty; a fine oak wainscoting reaches from the floor to the
ceiling, which is of oak also, crossed by large beams, deeply moulded,
forming squares, which are again crossed, diagonally, by small moulded
ribs. The large Bay
[Illustration]
Window, as we have noted, looks into the court-yard. The huge
Chimney-piece, which seems to be of a much later date than the Hall,
contains a singular mass of strange forms; its peculiarities are shown
in the drawing, for which, and the other illustrations of this fine old
mansion, we are indebted to Mr. J. J. Dodd, an excellent artist, of
Manchester. The drawing introduces the Bay Window and a projecting
doorway leading to the drawing-room; it exhibits, too, the fine
wainscoting, which is divided perpendicularly and horizontally into
panels of various sizes; above the eye is a row of twelve panels,
bearing shields or scrolls, similar to achievement shields, of Gothic
shapes, on each of which is carved a head, supposed to represent one of
the twelve Cæsars. Of this wainscot Seacome, in his “History of the
House of Stanley,” says, “And here justice as well as respect to the
ancient and worthy house, Norris of Speke, calls upon me to acquaint the
reader with the bravery of Sir Edward Norris, son of Sir William, who
was slain at the battle of Musselburrow, in the time of Henry VII. This
valiant and heroic gentleman, Sir Edward Norris, commanded a body of the
army, under General Stanley, at Flodden Field, where he behaved with so
much courage and good conduct, that he was honoured by the King his
master with a congratulatory letter, for his good services on the
victory of that day, in token whereof he brought from the deceased King
of Scots’ palace all or most of his princely library; and he also
brought from the said palace the wainscot of the King’s Hall, and put it
up in his own hall of Speke, wherein are seen all the orders of
architecture, and round the top of it this inscription” (broken by the
projections and ornaments):--
Slepe : not : till : u hathe : consederd
how : thow : hast : Spent: y day : past
if : thou : have : well don : thank : God if
other: ways, re pent, ye[66]
The Door-case between the great hall and large Drawing-room projects
into the former, and is richly ornamented with a coat of arms and
supporters. In the windows
[Illustration:
J. I. Dodd, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
SPEKE, THE GREAT HALL, LANCASHIRE.]
there are still to be seen many arms painted on the glass, which add
greatly to the imposing effect of the room. A seat or bench, with a rest
for the feet, is continued, not only in the recess of the bow and bay
windows, but all round the apartment.
Crossing the hall, a passage leading from the projecting doorway brings
us to the staircase on the right, opposite to which is the entrance to
the great parlour or drawing-room, on the door frieze of which is the
following inscription, in similar characters to those in the Great
Hall:--
The : Streghtest : God : to : love : serve :
ys :
waye : to : heaven : above : all : thyng
While the Great Hall has been renovated and repaired with considerable
taste and skill, the Drawing-room has been grievously neglected, until
it has become a complete ruin. The floor has been entirely removed;
every window is boarded up, mouldings from the oak wainscot are
crumbling and falling down on every side, and it is not till we have
remained in the room some time, and the eye is accustomed to the
darkness, that we discern the elaborately enriched ceiling, which
consists of fifteen square compartments, being divided by four beams
horizontally, having the corners splayed off; they are of plaster,
ornamented with a running stem of the hop-plant, skilfully continued
throughout.
[Illustration]
The ceiling of the Bay Window is also ornamented, but in a different
style, being panelled with scrolls and ogee lines, and having in the
centre an angel, apparently rising into the clouds; the seats and
panelling from this window are gone, and the space is filled with broken
panels, mouldings, and “firewood;” the wind and rain force their way
between the pieces of board which stand in the stead of glass; and the
ivy has in many places forced itself through from the outside. This Bay
Window, with a square window of six lights close to it, looks into the
moat. This side of the house has been quite neglected: windows are
partially boarded up, and it is difficult to trace any architectural
features, except the two fine Chimneys; all else is a complete wreck,
exhibiting grievous proof of the want of taste and right feeling in the
present owner. The Chimneys here are stone, but the greater part of the
building is of wood; a few bricks have been introduced, but only because
they were absolutely necessary to support the tottering woodwork from
the ruin that follows neglect. Another window, at the end, looked into
the garden, into which there was also a communication through an arched
doorway--shown in the garden front view--having the initials carved on
it. The whole of the drawing-room is of oak, from the floor to the
ceiling; the panels at the top of the end adjoining the Great Hall are
pierced with stars and circles of different kinds in two rows; intended
doubtless to destroy the dull uniformity which must have been otherwise
exhibited by one hundred and twenty panels broken only by two doorways.
It only remains to notice the Carved Oak Chimney-piece in this room,
with which time has not yet made so much havoc as it has with the
ceiling. From the carved figures and inscriptions on the frieze, there
can be no doubt of its representing a pedigree of the Norris family for
three generations. It consists of three principal compartments,
separated by pairs of square columns, having their interstices occupied
[Illustration]
by beautiful arabesque foliage of different patterns, the whole resting
on a base corresponding with the extent of the fireplace, and finished
with carvings of a similar kind to those filling the spaces between the
columns. An inscription formerly ran along the cornice, explanatory of
the figures in the different compartments, but it is entirely gone: the
remainder is in a fair state of preservation, and is a good specimen of
the class introduced into England, when the Italian became mixed with
our English classic in domestic architecture.
The ancient Hall of Speke supplies a highly interesting example of the
architecture of the period. Although time has made sad havoc among its
beauties and peculiarities, and it has been shamefully neglected by
those who should have cherished the old House, as “the apple of an eye,”
its leading outlines still exist unimpaired; the arrangements of the
several apartments may be distinctly traced; and if by some fortunate
event it should happen to fall into the hands of parties capable of
estimating its worth, its restoration might be so effected as to exhibit
a perfect mansion of the 16th century.
Most auspiciously situated in the midst of rich and lovely scenery,
surrounded by venerable trees, many of them coeval with the building, it
would seem as if all the moral, social, and physical wants of the owner
might be supplied by means ready at his hands. Alas! that there is no
manorial lord to estimate the value of rare gifts of nature and fortune
beyond the actual profit the venerable walls can be made to yield.
[Illustration:
J. S. Dodd Delᵗ on Stone by W. Walton M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
TURTON TOWER, LANCASHIRE.]
TURTON TOWER,
LANCASHIRE.
[Illustration: T]his venerable and highly picturesque edifice is
situated about four miles from Bolton, in a district singularly at war
with relics of antiquity, and at variance with associations awakened by
remains of time-honoured mansions of the ancient lords of the soil. From
an adjacent hill may be seen a thousand tall chimneys, of red brick;
while the surrounding atmosphere is dense and heavy with the smoke
arising from factories and coal-pits, so numerous, that the eye labours
in vain to count them.
In the time of King John, the Township of Turton was held by Roger Fitz
Robert (De Holland); it became part of the property of Henry, “the good
Duke of Lancaster,” from whom the manor passed into the knightly family
of the Orrels, whom Camden styles “Illustrious.” From them it was
purchased, for £3,000, by Humphrey Chetham, Esq., a manufacturer of
fustians; of whom, about the middle of the 17th century, Fuller speaks,
as “a public benefactor.” From him it passed successively to his
descendants, Humphrey, Samuel, and Edward Chetham; by Anne, one of the
co-heiresses of Edward Chetham, it was conveyed by marriage to ---- Bland,
Esq., whose sole heiress married Mordecai Green, Esq., whose daughters,
the issue of his son, James Green, inherited, and now possess, the
estate. That portion of it, consisting of 365 acres, which contains
Turton Tower, is in the occupation of James Kay, Esq., a gentleman who
deserves the high praise of all, and the fervent gratitude of the
antiquary, for the care he has taken, not only to protect from further
injury the venerable relic of a remote age, but for the taste and
judgment he exhibits in keeping all things in harmony with the character
of the honoured and interesting edifice. The dwelling has received
various additions from time to time; but none of them are of very recent
date. They are principally of a class common in Lancashire, in houses of
the better order, as well as in cottages of the labourer and artisan,
being constructed of wood and plaster. “THE TOWER” is of stone, and much
older than other parts of the structure. It is square, and was evidently
constructed for defence. It has a hall, of small size, but richly
decorated with wood carvings; a quaint staircase conducts to the upper
apartments, the principal of which is the drawing-room, panelled with
oak from the floor nearly to the ceiling--the ceiling being highly
enriched.
[Illustration]
It receives light from two mullioned windows. This room is in the
Tower--the whole length and breadth of which it occupies. Every chamber
throughout the mansion has been fitly furnished by Mr. Kay. The ancient
coffer, bound with iron--(it supplies our initial letter)--concerning
which tradition has been always busy--is one of the few heirlooms of the
House.
We believe, with this exception, the whole of its picturesque contents,
from attic to cellar, have been the introductions of Mr. Kay; and we
cannot sufficiently praise the sound taste and judicious feeling by
which that gentleman has been actuated in his efforts at restoration
both within and without.
At a short distance from the mansion is a singularly picturesque
turret--an
[Illustration]
engraving of which we annex. Through the township of Turton passed the
ancient Roman road; and in the immediate neighbourhood may be traced
many relics of remote antiquity.
From “the Height” a most extensive view is obtained--a view unsurpassed
in England for singularity and deep interest,--taking in Bolton and
Warrington and other towns and villages full of factories; from hence
also are seen Billinge Hill and Beacon, the far-famed Pike and Beacon of
Rivington; while a deep shadow that hangs over an enormous space, points
attention to busy and prosperous Manchester, buried with its prodigious
wealth in the centre of a valley some fifteen miles away.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The windows formerly contained some rare specimens of painted
glass, which the late proprietor permitted a clerical friend to
abstract for the purpose of decorating a neighbouring church.
[2] Fuller states that Sir John Huddleston “was highly honoured by
Queen Mary, and deservedly. Such was the trust reposed in him, that
when Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen, she came privately to him at
Sawston, and rid thence behind his servant, the better to disguise
herself from discovery, to Framlingham. She afterwards made him, as
I have heard, her Privy Councillor; and besides other great boons,
bestowed the bigger part of Cambridge Castle, then in ruins, upon him,
with the stone whereof he built his fair house in this county.”
[3] A singular tradition, alluded to by Camden, has long prevailed,
that previously to the death of a heir of the house of Brereton, trunks
of trees were observed to rise from the bottom of the lake of the
neighbouring _Bog Mere_, and to float for several days. One historian
of Cheshire, sensible of the credulity of the great antiquary, would
resolve the pleasant dream of olden fancy by the laws of modern statics.
[4] Brereton is the “Bracebridge Hall” of Washington Irving.
[5] The Cheshire carpenters of old seem to have been not sparingly
endowed with the “noble” aspiration. In an inscription on the fine
carved oak ceiling of the neighbouring Church of Astbury, bearing date
1616 and 1617, in which occurs the name of a William Moreton, we have
that also of _Richard Lowndes, Carpenter_;--his work, however, is of no
mean desert.
[6] Hales and Tonkin state, that “about the middle of the _fourteenth_
century the Treffry family largely contributed towards the building of
the church, and erected, adjoining to it, a magnificent castellated
mansion for their own residence.” We imagine there is an error in
the date of this, and should rather refer it to the middle of the
_fifteenth_ century, after the French had destroyed the town; which
they did about the year 1453.
[7] The following inscription upon the tomb of one of them was
“formerly in the Church:”--
“Sir Rowland Vaux that sometime was the Lord of Triermaine,
Is dead, his body clad in lead, and ligs law under this stane;
Evin as we, evin so was he, on earth a levan man;
Evin as he, evin so maun we, for all the craft we can.”
“According to the tablet in the church (we quote from the ‘Border
Antiquities’ of Sir Walter Scott), this was a monastery of St.
Augustine, and founded in 1116; but no mention of it in the records
occurs earlier than the 16th of Henry II., 1169. Its endowments
consisted of all the lands lying between Picts’ Wall and Irthing,
and also between Burgh and Poltross, and several other valuable
possessions. Bernard, Bishop of Carlisle, dedicated the Church to
Mary Magdalen. * * * * Edward I. granted to the Prior and Convent the
advowson of two churches in his patronage, because the Priory had been
burnt and the lands ravaged by an incursion of the Scots. He wrote an
epistle to the Pope, expressly to obtain his sanction to this grant,
which was not withheld. Many other liberal donations were made to this
monastery, and some of them exhibited the peculiar character of the
times--such as the tithes of venison, and the skins of deer and foxes;
tithe of the mulcture of a mill, pasture for milking and sheep, the
bark of trees, a well or spring, and sundry villeins their issue and
goods.”
[8] The sad death of this “last Lord Dacre” is thus recorded by Stow.
The event occurred on the 17th of May, 1559.
“He was by a great mischaunce slayne at Thetford, in the house of Sir
Richard Falmenstone, Knight, by meane of a vaunting horse of woode,
standing within the same house; upon which horse, as he meant to have
vaunted, and the pins of the feet being not made sure, the horse fell
upon him and bruised the brains out of his head.” In the January
following, Leonard Dacre, Esq., of Horsley, in the county of York,
second son of Lord William Dacre, of Gilsland, “choosing,” according
to Camden, “rather to try for the estate with his prince in war, than
with his nieces at law,” entered into rebellion, with a design to carry
off the Queen of Scots. This object was frustrated by Mary’s removal
to Coventry; subsequently he seized upon Naworth and other Castles,
but having been attacked and defeated by Lord Hunsdon, he fled into
Flanders, where he died.
[9] To understand the full importance of this appointment it is
necessary to offer some explanations of the state of the Border at
that period. The accession of James VI. to the English crown, although
it produced the effect of converting the two _extremities_ into the
_middle_ of the kingdom, contributed but little to arrest the system
of plunder and depredation which had existed there for centuries.
The inhabitants generally, on the Scottish side, were unrestrained
moss-troopers (so called from the sloughs and bogs to which they
resorted), “Knowing no measure of law,” says Camden, “but the length
of their swords,”--men of whom Fuller quaintly writes, “they come to
church as seldom as the 29th of February comes into the kalendar.”
According to Sir Walter Scott, “the hands of rapine were never there
folded in inactivity, nor the sword of violence returned to the
scabbard.” The habits of these marauders, and the “interesting nature
of their exploits,” are pictured in a strong light by the historian
Camden. “They sally out of their own Borders in the night in troops,
through unfrequented by-ways, and many intricate windings. All the
daytime they refresh themselves and their horses in lurking holes they
had pitched upon before, till they arrive in the dark at those places
they have a design upon. As soon as they have seized upon the booty,
they, in like manner, return home in the night, through blind ways,
and fetching many a compass. The more skilful any captain is to pass
through those wild deserts, crooked turnings, and deep precipices,
in the thickest mists and darkness, his reputation is the greater,
and he is looked upon as a man of an excellent head. And they are
so very cunning, that they seldom have their booty taken from them,
unless sometimes, when, by the help of blood-hounds following them
exactly upon the track, they may chance to fall into the hands of their
adversaries.”
[10] For the drawings on wood here engraved, we are indebted to Mr. T.
M. Richardson, an accomplished artist of Newcastle.
[11] An anecdote is recorded of the gallant knight which strongly
illustrates not only his peculiar habit, but the character of the
turbulent time in which he lived. In this Library he was one day deep
in study, when a soldier, who had captured a moss-trooper, suddenly
entered with the news, disturbing his master with the unwelcome
question of what was to be done with the fellow? “Hang him, in the
devil’s name,” exclaimed the irritated lord, and turned to his books.
The order was construed literally; and forthwith the unhappy prisoner
was dangling from a tree; which Lord William, to his exceeding dismay,
learned, when a few hours afterwards he ordered the culprit to be
brought before him for examination.
[12] The Avenells, it would appear, about this time owned considerable
property in the north, the benefits of which they seem to have
dispensed with no niggard hand, as we find from the following notices
in Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” vol. i. p. 839. “The manor of Oneash (the
Aneise of Domesday) was given to Roche Abbey, Yorkshire, by William
Avenell, Lord of Haddon.” “Conksbury, near Over Haddon, was given to
the abbey of Leicester, by William Avenell.”
[13] Monuments of the Vernons and Manners in Bakewell Church:--
“Sir John Vernon, Knt. (son and heir of Henry), 1477; Sir Geo. Vernon,
of Haddon, d. 1561, and his two wives, Margaret, daughʳ of Sir Gilbert
Talbois, and Maud, daughtʳ of Sir Ralph Longford; Sir John Manners
(second son of Thomas earl of Rutland), who died in 1611, and his wife
(Dorothy, daughter and coheir of Sir Geo. Vernon), who died in 1584.
John Manners (third son of Sir John), who died in 1590. And Sir Geo.
Manners, who died in 1623; he married Grace, daughter of Sir Henry
Pierrepont.”
Arms of Manners, duke of Rutland:--Or, two bars azure; a chief
quarterly of the second and gules, the first and fourth charged with
two fleurs-de-lis of the first, and third with a lion passant-guardant
of the same, being an augmentation given to the family, in consequence
of their descent from King Edward IV.
_Crest_:--On a chapeau, gules, turned up erm., a peacock in pride,
proper.
_Supporters_:--Two unicorns, arg., thin horns, manes, tufts, and hoofs,
or.
[14] The subjoined particulars respecting one of these open-house
occasions, in 1663, are curious and interesting. They are extracted
from the bailiff’s accounts of the time of John, eighth earl, who died
here in 1679:--
£. _s._ _d._
“Paid George Wood, the cook, for helping in the
pastry all Christmas 3 0 0
Paid Robert Swindell, for helping at the like work
all Christmas, and two weeks 1 5 0
Paid William Green, the cook, for helping in the
kitchen all Christmas 1 0 0
Paid Antony Higton, turnspit, for helping all
Christmas 0 3 0
Paid W. Creswick, for pulling fowls and poultry
all Christmas 0 3 6
Paid Catherine Sprig, for helping the scullery-maid
all Christmas 0 3 0
Paid Thomas Shaw, the piper, for piping all
Christmas 2 0 0
Given by my honourable Lord and Lady’s command
to Thomas Shaw’s man 0 10 0
Given by their honours’ commands to Richard
Blackwell, the dancer 0 10 0
Given by their honours’ commands to Ottiwell
Bramwell, the dancer 0 10 0
Given by their honours’ commands to Ottiwell
Bramwell’s kinswoman, for dancing 0 5 0
About this time, from 1660 to 1670, although the family resided chiefly
at Belvoir, there were generally killed and consumed every year, at
Haddon, between 30 and 40 beeves, between 400 and 500 sheep, and 8 or
10 swine.”
[15] A romantic tradition is still current in the vicinity of Haddon,
relative to the courtship and marriage of Mr. Manners (afterwards Sir
John) with the younger co-heiress of Vernon. The tradition purports
that the lover (who was, perhaps, thirty years of age) having conceived
an attachment for Miss Vernon, a beautiful girl of eighteen, dwelt
for some time in the woods of Haddon as an outlaw, or, rather, in the
dress of a gamekeeper (probably with the popular reputation of being
an outlawed man), for the purpose of concealment, and in order to
facilitate secret interviews with his mistress; and that he at length
succeeded in persuading the young lady to elope with him during the
festivities of a masked ball, given by Sir G. Vernon in honour of the
marriage of his eldest daughter, Margaret, with Sir Thomas Stanley, a
younger son of the Earl of Derby.
[16] According to Walpole, “Anecdotes of Painting,” there is a
tradition in the family of Cavendish, that a fortune-teller had told
this imperious lady that “she should not die while she was building:
accordingly, she bestowed a great deal of the wealth she had obtained
from three of her four husbands in erecting large seats at Hardwicke,
Chatsworth, Bolsover and Oldcote, and, I think, at Worksop; and died in
a hard frost, when the workmen could not labour.”
[17] Hardwicke was built subsequently to the death of Mary; but there
is little doubt that the room called “The Queen’s Room,” in memory
of the unhappy lady, was furnished with the bed and other furniture
removed thither from Chatsworth, where she was for some time a
prisoner. Probably the hangings said to have been wrought by her were
actually the work of her hands; needlework was unquestionably one of
the modes by which she sought to solace her dismal confinement. Mr.
White, writing to Sir William Cecil, describes an interview he had with
her at Tutbury Castle, in 1568: “She sayd that all day she wrought with
her nydill and that the diversity of the colours made her work seem
less tedious, and contynued so long at it, till very payne made her to
give over.”
[18] The curious in such matters may find further information on this
head in the “Churchman’s Magazine” of 1801; and in the tenth volume of
Bowles’ edition of Pope’s Works, 1806.
[19] Lord Braybrooke’s “History of Audley End;” to which copious volume
we are principally indebted for our notices of the history of the house
and its occupants.
[20] Evelyn records, in his “Diary,” his visit thus:--“From Cambridge,
on August 31, 1654, we went to Audley End, and spent some time in
seeing that goodly palace, built by Howard, Earl of Suffolk, once
Lord Treasurer. It is a mixt fabric, ’twixt ancient and modern, but
observable for its being completely finished; and it is one of the
stateliest palaces of the kingdom. It consists of two courts, the first
very large, winged with cloisters. The front hath a double entrance;
the hall is faire, but somewhat too small for so august a pile; the
kitchen is very large, as are the cellars, arched with stone, very
neate, and well disposed. These offices are joyned by a wing out of the
way very handsomely. The gallery is the most cheerful, and, I think,
one of the best in England; a faire dining-roome, and the rest of the
lodgings answearable, with a pretty chapel. The gardens are not in
order, though well inclosed; it has also a bowling alley, and a nobly
walled, wooded, and watered park. The river glides before the palace,
to which is an avenue of lime-trees, but all this is much diminished by
its being placed in an obscure bottom. For the rest it is a perfectly
uniform structure, and shews without like a diadem, by the decoration
of the cupolas and other ornaments on the pavilions. Instead of
railings and balusters, there is a bordure of capital letters, as was
lately, also, in Suffolke house.”
[21] It has recently been pulled down.
[22] Lord Braybrooke’s “History of Audley End.”
[23] The story of St. Osyth, as given in an old tract, entitled
“Purgatory Proved by Miracles,” is printed by Wright in his History of
Essex:--“St. Ositha was daughter of a Mercian prince named Frithwald,
and of Wilterburga, daughter of Pende, king of the Mercians. She was
bred up in great piety; and through her parents’ authority, became
wife to Sighere, companion to St. Seb, in the kingdom of East Angles.
But preferring the love of a heavenly bridegroom before the embraces
of a king, her husband complied with her devotion; and, moreover, not
only permitted her to consecrate herself to our Lord, but bestowed on
her a village, situated near the sea, called Chic, where, building a
monastery, she enclosed herself, and after she had spent some time in
the service of God, it happened that a troop of Danish pirates landed
there; who, going out of their ships, wasted and burned the country
thereabout, using all manner of cruelty to the Christian inhabitants.
Then he who was the captain of that impious band, having learnt the
condition and religious life of the blessed virgin St. Ositha, began
by entreaties and presents to tempt her to idolatry; adding withal
threats of scourging, and other torments, if she refused to adore the
gods he worshipped. But the holy virgin, despising his flatteries, and
not fearing his threats, made small account of the torments attending
her. Whereupon the said captain, enraged at her constancy and scorn of
his idols, pronounced sentence of death against her, commanding her to
lay down her head to be cut off. And in the same place where the virgin
suffered martyrdom, a clear fountain broke forth, which cured several
kinds of diseases. As soon as her head was off, the body presently rose
up, and taking up the head in the hands, by the conduct of angels,
walked firmly the straight way to the church of the apostles St. Peter
and St. Paul, about a quarter of a mile distant from the place of her
suffering. And when it was come there, it knocked at the door with the
bloody hands, as desiring it might be opened, and thereon left marks of
blood. Having done this, it fell there down to the ground.”
[24] It appears that in the time of the Confessor a “De Berkeley”
possessed the adjoining manor and castle of Dursley; and his descendant
might probably have joined the Conqueror on, or immediately after, his
invasion, and thus retain the possessions until the domain was, during
the wars between Maud and Stephen, consigned to Henry, afterwards Henry
II. The gift to Robert Fitzhardinge is clear, and, occurring on the
very year of his accession to the throne, was doubtless intended by the
monarch to mark that event.
[25] The king had previously been treated with exceeding cruelty.
It is said that on his way to Berkeley his conductors, for greater
concealment of their captive, caused him to dismount from his horse
and a barber to shave his head and beard with cold water from a ditch,
telling him that “for once cold water must serve his purpose.” Covering
his face with his hands, the unhappy monarch wept, saying, “Woulde they
or noulde they, he woulde have warm water for his beard!” and to the
end that he might keep his promise, he began to shed tears plentifully.
This incident is related by Stowe on the authority of Thomas de Mori,
“a worshipfull knight that then lived, and wrote in the French tongue,
what he sawe with his eies or heard credily reported by them that sawe
and some that were actors.” Lord Berkeley was allowed 5_l._ per diem
for the monarch’s expenses during his imprisonment, and acquitted of
all participation in the murder; Gournay was subsequently arrested at
Marseilles and beheaded on shipboard, “it was supposed,” according to
Hume, “because some nobles and prelates in England were anxious to
prevent any discovery he might make of his accomplices.” Maltravers,
many years afterwards, sued for mercy and obtained it. The greatest
culprit seems to have escaped: Adam bishop of Hereford lent himself
to the schemes of Mortimer and the queen, and wrote as follows to the
knights who had the king in custody, “Edvardum occidere nolite timere
bonum est,” purposely omitting the punctuations, so that the passage
was capable of a double meaning, advising either to slay or spare the
royal prisoner, and supplying a safe exit for the writer out of any
difficulty that might subsequently arise.
[26] The following notes are extracted from Smith’s “Lives of the Lord
Berkeleys,” edited by Fosbrooke:--
“The accompt of William Aside, receiver to the Lord Berkeley,
accomptinge for a year from Mmass. anno 20 of Edward II. to the same
feast in the first of Edward III., sheweth that he received to this
lord’s use 700_l._ de camera scaccarii domini regis, out of the receipt
in the king’s exchequer, for the expences of the house of the king’s
father whilest he was at Berkeley; and hath in his said accompt an
allowance of 31_s._ 1_d._ paid by him to Sir Thomas de Gournay, sent
to Nottingham from Berkeley by the said Lord Berkeley to advertize the
queene and the king her sonne of the death of the late king his father
there. And 15th May the same year an allowance of 500_l._ more from the
kynge, paid him by John de Langton, keeper of the castle of Kerfilly,
for the same cause.
“The accompts of the reeves (stewards) of Hame and Alkington, and of
other manors of this lord’s, near Berkeley Castle, expressly shewe
what provisions and acates they sent from their severall granges and
manor-houses from the 5th day of Aprill, then being Palm Sunday, when
at supper time the kinge was first brought prisoner to Berkeley Castle,
untill his death there the 21st September following.
“And the accompt of this said lord’s receiver for the yeare following,
in 2d Edward III., sheweth what he payd for dyinge of the white canvas
into black, for coveringe of the chariot wherein the bodye of the king
was carryed from Berkeley Castle to Gloucester; what the cords, the
hors-collers, the traces, and other necessaries particularly cost,
used about the said chariot and conveyinge of his body thence to
Gloucester; for a silver vessell to put the king’s hart in 37_s._ 8_d._
(in uno vase argentes pro corde dicti Domini Regis patres reponend); in
oblations at several times in the chapple of the Castle for the kinges
soul, 21_d._; in expenses of the Lord Berkeley’s family going with the
kinges body from Berkeley unto Gloucester, 18_s._ 9_d._; and many like
particularities.”
[27] About this period the records of the Castle testify that “from
the manors of Ham and Cowley the following provisions were sent to
the clerk of the kitchen for one year:--17,000 eggs, 1008 pigeons, 91
capons, 192 hens, 288 ducks, 388 chickens, 80 hogs, 110 porkers, 84
pigs, 45 calves, 315 quarters of wheat.”
[28] In 1334 the retinue of the then Lord of Berkeley usually consisted
of twelve knights, each with two servants and a page; twenty-four
squires, each with one man and a page--making a total of 108 persons.
£ _s._ _d._
His expenditure for one year was 1309 14 6
He saved 1155 18 8
---------------
2465 13 2
A large sum for yearly income in those days.
His armour cost 11 8 11
A hawk 0 15 0
A falcon 1 15 0
[29] “The governor, Sir Charles Lucas, with three horses and arms, and
50_l._ in money. Each field-officer, two horses; foot-captains, one
horse; lieutenant and ensigns, sword but no horse; field-officers and
captains not to exceed 5_l._, soldiers not 5_s._ 16th October, Colonel
Barnes, on petition, nominated governor by the House of Commons.”
[30] In reference to this apartment Horace Walpole, in a letter to the
Rev. William Cole, dated 15th August, 1774, says:--“The room shewn
for the murder of Edward II. and the shrieks of an agonising king, I
verily believe to be genuine. It is a dismal chamber, almost at the
top of the house, quite detached, and to be approached only by a kind
of footbridge, and from that descends a large flight of steps, that
terminate on strong gates--exactly a _corps-de-garde_.”
[31] “Hatfield, called Haethfeld, in the Saxon times, from its
situation on a heath, was an ancient demesne of the Saxon kings, till
it was granted by Edgar, in the tenth century, to the abbey at Ely, in
Cambridgeshire. On the conversion of that foundation into a bishopric,
in the reign of Henry I., it became attached to the new see; and the
manor-house becoming a palace of the bishops, the town was thenceforth
distinguished by the appellation of Bishops’ Hatfield. Queen Elizabeth,
who had resided in the bishop’s palace some years before she came to
the crown, greatly admired the situation; and by virtue of the statute
which gave her the power of exchange, procured the alienation of this
manor from the then bishop of Ely, Richard Cox. James I., in the third
year of his reign, exchanged it for the house, manor, and park of
Theobald’s, with his minister, Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, whose
descendant, the Marquis of Salisbury, is the present owner.”
Notwithstanding Elizabeth’s regard for Hatfield, we cannot learn that
she often resided here after her accession to the throne.
[32] The lowest fortune of any gentleman in that noble corps is stated,
by one of its members, to have been no less than 4000_l._ a-year in
land; equal, probably, to 20,000_l._ a-year at the present time.
[33] Of this house--the house in which Oliver Cromwell was born--only
the site remains; a modern mansion having been erected upon it,
about thirty years ago, by a Mr. Rust, a banker of the town--upon
whose memory let the anathema rest. A wall of a cellar, which formed
part of the ancient dwelling, now alone exists. The chamber in which
the Protector “first drew breath” was a sight to which visitors ran
eagerly; and this, it would seem, so worried the soul of the rich
banker, that he commanded its removal, and with it as far as possible
every trace of a house to which tens of thousands would desire to make
a pilgrimage. Mr. Rust obtained the house--and the site, to which it
would seem he attached some value--so recently as the year 1810. Until
then it was in the possession of a Mr. Audley, a draper, who used to
show the room in which the Protector was born, “and sportively desire
it might be noticed that the devil was behind the door,” alluding to
a figure of Satan upon some old tapestry with which the walls were
hung. The ancient fabric was built of stone, with gothic windows and
projecting attics. The present dwelling is as ugly an example of modern
building as could well be seen.
[34] That Sir Oliver impaired his paternal estates by entertaining
James I. is very certain. It is probable that the king was a frequent
visitor to the hospitable knight, inasmuch as Royston, his Majesty’s
hunting seat, was in the neighbourhood. The king’s first visit, in
1603, on his progress to take possession of the English throne, was a
costly one. “His Highnesse and his followers,” according to Stow, “with
all comers, had such entertainment as was not the like in any place
before; there was such plentie and varietis of meates and diversitie
of wines, and the sellars open at any man’s pleasure.” It is stated,
indeed, that Sir Oliver’s entertainment was “a greater feast than had
ever been given to a king by a subject”--a fact to which his Majesty
himself testified; for on parting from the brave old knight, he is
reported to have addressed him, “Merry mon, thou hast treated me better
than ony ane syn I left Edinbro.”
[35] The present master of the school is the Rev. Mr. Fell, an
accomplished scholar, and an enlightened gentleman, by whom we were
guided about the various objects of interest in and around the
venerable Town, and whose courtesies and attentions it is our pleasant
duty to acknowledge.
[36] Upon a similar occasion, it is related that he paid a visit to
his godfather-uncle at Ramsay; the sturdy old Royalist was firm to the
monarchy; and although his nephew treated him with so much respect as
to decline wearing his hat in his presence, he seized all his plate
for the public service, and afterwards compelled him to give forty
saddle-horses, “by way of fine.” Subsequently, however, when the whole
estates of Sir Oliver were sequestrated by the Parliament, the remnant
was restored to him by the intervention of Oliver--“for whose sake the
sequestration was taken off.” Notwithstanding, the aged knight died in
extreme poverty, in 1655, at the age of 93, and, it is said, was buried
by night, “to prevent the seizure of his body by his creditors.”
[37] Over the entrance porch of the church at Godmanchester is a fine
example of that ancient religious emblem, the “lily-pot,” in which
is placed the miraculous rod of Joseph; in allusion to the old Roman
Catholic legend of his marriage with the Virgin. According to this
miraculous tale, the Virgin, who had spent her life in the service of
the Temple, was to be married to that man of the race of David who,
upon coming to the Temple bearing in his hand a rod, should be divinely
pointed out as her future husband, by the miraculous flowering of the
dry stick he carried, when offered at the altar to the High Priest.
Joseph’s rod put forth buds and flowers immediately it was offered, and
this miracle was a favourite subject with the early Catholic painters.
Raffaelle has left us a picture of this event, and Joseph is frequently
represented by other artists holding the rod with its flowers in his
hand. The lily-rod is also often placed in a pot in the windows of
in-door “Holy Family” scenes, similar to that which is placed upon the
apex of the door at Godmanchester, as delineated in our initial letter;
and which is a curious and unusually perfect example.
[38] On each side of the gate, upon projecting pillars, stand statues
of wild men, the size of life. Each holds a tree uprooted; they are
represented as covered with shaggy hair, wearing long beards and
mustachios, with no article of dress but a girdle round the waist.
These “Wodehouses,” or “Green Men,” for they were known by both names
in the olden time, were favourite characters with our ancestors--as
well in this country, as on the Continent. Froissart relates a
melancholy story of a masque of wild men, among whom was King Charles
VI. of France, which was performed at a marriage in 1392, when four
of the noble masquers were burnt to death, owing to the curiosity of
the King’s brother, who approached too near them with a lighted torch,
which set fire to their dresses, that were made of cloth, and covered
with pitch, upon which flax was fastened, to imitate shaggy hair. They
were very commonly displayed in court masques and public processions in
England. When King Henry VIII. kept his Christmas at Greenwich in the
fifth year of his reign, “a mount,” upon which sat the King and five
others, was drawn into the great Hall by “five wodehouses,” dressed
in skins, or rugs resembling skins, so as to appear like savages.
When Queen Elizabeth visited Kenilworth Castle, she was addressed by
the pert Gascoigne habited like a savage, covered with ivy, holding
in one of his hands an oaken plant torn up by the roots. They were
frequently used to clear the way in processions, when the clubs were
filled with fireworks. When Anne Bullen was conveyed upon the water
from Greenwich to London in 1533, “there went before the Lord Mayor’s
barge,” says Hall, “a foyste (a barge or pinnace propelled by rowers)
full of ordnance, in which foyste was a great red dragon, continually
moving, and casting forth wildfire; and round about the said foyste
stood terrible monsters and wilde men, casting of fire and making a
hideous noise.” They were usually employed in land processions, and
the danger of too near an approach to them is alluded to by one of the
characters in Wilson’s play, called “The Cobler’s Prophesy,” 1594, who
exclaims, “Comes there a pageant by? I’ll stand out of the green man’s
way, for fear of burning my vestment.” They were constant precursors
of the annual pageants exhibited on Lord Mayor’s Day in London; in the
Mayoralty procession of 1681, a body of twenty preceded the principal
device. As a part of ancient public state and magnificence, the wild
men of Hinchinbrook are most appropriately placed to watch and ward the
principal gate.
[39] The prospect has been essentially abridged by the growth of
surrounding trees. It is described by Evelyn as “a prospect, doubtless,
for city, river, ships, meadows, hill, woods, and all other amenities,
one of the most noble in the world.”
[40] Sir Henry Newton, who took the name of Puckering, on succeeding
to the estates of his maternal uncle, espoused the royal cause, and
was at the battle of Edge-hill. On the Restoration he was appointed
Paymaster-general of the Forces. “His good housekeeping and liberality
to the poor, who scarcely ever went away unfed from his gates,
gained him the general love and esteem of his neighbours, and he was
distinguished throughout the kingdom for being a generous benefactor
to the poor cavaliers whose services were not rewarded by King Charles
the Second.” Jane, the only daughter of Sir Henry, was attacked in
Greenwich Park, on the 26th of September, 1649, by a party of men,
who conveyed her to Erith, and put her on board a vessel there, the
object being to compel her to marry a man named Joseph Welsh, by whom
she was kept confined in a nunnery in Flanders, until she was induced,
“through fear and despairing of ever being restored to her friends,” to
marry him. On procuring her liberty, however, she instituted criminal
proceedings against Welsh and his accomplices, and the marriage was
declared void. They were indicted at Maidstone in 1651, and their guilt
was proved, but it does not appear that they were in custody. She
afterwards married Sir John Bale, of Carleton-Curlieu.
[41] Sir William Ducie was the son of Sir Robert Ducie, who
“accumulated immense wealth in trade. He was banker to King Charles
the First, and notwithstanding losing £80,000 by his Majesty, died,
it is said, worth more than £400,000.”--_Burke’s Extinct and Dormant
Baronetcies._
[42] An anecdote of the Prince and his tutor is thus recorded. The
Prince was here playing at the ancient English game of golf, when
lifting up his golf-club to strike the ball, one standing by said to
him, “Beware that you hit not Master Newton;” whereupon he, drawing
back his hand, said, “Had I done so, I had but paid my debts.”
[43] Sir Adam Newton was a native of Scotland, advanced to the Deanery
of Durham in 1606, which dignity, though not in orders, he held till
1620, when he resigned it, “being, in April of that year, created a
Baronet.” His appointment as tutor to Prince Henry commenced in 1599
or 1600. “He was,” according to Dr. Birch, (Life of Henry Prince of
Wales,) “thoroughly qualified for the office assigned him, both by
his genius and his skill in the learned and other languages; and was
distinguished by the neatness and perspicuity of his Latin style,
shewn by his translation of King James’s Discourse against Conrade
Vorstius.” In 1610 Mr. Adam Newton was appointed Secretary to the
Prince when his Royal Highness “settled his household.” The Prince,
to the universal grief of the nation, died in 1612. All contemporary
historians unite in his praise. The anecdote so often told of him is
a key to his admirable character. When urged to be wrathful with a
butcher whose dog had killed a stag he was chasing, and so spoiled his
sport--“Away,” said he, “all the pleasure in the world is not worth an
oath.” “He was gentle and affable; but, however, in his carriage had
a noble stateliness, without affectation, which commanded esteem and
respect. He was courteous, loving and affable; naturally modest and
even shame-faced; most patient, which he shewed both in life and death;
slow to anger; merciful to offenders, after a little punishment to make
them sensible of their faults: in brief, a character that approaches
nearer to perfection, is not to be found in history.” His death was
mourned by “all the muses;” funeral dirges to his memory were written
by Donne, Webster, Chapman, Brown, Drummond of Hawthornden, and a score
of other poets.
[44] Evelyn makes frequent mention of the venerable mansion, in
connection with his “excellent friend,” Sir Henry Newton, the son
and successor of Sir Adam. At that time the property belonged to Sir
William Ducie.
[45] There are several wild traditions--and some of them not very
delicate--concerning its origin. It is said to have been the result
of an intrigue of King John with the wife of a miller: but the more
probable origin is, that it was symbolic of the Ox of St. Luke, by
which he is usually distinguished in ancient paintings, and to this
Saint the Church of Charlton is dedicated. The Fair is now held on St.
Luke’s day, the 18th of October, and the minister had a bequest of
twenty shillings for preaching a sermon there. It was formerly kept
upon a green opposite the Church, and facing the Mansion. At this fair
were sold various articles formed of horn, such as drinking cups, &c.,
and horns gilded were sold and worn by the frequenters; during the
reign of Charles the Second, it was a carnival of the most unrestrained
kind, and persons used to start from London in boats, disguised as
kings, queens, millers, &c., with horns on their heads, and men dressed
as females, who formed in procession and marched round the church
and fair. In the time of Brand, he tells us that the folks assembled
consisted “of a riotous mob, who, after a printed summons dispersed
through the adjacent towns, meet near Deptford, and march from thence
in procession through that town and Greenwich to Charlton, with horns
of different kinds upon their heads; and at the fair there are sold
rams’ horns and every sort of toy made of horn, even the ginger-bread
figures have horns.” In “Pasquil’s Night-cap, or Antidote for the
Head-ache,” 1612, a poem by Nicholas Breton, a long and curious history
of the annual meeting for the inauguration of these horns is given,
as it used to be held in great pomp and with an immense concourse of
people, all of whom
“In comely sort their foreheads did adorne,
With goodly coronets of hardy horne;”
but he ends by telling us that--
“Long time this solemne custome was observ’d,
And Kentish-men with others met to feast;
But latter times are from old fashions swerv’d
And grown repugnant to this good behest.
For now ungratefull men these meetings scorn
And thanklesse prove to Fortune and the horn,
For onely now is kept a poor goose fair,
Where none but meaner people doe repair.”
[46] Craggs was much implicated in the “South Sea Bubble.” He resided
in a house on the property of Sir T. M. Wilson--since the residence
of Mrs. Fitz-Herbert--afterwards of Queen Caroline, when Princess of
Wales--afterwards of Alderman Atkins, and recently of Gen. Sir Thomas
Hislop, Bart., who died there.
[47] The Hall is opened to the public generally, only on Friday
(between the hours of eleven and four) the day on which Hampton Court
is closed. Visitors are admissible by cards, which must be obtained
previously from Mr. Caddel, library, Gravesend, or Mr. Wildash,
bookseller, Rochester. A charge is made of one shilling to each person.
The sum thus accruing is appropriated to the benefit of the schools
and other charitable institutions in the neighbourhood. The visitor is
thus relieved from the irksome necessity of considering what gratuity
he is to bestow upon the guide who accompanies him through the several
galleries,--servants “being strictly forbidden to take any fees.” The
cards contain the “Regulations.” Those who can devote but one day to an
examination of this locality will do well to commence by an inspection
of the church and village, and wander about the park after the Hall
has been seen. Those who are not content with so comparatively brief a
scrutiny, will find a homely but neat and comfortable inn at Cobham.
It is scarcely necessary to observe that steam-boats ply, in summer,
from Blackwall--distant six miles, or ten minutes, from the heart of
London--every half hour. These voyages commence very early, and are
continued to a late hour; so that although the Hall is five or six and
twenty miles from the metropolis, it will not be found difficult to
visit it and return to the city within one day.
[48] “Cobeham, anciently Coptham,--that is the head or village, from
the Saxon Copt, an head.”--_Philipott. Survey of Kent._
[49] One of the husbands of this lady was Sir John Oldcastle, who, in
the reign of Henry V., attached himself to the Lollards. He was cited
to appear before the Archbishop of Canterbury, and sentenced to death
as “a heretic; who together with others, to the number of twenty men,
called Lollards, had conspired to subvert the clergy and kill the
king.” Having been outlawed upon treason and excommunicated, he was
removed from the Tower to the “New Gallows” in St. Giles’, where he
underwent his sentence--“to be hanged, and burned hanging.” At the
place of execution, it is said, he desired Sir Thomas Erpingham, “in
case he saw him risen the third day after, that he would then be a
means to procure favour to the rest of his sect.” His “Tryal” before
the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1 Henry Fifth, A.D. 1413,
“on the Saturday after the feast of St. Matthew,” in the Chapter House
of St. Paul, is reported in the State Trials. It is curious to note
the language in which the prelate is stated to have addressed the
doomed recusant:--“We repeated in soft and moderate terms, and in a
manner very courteous and obliging, all our proceedings against him.”
“We replied with much patience, and in a courteous and affectionate
manner.” “We besought him, with tears in our eyes, and exhorted him in
the most compassionate manner.” Such, and similar phrases, record the
“gentleness” with which he was doomed to a cruel death. The archbishop
could “make nothing” of the brave Lollard. He openly avowed that the
only honour he vouchsafed to the Image of the Cross was, to “keep it
clean, and in his closet;” declared his belief that he was “the true
successor of St. Peter, who followed him in the purity of his life and
conversation;” and protested that he “desired absolution only from
God.” For the said “detestable crime of heresy” he was ordered to die;
“by the advice and consent of men famous for discretion and wisdom;”
and was “dispatched with all convenient expedition.”
[50] Sir Thomas Broke, and Joan de Cobham, his wife, had ten sons and
four daughters. It is their tomb which occupies so prominent a position
in the chancel of Cobham church.
[51] At the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, at Winton, the 17th of
November, 1 Jac. 1603, for high treason, “in conspiring to depose
the king and set up the Lady Arabella Stuart, and corresponding with
Spain for that purpose;” a variety of documents and letters were
produced and read; written, as alleged, by Lord Cobham, implicating
Sir Walter, admitting his own guilty participation, and affirming that
“he would not have entered into these courses but by his, Raleigh’s,
instigation.” Raleigh’s demand to be brought “face to face” with his
accuser was refused, on the ground that “the accuser may be drawn by
practise to retract what he had deposed, while he is here in person.”
To this Raleigh replied, “He dares not accuse me. He said I was the
cause of all his miseries and the destruction of his house, by my
wicked counsel. If this be true, whom hath he to accuse or be revenged
of but me?” “I say,” he added, “that Cobham is a base, dishonourable,
poor soul.” Cobham, however, had retracted his assertions concerning
Raleigh, who, at his trial, produced a letter from Cobham, to this
effect:--“Seeing myself so near my end, for the discharge of my
conscience and freeing myself from your blood, which else will
cry vengeance against me, I protest upon my salvation, I never
practised with Spain by your procurement: God so comfort me in this
my affliction, as you are a true subject for anything I know. I will
say as Pilate, ‘Purus sum a sanguine hujus.’ So God have mercy upon
my soul, as I know no treason by you.” The letter, however, availed
Sir Walter nothing; the attorney-general affirming “that it had been
procured by subtle practices; and that the first declaration was drawn
up voluntarily by my lord Cobham, and without any hopes of pardon.”
Under a most iniquitous sentence then pronounced, Raleigh was executed
fifteen years afterwards; and Cobham had been a houseless wanderer,
meanwhile, perishing unpitied and unwept. Of their intimacy there is no
doubt; and it is more than probable that the Old Hall we are describing
was often the home of Sir Walter Raleigh, when distinguished as “the
noble and valorous knight.” It is grievous to think that so great a
“worthy” should have been sacrificed to the pitiful cowardice of so
“poor a soul” as the last of the Cobhams--the degenerate scion of a
munificent and valorous race.
[52] Sir Joseph Williamson was the son of a clergyman of Cumberland. He
held various appointments under the Crown, was President of the Royal
Society; and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
[53] “Lady Katherine O’Brien died in November following; upon which her
two-thirds of this manor and seat, with the rest of the estates of the
late Duke of Richmond, purchased by Sir Joseph Williamson, descended
to Edward, Lord Clifton and Cornbury (son of Edward, Lord Cornbury,
afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and Catherine his wife, the only daughter
and heir of the said Lady Katherine, by her first husband, Henry,
Lord O’Brien), and on her death without issue, in 1713, to his only
surviving sister and heir, the Lady Theodosia Hyde.”--_Hasted’s Kent_,
vol. i.
[54] The Blighs were originally a Devonshire family; and in the reign
of Charles the First were seated at Rathmore, in the county of Meath,
in Ireland.
[55] In 1714, 1 Geo. I., Sir Richard Temple, Bart. was created Baron
Cobham--a title his descendants enjoy. The Temples were connected in
the female line with the Brokes.
[56] At the end of this gallery are, branching to the right and left,
the private apartments of the family; and in a room opening out of
the west end of the Picture-gallery, Queen Elizabeth is reported to
have slept when she honoured the Lord Cobham with a visit during her
progress through Kent. In the centre of the ancient Ceiling are still
preserved her Arms, with the date, 1599.
[57] An interesting series of Helmets hangs upon the walls of the
chancel. They vary in age and appearance. The most interesting are
two tilting helmets of the time of Henry V. These helmets were worn
over the bassinet, which was also of steel, and fitted close to the
head, having a movable visor which covered the face. The tilting or
tournament helmet had nothing of the kind, an opening for the admission
of light and air being formed by the projection of the lower portion,
which covered the face, from the cap above. A few holes were drilled
for sight, and the helmet rested upon the shoulders, being made wider
at the neck, while the bassinet fitted it closely. The crest of the
wearer, a plume of feathers, or other ornament, was generally affixed
to these tournament helmets; and upon one of these at Cobham the
staples remain upon the top and a hook behind, which helped to retain
such decorations. A helmet thus ornamented with the crest of the
Brokes--a Saracen’s head--still remains upon the walls. It is, however,
of a much later date, probably about the time of Henry VII., and is a
war-helmet with a movable visor.
[58] The other Brasses require a brief notice. The earliest is to the
memory of JOHN DE COBHAM, the first Knight Banneret, and Constable
of Rochester; he is dressed in a shirt of mail: round his waist is a
rich girdle sustaining a long sword. Eight lines of Norman French are
inscribed round the verge of the slab. 2. MAUDE DE COBHAM, wife to
Reynold, Baron Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in the reign
of Edward the Third: she is standing on a dog. 3. Another MAUDE DE
COBHAM--probably the wife of Thomas de Cobham, who died in the reign of
Richard the Second. 4. MARGARET DE COBHAM, wife of John Lord Cobham,
the founder of the College. The inscription round the verge informs
us, she was daughter to the Earl of Devonshire. 5. JOHN DE COBHAM, the
founder of the College, standing on a lion under a canopy. In his hands
he holds a church. 6. THOMAS DE COBHAM. 7. JOAN DE COBHAM, “probably
the daughter of John Lord Beauchamp, and mother of the Founder.” 8.
SIR JOHN BROKE, and Lady Margaret his wife, under a rich canopy with
pendants and other ornaments, with triangular compartments, “containing
circles with shields, one of which bears the crown of thorns, and the
other the five wounds; between the pinnacles, in the centre, is a
curious representation of the Trinity, in which the Deity is delineated
with a triple crown, and the Holy Spirit has a human face. The figure
of the knight is gone, but that of his lady remains; and beneath, are
groups of eight sons and ten daughters.” 9. SIR REGINALD BRAYBROKE, the
second husband of Joan Lady Cobham. 10. SIR NICHOLAS HAWBERK, her third
husband. 11. JOAN DE COBHAM: she died, as appears from the inscription,
“on the day of St. Hilary the Bishop, A.D. 1433.” At
her feet are six sons and four daughters, and surrounding her are six
escutcheons of the Cobham arms and alliances. 12. SIR THOMAS BROKE, and
one of his three wives. Below them are seven sons and five daughters.
Sir Thomas died in 1529. 13. SIR RALPH, or RAUF DE COBHAM, represented
by a bust, in a skull-cap and shirt of mail. He died, according to the
inscription, on the 20th January 1402.
[59] The Sackvilles are an ancient and very distinguished family,
dating from the Conquest. The first Peer, the famous Lord Buckhurst
and Earl of Dorset, succeeded Burleigh as Lord Treasurer, an office
in which he was confirmed by King James. He is more celebrated,
however, as the author of the earliest English Tragedy in blank verse,
“Gordubuc,” and “The Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates,” one of
the noblest Poems in the language. Gordubuc is praised by Sidney for
its “notable moralitie;” and the Poem is believed to have given use
to the Fairy Queen. All contemporaries agree in bearing testimony
to the virtues of this truly noble man. One of them thus draws his
character:--“How many rare things were in him! who more loving unto his
wife! who more kind unto his children! who more fast unto his friend!
who more moderate unto his enemy! who more true to his word!” The
sixth Earl of Dorset is also celebrated in the History of Literature:
he was one of the wits of the licentious court of Charles the Second;
the associate of Rochester, Villiers, and Sedley; but subsequently the
patron of Prior, Dryden, Butler, Congreve, Addison, and Pope. Prior he
rescued from a vintner’s tap, and Butler “owed to him that the court
tasted his ‘Hudibras.’” His reputation as an author rests upon a Poem
consisting of no more than eleven stanzas--the “song” beginning
“To all ye ladies now at land,”--
said to have been written on shipboard, on the night preceding a
sea-fight. It is an elegant composition, and manifests a “heedlessnesse
of danger” natural to a gallant youth. Pope hails him as
“the grace of courts, the Muses’ pride;”
and there can be no doubt that he was not only a generous and liberal
friend to men of letters, but a judicious patron to those who needed
help.
[60] The Dining Parlour--where, by the way, in 1645, the Court
of Sequestration met and deprived, for loyalty to his sovereign,
Edward, the fourth Earl of Dorset, of his estates--contains a series
of Portraits of men who, it is certain, met together often there,
assembled round the festive board of Charles, the sixth Earl. Among
the more interesting and important are those of Waller and Addison, by
Jarvis; Dr. Johnson, Garrick, and Goldsmith, by Sir Joshua Reynolds;
Otway, by Sir Peter Lely; Locke, Hobbes, Sedley, Newton, and Dryden,
by Kneller; Cowley and Rochester, by Du Boyce; Tom Durfey--in “a
conversation piece”--by Vandergucht; Burke, by Opie; together with
copies, by less famous hands, of Ben Jonson, Congreve, Wycherley, Rowe,
Garth, Swift, Cartwright, Pope, Betterton, Gay, Handel, &c., &c., &c.
[61] The artist selected as a worthy subject for his pencil the gallery
which runs parallel with “the Brown Gallery,” on the upper floor. It
is peculiarly striking and characteristic; and Time has shaken it
into “the picturesque.” It is known as “the Retainers’ Gallery;” the
sleeping apartments of the domestics branch off from it. The marble
chimney-piece, although much dilapidated, is of the finest marble, and
of rare workmanship.
[62] According to Hasted, the name is derived from _Pen_, an old
British word signifying the top of anything; and _hyrst_, a wood.
[63] It has been the fortune of the “Arcadia” to be too highly valued
in one age, and far too much underrated in another. Immediately after
its publication it was received with unbounded applause:--“From it
was taken the language of compliment and love, it gave a tinge of
similitude to the colloquial and courtly dialect of the time, and
from thence its influence was communicated to the lucubrations of the
Poet, the Historian, and the Divine.” The Book is a mixture of what
has been termed the heroic and the pastoral Romance, interspersed
with interludes and episodes, and details the various and marvellous
adventures of two friends, Musidorus and Pyrocles. It was not intended
to be published to the world; but was written merely to pleasure the
Countess of Pembroke--“a principal ornament to the family of the
Sidneis.”
[64] The touching incident to which, perhaps, more than to any other
circumstance, Sir Philip is indebted for his heroic fame, is thus
related by his friend and biographer, Fulke Greville, Lord Broke:--“In
his sad progress, passing along by the rest of the army, where his
uncle, the General, was, and being thirsty with excess of bleeding,
he called for drink, which was presently brought him; but, as he was
putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a poor soldier carried along,
who had been wounded at the same time, ghastly casting up his eyes at
the bottle. Which Sir Philip perceiving, took it from his head before
he drank, and delivered it to the poor man, with these words, ‘Thy
necessity is yet greater than mine.’” He lived in great pain for many
days after he was wounded, and died on the 17th of October, 1586. The
close of his life affords a beautiful lesson. “Calmly and steadily he
awaited the approach of death. His prayers were long and fervent--his
bearing was indeed that of a Christian hero. He had a noble funeral.
Kings clad themselves in garments of grief--a whole people grieved for
the loss of the most accomplished scholar, the most graceful courtier,
the best soldier, and the worthiest man of the country and the age. He
was buried in state, in the old Cathedral of St. Paul’s, on the 16th
of February. Both Universities composed verses to his memory; and so
general was the mourning for him, that, “for many months after his
death, it was accounted indecent for any gentleman of quality to appear
at Court, or in the City, in any light or gaudy apparel.”
[65] The Norrises had long been a family of note in Lancashire,
and held lands in Blackrod, Sutton, &c. The family of Bradshaw, of
Bradshaw, was of Saxon origin, and seated there before the conquest;
after that event, Sir John Bradshaw was repossessed of his estates by
the Conqueror, which went to his posterity for twenty-two descents,
whereof eleven were lineally knighted, as appears by ancient charter,
and other authentic evidences. A full account of the marriages may be
seen in Wotton’s Baronetage (Edition 1769, vol. vi., fol. 14), down
to Sir William Bradshaw, second son of Sir John Bradshaw, the tenth
generation from Sir John Bradshaw; which Sir William married Mabel
daughter of Hugh Norreys, or Norris, by which he got for her dowry,
as sole heir of her father, the manors of Sutton, Raynhill, Whiston,
Haghe, Blackerode, and West Leigh. Haghe and Blackrode were held as a
twelfth part of a knight’s fee. There is a well-attested story of Mab
and Mab’s Cross. She was obliged to walk bare-foot and bare-legged once
a week from Haigh to near Wigan, to expiate the sin of marrying again
in her husband’s absence, when she thought he had been slain. This Mab
was Mabil Norreys, of Blackrode. A portion of the Cross is still to be
seen at the extremity of the town of Wigan, on the left hand side of
the road, leading from Wigan to Haigh Hall, now the residence of Earl
Balcarras.
The Norrises of Speke and Rycot were all martial men. They held their
estate of Speke by military tenure, which they imposed upon their
tenantry. The Norrises acquired great honours in foreign service, in
which they were so much engaged as to be unfrequent attendants at
court. A part of the debateable lands at Bromfield, in Wales, was
granted to this family. Sir John Norris was a most accomplished General
about 1577, equally valiant and skilful in a charge as a retreat.
On one memorable occasion, he effected a retreat with a handful of
Englishmen, which gained him more honour than a victory could have
conferred. He was sent to Ireland, as a commander, in the reign of
Elizabeth; but not being properly supported by the Government, or owing
perhaps to the animosity of party spirit, he did not succeed in his
mission, and died _anno_ 1597.
[66] The question whether the wainscoting at Speke did or not
originally come from Scotland, appears to have given rise to some
discussion; and is unquestionably a matter of deep interest to
antiquarians. Not long ago, Robert Whatton, Esq., F.S.A., Member of
the Royal College of Surgeons, took some pains to investigate its
history, in order to assist the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, who
had organised a committee with a view to ascertain whether there was or
was not any proof to sustain the tradition.
It appears Mr. Whatton could meet with no intelligence prior to 1767.
“SEACOME,” in his History of the House of Stanley, page 46, refers to
it; also “ENFIELD,” in his History of Liverpool, 4to, 1774, page 115.
These accounts have been copied by _Gough_, in his edition of Camden,
and every subsequent writer.
The very splendid and highly-finished specimen of the carved oak
wainscot, common to the counties of Lancaster and Chester, is erected
against the north wall of the room, and is divided perpendicularly
from the ceiling, two-thirds of its extent downwards, into eight
compartments, these compartments being again subdivided horizontally
into five rows of panels; a space corresponding with the width of two
of the compartments, on the right hand, with the exception of the
uppermost panels, is occupied by the door-case, which projects into
the room. That part of the wainscot which is usually allotted to the
_frieze_ or cornice, is here formed into a _projecting head_, extending
through the whole length of the works in a line with the ceiling of
the room, to which it is attached and secured by _nine_ supporters,
correspondent with the columns below.
The columns which divide the wainscot into compartments rise from
square ornamental pedestals; the shafts are fluted in two divisions,
having capitals with volutes and rows of foliage, and supporting
scrolls with massive square heads, increasing in diameter upwards, and
reaching to the bottom of the first row of panels.
The columns of the door-case are similar to those on the wainscot,
except that the shafts are ornamented in zigzag instead of fluting;
in the centre, over this door, is a shield with the arms of Norris,
quartering Harrington, and Molyneux, and others we cannot decipher.
With respect to the origin of this fine and beautiful work, there seems
to be no evidence to support the current tradition of its having been
originally Scottish. Mr. Whatton is of opinion, not only that it never
came from Scotland, but that it was of neighbouring manufacture; and
was executed for Edward Norris in 1598 (40th of Elizabeth), and not
brought thither by his great uncle, Sir Edward, who fought at Flodden;
but the probability is, that some relics brought from Scotland had been
set up at Speke previous to the erection of the present Manor Hall in
1598; and as these would no doubt be transferred to the new building,
it might have happened in the course of time, that what was strictly
applicable to a part may have been ascribed to the whole.
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