In our lithotint print is shewn the western side of the Hall, considered to be the most ancient part of the structure. It is singularly solid in construction, the works being several yards in thickness. The large tower in the perspective contains the apartment formerly the Armoury. The terrace commands an extensive view of scenes rich in historic interest, and of great natural beauty; comprising in the distance the whole of the mountains of the Lake district, which rear their airy summits, chain upon chain, peak above peak, in almost countless numbers. Nearer, the eye ranges over thick woods, chequered here and there with grey rocks and quiet holms; while nearer, unseen, but plainly heard, the Lowther brawls over its rocky bed and through the wide arches of Lowther Bridge—a famous and most picturesque structure. Higher up the river, the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway passes over an immense viaduct, of which the three or four most central arches are distinctly visible from the Hall. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this scene on a clear sunny afternoon, when the dull red bridge is in shade; the light touched clearly but delicately along the parapet and down the inner sides of the shafted piers: the whole framed, as it were, in ponderous masses of richly coloured foliage, subdued and harmonised by ever-recurring passages of most delicious shade.
The interior contains many apartments of high interest: several of them having been renovated in the best possible taste, and in perfect harmony with the edifice. Our space will not permit us to describe them in detail. The Great Hall (of which we append an engraving) is a double cube forty feet by twenty, and twenty high; the roof supported by arches, with open spandrels, made of walnut-wood. The ceiling has been lately restored, having (at least the greater part of it) fallen to pieces through age and decay. The fireplace also has been restored. The windows (six in number) are filled with very fine stained glass, chiefly of the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century; the colours are singularly rich: it appears to be of German manufacture, and closely resembles the old glass at Nuremberg. There is a good deal of curious armour here; especially a very old and very perfect suit of Edward IV. or Richard III.’s time. The Armoury was a room about sixteen feet square at the top of the highest tower, with a fine oak roof, but is now used as a bed-room. All its contents were recently moved into the Hall, where, although seen to greater advantage, they have no longer the picturesque effect they must have had in their original situation.
In the Hall is a very old iron chest, with a lock in the lid which shoots twelve bolts by one key, that turns in the centre of the lid. This was probably used in ancient times to keep the vessels belonging to the chapel. The most curious relic in the Hall is an ivory horn (introduced as the initial letter), of very early workmanship, and used (as is believed) in the service of Cornage—an ancient border service, by which certain of the lands of Brougham are held. In former times this service consisted in blowing a horn from the top of the high tower, to give notice of the approach of an enemy (most usually the Scotch), so that the neighbouring barons might be prepared to resist the threatened attack; or the nearest beacon (which is on the top of Penrith Fell, and still in existence) might be lighted up to alarm the country. This service in later times was changed into a Corn rent, and hence it has been erroneously supposed that it was called Cornage: the original service, however, was that of blowing the horn. From its workmanship and ornaments this horn is evidently of Saxon times, and was probably used before the introduction of the cornage tenure as a warder’s horn. Over the chimney-piece in the old drawing-room are the arms of Edward VI. This room and many others in the house are rich in tapestry and old stamped leather.
“At the mansion of Browham stands a chapel of very ancient erection. In the year 1377, ‘Johannes de Burgham’ is said to have had ‘Capellam apud Browham, Sancto Wilfrido sacrum, ab antiquis temporibus fundatam,’ and that a Chaplain attended divine offices at it. Through process of time it becoming ruinous and neglected, it was lately repaird and beautify’d by the piety of Anne, Countess of Pembroke, A.D. 1659.”[69] In this chapel there was formerly a holy well, dedicated to St. Wilfred, which rose through the ancient font by a hole bored through the shaft (in which also was the waste-pipe) into the bowl. The hill near the chapel was cut through about fifty years ago, for the purpose of lowering the road, and from that time the spring which supplied the well was cut off, so that the water now only rises to the height of the chapel-floor: the loss of this singular remnant of antiquity is much to be lamented. There still remains the shrine, or a considerable portion of it, now fixed at the west end of the chapel, noticed by Leland in his “Itinerary,” and to which he says there was a great pilgrimage. The shrine at the east end consists of three compartments, of very remarkable carving, said to be by Albert Durer, but apparently, from the architecture of the canopy work, of an earlier date. It is said to have come from the church of St. Cunegonde at Cologne. The windows at the east end are early Anglo-Norman, and are filled with the earliest stained glass known in England. Two appear to have been repaired, and the broken parts replaced with glass of a more modern date. At one side of the altar, in the north wall, is the ancient “ambrie,” or small cupboard cut in the solid wall, in which were kept the vessels; some of these are still preserved, and are of great curiosity—the pix, now very rarely to be met with; the remonstrance, a small oblong box, either used as a reliquary, or, more probably, to contain the cruet or phial of sacred oil. These are gilt and finely enamelled, and are in a state of good preservation. The chalice and paten (silver gilt) are of great antiquity, and are also well preserved. The door of the ambrie is of black oak, curiously carved; on the back is fixed a very singular gilt and enamelled crucifixion, with a very remarkable representation of a glory above the head of our Saviour: this cross is of the very earliest age, probably of the sixth or eighth century. The sedilia, of black oak, still stands upon the raised part of the floor, on the south side of the altar; and the old drain, or piscina, is still to be seen. The oak carving, especially some of the stall ends, and the screen, are very fine, but have been extensively repaired. Some of the oak and stained glass, which appear formerly to have belonged to the chapel, are now in the great dining-hall; but what is left, still shews a richness and abundance of carving rarely to be met with in so small a space. Service is performed here whenever the family are resident, and generally by the Rector, after his duty at the parish church is over.
The situation of the parish church is remarkable. It is placed on the borders of a meadow, close to the river Eamont, at a point where there is a ford, in a direct line from the Roman way to Carlisle, and nearer than by Brovoniacum. It is above two miles from the nearest village, called Woodside, and still further from the place where the town of Brougham formerly stood: there is no trace of any habitations having ever existed near it.
Stukeley, who visited this part of Westmorland about 1724, and wrote his account of it in 1725, after describing the British circus or camp on the banks of the Lowther, called King Arthur’s Round Table, directly opposite to Brougham, says,—“This is the most delightful place that can be imagined for recreation; the rapid river Louther runs all along the side of it: the Eamont joins it a little way off in view. Beyond is a charming view of a vast wood, and of Brougham; beyond that the ancient Roman city, and the Roman road going along under the high hill, whereon is the beacon.”—Vol. II. p. 43.
After describing various British remains which abound in this neighbourhood, he proceeds:—“In the pasture on the eastern bank of the Louther, in the way to Clifton, are several cairns, or carrachs as the Scotch call them, made of dry stones heaped together; also many other monuments of stones, 3, 4, 5, set upright together. They are generally by the country-people said to be done by Michael Scott—a noted conjuror in their opinion, who was a monk of Holme Abbey, in Cumberland. They have a notion, too, that one Turquin, a giant, lived at Brougham, and that Sir Lancelot du Lake lived at Mayborough and slew him.”—P. 45. Stukeley accompanies his description by a view of Brougham, as seen rising from the midst of fine old trees (most of which are now cut down), with King Arthur’s Round Table in the foreground.
SIZERGH HALL,
WESTMORLAND.
izergh Hall, with its venerable towers, presents to the traveller journeying from Lancaster to Kendal an appearance peculiarly impressive. After passing Levens Hall, famous for its antique gardens and other vestiges of the olden time, two miles bring us to Sizergh, which a sudden turn presents to view, standing about half a mile from the main road, on a fine natural terrace of considerable elevation above the general level of the surrounding country. Fine time-honoured trees are thickly spread around; among them are some noble elms, whose stateliness is, however, rapidly giving way before the inroads of age. The park is small, and not particularly well ordered; it has also the appearance of being much diminished in size, the main turnpike-road having, in all probability, been cut through it, as in the case of Levens, where the house is on one side of the road and the park on the other.
The palmy state of this place belongs to other days; nevertheless much is left to shew what it has been, with the added interest of increasing years and antiquity to throw its halo of mystery around the scene. The hall front faces the east: the lithotint view will shew that it is singularly irregular and picturesque in its general outline, the whole being a collection of parts belonging to various eras; exhibiting here and there incongruities of style, particularly in the ugly modern windows, which, about eighty years ago, were introduced to supplant those that were mullioned. These abominations, we were informed, are shortly to be removed, and their places supplied by windows in keeping with the structure. By far the oldest parts of the building are the two southern towers, of the erection of which, it is said, no record remains; these towers are embattled, and are of amazing strength, the walls and the floors that divide the several stories being of great thickness and solidity, displaying a lavish use of materials in their construction: the beams are particularly remarkable in this respect. The smaller tower rises considerably above the other: in the upper part there is a guard-chamber, capable of containing a dozen men—a necessary precaution in feudal times to prevent sudden attacks. Behind, is a large square courtyard, one hundred and eighty feet from side to side, and enclosed on three sides by the back buildings of the mansion. These large yards were a necessary part of the old Border strongholds; they were generally large, as in this case, fortified by strong walls, and were used to protect the cattle, which were regularly secured therein at night, and during the frequent inroads of the turbulent and ever-watchful enemy, whose visits were not by any means either few or far between. In front a double flight of steps leads from the garden-terrace to a second terrace, leading direct into the Hall, a large room fifty feet in length, hung with rich tapestry and some good family pictures, many of the latter being of considerable artistic merit, as well as of historical interest. Among these the most “noticeable” are—Sir Robert Strickland, a zealous adherent of the Royalist party in the civil wars of the time of Charles I.; Sir Thomas Strickland, knight-banneret, and one of the privy council to James II.; and of his third son, Roger Strickland; Thomas Strickland, bishop of Namur, and ambassador to England from the Emperor Charles VI., by Rigaut. There is also a good portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, said to be by More. The drawing-room contains portraits of James II. and his queen, and one of Charles II., a royal gift from James himself to the family.
In the Great Tower are two rooms of much beauty and importance; one is the drawing-room, the other is called the Queen’s Chamber. Both these rooms are profusely decorated with rich carving, particularly in the chimneypieces. Of that in the drawing-room we procured a sketch. It is exceedingly rich and quaint, the centre compartment being occupied by a well-executed carving of the arms of the Stricklands. The fireplace is, as the reader will perceive, of recent date, and quite out of harmony with the more ancient part above. There is scarcely a room of any importance in the Hall that is not decorated with a rich chimneypiece and other carvings, all of great merit, and some of them of rare beauty and originality. These carvings are of the time of Elizabeth, in whose reign Walter Strickland, Esq., the then owner, refitted the greater part of the rooms. They are all exceedingly interesting. The Inlaid Chamber—a bedroom in the great tower—is, perhaps, the most curious of all; it is panelled with rich dark oak, inlaid with holly in curious arabesque devices. The bed is of the olden time, exceedingly massive, and magnificently furnished, the pillars being quaintly carved and very elaborate, supporting a canopy covered with rich draperies. There is not much old movable furniture, but some chairs attracted our attention; on the back of one was carved the date 1571. In one angle of the tower we were shewn a deep dark hole, constructed in the wall, with which tradition has connected some strange stories of secret violence committed in times when might was right; of which, however, there is no more direct evidence than rumour and the suspicious look of the place. No ancient Baronial Hall could be complete without its ample kitchen, and accordingly we find Sizergh in this respect well supplied. The important adjunct to hospitality is of large dimensions, with an enormous fireplace, in which, no doubt, was once placed an old-fashioned and most capacious cooking apparatus: all this has given way to the modern range, which had a look so undeniably recent and patent as to preclude all particular examination from us. The kitchen is low, and approached from the corridor by a broad flight of stairs.
Sizergh Hall has been for many centuries the property and place of residence of the Strickland family. At what time they first came here is not exactly known; they were originally from Great Strickland, in the parish of Moreland. “The son and heir of Walter de Stirkland was a hostage, in 1215, for the good behaviour of Roger Fitz-Reinford.” The erection of the great tower is attributed to Sir Walter de Stirkland, in the reign of Edward III., during which he procured from the king a license “to enclose his Wood and Demesne Lands on this estate, and to make a Park here.” This supposition is supported by the sculptured shield of arms on the north side of the tower, “placed corner-wise, D’Aincourt quartering Strickland: three escallops, the crest a full-topped holly-bush on a close helmet.”[70] Sir Walter was thrice returned to Parliament, an honour which several of his descendants also enjoyed. This was in the time of Edward III., when the name was spelt Sirezergh. The family took part in the Border Wars; and it is said that in the time of Henry VI. they mustered “bowmen, horsyd and harnessed, lxix; bylmen, horsyd and harnessed, lxxiiii; bowmen, without hors harnesse, lxxi; bylmen, without hors harnesse, lxxvi; totalis numerus, cclxxxx.” The Sir Thomas Strickland, whose portrait is mentioned above, went into France with the king, where he died, and was buried in the church of the English nuns at “Roan” in Normandy. “His third son, Roger Strickland, was page to the Prince of Condé, when he went from France to be elected king of Poland.” The fourth son was the already mentioned Bishop of Namur. In Kendal church, “Strickland’s Aisle” contains tombs of members of this family; “one of them is remarkable for the figure of Walter Strickland, a fat lad in a loose gown, with a most fulsome epitaph, dated in 1656.”
There is a tradition that Sizergh was once the property of the Crown; and this supposition seems in some degree supported by the fact of the royal arms being placed among the decorations of one of the chambers, and placed there it is said by Catharine Parr: but for this there is no sufficient authority.
For some years Sizergh has been the residence of D. Crewdson, Esq., in whom the old Hall has had a worthy and careful keeper, shewing its various matters of interest with a courtesy and kindness not too common among custodians of English antiquities. There is a moat in front of the house. This place was visited by the poet Gray when on his tour of the Lakes, in 1769, and its fine situation and antique appearance seem to have had a powerful impression on his mind—proved by his letters to Dr. Wharton. From the Hall two avenues diverge to the highway, one towards Kendal, and the other southward, in the direction of Levens, Milnthorpe, and Lancaster. The gardens are on the southern end of the terrace, and contain, in addition to the usual modern flowering plants, some fine old trees, clipt into the fantastic forms of other times, and also an old summer-house, fast falling to decay. Altogether the old place is a deeply interesting relic of times now happily gone by. The feudal tower—the varied and somewhat rude magnificence of the time of Elizabeth and James—the spoliating barbarism of the eighteenth century—all mingle here in curious contrast; carrying the mind rapidly through a long series of years, and exhibiting, as if in mockery, memorials of men, whose works remain, but whose hands—many of them, at least—had mingled with the dust before the arrival of periods of which even the antiquary speaks as “the past.”
CHARLTON HOUSE,
WILTSHIRE.
harlton House, the seat of the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, stands in the centre of a spacious park, a short distance from the ancient town of Malmesbury. The manor in “old times” belonged to the abbey of Malmesbury, and subsequently passed to the family of Knevit. Thomas Howard, the first Earl of Suffolk,[71] having married Catherine, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Knevit, the estates became the property of that noble house; and the Earl, soon after entering into possession, commenced building the mansion we here engrave. It is considered an excellent example of the style of architecture of the time of James I.; the house was, however, enlarged and modernised by Henry Earl of Suffolk and Berks., who was Secretary of State for the Northern Department, in the reign of George III. The principal front is ancient, with the exception of the attic over the centre portion between the two towers. A plan of the building preserved by the family shews the colonnade quite open, and forming one side of a large quadrangular court, sixty-five feet square, in the centre of the building: at the end of this court was the porch leading into the entrance-hall, which appears to have been in the style of Inigo Jones (the reputed architect of the building). This court-yard is now enclosed, and is formed into a saloon, which still remains unfinished, the works before their completion having been suddenly interrupted, probably by the death of the Earl in March 1799.
The only portion of the interior retaining its original character is the gallery; it runs through the whole front of the building immediately over the colonnade: the ceiling, which is ancient, is an extraordinary specimen of elaborate decoration; it is 115 feet in length, and between the edges of the cornice, 17 feet in width. An old fire-place, with the arms of the first Earl of Suffolk, brought from the Charter House, London, has been placed here. A collection of superb full-length portraits of this illustrious family adorn this fine apartment. It is said that the ceiling of this gallery once saved the building from destruction: previous to the alterations, the Earl, not liking the situation of the house, thought of having it pulled down, and rebuilt in another part of the park; the impossibility, however, of removing the ceiling determined the rejection of the idea. The additions externally (with the exception of one front) are closely copied from the older portions of the structure. The house abounds in furniture of antique character, in harmony with the character of the interesting building. One of these examples, consisting of a clock and cabinet, we here engrave.
The architect under whose directions the repairs and additions were made, is well known among the profession as an “Architectural Plagiarist,”—one who was accustomed to affix his name to the designs of other men. This person, thinking probably that the architecture of James I. would never be studied, put up the following inscription at Charlton; it is inscribed on an iron plate inserted in the wall above the roof of the saloon:—
“This edifice was rendered such as it is under the skilful direction of Matthew Brettingham, Architect,
and the careful superintendence of James Darley, Clerk of the Works.
(Thomas Carter, Steward.)
Began A.D. 1772, finished A.D. 1776, by Henry, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire,
the principal Secretary of State to the best of Princes.”
The mansion, taken altogether, is of fine character and of very considerable interest: as the baronial residence of the noble representative of an illustrious family, it retains some of the most striking and important of its ancient features, conveying the (at all times pleasant) idea, that antiquity is reverenced for its actual worth.
THE DUKE’S HOUSE,
WILTSHIRE.
he Duke’s House, at Bradford, in Wiltshire, is so called from the Duke of Kingston, to whom it formerly belonged. It subsequently descended to Earl Manvers. It is now a dilapidated farm-house; but even in its present condition of neglect, approaching ruin, it exhibits interesting indications of its early architectural character. In its pristine state, when the whole of its ornaments were perfect, it must have presented an appearance peculiarly imposing and grand; for it is seated on the side of a steep hill, with a lofty terrace in front, approached by a flight of steps, adorned with balustrades and vases: there were other terraces, walled gardens also, and orchards in the rear and on either side of the house, which is built of the fine white stone of the district.
The principal front—to the south—exhibited in the annexed view, is divided into two stories, with attics in the gables. The entire front is, as it were, one window: the three projecting bays are crowned with boldly sculptured open balustrades. The effect is remarkably striking and picturesque. The windows have all the mullions and transomes of stone like the rest of the building. The centre bay, on the ground-floor, serves as a porch, and has a fine large sculptured doorway, the upper part of which is seen in the print.
At the time John Aubrey visited Bradford, in 1686, he described this house as inhabited by John Hall, a wealthy clothier of the town, connected by marriage with the family of Sir John Thynne, of Longleat. Mr. J. Britten supposes that Bradford House was built by the architect who erected the grand mansion of Longleat, the foundation of which was laid in 1567; but the style of the building is that of a much later period; it was probably built by the Duke of Kingston. A shield of arms, with what appears to be a ducal coronet above it, is over the fireplace in the entrance-hall, and the same shield is repeated in the other apartments. This shield, no doubt, belongs to the nobleman who erected the mansion.
The palace at Longleat is a structure in style almost pure Italian, and the architect is well known to be John of Padua, a very celebrated man. It is the fashion with the antiquaries in Wilts, so proud they are of the name, to ascribe to him every building and every separate fragment of Elizabethan architecture in the county; but the Duke’s House is not by him: it is pure English architecture, of the latest and most polished period of the style of James I. Aubrey’s description of the house is curious; he calls it “the best house for the quality of a gentleman in Wiltshire.” The house has two wings; two, if not three, elevations or ascents to it, adorned with terraces, having either rails or stone balustrades.
The interior contains numerous fragments of the old building: the entrance-hall has a noble stone fireplace in two stories; one of the upper rooms had, till within the last few years, a very handsome oak and stone fireplace, elaborately carved. Some of the rooms contain oak panelling; and there are a few ornamented ceilings, in which are pomegranates, the fleur-de-lis, English rose, &c. The desertion of the house appears to have been caused by the increase of the town, which rendered it anything but a rural retreat.
Bradford is situated on the banks of the Avon, near the middle of the western boundary of Wiltshire, on the borders of Somersetshire, within a cove formed by the surrounding small hills, which screen the town from the cold northern winds. The Avon here is generally called the Lower Avon, and is considerably increased by the waters of the Were from Trowbridge. The name is supposed to be derived from the Saxon word Bradenford, signifying the broad ford. Over this ford there is now a handsome stone bridge. The Duke’s House is close to the town, which contains more than 10,000 inhabitants, of whom the greater part are employed in the cloth-manufactories. The church is a large and ancient building, in the chancel of which is an antique altar-piece, coarsely ornamented with a painting that was intended to represent the Last Supper. In the church are two windows of painted glass, said to exhibit the actions of Christ and His Apostles. These windows were a present from John Ferret, Esq., of London, a native of Bradford, who died in 1770. Near the church is a charity-school, for the education of sixty-five children, which was opened in January 1712. There is an almshouse at the west end of the town, founded by John Hall, Esq., the last of a family which had resided at Bradford ever since the reign of Edward I.
WESTWOOD HOUSE,
WORCESTERSHIRE.
ithin two miles of the ancient town of Droitwich, whose salt-springs have been famous since the time of the Romans, stands Westwood House, in the centre of an extensive park, well wooded, and consisting of about two hundred acres. To the east of the house is a lake extending over sixty acres, but which was originally intended to cover one hundred acres of ground. The principal front of the house commands a view of this lake; and being situated in the centre of the park, commanding on all sides the vistas produced by the fine old trees, whose radiating avenues surround it, it is as happily placed as any mansion in the kingdom. Nash, in his “History of Worcestershire,” thus describes it:—“Westwood House consists of a square building, from each corner of which projects a wing in the form of a parallelogram, and turretted in the style of the Château de Madrid near Paris, or Holland House. It is situated on a rising ground, and encircled with about two hundred acres of oak timber. The richness of the wood combining with the stateliness of the edifice forms a picture of ancient magnificence, unequalled by any thing in this county.” The house is of brick, with stone quoins and parapets, and bears a striking resemblance to an old Norman château. Our plate exhibits the peculiarities of its design as seen in the principal front. The body of the house is a solid square of three stories in height, the saloon occupying the first floor, and being lighted by large bay-windows. Wings project in a line from the centre of each corner of the house, and communicate by doors with each floor of the central building. Opposite each wing, at some distance from them, are erected small square towers, which were originally connected with the main building by walls, which have now been removed, and the small garden surrounding the house entirely thrown open. This garden is encircled by an open railing, and immediately in front of the house, and still further in advance, is the entrance-gate. Our cut exhibits the construction of the central pile as it appears from the garden, with the principal front and one side, taking in a view of three of the wings. The offices and stabling are at some short distance in the rear of this, and where the kitchen-garden now stands originally stood an ancient nunnery, of which no remains exist; but Nash tells us that, in digging, they sometimes find stone coffins and foundations of buildings.
Eustachia de Say and her son Osbert Fitzhugh, having given the church here to the abbey of Font-Evraud in Normandy, an abbey closely connected with our Norman kings, and where several lie buried, and having, during the reign of Henry II., granted them various lands, Osbert is styled the founder of the church of St. Mary at Westwood, in the ancient deeds. Shortly afterwards was erected a small priory, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, for six nuns of the Benedictine order, which, when once established, shared the usual favours bestowed on such foundations during the middle ages; it ultimately numbered seventeen or eighteen inmates. The grants of property, as recited by Nash, do not appear to have been of such great value as ever to have given great riches or importance to the priory, but they were of a kind to ensure a certain amount of comfort and worldly prosperity to the nuns who inhabited it; and some of the grants are curious, inasmuch as they shew the kindliness of feeling with which they were regarded, and the simple usefulness of many donations; all indicative of a period when the necessities of life were more dependent on the interchange of individual courtesies than they are at present. Thus, “Jocelyn Fitz Richard, of Wich (Droitwich), gave them free passage for corn and hay over the bridge of Brerhulle, as far as his meadow extended, from hay-time to Michaelmas, and for wood from hay-time to All Saints.” Others made them various grants for things in return, which they wanted, and which, being of considerably less value, became a profitable quit-rent. Thus “Stephen de Elmbrug gave land in Ruinestreet, Droitwich, for one pound of cummin or pepper yearly, at Michaelmas; which was confirmed at his death by his son Inard.” Ralph Hacket, “a dole of salt, with a salt-pit and wood-place, for three shillings and a mit of salt; Ralph Huson confirmed this, and gave an acre in Broadmead, with seven butts adjoining, for a mark of silver (13s. 4d.); also six sellions of land without Guerston Ditch, belonging to their church of St. Nicholas, at Wich. Osbert Fitz Osbert Bende, of Wich, gave lands in Wich, which he held in fee of Derhurst, with two helflings (four pounds) and a half of salt at Northernmost Wich, for a pair of white gloves yearly to his heirs, and fourpence halfpenny and six baskets of salt.” Other lands were also held by the same grant of salt from Droitwich, and remittances of rent by the same means. The change in the value of money is strikingly visible in some grants; thus, “William Fitz Aldred Fikemore gave 4d. yearly rent,” and “Adam Fitz Adam Luveton, of Wich, gave 12d. yearly rent;” sums which now appear almost ludicrous.
Of the various prioresses of this retired and remote establishment, but few notices or even names occur. The only noted one was Isabella, who ruled between 1360 and 1370, and died under excommunication, for having joined with the antipope Clement VII. The last prioress, Joice Acton, received at the dissolution, in 1553, an annual pension of 10l. At this period the revenues were valued at 78l. 8s. in the whole, and 175l. 18s. 11d. clear, which is Dugdale’s valuation.
After the dissolution of religious houses, Westwood with its demesne lands was granted, in the thirteenth year of Henry VIII., to Sir John Pakington, knight, in whose descendants it still continues. The Pakingtons resided first in their mansion at Hampton Lovet; when that was much damaged in the civil wars, they enlarged the house at Westwood, which had been built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as a lodge or banquetting-house, and made it the place of their abode.
One of the most interesting features of the place is the gate-house immediately in front of the mansion; it consists of a double lodge of red brick, with ornamental gables and pinnacles; the gate in the centre is ornamented with the heraldic bearings of the family, the mullet or star of five points, and garb or wheatsheaf; their arms being,—“party per chevron, sable and argent, in chief three mullets, or, in base as many garbs, gules.” These bearings are again sculptured on the parapets, the wheatsheafs doing duty as pilasters, and the mullets serving in place of balusters. The timber work over the gate, with its high pointed roof and pinnacle, is exceedingly picturesque and striking; and is all the more interesting from the rarity of such examples.
Passing through the gate and crossing the small lawn we reach the principal door, to which a flight of stone steps lead. The stone portico is decorated in the style of the Renaissance, but is more purely Italian in its taste than is usually the case in works of that period. An open balustrade is on each side of the steps. Over the centre arch is a regal figure on an eagle. It was probably erected after the civil wars, when Westwood was enlarged and improved.
From the hall, which is an oblong room, presenting no particular features of interest, and from which the library, containing many choice and curious volumes, is reached, and which is situated in the wing to the left, the principal apartments are reached by the staircase, a view of which is here given, and which is chiefly remarkable for the Corinthian capitals, supporting globes, which are placed on the banister. The whole of this staircase is of carved oak, in a fine state of preservation, and exhibiting great finish in execution. By this stair we reach the saloon, a noble apartment, with a double bay-window situated immediately over the hall, and having its walls hung with fine old tapestry of the Elizabethan era, filled with symbolical representations of various kinds, and resembling, in style and character, that exhibited in the great hall at Hampton Court. A magnificent fireplace of elaborate detail, decorated with the royal arms, is in the centre. The roof is of plaster, but is not the original one; it is very florid and elaborate, in the style of Louis Quatorze, yet, however good as a specimen of that peculiar taste, it does not harmonise with the rest of the building.
From the windows of this room a noble view of the country is obtained, which is very undulatory and beautiful; the lake, the avenues, and the antique oaks which surround the house, also add to the beauty of the prospect. The effect of the pavilion opposite each wing of the building is here seen to good effect, surrounded as they generally are with trees and flowers. We engrave one of them. The chimney upon its exterior bracket is a peculiar feature in their design.
Among the portraits preserved in the mansion may be noticed particularly a curious one of Sir John Perrott, Knight of the Bath, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1583 to 1588, who was descended from a very ancient family in Pembrokeshire; his mother was Mary, daughter of James Berkeley, Esq., second son of Lord Berkeley. Sir Robert Naunton, in his “Fragmenta Regalia,” intimates that he was a natural son of Henry VIII. “If we compare,” says he, “his picture, his qualities, gesture, and voice, with those of the king, which memory retains yet amongst us, they will plead strongly that he was a surreptitious child of the blood-royal.” His first appearance at court was early in the reign of Edward VI. He was arraigned of high treason at Westminster, April 17, 1592, and received sentence of death; but did not suffer, for he died five months after in the Tower. He left one son, Sir Thomas Perrot, knight, who married Dorothy, sister to the favourite Earl of Essex, by whom he had one or more daughters. Sir Thomas dying early, his widow married Henry Percy, the ninth Earl of Northumberland, and his estate came afterwards by marriage to the Pakingtons.
Sir John Pakynton, knight, son of the first grantee, was sheriff of this county in the reign of Elizabeth, and a favourite with that queen, who first took notice of him in her progress to Worcester; he followed her to court, and was made a Knight of the Bath. On one occasion he betted with three courtiers, for 3000l., to swim against them from Westminster to Greenwich, but the queen, by her especial command, prevented it. His only court favour on record was a monopoly of starch. Fuller says of him, that, “being a fine but no assiduous courtier, he drew the curtain between himself and the light of the queen’s favour, and then death overwhelmed the remnant, and utterly deprived him of recovery; and they say of him, that had he brought less to the court than he did, he might have carried away more than he brought, for he had a time of it, but was no good husband of opportunity.” He died of gout at the age of seventy-seven, and was buried at Aylesbury, 1625.
Sir John Pakyngton, Bart., knight of the shire 15 Charles I., was a confirmed loyalist, and was tried for his life by the Parliament, his estates were sequestered, and he was plundered for his loyalty, but he ultimately compounded with the parliamentary committee for 5000l., and died in 1679. His house was an asylum for all learned men in these troublesome times. Nash says, “Dr. Hammond, Bishops Morley, Fell, Gunning, and others, always met with hospitable entertainment here, during the troubles of the kingdom. In concert, with some of these, Dorothy, “the good Lady Pakington” as she was called, is supposed to have written “The Whole Duty of Man,” one of the most popular of religious volumes. In defence of her supposed authorship, it is said that Lady Pakington’s letters and prayers are marked with the easy familiar language of that book; and it has been asserted that the original MS. in the handwriting of this lady, and interlined with corrections by Bishop Fell, was sometime in possession of her daughter, Mrs. Ayre, of Rampton, who often affirmed it to be the performance of her mother, adding that she was also the authoress of the “Decay of Christian Piety,” another celebrated religious work. But “upon the whole,” adds Nash, “it still remains a doubt, and it is much easier to prove who was not the author than to assert who was.”
At the Revolution, the doors of Westwood were open to some persons who scrupled to take oaths to King William. Dean Hickes wrote here great part of his “Linguarum Septentrionalium Thesaurus;” and the preface to his “Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica” is dedicated to Sir John Pakington. In it he gives the following declamatory description of Westwood,—“Ibi porticus, atria, propylæa, horti, ambulacra clausa et subdialia, recta et sinuosa, omnia studiis commoda; ibi luci, silvæ, nemora, prata, saltus, planities, pascua, et nihil non, quod animum pene a literis abhorrentem et legendum, audiendumve, et quovismodo discendum componere, et conciliare potest.”
FOUNTAINS HALL,
YORKSHIRE.
ountains Hall is situated about five miles west of Ripon, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and “within two hundred yards” of the famous Abbey, the name of which it “borrowed,” as well as the stones of which it is built. The hall was, indeed, formed out of the ruins of the time-honoured structure; and Sir Stephen Proctor, by whom it was erected, thought, no doubt, he was dedicating to “right uses” the precious relics he had bought, which supplied him with a “quarry”—plentiful and easy of access. It has since passed through various hands; the descendants of the builder held it but a short while: the daughter of Sir Stephen conveyed it, with the manor, to John Messenger, Esq., whose descendant sold it to William Aislabie, Esq.; recently it was the property of the late Miss Lawrence of Studley-Royal; and now, we believe, belongs to the Earl de Grey. Farther than this, little is known of the mansion or its history; and its interest is derived principally, or solely, from the ruined structure—magnificent and beautiful in decay—which it adjoins, and out of the broken columns of which it was raised.