THE STORY OF SOME ANCIENT MANOR–HOUSES—BADDESLEY CLINTON—PACKINGTON OLD HALL—MAXSTOKE CASTLE—ASTLEY CASTLE
In the north–western portion of the county lies a group of historic houses and churches which present many unique features. One of the most interesting of these, distant some seven miles from Warwick and situated amidst lovely scenery, is Baddesley Clinton, a typical old moated manor–house, such as a few years ago was associated in Christmastide publications with stories of ghosts and midnight villainy. This exquisite survival of ancient domestic architecture is a low–built house with grey stone walls, timbered gables, and battlemented parapets. It forms an unusually fine specimen of the old fortified manorial dwellings dating from the fifteenth century, and nowadays, alas! becoming fewer and fewer by reason of destruction by fire or the exigencies of the times.
During its early history the manor appears to have had several owners. From the middle of the thirteenth century, for a period of about a hundred years, it belonged to the Clinton family of Coleshill, becoming in the last years of the fifteenth century the property of one Nicholas Brome, at whose death it passed in 1517 to his daughter and co–heiress, Constantia, who had married in 1497 Sir Edward Ferrers, a grandson of William Lord Ferrers of Groby, in which family the estates have ever since remained. It is the boast of the family that their ancestry came over with the Conqueror, and there is little doubt that the boast is no idle one.
The Ferrers family of Baddesley Clinton are descended from the second son of the Earl who met his death so unromantically on the bridge at St. Neots; Groby passing into the hands of the Greys. A younger son of the Ferrers of Tamworth was the father of Sir Edward Ferrers, who by marriage with Constance Brome became the possessor of Baddesley Clinton.
During the Civil War Baddesley Clinton, although its owners appear to have sided neither with the King nor the Parliament, was plundered by the forces of the latter; and in a MS. of the period one finds a statement of some of the booty which was acquired by the Roundheads. This included a grey and a bright bay horse, which were led away by the troopers, one of them with a rich plush saddle trimmed round about the skirts with gold lace and gold fringe; arms and armour; gunpowder; cash taken from a desk; a Geneva Bible, and even the linen from the drying room! But the family appear to have succeeded in maintaining their neutral attitude, and at the Restoration were still in quiet enjoyment of their estates; which, however, had become smaller, and from the fact of their fidelity to Roman Catholicism were little likely in succeeding centuries to be added to.
The last squire of the line was Marmion Edward Ferrers, a noted antiquarian who lived quietly at Baddesley Clinton, and died leaving no heir; his widow married a second time Edward Heneage Dearing, Esq., the present owner of the property.
As was the case with most manor–houses of ancient times, and more especially with those belonging to Catholic families, there were several secret hiding–places at Baddesley Clinton, constructed for the salvation of the ministering Romish priests, or for other fugitives in times of need. Near the chapel is a well–like shaft of stone, formerly provided with steps or projecting stones, by means of which a fugitive was able to reach a secret passage extending round nearly the whole length of two sides of the house, and giving access to a small water–gate opening on the moat, at which a boat was kept at hand for use in cases of emergency. On the eastern side of the building adjoining the banqueting room is a secret chamber some six feet square, which has a bench running round it. This of recent years has been walled up, but the narrow staircase leading to it behind the wainscoting remains in its original condition.
There are probably other chambers in this ancient building, the existence of which may possibly at some future time be diescovered quite by accident, as have so many other hiding–places in similar houses throughout the country.
ANNE HATHAWAY’S COTTAGE.
The house, one of the most ancient in Warwickshire, is approached by a brick bridge of two arches crossing the moat, and the entrance is through an archway under an embattled tower, which although giving a distinction to this, the north–eastern front of the building, is apparently of no great age. The door is an ancient one, studded thickly with iron bolts, guarding the house at the inner end of the bridge; the stabling being at the outer end and separate from the house.
The building within the bounds of the moat forms three sides of a quadrangle, which encloses a quaint garden with paths running between close–mown turf and clipped yew bushes. The old mansion is rich in beautiful panelled rooms and wonderful carved mantelpieces. On the left–hand side of the entrance to the house itself is an anteroom leading to the great Hall. In this beautiful oak–panelled chamber is an unusually handsome Renaissance fireplace of carved stone, dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, and ornamented with seven shields of the family arms painted on the stone–work, the last shield commemorating the marriage of Edward Ferrers and Ann Peyto in 1611. The chief features of the room, however, are the heraldic devices of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which adorn the windows; an old seventeenth century cabinet of quaint design, the front of which is divided into twenty small panels and ornamented with groups of cupids, nymphs, and satyrs; several dower chests; and a silver twisted horn, traditionally stated to date from the year 1400, and to have been presented to the Lord de Ferrers of that time by the French Ambassador at the Court of King Henry IV. There is also an interesting leather bottle fished out of the moat a few years ago; and an old buff leather coat which may have been a relic of the unwelcome visitation made by the Parliamentarians during the Civil War.
The drawing–room is panelled oak and has oaken benches in the recesses of the window, and is rendered notable by the large carved oak fireplace, which is ornamented by the arms of the Ferrers of Groby. In this room, too, is a fine portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, attributed by several authorities to Marc Garrard.
In the southern angle of the hall is a handsome staircase leading to the enclosed gallery running round the inner part of three sides of the house, and giving access to the upper story rooms.
The State bedroom, which contains a very fine and elaborately carved chimney–piece, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, is on the left of the staircase, and this room is finely panelled in oak, as are so many of the others of this most interesting house.
In the Oratory or domestic chapel of the house is a most curious and interesting Flemish Sanctus bell, dating from 1555, and having on it a small incised female effigy, supposed to represent the wife or daughter of Nicholas Brome; there is also an inscription, IHESVS ES MINEN NAEM.
The banqueting hall of the house is situated over the gateway, and is a fine room lighted by a mullioned window, and containing some good and very ancient oak carving and panelling, and also some beautiful tapestry. Unfortunately the high pitched roof of open timber–work has been covered by a plaster ceiling.
A touch of romance still hangs about the adjoining room, which is the library, but is traditionally known as the “Ghost Room,” and was in former times popularly supposed to be haunted, possibly by the spirit of Nicholas Brome or that of the parish priest he found, according to Dugdale, “chocking his wife under the chin, whereat he was so enraged that he presently kil’d him.” For this offence the murderer had to obtain the King’s pardon and also the Pope’s, who enjoined him to do something towards expiation of his crime. In pursuance of this mandate he built the “tower–steeple,” and bought three bells for it, as well as carrying out other additions and alterations to the thirteenth–century church of Baddesley.
In the church are many monuments of the Bromes and Ferrers, and also some beautiful and ancient stained glass in the east window. In connection with the manor of Baddesley Clinton there is an interesting entry in the Manor Rolls, recording that the Shakespeare family held lands in Baddesley as early as 1389, and it is possible that these were the remote ancestors of the poet himself.
It seems not improbable that much of the oak panelling and most of the carved mantelpieces in the house were placed there by Edward Ferrers, son of the antiquarian, about the middle of the seventeenth century, or perhaps rather earlier. The decorations within the house make plain for the student of architecture, and to the eyes of the skilled antiquarian, the three chief periods of its history. The outer walls are those of the ancient home of the Bromes, as it came into possession of the Ferrers family; but inside the house are many evidences of the money spent in its fittings and beautifying by Edward Ferrers towards the middle part of the seventeenth century. Then there is the last period, comprising the black and white timber–work and other restorations carried out by Captain Dering, who found on his accession to the property the building suffering from the ravages of both age and neglect.
Few manor–houses in Warwickshire possess greater charms than Baddesley Clinton, and the views from the upper windows into the ivy–covered courtyard, with its wealth of flower–beds and blossom, are charming to a degree.
Some eight miles north–east of Baddesley Clinton, through a stretch of pretty country, lies Packington Park, famous for its ancient oaks, and made unusually picturesque by the presence of its sheets of ornamental water. Packington Hall is now the seat of the Earl of Aylesford, a substantial building, set amid a pleasant park, built by Sir Clement Fisher in 1693, and enlarged and faced with stone three–quarters of a century later. About a mile to the north–east of Maxstoke Priory lies Maxstoke Castle, surrounded by fine trees, so retired that its very existence might be unsuspected by those who pass along the road at the foot of the avenue.
Few houses in England can be exactly compared with this wonderfully preserved survival of medieval times, which is set in so picturesque a position, surrounded by trees of a deer park of considerable size. All who have visited Maxstoke are agreed concerning the almost unique interest that this ancient fortified residence possesses for students of architecture and of the manners and customs of past ages. In Maxstoke, indeed, there is little to break the medieval spell which seems to hang so closely about its time–worn walls, and be so in keeping with its retired situation. As one approaches it by the fine avenue of elms leading, for the last portion of it, in a straight line to the gate–house and bridge, one almost, indeed, expects to see watchers upon the twin towers, and to find one’s ingress barred by closely–shut doors and lowered portcullis.
A beautiful survival of a past age, now the residence of the Tangye family, whose name is so intimately connected with the neighbouring city of Birmingham, the house has been closely identified with many historic names and strenuous deeds of English history.
It dates from the period when the great and strongly fortified castles—more fortresses, indeed, than residences—were giving place to dwelling–houses, well–defended, it is true, but which, though still protected by walls, towers, and even drawbridges and portcullises, were yet an indication of the change bound to come when such defences became unnecessary.
The foundations of the Castle, which is completely enclosed within an embattled enceinte, and is protected by a deep and broad moat and defended by strong angle towers, were laid by William de Clinton under a licence from Edward III. in 1345. The great entrance, a survival of the old barbican, is beneath or rather between two tall and formidable towers; the ancient drawbridge having been replaced by a stone bridge crossing the moat, and leading from the avenue of elms to the courtyard. But although both drawbridge and portcullis are gone, the grooves in which the latter was lowered still remain, as do the ancient oaken doors scarred by the weather of centuries, and perhaps by evidences of attack. The Castle itself lies in one of the most beautiful districts of England, almost midway between Birmingham and Coventry.
At Maxstoke in ancient times resided a family of the name of Oddingsells, who were evidently of great importance in the district, as they possessed all the feudal privileges of gallows and tumbril, and assay of bread and beer. Edmund Oddingsells, who died without issue in Edward I.’s reign, had, however, several sisters, to whom he left his property; Ida the eldest having Maxstoke for her share, which passed to John de Clinton on her marriage with him.
This John de Clinton was one of the great barons of his time, and he accompanied Edward I. on his invasion of Scotland in 1296, and for his assistance had conferred on him some of the possessions of Malcolm Drummond. Thus it is seen Maxstoke in very early times became identified with the doings of men who played a conspicuous part in the affairs of their country. The mother of Ida, the wife of John de Clinton, was Elizabeth, daughter of the famous William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury. John de Clinton left two sons, the second of whom was the builder of the castle in its present form, although there undoubtedly was an older house standing on the site, of which some fragments have been discovered incorporated into the base of the existing building.
William de Clinton was a man of note, for he held the office of Justice of Chester, Constable of Dover Castle, Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Admiral of the Western Seas. He also had the custody of the King’s forests from the Trent southward; and in 1337 was made Earl of Huntingdon. By his will, dated 1354, the Castle was left to his nephew, a Sir John de Clinton, for whom he appears to have designed it. This John de Clinton was the son of his elder brother John, and was, therefore, the grandson of the first possessor of Maxstoke of the Clinton line. The family were barons by writ, and the new owner was a soldier, who had fought through the French war, and was present at Poitiers and other battles, and was also at one time Constable of Windsor Castle. His grandson, who succeeded him, was known as Lord Say, his mother, the first wife of Sir John de Clinton, having been Idonia, the sister and heiress of William de Say.
Lord Say was, like his grandfather, a soldier, and proved a great benefactor to Maxstoke Priory. He was succeeded by his son, another John, who in 1437 exchanged the castle with Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, for other manors in Northamptonshire, the reason for which exchange is not known.
The last of the De Clintons of Maxstoke was also a soldier, who had the misfortune to be captured in the French war and to suffer a long term of imprisonment. Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, the new owner of Maxstoke, who was made a Knight of the Garter in 1429, and was created Duke of Buckingham in 1444, was Lieutenant Governor of Normandy and Calais, and Ambassador to France. He had also another distinction conferred upon him, that of precedence before all other Dukes who might thenceforward be created, excepting only descendants of the King. He was a warm supporter of the Lancastrian cause and, owing to his marriage with Margaret Beaufort, daughter and heiress of Edmund Duke of Somerset, was related to the Royal House. He fell at the battle of Northampton, July 10, 1460, when leading the Lancastrian forces, one of his sons having been killed at the battle of St. Albans five years previously; and he proved on his death a great benefactor to the destitute poor, some of whom he directed should carry tapers at his funeral, and pray for the repose of his soul.
SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACE.
It was Buckingham who strengthened the oaken doors of Maxstoke by sheets of iron bearing his arms and supporters, and also the “burning nave and knot,” which was the ancient badge of the house.
It does not appear that Buckingham made Maxstoke by any means his chief residence, but the names of many of the constables he appointed, and of those who came after him, have been placed on record.
The castle and estates were forfeited by the second Duke and have had during its history many owners.
The dwelling–house occupies the north–west angle of the inner court. It is a partly timbered house, the front portion having been rebuilt in the seventeenth century, and some changes have been made since that date.
At the south end of the Great Hall was formerly the chapel, the west window of which, in the late Decorated period, still remains. The kitchen was somewhat strangely placed adjoining this, and communication between it and the hall must have been carried on across the chapel, the lower part of which is nowadays used as a butler’s pantry, and the upper part a corridor to the Great Hall. In the chapel the marriage of John Talbot, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury, and Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, took place in 1457.
The great Baronial Halt, with a dais at one end, is on the first floor, and forms a handsome apartment lighted by three windows. On the west side there is a fine carved mantelpiece of coloured stone, ornamented with the numerous quarterings of the Dilke family, and bearing the following quaint inscriptions:—
| Pennatus Sidera Morte | |
| Where no woode is, | No tale–bearers, |
| Ye fire goeth out; | Strife ceaseth. |
The room contains some good pictures, amongst which is a full–length portrait of Charles II. by Sir Peter Lely. In the hall are also some interesting relics of former times, such as stone cannon balls, iron balls, pipe bowls found in the moat, some fine armour, and a pair of jack–boots worn by one of the family at the Battle of the Boyne.
The Oak Drawing–Room is a beautiful apartment, distinguished by a magnificently carved mantelpiece, and a unique carved doorway forming a sort of inner porch, and with the door very deeply panelled. There is in this room a curious picture of the last jester of Maxstoke, 1681, one Tom Grainger, who is depicted with an owl perched on his shoulder, and pipe in hand.
A relic which never fails to interest the visitor is an antique oak chair, which tradition states was brought from an old house at Bosworth Field. It bears on the brass plate attached to it the following inscription: “In this chair King Henry VII. was crowned at Bosworth Field, A.D. 1485.”
The Tower Drawing–Room is also oak panelled, and contains a fine mantelpiece. Above it is the bedroom known as Henry VII.’s; and over that again is the top tower bedroom, from which beautiful views of the park and moat are to be obtained.
The Dining–room on the ground floor contains a sideboard which is stated to have been made out of a tree at which Oliver Cromwell practised marksmanship in Coleshill Park, and also some interesting portraits of the Fetherstons and Fetherstonhaughs.
Scarcely a room at Maxstoke but contains something either in its decorations or its furniture of great interest; and, indeed, it is a matter for congratulation on the part of all those interested in architectural survivals and the preservation of historic houses that the castle presents in this twentieth century so interesting and perfect an example of the fortified manor–houses of ancient times. Maintained, let it be added, with all the loving care which such a unique treasure–house of antiquity deserves.
Some six miles to the north–east of Maxstoke is situated Astley Castle, prettily placed in Arbury Park. Although known as a castle, it is in reality rather an example of the defensive manor–house which came into being when residences of a more formidable nature had become no longer necessary. The house is surrounded by a moat, which is picturesquely overhung with foliage, and spanned by a bridge admitting to the house through an arched gateway.
Within a mile and a half of the church, and reached by a lovely avenue through Hawk’s Wood, is South Farm, where, on November 22, 1819, was born Mary Ann Evans, afterwards to become famous as “George Eliot.” The building is quite a small farmhouse, having one bay and a gabled east wing, and is coated with rough cast. It stands pleasantly situated a little distance on the right of the Park Road to Griff.
“George Eliot’s” father, Mr. Robert Evans, was agent for the Arbury Estate, and the family afterwards, whilst the future novelist was quite a child, removed to a larger house at Griff.
As was perhaps not unnatural, “George Eliot” drew much of her early inspiration and local colour from the immediate neighbourhood in which she was born, and in “Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story,” which she commenced to write on Christmas Day 1856, Astley Church appears under the disguise of “Knebley Church”; whilst Sir Robert Newdigate, who collected so many Art treasures for his beautiful home of Arbury, figures in the same story under the name of “Sir Christopher Cheverel.”
THE STORY AND ROMANCE OF SOME SOUTH WARWICKSHIRE MANOR–HOUSES
Some twelve miles to the south–east of Stratford lies Compton Wynyates, one of the most interesting and picturesque manor–houses in Warwickshire, reached by a road scarcely more than a by–way from Upper Tysoe, and lying beautifully situated and secluded in a thickly wooded dell. Scarcely seen until one comes quite close to it, at first sight it gives merely an impression of a multitude of gables, turrets, and chimneys, with the central porch flanked by two picturesque half–timbered gables partly overgrown by creepers and ivy.
The whole building except the gables is battlemented, and the ancient chimneys of zigzag and cable pattern give it an additional and unique picturesqueness. The old moat which formerly surrounded it has been filled in, with the exception of a portion to the north, now enclosing a beautiful flower–garden, which was very probably in former days covered with buildings.
The name Compton Wynyates is supposed by many to have been derived from the fact that in ancient times a vineyard was situated on the slopes which surround the house, and the weight of tradition is also in favour of this derivation. The property has been in the possession of the Compton family since the reign of King John, and although records are lacking to support the view, it seems possible that it came into the hands of the Comptons at the date of the Conquest. But, although in the reign of Edward III. one John de Compton was a knight for the shire in Parliament, the family appear not to have gained any great distinction until the beginning of the sixteenth century.
At the end of the fifteenth century William Compton succeeded his father Edmund, but being then only eleven years of age he became a ward of the Crown, and was brought up with Henry VIII. His association with the latter was destined to bear very material fruit in the way of advancement in later years, as, becoming a great favourite with Henry, he eventually received several important appointments in the State.
Old Fuller, the chronicler, says of Compton, “He was highly and deservedly a favourite to this King, so that, in the Court, no laymen, abating onely Charles Brandon (in whom affection and affinity met), was equall unto him.”
To this William Compton the King granted an augmentation to his arms from his own Royal ensigns and devices, and at the beginning of his reign made him custodian of the castle at Fulbroke, which had fallen into ruins.
About 1509 Sir William Compton, who had gained great distinction at the Battle of Spurs, and had been knighted for his gallantry, pulled down the castle, and with part of the materials—consisting in the main of some of the stone, the chimneys, and part of the woodwork—set about building himself a mansion at Compton Wynyates. Tradition asserts that the chimneys were carried from the ruined castle, for use in the new mansion, in panniers on the backs of horses and donkeys. Thus was built one of the most interesting and picturesque mansions of Warwickshire, and, indeed, of any county in England.
The house was erected round a quadrangle 75 feet square. The four sides of the building, however, were not designed with exactitude, the north being 140 feet, the south 146 feet, the east 155 feet, and the west 152 feet in length. Over the arch of the entrance porch are carved the arms of Henry VIII., supported by a griffin and a greyhound, above which is a crown with the inscription, “DOM.REX.HENRICVS.OCTAV.” On the hollow mouldings of the drip–stone are figures of lizards, other animals, and roses; whilst on each side is the Tudor double rose of York and Lancaster beneath a crown. The left–hand spandril is filled in with a device of Catherine of Aragon formed by the Castle of Castile and the pomegranate of Granada: also a sheaf of arrows, the badge of her mother Isabella. The right–hand spandril contains the portcullis, which was a badge of Henry VIII. Anciently there was, of course, a drawbridge, and inside the archway on either side are stone benches and doors which led out to the moat when the drawbridge was raised. The old oak doors contain a wicket, and still show traces of bombardment from callivers and matchlocks. But these doors, which are strongly panelled inside, would appear to have successfully resisted all the attacks made upon them.
On passing beneath the entrance porch into the inner court one is at once struck by the beautiful bay–window on the right–hand side containing eight lights, with mullions and transoms and carved panels, and battlements above. Between two windows on the left of the door is a lion’s head carved in stone, which is worth notice, as there is a tradition that on festive occasions it ran with wine, which was supplied from the inside of the house and ran into a basin formerly fixed below the head. This courtyard is rendered more picturesque than even it would otherwise be by the beautiful flowers and creepers, more especially the fuchsias, which adorn it.
On entering the house one passes the Buttery on the left, divided from the Hall itself by an oak screen carved in the linen–fold pattern, and from this a short passage leads to the kitchens, which still contain the large recessed fireplaces of Tudor times.
Between the chapel and the Hall is the great parlour, with its oak panelling and plaster ceiling bearing the arms of Compton and Spencer, built in the reign of Elizabeth by William Compton, first Earl of Northampton.
STRATFORD–ON–AVON—THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
The great Hall itself extends the full height of the house, and possesses a fine open–timbered roof, the beams of which spring from a richly carved cornice. The roof was apparently brought from some older building and reduced in size to fit its present use. It is probable, too, that it originally extended one bay farther, which would give it its true proportions.
At one end is a picturesque half–timbered Minstrel Gallery, with open panel–work, the gallery in the south–east angle being a modern addition.
There is an interesting survival of the games of our ancestors in the huge slab of elm, over 23 feet in length and 30 inches in width, which was made to rest on tressels, and in all probability was used for playing “shovel–board,” a popular amusement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
It was in this Hall that the builder, Sir William Compton, received Henry VIII., with whom he had been at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and doubtless it has been the scene of many almost equally notable festivities during the centuries which have passed since its erection. The Chapel, which is on the south side of the quadrangle, is divided into two portions by an oak screen with a gate in the centre. Over the screen are carved panels, and on the left of the gate on the outer side is one probably representing the scourging of Christ previous to the Crucifixion; whilst that on the left represents a female figure on a pedestal intended apparently for the Virgin Mary, the stag having reference to the legend of St. Hubert. Within the screen on the left are representations of the seven deadly sins, each mounted on a horse with a small demon behind, urging on the rider. At the head of the procession is a monk, and the figure of the devil is seen standing ready to receive them. On the right–hand side there is a carving of figures (probably Twelfth Night mummers) in State robes, having swords in their left hands. The centre panels on both sides of the screen are blank. The general impression is that these carvings, which are certainly of greater age than the house, were brought from Fulbroke Castle, built by John, Duke of Bedford, in the reign of Henry V., the custody of which was given to Sir William Compton by Henry VIII.
The great window on the south–western side of the chapel contains five lights, with cinquefoil heads divided by a transom, and with the spandrils and sill carved. In it was formerly some beautiful painted glass representing the Passion, in which also were depicted the figures of the builder of the house and his wife and three children, and the family arms. The glass was removed to Balliol College, Oxford, during the period of the Civil War. It is difficult to exactly locate the former position of the high altar in reference to the great window, it being possible, as was sometimes the case, that the celebrant took up his position behind it, and thus faced north–east, having his back, of course, towards the window itself.
Amongst the other more notable portions of this fine manor–house, which in its entirety contains eighty rooms with seventeen separate flights of stairs and 275 windows, which in the days of the window tax were reduced to the number of thirty, is the private dining–room built in the reign of Elizabeth by William Compton, first Earl of Northampton, ornamented with the arms of Compton and Spencer. The carving of the chimney–piece moulding of hard fir–wood is supposed to be the work of Thomas Chippendale, the well–known wood–carver of George II.’s time.
The Music– or Smoking–room is probably a comparatively modern addition to the house, about the year 1738; here too the chimney moulding appears to be the work of Chippendale.
On the second floor, approached by the great staircase, which although occupying its original position is a modern reproduction dating only from 1867, King Charles’ room is reached, situated on the north side overlooking the moat. In this room Charles is said to have slept when a guest here. The moat and the upper part of the house could in those days be reached by a spiral staircase just outside the room.
The Drawing–room on the south side of the house is a beautiful room, oak panelled, and with a handsome plaster ceiling placed there in the time of Elizabeth and recently carefully restored. The carving and panelling over the mantelpiece were brought from Canonbury House, which was the manor–house of Islington, purchased by Sir John Spencer, the father of the first Earl, in 1570. The chapel drawing–room, in which are oak carvings and a moulded ceiling, has on the south side hinged panels, and a door which leads into the upper portion of the chapel, and through which people in the room could hear the service.
Next to this room is the bed–chamber occupied by Henry VIII. when visiting the house, and containing a window in which is some old painted glass. In one of the lights is a Tudor rose intact, and in others there are portions of the arms of Catherine of Aragon. The ceiling, which is interesting and curious, was probably made in the reign of Charles I., and contains the arms of the various royal guests who had honoured the house with their presence, including Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.
The Council Chamber in the great tower is reached by a circular staircase, and is notable for its beautiful split oak panelling, exhibiting the grain of the wood in a manner impossible where sawn timber is used. In a small chamber adjoining is a well–hole, probably once forming the entrance to a secret passage communicating with a trap–door in the north wing.
There were in ancient times a large number of secret hiding–places at Compton Wynyates. Next but one to the room of Henry VIII. is a chamber from which there was communication with a secret hiding–place of quite considerable dimensions, reached from it by a stairway of eleven steps only 19 inches wide. In this stairway is an “observation hole,” some 10 inches high and about 2–1/2 inches wide, formerly concealed by the panelling, by means of which the approach of the enemy or of a search party could be watched by the fugitive in hiding. The secret chamber is about seven feet square, and has two windows and a small fireplace. One of the distinguishing features of the house is the number of its windows and chimneys; a circumstance that made it extremely difficult for searchers to locate any secret hiding–place, even though furnished with both. Few manor–houses have, or at least had, more numerous places of concealment great and small than Compton Wynyates. In the south–western turret is another hiding–place, stated to have been discovered by Lady Frances Compton about 1770, whilst she was playing there as a child. The story goes that she fell against the plaster–work which concealed the door, and the hollow sound emitted caused investigation to be made. Upon opening the chamber it was found (so tradition states) to contain the skeletons of a woman (a nurse?) and two children, concealed, it is supposed, at some period of trouble and forgotten.
The famous priests’ room or chapel in the roof is reached from the Council Chamber by three newel staircases, and it is even possible there was a fourth in ancient times. This room was undoubtedly used as a chapel, as there were many Popish recusants dwelling in the immediate neighbourhood; a safer and less unostentatious place of worship was scarcely possible. On an elm shelf below the south–west window are, rudely carved, five consecration crosses, showing that it had been used for the purpose of an altar, and was consecrated according to the rites of the Romish Church. The slab of wood is unique, in that it forms the only known instance of a wooden altar in England.
The part played by the Northampton family in the Civil War was such as to attract the attention of the Parliamentary forces to even so secluded a spot as Compton Wynyates, and on Thursday, June 6, a detachment of Parliamentarians under Major Bridges appeared before the house and besieged it for three days, when it surrendered. The Parliamentarians are reported by Dugdale to have killed many of the deer in the park, and also to have wantonly defaced the ornaments in the Church.
James, the third Earl of Northampton, was ultimately permitted to resume possession of the house and estates on payment of a heavy fine to the Parliamentary party.
Since that time the peace of the fine old grey pile has been undisturbed, and the ninth earl, who was created a marquis in 1812, repaired the house, which had fallen somewhat into decay.
Whether one regards Compton Wynyates from the point of view of an ancient building of romantic and architectural interest, or as a mansion set amid scenery of singular beauty, the place deserves to rank very high indeed among the old houses around which has in past days been woven so much of the glory and romance of England.
But to the interest of the house must be added the charm of the most beautiful and picturesque gardens, maintained all the year round with a care and lavishness which make them some of the most lovely in the country.
Some four miles to the south–west of Wormleighton, picturesquely situated amidst a group of the Burton Hills, is the tiny village of Burton Dassett, once said to have been a market–town, and then known as Chipping Dassett. It was, however, almost entirely destroyed in the reign of Henry VII. by Sir Edward Belknap; who, then lord of the manor, destroyed the village for the purpose of making enclosures of the lands. He was never punished for this ruthless act, because of the public services he had rendered the King, and at the close of the fifteenth century was granted immunity by his Sovereign from being punished for or questioned concerning his deeds. The village nowadays consists of but two or three farm–houses.
It possesses, however, a fine and very interesting Church of All Saints, and a romantic interest in its ancient beacon, which stands upon the extreme north–western point of the Burton Hills, near the well–known windmill.
The Beacon, which is a stone fourteenth and fifteenth century building, some sixteen feet in height and sixty–two feet in circumference, with walls of extreme thickness, has a conical roof, and projecting from the top are twenty–five corbels, which apparently supported a gallery in former times reached by a wooden ladder or outside stairs. There are two windows, one looking out westward to the Malvern Hills, and another in a north–easterly direction towards Rugby and High Cross. From the summit of this stunted tower there is on a clear day a wonderful prospect to the south–east, only bounded by Irvinghoe, forty miles distant, where there was another beacon; whilst to the north–east, twenty miles distant, was Bickenhill Beacon, and to the north north–east High Cross in Leicestershire, and the south south–east Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, twenty–five miles off, with all of which places there was in former days signalling communication by means of a fire lighted in a large cresset, some three feet in diameter and some eighteen inches deep, which was placed upon a pole and fixed to the roof.
Very prettily situated below the Beacon, on the southern spur of the hill, is the church, which in its size and beauty speaks eloquently of the town which once supplied it with worshippers, but is now almost untraceable. The building consists of a chancel, transepts, nave, aisles, and north porch, and at the west end an embattled tower. The architectural features of the exterior, which at once attract attention, are the fine Early English five–light window in the north transept, with its plate tracery.
The north porch is Decorative in design, and is ornamented with ball flower moulding; the doorway, however, is Norman, as is also that on the south side of the church. It seems more than possible, indeed, that these doorways are survivals of the ancient Norman Church, which the present building superseded. The tower dates from the early part of the fourteenth century, and has exceedingly massive walls. The interior of the church, when viewed from the tower entrance, is unusually impressive and striking.
STRATFORD–ON–AVON.
The interior presents a number of most interesting features, for in it is to be found work of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and seventeenth centuries. The unusually fine chancel arch is Transitional; the chancel itself is probably early fourteenth–century work.
Some eight miles south–west of Compton Wynyates, retired from the Oxford Road, stands the interesting, picturesque, and considerable manor–house of Little Wolford. With its ancient courtyard, shaded by yews and gay in summer with hollyhocks and other old–time flowers, it is still a fine specimen of a half–timbered stone mansion of the early part of the sixteenth century. Formerly belonging to the Ingraham family, the place has fallen into decay, and from its old estate as a considerable and picturesque mansion.
The Hall, which possesses an open timbered roof, has a good Tudor fireplace, and on the walls are hung old portraits of former owners, and relics in the shape of saddlery and arms, said to have been used during the Civil War. At the back of the house is a chamber with a large oven, in which, tradition asserts, rightly or wrongly, Charles II. hid when a fugitive after Worcester fight.