The venerable Church of Blickling adjoins the mansion. It is built—in the style of nearly all the Norfolk Churches—of flint, a material that essentially impairs the solemn dignity of the structure. Many of the Brasses and Tombs are of high interest; the one of which we append an engraving (on the preceding page) is to the memory of Edward Clere. It is described by Blomefield as “a most curious Altar Tomb, placed between the Chancel and Boleyne’s Chapel. The Effigy which laid upon it is now gone; but there remain the Arms and Matches of his family, from the Conquest to the time that his son and heir, Sir Edward Clere, erected this tomb.” As a work of art, the Tomb possesses considerable excellence. The carved Armorial Bearings retain much of the original brilliancy of their colouring. Among the Brasses is one for Anne Boleyne, aunt of the unfortunate Queen, and another of Isabella Cheyne, (date 1485) remarkable as exhibiting the earliest authentic example of the necklace. An elaborately-wrought Oak Chest, of great size, strongly banded with iron, and secured by five curiously formed locks and keys, is preserved in Blickling Church; but a relic still more curious and unique is a Poor-box, of very primitive character, heart-shaped, and painted blue, the letters, “Pray remember the Pore,” being gilt. We give engravings of both these peculiar and very interesting antiquities.
Burleigh, or Burghley House, the princely seat of the Marquis of Exeter, is one of the most magnificent mansions of its period; it has come down to us intact, and is perhaps more interesting—from its associations with the “glorious days”—than any other edifice now remaining in the kingdom. The halls are still standing where the famous Lord Treasurer entertained his Sovereign and her dazzling court; while Nonsuch, Theobalds, and Cannons have vanished—their sites are ploughed over; and Kenilworth has become a venerable antiquity, a moss-covered ruin.
In the reign of the Confessor, Burghley was let to farm by the Church of Burgh, to Alfgar, the king’s chaplain, for his life. The crown having seized it at his death, Abbot Leofric redeemed it for eight marcs of gold. In Doomsday Book it is rated at 40s. As usual in the feudal ages, it often changed hands, when treasons and rebellions were every-day occurrences. In the 9th of Edward II. Nicholas de Segrave was possessed of Burleigh, which had descended to Alice de Lisle, as part of the inheritance of John de Armenters. The successor of Nicholas de Segrave was Warine de L’Isle. He was one of the great men who, in the 14th of Edward II., took up arms against the King, under the command of Thomas Earl of Lancaster; was made prisoner with him at the battle of Barrow Bridge, and the week following executed at Pontefract. In the 1st of Edward III., Gerard de Lisle, son of the above Warine, was restored to his father’s possessions, and accompanied several times the King in his wars with Scotland and France. After undergoing many of the usual changes to which property was subjected in such uncertain times, it finally passed into possession of a family named Cecil, as we now spell it, although it appears to have enjoyed many variations of orthography in its transition. The founder of the house and family was a gentleman named William Cecil, who accompanied the Duke of Somerset to Scotland. At the battle of Musselburgh field he narrowly escaped being killed, a gentleman who out of kindness pushed him out of the level of a cannon, having his arm shattered as he withdrew it. On his return he was made Secretary of State, and in some political trouble was sent prisoner to the Tower: but no charge being brought against him he was released from his captivity, again made Secretary of State, became a Privy Councillor, and received the honour of knighthood. During the reign of Mary, he attached himself much to the fortunes of her younger sister, Elizabeth. When she ascended the throne, fresh honours were lavished on him: he became Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Master of the Court of Wards, Baron Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer, and Knight of the Garter. He was much afflicted with gout in his latter years, and on one occasion when he was confined with an attack of it, at his house in the Strand (called Burleigh House, where a street of that name is now built), the Queen condescended to visit him. On one of these occasions, coming with a high head-dress, and the servant, as she entered the door, desiring her to stoop; she replied, “For your master’s sake I will stoop, but not for the King of Spain.” He died in 1598, having been Lord High Treasurer twenty-six years, and was buried in the parish-church of St. Martin, Stamford. A superb white alabaster monument, sixteen feet high, is raised over his tomb; his figure lies under a canopy supported by several black marble columns. It is in the style of the period, and stands under the arch of the north aisle and body of the church.
Thomas, Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer’s eldest son, was created Earl of Exeter in 1605; and Henry, tenth Earl of Exeter and eleventh Lord Burghley, his lineal descendant, was created Marquis of Exeter in 1801. His son, Brownlow Cecil, the second Marquis, who succeeded his father in 1804, is the present possessor of the princely mansion and estates.
The mansion we are about to notice is built on ground where there is but little undulation of surface, and stands about a mile and a half from the old town of Stamford, in Northamptonshire, separated from Lincolnshire by the river Welland, which runs through Stamford. At the northern extremity of the domain stand the park lodges: they are extremely handsome erections, and more than usually important buildings for such purposes. Although built so recently as the year 1801, by Henry the tenth Earl, they are in perfect harmony of design with the main edifice. The cost of their erection exceeded 5000l. The park is about two miles in length and a mile and a half in width. It was arranged and planted by the famous “Capability Brown,” and is well adorned with fine ash, elm, chestnut, and other trees, as well as plantations of shrubberies. A temple, grottos, and picturesque buildings for domestic or agricultural services, add to its beautiful character. It is well stocked with deer. On entering the park to proceed to the house, a noble piece of water, three quarters of a mile in length, is spanned by a handsome bridge of three arches, having the balustrades decorated with four statues of lions couchant. In the park enclosure are the remains of the ancient Roman road, called Ermine Street, from Stilton through Castor to Stamford: it is easily traceable in many parts.
On arriving opposite the mansion, the eye is bewildered at its unusual extent: its numerous turrets, and the spire of the Chapel rising above the parapets, give it the aspect of a town comprised in comparatively diminished area, rather than a single abode. The appended engraving exhibits a portion of the west front. The mansion stands in an extensive lawn. Mr. Gilpin, in his “Tour to the Highlands,” thus describes it:—“Burghley House is one of the noblest monuments of British architecture of the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the great outlines of magnificence were rudely drawn, but unimproved by taste. It is an immense pile, forming the four sides of a large court, and although decorated with a variety of fantastic ornaments, according to the fashion of the time, before Grecian architecture had introduced symmetry, proportion, and elegance into the plans of private houses, it has still an august appearance. The interior court is particularly striking: the spire of the Chapel is neither, I think, in itself an ornament, nor has it any effect, except at a distance; when it contributes to give this immense pile the consequence of a town.” Horace Walpole says, John Thorpe was the architect; and that he superintended the erection of the greater part of this stupendous building. This assertion is corroborated by the plans, still extant, in this celebrated architect’s collection of designs, now in the Soane Museum. It is built of freestone and forms a massive parallelogram, enclosing a court 110 feet long and 70 feet wide. The principal entrance is on the north side,
and offers a frontage of nearly 200 feet, pierced with three ranges of large square-headed windows, divided by stone mullions and transoms. The outline is varied by towers at the angles surmounted by turrets with cupolas; the frontage is varied by advancing bays between the towers; a pierced parapet, occasionally embellished with ornaments that mark the Elizabethan era, crowns the walls. The chimneys are constructed in the hollows of Doric columns, which are in groups, connected by a frieze and cornice of the order; as they are very numerous, and of fine proportions—rising loftily in the air—they combine with the turrets, &c. to give a great variety of forms to the superior portion of the main design. In the arched roof under the passage to the interior court, which was in the first instance intended to be the chief entrance, are escutcheons of the family arms, on one of which is inscribed “W. DOM de Burghley, 1577,” being the year when that part of the house was built. On the opposite side of the court, over the dial and under the spire, is carved the date 1585, which indicates when that part was erected; and on the present entrance, on the northern side, stands the date 1587 between the windows. The house has been much adorned by various successive possessors, and at the present time few seats, either in England or on the Continent, can vie with Burghley House.
Queen Elizabeth frequently visited her favourite minister, her Lord Treasurer, here; and on April 23, 1603, James I., on his journey from Scotland, came to Burghley: the next day, being Easter Sunday, he attended divine worship at the parish church, St. Martin’s, Stamford, when the Bishop of Lincoln preached before him.
Entering the court, the beauties of the architecture become apparent. The appended engraving represents the entrance from the courtyard. The eastern side is the most highly decorated, and its three stories adorned with the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, in super-position. Above the last are two large stone lions, supporting the arms of the family. Over an arch before the chapel is a bust of King William III.; the balustrades are enriched with a variety of sculptured vases. Four large gates from the various sides open into the court, and give entrance to the several portions of the building, which contains nearly one hundred and fifty apartments, many of them of great dimensions, all furnished suitably for their purpose, and a considerable number in gorgeous profusion of decorative ornament and splendid furniture. It is one of the few palatial mansions of a refined, gay, and brilliant period, which remain carefully preserved, and undisturbed by modern upholsterers. It is impossible to speak too highly of the elegance and splendour of the interior. The first apartment on entering is the spacious Hall: from some of the remaining features of its construction, it has been imagined that the great Lord Treasurer did not build a new house from the foundation, but that an edifice existed to which he imparted vastness by the additions he made. The dimensions of this Hall show at once that it includes a noble space, being sixty-eight feet long and thirty feet broad. It receives light from two large windows, and has a fine open-worked timber roof, springing from corbels, very similar in idea to the roofs of Westminster Hall, and the Parliament House at Edinburgh. The chimneypiece is in perfect keeping with the Baronial Hall, and is of stone, finely sculptured, bearing for its principal device in the centre the shield and supporters of the founder of the family; it is also ornamented by a number of pictures, some of which are portraits. There are statues in marble of life size, one of which, very much esteemed, represents Andromeda chained to the rock, and the Sea-monster. It was purchased in Rome, a century ago, by the fifth Earl of Exeter, for 300l. “Drakard’s Guide” attributes it to Peter Stephen Monnot; but Brydges, in his “History of Northamptonshire,” says it is by Domenico Guidi.
From the Hall, visitors pass through the Saloon, and up the ancient grand vaulted stone staircase in the north-west part of the house, to an apartment called the Chapel Room, which contains nearly fifty pictures, mostly of sacred subjects. A true description of the numerous pictures in the different rooms is sadly wanted, as we find one here called Titian’s Wife and Son, attributed to Teniers! in “Drakard’s Guide,” published at Stamford. Here also stands a model of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, curiously inlaid. The Chapel, to which the preceding serves as an ante-room, is spacious, being forty-two feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and eighteen feet high. The ceiling is panelled and studded with devices; the side-walls are wainscoted half-way up, and at intervals are placed, on pedestals, ten antique bronzed figures, of life size, each holding a lamp. Festoons of fruit and flowers, carved by Grinling Gibbons, are its principal ornaments. Many of the finest apartments in the house, such as chimneypieces, are profusely decorated with his valuable carving. A seat on the left-hand side, nearest to the altar, is pointed out as having been occupied by Queen Elizabeth when on a visit to Burghley. There are some large pictures placed on the walls of another space, which forms also a portion of the Chapel at the western end. This part, thirty-one feet long and twenty-four feet broad, is wainscoted to the ceiling, and is filled with open seats, for servants and others connected with the family to attend divine service.
The gorgeous Ball-room succeeds, fifty feet in length, twenty-eight in width, and twenty-six in height. The walls are painted with historical and other subjects by Laguerre. The candelabra, which are placed on pedestals of japan gilt about two feet high, are truly splendid. Two of them, placed by the sides of the lofty bow-window, are the figures of Negroes kneeling, and supporting the lights on their heads. The Brown Drawing-room, filled with pictures and a carved chimneypiece by Gibbons, leads to the Black Bedchamber, so called from the hangings of the bed, which are of black satin lined with yellow; the chimneypiece here is also by Gibbons. The west Dressing-room has in the window recess a toilette-table, set out with richly gilt dressing-plate. The north-west Dressing-room is hung with pictures; indeed every one of the principal rooms boasts of pictorial decoration, and among the profusion are many fine examples of ancient art. In a small apartment called the China Closet is an extensive gathering of varied specimens of antique Chinese, and Indian porcelain. Queen Elizabeth’s Bed-room is hung with tapestry, and contains an ancient state bed with hangings of green embossed velvet, on a ground of gold tissue; with chairs to correspond. The toilette-table is set out with richly chased dressing-plate. A number of other apartments in this range follow, similarly furnished and adorned. On the south side of the house there is another suite of grand apartments called the George Rooms, which were decorated in 1789, under the express direction and control of Brownlow, earl of Exeter, who selected the whole of the ornaments from publications of ancient architecture in the library at Burghley. His lordship directed the whole, without the assistance of any professional person. The rooms are wainscoted with the finest Dutch oak, of a natural colour; the ceilings are mostly painted by Verrio, in mythological subjects; carving, gilding, and tapestry, are profusely employed; the furniture is of corresponding magnificence; and pictures, sculptures, and antiquities are dispersed, to add to the general embellishment. The Dining-room contains two superb sideboards laden with massive silver-gilt plate; a silver cistern weighs 3400 ounces, and a lesser one 656 ounces: there are also coronation dishes, ewers, &c. Two apartments are Libraries; they are filled with many MSS., fine and rare books, antiquities, and an extensive collection of ancient coins.
The new State Bed-room, in the suite of George Rooms, contains a state bed, which has the reputation of being the most splendid in Europe. It stands on a base or platform, ascended by a couple of steps. A canopy, richly carved and entirely gilt, is supported at the angles by clusters of columns rising from elaborate tripods, which support the canopy or dome. The height of this construction, which resembles a temple, is twenty feet from the ground; 250 yards of striped silk coral velvet and 900 yards of white satin are employed in the hangings. The bed is a couch, which stands under the temple. The fifth George Room is called “Heaven,” from the multitude of Pagan deities with which Verrio has covered it; and the grand staircase (not the vaulted one) is usually called “Hell,” in consequence of the painted ceiling representing the poetic Tartarus.
It would be vain to attempt a minute description of all that interests the learned or accomplished visitor; a volume has already been published, which in itself is but an abridged account. Every faculty of rational enjoyment is gratified to repletion in viewing the gorgeous halls of Burghley House.
Castle Ashby, the venerable and deeply interesting seat of the Most Noble the Marquess of Northampton, is situate about eight miles from the town of Northampton.
Much curious information exists concerning the early history of the manor; to which, however, we shall not be able to enter at any length. No mention is made of the Saxon lord of “Asebi;” but in the time of the Confessor it was rated at twenty shillings yearly: this yearly value had quadrupled at the time of the Domesday Survey, when the estate “was held by Hugh, under the countess Judith.” In the reign of Henry III., the manor was seized under a forfeiture, incurred by David de Esseby, for aiding the confederate barons against the king. After the battle of Evesham, the estates of all these barons were confiscated; but by the subsequent conciliatory policy of the sovereign, the offenders were allowed to redeem their lands by payment of five years’ value within three years. This boon led to much disputation and some violence between the de jure and de facto holders; and in the case of Esseby (Ashby), Alan la Zouch, the then holder, died of fever induced by wounds inflicted on him before the king’s justices in Westminster Hall, by Earl Warren (guardian of Isabella, grandchild of David de Esseby), who sought to recover the estates for his ward. Immediately after this outrage Earl Warren fled, but was pursued by Prince Edward, son of the king, who captured him, and it was only by much crying for mercy, and many protestations of making such reparation as he could, that he saved himself from immediate punishment.
It is not necessary to trace the various hands through which Castle Ashby passed subsequently to this period, until we arrive at the fifteenth century, when the estates became the property of the Compton family, ancestors of the present noble possessor, who only succeeded in establishing a claim by a re-purchase in 1465, after fifty years’ possession, in consequence of “rival nuncupative wills” made by previous owners. Sir William Compton, the purchaser, was the head of a family long settled at Compton Winyate, in Warwickshire, from which place the family name was derived; at the death of his father, Sir William had not attained his majority, and being in ward to Henry VII., was chosen by the king to attend his son Prince Henry, who, on subsequently ascending the throne, gave him an appointment as groom of the bed-chamber. Sir William, then Mr. Compton, soon became a favourite with the sovereign, one of whose freaks was to attend incog. a tournament got up by some of the courtiers, on which occasion he was attended by his favourite, Mr. Compton, who received a dangerous wound by an accidental collision with Sir Edward Nevill. In November 1510, the king proclaimed a tournament, “at which he with his two aids, Charles Brandon, afterwards Duke of Suffolk, and William Compton, gave an universal challenge with the spear at tilt one day, and at tourney with the sword the other.” Magnificently accoutred, the royal party entered the lists, gained great distinction, and received the prize. Afterwards, in 1511, the king granted to William Compton Esq., “his trusty serv’nte and true liegman, for the good and (acceptable) s’vyce whiche he hathe doone to his Hignesse, and durynge his lyfe entendithe to doo,” the manor of Tottenham, in Middlesex, and he was honoured, in the following year, with an armorial augmentation out of the royal arms. “Mayster Compton,” as he is called in an old MS., became Sir William in 1513, being knighted by the king after the battle of the Spurs (5 Hen. VIII.). He died in 1528, after retaining through life the confidence and regard of his wayward master, from whom he received many valuable marks of attachment. His son Peter, who was only six years of age, became the ward of Cardinal Wolsey, and afterwards of the Earl of Shrewsbury, to whose daughter he was married. He died in his minority, leaving one son, Henry Compton, who was knighted by the Earl of Leicester in 1566, and summoned to parliament by writ, as Baron Compton, in 1572 (14 Eliz.). About this time another attempt was made to wrest the estate of Ashby from the Compton family, which, however, ended in a compromise between the contending parties, each making some concessions, “for the finall endinge of all sutes and controversies.” Lord Compton was one of the Commissioners deputed to sit in judgment on Mary queen of Scots.
William, second Lord Compton, married the daughter and heiress of Sir John Spencer, alderman of London, and thus obtained a large addition to his possessions. This union would appear to have been made secretly, and without the consent of the lady’s father; it took place at the church of St. Catharine Colman, Fenchurch St., as the register shews: “18 Apr. 1599, William Lorde Compton, and Elizabeth Spencer, maryed, being thrice asked in the churche.” Lord Compton, by reason of zealous service, was regarded with great favour by James I., who made him President of the Council within the marches of Wales, to which he added the honour of Lord Lieutenant of the Principality, and the counties of Worcester, Hereford, and Salop. In 1617 he was created Earl of Northampton. He died in 1630, and was succeeded by his only son Spencer, who became one of the most distinguished men of the age. He was an accomplished linguist, and filled posts of much distinction about the person of the king; ultimately taking an active part in the great civil war, and after many brilliant feats of arms he was killed at Hopton Heth. He left six sons, all worthy of their heroic father, distinguished like him for their devotion to the royal cause.
James, the eldest son of the loyal and gallant peer, became his successor—the third Earl of Northampton. At Hopton Heath he was carried wounded from the field, immediately before his father received his death-wound: afterwards, he greatly distinguished himself in the king’s service, particularly at Lichfield. On the Restoration he headed a troop of two hundred gentlemen, “clothed in grey and blue,” at the entry of Charles II. into London; and “his loyalty was subsequently rewarded with several honourable appointments, which he held till his death, at Castle Ashby, December 15, 1681.” George, fourth Earl, died in 1727, and was succeeded by his eldest son, James, fifth earl, who was summoned to the House of Peers, by writ, in 1711. He married Elizabeth Shirley, Baroness Ferrars, of Chartley, by whom he had issue, and left Charlotte, his only surviving child, who married the first Marquess Townshend. George, the sixth earl, after enjoying his title but four years, died without issue, and was succeeded by his nephew, Charles, seventh earl, a nobleman of considerable accomplishments, who was made ambassador extraordinary to Venice in 1763. He died at Lyons, on his way home, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, wife of the late, and grandmother of the present, Earl of Burlington. Spencer, eighth earl, brother of the preceding, was succeeded, in 1797, by his only son, Charles, ninth earl, who was created Baron Wilmington, Earl Compton, and Marquess of Northampton in 1812. On his death, in 1828, the titles and estates devolved on his only son, Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, born in 1790,—the present Marquess of Northampton.
The noble marquess is not alone distinguished by high descent and lofty position; few persons of the age have more assiduously cultivated science and letters. His lordship is president of the Royal Society, and member of various other learned Institutions; and his “annual gatherings” of distinguished or accomplished men at his mansion in London, have been among the most gratifying and beneficial events of a period which recognises genius as a distinction, and gives its proper status to mind.[10]
Castle Ashby is about two miles from the White-Mill Station, on the Northampton and Peterborough Railway, from which a convenient road offers facilities to vehicles, while pedestrian visitors may shorten the distance, and enjoy extensive prospects of scenery, by taking a footpath over the hills—thus at once saving time and augmenting enjoyment. On ascending the first of these hills, he sees before him an extensive valley; on the opposite hill is placed the castle, of which, however, as yet he can obtain no glimpse, being hidden from his view by a dense mass of noble trees, which protect it from the northern winds.
From this point the church is an object of much beauty in the landscape, and being partially screened by fine trees, offers, as the visitor proceeds towards it, many pleasing and picturesque combinations. Emerging suddenly from under thick foliage, we tread upon an extended lawn, and the whole of the southern front of the mansion is at once in sight: its symmetrical regularity, its not unhappy marriage of English with Italian, its stately octangular towers, and the silvery grey of its time-bleached walls, all combine to produce a most agreeable impression. It is placed on the crest of the hill, the slope in its rear, a large tract of table land in front; at right angles with the front a most magnificent avenue of noble trees passes far into the distance, terminating on the northern side of Yardley Chase.
Mr. Robinson, in the “Vitruvius Britannicus,” relates all that is known regarding the erection of the house. “The castle, embattled by license to Bishop Langton, in the reign of Edward I., was the occasional residence of successive proprietors. Sir William de la Pole, and Margaret Peveril, his wife, in 1358, dated a feoffment of their manors of Ashley and Little Brington at “Castell Assheby;” but when acquired by the family of Grey de Ruthyn, in the fifteenth century, its proximity to their patrimonial seat at Yardley Hastings, would naturally lead to its partial and, ultimately, entire desertion. A century had scarcely elapsed before Leland thus recorded its desolate condition. “Almost in the middle way betwixt Welingborow and Northampton I passed Assheby, more than a mile off on the left hand, wher hathe bene a castle, that now is clene downe, and is made but a septum for bestes.” By a survey in 1565, it appears that George Carleton, Esq., under a lease granted by Sir William Compton for sixty-one years, held the site of the manor and farm of “Asheby David,” with all the demesne lands, “whereunto pertaineth the old ruined castle.” Camden, in his “Britannica,” says:—“From hence (Northampton) men maketh haste away by Castle Ashby, where Henry L. Compton began to build a faire sightly house.” The commencement of the present stately edifice may, therefore, be safely dated between the expiration of the lease in 1583 and the death of this nobleman in 1589. One of the requests of the rich heiress of Spencer to her lord was, to “build up Ashby House.” And the original pile may be presumed to have been completed when King James I. and his queen favoured its noble owner with a visit in 1605. The dates of 1624 on the east front and on the two turrets, must have reference to the subsequent alterations and erections by Inigo Jones.
The castle buildings occupy a huge quadrangle, with a garden court in the centre. The most important apartments are on the northern and the southern sides. The north front is of pure Elizabethan architecture, plain, but of massive design, combined with a grandeur and impressiveness not often attained with such unadorned simplicity. The principal, or southern front, is remarkable for the curious anomaly it presents in the mixture of Elizabethan with Italian architecture. Pure taste, of course, rejects such experiments, but if they be at all allowed, perhaps it would hardly be possible to find an instance in which the incongruous association is less offensive than in this front; arising, no doubt, from no attempt having been made to engraft the one style upon the other, both being kept distinct. The Italian façade was added to enclose the court, and complete the quadrangle: it was designed by Inigo Jones, and may be considered a good example of its peculiar character. In contrast with the plain, massive, Elizabethan wings, the work of Jones may, perhaps, justly be charged with something of a petite character; but, nevertheless, taking the whole together, it forms a composition by no means unpleasing. On entering the castle the visitor is ushered into the Great Hall, a room of noble dimensions, and which formerly possessed many claims to admiration, but, unfortunately, it has been modernised, and, therefore, after noting the fine pictures it contains,—chiefly old family portraits,[11]—we pass on to the Dining-Room, which also contains some choice pictures; the most striking are portraits of the present noble marquess and his lady, apparently by Hoppner, and some choice gems of the Dutch school. Hence we pass into the Billiard-Room, where, after admiring the table and a few good pictures, there is nothing to detain us, and we enter the Drawing-Room, in which is an excellent large picture of landscape, with cattle and figures, the painter of which is not known. Presently we come to the Great Staircase, which may be admired for its rich old oak, carved, according to the fashion of Elizabeth’s time, into a variety of geometrical forms, intermingled with wreaths of fruit and flowers, some parts of which argue no mean skill in the artisan. From hence we gain entrance to an ante-room, containing tapestry, said to have been presented by Queen Elizabeth; and on leaving this room we pass into the gallery of the Great Hall, whence we must pause awhile to examine a portrait of Mrs. Chute, by Reynolds, a most valuable picture of an excellent lady; the dress is white, the picture is in a light key, clear, broad, and harmonious, and of perfect execution. The next room is the Octagon, where are two life-size figures, in marble, of Mercury and the Venus de Medici, and also various other statues, of minor size and merit. King William’s Room next engages attention: it is of large dimensions, and is chiefly remarkable for its ceiling, of which we have given one of the enrichments as our initial. There are two magnificent bay-windows in this room. The Long Gallery is contained in the upper part of Inigo Jones’ façade, or screen, of which it runs the entire length—ninety-one feet. It is not remarkable for any peculiar attractions. It contains a few good pictures, one of which is of interest, “The Battle of Hopton Heath,” where, as we have seen, several members of the Compton family were distinguished. It will be at once understood that our remarks and enumeration of objects refer solely to matters of artistic or antiquarian interest; we therefore pass over much that might greatly interest general readers. On the whole, the interior does not sustain the rich promise of the exterior; the plan does not seem to have been carried out with the fulness and determination so marked in many of our Baronial Halls. The gardens do not present any remarkable features: the grounds are picturesque, and contain a large artificial lake, formed by the famous landscape gardener Brown, to whom so many of our nobility entrusted their estates for such aids as art can supply to nature. The grounds of Castle Ashby needed, however, but little of such help; they are naturally of a kind which art cannot create, nor do much to improve.
Kirby Hall.—Although now deserted, this very venerable and exceedingly beautiful Mansion ranks among the finest of the kingdom.[12] For upwards of two centuries, it was the seat of “the Hattons,”—the famous Sir Christopher and his lineal descendants, the Earls of Winchelsea. It was built by Humphrey Stafford, the Sixth Earl of Northampton; the Architect was John Thorpe, and two plans of the building are preserved among his collection of sketches in the Museum bequeathed to the nation by the late Sir John Soane; one of them is thus distinguished:—“Kirby, whereof I layd the first stone, 1570.” Not long afterwards, it came into the possession of the Lord Chancellor Hatton, who obtained it from Queen Elizabeth in exchange for that of Holdenby—a superb structure erected by him, and which Camden describes as “a faire pattern of stately and magnificent building which maketh a faire glorious show,” and as “not to be matched in this land.”[13] It is more than probable that Kirby was largely added to—perhaps finished—by Sir Christopher; but that it was commenced by the unhappy family of Stafford, is evidenced by the “Boar’s head out of a Ducal Coronet,” and the name “Humfree Stafford,” to be found on several parts of the building. The front was decorated by Inigo Jones about the year 1638. The mansion is the property of the present Earl of Winchelsea, who was born there. It remains in a comparatively good state of preservation; but it is certain that in its now neglected and deserted condition, the encroachments of Time will not be withstood much longer. Its situation, like that of so many structures of the same date in England, is unfortunately low, and the difficulty of drainage (it is liable at times to be flooded) offers some excuse for removal to a more eligible site. The approach is through an avenue of finely-grown trees, extending above three quarters of a mile. The first Court-yard resembled that of Holdenby—a balustraded inclosure, with two grand archways. The external front is the work of Inigo Jones, by whom also much of the interior was considerably altered. Passing through this, the visitor enters the principal Quadrangle (which forms the subject of Mr. Richardson’s drawing). “On each side of the arched entrance are fluted Ionic pilasters, with an enriched frieze and entablature; the arched window above, opening upon a Gallery supported by consoles, has a semicircular pediment, broken in the centre, and inclosing a bracket for a bust, with the date 1638.” The window is, however, an insertion by Inigo Jones; and being of a much later date than the other parts of the front, sadly mars the effect of the architecture of old Thorpe. The third story contains the motto and date “Je. Seray 1572, Loyal.” The Garden front has a raised Terrace—now a corn-field—in which the slopes and a few ornamental seats yet remain. This front supplies one of the grandest examples of Elizabethan architecture existing in England. It was built by Thorpe, and essentially agrees with the German School of Architecture of that day—which the British Architect had evidently studied. The Garden seats, vases, &c., of which there endure only broken fragments, are in the style, and believed to be the works, of Inigo Jones. The Garden was terminated by a remarkably picturesque little bridge, ornamented with a balustrade and scroll work, now, like all other objects about the structure, or connected with it, submitted to the wanton assaults of every heedless passer-by. Modern Vandalism has, indeed, been very busy everywhere within and around this venerable Mansion;—a farmer occupies a suite of rooms, the decorations of which would excite astonishment and admiration in a London Club-house; farm-servants sleep surrounded by exquisite carvings; one room in the south side of the Quadrangle, decorated with a fine old fire-place, in which are the arms of the Lord Chancellor, served, at the time of the artist’s visit, the purpose of a dog-kennel; and an elegant Chapel, constructed by Inigo Jones, is entered with difficulty through piles of lumber and heaps of rubbish.
Our initial letter is copied from one of the Finials, which crown the pilasters and gables in the Quadrangle. They formerly held staves with moveable vanes (in metal), “turning with every winde.”
Wollatton Hall, the seat of the Right Hon. Digby Willoughby, the seventh Baron Middleton, is situate three miles west of Nottingham, in the centre of a finely wooded park, remarkable for a judicious combination of wood and water. It stands on a considerable elevation, and is seen from all parts of the surrounding country; of which, consequently, it commands extensive views—not only of rich and fertile valleys, but of one of the busiest and most populous of manufacturing towns. We give on this page an engraving of the north entrance to the mansion.
The mansion was erected by Sir Francis Willoughby, Knt., towards the close of the sixteenth century, as we learn from an inscription
over one of its entrances. In the old history of the county of Nottingham by Thoroton there is a descent of this family, down to the builder of the present Mansion, whose daughter Bridget married Sir Percival Willoughby, of another branch of the family. Sir Percival left five sons, the eldest of whom, Sir Francis, who died in 1665, was father of Francis Willoughby, Esq., one of the greatest virtuosi in Europe. His renowned history of birds was published in Latin after his death, in 1676. He died in 1672, leaving two sons and one daughter. The latter, Cassandra, was married to James Duke of Chandos. The eldest son died unmarried, in his twentieth year. The second son was created a peer in the tenth of Queen Anne, A.D. 1711. In 1781, on the death of Thomas Lord Middleton without issue, the estate and its honours descended to Henry Willoughby, Esq., of Birdfall, county of York. It is a remarkable circumstance, that up to the present time the heir-at-law, in consequence of there being no proximate issue, has always been a remote member of the family.
The exterior of the mansion is peculiarly grand and imposing. It is in the fashion of Queen Elizabeth’s reign,—or rather the fashion just then beginning to be introduced,—and is in the Italian style, but of Gothic arrangement. It is square, with four large towers adorned with pinnacles; and in the centre the body of the house rises higher, with projecting coped turrets at the corners. The front and sides are adorned with square projecting Ionic pilasters; the square stone pillars are without tracery; and “the too great uniformity of the whole is broken by oblong niches, circular ones filled
with busts of philosophers, &c., and some very rich mouldings;” “In the richness of its ornaments it is surpassed by no Mansion in the kingdom.” The accompanying engraving represents the Terrace and south entrance to the mansion.
The Hall is lofty, and the roof, which is supported by arches somewhat like Westminster Hall, has a very noble appearance. The screen in the Hall is supported by pillars of the Doric order: there is a variety of quaint devices under the beams, in conformity with the taste of the time; such as heads of satyrs, chimeras, &c. &c. The walls and ceilings were painted by Laguerre. The rooms in general are on a grand scale, lofty and spacious. The fabric, taken as one built by a commoner, exceeds the loftiest ideas of magnificence. It is wholly of stone, and must have cost an immense sum in its erection. Indeed the learned Camden, in the first edition of his “Britannia,” pays to the builder a somewhat equivocal compliment, asserting that by the time it was finished he had sunk in its erection “three lordships;” “this Sir Francis,” he adds, “at great expence, in a foolish display of his wealth, built a magnificent and most elegant house with a fine prospect.”
Benthall Manor,[14] Shropshire, is in that part of Wenlock hundred which was comprised in the Saxon hundred of Patintune; a division which became obsolete soon after the compilation of Domesday Book. Though in the present day Benthall constitutes a parish in itself, it was included in that of Wenlock till the latter end of the seventeenth century. In the reign of Edward the Confessor—and, probably, from a much earlier period—this estate belonged to the priory of Wenlock; and when William, the successor of that pious king, distributed lands among his Norman followers, at the expense of the Saxon nobles, he had too much regard for his reputation to deprive the Church of her possessions. Reconciling, however, his piety to worldly policy, King William made the priory of Wenlock subservient to the abbey of Rheims, and thus contrived to reward the latter establishment for successful prayers made in favour of his expedition, and at the same time to raise a Norman influence over possessions of the English Church. The abbots of Rheims, like modern non-resident landlords, had cause to regret their absence; for we find that in the reign of Richard I. the Prior of Wenlock dealt with his lands as if the Norman abbot had no concern with them: and when, at length, in the reign of Edward III., the Abbot of Rheims obtained the king’s charter, confirming to him and his successors all the English lands which belonged to his abbey, the interposition of the sovereign was ineffectual as far as it related to Benthall, that estate having been in the meantime irrevocably disposed of.
In a series of charters possessed by the Benthall family, some of which are written in the Saxon language, though without date, it appears that the manor was owned many years by a family who took their surname from this estate, and these are referred to in the hundred-rolls of the reign of King Henry III., as having been the ancestors of Phillip de Benethall, then Lord of Benethall, who held certain lands under the Prior of Wenlock. Early in the following reign, however, on Phillip’s forfeiting his lands, Benthall was re-granted to Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells and Lord Chancellor, whose annexation of this and numerous other estates to his neighbouring castle of Acton Burnell is not free from suspicion. The chancellor’s object seems, however, to have been the preferment of his family, and, perhaps, an addition to his local influence, rather than an increase to his own revenue, for no sooner had he acquired the manor than he subgranted it to his kinsman, John Burnell, who describes himself Lord of Benethall, and appears to have resided here many years; but on his succeeding his son Henry, as Abbot of Buildwas, his eldest son, Phillip Burnell, received possession of his father’s lands, and, dropping the patronymic of Burnell, assumed the surname of De Benethall.[15] Several acts of liberality on the part of this Phillip towards the fraternity at Buildwas are recorded to his credit; and his father appears to have been a considerable benefactor of the abbey. The descendants of this Phillip de Benethall, and his wife Maude, daughter of Nicholas Forrer, of Lynley, continued to hold the lordship of Benthall, with other lands, upon conditions of feudal service to the elder branch of the Burnell family, namely, the descendants of Sir Hugh, the eldest brother of the chancellor; among whom are included the Handloes and the Lovells, descended from Maud, sister and heiress of Edward Lord Burnell, the grandson of Sir Hugh, until Francis Viscount Lovell, Lord Chamberlain of the Household and Chief Butler of King Richard III., having fought for his sovereign at Bosworth Field, his estates were forfeited to the Lancastrian king, Henry VII.[16]
On the loss of the battle, with which King Richard lost his life as well as his ill-gotten crown, Lord Lovell escaped to Saint John’s Abbey at Colchester, and afterwards to Flanders, where Margaret, duchess of Burgundy, sister to the late King Edward IV., supplied an army of two thousand men; with which, and associated with John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, he invaded England, and was killed at the battle of Newark-upon-Trent, in the third year of King Henry VII. Robert Benthall, the seventh in descent from Phillip Burnell, was owner of the estate at this time, and continued to enjoy it, notwithstanding Lord Lovell’s forfeiture.[17] From this circumstance there can be no doubt that Robert had proved himself of Lancastrian politics; and it is probable that he was one of the party of eight hundred gentlemen and others of Shropshire who were collected by his cousin, Sir Richard Corbet, and accompanied the Earl of Richmond from Shrewsbury to Bosworth.
From this period the family of De Benethall, or Benthall, held the manor immediately under the crown,[18] till the death of Richard Benthall, Esq.,[19] in 1720, who, by his will, gave this estate, together with other lands, to his affianced cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Browne, Esq., of Caughley, who was high-sheriff of the county anno 1567, by Catherine, the daughter and sole heiress of Edward Benthall. By the will of Ann, widow of Ralph Browne, Esq. (who was a son of the before-mentioned Ralph), the manor of Benthall was entailed, in the year 1768, on Lucia, the only daughter and heiress of Francis Turner Blythe, Esq., afterwards the wife of the Rev. Edward Harries, Rector of Hanwood, and Vicar of Cleobury Mortimer, from whose eldest son, Thomas Harries, Esq., of Cructon Hall, the estate has been recently purchased by John George Weld, second Lord Forester.
About twelve miles from Shrewsbury, and three from Wenlock, lies Benthall Hall, built by William Benthall, Esq.,[20] A.D. 1535, on the site of a former house, which, as well as the adjacent manor chapel, is mentioned in the reign of Henry III.,[21] as being then the property of Phillip de Benethall; the chapel, however, which was of early English architecture, remained until A.D. 1666, when it was destroyed by fire, and in its place the modern chapel, now the parish church of Benthall, was erected.
The situation of Benthall has at all times enabled its proprietor to exercise considerable influence over elections in the borough of Wenlock, the franchise of which extends over the whole of this manor; but few of the preceding residents at the Hall have aspired to the office of bailiff, the chief magistrate of this borough—an office which, nevertheless, is of importance, since the liberties of Wenlock are more extensive, it is said, than those of any other borough in England. There is, however, in the Bodleian Library, a curious manuscript account of the honourable reception which Edward Sprott, deputy to Richard Benthall, of Benthall, the bailiff, and Richard Lawley, gave, on the 16th July, 1554, to the Lord President of the Marches of Wales, on his visiting Wenlock with Justice Townsend. Mr. Sprott was a member of an ancient family, who long held a considerable property, called “The Marsh,” in the borough of Wenlock. Richard Lawley was a son of Mr. Thomas Lawley, who had purchased the then lately dissolved priory of Wenlock, and had converted it to a residence for himself. He was the ancestor of the present (anno 1847) Lord Wenlock and Sir Francis Lawley, Bart., to the latter of whom the extensive property of the Lawley family in this neighbourhood now belongs. Richard Benthall was eldest son and heir of William, who has been before noticed. He married Jane, daughter of Lawrence Ludlow, Esq., of the Morehouse in this county.
The Hall stands on one of a chain of wooded hills called Benthall Edge, which rises from a sheet of water in front of the house to a point at some distance in its rear. In this direction the table of the hill is terminated by a precipitous wood, which skirts the river Severn, and, at the left, commands a distant view of mountains in Montgomeryshire, while the Severn is seen winding its course through the vale of Shropshire. In the foreground the river passes beneath the Wrekin hill, and washes the ruined walls of Buildwas Abbey. These objects are presented from a natural terrace raised some hundred feet above the Severn, which here, pent in by opposing hills, glides rapidly towards Bridgnorth.
The oak carving in the hall, dining-room, and drawing-room of the manor-house, were executed by order of John Benthall, Esq. (a grandson of William), about A.D. 1618, and the arms of Cassey were impaled with those of Benthall in the ornamental panels, as a compliment to that family, upon the recent marriage of Lawrence, the heir of Benthall, with the daughter of Thomas Cassey, Esq.,[22] of Whitefield and Cassey Compton, in Gloucestershire.
During the Parliamentary wars, Lawrence impoverished himself by his zeal in support of King Charles; he was one of a list of thirty-two principal gentlemen of Shropshire (headed by the sheriff) who, in November 1642, entered into a mutual undertaking to raise a troop of dragoons for his Majesty’s service; a step deemed necessary in consequence of the additional strength which the Parliamentary party had acquired in the county, by Colonel Mitton’s capture of Wem, in the preceding month of August; but the cause of the Royalists sustained a far severer blow eighteen months afterwards in the loss of Shrewsbury, which borough, after having voluntarily expended nearly all its resources in aid of the king, was surprised in the night of 21st February, 1645, through the treachery of one of its inhabitants. After an ineffectual defence, the town was carried by the rebels, and among the prisoners whom they took on that occasion, was Ensign Cassey Benthall, the eldest son of Lawrence. The young officer was fortunate enough, however, to make his escape, and, pursuing his loyal course, had attained the rank of colonel, when he was killed, fighting for Charles I., at Stow-in-the-Wold, in Gloucestershire. Colonel Benthall had enlisted in his regiment many of the yeomen in the neighbourhood of his father’s estate, and among those who were killed at Stow was Thomas Penderel, a brother of the famous Richard Penderel, who was the attendant and guide of Charles II. in his wanderings after the battle of Worcester. The loyalty of Lawrence Benthall was well known to Richard Penderel, and nearly procured for the former the honour of aiding the king to escape; for the royal fugitive, having been conducted by Richard to the town of Madeley, would have crossed the Severn by the Benthall ferry, but his intention had been anticipated by the Parliamentary soldiers, who had taken possession of the boat. Charles, therefore, remained concealed at Madeley, in a barn of Mr. Woolf, a worthy loyalist, who entertained him there a night and a day; and from thence the unfortunate king retreated to Boscobel wood, where he had the well-known adventure which has made the oak-leaf sacred to his memory.
Many were the damages sustained by the houses of the gentlemen of Shropshire at this troublesome period, through wanton acts of violence; but Benthall Hall remained in tolerably perfect preservation till A.D. 1818, when it was partly destroyed by fire, from which, however, the principal rooms escaped without injury.