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THE STATELY HOMES OF ENGLAND
THE STATELY HOMES OF ENGLAND
BY LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, F.S.A., Etc., Etc. AND S. C. HALL, F.S.A. COMPLETE IN TWO SERIES. ILLUSTRATED WITH THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD NEW YORK A. W. LOVERING, IMPORTER. ENGLAND is rich—immeasurably richer than any other country under the sun—in its “Homes;” and these homes, whether of the sovereign or of the high nobility, of the country squire or the merchant-prince, of the artisan or the labourer, whether, in fact, they are palace or cottage, or of any intermediate grade, have a
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
Beautifully has the gifted poet, Mrs. Hemans, sung of English “Homes,” and charmingly has she said— “The Stately Homes of England, How beautiful they stand Amidst their tall ancestral trees O’er all the pleasant land!” and thus given to us a title for our present work. Of these “Stately Homes” of our “pleasant land” we have chosen some few for illustration, not for their stateliness alone, but because the true nobility of their owners allows their beauties, their splendour, their picturesque sur
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ALTON TOWERS.
ALTON TOWERS.
The poet cannot be aware that a very large number of the “parks” of the nobility and gentry of England are “thrown up” not a “dozen times” but a hundred times in every year; and that, frequently, thousands of “the people” breathe therein—as free to all the enjoyments they supply as the owners themselves. Generally, also, on fixed days, the chief rooms, such as are highly decorated or contain pictures—the State Apartments —are open also; and all that wealth has procured, as far as the eye is conc
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COBHAM HALL.
COBHAM HALL.
Cobham Hall. The mansion stands in the midst of scenery of surpassing loveliness, alternating hill and valley, rich in “patrician trees” and “plebeian underwood,” dotted with pretty cottages, and interspersed with primitive villages: while here and there are scattered “old houses” of red brick, with their carved wooden gables and tall twisted chimneys; and glimpses are caught occasionally of the all-glorious Thames. A visit to Cobham Hall, therefore, furnishes a most refreshing and invigorating
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MOUNT EDGCUMBE.
MOUNT EDGCUMBE.
The Great Western conveys us from Paddington to Exeter. We leave Exeter by the South Devon Railway (proverbially well managed, in all respects): it may take us to Penzance; but its great station is midway, at Plymouth, where has been recently erected for the especial accommodation of railway travellers and tourists, an admirable hotel (the Duke of Cornwall—there is none more comfortable in the kingdom). [11] Here we arrest the tourist, in order to visit the promontory of Mount Edgcumbe, that occ
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ALNWICK CASTLE.[18]
ALNWICK CASTLE.[18]
When Nature declined to provide any one of her own emphatic boundary-lines, such as a mountain-chain or a broad and deep river, to determine the frontier which should divide England from Scotland, she left a very delicate and difficult international question to be adjusted by the rulers of the two adjacent realms, so long as this single island of Britain should be divided into two distinct, and by no means necessarily friendly, kingdoms. An artificial line of demarcation, accordingly, had to be
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HARDWICK HALL.
HARDWICK HALL.
Surrounded on all sides by charming scenery, and the richest and most abundant land, Hardwick stands in all its majesty and grace, and forms—both in the distance, when a first glimpse of its bold outline is gained from Brackenfield or other heights, or when viewed from nearer points—a striking feature in the landscape. When approached from one of the great centres for Derbyshire tourists, Matlock, the drive is of peculiar interest, and may be, with profit to the future visitor, briefly described
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ARUNDEL CASTLE.
ARUNDEL CASTLE.
The estates and earldom having reverted to the crown under Henry I., were settled upon that monarch’s second wife, Adeliza, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, who married, for her second husband, William de Albini (son of William de Albini, surnamed Pincerna, who came over with the Conqueror), who is said to have been called “William of the Stronghand,” because, when cast into a lion’s den—so the story goes, in consequence of his refusal to marry the Queen of France—he seized the lion, thrust his
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PENSHURST.
PENSHURST.
“The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington, Young Vane, and others, who called Milton—friend.” Although its glory is of the past, and nearly two centuries have intervened between the latest record of its greatness and its present state; although it has been silent all that time—a solemn silence, broken only by the false love-note of an unworthy minstrel, for the names of “Waller” and “Sacharissa” discredit rather than glorify its grey walls—who does not turn to Penshurst as to a refreshing fountain b
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WARWICK CASTLE.
WARWICK CASTLE.
The Castle, from the Temple Field. And now as to its long line of illustrious and valiant owners. Passing over the whimsical list of earls, &c., in Rous’s Roll, beginning with “King Guthelyne, about the sixth of Kinge Alexander the greate conqueror,” and “Kinge Gwydered, who began to reigne the 4th yere from the birth of our Lord,” reminding one very forcibly of the “Promptuaire des Medalles,” which commences the series with those of “Adam” and of “Heva vx Adam,”—the first we need even h
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HADDON HALL.
HADDON HALL.
The poet, the novelist, the traveller, the naturalist, the sportsman, and the antiquary have found appropriate themes in Derbyshire, in its massive rocks—“Tors”—and deep dells; its pasture-lands on mountain-slopes; its rapid, yet never broad, rivers—delights of the angler; its crags and caves; its rugged and ragged or wooded steeps; above all, its relics of the earlier days when Briton, Roman, Saxon, and Norman, held alternate sway over the rich lands and prolific mines of this lavishly endowed
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HATFIELD HOUSE.
HATFIELD HOUSE.
Thus Hatfield being attached to the new bishopric, and the manor becoming one of the many residences of the prelates, acquired, it is said, its appellation of “Bishop’s Hatfield.” Hatfield continued to be one of the palaces of the Bishops of Ely, and was occasionally used as a royal residence, until the reign of Henry VIII., when it was made over to the crown. “William de Hatfield, second son of Edward the Third, was born at the palace,” and at various times before it finally became vested in th
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CASSIOBURY.
CASSIOBURY.
Back View. Of the house and its gardens, Evelyn, on the 16th April, 1680, thus wrote:—“On the earnest invitation of the Earl of Essex, I went with him to his house at Cassioberie in Hartfordshire. It was on Sunday, but going early from his house in the square of St. James’s, we arrived by ten o’clock; this we thought too late to go to church, and we had prayers in his chapell. The house is new, a plaine fabric built by my friend Mr. Hugh May. There are divers faire and good roomes, and excellent
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CHATSWORTH.
CHATSWORTH.
And, first, a few words on its geographical position and history. Chatsworth lies in the parish of Edensor, in the hundred of High Peak, in the county of Derby. It is three miles from the Midland Railway Station at Rowsley (of which we have spoken in our account of Haddon Hall, and which is the most convenient station for visitors from the south), three-and-a-half miles from Bakewell (where there is a station convenient for visitors from the north) two from Baslow, twenty-six from Derby, ten fro
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
“Our own, our native land.” England has, indeed, reason to be proud of her Homes, and it has been a pleasant and a loving task to describe and to illustrate some of them in these volumes; to give records of the historical incidents with which they have been associated; and to add the ample genealogical notices of the families to whom they belong. Like those in the first volume, these notices were prepared for, and originally appeared in, the Art Journal , but they have been rearranged, here and
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BELVOIR CASTLE.
BELVOIR CASTLE.
A marked and peculiar character of Belvoir, and one of its greatest charms, is that it stands in the midst of this open country, not within the confines of its own park. There is no enclosed park; and park palings, lodges, bolts, bars, and locks are unknown. The Duke, in this noble mansion, rests in the midst of his immense estates, and draws no cordon around him. The roads, right up to the very castle, are open and free to all, and restriction is unknown. For miles in extent, and from every sid
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TRENTHAM.
TRENTHAM.
There is no record for the next four hundred years; but in the Domesday survey a priest is mentioned as being there. In the time of William Rufus (1027 to 1100), the priory having been restored or rebuilt by the Earl of Chester, “the prior and canons entered upon Trentham by a deed of gift from Hugh, first Earl of Chester; and a deed of institution by Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Lichfield (1139), describes John, the prior, as instituted to the priory of Trentham and its appendages, on the presen
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KNOLE.
KNOLE.
Of Knole, as with most of our grand old mansions, it is impossible to fix, with any degree of certainty, the date of its original foundation; “but the evident connection between the several properties of Knole and Sevenoaks with Kemsing, Otford, and Seale, coupled with the gifts of certain lands in Kemsing to the royal abbey at Wilton, appears to identify those manors with the terra regia of the Saxon Kings of Kent, who had, it is supposed, one of their palaces at Otford, to which place Sevenoak
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CASTLE HOWARD.
CASTLE HOWARD.
By this splendid alliance Sir Robert Howard had an only son and two daughters. The son, Sir John Howard, was created Lord Howard, and afterwards Duke of Norfolk, and had the highest offices bestowed on him—a title and honours which have (excepting the periods of sequestration) remained in the family ever since. All the present English peers of the noble House of Howard descend from a common ancestor in Thomas, the second Duke of Norfolk of the name of Howard, who died in 1524. Thus the Duke of N
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KEDLESTON HALL.
KEDLESTON HALL.
Richard Curzon, the eldest son and successor of John Curzon and his wife, Margaret Montgomery (just named), was, in the 11th year of Henry VI., Captain of Sandgate Castle, Kent, and was succeeded by his son, John Curzon, of Kedleston. This gentleman, generally known as “John with the white head,” was high sheriff of the counties of Nottingham and Derby in the 15th year of Henry VI., and, four years later, escheator for the same. He married Joan, daughter of Sir John Bagot, by whom he had issue o
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AUDLEY END.
AUDLEY END.
The Lodge. The elder of these sons, Thomas Howard, inherited Audley End and the other family estates from his mother. Having, by Act of Parliament, 27th of Elizabeth, been restored in blood, he was, in 1588, knighted for his gallant behaviour in the engagement with the Spanish Armada, and in 1597 was created Baron Howard of Walden. “He was a brave sea officer, and successively employed upon many trying occasions, sometimes as chief, sometimes as second in command, during that reign, and in parti
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BURLEIGH.
BURLEIGH.
Burleigh House, from the Park. The present mansion was commenced in 1575 by the first Lord Burleigh, whose principal residence was, however, at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire. The old structure was mainly retained, the existing portions being “in the eastern part of the present building, and are exceedingly fine and substantial; they are—the kitchen, with a groined roof of vast extent and most peculiar construction (perhaps the largest apartment in Europe devoted to culinary purposes); the imposing
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HEVER CASTLE.
HEVER CASTLE.
This Sir Thomas Bullen, afterwards, as we have shown, created Baron Rochfort, Viscount Rochfort, Earl of Ormond, and Earl of Wiltshire, married Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and by her had issue one son—George, commonly called Viscount Rochfort, but summoned as Baron Rochfort during the lifetime of his father—and two daughters, Anne and Mary. Lord Rochfort married Jane, daughter of Henry Parker, Earl of Morley. He was beheaded during the lifetime of his father, and left n
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WESTWOOD PARK.
WESTWOOD PARK.
There are two Entrance Lodges to the park from the road leading from Droitwich to Ombersley; the principal of these we engrave. Entering the gates at this Lodge, the drive leads up the park to the mansion, which forms a conspicuous and striking object in front, the house and its surroundings being effectively situated on rising ground. Immediately in front of the mansion is the Gatehouse, one of the most quaintly picturesque in the kingdom. It consists of twin lodges of red brick, with ornamenta
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MELBOURNE HALL.
MELBOURNE HALL.
“Recruit me Cheshire and Lancashire, And Derby Hills that are so free; No marry’d man or widow’s son: For no widow’s curse shall go with me. “They recruited Cheshire and Lancashire, Yet there was a jovial bold company”— certain it is that Derbyshire men were among the most valiant in that battle, and that John, Duke of Bourbon, who was taken prisoner, was brought to Melbourne Castle, and there kept in close confinement for nineteen years. Melbourne Castle, now entirely destroyed, is traditionall
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SOMERLEYTON.
SOMERLEYTON.
The South Lodge. It will thus have been seen that the Jernegans (whose arms were— argent , three buckles, gules ) held Somerleyton for no fewer than thirteen generations. In addition to this, they became possessed of the greater part of the King’s manor of the Island of Lothingland—a district occupying the north-east corner of the county of Suffolk, and containing the sixteen parishes of Somerleyton, Lowestoft, Corton, Gunton, Oulton, Ashby, Lound, Fritton, Flixton, Hopton, Blundeston, Gorleston
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WILTON HOUSE.
WILTON HOUSE.
The honour, however, reverted to the Herberts in the reign of Edward VI., who conferred it upon Sir William Herbert.” This William Herbert, who had married Anne, sister of Queen Catherine Parr, was knighted by Henry VIII., and was appointed executor, or “conservator,” of the King’s will; and shared with Sir Anthony Denny the honour of riding to Windsor in the chariot with the royal corpse, when Henry’s ashes were committed to their final resting-place. By Edward VI. Sir William was elevated to t
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RABY CASTLE.
RABY CASTLE.
The Pond, or Lake, which is divided by the carriage drive, is situated on the west side of the castle, its western portion overflowing into the eastern half, that flows to and surrounds the south battlement walls; the Moat, which is now dry, receding from it to the east and west. The Lake is well supplied with swans and other aquatic birds. The East Lodge is a foot entrance for the workpeople; the North Lodge, or back entrance, has two low castellated towers, one on each side of the entrance gat
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CLIEFDEN.
CLIEFDEN.
Speaking of the river scenery about Cliefden, Mr. Hall, in his “Book of the Thames,” says, “Those who accuse our great island river of insipidity, who, if they concede its claims to beauty, deny its pretensions to grandeur, will do well to row beneath the thick woods of Taplow and Cliefden, and, looking up, they will have no difficulty in imagining themselves in one of the grandest and richest, in picturesque attractions, of our English lakes; indeed, they will require only the near and distant
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WARNHAM COURT.
WARNHAM COURT.
The Court was built in the Elizabethan style, in place of an older house, in the beginning of this century, by Henry Tredcroft, Esq., of Horsham—a fine old Sussex squire—and, at his death, was sold to Sir Thomas Pelley, Bart., who made it his residence. The whole estate passed, by purchase, from the executors of Sir Henry Pelley, in 1866, to its present owner, Charles T. Lucas, Esq., the head of the well-known firm of Lucas Brothers, the eminent builders and contractors. By Mr. Lucas the house h
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LOWTHER CASTLE
LOWTHER CASTLE
Lowther Castle stands in a grand old well-wooded park of some six or eight hundred acres. In front, at a little distance, runs the lovely river Lowther, with its rocky bed and its wildly romantic banks; at the back (the south front) are the Lawns and the Deer Park; to the west are the Terrace and Pleasure Gardens and wooded walks; and to the east the Stables, Kitchen Gardens, and village. The family of Lowther, of which the present Earl of Lonsdale is the noble head, is of considerable antiquity
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CLUMBER.
CLUMBER.
Clumber, West Front. The family of Pelham, which, with that of Clinton, is represented by the Duke of Newcastle, is of considerable antiquity in the county of Hertford, deriving the name from the manor or lordship of Pelham, in that county, which, in the reign of Edward I., belonged to Walter de Pelham. He died in 1292, leaving two sons—William, who died without issue, and Walter, who was succeeded by his son, Thomas de Pelham. John de Pelham, the grandson of this latter, “was a person of great
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WELBECK.
WELBECK.
Welbeck, with its broad domain, is situated in Nottinghamshire, about four miles from Worksop, and close to the borders of the county of Derby. Its parks are one grand succession of fine old forest trees, and its herds of deer—for it has its herd of white deer, its herd of fallow deer, and its separate herds of red and other deer—are of great extent and of fine and noble quality. Before the Conquest Welbeck was held by the Saxon Sweyn, but afterwards it passed to the Flemangs as part of the mano
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