as the two sons of his successor the second duke—Hugh and Algernon
Percy. The two brothers, the sons of the first duke, married two
sisters, daughters of Mr. Burrell.[22] With Duke Algernon the line of
Hugh, the elder of the sons of the first duke, became extinct; and,
consequently, the succession to the dukedom passed to the descendants
of that other Algernon who was the younger son of the first duke. This
Algernon, who on the death of his father became Baron Lovaine, in 1798
was created Earl of Beverley: he died in 1830. George Percy, his son,
then succeeded as Earl of Beverley; and subsequently, in 1865, at that
time being in the 87th year of his age, this venerable nobleman became
the fifth Duke of Northumberland. He died August 21, 1867; and was
succeeded by his eldest surviving son (by his marriage with Louisa,
daughter of the Hon. A. Stuart Wortley). The present peer, Algernon
George Percy, sixth Duke and eighteenth Earl of Northumberland, Earl
Percy, Earl of Beverley, Baron Warkworth, Baron Lovaine of Alnwick,
and a baronet, was born May 2nd, 1810, and was educated at Eton. He
entered the army in 1827, and retired in 1836. In 1858 he was a Lord of
the Admiralty, in 1859 Vice-President of the Board of Trade, and from
1831 to 1865 sat in Parliament, first for Beeralston and afterwards for
North Northumberland. He is Colonel of the Northumberland Militia, Hon.
Colonel of the Percy Northumberland Volunteer Artillery, and President
of the National Lifeboat Institution. In 1845 his grace married Louisa,
daughter of the late Henry Drummond, Esq., M.P., of Abury Park, Surrey,
by whom he has issue living two sons, viz., Henry George Percy, Earl of
Percy, married, in 1868, to Lady Edith Campbell, eldest daughter of the
Duke of Argyll, by whom he has issue; and Lord Algernon Malcolm Arthur
Percy. His grace is patron of twenty-two livings, nineteen of which are
in Northumberland and one each in Yorkshire, Dorsetshire, and Surrey.
The arms of the Duke of Northumberland are: Quarterly, 1st and 4th
Lovaine and Lucy quarterly (viz., 1st and 4th, _or_, a lion rampant,
_azure_, for Lovaine, 2nd and 3rd, _gules_, three luces or pikes,
hauriant, for Lucy), 2nd and 3rd, _azure_, five lozenges conjoined
in fesse, _or_, for Percy. Crest: On a chapeau, _gules_, turned up,
_ermine_, a lion statant, tail extended, _azure_. Supporters: Dexter, a
lion, _azure_; sinister, a lion, guardant, _or_, gorged with a collar
compony, _argent_ and _azure_.
His grace’s other seats are, Keilder, Prudhoe, and Warkworth castles,
in Northumberland; Sion House, Middlesex; Stanwick Park, Yorkshire;
Albury Park; and Northumberland House, Charing Cross.
Thus having brought down our sketch of the lords of Alnwick, from the
early days in English history that immediately followed the Norman
Conquest to the times now present, we return to their noble castle on
the banks of the Aln.
Within a few years of the Conquest, the Normans erected in various
parts of England important edifices, both military and ecclesiastical,
in truly astonishing numbers: and of these, in addition to the
cathedrals and the greater churches, there still exist many noble
castellated relics, some of them in a proximate degree retaining the
leading features of their original arrangement, form, and appearance.
At the same time, even in the case of the most perfect of the existing
castles, many changes of grave importance have been introduced as
century has succeeded to century; so that now, whenever any one early
castle is examined with a view to trace out and to determine both what
it was at the first, and in what order and with what motives certain
palpable alterations and innovations have followed one another, it
always is highly satisfactory to feel that an unquestionable general
uniformity of plan and arrangement in all the early castles enables
each one of them that is still in being, in some degree at any rate,
to illustrate and explain every other. As a matter of course, whenever
the architectural features in any old castle are original, the great
art of the architect is able, unaided and beyond all controversy, to
tell its own historical tale: but, genuine original architectural
features are not always available to give their conclusive evidence;
and, but too frequently, without some external aid, it is not possible
to follow the career of the two terrible adversaries of early
edifices (and particularly those of the noblest rank), demolition and
restoration—demolition, either wilful or the result of accident and
chance; and restoration, which always is wilful, though happily not
always equally destructive.
As it now stands, in every quality of high merit ALNWICK CASTLE
certainly yields to no other restored edifice of a similar rank. Of
the castle of to-day it may truthfully be affirmed that, with a close
approach to an exact fidelity, in its prevailing external arrangements
and its general features it represents the grand old fortress of
times long passed away. Time had dealt somewhat hardly with the Percy
stronghold, and injudicious attempts to make good the ravages of the
destroyer had aggravated the evil, when the recent great work of
restoration was taken in hand. Then every vestige of the old structure
was diligently and carefully examined, and every available early
document was critically studied; the remains also of other castles then
were investigated, and all that they could suggest was applied by the
restorers of Alnwick to the furtherance of their great project. Hence
the plan of Alnwick, as we now have it, while it can scarcely claim
to be absolutely identical with the original plan, may be accepted as
not greatly differing from it in any essential particulars. Whether
Yvo de Vesci, the undoubted founder of the castle, was enabled fully
to carry out his own original plans, we are not able at the present
time accurately to determine; but, still it may be assumed that the
plans of De Vesci, to whatever degree they may have been realised by
himself, both in extent and in general configuration closely resembled
those which were worked out by the Percies, when they had become lords
Alnwick, as these, in their turn, were afterwards followed as their
guides by the recent restorers who were employed by Duke Algernon.
[Illustration: _Bond Gate: “Hotspur’s Gate.”_]
The great epochs in the architectural history of Alnwick Castle may be
thus distinguished.
I. DE VESCI, about A.D. 1150: the original founding of the castle, and
its erection as an Anglo-Norman stronghold.
II. FIRST PERCY, from 1309 to 1315: the second founding and great
reparation of the castle, with either the complete rebuilding or the
original erection of many of its most important parts. At this period
were erected the Barbican, the Gate-House, the Western Garret; the
Abbot’s, Falconer’s, Armourer’s, Constable’s, and Auditor’s Towers;
also the Postern and the Ravine Towers, the Gateway between the first
and second baly, with the adjoining curtain-walls both east and west,
a great portion of the east side of the Keep, the Well, and the grand
Baronial Hall.
III. SECOND PERCY, from 1315 to 1352; the completion of portions of the
works of the preceding period, and the erection of the two flanking
towers (No. 8 in plan) in advance of the Norman entrance to the Keep:
these towers are represented in our engraving.
IV. THIRD PERCY, ending in 1455: various important reparations and
additions, most of the latter having been removed by the first duke in
the next period.
V. FIRST DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, from 1750 to 1786: general reparation,
after a long period of neglect and ruin, including a material
transformation of the greater part of the castle. The Keep was almost
entirely demolished, and rebuilt after the manner that was called (and,
in one sense of that term, really was) “Gothic” in the eighteenth
century in England; and the towers and curtain of the circumvallation
suffered in like manner.
VI. FOURTH DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, from 1854 to 1865: complete
restoration of the entire castle. The important works erected by Duke
Algernon along the lines of the circumvallation, and to the south and
the south-west of these lines, have already been described; in addition
to these, the duke rebuilt the range of apartments extending from the
Keep southwards to the Edwardian Gateway from the first to the second
baly; and he built the noble Prudhoe Tower, with the chapel adjoining
it, the Ante-Room, the Guard Chamber, the present Dining-Hall, and the
completion of the Keep.
The governing idea of this restoration was _really to restore_, in
all their leading and most characteristic features, the mediæval
arrangements and aspect of Alnwick Castle so far as its exterior was
concerned; while, at the same time, the whole of the interior of the
restored edifice was to be planned, fitted, and adorned, in the most
sumptuous style, after the manner of a cinquecento Roman palace, and
with all the luxurious splendour and the various skilful contrivances
required and suggested by the taste and the usages of the present
day. The only important deviation from the former part of the duke’s
plan, was the removal of the Edwardian Towers, and the adjoining
curtain-wall between the Abbot’s Tower and the Postern Tower, in order
to open the view from the windows of the new Prudhoe Tower towards the
north: but the Italian portion of the scheme was accomplished in its
integrity. The whole of the architectural restoration and rebuilding
was carried out with the most perfect success, under the direction
of Mr. Salvin, an architect eminently distinguished for his practical
knowledge of the Early Gothic of England in its military aspect, as
also for both the conscientious fidelity of his restorations and the
judicious consistency of his original designs. We can easily understand
with what satisfaction Mr. Salvin must have removed the Strawberry
Hill pseudo-Gothic of the first duke, as well as the far higher
gratification which must have attended the progressive realisation of
his own truly admirable compositions.
[Illustration: _Alnwick Abbey._]
The project for causing the thoroughly English mediæval military-Gothic
casket of Mr. Salvin to enclose contents that should be in every
respect the very reverse of what is either English or mediæval or
military or Gothic, was discussed and finally adopted at a congress
held in the castle under the presidency of Algernon, Duke of
Northumberland, and attended by the English professors of classic
architecture, Cockerell and Donaldson; the Roman antiquary, the
Commendatore Canina; and the Italian architect, Signor Montiroli. It is
to be regretted that such masters of Gothic Art as Scott, Waterhouse,
Street, and Burges had not also been present, who might have saved
the Border Castle of the Percies from the magnificent anomaly of
being externally English and internally Roman. The execution of the
whole of the interior can be described only in terms of the highest
commendation; and it is especially satisfactory to know that the
profusion of carved work in an Italian style which was required for
the various purposes of decoration, and which has been pronounced to
be “a marvel of delicacy and finish,” was produced under the direction
of Signor Bulletti of Florence, by a staff of English and Scottish
carvers, who worked for several years in a studio established for that
particular purpose in the castle. There also was a second studio, in
which the more important of the decorations in plaster were modelled
and cast. It is scarcely necessary to add that in all the minor
details of furnishing, the grand original plan has been fully and
faithfully carried into effect. While we cordially recognise as well
the enlarged views and the princely munificence of the duke himself,
as the skill, the taste, and the ability of every individual who took
part in his great work of restoration, it is impossible not to regret
that so glorious an opportunity for vindicating the versatile and
comprehensive powers of true Gothic art should have been permitted to
pass away. There can be no question as to the capacity of the same
great style to have rendered the interior of Alnwick Castle a type of
splendid, and yet agreeable, magnificence, which on the exterior has
displayed its structural resources in a manner at once so noble and
so consistent. But, as this was not to be, we rejoice in knowing that
what has been done within the Percy walls has been done so well; and
our gratification is the more sincere and the more hearty, because at
every point the Percy walls themselves, true to their grand traditions,
wear such an aspect as Hotspur might have recognised with an approving
smile, and the old Earls of Northumberland would have been proud to
accept as becoming their northern home.[23]
[Illustration: _The Percy Cross._]
And here we resume our survey of the castle, setting forth towards
the Keep from within the Gate-House, which is itself situated within
the Barbican. We proceed eastwards to the gateway (No. 2 in plan),
which admits us to the second or inner baly. From this we approach the
entrance to the Keep, and pass between the Edwardian flanking towers
with their octagonal fronts (No. 3 in the plan): thus we reach the
grand old Norman arch, De Vesci’s work, massive and deeply recessed,
rich with zig-zags and bands of sharp indentations, which forms the
main entrance to the innermost court or ward of the Keep itself.
Immediately adjoining the Norman archway is the draw-well constructed
by the first Percy. Now we have before us the new Corridor, carried
round a part of the court on piers and corbels. We pass the inner
porches, and the entrance-halls, and reach the Grand Staircase (No. 5
in plan), worthily so called, and we find that we have entered such a
palace as might overlook, not the Aln, but the Tiber. At the head of
the noble flight of steps, each one of them a single block of white
Rothbury stone, twelve feet in length, is the Guard-Chamber, with its
floor of rich Venetian mosaic, its panelled ceiling, and the deep
frieze reflecting the memories of Chevy Chase. Corridors lead to both
the right hand and the left from the Guard-Room; and it also gives
access to a gorgeous Ante-Room, placed between the great Library, 54
feet long, which occupies the entire range of the Prudhoe Tower, and
follows its contour; and the Saloon, another magnificent apartment, in
length 42 feet with a bay formed by a circular tower. Next succeeds
the State Drawing-Room, of irregular form, its largest measurements
being 46 by 34 feet. Then we enter the grand Dining-Hall, 60 feet
long, and in both width and height 24 feet, which covers the site
of the old baronial hall of the early Percies. The Breakfast-Room
adjoins this most princely hall, and, passing it, the Corridor leads
us in succession to the State Bed-Rooms and Dressing-Rooms, and to
the private apartments of the duke and duchess, together with other
staircases. Thus, on the principal floor there are two staircases
besides the grand staircase, and eighteen chambers, exclusive of the
chapel. The Chapel (No. 12 in plan), of which we give a view from
the outer baly, is a building of great beauty and interest, having a
stone-vaulted ceiling within a roof of a high pitch, a semi-octagonal
apsidal end towards the south-west, and lancet windows: its total
length is 46 feet, and in the interior it is enriched with Italian
mosaic, after the manner of the Henry III. work in the Confessor’s
Chapel in Westminster Abbey. We must be content, in a single brief
sentence (the space at our disposal restricts us absolutely to one such
sentence), to state concerning every apartment in the grand range of
the entire circuit of the Keep, and also in the southern wing, which
extends to the Percy gateway, that the most gorgeous Art of the Italian
_Renaissance_, with all its manifold resources, has been taxed to the
utmost in order to produce a palace of the highest rank, pervaded
throughout with harmonious, yet ever-varied, magnificence.
[Illustration: _Hulne Abbey: The Percy Tower._]
On the ground-floor, which is on the same level with the entrance-hall,
are the various apartments, consistently grouped and classified,
required by the principal domestics of the household, together with the
wine-cellars, pantries, and such other chambers and appliances as would
be necessary to complete this department of the ducal establishment.
Once more we return to the Prudhoe Tower, and ascend above its two
upper floors of bed and dressing-rooms, to the Banner-turret, which
rises to the height of two additional floors; and here, having gained
the leads, standing beneath the proud insignia of the Percies, heavily
blazoned upon their broad silken banner, we lean over the embattled
parapet, and look down upon the Keep, and around upon the cordon of
towers and walls, and the fair domains and the silvery river beyond,
and so we bid farewell to the lordly castle of Alnwick.
Until the middle of the fifteenth century was near at hand the town of
Alnwick remained unprotected by a wall, and open consequently to all
perils incidental to its position on the Border. About the year 1433,
however, the good town was fortified with walls, and the four entrances
were defended each by its own strong tower-guarded gateway. One only of
these early gateways still remains in a fair condition of preservation;
this, the Bond Gate, sometimes (but without any other reason than a
lingering delight to associate any fine old relic at Alnwick with that
name) is called “Hotspur’s Gate.” It bears a badge of the second Percy
lord of Alnwick, and in all probability was erected by him; its outer
face is represented in the engraving.
The other gateways have disappeared;[24] and from the time that
border-strife passed into the domain of history, the walls of Alnwick
gradually ceased to exist, until now traces only of their former
existence, and of these “few and far between,” remain to attest the
record of their having ever existed. Devoutly it is to be hoped that
the one relic of the town of the olden time, the Bond Gate, will be
cherished, simply because it is such a relic—because it links the
town to the castle, and the castle to the town, with the strong tie
of historical association. Again space, or rather the want of it,
constrains us to leave unnoticed the fine church of St. Michael, the
church of St. Paul, founded and erected by Duke Hugh, and the other
public buildings in Alnwick; and, with them, the privileges, usages,
and the entire local history of the town.[25]
Of the remains of the early edifices, both ecclesiastical and
castellated, which are closely associated with Alnwick Castle, all of
them of great interest, and all of them also no less worthy of detailed
description than of careful examination, we must be content briefly to
notice two—Alnwick Abbey, and Hulne, or Holn, Priory.
[Illustration: _Hulne Abbey: The Church._]
Built to the north of the Aln, at an easy distance from the castle,
upon a rich soil and in a scene of sequestered beauty, Alnwick Abbey,
founded in 1147 by Eustace de Vesci for Premonstratensian Canons, was
richly endowed by the founder and also by his successor. The Percies,
in like manner, were in every respect as munificent as the earlier
benefactors of the abbey, so that it long occupied an honourable
position among the religious establishments of the country. The canons
of Alnwick, however, did not rise to distinction in consequence of any
eminent attainments; but, on the other hand, while in earlier times
they were somewhat notorious for a turbulent spirit, the report on
their abbey made to Henry VIII. contains a truly deplorable record
of the degrading superstitions by means of which, in common with but
too many of their brethren, the monks imposed on the people, and
sometimes even succeeded in deceiving themselves. Of the buildings
of the abbey, which, without doubt, were worthy to take rank with
those of the castle, the sole relic that is still in existence is a
turreted and embattled gateway, a structure not earlier than the middle
of the fifteenth century. The eastern face of this gateway displays
the quartered arms of Percy and Lucy; on the other faces are the
insignia of De Vesci. The other buildings have altogether disappeared,
except here and there some sculptured stones which have found their
way into the walls of houses constructed by modern masons. The site
of the abbey, with the Northumberland estates once annexed to it,
after various vicissitudes, has become the property of the Dukes of
Northumberland.
Distant from Alnwick Abbey about two miles along the northern bank of
the Aln, and like the abbey placed in the midst of the most lovely
scenery, the Priory of HULNE, or HOLN, has so far been more fortunate
than its more dignified neighbour, that it yet possesses considerable
remains of its original buildings in a condition of picturesque ruin.
A lofty wall still encircles the entire area of the priory—a feature
sufficiently significant of the lawless character of early Border-life,
and of the stern necessity which constrained even a religious community
to rely for security upon the strength of its fortifications. In our
engraving we show the present aspect of the tower, built, as will
be seen, with massive solidity, by Henry de Percy, fourth Earl of
Northumberland, in the year 1488; and in another engraving, we give
a general view of the ruins of the church, as they are seen from the
north-east. It is pleasant to be able to add that the remains of Hulne
Priory are carefully preserved and freely shown. The brethren, who for
more than three centuries found a secure dwelling-place surrounded
with the most beautiful scenery, were Carmelite or White Friars; and
a romantic story (of which several versions are in existence) is told
concerning their order in connection with the foundation of this
priory. The site of the priory was given by the second William de Vesci
about 1240; but the chief endowment came, between 1252 and 1289, from
John de Vesci; the house itself, however, appears to have been erected
by Ralph Fulborne, a wealthy landholder of Northumberland, who lived in
the stirring times when the lords of broad and fertile acres went armed
to fight in the Holy Land against the infidels.[26] In after times the
Percies confirmed the grants of the earlier benefactors of Hulne, and
made to them some slight additions. The Carmelites of Hulne were men
who, according to the light of their times, cultivated learning; this
is shown by the still existing catalogue of the numerous manuscripts
that once formed their library. There has also been preserved another
equally curious and interesting document, formerly the property of
these Carmelite brethren; it is an inventory of their vestments and
of the fittings of their church, which must have been very costly as
well as numerous and splendid. Inventories and catalogues such as these
possess a peculiar value, as illustrations of the intellectual pursuits
and character of the monastic age, and also in consequence of the light
they throw upon the sentiments and usages that then were prevalent in
our country.
Descending from the secluded hill-side where the ruins of Hulne Priory
nestle amidst the thick woods, and crossing both the vale below, and
the river beyond it, a roadway leads to the beautiful pleasure-grounds
of Hulne Park. Here on one of the highest of the many elevated points,
and rising above the surrounding trees, is the Tower on the Hill, or
Brislee Tower, erected by the first duke in 1781. This structure is a
characteristic specimen of the _Gothesque_ architecture, of which so
much was happily removed during the recent restorations, from Alnwick
Castle. From the upper balcony of this tower, at a height of about 70
feet from the ground, the view is singularly fine, and in its extent
truly extraordinary. At different points of the compass, and at varying
distances, this panoramic view comprehends the vale of Whittingham and
the windings of the Aln; the range of the Cheviots, with a glimpse
of the hills of Teviotdale forty miles away; the memorable high land
of Flodden may also be distinguished; and, towards the sea, are the
castles of Warkworth, Bambro’, and Dunstanburgh; and beyond them, in a
fringe-like line, lies the sea itself.
It is needless to say that the hospitality for which the lords of
Alnwick have been renowned since the first stone of the castle was laid
is still maintained within its princely walls; its list of “visitors”
during many centuries past has contained the names of those who were
not only the loftiest in rank but the most eminent in Art, Science, and
Letters.