Arthur by King Henry VII., with whom he was a great favourite. He
married Anne, daughter of John, second Earl of Shrewsbury, by Elizabeth
Butler, daughter of James, Earl of Ormond. By this marriage he had
issue, Sir Henry Vernon, who was made High Steward of the King’s Forest
in the Peak by Henry VIII., and held many other posts. He had issue,
two sons, Sir George Vernon and Sir John Vernon. Sir Henry died in
1515, and was succeeded by his oldest son, Sir George, “the King of the
Peak,” who succeeded to the Haddon and other estates, as will presently
be shown.
[Illustration: _Arms of Lord Vernon._]
Sir John Vernon, Knt., married Helen, daughter and co-heiress of John
Montgomery, of Sudbury, in Derbyshire, with whom he received the
Sudbury and other estates, and thus founded the family of Lords Vernon.
He was one of the King’s Council in Wales, and Custos Rotulorum of
Derbyshire, and dying in 1540, was buried at Clifton Camville. He was
succeeded by his son, Henry Vernon, who, in his turn, was succeeded
by his son, John Vernon, who married Mary, widow of Walter Vernon, of
Houndhill, and daughter of Sir Edward Littleton, of Pillaton Hall,
by whom, however, he had no issue. On his death in 1600, the estates
passed to his stepson, Edward Vernon, the eldest son of his wife by her
former husband, the family consisting of three surviving sons—Edward,
Thomas, and Walter—and four daughters. By this lady, while a second
time a widow, Sudbury Hall is said to have been erected. Edward Vernon
was succeeded by his son, Henry Vernon, who married the sole daughter
of Sir George Vernon, of Haslington, in Cheshire, and by her had
issue a son, George, who succeeded him. This George Vernon was thrice
married: first to Margaret, daughter of Edward Onely, by whom he had
no issue; and, third, to Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon,
Knt., merchant, of London. By this lady he had a numerous family, and
was succeeded by his eldest and sole-surviving son and heir, Henry
Vernon, who married, first, Anne, sole daughter of Thomas Pigott,
Esq., and heiress of her mother, who was sister and sole heiress of
Peter Venables, last Baron Kinderton; and, second, Matilda, daughter
of Thomas Wright, Esq., of Longston. Henry Vernon, who thus inherited
the estates of the Venables, assumed that surname in addition to his
own. He had issue by his first wife, among others, a son, George
Venables-Vernon, by whom he was succeeded. George Venables-Vernon
married three times. By his first wife, the Hon. Mary Howard, daughter
and co-heiress of Thomas Howard, sixth Lord Howard of Effingham, he had
issue a son, the second Lord Vernon, and a daughter, Mary, married to
George Anson, of Orgrave, the father of the first Viscount Anson. By
his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Lee, he had no issue;
but by his third wife, Martha, sister to Simon Harcourt, first Earl
Harcourt, he had a numerous family, as will be shown. This George
Venables-Vernon was created Baron Vernon of Kinderton in 1762, and at
his death was succeeded in his titles and estates by the eldest son
of his first marriage, George Venables-Vernon, as second Lord Vernon,
who married, first, the Hon. Louisa Barbarina, daughter of Bussey,
Lord Mansell, by whom he had an only daughter, who died unmarried;
and, second, to Georgiana, daughter of William Fanquier, Esq., by whom
he had also an only daughter, Georgiana, married to Lord Suffield.
His lordship was succeeded in title and estates by his brother, the
Hon. Henry Vernon, as third Lord Vernon. This nobleman—whose brother
Edward took the surname of Harcourt, and became Archbishop of York,
and one of whose sisters, as has been shown, married the father of
the first Viscount Anson, and another, Elizabeth, became the wife of
George Simon, second Lord Harcourt—married twice. By his first wife,
Elizabeth Rebecca Anne, daughter of Charles Sedley, Esq., of Nuttall,
his lordship had issue two daughters (one of whom the Hon. Catherine,
died unmarried; and the other, the Hon. Louisa Henrietta, married the
Rev. Brooke Boothby, Prebendary of Southwell) and one son, George
Charles Venables-Vernon, who succeeded him as fourth Lord Vernon. This
nobleman married, in 1802, Frances Maria, daughter and heiress of
Sir John Borlase Warren, Bart., K.B., of Stapleford, by whom he had
issue the Hon. George John Venables-Vernon, fifth Lord Vernon, who
assumed the surname of Warren by sign manual in 1837, for himself and
the children only who should be born after that date. His lordship
married twice: first to Isabella Caroline, eldest daughter of Cuthbert
Ellison, Esq., M.P., by whom he had issue the present Lord Vernon,
and the Hon. William John Borlase Warren Venables-Vernon (who assumed
the additional surname of Warren), and three daughters; and second,
in 1859, his cousin, Frances Maria Emma, daughter of the Rev. Brooke
Boothby, who still survives him, without issue. Lord Vernon, as the
Hon. George John Vernon, was M.P. for Derbyshire from 1830 until, on
the death of his father, he entered the Upper House. He was one of the
most energetic supporters of the rifle movement, being himself the most
skilful rifle-shooter of his day, carrying off the principal prizes at
the various Swiss Tirs, as well as elsewhere. As a scholar his lordship
ranked very high, and the “Dante,” edited by him, is the most sumptuous
work of its kind ever attempted. Lord Vernon died in 1866, and was
succeeded by his eldest son, the Hon. Augustus Henry Venables-Vernon,
as sixth Lord Vernon, the present peer, who was born in Rome in 1829,
and was Captain in the Scots Fusilier Guards, and Captain Commandant
of the Second Battalion of Derbyshire Rifle Volunteers. His lordship
married, in 1851, Lady Hariet Anson, daughter of the Earl of Lichfield,
by whom he has issue two sons and four daughters.
Having now shown the descent of the Lords Vernon from the old lords of
Haddon, we return to the “King of the Peak”—Sir George Vernon—and
his heiresses. He, as has been stated, succeeded to the estates in
1515, and at the time of his death, in 1567, was possessed of no fewer
than thirty manors in Derbyshire alone. He was married twice: first,
to Margaret, daughter of Sir Gilbert Taylebois, Knt.; and, secondly,
to Maude, daughter of Sir Ralph Langford. He had issue, two daughters,
his co-heiresses, Margaret and Dorothy, whose husbands inherited his
immense possessions. Margaret Vernon married Sir Thomas Stanley, Knt.,
of Winwick, in Lancashire, second son of Edward Stanley, third Earl of
Derby; and Dorothy Vernon, whose name has become “a household word” in
this locality, married Sir John Manners, Knt., second son of Thomas
Manners, first Earl of Rutland, and direct ancestor of the present Duke
of Rutland. To this branch we shall presently have to refer at greater
length.
Sir George Vernon lived at Haddon in such a style of princely
magnificence and hospitality as to earn for himself the title of “King
of the Peak.” It is said that he was generous and hospitable, as well
one of as just and strict, of men, although given perhaps to undue
severity and to an indulgence in “Lynch law;” and that he lived and
died in the “good esteem” of all men.
One tradition, briefly told, will sufficiently illustrate the firmness
and decision of his character, and the power he held over the actions
and even the lives of the people around him. It is related that a
pedlar who had been hawking his wares in the neighbourhood was found
murdered in a lonely spot. He had been seen the evening before to enter
a cottage, and never afterwards seen alive. As soon as Sir George
became aware of the fact of the crime having been committed, he had the
body of the pedlar removed to Haddon, laid in the hall, and covered
with a sheet. He then sent for the cottager to come immediately, and,
on his arrival, at once questioned him as to where the pedlar was who
was seen to enter his house the night before. The man denied having
seen him or knowing anything about him; when Sir George uncovered the
body before him, ordering that all persons present should touch the
body in succession, at the same time declaring their innocence of the
murder. The suspected man, when his turn came, declined to touch the
body, and instantly rushed out of the Hall, and made his way, “as fast
as his legs could carry him,” through Bakewell and towards Ashford.
Sir George instantly ordered his men to mount and follow him, and to
hang him wherever they caught him. The murderer was caught in a field
opposite the present toll-bar at Ashford, and at once hanged, and the
field still bears the name of the “Gallows Acre,” or “Galley Acre.”
Sir George is said to have been cited to London for this extraordinary
piece of Lynch law, and when he appeared in court he was summoned twice
to surrender as “the King of the Peak.” To these he made no reply, and
the third time he was called on as Sir George Vernon, when he stepped
forward and acknowledged himself—“Here am I!” Having been summoned as
“the King of the Peak,” the indictment fell through, and Sir George
was admonished and discharged. Sir George Vernon is buried in Bakewell
Church, where a remarkably fine and well-preserved altar-tomb bears the
recumbent effigies of himself and his two wives.
Dorothy Vernon, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Sir George, and
over whom such “a halo of romantic interest” rests, is said to have
been one of the most beautiful of all beautiful women, and possessed
of so sweet a temper, that she was idolised by all who knew her. If it
were so, however, the monument at Bakewell does not fairly represent
her, for it exhibits her with an expression of countenance far from
either amiable or attractive. The story of her life, according to
popular belief, is that, while her elder sister, fortunate in an open
attachment to Sir Thomas Stanley, the son of the Earl of Derby, and
his affianced bride, was petted and “made much of,” she, the younger,
was kept in the background, having formed a secret attachment to
John Manners, son of the Earl of Rutland—an attachment which was
opposed by her father, sister, and stepmother; she was, therefore,
closely watched, and kept almost a prisoner. Her lover is said to have
disguised himself as a woodman, or forester, and to have remained
in hiding in the woods around Haddon for several weeks, in order to
obtain stolen glances of, and occasional brief meetings with, Dorothy.
At length, on a festive night at Haddon—tradition states it to have
been on one of the “merry meetings,” consequent on the marriage of her
sister Margaret—Dorothy is said to have stolen away unobserved in the
midst of the merriment in the ball-room, and to have quietly passed out
of the door of the adjoining ante-room on to the terrace, which she
crossed, and having ascended the steps on the other side, her lover’s
arms received her; horses were in waiting, and they rode off in the
moonlight all through the night, and were married in Leicestershire
the next morning. The door through which the heiress eloped is always
pointed out to visitors as “Dorothy Vernon’s Door.”
Thus the Derbyshire estates of Sir George Vernon passed to John
Manners, and thus it was the noble house of Rutland became connected
with Haddon and the county of Derby.
[Illustration: _Haddon: from the Meadows._]
John Manners, the husband of Dorothy Vernon, was knighted shortly
after his marriage. They had issue three sons: Sir George Manners, who
succeeded to the estates; John Manners, who died in 1590, aged 14; and
Sir Roger Manners of Whitwell, who died in 1650; also one daughter,
Grace, who became the wife of Sir Francis Fortescue. Dorothy died
in 1584, and her husband in 1611. They were both buried in Bakewell
Church, where their monument will no doubt be looked upon with interest
by all visitors to the district.
Haddon continued to be one of the residences of this branch of the
Manners family, ennobled in 1641 by the inheritance of the Rutland
peerage, until they quitted it in the early part of the last century
for Belvoir Castle, of which we shall, on a future occasion, take note.
[Illustration: _The Main Entrance._]
The HALL stands on a natural elevation—a platform of limestone—above
the eastern bank of the Wye: the river is crossed by a pretty, yet
venerable, bridge, passing which, we are at the foot of the rock,
immediately fronting the charming cottage which is the lodge of
the custodian who keeps the keys. In the garden we make our first
acquaintance with the boar’s head and the peacock—shaped from growing
yew-trees—the crests of the families whose dwelling we are about to
enter. This cottage adjoins the old stables; their antiquity is denoted
by several sturdy buttresses. To the right of the great entrance-door
are the steps—placed there long ago—to assist ladies in mounting
their steeds, when ladies used to travel sitting on a pillion behind
the rider: the custom is altogether gone out; but in our younger days,
not only did the farmer’s wife thus journey to market, but dames of
distinction often availed themselves of that mode of visiting, carrying
hood and farthingale, and hoop also, in leathern panniers at their
sides, and jewels for ornament in caskets on their laps.
The visitor now stands before the old gateway, with its massive
nail-studded door, and will note the noble flight of freestone steps,
where time and use have left the marks of frequent footsteps. Indeed,
the top step—just opposite the small entrance wicket in the larger
door—is actually worn through in the shape of a human foot. He will
also notice the extreme beauty and elegance of design of the Gothic
architecture of this part of the building, and the heraldic bearings
with which it is decorated. Beneath the entrance archway on the right
is the guard-room of the “sturdy porter” of old times: his “peep-hole”
is still there, the framework of his bedstead, and the fire-place that
gave him comfort when keeping watch and ward.
[Illustration]
After mounting the inner steps, the visitor passes into the first
court-yard, and will not fail to notice the remarkable character of the
splaying and chamfering of the building in the angle over the inner
archway. This is one of the most remarkable features of the building.
Its strange character is to some extent occasioned by the winding of a
double spiral stone staircase, leading to the tower over the entrance
archway. The inside of this gateway, with the enormous hoop, said to
have been the hoop of a mash-tub, hanging on the wall, is shown in our
vignette.
We are now in the lower court-yard, and at once perceive that Haddon
consists of two court-yards, or quadrangles, with buildings surrounding
each. Immediately opposite the gateway are the stone steps that lead
to the state apartments; to the right is the chapel, and to the left,
the HALL proper, with its minstrels’ gallery and other objects of
curious—some of unique interest. The general arrangement will be
best understood by the ground-plan, which, however, requires some
explanation.
[Illustration:
GROUND AND GARDEN PLAN OF HADDON]
On account of the abruptness of the slope on which Haddon is built, it
stands so unevenly, that a horizontal line drawn from the ground in the
archway under the Peverel Tower would pass _over_ the entrance archway.
Consequently, that archway, the porter’s lodge, and entrance to the
spiral staircase on its right hand, and on the left the two rooms
entered from the walk behind the partition wall, and before mounting
the steps, form what may, looking at it in that light, be called a
basement story, to which also belongs the cellar, entered by a flight
of fourteen steps descending from the buttery. Lysons, in his “Magna
Britannia,” vol. v., engraves—first, a basement plan, comprising the
entrance archway and the low rooms above alluded to; second, a ground
plan; third, a plan of the upper floor, including the ball-room and
other state rooms; and the numerous bed-rooms and other apartments on
the north and west sides. These plans are extremely correct and minute:
it transpires from letters in the Lysons’ correspondence (Addit.
MS. 9,423, British Museum), that they were made by the surveyor of
the then duke, to illustrate a little privately printed account of
Haddon, written by himself, and were lent to Lysons for his work by
D’Ewes Coke, Esq., barrister-at-law, then steward to the duke. The
designations given by Lysons to the apartments are therefore probably
correct. From his lists, and a curious catalogue of the apartments
at Haddon, date 1666, we gather the general inference that the rooms
on the west side of the lower court were, in the latter days of its
occupation, occupied by the officials of the household; those on the
entire south side were the state rooms; those on the east side of the
upper court were the family apartments—the bed-rooms extending down
to the intersection of the lower court; those over the front archway,
&c., were the nursery apartments; and the library is believed to have
occupied the rooms between these and the entrance tower.
There are second-floor apartments, not planned in Lysons, over the
Peverel Tower and its adjoining rooms, and over one half of the north
side, from that tower to the junction of the courts. Also solitary
second-floor rooms in the Entrance Tower, Central Tower, and over the
staircase leading to the ball-room. There is but one third-floor room,
it is in the Eagle Tower, and is the highest apartment in the Hall.
The plan we engrave will be found the most useful to visitors. It gives
the ground-plan irrespective of levels (which would only be bewildering
to the visitor), with the exception of the slightly elevated ball-room
and state-rooms in the upper court-yard. In fact, from even these being
entered from the terrace, the whole of the plan we have prepared may,
for _general_ purposes, be said to be that of the ground-floor.
On the east side there are but slight differences between the
ground-floor and first-floor rooms, excepting those over the kitchen
and adjoining offices, and over the central archway. On the south side
the differences are material. The ball-room covers six ground-floor
cellar rooms. The drawing-room is over the dining-room; and the earl’s
bed-chamber and other rooms are over the long narrow ground-floor
passages between that and the chapel. On the west side also the
arrangement differs considerably.
[Illustration: _The first Court-yard._]
Some portions of the building are of undoubted Norman origin, and
it is not unlikely that even they were grafted on a Saxon erection.
Norman remains will be noticed in the chapel, and, therefore, it is
certain that that portion of the building, as well as others which
could be pointed out, are the same as when the place was owned by the
Peverels and Avenells. Before the year 1199, John, Earl of Morteigne,
afterwards King John, by writ directed to his justices, sheriffs,
bailiffs, ministers, and all his lieges, granted a licence to Richard
de Vernon to fortify his house of Haddon with a wall to the height of
twelve feet, without kernel (or _crenelle_, which was an open parapet
or battlement with embrasures or loopholes to shoot through), and
forbidding his being disturbed in so doing. This interesting licence,
now in possession of the Duke of Rutland, is as follows:—“Johannes
com. Moret. justic. vice-com. baillivis, ministris, et omnibus
fidelibus suis salutem. Sciatis me concessisse et licenciam dedisse
Ric. de Vern. firmandi domum suum de Heddon, muro exaltato xij pedibus
sine kernello, et idem prohibeo nequis vestrum eum inde disturbet.
Test. Rob. de Mara apud Clipeston.” It is endorsed “Breve patens Com.
Johannis.”
[Illustration: _Gateway under the Eagle Tower._]
The earliest portions of the buildings of Haddon now remaining appear
to be a part of the chapel, and lower portions of the walls of the
south front and of the north-east tower. To the next period, from 1300
to about 1380 (according to Duesbury), belong the hall-porch, the
magnificent kitchen and adjoining offices, the great or banqueting
hall, the lower west window of the chapel, part of the north-east
tower, and part of the cellarage under the long gallery. In the third
period, from about 1380 to 1470, were added the east, and part of the
west end of the chapel, and the remaining buildings on the east side of
the upper court-yard. The fourth period, from 1470 to 1530, comprises
the fittings and interior finishings of the dining-room, the western
range of buildings in the lower court, and the west end of the north
range. The fifth period, from about 1530 to 1624, seems to comprise
alterations in the upper court-yard, the long gallery, and terrace and
gardens; the pulpit, desk, and pews in the chapel; and the barn and
bowling-green. The juxtaposition of the kitchen and great hall show
that they belong to the same period. The alterations since that period
appear mainly to have been necessary repairs.
[Illustration: _The Chaplain’s Room._]
The principal apartments of Haddon Hall are the Chapel, the Great, or
Banqueting-Hall, with the Minstrels’ Gallery occupying two sides of it;
the Dining-room; the Drawing-room; the earl’s Bed-room and adjoining
suite of rooms; the Ball-room, or Long Gallery; the Ante-room, from
which Dorothy Vernon’s door opens on to the terrace; the State
Bed-room; the Ancient State Room, or Page’s Room; the Kitchens; and
the Eagle, or Peverel, or King John’s Tower. The entrance in this
latter was the principal entrance to the Hall, and communicated with
Rowsley and Bakewell by an old road which still exists. It was the
only entrance by which horsemen or carriages could enter the Hall.
The gateway by which visitors now enter, being intended only for
foot-approach, mounted guests had to leave their horses at the gate.
Passing in by this gateway, the visitor enters the first, or lower
court-yard, and sees around him the chief features of this once gay,
but now deserted mansion, grand in its solitude and attractive in its
loneliness.
[Illustration: _The Chapel._]
The first room usually shown to visitors is the so-called CHAPLAIN’S
ROOM, the first door on the right, after mounting the steps into the
lower court. In this small room, and in the closet attached to it,
several objects of interest are preserved. Among these are a pair of
remarkably fine fire-dogs, a warder’s horn, gigantic jack-Boots,
a thick leathern doublet, some matchlocks and some pewter dishes.
In this room, a few years ago, a remarkably curious and interesting
washing-tally, engraved and described in the “Reliquary,” was found
behind the wainscoting. The articles enumerated on this curious
relic are “ruffes,” “bandes,” “cuffes,” “handkercher,” “capps,”
“shirtes,” “halfshirts,” “boote hose,” “topps,” “sockes,” “sheetes,”
“pillowberes,” “tableclothes,” “napkins,” and “towells.” It is in the
possession of the Duke of Rutland.
The CHAPEL, which, after the so-called Chaplain’s Room, is the first
part of the interior of Haddon Hall shown to visitors, is, as will
be seen by reference to the ground-plan, at the south-east corner of
the building. It consists, at present, of a nave with side aisle and
a chancel, and is entered from the court-yard by an arched doorway
opening into a small ante-chapel, or vestibule, through which the
visitor passes. At the entrance is a _stoup_, or holy-water basin, and
from the ante-chapel a staircase leads up to the turret. The arches
and pillars of the nave are Norman; but the arches have been cut from
their original semicircular to their present arched form, and the
pillars cut and “shaved down,” and their capitals altered in character.
Sufficient of these capitals, however, remains to show what was their
original design. At the west end of the nave is a remarkably fine and
large vestment chest of very thick timber, having carved on its front
two shields of arms. At the opposite (east) end of the nave is a carved
corbel, and, on the floor, is the fine old altar-table of stone bearing
the usual five incised _crosses pattée_, emblematical of the five
wounds of our blessed Saviour.