which are shown in the opposite engraving. One of these is a knight
and lady on an altar tomb, the knight in plate armour with collar of
SS, and the other the monument of a knight, also in collar of SS.
Besides these are monuments and tablets to Sir John Curzon and Patience
Crewe, his wife, 1604; Sir John Curzon, 1727; Nathaniel, second Lord
Scarsdale, 1837, and his lady, 1850; and many others to different
members of the family, besides a fine canopy of a “founder’s tomb.”
The Church closely adjoins the hall, from which there is an entrance
into the churchyard. At the east end of the Church is a quaintly
curious sundial, bearing, above the dial itself, the words _We shall_,
and thus reading—
WE SHALL
DIAL
(the latter word, of course, not being there, but implied by the dial
itself): the meaning is, “We shall die all,” or, “We shall all die.”
[Illustration: _Kedleston Church, Interior._]
Not far from Kedleston are the picturesque ruins of Mackworth Castle,
the ancient stronghold of the De Mackworths, and in its neighbourhood
are Quarndon, with its medicinal springs; Markeaton Hall, the seat of
the Mundys; Kirk Ireton, famous as the place from whence the two great
Parliamentary officers, General Ireton and Colonel Sanders, sprang;
Duffield, once the stronghold and seat of the Norman family of Ferrars,
Earls of Derby; Mugginton, anciently the seat of the Knivetons; and
many other places of note.
AUDLEY END.
OF the earlier life of Sir Thomas Audley, the founder of Audley End,
or of the family from which he sprang, but little is known. His rise
was rapid, as his rapacity was great, and, like others in the very
extraordinary times in which he lived, he fawned on his sovereign
and preyed on the possessions of others until he had raised himself
to a high position. “Thomas Audley,” says a writer in 1711, “being
a sedulous student in the law, became Autumne Reader to the Inner
Temple, temp. Henry VIII., and was after chosen Speaker of the House
of Commons, in the 21st of Henry VIII. In which station (this being
the parliament that gave the finishing hand to the dissolution of
monasteries) he was so acceptable to the king that he at first made
him Attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster, next Serjeant-at-Law, being
after the King’s Own Serjeant; and upon the resignation of the Lord
Chancellor More, he was knighted, made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal,
and, before the end of the year, Lord Chancellor of England. And the
30th of Henry VIII. sat as Steward upon the arraignment of Henry
Courtney, Marquis of Exeter, for endeavouring to advance Cardinal Pole
to the crown. And subtilly, at length, obtaining the great Abbey of
Walden, in Essex, he was, in the 30th of Henry VIII., created Lord
Audley of Walden, and died the 35th of Henry VIII., leaving issue by
Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, only
two daughters his heirs—Mary, who died unmarried; and Margaret, who
became his sole heir, first married to the Lord Henry Dudley, and after
to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, as second wife, whose son by her, Thomas,
Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer of England, built upon the ruines of
the abby that stately fabrick at Walden, call’d Audley-End, in memory
of this Lord Audley.”
Thomas Audley, who, as has just been stated, was the principal agent
in the great work of spoliation, the dissolution of monasteries,
was rewarded for his zeal by grant after grant from the spoils, and
yet was always, as is shown by his letters, whining and craving for
more. The rich priory of Christchurch, Aldgate, London, “with all the
church plate and lands belonging to that house, was first granted to
him; and afterwards many portions of the estates previously belonging
to the lesser religious houses of Essex, with licenses to alienate
them, of which he duly availed himself. Thus St. Botolph’s Priory, at
Colchester, with all its revenues, the Priory of the Crutched Friars,
in the same town, and Tiltey Abbey, near Thaxted, were added to the
list of his monastic spoils, after the gifts from the king, in 1538,
on Sir Thomas’s application, of the rich Abbey of Walden, with all the
estates, manors, and advowsons thereunto attached. He was also created
Lord Audley of Walden, and installed a Knight of the Garter. Yet,”
says the late Lord Braybrooke, “instead of Audley being contented with
these repeated marks of the royal favour, we are compelled to admit
that every grant which he obtained encouraged him to importune the king
for further recompense; and his letters, preserved in the Cottonian
Library, prove that, in making these applications, he was mean enough
to plead poverty as an excuse, and even to assert that his character
had suffered in consequence of the public services which he had been
obliged to perform.”
Lord Audley, at his death in 1544, left two daughters, his
co-heiresses; but the younger one dying in 1546, the eldest, Margaret
Audley, became sole heiress to the estates. This lady was married
twice: first, at the age of fourteen, to Lord Henry Dudley, younger
brother to Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of the unfortunate Lady
Jane Grey, by whom she had no issue; and secondly, in 1557, to Thomas
Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, as his second wife. She thus, the
daughter of one of the most aspiring men of the time, became allied to
the two most powerful and ambitious families in the kingdom—those of
Northumberland and Howard. By this second marriage, Margaret Audley
(who died when only at the age of twenty-three) became the mother of
two sons—Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards created Earl of Suffolk, of
whom we shall speak presently, and Lord William Howard, ancestor of the
Earls of Carlisle, &c.—and two daughters, Elizabeth, who died in her
infancy, and Margaret, who became the wife of Robert Sackville, Earl of
Dorset.
[Illustration: _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 particular contributed greatly to the reduction of the
town and castle of Cadiz.” In 1597 he was installed Knight of the
Garter, and, according to some accounts, was made Constable of the
Tower. On the accession of James I., Lord Howard was, in 1603, sworn
a Privy Councillor, created Earl of Suffolk, and made one of the
Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal. In 1608 he was appointed
Lord Chamberlain, and in 1614 Lord High Treasurer of England. He it
was who, with Lord Monteagle, made the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot
while performing the routine business pertaining to his office of Lord
High Chamberlain on the 4th of November, 1605.
[Illustration: _The West Front._]
Lord Suffolk was married twice: first, to Mary, sister and co-heiress
of Thomas, Lord Dacres of Gillesland, by whom he had no issue; and,
secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Knevett,
of Charlton, and widow of Richard, eldest son of Lord Rich, by whom he
had four daughters—viz. Elizabeth, who married successively William
Knolles, Earl of Banbury, and Edward, Lord Vaux; Frances, married first
to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, from whom she was divorced, and next
to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, Margaret; and Catherine, married to
William Cecil, Earl of Salisbury—and eight sons, viz. Theophilus, who
succeeded him; Sir Thomas, who was created Earl of Berkshire, and is
the direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire—the
earldom of Suffolk having reverted to this branch in 1733—whose
descendants later on succeeded to the titles; Henry, who married
Elizabeth Bassett, of Blore, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, who
became successively the wife of Sir John Howard, of Swarkeston, in
Derbyshire, and of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle; Sir Charles;
Sir Robert, “a gallant cavalier soldier, was but too notorious in his
own day for his intrigue with the Viscountess Purbeck, the beautiful
and ill-assorted daughter of the Chief Justice Coke;” Sir William; Sir
John; and Sir Edward, who was created Baron Howard of Escrick.
The first Earl of Suffolk built the magnificent mansion of Audley
End, over which he is stated to have expended the enormous sum, for
those days, of more than £190,000. It is said of him that although he
had, from his many high and lucrative offices and his large estates,
more ample means of displaying his magnificence than had any of his
ancestors, he eclipsed them all in extravagance and show. His wife,
Lady Suffolk, too, “was unfortunately a woman of a covetous mind, and
having too great an ascendancy over her husband, used it in making him
a party to her extortions on persons who had business to transact at
the Treasury, or places to obtain at Court; and her husband was charged
with embezzlement, deprived of his office, and fined £30,000, but which
was reduced by the King to £7,000. He was generally considered to have
been chiefly guilty in concealing the malpractices of his wife, who
eventually died in debt and difficulty.” Probably one great reason for
these things being laid to his charge was that, through having for
a son-in-law the fallen and disgraced courtier Robert Carr, Earl of
Somerset, he had become obnoxious to the new favourite, Buckingham,
through whose influence it appears he and his countess were, for a
short time, committed to the Tower. He died at Suffolk House (where
Suffolk Street, Strand, now stands), in 1626, and was buried at Walden.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, Theophilus Howard (who during his
father’s lifetime had been summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard of
Walden) as second Earl of Suffolk. He was a Knight of the Garter, Lord
Warden, Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover
Castle, &c., and married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of the Earl
of Dunbar, by whom he had issue four sons and five daughters, three of
the sons becoming successively Earls of Suffolk.
He was succeeded by his son James (third Earl of Suffolk), who, like
his father, for a time resided at Audley End in quiet retirement. The
cost of the building had so greatly involved the first earl that, at
the time of his committal to the Tower, he was about £40,000 in debt,
although he had then but recently sold the Charter House to Mr. Sutton
for £13,000, and his property at Aynhoe, in Northamptonshire, for a
considerable sum. The charges thus entailed on the estate, and the cost
of maintaining it, so affected his successors that they were unable to
support an establishment commensurate with the size and magnificence of
the house. After the Restoration, Earl James, therefore, gladly took
the opportunity which offered of selling the park and mansion of Audley
End to the King, Charles II.
The purchase-money of this estate (which, as already stated, in
building alone had cost £190,000) was £50,000, of which but £30,000 was
paid by the King, the remaining £20,000 being left on mortgage. This
was in 1666, and in 1670 the Court was regularly established at Audley
End; the Queen very frequently resided there; and, being convenient for
Newmarket, festivities were kept up on a large scale.
After the sale of the house, the Earl of Suffolk and his successor,
the fourth earl, resided in comparative retirement, Audley End being,
by the King, “committed to the charge of one of the family, who held
the office of housekeeper and keeper of the wardrobe, with a salary;
and this arrangement continued till 1701, when the house and park were
reconveyed” back to the Suffolk family. The £20,000 left on mortgage
continued unpaid by the King at the revolution of 1688, “nor is it
clear that any interest had ever been paid upon it” during the many
years it had remained. In 1701, therefore, the demesne was, as just
stated, conveyed back to the Howards, the fifth Earl of Suffolk, on
receiving it, relinquishing his claim on the Crown for the debt.
[Illustration: _East Front, from the Garden._]
James, the third Earl of Suffolk, already spoken of, married, first,
Susan, daughter of the Earl of Holland, by whom he had an only
daughter, Essex, married to Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke;
secondly, Barbara, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and widow of Sir
Richard Wenman, by whom he had a daughter, who became the wife of
Sir Thomas Felton; and, thirdly, to Anne, daughter of the Earl of
Manchester, by whom he had no issue. Dying in 1688, he was succeeded
by his brother, George Howard, as fourth earl, who enjoyed the title
only three years; when, dying without surviving male issue, he was
succeeded by his brother, Henry Howard, as fifth earl. This nobleman
married twice: first, Mary, daughter of Lord Castle Stewart, by whom
(besides a daughter) he had three sons—Henry, Edward, and Charles—who
each successively became Earl of Suffolk; and, secondly, the widow of
Sir John Maynard, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1709, and was
succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Howard, created in his father’s
lifetime Baron Chesterford and Earl of Bindon, who was succeeded by
his eldest son, Charles William, as seventh Earl of Suffolk, and
second Earl of Bindon and Baron of Chesterford. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir Thomas Astrey, but had no issue; and, dying in 1721-2,
the titles of Baron of Bindon and Earl of Chesterford became extinct,
while those of Earl of Suffolk and Baron Howard of Walden passed to his
father’s brother Edward, and, at his death, to _his_ brother Charles,
as ninth earl. He dying in 1733, left one only son, Henry Howard, who
thus became tenth Earl of Suffolk. This tenth earl married Sarah,
daughter of Thomas Irwin, but died without issue in 1745, his widow
afterwards becoming the wife of Viscount Falkland.
On the death of the tenth earl, the title of Earl of Suffolk, &c.,
passed to his distant relative, Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire,
Viscount Andover, &c., who, descended from Sir Thomas Howard, second
son of the first Earl of Suffolk, was direct ancestor of the present
Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, the barony of Howard de Walden remaining
in abeyance between the descendants of the two co-heiresses of the
third earl.
These were, as already shown, Essex, wife of Edward, Lord Griffin
of Braybrooke, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Felton. The
representatives of the elder of these were the Hon. Elizabeth Griffin,
married, first, to Henry Neville Grey, and, secondly, to the Earl
of Portsmouth; and her sister, Ann, wife of William Whitwell. Lady
Portsmouth having no issue by either of her husbands, the real descent
lay with the son of Mrs. Whitwell, in whose favour the abeyance
terminated, and who thus became Lord Howard of Walden. The possession
of the Audley End estates was disputed by Thomas Howard, second Earl
of Effingham, who claimed under a settlement in his favour, made by
the seventh Earl of Suffolk, who, however, having been proved to have
himself only been a tenant for life, the claim was disallowed, and
the estates passed to Lady Portsmouth, from whom, by bequest, they
ultimately came to John Griffin Whitwell, Lord Howard of Walden.
This nobleman was created Baron Braybrooke in 1788, with remainder to
his relative, Richard Neville, whose father, Richard Aldworth, was
maternally descended from the Nevilles; and, dying without issue,
the title of Lord Howard of Walden passed to a distant descendant of
that family. He was succeeded, as second Baron Braybrooke, in 1797,
by this Richard Neville, who assumed the name of Griffin. He married,
in 1780, Catherine, daughter of the Right Hon. George Grenville, who
was maternally descended from Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk,
and sister of the first Marquis of Buckingham, and had by her,
besides other issue, the Hon. Richard, who succeeded him, and who, by
arrangement with the deceased peer’s only sister and heiress (wife of
the Rev. Dr. Parker), obtained immediate possession of the mansion and
unentailed portion of the estate, the other portion coming to him at
the death, without issue, of that lady.
[Illustration: _South Front._]
Richard, third Baron Braybrooke, born in 1783, succeeded his father
in 1825, and married the Lady Jane, eldest daughter of Charles,
Marquis Cornwallis, by whom he had issue five sons—Richard Cornwallis
Neville, Charles Cornwallis Neville, Henry Aldworth Neville, Rev.
Latimer Neville (now Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and
heir-presumptive to the title), and Grey Neville—and three daughters.
Lord Braybrooke was well known as the author of the “History of Audley
End,” and as the editor of the “Diary and Correspondence of Samuel
Pepys.” He was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard Cornwallis Neville
(better known as the Hon. R. C. Neville), as fourth Baron Braybrooke.
This nobleman, who was born in 1820, was an eminent antiquary, and was
author of several important works. He was educated at Eton, and in
1837 entered the army, serving in Canada till 1838. Ill-health, which
continued throughout his life, compelled him to retire from the army
in 1841, and he devoted himself thenceforward to the study of history
and antiquities. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries,
a member of other learned bodies, and contributed many papers to
the _Archæologia_ and to the _Transactions of the Archæological
Association_ and _Institute_. Having undertaken and carried out some
important excavations at Chesterford, &c., he published his “Antiqua
Explorata,” which afterwards he followed by another volume, “Sepulchra
Exposita.” In 1852 he issued his great work, “Saxon Obsequies;” and,
later still, the “Romance of the Ring; or, the History and Antiquity
of Finger Rings.” His lordship married, in 1852, the Lady Charlotte
Sarah Graham Toler, sixth daughter of the second Earl of Norbury (who
afterwards married Frederick Hetley, Esq., and died in 1867), by
whom he left two daughters, and, dying in 1861, was succeeded by his
brother, the Hon. Charles Cornwallis Neville, the present peer.
Charles Cornwallis Neville, fifth Baron Braybrooke, was born in 1823,
and educated at Eton and at Magdalen College, Cambridge, of which he
is Hereditary Visitor. In 1849 he married the Hon. Florence Priscilla
Alicia Maude, third daughter of the third Viscount Hawarden, by whom
he has issue one daughter, the Hon. Augusta Neville, born 1860. The
heir-presumptive to the title is, therefore, his brother, the Rev.
Latimer Neville, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and Chaplain
to the Bishop of Rochester, who is married to Lucy Frances, eldest
daughter of John Le Marchant, Esq., by whom he has issue.
Lord Braybrooke is patron of seven livings—viz. Arborfield, Waltham
St. Lawrence, and Wargrave, in Berkshire; Shadingfield, in Sussex;
and Littlebury, Saffron Walden, and Heydon, in Essex. His arms
are—quarterly, first and fourth, _gules_, on a saltire, _argent_,
a rose of the field; second and third, _or_, fretty, _gules_, on a
canton of the first, a lymphad, _sable_. Crests—first, a rose, seeded
and barbed, _proper_; second, out of a ducal coronet, _or_, a bull’s
head; third, a portcullis, _proper_. Supporters—two lions reguardant,
_argent_, maned, _sable_, gorged with wreaths of olive, _proper_.
Motto—“Ne vile velis.”
[Illustration: _The Entrance Porch, West Front._]
The history of Audley End has been pretty fully told in the history of
the families to whom it has belonged; but little, therefore, need be
added. The architect of the mansion has been variously stated to be
Bernard Jansen and John Thorpe, but the weight of evidence seems to be
in favour of the latter. Regarding the house itself, and especially
the “admirable drink” kept in the cellar, we have two striking
pictures written by “quaint old Pepys” in 1659-60 and 1667. “Up by
four o’clock,” he says on the 27th February, “Mr. Blayton and I took
horse and straight to Saffron Walden, where, at the White Hart, we set
up our horses, and took the master of the house to show us Audley End
House, who took us on foot through the park, and so to the house, where
the housekeeper showed us all the house, in which the stateliness of
the ceilings, chimney-pieces, and form of the whole was exceedingly
worth seeing. He took us into the cellar, where we drank most admirable
drink, a health to the king. Here I played on my flageolette, there
being an excellent echo. He shewed us excellent pictures; two
especially, those of the Four Evangelists, and Henry VIII. After that I
gave the man 2_s._ for his trouble and went back again. In our going,
my landlord carried us through a very old hospital, or almshouse, where
forty poor people was maintained; a very old foundation: and over the
chimney-piece was an inscription in brass, ‘Orate pro animâ Thomæ
Bird,’ &c., and the poor-box also was on the same chimney-piece, with
an iron door and locks to it, into which I put 6_d._ They brought me
a draft of their drink in a brown bowl tipt with silver,[45] which I
drank off, and at the bottom was a picture of the Virgin and the Child
in her arms, done in silver. So we went to our Inn, and after eating of
something, and kissed the daughter of the house, she being very pretty,
we took leave, and so that night, the road pretty good, but the weather
rainy, to Epping, where we sat and played a game at cards, and after
supper and some merry talk with a playne bold mayde of the house we
went to bed.” Again, in 1667, he says: “I and my wife and Willet (the
maid), set out in a coach I have hired with four horses, and W. Hewer
and Murford rode by us on horseback; and before night come to Bishop’s
Stortford. Took coach to Audley End, and did go all over the house and
gardens; and mighty merry we were. The house indeed do appear very
fine, but not so fine as it hath heretofore to me; particularly, the
ceilings are not so good as I always took them to be, being nothing
so well wrought as my Lord Chancellor’s are; and though the figure of
the house without be very extraordinary good, yet the stayre-case is
exceeding poore; and a great many pictures, and not one good one in the
house but one of Henry VIII., done by Holbein; and not one good suit of
hangings in all the house, but all most ancient things, such as I would
not give the hanging up of in my house; and the other furniture, beds,
and other things, accordingly. Only the gallery is good, and above all
things the cellars, where we went down and drank of much good liquor.
And indeed the cellars are fine: and here my wife and I did sing to my
great content. And then to the garden, and there eat many grapes, and
took some with us; and so away thence exceeding well satisfied, though
not to that degree that by my old esteem of the house I ought and did
expect to have done, the situation of it not pleasing me; thence away
to Cambridge, and did take up at the Rose.”
[Illustration: _The Temple of Concord._]
Evelyn, who wrote a little before Pepys—in 1654—says he “went to
Audley End, and spent some time in seeing that goodly palace, built
by Howard, Earl of Suffolk, once Lord Treasurer. It is a mixed fabric
‘twixt ancient and modern, but observable for its being completely
finished; and it is one of the stateliest palaces in the kingdom. It
consists of two courts, the first very large, winged with cloisters.
The front hath a double entrance; the hall is faire, but somewhat too
small for so august a pile; the kitchen is very large, as are the
cellars, arched with stone, very neat, and well disposed. These offices
are joyned by a wing out of the way very handsomely. The gallery is
the most cheerful, and, I think, one of the best in England; a faire
dining-roome and the rest of the lodginges answerable, with a pretty
chapel. The gardens are not in order, though well inclosed; it has also
a bowling-alley, and a nobly walled, wooded, and watered park. The
river glides before the palace, to which is an avenue of lime-trees;
but all this is much diminished by its being placed in an obscure
bottom. For the rest it is perfectly uniform, and shows without like
a diadem, by the decoration of the cupolas and other ornaments on the
pavilions. Instead of railings and ballusters, there is a bordure of
capital letters, as was lately also in Sussex House.”