Vol. 20, No. 564] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1832. [PRICE 2d.
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[Illustration: BELVOIR CASTLE.]
Belvoir Castle, (or Bever, as it was formerly and is now sometimes
called,) in situation and aspect partly resembles "majestic Windsor."
It has a similar "princely brow," being placed upon an abrupt
elevation of a kind of natural cliff, forming the termination of a
peninsular hill, the basis of which is red grit stone, but now covered
with vegetable mould, well turfed by nature and art, and varied into
terraces of different elevation. It has been the seat of the noble
family of Manners for several generations; it claims the priority of
every other seat in the county wherein it is situate; and is one of
the most magnificent castellated structures in the kingdom.
This castle, in some topographical works, is described as being in
Lincolnshire. Camden says, "In the west part of Kesteven, on the edge
of Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, there stands Belvoir Castle, so
called (whatever was its ancient name) from the fine prospect on a
steep hill, which seems the work of art." Burton expressly says
that it "is certainly in Lincolnshire," and the authors of _Magna
Britannia_ are of the same opinion; but Mr. Nichols, whose authority
on subjects of local history, respecting Leicestershire, is generally
decisive and satisfactory, states that "the castle is at present in
every respect considered as being within this county with all the
lands of the extra-parochial part of Belvoir thereto belonging,
(including the site of the Priory,[1]) consisting in the whole of
about 600 acres of wood, meadow, and pasture land; upon which are now
no buildings but the castle, with its offices and the inn. It would be
a difficult matter, notwithstanding, to trace out with accuracy, the
precise boundary of the two counties in this neighbourhood."
[1] At Belvoir was formerly a priory of four black monks,
subordinate to the Abbey of St. Alban, in Hertfordshire, to which
it was annexed by its founder, Robert de Belvideir, or De Todenci,
in the time of William the Conqueror. It was dedicated to St.
Mary; and was valued, at the Dissolution, at £104 19s. 10d. per
annum. Dr. Stukely, in the year 1726, saw the coffin and bones of
the founder, who died in 1088, dug up in the Priory chapel, then
a stable and on a stone was inscribed in large letters, with lead
cast in them, ROBERT DE TODENE LE FVDEVR. Another coffin and
cover near it was likewise discovered with the following
inscription:--"The Vale of Bever, barren of wood, is large and
very plentiful of good corn and grass, and lieth in three shires,
Leicester, Lincoln, and much in Nottinghamshire."
That Belvoir has been the site of a castle since the Norman Conquest
appears well established. Leland says, "The Castle of Belvoir standeth
in the utter part of that way of Leicestershire, on the nape of an
high hill, steep up each way, partly by nature, partly by working of
men's hands, as it may evidently be perceived. Whether there were any
castle there before the Conquest or no I am not sure, but surely I
think no rather than ye. Toteneius was the first inhabiter after the
Conquest. Then it came to Albeneius, and from Albeney to Ros."
The Belvoir estate came into the Manners family, by the marriage of
Eleanor with Robert de Manners of Ethale, Northumberland. Eleanor was
the eldest sister of Edmund, Lord Ros, who resided at the manor-house
of Elsinges, in Enfield, Middlesex, where he died without issue in the
year 1508. His sisters became heiresses to the estates, and Belvoir
being part of the moiety of Eleanor, became the property of the
Manners family, who have continued to possess it to the present time.
As the possessors of this castle and lordship have been chiefly
persons of considerable eminence, and many of them numbered among the
great men of history, it may be as well to interweave a few notices
of them with a brief chronological account of the noble structure.
Robert, the first Norman lord, died in 1088, and was buried in the
chapter-house of the Priory, where Dr. Stukely discovered the stone
already named, to his memory. "By a general survey taken at the
death of Robert, it appears that he was in possession of fourscore
lordships: many of which, by uninterrupted succession, continue still
to be the property of the Duke of Rutland. In Lincolnshire his domains
were still more numerous. In Northamptonshire he had nine lordships;
one of which, Stoke, acquired the additional name of Albini, when it
came into the possession of his son." William de Albini, son of the
above, succeeded to these lordships; and, like his father, was a
celebrated warrior: according to Matthew Paris, he valourously
distinguished himself at the battle of Tinchebrai, in Normandy,
September 27, 1106; where Henry I. encountered Robert Curthose, his
brother. This lord obtained from Henry the grant of an annual fair at
Belvoir, to be continued for eight days. During the changeful reigns
of Stephen and Henry II., the castle fell into the hands of the
crown, and was granted to Ranulph de Gernons, Earl of Chester; but
repossession was obtained by de Albini, who died here about the year
1155. William de Albini, (alias Meschines and Britto,) the next
possessor of Belvoir, endowed the Priory hero with certain lands, and,
in 1165, certified to Henry II. that he then held of him thirty-two
knights' fees under the old feoffments, whereby he was enfeoffed
in the time of Henry I. William de Albini, the third of that name,
accompanied Richard I. during his crusading reign, into Normandy: he
was also one of the sureties for King John, in his treaty of peace
with Philip of France. He was too, engaged in the barons' wars in the
latter reign, and was taken prisoner by the king's party at Rochester
Castle; his own castle at Belvoir also falling into the royal hands.
He was likewise one of the twenty-five barons, whose signatures were
attached to Magna Charta and the charter of Forests at Runnemede. This
lord richly endowed the priory of Belvoir, and founded and endowed a
hospital at Wassebridge, between Stamford and Uffingham, where he was
buried in 1236. Isabel, of the house of Albini, now married to Robert
de Ros, or Roos, baron of Hamlake, and thus carried the estates into a
new family. The bounds of the lordship of Belvoir, at this time, are
described by a document printed in Nichols's History. This new lord
obtained a license from Henry III. to hold a weekly market and annual
fair at Belvoir. He died in 1285, and his body was buried at Kirkham,
his bowels before the high altar at Belvoir, and his heart at Croxton
Abbey; it being a practice of that age for the corporeal remains of
eminent persons to be thus distributed after death. The next owner,
William de Ros was, in 1304, allowed to impark 100 acres under
the name of _Bever_ Park, which was appropriated solely to the
preservation of game. He died in 1317: his eldest son, William de Ros,
took the title of Baron Ros, of Hamlake, Werke, Belvoir, and Trusbut;
was Lord High Admiral of England, and sat in parliament from 11 Edw.
II. to 16 Edw. III; he died in 1342. Sir William de Ros, knight, was
Lord High Treasurer to Henry IV.; he died at the Castle in 1414, and
bequeathed 400_l._ "for finding ten honest chaplains to pray for his
soul, and the souls of his father, mother, brethren, sisters, &c." for
eight years within his chapel at Belvoir castle. John and William Ros,
the next owners, were distinguished in the wars of France; the former
was slain at Anjou; the latter died in 1431, and was succeeded by his
son, Edmund, an infant, who, on coming of age, engaged in the civil
wars of York and Lancaster: he was attainted in 1641, and his noble
possessions parcelled out by Edward IV; the honour, castle, and
lordship of Belvoir, with the park and all its members, and the rent
called castle-guard, (then an appurtenance to Belvoir,) being granted
in 1647, to Hastings the court corruptionist.[2] The attainder was,
however, repealed, and Edmund, Lord Ros re-obtained possession of all
his estates in 1483: he died at Enfield, and the estates then passed
into the Manners family, as we have stated.
[2] "The Lord Ros took Henry the VIth's part against King Edward,
whereupon his lands were confiscated, and Belever Castle given in
keeping to Lord Hastings, who coming thither on a time to peruse
the ground, and to lie in the castle, was suddenly repelled by Mr.
Harrington, a man of power thereabouts, and friend to the Lord
Ros. Whereupon the Lord Hastings came thither another time with a
strong power, and upon a raging will spoiled the castle, defacing
the roofs, and taking the leads off them.--Then fell all the
castle to ruins, and the timber of the roofs uncovered, rotted
away, and the soil between the walls at the last grew full of
elders, and no habitation was there till that, of late days, the
Earl of Rutland hath made it fairer than ever it was."--_Leland_.
George, eldest son of the above-named Robert Manners, succeeded to his
father's estates, including Belvoir: in his will, a copy of which is
given by Mr. Nichols, dated Oct. 6, 1513, he is styled "Sir George
Manners, knight, Lord Ros." He was interred, with his lady, in a
chantry chapel, founded by his father-in-law, Sir Thomas Ledger, in
the chapel of St. George, at Windsor. His son, Thomas, Lord Ros,
succeeded him, and was created by Henry VIII. a knight, and afterwards
Earl of Rutland, a title which had never before been conferred on
any person but of the blood royal. This nobleman aided Henry in the
dissolution of the monasteries, and for his zeal received from the
monarch several manors and estates. He caused many of the ancient
monuments of the Albinis and the Rosses to be removed from the priory
churches of Belvoir and Croxton to that of Bottesford. He also
restored and in part rebuilt the castle, which had been in ruins since
Hastings's attack. The state of the castle at this period is thus
described by Leland:--"It is a straunge sighte to se be how many
steppes of stone the way goith up from the village to the castel.
In the castel be two faire gates; and the dungeon is a faire rounde
towere now turned to pleasure, as a place to walk yn, and to se al
the counterye aboute, and raylid about the round (wall,) and a garden
(plotte) in the midle. There is also a welle of grete depth in the
castelle, and the spring thereof is very good." Henry, the second Bard
of Rutland, succeeded his father in 1543; and in 1556 was appointed
captain-general of all the forces then going to France, and commander
of the fleet, by Philip and Mary. Edward, the third earl, eldest son
of the former, succeeded in 1563: Camden calls him "a profound lawyer,
and a man accomplished with all polite learning." John, a colonel of
foot in the Irish wars, became fourth earl in 1587, and was followed
by his son Roger, the fifth earl, who dying without issue, his brother
Francis was nominated his heir, and made the sixth earl. He married
two wives, by the first of whom he had only one child, named
Catherine, who married George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham.
Her issue, George, the second Duke of Buckingham, dying without an
heir, the title of Lord Ros of Hamlake again reverted to the Rutland
family. By a second marriage he had two sons, who, according to the
monument, were murdered by wicked practice and sorcery.[3] George
was created seventh earl in 1632; and was honoured with a visit from
Charles I. at Belvoir castle, in 1634. The eighth earl was John
Manners, who attaching himself to the Parliamentarians, the castle was
attacked by the royal army, and lost and won again and again by each
party, till the earl being "put to great streights for the maintenance
of his family," petitioned the house of peers for relief, and Lord
Viscount Campden having been the principal instrument in the ruin of
the "castle, lands, and woods about Belvoyre," parliament agreed that
1,500l a year be paid out of Lord Campden's estate, until 5,000l
be levied, to the earl of Rutland. In the civil wars the castle was
defended for the king by the rector of Ashwell, co. Rutland. In 1649,
the parliament ordered it to be demolished; satisfaction was, however,
made to the earl, whose son rebuilt the castle after the Restoration.
John, the ninth earl, succeeded his father in 1679. He preferred the
baronial retirement and rural quiet of Belvoir, to the busy court;
though he was created Marquess of Granby, in the county of Nottingham,
and Duke of Rutland. He died in 1710-11, and was succeeded by his son
John;[4] whose eldest son became the third Duke of Rutland, and was
the last of the family who resided at Haddon, Derbyshire. He died in
1779, and was succeeded by his grandson, Charles, Lord Ros, fourth
duke, who died lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1787, when his son John
Henry, the present and fifth duke succeeded to the titles and estates.
[3] As illustrative of the folly and superstition of the times,
it may be interesting to explain this. Joan Flower, and her two
daughters, who were servants at Belvoir Castle, having
been dismissed the family, in revenge, made use of all the
enchantments, spells, and charms, that were at that time supposed
to answer their malicious purposes. Henry, the eldest son, died
soon after their dismissal; but no suspicion of witchcraft arose
till five years after, when the three women, who are said to have
entered into a formal contract with the devil, were accused of
"murdering Henry Lord Ros by witchcraft, and torturing the Lord
Francis, his brother, and Lady Catharine, his sister." After
various examinations, before Francis Lord Willoughby, of Eresby,
and other magistrates, they were committed to Lincoln gaol. Joan
died at Ancaster, on her way thither, by wishing the bread and
butter she ate might choak her if guilty. The two daughters were
tried before Sir Henry Hobbert, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
and Sir Edward Bromley, one of the Barons of Exchequer, confessed
their guilt, and were executed at Lincoln, March 11, 1618-19.
[4] "The _great Marquess of Granby_" born in 1721, was the son of
this duke. During the rebellion he raised a regiment of foot. In
1758, being lieutenant-general, he was sent into Germany, and
eminently distinguished himself under Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick. He died in 1770, and was buried with his ancestors at
Bottesford, where, a few years since, there was no monumental
record of his name!
It is now time to speak of the present magnificence of Belvoir. The
castle which surrounds a quadrangular court, occupies nearly the
summit of the hill, which is ascended by superb stone steps. On the
castle are mounted seven small pieces of cannon, which were presented
to the Duke of Rutland by George the Third; from these pieces 21
rounds were fired Nov. 5, 1808, in commemoration of the Gunpowder
Plot. The view from the terraces and towers comprehends the whole vale
of Belvoir, and the adjoining country as far as Lincoln, including
twenty-two of the Duke of Rutland's manors. On the southern slope
of the hill are enclosed terraces, on which there are several
flower-gardens, surrounded by extensive shrubberies. The
kitchen-gardens extend to eight acres. The park is of great extent,
and contains fine forest trees which form a woodland beneath the hill,
so extensive as to afford shelter for innumerable rooks. There are
likewise thriving plantations, containing some remarkably fine young
oaks.
Belvoir Castle has one of the most superb _interiors_ in the kingdom:
its furniture and decorations are of the most costly description.
It also contains one of the most valuable collections of paintings,
whether considered for the variety of schools, or the judicious choice
of the works of each master. Among those who have contributed to
this invaluable assemblage, are Poussin, Carlo Dolci, Guido, Claude
Lorraine, Salvator Rosa, Murillo, Reubens, Teniers, and Reynolds.
The collection was principally formed by John, the third duke, and
Charles, his successor, who were munificent patrons of the arts. All
the modern pictures, of which there are a considerable number, were
collected by the former duke.
The last general repairs of Belvoir Castle are stated to have cost the
noble owner upwards of 60,000£. The structure has been more than once
extensively injured by fire. A conflagration there in October, 1816,
consumed a large portion of the ancient part of the castle, and
several of the pictures. Among them was Sir Joshua Reynolds's
_Nativity_, a composition of thirteen figures, and in dimensions 12
feet by 18. This noble picture was purchased by the late Duke of
Rutland for 1,200 guineas.
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