the Mansion.--It is built, however, on the site, and partly with the
materials, of an ancient structure. It is dedicated to St. Luke, and
seems to have been surrendered to the crown with the Manor of Charlton,
and the rest of the possessions of St. Saviour’s, at its dissolution,
June 1st, anno 29 King Henry the Eighth, 1537, and to have remained part
of the Royal demesnes till James the First granted it with the Manor to
Sir Adam Newton, who dying before he was enabled to repair or rebuild
it, “left,” according to Philipott, “the care with his cost, to enlarge
and beautify God’s house,” to his executors, who “most amply discharged
that trust, and in a manner new builded a great part thereof, and
erected the steeple new from the ground, and furnished it with a good
ring of bells, decorating the same Church without and within so worthily
that it surpasseth most in the shire.” The Patron of the Church is Sir
Thomas Maryon Wilson; the Rector is the Rev. Arthur Drummond, who
married a sister of the present baronet. The structure is of red brick,
consisting of a Chancel, a Nave, and North Aisle. At the West end is a
square brick Tower embattled. In the Windows of the Chancel are several
Coats of Arms in stained glass--principally those of Lee Warner, Bishop
of Rochester; Newton (uncle of Sir Adam, one of his executors) Blunt, of
Wricklemarsh; Peto, quartering Langley and Loges; Puckering; Sir William
Langhorne, impaling Manners,--Sir William’s first wife being a daughter
of the Earl of Rutland; Puckering impaling Chowne, Wilson quartering
Smythe, Haddon, and Weller, &c.
The Church contains Monuments to Sir Adam Newton, the founder of the
Mansion, and his Lady, with a Latin inscription written by himself; of
Sir William Langhorne and his wife Grace, daughter of John, Earl of
Rutland, and relict of Viscount Armagh; Brigadier Michael Richards,
Surveyor-general of Ordnance to George the First; James Craggs, Esq.,
Postmaster-general, 1721;[46] John Turnpenny, Esq., “who by industry
acquired, by economy improved, and with equity dispensed, a considerable
fortune among his surviving friends”; Sir John Lambert Middleton, Bart.;
Edward Falkingham, Esq., Comptroller of the Navy, 1757; and of the
father and grandfather and other members of the family of the present
baronet. A bust by Chantrey, with an inscription, is also placed here
over the remains of the amiable and excellent Right Hon. Spencer
Perceval, who fell by the hand of an assassin, when Prime Minister of
the country, in 1812. He married Jane, second daughter of Sir T. Spencer
Wilson. The lamented Edward Drummond, also the victim of assassination,
having been mistaken by the murderer for Sir R. Peel, to whom he was
private secretary, is buried in a vault in the churchyard. He was
brother of the present rector.
Few mansions of its date--although that date is no more remote than the
beginning of the seventeenth century--have retained, with less injury,
the peculiar characteristics of the age of James the First. The present
estimable possessor is fortunately anxious to preserve it in its purity;
the necessary repairs have been conducted with judgment and taste; and,
as an example of the architecture of the period, it may be regarded with
exceeding pleasure--a pleasure enhanced by its vicinity to the
Metropolis.
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
COBHAM HALL, KENT.]
COBHAM HALL,
KENT.
[Illustration: T]HE COUNTY OF KENT holds foremost rank among the Shires
of England; not alone because of its picturesque beauty, its great
fertility, the full and important page it occupies in British history,
the abundance and richness of its antiquities, the peculiarities of its
laws, the primitive character of its customs, or its ecclesiastical
pre-eminence; but, chiefly, because it is regarded as our great Island
bulwark--our “Vanguard of liberty,”--
“A soil that doth advance
A haughty brow against the coast of France.”
Very few of our counties contain so many perfect examples of structures
such as it is our purpose to depict. THE BARONIAL HALLS of Kent, and the
ANCIENT CHURCHES of Kent, are among the most remarkable, picturesque,
and unimpaired EDIFICES of the kingdom. Upon Kent, therefore, we shall
draw rather extensively for the present Work; and although necessarily
discursive, we may derive from the vast store of wealth with which it
supplies us, ample to excite and interest the lover of picturesque
beauty and antiquity. Its proximity to the Metropolis--from which, if we
measure distances by time, it is separated by little more than two
hours--supplies a sufficient motive for the selection of COBHAM HALL,
and the several striking objects in its immediate vicinity. It is
situated about four miles south-east of Gravesend, nearly midway between
that town and Rochester; but a mile or so out of the direct road. The
narrow coach-paths which lead to it are shaded by pleasant hedge-rows,
and run between lines of hop-gardens--our English vineyards, infinitely
more graceful and beautiful accessories to the landscape than the
stunted grape-shrubberies of France.
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 luxury to dwellers in the Metropolis; and the liberality of
its noble owner adds to the rich banquet of Nature as rare a treat as
can be supplied by Art; the Hall,--independent of the interest it
derives from its quaint architecture--its fine, although not unmixed,
remains of the Tudor style--contains a gallery of pictures by the best
masters of the most famous schools, large in number and of rare
value.[47]
Before we commence our description of the Hall, the Demesne, the Church,
the College, and the village of Cobham,[48] it is necessary that we
supply some information concerning the several families, under whose
guardianship they have flourished.
Cobham Hall has not descended from sire to son through many generations.
Its present lord is in no way, or at least very remotely, connected with
the ancient family who for centuries governed the “men of Kent;” and
who, at one period, possessed power second only to that of the
sovereign. That race of bold barons has been long extinct, the last of
them dying in miserable poverty; and if their proud blood is still to be
found within their once princely barony, it runs, probably, through the
veins of some tiller of the soil.
The Cobhams had been famous from the earliest recorded times. In
Philipott’s “Survey of Kent,” 1659--it is said that “Cobham afforded a
seat and a surname to that noble and splendid family; and certainly,”
adds the quaint old writer, “this place was the cradle or seminary of
persons who, in elder ages, were invested in places of as signall and
principall a trust or eminence, as they could move in, in the narrow
orbe of a particular county.” Henry de Cobham was one of the
Recognitores magnæ assisæ--who were “in some proportion equivalent to
the judges itinerant”--in the first year of King John. No less than four
Kentish gentlemen of the name embarked with the first Edward in his
“victorious and triumphant expedition into Scotland,” and were knighted
for services rendered to that Prince in his “successful and auspicious
siege of Carlaverock.” With John de Cobham, distinguished in the reign
of Edward the Third, the male line determined; Joan, his daughter, is
said to have had five husbands, by only one of whom,[49] Sir Reginald
Braybrooke, she left issue, Joan, who being married to Sir Thomas Broke,
of the county of Somerset, Esq., “knitt Cobham, and a large income
beside, to her husband’s patrimony.”[50] Their eldest son, Sir Edward
Broke, was summoned to Parliament, as Baron Cobham, in the 23 Henry VI.
In 1559, Sir William Broke entertained Queen Elizabeth at Cobham Hall,
in the first year of her reign, “with a noble welcome as she took her
progress through the county of Kent.” His son and successor, Henry Lord
Cobham, was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; but “being too deeply
concerned in the design of Sir Walter Raleigh,” he was deprived of his
estates, “though not his life.”[51] His younger brother, George, was
executed; but Lord Cobham “lived many years after in great misery and
poverty,” dying in January, 1619; and sharing the humble grave of some
lowly peasant, apart from the magnificent tombs which cover the remains
of his great and gallant ancestors. He is said, by Weldon, to have been
reduced to such extreme necessity, that “he had starved, but for a
trencher-scraper, sometime his servant at Court, who relieved him with
scraps.” His estates, at the time of their confiscation, are estimated
to have been worth 7,000_l._ per annum; and he possessed 30,000_l._ in
goods and chattels. His nephew was “restored in blood; “but not to the
title or property. These were transferred--“the manor and seat of Cobham
Hall, and the rest of Lord Cobham’s lands”--by James the First to one of
his kinsmen, Ludovick Stuart, Duke of Lennox; whose male line became
extinct in 1672. The Lady Katherine, sister of the last Duke of Richmond
and Lennox, married into the princely family of the O’Briens of Thomond;
but the Duke “dying greatly in debt,” the estates were sold. Cobham Hall
was purchased by the second husband of the Lady Katherine, Sir Joseph
Williamson, who resided there for some time.[52] In 1701 he died,
bequeathing two-thirds of his property to his widow. This proportion
descended, on her demise, to Edward Lord Clifton and Cornbury,
afterwards Lord Clarendon, who had married the sole child of the Lady
Katherine, by her first husband, Henry Lord O’Brien;[53] and on his
death, without issue, in 1713, his sister, Lady Theodosia Hyde,
inherited. She married John Bligh, of the kingdom of Ireland, Esq.;[54]
created, in 1721, an Irish Peer by the title of Lord Clifton of
Rathmore, and, in 1725, Earl of Darnley in that kingdom. For some years
the estate was in Chancery. After a tedious suit, it was purchased by
Lord Darnley for the sum of 51,000_l._, to the third part of which a
Mrs. Hornsby became entitled, as relict of the gentleman to whom Sir
Joseph Williamson had devised one third part.[55] The present Peer, the
sixth Earl of Darnley, was born on the 16th April, 1827, and succeeded
his father, the fifth Earl, in 1835. He is hereditary High Steward of
Gravesend and Milton. His father, the fifth Peer, married--in 1825--Emma
Jane, third daughter of Sir Henry Parnell, Bart., created Lord Congleton
in 1841. This estimable lady resides at Cobham Hall. The late Peer died
in consequence of an injury received from a woodman’s axe, while he was
trimming trees in a plantation adjoining his mansion. His death was the
subject of universal sorrow; in his own immediate neighbourhood, it was
mourned as a private and personal loss.
Such is a brief history of the several noble families through whom the
mansion, demesne, and estates, of Cobham have passed.
THE HALL is backed by a noble Park, amply stocked with deer, and
containing trees, of great variety and immense size, some of them
measuring above thirty feet in circumference. It comprises 1,800 acres,
and encloses an area of about seven miles. The old approach, long
disused, was through an Avenue of lime-trees, consisting of four rows,
and extending more than half a mile in length from the dependent
village. The present entrance is through a red-brick, turreted, Gateway,
adjacent to which is “the Lodge.” On nearing the House, the eye
encounters a Cedar of magnificent growth, and to the left are the
Gardens, into which there are two Terrace-walks; one from the great
gate, and another, at a considerable elevation, from the suite of
apartments which constitute the first floor. The View taken by Mr.
Harding pictures the more ancient portion of the venerable edifice--the
north wing; with which the south wing mainly corresponds. They are,
however, connected by a centre, built by Inigo Jones; and
[Illustration]
this centre, which consists of a façade with Corinthian pilasters, is
sadly out of keeping with the quaint gables, octagonal turrets,
ornamental door-ways, carved cornices, projecting mullioned windows, and
elaborated chimneys, which distinguish the earlier dwelling of the
Cobhams. In front, this incongruity is sadly apparent; but examined from
either of the sides it is not perceived. The additions made by Inigo
Jones are injurious, because they impair the harmony of the building;
although, considered apart, they are worthy of his high fame. The nature
of the architecture and the singular contradiction it exhibits, cannot
be better shown than by reference to this engraving of one of the
projecting entrances, of stone, extending to the roof, by which the
wings are backed--including one of the ancient latticed windows on
either side. The structure thus assumes the form of a half H, the wings
being terminated by octagonal towers; a sunken wall in front encloses a
quadrangular Lawn, ornamented with vases and statues. The wings exhibit
the dates--1582 and 1594--and retain all the characteristics of the
later Tudor style; although, as we have intimated, it has been
materially corrupted by the several alterations to which it has been,
from time to time, subjected. The ordinary entrance to the house is
through a vaulted Passage, “built in the form of a Gothic cloister by
James Wyatt,” which contains the arms of the Cobhams, with the date
1587. This passage leads to the grand Staircase, and the several
apartments on the ground-floor. The first to which strangers are
conducted is the Dining-hall; which contains an elaborately carved black
and white marble Chimney-piece, having quaint and curious figures and
buildings; and a series of Portraits of rare excellence. The Music Room,
one of the suite added to the ancient building, affords a brilliant
contrast to the sombre and solid character of the dining-room. It
contains but one picture--full-length Portraits of the Lords John and
Bernard Stuart, sons of the Duke of Lennox--a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyke.
The Chimney-piece is formed of the purest white marble, sculptured in
bas-relief after Guide’s Aurora, by the elder Westmacott, with fauns,
life-size, as supporters. The Ceiling was designed by Inigo Jones; it is
divided into several square and circular compartments, with a deep oval
in the centre, “superbly gilt and enriched by appropriate ornaments,
among which are twelve pendent coronets.” The apartment is in length 50
feet, in breadth 36 feet, and in height 32 feet; and although superbly
ornamented and richly gilt--the Pillars, of the composite order, being
of white marble, and the lining of scagliola--the whole is in fine
harmony with the grace and chasteness of the design. There are two
Galleries, one of which contains an Organ. The Vestibule is a small
chamber, decorated with valuable Vases of verde antique. The Library
contains a series of Portraits of eminent literary men--Bolingbroke,
Sidney, Shakspere, Swift, and others; none of them, however, advance
strong claims to originality. On the walls of the great staircase are
hung several large pictures, which may bear examination before the
gallery is entered. The most remarkable is attributed to Domenichino.
The grand Staircase conducts, first to the Portrait Gallery, and next to
the Picture Gallery. The walls of the former are hung with portraits,
among which are many of exceeding interest, including those of heroes,
statesmen, kings and queens, church-reformers, and poets, mingled
without regard to date or order.[56] The Picture Gallery is the great
“show-room” of the house. It is a noble apartment, the walls of which
are
[Illustration]
covered with works of art, of rare value and unsurpassed excellence, the
productions of nearly all the great masters of Italy; including
admirable examples of Guido, Titian, Salvator, Rubens, Raphael,
Spagnoletto, P. Veronese, Giorgione, N. Poussin, and Guercino. Every
part of the venerable edifice contains, indeed, some object of interest.
The rooms, and halls, and galleries are thronged with rare and beautiful
works of
[Illustration:
J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
COBHAM CHURCH.]
art; a series of perfect Vases from Herculaneum lie on the tables of the
Picture Gallery; several antique Busts and Statues line the Hall; a
magnificent Bath, of red Egyptian granite, is placed in the
entrance-passage; and the furniture and interior decorations are all of
corresponding excellence and beauty. Not the least interesting among
relics of the olden time, is a Carriage, of which we append a copy. Its
date is probably not more remote than the reign of Charles the Second.
It is in a good state of preservation, and stands in one of the
Out-offices, of which there is an extensive and remarkably commodious
range.
Although necessarily limited in our description of Cobham Hall, we have
sufficiently shown the rare treat a visit to it will afford to those
who, “in populous city pent,” desire to convert occasional holidays into
contributions to intellectual enjoyment. The Hall and its contents will
amply repay examination; and the noble Park is full of natural
treasures--thronged with deer, singularly abundant in singing-birds, and
containing trees, unsurpassed in magnificent size and graceful
proportions. One of the walks conducts to a hillock, from the summit of
which there is a splendid prospect of the adjacent country, commanding
views of the Thames and Medway, and taking in the venerable castle,
cathedral, and town, of Rochester; the dockyards at Sheerness; and the
whole course of the great English river to its mouth at the Nore. The
pedestrian, pursuing this route, will pass the Mausoleum, an elegant
structure, built conformably with the Will of the third Earl of Darnley;
and designed for the sepulture of his family. It was never consecrated:
in consequence, it is said, of a dispute respecting “terms,” and is now
rapidly falling to decay. The basement story contains a vault and
sarcophagus, surrounded by recesses for coffins. The Chapel is above.
The exterior consists of four wings, with columns, sustaining
sarcophagi, and surmounted by a pyramid.
But Cobham has other objects of interest--the venerable Church, and no
less
[Illustration]
venerable “College.” The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, stands
upon elevated ground, at the entrance to the village. It consists of a
nave, aisles, and chancel, with an embattled tower, entered by an
antique porch. The Tower is obviously of a more recent date than the
Chancel; the former is very ancient. As in many of the Kentish churches,
the Walls were formerly painted in fresco, of which evidence may be
easily obtained by those who will examine them narrowly; the steps of
the altar are paved with encaustic tiles, of about the period of Edward
III.--of various patterns, but most of them containing the fleur-de-lis;
the Stalls, of old oak, appear to have been worm-eaten for centuries.
The whole aspect of the place indeed supplies indubitable proof of very
remote antiquity[57].
The modern “fittings up”--the painted pews--contrast strangely with the
age of the
[Illustration]
structure. The Roof of huge oak rafters, the Gothic arches, the
Brasses--broken or entire--which cover the floor, the quaint Monuments
let into the walls, the delicately-sculptured Piscina, the Sedelia of
carved stone, the singular Font, the rude Vestry-room with its massive
oak Chest, the Scripture passages painted on the walls--all bespeak the
antiquity of the building. But the most primitive portion of it is the
Chancel, on either side of which are five latticed Windows, the south
side being entirely, and the north side being partially, blocked up with
rough stones. Nearly in
[Illustration]
the centre is the still beautiful Tomb of Sir Thomas Broke, the Lady
Joan, and their ten sons and four daughters. It is of white marble; over
which, upon a black slab, lie the effigies of the knight and dame. On
either side, are those of five of their sons, kneeling, and wearing
tabards, with their swords girded on. The figures of the four daughters
are carved on the east and west ends of the superb monument. It bears
the date 1561, under the arms of the Brokes quartered with those of the
Cobhams. On the floor of the chancel are the famous “Cobham Brasses,”
the most perfect and the most numerous assemblage now existing in the
kingdom. The series consists of thirteen, recording the memory of the
Cobhams and Brokes, “Lords and Barons of this town of Cobham, with many
of their kindred, who for many descents did flourish in honourable
reputation.” Of the thirteen, eight are in honour of the knights, and
five are memorials of the dames. Of one of them we procured an
engraving, in order to convey a somewhat accurate idea of the style and
character of the series. It is to the memory of Sir Nicholas Hawberk,
the third husband of Joan Lady Cobham; the carving, in this example, is
very elaborate and refined. The knight is represented with folded hands
under a canopy, “habited in plate armour, standing on a lion, with a
sword and dagger dependent from a rich girdle, and has on a skull-cap,
with a hauberk of mail.” The summit of the canopy is divided into three
compartments, highly enriched with finials and pinnacles, and exhibiting
the Trinity in the centre, and at the sides the Virgin and Child, and
St. George killing the Dragon. At the feet of the knight is a youth
standing on a pedestal. An inscription round the verge of the slab
records the marriage of Sir Nicholas with Joan de Cobham[58].
“The College of Cobham” is now only a collection of alms-houses, to
which presentations are made--of old people, without restriction to
either sex--as vacancies occur, by the parish and ten other parishes
adjacent. It lies immediately south of the church, and is entered by a
small Gothic gateway. Its occupants are twenty aged men and women, who
[Illustration]
have each a little mansion, with a neat garden and an allowance monthly,
sufficient to secure the necessaries of life. It is a quadrangular
building, of stone, measuring about 60 feet by 50; and contains a large
Hall, with painted windows, a roof of blackened rafters, an old oak
screen, and a fireplace of cut stone. The history of the college is
curious and interesting. A college or chauntry was originally founded
here, about the year 1362, by John de Cobham, thence called “the
Founder,” in the reign of Edward III. Towards the end of the reign of
Elizabeth it was rebuilt, as appears by a record--“finished in
September, 1598”--inscribed over the south portal, under the arms and
alliances of the Brokes Lords Cobham. The endowments of the old
foundation were ample; and were, with the college itself, bestowed by
Henry VIII. at the Dissolution, upon George Lord Cobham, who had the
“King’s roiall assent and licence by hys Grace’s word, without any
manner of letters patent, or other writings, to purchase and receyve to
his heires for ever, of the late Master and Bretheren, of the colledge
or chauntry of Cobham, in the countie of Kent, now being utterly
dissolved, the scite of the same colledge or chauntry, and al and
[Illustration]