modern reading,--is situate about seven miles from Liverpool, and nearly
the same distance from Prescot. The house and the estates
adjacent--after passing through “several hands”--are now the property of
Richard Watt, Esq., of Bishop-Burton, whose uncle, Richard Watt, Esq.,
merchant of Liverpool, purchased the manor from the Beauclerk family.
The house is, however, “let,” and is now in the occupation of Joseph
Brereton, Esq. The history of the mansion--preserved as it is from a
very early period--is curious and interesting. Speke, according to
Domesday Book, was “held by Uctred,” with “two caracutes of land,” and
was “worth sixty-four pence.” With Uctred, however, it did not long
remain; for, soon afterwards, we find it given by Benedict de Gerneth or
Garnet, with Annota his daughter and heiress, to Adam de Molineux, of
the Sefton branch of that very noble and chivalric family. From them it
passed--by marriage with Joan Molineux, daughter of Sir John Molineux,
Knt., of Sefton--to William Norris, Esq., of Sutton. From this union
sprung the Lord Norris, of Rycot, and the founders of several other
noble families of Lancashire and Berkshire.[65] It was held by the
Norrises, in direct descent, until the middle of the last century, when
it was inherited by Topham Beauclerk, Esq., by whose son it was
transferred to Mr. Watt.
Speke Hall is among the best specimens of its class that yet endure in
England. It is built of wood and plaster--the material employed in all
the Lancashire houses of the sixteenth century. It was formerly
surrounded by a moat, the remains of which are easily traced, although
long ago filled up by gravelled walks and flowering shrubs in rich
abundance. A stone bridge, with high piers, leads to the principal
front; and the house is entered through a picturesque stone porch,
immediately over which is the following inscription, in black letter of
antique shape:--
This worke twenty yards long was wholly built by E. N., 1598.
The annexed woodcut shows the Stone Bridge leading to the entrance arch,
from
[Illustration]
which there is a flight of stone steps communicating with the moat;
there appears formerly to have been a terrace walk on this side of the
house, the situation of which is shown by the figure looking over the
wall. The pinnacles and ornaments from the Gables on this side of the
building are quite gone, the only ornament now remaining is the string
course round the whole building which still remains in good
preservation; and the window over the arch has some bold mouldings, it
occupies the space below the second gable in the woodcut. A large room
in the further Gable, now used as a Laundry, is said to have formerly
been the Chapel: we may imagine this to have been the case by the
window, which is different in size and shape from the others. On the
right of the arch is a doorway leading to the moat by the flight of
stone steps, also to the terrace-walk before mentioned, which is only
continued on one side of the building. On each side of this doorway is a
large stone seat, one of which is shown in the woodcut. The arch is
ornamented with a number of small mouldings, which, commencing at one
base, is continued through the impost and architrave to the base
opposite.
Two large oak doors open from the porch into an inner court of an oblong
form, in
[Illustration]
length about twenty-four yards, and in breadth about seventeen. Two
enormous and very venerable yew-trees still flourish here--now only
picturesque ornaments in keeping with the solemn character of the
structure; but in ancient times, no doubt, they answered the purpose of
equipping many a stout English bowman, and may have aided the victors of
Crecy and Poictiers. The principal windows of the mansion look into this
court; several of them yet retain their costly ornaments, and everywhere
there is to be found some indication that wealth and taste were lavishly
expended in decorating the noble and beautiful structure.
Passing down the principal lobby, we enter the Great Hall on the right.
It is very lofty; a fine oak wainscoting reaches from the floor to the
ceiling, which is of oak also, crossed by large beams, deeply moulded,
forming squares, which are again crossed, diagonally, by small moulded
ribs. The large Bay
[Illustration]
Window, as we have noted, looks into the court-yard. The huge
Chimney-piece, which seems to be of a much later date than the Hall,
contains a singular mass of strange forms; its peculiarities are shown
in the drawing, for which, and the other illustrations of this fine old
mansion, we are indebted to Mr. J. J. Dodd, an excellent artist, of
Manchester. The drawing introduces the Bay Window and a projecting
doorway leading to the drawing-room; it exhibits, too, the fine
wainscoting, which is divided perpendicularly and horizontally into
panels of various sizes; above the eye is a row of twelve panels,
bearing shields or scrolls, similar to achievement shields, of Gothic
shapes, on each of which is carved a head, supposed to represent one of
the twelve Cæsars. Of this wainscot Seacome, in his “History of the
House of Stanley,” says, “And here justice as well as respect to the
ancient and worthy house, Norris of Speke, calls upon me to acquaint the
reader with the bravery of Sir Edward Norris, son of Sir William, who
was slain at the battle of Musselburrow, in the time of Henry VII. This
valiant and heroic gentleman, Sir Edward Norris, commanded a body of the
army, under General Stanley, at Flodden Field, where he behaved with so
much courage and good conduct, that he was honoured by the King his
master with a congratulatory letter, for his good services on the
victory of that day, in token whereof he brought from the deceased King
of Scots’ palace all or most of his princely library; and he also
brought from the said palace the wainscot of the King’s Hall, and put it
up in his own hall of Speke, wherein are seen all the orders of
architecture, and round the top of it this inscription” (broken by the
projections and ornaments):--
Slepe : not : till : u hathe : consederd
how : thow : hast : Spent: y day : past
if : thou : have : well don : thank : God if
other: ways, re pent, ye[66]
The Door-case between the great hall and large Drawing-room projects
into the former, and is richly ornamented with a coat of arms and
supporters. In the windows
[Illustration:
J. I. Dodd, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
SPEKE, THE GREAT HALL, LANCASHIRE.]
there are still to be seen many arms painted on the glass, which add
greatly to the imposing effect of the room. A seat or bench, with a rest
for the feet, is continued, not only in the recess of the bow and bay
windows, but all round the apartment.
Crossing the hall, a passage leading from the projecting doorway brings
us to the staircase on the right, opposite to which is the entrance to
the great parlour or drawing-room, on the door frieze of which is the
following inscription, in similar characters to those in the Great
Hall:--
The : Streghtest : God : to : love : serve :
ys :
waye : to : heaven : above : all : thyng
While the Great Hall has been renovated and repaired with considerable
taste and skill, the Drawing-room has been grievously neglected, until
it has become a complete ruin. The floor has been entirely removed;
every window is boarded up, mouldings from the oak wainscot are
crumbling and falling down on every side, and it is not till we have
remained in the room some time, and the eye is accustomed to the
darkness, that we discern the elaborately enriched ceiling, which
consists of fifteen square compartments, being divided by four beams
horizontally, having the corners splayed off; they are of plaster,
ornamented with a running stem of the hop-plant, skilfully continued
throughout.
[Illustration]
The ceiling of the Bay Window is also ornamented, but in a different
style, being panelled with scrolls and ogee lines, and having in the
centre an angel, apparently rising into the clouds; the seats and
panelling from this window are gone, and the space is filled with broken
panels, mouldings, and “firewood;” the wind and rain force their way
between the pieces of board which stand in the stead of glass; and the
ivy has in many places forced itself through from the outside. This Bay
Window, with a square window of six lights close to it, looks into the
moat. This side of the house has been quite neglected: windows are
partially boarded up, and it is difficult to trace any architectural
features, except the two fine Chimneys; all else is a complete wreck,
exhibiting grievous proof of the want of taste and right feeling in the
present owner. The Chimneys here are stone, but the greater part of the
building is of wood; a few bricks have been introduced, but only because
they were absolutely necessary to support the tottering woodwork from
the ruin that follows neglect. Another window, at the end, looked into
the garden, into which there was also a communication through an arched
doorway--shown in the garden front view--having the initials carved on
it. The whole of the drawing-room is of oak, from the floor to the
ceiling; the panels at the top of the end adjoining the Great Hall are
pierced with stars and circles of different kinds in two rows; intended
doubtless to destroy the dull uniformity which must have been otherwise
exhibited by one hundred and twenty panels broken only by two doorways.
It only remains to notice the Carved Oak Chimney-piece in this room,
with which time has not yet made so much havoc as it has with the
ceiling. From the carved figures and inscriptions on the frieze, there
can be no doubt of its representing a pedigree of the Norris family for
three generations. It consists of three principal compartments,
separated by pairs of square columns, having their interstices occupied
[Illustration]
by beautiful arabesque foliage of different patterns, the whole resting
on a base corresponding with the extent of the fireplace, and finished
with carvings of a similar kind to those filling the spaces between the
columns. An inscription formerly ran along the cornice, explanatory of
the figures in the different compartments, but it is entirely gone: the
remainder is in a fair state of preservation, and is a good specimen of
the class introduced into England, when the Italian became mixed with
our English classic in domestic architecture.
The ancient Hall of Speke supplies a highly interesting example of the
architecture of the period. Although time has made sad havoc among its
beauties and peculiarities, and it has been shamefully neglected by
those who should have cherished the old House, as “the apple of an eye,”
its leading outlines still exist unimpaired; the arrangements of the
several apartments may be distinctly traced; and if by some fortunate
event it should happen to fall into the hands of parties capable of
estimating its worth, its restoration might be so effected as to exhibit
a perfect mansion of the 16th century.
Most auspiciously situated in the midst of rich and lovely scenery,
surrounded by venerable trees, many of them coeval with the building, it
would seem as if all the moral, social, and physical wants of the owner
might be supplied by means ready at his hands. Alas! that there is no
manorial lord to estimate the value of rare gifts of nature and fortune
beyond the actual profit the venerable walls can be made to yield.
[Illustration:
J. S. Dodd Delᵗ on Stone by W. Walton M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.
TURTON TOWER, LANCASHIRE.]
TURTON TOWER,
LANCASHIRE.
[Illustration: T]his venerable and highly picturesque edifice is
situated about four miles from Bolton, in a district singularly at war
with relics of antiquity, and at variance with associations awakened by
remains of time-honoured mansions of the ancient lords of the soil. From
an adjacent hill may be seen a thousand tall chimneys, of red brick;
while the surrounding atmosphere is dense and heavy with the smoke
arising from factories and coal-pits, so numerous, that the eye labours
in vain to count them.
In the time of King John, the Township of Turton was held by Roger Fitz
Robert (De Holland); it became part of the property of Henry, “the good
Duke of Lancaster,” from whom the manor passed into the knightly family
of the Orrels, whom Camden styles “Illustrious.” From them it was
purchased, for £3,000, by Humphrey Chetham, Esq., a manufacturer of
fustians; of whom, about the middle of the 17th century, Fuller speaks,
as “a public benefactor.” From him it passed successively to his
descendants, Humphrey, Samuel, and Edward Chetham; by Anne, one of the
co-heiresses of Edward Chetham, it was conveyed by marriage to ---- Bland,
Esq., whose sole heiress married Mordecai Green, Esq., whose daughters,
the issue of his son, James Green, inherited, and now possess, the
estate. That portion of it, consisting of 365 acres, which contains
Turton Tower, is in the occupation of James Kay, Esq., a gentleman who
deserves the high praise of all, and the fervent gratitude of the
antiquary, for the care he has taken, not only to protect from further
injury the venerable relic of a remote age, but for the taste and
judgment he exhibits in keeping all things in harmony with the character
of the honoured and interesting edifice. The dwelling has received
various additions from time to time; but none of them are of very recent
date. They are principally of a class common in Lancashire, in houses of
the better order, as well as in cottages of the labourer and artisan,
being constructed of wood and plaster. “THE TOWER” is of stone, and much
older than other parts of the structure. It is square, and was evidently
constructed for defence. It has a hall, of small size, but richly
decorated with wood carvings; a quaint staircase conducts to the upper
apartments, the principal of which is the drawing-room, panelled with
oak from the floor nearly to the ceiling--the ceiling being highly
enriched.
[Illustration]
It receives light from two mullioned windows. This room is in the
Tower--the whole length and breadth of which it occupies. Every chamber
throughout the mansion has been fitly furnished by Mr. Kay. The ancient
coffer, bound with iron--(it supplies our initial letter)--concerning
which tradition has been always busy--is one of the few heirlooms of the
House.
We believe, with this exception, the whole of its picturesque contents,
from attic to cellar, have been the introductions of Mr. Kay; and we
cannot sufficiently praise the sound taste and judicious feeling by
which that gentleman has been actuated in his efforts at restoration
both within and without.
At a short distance from the mansion is a singularly picturesque
turret--an
[Illustration]
engraving of which we annex. Through the township of Turton passed the
ancient Roman road; and in the immediate neighbourhood may be traced
many relics of remote antiquity.
From “the Height” a most extensive view is obtained--a view unsurpassed
in England for singularity and deep interest,--taking in Bolton and
Warrington and other towns and villages full of factories; from hence
also are seen Billinge Hill and Beacon, the far-famed Pike and Beacon of
Rivington; while a deep shadow that hangs over an enormous space, points
attention to busy and prosperous Manchester, buried with its prodigious
wealth in the centre of a valley some fifteen miles away.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The windows formerly contained some rare specimens of painted
glass, which the late proprietor permitted a clerical friend to
abstract for the purpose of decorating a neighbouring church.
[2] Fuller states that Sir John Huddleston “was highly honoured by
Queen Mary, and deservedly. Such was the trust reposed in him, that
when Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen, she came privately to him at
Sawston, and rid thence behind his servant, the better to disguise
herself from discovery, to Framlingham. She afterwards made him, as
I have heard, her Privy Councillor; and besides other great boons,
bestowed the bigger part of Cambridge Castle, then in ruins, upon him,
with the stone whereof he built his fair house in this county.”
[3] A singular tradition, alluded to by Camden, has long prevailed,
that previously to the death of a heir of the house of Brereton, trunks
of trees were observed to rise from the bottom of the lake of the
neighbouring _Bog Mere_, and to float for several days. One historian
of Cheshire, sensible of the credulity of the great antiquary, would
resolve the pleasant dream of olden fancy by the laws of modern statics.
[4] Brereton is the “Bracebridge Hall” of Washington Irving.
[5] The Cheshire carpenters of old seem to have been not sparingly
endowed with the “noble” aspiration. In an inscription on the fine
carved oak ceiling of the neighbouring Church of Astbury, bearing date
1616 and 1617, in which occurs the name of a William Moreton, we have
that also of _Richard Lowndes, Carpenter_;--his work, however, is of no
mean desert.
[6] Hales and Tonkin state, that “about the middle of the _fourteenth_
century the Treffry family largely contributed towards the building of
the church, and erected, adjoining to it, a magnificent castellated
mansion for their own residence.” We imagine there is an error in
the date of this, and should rather refer it to the middle of the
_fifteenth_ century, after the French had destroyed the town; which
they did about the year 1453.
[7] The following inscription upon the tomb of one of them was
“formerly in the Church:”--
“Sir Rowland Vaux that sometime was the Lord of Triermaine,
Is dead, his body clad in lead, and ligs law under this stane;
Evin as we, evin so was he, on earth a levan man;
Evin as he, evin so maun we, for all the craft we can.”
“According to the tablet in the church (we quote from the ‘Border
Antiquities’ of Sir Walter Scott), this was a monastery of St.
Augustine, and founded in 1116; but no mention of it in the records
occurs earlier than the 16th of Henry II., 1169. Its endowments
consisted of all the lands lying between Picts’ Wall and Irthing,
and also between Burgh and Poltross, and several other valuable
possessions. Bernard, Bishop of Carlisle, dedicated the Church to
Mary Magdalen. * * * * Edward I. granted to the Prior and Convent the
advowson of two churches in his patronage, because the Priory had been
burnt and the lands ravaged by an incursion of the Scots. He wrote an
epistle to the Pope, expressly to obtain his sanction to this grant,
which was not withheld. Many other liberal donations were made to this
monastery, and some of them exhibited the peculiar character of the
times--such as the tithes of venison, and the skins of deer and foxes;
tithe of the mulcture of a mill, pasture for milking and sheep, the
bark of trees, a well or spring, and sundry villeins their issue and
goods.”
[8] The sad death of this “last Lord Dacre” is thus recorded by Stow.
The event occurred on the 17th of May, 1559.
“He was by a great mischaunce slayne at Thetford, in the house of Sir
Richard Falmenstone, Knight, by meane of a vaunting horse of woode,
standing within the same house; upon which horse, as he meant to have
vaunted, and the pins of the feet being not made sure, the horse fell
upon him and bruised the brains out of his head.” In the January
following, Leonard Dacre, Esq., of Horsley, in the county of York,
second son of Lord William Dacre, of Gilsland, “choosing,” according
to Camden, “rather to try for the estate with his prince in war, than
with his nieces at law,” entered into rebellion, with a design to carry
off the Queen of Scots. This object was frustrated by Mary’s removal
to Coventry; subsequently he seized upon Naworth and other Castles,
but having been attacked and defeated by Lord Hunsdon, he fled into
Flanders, where he died.
[9] To understand the full importance of this appointment it is
necessary to offer some explanations of the state of the Border at
that period. The accession of James VI. to the English crown, although
it produced the effect of converting the two _extremities_ into the
_middle_ of the kingdom, contributed but little to arrest the system
of plunder and depredation which had existed there for centuries.
The inhabitants generally, on the Scottish side, were unrestrained
moss-troopers (so called from the sloughs and bogs to which they
resorted), “Knowing no measure of law,” says Camden, “but the length
of their swords,”--men of whom Fuller quaintly writes, “they come to
church as seldom as the 29th of February comes into the kalendar.”
According to Sir Walter Scott, “the hands of rapine were never there
folded in inactivity, nor the sword of violence returned to the
scabbard.” The habits of these marauders, and the “interesting nature
of their exploits,” are pictured in a strong light by the historian
Camden. “They sally out of their own Borders in the night in troops,
through unfrequented by-ways, and many intricate windings. All the
daytime they refresh themselves and their horses in lurking holes they
had pitched upon before, till they arrive in the dark at those places
they have a design upon. As soon as they have seized upon the booty,
they, in like manner, return home in the night, through blind ways,
and fetching many a compass. The more skilful any captain is to pass
through those wild deserts, crooked turnings, and deep precipices,
in the thickest mists and darkness, his reputation is the greater,
and he is looked upon as a man of an excellent head. And they are
so very cunning, that they seldom have their booty taken from them,
unless sometimes, when, by the help of blood-hounds following them
exactly upon the track, they may chance to fall into the hands of their
adversaries.”
[10] For the drawings on wood here engraved, we are indebted to Mr. T.
M. Richardson, an accomplished artist of Newcastle.
[11] An anecdote is recorded of the gallant knight which strongly
illustrates not only his peculiar habit, but the character of the
turbulent time in which he lived. In this Library he was one day deep
in study, when a soldier, who had captured a moss-trooper, suddenly
entered with the news, disturbing his master with the unwelcome
question of what was to be done with the fellow? “Hang him, in the
devil’s name,” exclaimed the irritated lord, and turned to his books.
The order was construed literally; and forthwith the unhappy prisoner
was dangling from a tree; which Lord William, to his exceeding dismay,
learned, when a few hours afterwards he ordered the culprit to be
brought before him for examination.
[12] The Avenells, it would appear, about this time owned considerable
property in the north, the benefits of which they seem to have
dispensed with no niggard hand, as we find from the following notices
in Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” vol. i. p. 839. “The manor of Oneash (the
Aneise of Domesday) was given to Roche Abbey, Yorkshire, by William
Avenell, Lord of Haddon.” “Conksbury, near Over Haddon, was given to
the abbey of Leicester, by William Avenell.”
[13] Monuments of the Vernons and Manners in Bakewell Church:--
“Sir John Vernon, Knt. (son and heir of Henry), 1477; Sir Geo. Vernon,
of Haddon, d. 1561, and his two wives, Margaret, daughʳ of Sir Gilbert
Talbois, and Maud, daughtʳ of Sir Ralph Longford; Sir John Manners
(second son of Thomas earl of Rutland), who died in 1611, and his wife
(Dorothy, daughter and coheir of Sir Geo. Vernon), who died in 1584.
John Manners (third son of Sir John), who died in 1590. And Sir Geo.
Manners, who died in 1623; he married Grace, daughter of Sir Henry
Pierrepont.”
Arms of Manners, duke of Rutland:--Or, two bars azure; a chief
quarterly of the second and gules, the first and fourth charged with
two fleurs-de-lis of the first, and third with a lion passant-guardant
of the same, being an augmentation given to the family, in consequence
of their descent from King Edward IV.
_Crest_:--On a chapeau, gules, turned up erm., a peacock in pride,
proper.
_Supporters_:--Two unicorns, arg., thin horns, manes, tufts, and hoofs,
or.
[14] The subjoined particulars respecting one of these open-house
occasions, in 1663, are curious and interesting. They are extracted
from the bailiff’s accounts of the time of John, eighth earl, who died
here in 1679:--
£. _s._ _d._
“Paid George Wood, the cook, for helping in the
pastry all Christmas 3 0 0
Paid Robert Swindell, for helping at the like work
all Christmas, and two weeks 1 5 0
Paid William Green, the cook, for helping in the
kitchen all Christmas 1 0 0
Paid Antony Higton, turnspit, for helping all
Christmas 0 3 0
Paid W. Creswick, for pulling fowls and poultry
all Christmas 0 3 6
Paid Catherine Sprig, for helping the scullery-maid
all Christmas 0 3 0
Paid Thomas Shaw, the piper, for piping all
Christmas 2 0 0
Given by my honourable Lord and Lady’s command
to Thomas Shaw’s man 0 10 0
Given by their honours’ commands to Richard
Blackwell, the dancer 0 10 0
Given by their honours’ commands to Ottiwell
Bramwell, the dancer 0 10 0
Given by their honours’ commands to Ottiwell
Bramwell’s kinswoman, for dancing 0 5 0