here to the abbey of Font-Evraud in Normandy, an abbey closely connected
with our Norman kings, and where several lie buried, and having, during
the reign of Henry II., granted them various lands, Osbert is styled the
founder of the church of St. Mary at Westwood, in the ancient deeds.
Shortly afterwards was erected a small priory, dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin, for six nuns of the Benedictine order, which, when once
established, shared the usual favours bestowed on such foundations
during the middle ages; it ultimately numbered seventeen or eighteen
inmates. The grants of property, as recited by Nash, do not appear to
have been of such great value as ever to have given great riches or
importance to the priory, but they were of a kind to ensure a certain
amount of comfort and worldly prosperity to the nuns who inhabited it;
and some of the grants are curious, inasmuch as they shew the kindliness
of feeling with which they were regarded, and the simple usefulness of
many donations; all indicative of a period when the necessities of life
were more dependent on the interchange of individual courtesies than
they are at present. Thus, “Jocelyn Fitz Richard, of Wich (Droitwich),
gave them free passage for corn and hay over the bridge of Brerhulle, as
far as his meadow extended, from hay-time to Michaelmas, and for wood
from hay-time to All Saints.” Others made them various grants for things
in return, which they wanted, and which, being of considerably less
value, became a profitable quit-rent. Thus “Stephen de Elmbrug gave land
in Ruinestreet, Droitwich, for one pound of cummin or pepper yearly, at
Michaelmas; which was confirmed at his death by his son Inard.” Ralph
Hacket, “a dole of salt, with a salt-pit and wood-place, for three
shillings and a mit of salt; Ralph Huson confirmed this, and gave an
acre in Broadmead, with seven butts adjoining, for a mark of silver
(13_s._ 4_d._); also six sellions of land without Guerston Ditch,
belonging to their church of St. Nicholas, at Wich. Osbert Fitz Osbert
Bende, of Wich, gave lands in Wich, which he held in fee of Derhurst,
with two helflings (four pounds) and a half of salt at Northernmost
Wich, for a pair of white gloves yearly to his heirs, and fourpence
halfpenny and six baskets of salt.” Other lands were also held by the
same grant of salt from Droitwich, and remittances of rent by the same
means. The change in the value of money is strikingly visible in some
grants; thus, “William Fitz Aldred Fikemore gave 4_d._ yearly rent,” and
“Adam Fitz Adam Luveton, of Wich, gave 12_d._ yearly rent;” sums which
now appear almost ludicrous.
Of the various prioresses of this retired and remote establishment, but
few notices or even names occur. The only noted one was Isabella, who
ruled between 1360 and 1370, and died under excommunication, for having
joined with the antipope Clement VII. The last prioress, Joice Acton,
received at the dissolution, in 1553, an annual pension of 10_l._ At
this period the revenues were valued at 78_l._ 8_s._ in the whole, and
175_l._ 18_s._ 11_d._ clear, which is Dugdale’s valuation.
After the dissolution of religious houses, Westwood with its demesne
lands was granted, in the thirteenth year of Henry VIII., to Sir John
Pakington, knight, in whose descendants it still continues. The
Pakingtons resided first in their mansion at Hampton Lovet; when that
was much damaged in the civil wars, they enlarged the house at Westwood,
which had been built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as a lodge or
banquetting-house, and made it the place of their abode.
[Illustration]
One of the most interesting features of the place is the gate-house
immediately in front of the mansion; it consists of a double lodge of
red brick, with ornamental gables and pinnacles; the gate in the centre
is ornamented with the heraldic bearings of the family, the mullet or
star of five points, and garb or wheatsheaf; their arms being,--“party
per chevron, sable and argent, in chief three mullets, or, in base as
many garbs, gules.” These bearings are again sculptured on the parapets,
the wheatsheafs doing duty as pilasters, and the mullets serving in
place of balusters. The timber work over the gate, with its high pointed
roof and pinnacle, is exceedingly picturesque and striking; and is all
the more interesting from the rarity of such examples.
[Illustration]
Passing through the gate and crossing the small lawn we reach the
principal door, to which a flight of stone steps lead. The stone portico
is decorated in the style of the Renaissance, but is more purely Italian
in its taste than is usually the case in works of that period. An open
balustrade is on each side of the steps. Over the centre arch is a regal
figure on an eagle. It was probably erected after the civil wars, when
Westwood was enlarged and improved.
[Illustration]
From the hall, which is an oblong room, presenting no particular
features of interest, and from which the library, containing many choice
and curious volumes, is reached, and which is situated in the wing to
the left, the principal apartments are reached by the staircase, a view
of which is here given, and which is chiefly remarkable for the
Corinthian capitals, supporting globes, which are placed on the
banister. The whole of this staircase is of carved oak, in a fine state
of preservation, and exhibiting great finish in execution. By this stair
we reach the saloon, a noble apartment, with a double bay-window
situated immediately over the hall, and having its walls hung with fine
old tapestry of the Elizabethan era, filled with symbolical
representations of various kinds, and resembling, in style and
character, that exhibited in the great hall at Hampton Court. A
magnificent fireplace of elaborate detail, decorated with the royal
arms, is in the centre. The roof is of plaster, but is not the original
one; it is very florid and elaborate, in the style of Louis Quatorze,
yet, however good as a specimen of that peculiar taste, it does not
harmonise with the rest of the building.
From the windows of this room a noble view of the country is obtained,
which is very undulatory and beautiful; the lake, the avenues, and the
antique oaks which surround the house, also add to the beauty of the
prospect. The effect of the pavilion opposite each wing of the building
is here seen to good effect, surrounded as they generally are with trees
and flowers. We engrave one of them. The chimney upon its exterior
bracket is a peculiar feature in their design.
Among the portraits preserved in the mansion may be noticed particularly
a curious one of Sir John Perrott, Knight of the Bath, and Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland from 1583 to 1588, who was descended from a very
ancient family in Pembrokeshire; his mother was Mary, daughter of James
Berkeley, Esq., second son of Lord Berkeley. Sir Robert Naunton, in his
“Fragmenta Regalia,” intimates that he was a natural son of Henry VIII.
“If we compare,” says he, “his picture, his qualities, gesture, and
voice, with those of the king, which memory retains yet amongst us, they
will plead strongly that he was a surreptitious child of the
blood-royal.” His first appearance at court was early in the reign of
Edward VI. He was arraigned of high treason at Westminster, April 17,
1592, and received sentence of death; but did not suffer, for he died
five months after in the Tower. He left one son, Sir Thomas Perrot,
knight, who married Dorothy, sister to the favourite Earl of Essex, by
whom he had one or more daughters. Sir Thomas dying early, his widow
married Henry Percy, the ninth Earl of Northumberland, and his estate
came afterwards by marriage to the Pakingtons.
Sir John Pakynton, knight, son of the first grantee, was sheriff of this
county in the reign of Elizabeth, and a favourite with that queen, who
first took notice of him in her progress to Worcester; he followed her
to court, and was made a Knight of the Bath. On one occasion he betted
with three courtiers, for 3000_l._, to swim against them from
Westminster to Greenwich, but the queen, by her especial command,
prevented it. His only court favour on record was a monopoly of starch.
Fuller says of him, that, “being a fine but no assiduous courtier, he
drew the curtain between himself and the light of the queen’s favour,
and then death overwhelmed the remnant, and utterly deprived him of
recovery; and they say of him, that had he brought less to the court
than he did, he might have carried away more than he brought, for he had
a time of it, but was no good husband of opportunity.” He died of gout
at the age of seventy-seven, and was buried at Aylesbury, 1625.
Sir John Pakyngton, Bart., knight of the shire 15 Charles I., was a
confirmed loyalist, and was tried for his life by the Parliament, his
estates were sequestered, and he was plundered for his loyalty, but he
ultimately compounded with the parliamentary committee for 5000_l._, and
died in 1679. His house was an asylum for all learned men in these
troublesome times. Nash says, “Dr. Hammond, Bishops Morley, Fell,
Gunning, and others, always met with hospitable entertainment here,
during the troubles of the kingdom. In concert, with some of these,
Dorothy, “the good Lady Pakington” as she was called, is supposed to
have written “The Whole Duty of Man,” one of the most popular of
religious volumes. In defence of her supposed authorship, it is said
that Lady Pakington’s letters and prayers are marked with the easy
familiar language of that book; and it has been asserted that the
original MS. in the handwriting of this lady, and interlined with
corrections by Bishop Fell, was sometime in possession of her daughter,
Mrs. Ayre, of Rampton, who often affirmed it to be the performance of
her mother, adding that she was also the authoress of the “Decay of
Christian Piety,” another celebrated religious work. But “upon the
whole,” adds Nash, “it still remains a doubt, and it is much easier to
prove who was not the author than to assert who was.”
At the Revolution, the doors of Westwood were open to some persons who
scrupled to take oaths to King William. Dean Hickes wrote here great
part of his “Linguarum Septentrionalium Thesaurus;” and the preface to
his “Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica” is dedicated to Sir John Pakington. In
it he gives the following declamatory description of Westwood,--“Ibi
porticus, atria, propylæa, horti, ambulacra clausa et subdialia, recta
et sinuosa, omnia studiis commoda; ibi luci, silvæ, nemora, prata,
saltus, planities, pascua, et nihil non, quod animum pene a literis
abhorrentem et legendum, audiendumve, et quovismodo discendum componere,
et conciliare potest.”
[Illustration:
From a drawing by Wᵐ Richardson. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ to The Queen.
FOUNTAINS HALL, YORKSHIRE]
FOUNTAINS HALL,
YORKSHIRE.
Fountains Hall is situated about five miles west of Ripon, in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, and “within two hundred yards” of the famous Abbey,
the name of which it “borrowed,” as well as the stones of which it is
built. The hall was, indeed, formed out of the ruins of the
time-honoured structure; and Sir Stephen Proctor, by whom it was
erected, thought, no doubt, he was dedicating to “right uses” the
precious relics he had bought, which supplied him with a
“quarry”--plentiful and easy of access. It has since passed through
various hands; the descendants of the builder held it but a short while:
the daughter of Sir Stephen conveyed it, with the manor, to John
Messenger, Esq., whose descendant sold it to William Aislabie, Esq.;
recently it was the property of the late Miss Lawrence of Studley-Royal;
and now, we believe, belongs to the Earl de Grey. Farther than this,
little is known of the mansion or its history; and its interest is
derived principally, or solely, from the ruined structure--magnificent
and beautiful in decay--which it adjoins, and out of the broken columns
of which it was raised.
[Illustration]
Fountains Abbey[72] ranks among the most picturesque and interesting of
the monastic ruins of England. It was founded early in the twelfth
century for monks of the Cistercian Order; the locality being then an
“uncouth desert,” which supplied no better shelter than “seven
yew-trees,” under which the monks made their habitation while their
magnificent house was progressing. Yet, long after the stupendous
structure was deserted and unroofed, their first dwelling continued in
existence; for, so late as the year 1810, six of the seven trees were
flourishing above the ground where the builders had congregated, and
formed their projects for a great future. In process of time the abbey
became richly endowed: such was its repute for sanctity, that princes
and nobles “purchased with immense donations” the right of sepulture
within its walls; the most illustrious of the northern families were
among its benefactors. “Popes and kings seemed to emulate one another in
granting to the monks privileges and immunities;” its possessions
“stretched from the foot of Pinnigant to the boundaries of St. Wilfred
of Ripon, without interruption.” Fountains-fell still retains the name
of its ancient possessors; “all the high pastures from thence to Kilnsey
were ranged by their flocks and herds;” and “their lands in Craven”
amounted to sixty-four thousand acres. At the dissolution, its revenues
exceeded a thousand pounds per annum; its site, with the estates
thereunto belonging, were sold by the sovereign spoiler to Sir Richard
Gresham, who resold them to Sir Stephen Proctor (the builder of the Hall
out of the Abbey stones); and the Abbey became a ruin--of deep interest
to the antiquary, the artist, and the lover of the picturesque.
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
From a drawing by F.W. Hulme. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ to The Queen.
HELMSLEY HALL, YORKSHIRE.]
HELMSLEY HALL,
YORKSHIRE.
Helmsley Hall is situate about six miles from Kirby-Moorside, in the
North Riding of Yorkshire. The date is early in the seventeenth century;
but it occupies the site, and is, indeed, chiefly built from the relics
of a structure of far more remote antiquity. The manor is in Domesday
called Elmeslae, “from elm, and slae, a narrow vale,” and was given by
the Conqueror to the Earl of Morton. Not long after the Conquest it
became the property of Sir Walter de la Espee, from whom it passed to
the noble family of Ross or Roos, and from them to the Earls of Rutland.
Catherine, daughter of the sixth earl, married George Villiers, first
Duke of Buckingham, to whom was thus transferred the estate, which the
second Duke wasted by a career of profligacy and vice.[73] From his
trustees, Helmsley was purchased by Sir Charles Duncombe, from whom it
has descended to the present Lord Feversham.
Helmsley Castle, once a place of formidable strength, was built about
the year 1200 by one of the family of Ross--one who, it is said,
forfeited by rebellion during the reign of Richard I., but regained his
estates by favour of Richard’s successor, the infamous John. The remains
are still imposing, and give indications of having formerly covered
immense space. They are thus described by the Rev. W. Eastmead:--“The
grand entrance on the south has been very strong. Without the outer wall
is a ditch, which has added to the strength of the fortification; then
the gateway leading into the first court or ballium, which measures
twenty feet in thickness. After that a second gateway, leading to the
inner court, where were the lodgings, &c.; and then the keep,
ninety-five feet high, under which was the dungeon: and these walls were
defended by a number of towers, which were strong and magnificent. The
walls of this castle were extremely well built, and the vast masses of
them which were thrown down yet hang together with amazing firmness.
Besides the south gate the remains of two others are yet visible, one on
the north and another on the west; and it is said that the waters of the
Rye were conducted through the ditches which surround the building.
During the Civil Wars the castle, after a severe conflict, was taken by
the Parliament forces under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, who,
during the siege, was wounded in the shoulder. It was soon afterwards
dismantled by order of Parliament.”
The Hall, as we have intimated, was built out of parts of the ancient
castle. The apartment pictured by Mr. Richardson is the principal
drawing-room, but the house has ceased to be inhabited by any member of
the family to whom it belongs; it is, nevertheless, a good subject for
the artist, and one which he is bound to rescue from the grasp of time.
This “state chamber” is approached by stone steps from the courtyard;
several smaller apartments are contiguous to it, but are without
decorations, unless their ample bay-windows may be so called. A lofty
tower at the south-east angle has been divided into several stories, but
the stairs and various floors are gone. Helmsley Hall is rapidly
decaying, and will be ere long, like its far more powerful parent and
neighbour “the Castle,” but a relic of the past; it will, however,
always possess considerable interest. Here revelled the licentious
Buckingham,--
“That life of pleasure and that soul of whim!”
And these now lonely walls suggest many a thought to connect the
surrounding scenery with the brilliant career of the most famous of
Helmsley’s lords.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Holland House is the manor-house of Abbots Kensington. “In Domesday
Book (our extract is from Lysons) the place is called Chenisitun, in
other ancient records Kenesitune and Kensintune. Chenesi is a proper
name; a person so named held the manor of Huish in Somersetshire, in
the reign of Edward the Confessor. Kensington manor, which had been
the property of Edward, a thane of King Edward’s, was granted by
the Conqueror to Geoffrey, bishop of Constance, Chief Justiciary of
England, under whom it was holden (when the survey of Domesday was
taken) by Alberic or Aubrey de Vere, ancestor of the Earls of Oxford.
The manor,” says the Survey, “is taxed at 10 hides, and contains 10
caracutes; on the demesnes are four ploughs, the villans have five, and
might employ six. There are 12 villans, holding each a virgate, and 6
who hold 3 virgates jointly. The priest has half a virgate, and there
are seven slaves, meadow equal to two plough lands, pasture for the
cattle of the town, pannage for 200 hogs and three acres of vineyards,
valued altogether at 10_l._--in King Edward’s time at the same. The
manor was afterwards the absolute property of the Vere family, and was
held by them _in capite_ for several generations, being parcel of their
barony by virtue of their office of High Chamberlain. [In 1264, on the
death of Hugh de Vere, the demesne was valued at 4_d._ an acre, and the
meadow-land at 3_d._; a dovehouse at 3_s._, a court and vineyard 3_s._,
fishpond and moat 2_s._ In 1296 the whole value of the manor was 19_l._
13_s._ 6¼_d._ In 1331 it was somewhat less.] Aubrey de Vere, grand
justiciary of England, was created Earl of Oxford by the Empress Maud,
and afterwards confirmed in that title by Henry II. Upon the attainder
of John, the twelfth earl, who was beheaded in 1461 for his adherence
to the house of Lancaster, the manor was seized by the crown and given
to Richard, duke of Gloucester. It came afterwards into the hands of
William, marquis of Berkley, who gave it to Sir Reginald Bray. John,
earl of Oxford, son of the attainted earl, having been restored to his
honours, recovered (probably by purchase) the ancient inheritance of
his ancestors, and by his will, bearing date 1509, left it to John,
his nephew, the next heir to the title. Subsequently it passed to Sir
Walter Cope, and from him to Henry Rich, earl of Holland, to whose
descendant maternally, Lord Kensington, it now belongs. In 1776 the
only surviving son of Francis Edwardes, Esq., who married Elizabeth,
daughter of Robert Rich, earl of Warwick and Holland, was created an
Irish peer by the title of Baron Kensington.”
[2] Campden House, now a ladies’ school, was built about the year
1612, by Sir Baptist Hickes, an eminent citizen of London, afterwards
Viscount Campden. In 1691, it was the residence of Anne, then Princess
of Denmark, who lived here for about four years with her son, the Duke
of Gloucester, who, unhappily, died at the age of eleven years. Here,
it is said, a regiment of boys about his own age was formed for his
amusement, “with whom he sported in military evolutions.” The house
has undergone many alterations, but retains many of its original
features. The palace of Kensington was chiefly built by William III.,
but “considerably enlarged and altered by succeeding monarchs.” Until
his death, it was the residence of his late Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex.
[3] Clarendon, in his “History of the Rebellion,” has drawn the
character of this peer:--“He was a very handsome man, of a lovely and
winning presence, and genteel conversation, by which he got so easy an
admission into the Court of King James,” that he abandoned the life
he had previously led--that of a soldier. The favour of James was
continued to him by his successor, Charles I.; and “whilst the weather
was fair, he continued to flourish above any man about the court; but
the storm did no sooner arise, but he changed so much, and declined
so fast from the honour he was thought to be master of,” that he grew
distrusted by the two State parties, and alternately deserted and
betrayed both. Ultimately, however, he took part with the king, was
taken prisoner at a skirmish near Kingston, tried, and sentenced to
death: “the house being divided upon the question, whether he should
be reprieved or not, and the Speaker giving the casting vote against
him.” “Thus,” says Lord Orford, “perished the once gay, beautiful, and
gallant Earl of Holland, whom neither the honours showered upon him by
his prince, nor his former more tender connexion with the queen, could
preserve from betraying and engaging against both. On the scaffold he
appeared sunk beneath the indignation and cruelty he received from men,
to whom and from whom he had deserted.”
[4] The death of Addison is thus touchingly described by Dr.
Young:--“After a long and manly, but vain struggle, with his distemper,
he dismissed his physicians, and with them all hopes of life; but with
his hopes of life, he dismissed not his concern for the living, but
sent for a youth nearly related, and finely accomplished (the young
Earl of Warwick), yet not above being the better for good impressions
from a dying friend. He came, but life now glimmering in the socket,
the dying friend was silent: after a decent and proper pause, the
youth said, ‘Dear sir, you sent for me; I believe and I hope that you
have some commands; I shall hold them most sacred.’ Forcibly grasping
the youth’s hand, he softly said, ‘See in what peace a Christian can
die.’ He spoke with difficulty, and soon expired.” Dr. Johnson states
that “Addison had been tutor to the young Earl, and anxiously, but in
vain, endeavoured to check the licentiousness of his manners. As a last
effort, he requested him to come into his room when he lay at the point
of death, hoping that the solemnity of the scene might work upon his
feelings. When his pupil came to receive his last commands, he told him
that he had sent for him to see how a christian could die.”
[5] The second son of the first, and brother of the second, Lord
Holland, was Charles James Fox, much of whose early life was passed at
Holland House.
[6] Francis Cleyn was born at Rostock, and was originally in the
service of Christian IV. of Denmark. For a proper education in art he
visited Italy, and there became known to Sir Henry Wotton, by whom he
was introduced to Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I. Soon after his
arrival in England he was employed to give designs, “both in history
and grotesque,” for the tapestry manufacture then recently established
at Mortlock. At Somerset House he painted a ceiling of a room near
the gallery, with histories and compartments in gold; the entrance of
Wimbledon House he painted in fresco; Bolsover in Nottinghamshire,
Stone Park in Northamptonshire and Carew House at Parson’s Green,
were ornamented by him. He also executed several books for carvers,
goldsmiths, &c., “made designs for various artists,” and was the
master of Dobson. His two sons also were esteemed painters. He died in
London--“a most pious man,” according to Evelyn--in 1658.