WHALLEY AND ITS ABBEY—MITTON CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS—THE
SHERBURNES—THE JESUITS’ COLLEGE, STONYHURST.
Whalley—the Field of Wells, as our Saxon forefathers called it—is
one of the most picturesque, as also one of the most interesting
villages in Lancashire. It is the centre, too, of a district which
almost claims to rank as classic ground. Few places possess greater
charms from a scenic point of view, or a higher interest from the
historical associations attaching to them. The parish to which it
gives name covers a wide extent of territory. Originally, before the
great parishes of Blackburn, Chipping, Mitton, Rochdale, Ribchester,
and Slaidburn had been carved out of it, it embraced an area of four
hundred square miles; and even now it is accounted the largest parish
within the diocese, being equal to about one-ninth of the whole county.
Well might the chief ecclesiastics of this, the oldest Christian
edifice in Lancashire, dignify themselves in old times with the
imposing title of “Deans” of Whalley, though the magnitude of their
domain was surely not a sufficient justification for their setting at
naught the decrees of Holy Church, and the vows of celibacy it imposed,
by perpetuating a race of priests who married and transmitted their
offices from father to son for successive generations: a state of
things that continued until the Council of Lateran not only forbade but
disannulled such marriages, and so destroyed the constitution by which
the church of Whalley had been governed for nearly five hundred years.
A more charmingly diversified country than that of which this quiet
little pastoral village is the centre it is difficult to conceive.
Within the wide range of vision it commands we may note the type of
almost every stage of civilisation the country has passed through.
Though a railway viaduct, lofty as the Pont du Gard, bridges the
Calder, and a tall chimney or two may here and there be seen, the
virgin features of the country have as yet been happily but little
scarred by the intrusion of manufacturing industry. The wild breezy
moors and the wooded cloughs and dingles retain much of their primitive
character, while the fair and fertile valley still bears evidence
of the patient labour of the monks in redeeming the soil from its
primeval barrenness. Every object that can beautify or adorn the
landscape is there in picturesque variety, charming by the very order
of Nature’s disorder. The Ribble, winding its way towards the sea, as
it flows by Ribchester, reminds us of the days when the Roman held
dominion—when the subjects of the Cæsars built their fortresses and
reared their stately temples, and their chief, Agricola, taught the
naked and woad-stained Britons the science of agriculture and the arts
of civilisation. The quaint Runic crosses standing in the churchyard,
weathered and worn with the blasts of twelve hundred years, serve
as memorials of the time when Edwin, the Saxon king of Northumbria,
embraced the doctrines of the Cross, and the great missionary Paulinus
brought the glad tidings to our pagan forefathers dwelling in this
remote corner of Lancashire; for tradition affirms that on this spot
the Gospel of Peace and Love was proclaimed in those ancient days.
There stands the messenger of truth; there stands
The legate of the skies, his theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear;
By him the violated law speaks out
Its thunders, and by him, in strains as sweet
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace.
And the venerable church—“the white church under the Leigh,” as it
was anciently designated—that peeps above the enshrouding foliage, is
doubtless the successor of a pagan temple, for it was then the fashion
to convert the edifices of the old religion to the purposes of the new.
The ruined keep of Clitheroe Castle, crowning the limestone rock that
rises abruptly from the plain, carries the mind back to the times of
the stout Norman earls, when men ruled by the stern will and the strong
arm, and vigilant sentinels upon the watch-towers looked afar for the
blaze of the baleful fires that should warn them of the approaching
foe. Within a short two miles of the stately stronghold of the Lacies
are the dilapidated remains of Waddington Hall—a house which, though
it escaped the fiercer tide of politics and strife, is yet associated
with the period when England was drained of its best blood by the
Wars of the Roses; for it was at Waddington, which had for a time
afforded him an asylum, that the “meek usurper,” Henry VI., after the
disastrous fight at Hexham, in 1464, was betrayed into the hands of
his enemies, and, though he escaped for a moment, he was caught ere he
could cross the Ribble at Brungerley hipping-stones, and given up to
the vengeance of his successful rivals, for which act of perfidy his
captor, Thomas Talbot, was rewarded by the Yorkist Edward with grants
of land. He did not, however, long enjoy them, for when the White Rose
of York drooped before Henry of Richmond on the Field of Bosworth,
the same Talbot experienced one of the common reverses of war, and
had to surrender his ill-gotten gains. Westward, lying among the tall
trees, where the sharp corner of Yorkshire runs in between the Hodder
and the Ribble, is Little Mitton Hall, another relic of the past that
serves to tell the story of the changing life of our great nation, and
to show how the frowning fortress gradually softened into the stately
mansion when order spread as law succeeded might, and time had widened
and mellowed our social institutions. The giant form of Pendle Hill,
sloping upwards from the green valley, with its wild gorges, where the
old forest of Bowland formerly stretched its length, its broad turfy
swamps, its sombre masses of blackened rock, and its bleak ridges of
“cloud-capped” desolation overshadowing the verdant landscape, conjures
up humiliating memories of the credulity, the ignorant superstition,
and the revolting practices which obtained for merry-hearted Lancashire
so unenviable a reputation in the golden days of the virgin queen and
her successor, the vain and weak-minded James—
Pendle stands
Round cop, surveying all the wild moor-lands,
And Malkin’s Tower, a little cottage, where
Report makes caitiff witches meet, to swear
Their homage to the devil, and contrive
The deaths of men and beasts.
The genius of superstition that fills the mind with
Shaping fantasies that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends,
still lingers, and the voices of tradition may occasionally be heard
in the embowered gloom of its solitary cloughs and dingles; but under
the disenchanting influences of steam Pendle has lost much of that
weird character of wonder and fear with which the shaping power of the
imagination had enshrouded it, though it still retains much of its wild
and uncultivated character, and there are spots that remain almost as
savage and unfrequented, if not as much feared, as in the days of the
“British Solomon,” when its secluded hollows and heathery wastes were
commonly believed to be the scenes of midnight feasting and diabolical
revelries, and everything and everybody were supposed to be under the
evil influence of decrepit hags who had sworn to do the devil service,
and were endowed by the Prince of Darkness with the power to work
destruction on man and beast. Happily, in these days, a gentler species
of witchcraft prevails. Though the spells of the Lancashire witches
are as potent as ever, they are exercised without fear of judge or
jury. Few escape the fascinations, and, it may be added, still fewer
desire to do so. But Pendle has other associations than those with
which the pedantic Master Potts and Harrison Ainsworth have made us
familiar. It was upon its broad peak that George Fox, the founder of
the Society of Friends, received his “first illumination.” There, as he
tells us in his _Journal_, “the Lord let me see in what places He had
a great people to be gathered together;” and then he adds, “As I went
down I found a spring of water in the side of the hill, with which I
refreshed myself, having eaten or drunken but little for several days
before.” The spring is still there, and to this day is known in the
neighbourhood as George Fox’s well.
Wiswall, uprising in peaceful serenity upon the skirts of Pendle,
calls to remembrance the conflict between monarchy and monasticism—the
“Pilgrimage of Grace,” and the penalty that Paslew, the last abbot of
Whalley, paid for his share in that uprising—the destruction of himself
and the house over which he had so long presided, for it was upon a
gallows erected in front of Wiswall Hall, the place of his birth,
and in sight of the abbey, which had then passed into profane hands,
that Paslew was ignominiously hanged. A flat gravestone, in the north
aisle of Whalley Church, marks the last resting-place of the ill-fated
ecclesiastic. A floriated cross and a chalice, the emblems of his
office, are carved upon it, with the simple and touching inscription—
Jhu fili dei miserere mei
J P
[Illustration]
Well might he ask pity from above, for, poor man, in the days of
his adversity he found none below. Let us hope, however, that the
malediction which tradition says the dying man pronounced upon those
who should despoil his house has lost its force, if it ever had any,
and that a Braddyll and an Assheton may now step across his grave
without risk of destruction.
But the glory of Whalley is the famous abbey, with which Whitaker’s
history has made us so familiar. Though it is now only a picturesque
ruin—
A pile decayed,
... in cunning fashion laid,
Ruined buttress, moss-clad stone,
Arch with ivy overgrown,
Stairs round which the lichens creep,
The whole a desolated heap—
there yet remains much to delight the eye. The groined gateway
shrouded in the gloom of a stately avenue of limes, the spacious
hospitium, the cloister court, with its beautifully-decorated arches,
the chapter-house, the abbot’s lodgings, the refectory, and the huge
kitchens, with their capacious fire-places, may still be seen, but
the crowning feature of all, the glorious conventual church, with its
choir and its transepts, has disappeared, a small fragment of the walls
and the foundations of its mighty pillars alone remaining. Corbel and
capital, mullion and transom, broken columns and fragments of masonry
lie strewn about, some half buried in the rank grass and nettles,
telling the story of its former magnificence. Until recent years, when
it was blown down in a storm, an ancient cherry tree that must have
been in its prime when Whalley was in the fulness of its glory, grew in
one of the courts, contributing its fair white blossoms to the summer
beauty. There you can see where the monks sat in the sanctuary; that
grass-grown court was their cemetery; yonder is the nameless tomb of a
forgotten abbot; and that arch, with a span of nearly eighteen feet,
marks the resting-place of another. Verily, the monks of Whalley were
as splendid in their obsequies as in their hospitalities. The floor is
carpeted with turf, and the walls are canopied by the heavens; ivy,
the flower of ruin, lends its melancholy charm, and the clustering
masses that uphold the crumbling buttresses spread their garniture of
green to hide the signs of decay, and mock the greyness of time with
a decoration that lasts but for a season. As you wander about seeking
for the best points of view, or musing upon the fallen fortunes of the
house, you will gaze again and again upon the broken arches and the
empty windows, and think
How many hearts have here grown cold,
That sleep these mouldering stones among;
How many beads have here been told;
How many matins have been sung.
A spot more suited to the contemplative mind you will rarely see.
Sequestered, solemn, still, the calm tranquillity is in perfect keeping
with the sepulchre of human greatness, and the mind brooding upon
the past overleaps the boundaries of centuries. In this spot orisons
and vespers have been sung; the low sweet music of the Litany of the
Cross has rolled; through the “long drawn aisle and fretted vault”
the pealing organ has swelled the anthem’s note; and where now the
sod is shaded by the overhanging verdure the funeral procession has
often passed, the white-robed monks chanting awhile the soul-stirring
“_Supplicante parce Deus_.” The following lines seem so applicable to
the place that we make no apology for transcribing them:—
Around the very place doth brood
A strange and holy quietude,
Where lingers long the evening gleam
And stilly sounds the neighbouring stream.
I know not if it is the scene,
Bosom’d in hills by the ravine,
Or if it is the conscious mind
Hallows the spot and stills the wind,
And makes the very place to know
The peace of them that sleep below,
Investing Nature with the spell
Of that strange calm unspeakable.
Methinks that both together blend
To hallow their calm peaceful end—
The thoughts of them that slumber there
Seem still to haunt the holy ground;
And e’en the spot and solemn air
Themselves partake that calm profound.
Methinks that He who oft at even
Brings stillness o’er the earth and heaven,
Till mountains, skies, and neighbouring sea
Blend in one solemn harmony,
Hath caused e’en Nature’s self to grace
This sweet and holy resting-place.
Amid the venerable and peaceful shade we seem again to hear
Litanies at noon,
Or hymn at complin by the rising moon,
When, after chimes, each chapel echoed round,
Like one aerial instrument of sound,
Some vast harmonious fabric of the Lord’s,
Whose vaults are shells, and pillars tuneful chords;
and we are almost tempted to forget the errors of the monks, and to
think only of them as the precursors of a simpler and purer religion.
In the seclusion of their solitary lives they laboured earnestly and
with prayerful zeal, for with them _laborare est orare_ was no idle
expression. They threw the fervour of their souls into their work, and
dispensed their hospitalities with a lavish hand; but they taught no
liberty, and preached no freedom, to a Christian world. The knowledge
they cherished most was as a lamp beneath a bushel—it kept all in
darkness but themselves. Better that their system should pass away, and
that their houses should be dismantled and left only to beautify and
adorn the landscape, than that we should have a return to their sensual
pageantry and pent-up learning.
Many stories are related of the doings and misdoings of the brotherhood
at Whalley in those far-off days; but the legend that they disturbed
the peace of the fair anchorites who had their habitation in the
hermitage close by the great gate of the abbey must surely be a fable,
though tradition affirms that the lady hermits were not always spotless
in their lives, and a more trustworthy authority records that one of
them, Isold de Heton, a fair widow, who, in the first transports of her
grief, had vowed herself to Heaven, led a disorderly life there, to the
scandal of the abbey and the prejudice of the morals of the fraternity.
Here is the story of the profane doings of this dissolute votaress, as
set forth in the representation made to that paragon of virtue, King
Henry the Eighth, of blessed memory:—
Be it remembered that the please and habitacion of the said
recluse is within place halowed and nere to the gate of the seyd
monastre, and that the weemen that have been attendynge to the
seyd recluse have recorse dailly into the seyd monastre for the
levere of brede, ale, kychin and other things; the whych is not
accordyng to be had withyn such religyous plases: and how that
dyvers that been anchores in the seyd plase have broken owte and
departed: and in especyal how that now Isold of Heton is broken
owte, and so levying at her owne liberte by this two yere and
mor, like as she had never been professyd; and that dyvers of the
wymen that have been servants there, have been misgovernyd and
gotten with chyld within the seyd plase halowyd, to the great
displeasuance of hurt and disclander of the abbey aforeseyd, &c.
On this report the pious Henry, as in duty bound, suppressed the little
hermitage, and cast its inmates upon the world.
The Calder still flows on bright and clear as it did of yore; but
the glories of the abbey of Whalley have for ever passed away, and
the roofless ruined walls serve only to remind us of the days of the
old Catholicism; whilst across the valley, crowning a thickly-wooded
eminence that rises from the slopes of Longridge Fell, we can see the
tall towers of Stonyhurst, which may be said to typify the new—for the
monasticism which Henry so ruthlessly rooted out has been revived in
a new form in the stately mansion which once formed the home of the
Sherburns. To that seminary of learning, the college of the fathers of
the Society of Jesus, and the _alma mater_ of so many of the Catholic
gentry of England, let us now bend our steps, taking in the way the
little hamlet of Mitton, and its ancient church, in which so many of
the former lords of Stonyhurst repose.
Leaving the village of Whalley at the upper end, we pass beneath the
viaduct, and continue along a pleasant rural high road that winds away
to the right in sweetest solitude. The tall hedgerows are fresh with
their summer foliage, and fragrant with the odours of the honeysuckle,
the sweetbriar, and the wealth of floral beauty that spreads around.
Now and then we get a glimpse of the Calder, flowing “with liquid lapse
serene,” here coming out of the verdant shade, and there going into it
again, and murmuring its admiration of the scene in a perpetual song of
joyousness. Presently the trees thicken, and through the openings we
look over a country serenely pastoral in its character, with its wooded
bluffs, its level holms, and wide-spreading pastures, through which the
Cold springs run
To warm their chilliest bubbles in the grass.
Behind us rises Whalley Nab, with the old abbey nestling at its foot;
the wooded heights above Wiswall, Billinge Hill, and the bleak,
cloud-mottled heights of the majestic Pendle. In mid-distance the
broken keep of Clitheroe Castle gleams in the mellow light, and just
below the tower of Clitheroe Church may be discerned. Sweeping round
towards the north, Waddington Fell, Bleasdale Moor, and the wooded
heights of Bowland Forest come in view; and, far beyond, the shadowy
peaks of Pennygent and Ingleborough, reminding us of the old saw—
Pendle Hill and Pennygent and Little Ingleborough,
Are three such hills as you’ll not find by searching England thorough.
Nearer we see the woods about Whitewell, a spot dear to every lover of
the gentle craft, and to the artist a very storehouse of scenic beauty;
the opening shows where the Hodder flows down to add its tributary
to the Ribble; further westward we have the huge form of Longridge
Fell stretching across the landscape, with Kemple End, and the wooded
eminence rising from its lowest spur, on which stands the stately hall
of Stonyhurst.
A little more than half an hour’s walking brings us to Mitton, a
pleasant little rural hamlet occupying a narrow tapering strip of land
that runs in between the two rivers, the Hodder and the Ribble, and
very near the point where the latter is joined by the Calder. As the
old distich reminds us—
The Hodder, the Calder, the Ribble and rain
All meet in a point on Mitton’s domain.
The rivers keep us in pleasant companionship, but, happily, the rain
is absent. Before we cross the Ribble we get sight of the ancient hall
of Little Mitton, lying among the trees; on the left a gabled mansion
built by the Catteralls in the days of the seventh Henry, which, though
it has been modernised and part rebuilt in recent years, still retains
its spacious entrance hall, with the original arched timber roof,
the exquisitely carved oaken screen, and the gallery above. With the
exception of the great hall at Samlesbury it is the finest room in
any house in the country, and its erection must well-nigh have laid a
forest prostrate. Well might Whitaker express the hope that “it might
never fall into the hands who have less respect for it than its (then)
owner; and that no painter’s brush or carpenter’s hammer might ever
come near it, excepting to arrest the progress of otherwise inevitable
decay.” Thomas Catterall, the last of the name who held Little Mitton,
granted the manor in 1579 to his daughter Dorothy, and her husband,
Robert Sherburn, a younger son of the house of Stonyhurst, and their
grandson, Richard Sherburn, in the reign of Charles the Second, sold
it to Alexander Holt, of the ancient family of Holt of Grislehurst.
Subsequently it passed by purchase to John Aspinall, Esq., and his
grandson, Ralph John Aspinall, Esq., of Standen Hall, the late High
Sheriff of Lancashire, is the present possessor; Mr. John Hick,
formerly M.P. for Bolton, being the occupant.
The village of Milton is finely embosomed among tufted trees upon a
slope that rises gently from the valley, watered by the Ribble and its
tributary streams, and is as thoroughly picturesque and “old English”
as you would wish to see. As you approach, the grey embattled tower
of its venerable church peeping above the umbrage forms a pleasing
object, but its appearance does not improve on a closer acquaintance,
for the hand of the spoiler has been busy, and a coating of coarse
stucco effectually conceals the ancient masonry. It should be said,
however, that a good deal has been done in recent years to atone
for the tasteless barbarism of bygone churchwardens, and Nature has
lovingly aided in the work by spreading a mantle of living green so as
to hide many of the tasteless deformities. The church is a small and
unpretending structure, though of considerable antiquity, some parts
dating as far back as the reign of the third Edward, and probably
it occupies the site of a still earlier building. The tower is of
much later date, and like many other old churches the exterior, by
its architectural diversities, gives ample proof of alterations and
“improvements” at distant periods. The churchyard delights you by its
placid beauty, and the little hamlet sleeping peacefully at the foot is
in perfect harmony with the scene. When we entered the enclosure the
doors of the church were fastened, but the sexton, who was pursuing his
vocation in the corner of the graveyard, offered to bring the keys and
show us whatever was worth seeing.
The interior has been lately restored, and the old timber roof of
the nave, which was previously hidden by a flat plaster ceiling, has
been again exposed to view. There are also some remains of ancient
carving, carefully preserved, and an oaken screen separating the nave
from the chancel that well deserve inspection. The lower portion
belonged originally to Cockersand Abbey, the monks of that house being
patrons of Mitton; and it was removed to its present position when
the fraternity was dissolved. The fragment of an inscription still
remaining shows that it was made in the time of William Stainford, and
this helps us to fix the date, as Stainford was abbot of Cockersand
from 1505 to 1509. One peculiarity noticeable is that, unlike other
churches, you have to descend into the chancel from the nave by a
few steps, an arrangement necessitated by the natural formation of
the ground, which declines considerably towards the east. Within the
chancel is an old oak chest, bound with iron, and triple-locked, with
the date 1627 carved upon it. On the top is a copy of Burkett’s
“Expository Notes on the New Testament,” a paraphrase on the Book of
Common Prayer, and one or two other theological works fastened with
chains—the village library of former days, as the inscription in one of
them testifies: “_Ex Libris Ecclesiæ Parochialis de Mitton 1722_.”
But the great feature of Mitton, and that which most attracts the
attention of visitors, is the Sherburn Chapel, the mausoleum of the
former lords of Stonyhurst. It is situated on the north side of the
chancel, from which it is separated by a parclose screen, and is
remarkable as containing an assemblage of recumbent figures and other
family memorials such as very few old country churches can boast.
It was erected on the site of the ancient chantry of St Nicholas by
Sir Richard Sherburn, of Stonyhurst, who died in 1594, as appears by
his will, which expressly directs that his body shall “be buryed at
my parish church of Mitton, in the midest of my new quere.” His tomb
is the oldest in the chapel, and upon it are the recumbent figures
in alabaster, life size, of the knight and “Dame Maude, his wife,” a
daughter of Sir Richard Bold, of Bold, who predeceased him. The body
of the tomb is enriched with heraldic shields representing the family
alliances, and there are some panels of figures. The inscription,
which is in old English characters, describes Sir Richard as “master
forrester of the forest of Bowland, steward of the manor of Sladeburn,
Lieutenant of the Isle of Man, and one of Her Majesty’s Deputy
Lieutenants.” He commenced the building of the present mansion of
Stonyhurst, or rather the rebuilding, for it stands on the site of
an older house, a portion of which still exists, employing in the
decoration some of the stone carvings from the neighbouring Abbey of
Whalley, among them being noticeable two shields of arms, one bearing
the cognisance of the Lacies, the founders of that house. Sir Richard
lived during the eventful reigns of the Tudor sovereigns, and he seems
to have accommodated himself very happily to the varying circumstances
of those stirring times, conforming without scruple to the religious
changes which occurred in the days of Henry, Edward, Mary, and
Elizabeth, and to have succeeded in making considerable additions
to his patrimonial estates the while. His friend and contemporary,
Edward, Earl of Derby, told George Marsh, the Bolton martyr, that the
true religion was that which had most good luck, and this article of
faith Sir Richard Sherburn very rigidly maintained. He succeeded to
the family estates on the death of his father, Thomas Sherburn, in
1536, and two years later, being then only 15 years of age, he married
his first wife, the daughter of Sir Richard Bold. He was nominated
one of the commissioners for the suppression of the religious houses
in the reign of Henry VIII., and for the sale of the chantry lands
in that of Edward VI., and in 1544 he had the honour of knighthood
conferred upon him for his bravery at the burning of Leith. In the
first year of Edward VI., when a writ of Parliamentary summons was
re-issued to Lancaster, Liverpool, Wigan, and Preston, he was returned
as member for the last-named borough, and in the first Parliament of
Mary’s reign he was returned as knight of the shire for the county
of Lancaster, and shortly afterwards was nominated high steward and
master forester of the Forest of Bowland, where he gave evidence of his
faith in the excellency of the game laws by “vigorously prosecuting
various individuals for unlawfully hunting deer and other game within
the forest.” In the reign of Elizabeth he was associated with the Earl
of Derby, the Bishop of Chester, Sir John Radcliffe, and Sir Edward
Fitton in executing the penal laws against those who adhered to the
Romish faith, and in 1581 he was appointed by Cecil, Lord Burleigh,
along with other commissioners, to compound with the tenants who had
obtained fraudulent leases of the tithes and other properties of the
College of Manchester. Four years later he was one of the Lancashire
magistrates who promulgated an order against the profanation of the
Sabbath by “wakes, fayres, markettes, bayre-baytes, bull-baits, ales,
May-games, resortinge to alehouses in tyme of devyne service, pypinge,
and dauncinge, huntinge, and all maner of vnlawfvll gamynge.” In 1588,
on the occasion of the threatened invasion by Spain, he was one of
the eighty loyal gentlemen of Lancashire who formed themselves into
an association for the defence of Queen Elizabeth against “Popish
conspiracies,” and from the “intolerance and insolence” of the Papacy.
Baines says that he was allowed by Elizabeth, as an especial favour, to
have his chapel and his priest at Stonyhurst, but the accuracy of this
statement may very well be doubted, for it is more than probable, as
the late Canon Raines observed in the “Stanley Papers,” that “at this
time, and long afterwards, the family held the Reformed faith, nor does
it appear when they became absorbed by the Church of Rome.” Under his
munificent hand the splendid mansion of Stonyhurst arose, but death
overtook him before he had completed his work. He died July 26th, 1594,
leaving to his son and heir, Richard, among other things, “all my armor
at Stonyhurste, and all my iron to build withall, so that he fynishe
the buildinge therewith now already begonne—the leade, buildinge,
stone, and wrought tymber.”
The monument perpetuating the names of this Richard, the “fynisher”
of Stonyhurst, and his first wife, Katharine, daughter of Charles,
Lord Stourton, is affixed to the north wall of the chapel. The pair
are represented as kneeling before a faldstool or litany desk, with
their hands uplifted, as if in prayer, the figures strongly thrown out
and gorgeously coloured. The man wears a full skirted jerkin and the
Elizabethan ruffs, and his wife is habited in a long gown with a hood
falling over the top of her head. The inscription records that he was
Captain of the Isle of Man for fifteen years, and that his wife died
there in childbed of twins, “and their lieth intomb’d.” In the panel
beneath is a carving in _alto relievo_, representing the twins in bed
with their nurses watching over them.
Richard Sherburn again entered the marriage state, his second wife
being Ann, daughter of Henry Kighley, and widow of Thomas Hoghton,
of Hoghton Tower; but this lady, who died at Lea, October 30th,
1609, bore him no issue. He died in 1629, at the advanced age of
eighty-three, and was in turn succeeded by a son, also named Richard,
whose altar-shaped tomb, on which are the recumbent figures of himself
and his wife, bears a lengthy inscription recording the family history
for four generations. “He was,” it states, “an eminent sufferer for his
loyal fidelity to King Charles I. of ever blessed memory.” He lived to
see the restoration of the Stuarts, and died February 11th, 1667, aged
eighty-one years.
Another altar-tomb, on which lie the recumbent effigies of a knight
and his lady, is to the “pious memory” of Richard Sherburn, son of
the last-named, and his wife Isabel, daughter of John Ingleby, of
Lawkeland, in Yorkshire. The inscription, among other things, records
that “he built the almshouse and school at Hurst Green, and left divers
charitable gifts yearly to the several townships of Carleton, Chorley,
Hamilton, and Lagrim, in Lancashire; Wigglesworth and Guisely in this
(York) county; departing this life (in prison for loyalty to his
sovereign), at Manchester, August 16th, A.D., 1689, in the 63rd year
of his age. He, like many other of the Catholic gentry of Lancashire,
being devoted to the family of the expatriated James by hereditary
attachment and personal affection, looked upon the exiled monarch as
a martyr to his religious convictions, and could not therefore be
persuaded that he was absolved from his allegiance or at liberty to
transfer it to the Prince of Orange.” The inscription on his tomb
adds—“The said Isabel (his wife), by whom, at her own proper charge,
these four statues were erected, died April 11th, 1663, whose mortal
remains are together near hereunto deposited.”
As the “four statues,” _i.e._, of Richard Sherburn and his wife, and
his father and mother, were not erected until 1699, thirty-six years
after the lady’s death, it may be assumed that she bequeathed the funds
“necessary to defray” the cost of their erection. Whitaker, in his
“History of Whalley,” remarks that the two male figures on these tombs
are probably the latest instances (that is, of former days) of cumbent
cross-legged statues in the kingdom, and this is probably so, as it
has been commonly supposed that the latest recumbent monumental figure
is that enshrined in Westminster Abbey, and erected in 1676, to the
memory of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle. The effigies at Mitton
were executed by Stanton, the well-known lapidary, at a cost, it is
said, of £253.
There is another monument to the memory of Richard Sherburn, eldest son
of the Richard just named, who succeeded on his father’s decease, but
enjoyed the estates only for a few months, his death occurring April
6th, 1690, when, having no issue, the Stonyhurst possessions devolved
upon his brother Nicholas, who had had the dignity of a baronetcy
conferred upon him by Charles II. during the lifetime of his father. He
was the last of the name who resided at Stonyhurst, and died without
surviving male issue December 16th, 1717. His monument was placed
beside those of his ancestors by his only surviving daughter and heir,
Maria Winifred Francesca, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. The inscription,
which is said to have been written by the duchess herself, is perhaps
unsurpassed in prolixity and extravagant adulation, and deserves to
be noted as a specimen of the way in which great families were wont,
a couple of centuries ago, to glorify themselves in their own charnel
houses, forgetting that of the long laudatory inscriptions which family
pride had made fashionable,
One half would never be believed,
The other never read.
Here it is:—
This monument is to the sacred and eternal memory of Sir Nicholas
Shireburn and his lady. Sir Nicholas Shireburn, of Stonyhurst,
Bart., was son of Richard Shireburn, Esq., by Isabel his wife,
daughter of John Inglesby, of Lawkeland, Esq. Nicholas Shireburn
had by his lady, whose name was Katharine, third daughter and
co-heir to Sir Edward Charleton, of Hesleyside, in Northumberland,
Bart., by Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir Edward
Widderington, of Cartington, in Northumberland, Bart., three
children; the eldest, Isabella, died the 18th of October, 1688,
and is buried at Rothburgh, in Northumberland, in the quire
belonging to Cartington, where Sir Nicholas then lived; a son
named Richard, who died June 8th, 1702, at Stonyhurst; another
daughter named Mary, married May 26, 1709, to Thomas, Duke of
Norfolk.—Sir Nicholas Shireburn was a man of great humanity,
sympathy, and concern for the good of mankind, and did many
good charitable things whiles he lived; he particularly set his
neighbourhood a spinning of Jersey wool, and provided a man to
comb the wool, and a woman who taught them to spin, whom he kept
in his house, and allotted several rooms he had in one of the
courts of Stonyhurst, for them to work in, and the neighbours
came to spin accordingly; the spinners came every day, and span
as long a time as they could spare, morning and afternoon, from
their families. This continued from April, 1699, to August, 1701.
When they had all learn’d, he gave the nearest neighbour each
a pound or half a pound of wool ready for spinning, and wheel
to set up for themselves, which did a vast deal of good to that
north side of Ribble, in Lancashire. Sir Nicholas Sherburn died
December 16, 1717. This monument was set up by the Dowager Duchess
of Northfolk, in memory of the best of fathers and mothers, and in
this vault designs to be interr’d herself, whenever it pleases God
to take her out of this world.
Lady Sherburn was a Lady of an excellent temper and fine
sentiments, singular piety, virtue, and charity, constantly
imployed in doing good, especially to the distressed, sick, poor,
and lame, for whom she kept an apothecary’s shop in the house;
she continued as long as she lived doing great good and charity;
she died Jan. 27th, 1727. Besides all other great charities which
Sir Nicholas and Lady Sherburn did, they gave on All Souls’ Day a
considerable deal of money to the poor; Lady Sherburn serving them
with her own hands that day.
Of a truth man is a noble animal—splendid in ashes and pompous in the
grave!
There is yet another inscription from the pen of the dowager duchess,
to the memory of her second husband:—
In this vault lies the body of the Hon. Peregrin Widderington.
The Hon. Peregrin Widderington was youngest son of William, Lord
Widderington, who died April 17th, 1743. This Peregrin was a
man of the strictest friendship and honour, with all the good
qualities that accomplished a fine gentleman. He was of so amiable
a disposition and so ingaging that he was beloved and esteemed
by all who had the honour and happiness of his acquaintance,
being ever ready to oblige and to act the friendly part on all
occasions, firm and steadfast in all his principles, which were
delicately fine and good as could be wished in any man. He was
both sincere and agreeable in life and conversation. He was born
May 20th, 1692, and died Feb. 4th, 1748-9. He was with his brother
in the Preston affair, 1716, where he lost his fortune, with his
health, by a long confinement in prison. This monument was set up
by the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in memory of the Hon. Peregrin
Widderington.
Though careful to record the descent as well as the “good qualities”
and “delicately fine principles” of the amiable Peregrin, her
grace, whose grammar, by the way, is somewhat obscure, has curiously
enough, while perpetuating the fact of her previous marriage, omitted
all mention of her relationship to the dear departed, and has thus
inadvertently done an injustice to his memory as well as to her own,
for ill-natured people have wickedly suggested that their union never
had the sanction of a priest, and that, as the old sexton assured
William Howitt when he visited Mitton nearly half a century ago, the
“accomplished fine gentleman” was only a “tally husband,” a belief that
still prevails in many a cottage home in the district. The “Preston
affair,” so delicately alluded to, was the occasion when the old
Pretender, the Chevalier de St. George, made the rash and abortive
attempt to recover the Crown of England by an appeal to civil war, and
a portion of the rebel army, headed by the ill-fated Lord Derwentwater
and General Foster, penetrated as far south as Preston, where it was
met by the King’s forces, under Generals Wills and Carpenter, and
compelled to surrender; when no fewer than seven lords and 1,500 men,
including officers, were made prisoners, among them being the Hon.
Peregrin Widderington and his father, William, Lord Widderington,
the latter of whom was impeached before the House of Lords for high
treason, but afterwards reprieved and pardoned. The Widderingtons, like
the Sherburns, had for successive generations been devotedly attached
to the Stuart cause, the Lord Widderington of a former day having lost
his life at Wigan Lane on the 25th August, 1651, while bravely fighting
by the side of Lord Derby and the gallant Sir Thomas Tyldesley.
As previously stated, Sir Nicholas Sherburn was the last of the name
who resided at Stonyhurst. In his time considerable additions were
made to the mansion. He rebuilt the principal front, placed the two
eagle-crowned cupolas on the summits of the old battlemented towers,
dug out the ponds in front of the hall, and laid out the gardens
in the stiff fantastic Dutch style then fashionable; but before he
had completed the work he had the misfortune to lose his only son,
Richard Francis, a youth of nine years, who, as tradition affirms,
was poisoned with eating yew berries gathered in the dark avenue at
Stonyhurst—the fruit of
Some dark, lonely, evil-natured yew,
Whose poisonous fruit—so fabling poets speak—
Beneath the moon’s pale gleam the midnight hag doth seek.
The untimely death of his heir so affected Sir Nicholas that he
abandoned his design, quitted Stonyhurst, and never returned. A
monument to the memory of the ill-starred boy adorns the chapel at
Mitton, and among the floral decorations upon it is a bunch of yew
berries; beyond this there is no evidence of the cause of death
save the tradition which has been handed down through successive
generations, and is still implicitly believed by the village gossips.
On the death of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, in 1717, the baronetage became
extinct, and the extensive possessions of his house, in default of
a male heir, passed, in accordance with the provisions of his will,
dated August 9th of that year, after the decease of his widow, to his
only daughter, Maria Winnifred Francesca, wife (first) of Thomas,
eighth Duke of Norfolk, and (secondly), as already stated, of the Hon.
Peregrin Widderington. The duchess died without issue September 25th,
1704, and was buried, in accordance with her expressed desire, at
Mitton, when the estates reverted to the issue of her aunt Elizabeth,
sister of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, who had married William, son and heir
of Sir John Weld, of Lullworth Castle, in Dorsetshire. Edward Weld,
the grandson by this marriage, was the first to inherit the property,
and from him the estates passed in 1761 to his eldest son, Edward
Weld, Esquire, who had to his second wife Mary Anne, youngest daughter
of William Smyth, Esquire, of Brambridge, in Hampshire, who survived
him, and in her second widowhood, as the relict of Thomas Fitzherbert,
of Swinnerton, was privately married to “the first gentleman of
Europe”—George, Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Fourth. On the
death of Edward Weld, the first husband of Mrs. Fitzherbert, in 1775,
without issue, the property passed to his only surviving brother,
Thomas Weld, of Lullworth, who in 1794, when through the fury of the
French Revolution the Jesuits were driven from their college at Liege,
granted that body a lease of the Stonyhurst estate, and subsequently
the property became theirs by purchase.
Looking upon these magnificent memorials—this blazonry of human
greatness—and contrasting the achievements of the sculptor’s art as
here displayed with the bare simplicity and, until recent years, we
might have said meanness, of the sanctuary itself, from which they
are only separated by an open screen, it is difficult to avoid the
conclusion that the proud Sherburns were more concerned for the
perpetuation of their own greatness than for the honour and glory
of God. Infinitely more appropriate is the humble and prayerful
ejaculation we found graven upon the stone of poor Abbot Paslew, at
Whalley, than this ostentatious chronicling of the virtues of poor
frail humanity.
Having spent some time in the examination of the Sherburn Chapel we
stepped out into the quiet graveyard, among the grass-grown hillocks
where the “rude forefathers” tranquilly repose, and—
Their name, their years, spelt by th’ unletter’d muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply.
Underneath one of the windows on the north side, half hidden in docks
and nettles, we noticed the cumbent figure of a knight in armour
sculptured in stone, the counterpart of one of those we had seen
inside. There is a curious tradition connected with it. It is said that
when the effigies of the Sherburns came down from London they were a
good deal talked of in the neighbourhood. A village stonemason hearing
of the sum they had cost, and piqued at the want of appreciation of his
own skill, declared that he could have done the work equally well. This
was repeated at the hall, when the man was sent for, questioned, and
ordered to make good his boast. This he did by producing the imperfect
copy now in the churchyard, and the story adds that the Sherburns
gave him £20 in acknowledgment of his skill. On the south side of the
church yard is the circular carved head of an ancient cross that was
dug up by a former clerk; there are also several curious gravestones,
including one to the memory of an ecclesiastic, Thomas Clyderhow, the
same, probably, whose curious will, made in 1506, or rather the copy
of it, is preserved in the Townley MSS. Many members of the great
family of Talbot, as well as that of Winckley, have here found a
resting-place, and altogether Mitton is full of interest, as well from
its associations as from the secluded beauty of its situation.
But we have loitered long by the way—who would not loiter in such a
pleasant old-world nook?—and must now betake ourselves to Stonyhurst.
[Illustration]
From the silent resting-place of the Sherburns to their old ancestral
home the walk is little more than a couple of miles, and a pleasanter
bit of country is rarely traversed. Half a mile brings you to the
banks of the Hodder, where a noticeable feature meets the eye that
brings to remembrance the “twa brigs of Ayr.” At this point two bridges
bestride the river, which, by the contrast in their appearance, not
inaptly symbolise the difference between the old times and the new.
One, that by which we cross, is a comparatively modern erection, with
parapet walls and bold projecting piers; the other, which is placed
a hundred yards or so lower down, is a primitive-looking structure
of ancient date, extremely narrow, as most old bridges are, and now
only serving as a footpath to the cottages close by, though rendered
picturesque by the profuse growth of ivy and weeds upon it. The old
bridge, however, possesses more than a passing interest, and may fairly
claim to rank as one of the historic sites of Lancashire; for it was
here that Cromwell held a council of war with General Ashton, on the
16th August, 1648, when the Scots had penetrated into Lancashire,
and there was a general fear that they might reach London, in which
case the hopes of the Parliamentarians would be crushed. The Duke of
Hamilton had at the time entered the county with a large force; and
Sir Marmaduke Langdale, with another army, acting in concert, was
moving in a parallel direction. The Roundhead troopers, under General
Lambert, being insufficient in number to arrest their progress,
withdrew into Yorkshire; when Cromwell, who had just succeeded in
reducing Pembroke, marched northwards, and, forming a junction with
Lambert at Knaresborough, hastened into Lancashire to attack the
invaders. On the 16th August he arrived at the little bridge over
the Hodder, where he met Major-General Ashton, with a Lancashire
force; and, after consultation with him, determined upon the plan of
operations—the result, as is well known, bringing victory to the arms
of the invincible Ironsides and overwhelming disaster to the Royalist
cause. That night the future Lord Protector was an unbidden guest at
Stonyhurst, and was, doubtless, more free than welcome. Tradition still
points to the old oak table near the entrance, on which it affirms that
Cromwell slept, while his men bivouacked in the grounds,[26] though the
accuracy of the story may well be doubted, for the stern warrior was
hardly likely to put up with so indifferent a couch when the “Papist’s
house” afforded so much better accommodation. The next morning he
marched with his followers towards Preston, forced the bridge, and in
a conflict which lasted several hours completely routed Hamilton’s
army, the waters of the Ribble and the Darwen being crimsoned with the
lifeblood of the combatants. It was Charles’s last appeal to arms, and
when intelligence of the disaster reached him in the Isle of Wight he
told Colonel Hammond, the governor, that “it was the worst news that
ever came to England.” For the king it was; for there is little doubt
that Cromwell’s victory hastened the action of the Republicans, and
precipitated that event which the world has ever since condemned.
[Note 26: In his despatch to the Speaker of the House of Commons,
Cromwell says: “That night quartered the whole army in the field by
Stonyhurst Hall, being Mr. Sherburn’s house, a place nine miles distant
from Preston;” and Captain Hodgson, an officer who accompanied him,
writes: “We pitched our camp at Stanyhares Hall, a Papist’s house, one
Sherburn’s.”]
[Illustration]
But we are wandering from our story, and more peaceful scenes await
us. As we approached the Hodder the sun shone full and strong, and
flashed and glittered upon its rippling surface, broken at the time
into innumerable wavelets where the full-uddered kine were plunging and
wading in the shallows to cool themselves after the heat of the bright
summer day. Half a mile or so up the river, half hidden among the
trees on the hillside, we catch sight of the Hodder Place, or Hodder
House, as it is sometimes called—a kind of novitiate or preparatory
school in connection with the seminary at Stonyhurst. After crossing
the river, our road lay along a wild old wandering lane that winds away
to the left, rising and failing in a succession of gentle eminences,
filled with quiet nooks, whose vernal shade tempts you to relax your
speed and while away the passing hours in listless contemplation of
the wealth of beauty that Nature, with lavish hand, has spread around.
Then a steep ascent occurs, and as we mount the stony and intricate
path we look through the tangled vegetation to the green links of
undulating woodland and the distant hills that swell gently into the
blue of infinite space, and now and then get a glimpse of the tall
towers and dome-crowned cupolas of Stonyhurst shooting above the rich
umbrage that environs them. Then another climb, and we are in front of
the old mansion of the Sherburns, though, in truth, it now presents a
different aspect to that it must have done when Sir Nicholas “set his
neighbourhood a spinning of Jersey wool,” and my Lady Sherburn—playing
the part of Lady Bountiful—“kept an apothecary’s shop in the house,”
and distributed her alms to her poorer neighbours “with her own hands.”
Before venturing upon a description of the building, let us refer for a
moment to the account which Dr. Whitaker, in his “History of Whalley,”
gives of the circumstances that led the disciples of Ignatius Loyola
to establish a seminary in this picturesque corner of busy, practical
Lancashire:—
On the north-west border of the county is the ancient seat of
the Shireburn family. After the death of Sir Nicholas Shireburn,
Bart., in 1720, it was possessed by his daughter Mary, Duchess of
Norfolk, till 1754. It then became the property of Edward Weld,
Esq., of Lullworth Castle, Dorset, whose son, the late Thomas
Weld, Esq., converted it, in 1794, into a college, or house of
education, for young pupils of the Roman Catholic religion.
This gentleman’s benevolent view was to facilitate the means
of religious and literary instruction for persons of his own
persuasion, who had now lost all the resources which the British
transmarine colleges and seminaries had afforded during two
hundred years. He had received his education among the English
Jesuits abroad, and he had witnessed the violent seizure and
ejection of his old masters from their College of St. Omer, which
was perpetrated by the French Parliament of Paris in 1762. This
college was one of the principal houses of education which the
British Catholics had formed on the continent, while the severity
of the penal laws prohibited such institutions in their own
country. The English fathers of the society, not disheartened by
persecution, proceeded to form new establishments, for the same
purpose of education, in the Austrian Netherlands, and again in
the city of Liege; and they were dislodged, pillaged, and ejected,
with similar injustice and violence, by the governments which
admitted the suppression of their order, by Pope Clement XIV. in
1773, and finally, by the revolutionary armies of France in 1794.
In their uttermost distress they took advantage of the humane
lenity of our Government, which allowed them to settle and to open
schools for pupils of their own religion, under security of the
oath of civil allegiance which was prescribed by the Act of 1791.
Under the immediate protection of Thomas Weld, Esq., the gentlemen
expelled from Liege by the French conducted the small remnant of
their flourishing seminary to Stonyhurst; and, in the course of
twenty-one years, by unremitting industry, they have improved it
into a distinguished seminary and house of education, of which
they justly acknowledge Thomas Weld, Esq., as the founder and
principal benefactor. It is filled at present (1816) by more than
two hundred and fifty students of the Roman Catholic religion,
sent thither from most parts of the world; and their established
reputation for good order and regularity has justly procured for
them the countenance and favour of their neighbours.
An amusing story is related of the eagerness of the students of Liege
to get possession of their new quarters in Lancashire. Tradition says
that the last person to quit the college at Liege was George Lambert
Clifford, and that he was the first to enter the new institution at
Stonyhurst. Another student, Charles Brooke, was equally anxious for
the honour; and when they came in sight of the building both ran at
their utmost speed down the avenue. Brooke reached the entrance first;
but Clifford, arriving almost at the same moment, and seeing a window
open, scrambled through it, and so entered the building while his
competitor was waiting for admission by the ordinary way.
In addition to that from Mitton, there is another road by which
Stonyhurst may be reached, leading up from Hurst Green—a little village
near the bottom of the hill, half a mile away, and past the cemetery.
The approach is by a broad avenue of spreading trees, a quarter of a
mile in length, the vista being terminated by the principal front of
the mansion, half revealed through the leafy screen, and which gains
in importance and architectural effect by its natural surroundings. At
the end of the avenue the road is flanked on each side by an ornamental
sheet of water, part of the old pleasure grounds as laid out in the
stiff and formal fashion prevalent in the time of the last Sherburn;
and, beyond, a dwarf wall is carried across, forming the boundary of
the court. In the centre is an ample gateway, with ornamental gateposts
on each side; and from this point the entire front of the mansion, in
all its stately proportions, appears in view.
[Illustration: STONYHURST.]
As previously stated, Sir Nicholas Sherburn made considerable additions
to the old home; but was prevented from carrying out to their fullest
extent the plans he had prepared, through the untimely death of his
only son. The work, however, which he left undone has been completed on
an even more extensive scale by the present owners. A college church
and other buildings have also been erected to meet the requirements of
the institution; and altogether the place presents a much more imposing
appearance than it could at any time have done during its occupancy by
the Sherburns. The chief feature in the main façade is the entrance
tower, which forms the central compartment, and is advanced slightly
from the line of the main structure. It is a handsome erection,
essentially Italian in character, though exhibiting some details of the
late Tudor type, and is ascribed, though erroneously as we believe, to
Inigo Jones. The basement is occupied by an arched portal, forming the
chief entrance, and is surmounted by an ornamental cornice supported on
each side by double-fluted columns, above which is a carved escutcheon,
with the arms of the Sherburns quartered with those of the Bayleys—the
family through whom they acquired the Stonyhurst property. The “red
hand” of Ulster is also displayed—an evidence that the shield must
have been placed there in the time of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, he being
the only member of the house who had the baronetcy. The three upper
stories are each pierced with a square window, mullioned and transomed
and flanked with coupled columns, similar to those on the basement. An
embattled parapet surmounts the structure, and in the rear rise two
octagonal towers, covered with dome-like cupolas crowned with eagles.
These latter were erected in 1712 for the modest sum of £50, as
appears by the “artickles of agreement” made in that year and still
preserved among the Stonyhurst muniments. From the entrance tower
two wings extend, one on each side, both being similar in style and
dimensions, though they are of different dates; that on the south being
coeval with the tower itself, whilst the one on the north was erected
so recently as 1842. From the south-west angle a corridor extends at
right angles, connecting the main building with the chapel, a handsome
Gothic edifice in the florid or perpendicular style of architecture,
erected in 1835, from the designs of Mr. Scoles, of London, and
resembling very much in external aspect that splendid monument of
mediæval art—the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge.
The recollection of the doings of the order which at one time exercised
such a powerful influence over the cabinets and councils of Europe, if
it did not create a feeling of awe, at least induced one of curiosity
to see the system pursued in what has been the _alma mater_ of so many
members of that notable fraternity. Though we had omitted to provide
ourselves with that customary “open sesame,” a letter of introduction,
our request to see over the establishment was at once courteously
complied with.
Passing beneath the great arched portal and along a corridor on the
left we were ushered into a waiting-room the walls of which are hung
with a series of views, engravings, and photographs representing
the hall of Stonyhurst at different periods of its history. The
attendant then led the way into a paved court directly opposite the
principal entrance. It is quadrangular in form, and from it you can
note the general disposition of the buildings, their architectural
characteristics, and the difference between the old and the new work.
The additions harmonise and exhibit a striking unity with the general
features of the pile, while possessing the conveniences required by
the present occupants. Altogether it conveys the idea of the ancient
baronial hall erected when the manor house had disengaged itself from
the castle, and law having succeeded to the reign of the strong hand,
beauty and ornament were considered more than strength and resistance.
The south side is the more ancient, the greater part having been
erected during the lifetime of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, though there are
some remains of a still earlier date. There are unmistakable evidences,
however, of substantial repairs having been made at the time the house
was transferred to the Jesuit Fathers, and the leaden waterspouts bear
the date 1694, the year they acquired possession. A handsome oriel
projects from the main wall, and beneath is a doorway giving admission
to the range of apartments on this side of the building; there are also
indications of several other doors that formerly existed, but in the
rearrangement of the interior they have been built up. The north wing,
which has been added in recent times, is of corresponding form and
dimensions, though much plainer in detail, its severity of character
almost approaching to baldness.
Entering by the door beneath the oriel on the south side we pass into
a corridor that runs the entire length of the wing. At the western end
is an antiquated apartment lighted by a five-light pointed window with
traceried head, the old chapel or domestic oratory of the Sherburns,
but now used for school purposes. Quitting this room we are next
conducted through a series of corridors, galleries, and apartments,
a detailed description of which is not only beyond our purpose but
would be wearying to the reader. Among them is a room deserving of
especial notice—the refectory—the banquetting hall of the former
lords of Stonyhurst, which, though it has been extended at one end
and subjected to other alterations, still retains many of its ancient
features unimpaired. It is a spacious apartment, ninety feet by
twenty-seven feet, with two recessed oriels and a fireplace capacious
enough to roast an ox. It is fitted up in a style harmonising with its
ancient characteristics, and is very suggestive of the abundance and
lavish hospitality that were here displayed in bygone days; when the
“two-hooped pot” was indeed a “four-hooped pot,” and fell felony it was
to drink small beer. The floor is of marble, arranged in lozenge-like
patterns, and a raised daïs or platform of the same material extending
across the southern end terminates in the oriel recesses before
referred to. The walls have the addition of a dado of oak and an
elaborately ornamented frieze in relief. Across the northern end is
a gallery protected by an open balustrade, adorned in front with the
head and antlers of the moose deer and other trophies of the chase, and
having the following inscription carved beneath:—
QUANT JE PUIS. HUGO SHERBURN ARMIG, ME FIERI FECIT. ANNO DOMINI
1523. ET SICUT FUIT SIC FIAT.
Over the fireplace is the Sherburn coat of arms, with the motto,
“_Quant je Puis_,” and the date, MDCLXXXIX. A large number of portraits
are placed against the walls, many of them those of distinguished
alumni of Stonyhurst, while others are again commemorated by their
heraldic shields in painted glass placed in the two oriel windows. At
one end of the room is a large painting, the “Immaculate Conception,”
which is said to be an original of Murillo.
Contiguous to the great dining-room is the library and museum,
which may be reckoned among the chief attractions of the place. The
library certainly contains a remarkably fine collection of works,
including many of extreme rarity and value. There are about thirty
thousand volumes in all, and the collection of ancient MSS., missals,
black-letter books, and examples of early typography are especially
interesting. Upon shelves reaching from floor to ceiling, in galleries
and recesses, upon tables and in glass cases, and, in short, in every
nook and corner, are these literary treasures displayed. A world of
thought, a mighty mass of intellectual matter, is spread about, before
which the haughty Aristarch himself, without any consciousness of
humiliation, might have doffed “the hat which never veiled to human
pride.” Every school of thought, every department of literature is
represented; here are sombre-looking folios of ancient date that
scholars of the old English school might well delight in, and there,
dapper duodecimos of the present age to gratify the taste of the modern
dilettante reader whose platonic love of literature is influenced more
by the external vanities—the gold and glitter without than the solid
thought within. Among these curiosities of book-craft, and especially
deserving of note, is a copy of Caxton’s “Boke of Eneydos” (1490), a
translation of a French novel partly based upon the Æneid of Virgil,
which provoked the anger of Gavin Douglas, who savagely attacked Caxton
for translating a book from the French, professing to be a translation
of Virgil when it had nothing to do with it—
Clepaud et Virgil in Eneados
Quihilk that he sayes of French he did translait.
It has nothing ado therewith, God wate,
Nor na mare like than the Devil and Sanct Austin.
There is also an imperfect copy of that remarkable work, the “Golden
Legend”—the first attempt to render hagiology amenable to the laws
of reason and decency, and which from its containing a translation
into English of the whole of the Pentateuch, and a great part of the
Gospels, became one of the principal instruments in preparing the way
for the Reformation. The first edition of the work was printed by
Caxton in folio 1483-4, the Stonyhurst copy is of the date 1493, and
must, therefore, be the third, the one generally accepted as having
issued from the press of Wynkyn de Worde, and of which only nine copies
are known to exist. A singularly interesting relic, screened in a
glass case, is a small prayer-book which tradition affirms to be the
identical one that Mary Queen of Scots carried with her to the scaffold
when she was beheaded. It is said to have been given by her confessor
to the library at Douay; subsequently it was transferred to the college
at Liege, from which place it found its way to Stonyhurst when its
owners removed there. It is remarkable for the sharpness and beauty
of the type, which bears a close resemblance to the court-hand of the
Tudor period, as well as for the richness of the binding. The cover is
of crimson silk velvet, embossed, with the words “Maria” and “Regina”
in silver gilt capitals, with the arms of France and England quartered,
and a crown, rose, and pomegranate. If this book ever belonged to the
Queen of Scots there is good reason to believe that it must previously
have been owned by her kinswoman and namesake, Mary of England, for
the reason that the pomegranate was the emblem of Spain, and one of the
badges of Catherine of Arragon, and Mary herself used as a device the
pomegranate and rose combined.
Another feature of the library is the collection of ancient illuminated
missals, the largest and probably the most beautiful in the kingdom.
There is also a copy of the Gospel of St. John, believed to have been
transcribed in the seventh century, and said to have been found in
the tomb of St. Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral, and a MS. copy of the
Homilies of Pope Gregory, attributed to Simon, Abbot of St Albans, in
the twelfth century. In another room is the valuable collection of
books presented to the college in 1834 by the Lady Mary Ann, widow of
James Everard, tenth Lord Arundell of Wardour, and numbering about five
thousand volumes.
The contents of the museum at Stonyhurst are many and varied; some are
ancient, some modern, some of great historic interest, and some, it may
be said, of little or no interest at all. To learn what they are we
must yield ourselves and listen _auribus patulis_ to the descriptions
of our courteous cicerone, who is familiar with the history and uses
of each and all. Here we find displayed the cap, rosary, seal, and
reliquary of that impersonation of goodness and incorruptibility, Sir
Thomas More, and near it a fragment of chain mail taken from one of the
dusky warriors of King Theodore; porphyry from the ruins of ancient
Carthage, and pistols that played a part in the fight at Navarino;
chips from the cedars of Mount Lebanon, and prize cups of silver
awarded to shorthorns of the Stonyhurst breed, for be it known that
Papal bulls are not the only ones with which the Jesuit Fathers at
Stonyhurst have concerned themselves. Now our attention is drawn to the
seals of James the Second and Fenelon, and to a quaint old jewel case
of lapis lazuli once possessed by Queen Christina of Sweden; and anon
to the tobacco pouch of a Sioux Indian; next we are shown a huge rusty
key that belonged to the far-famed abbey of Bolton, and an antique
gold ring turned up by the plough near Hoghton Tower some years ago
with the arms of Langton on the seal, and the motto “_De bon cuer_” on
the inner side, and that, for aught we know, may have been dropped at
the time of that lawless foray in 1589 which cost Thomas Hoghton, the
builder of Hoghton Tower, his life, and lost the manor of Lea to the
proud family of the Langtons. Here is a bit of masonry brought from one
of the Holy Places, and there a bullet taken from the body of a British
soldier at Sebastopol. Indian bows and arrows, swords, spears, and
other implements of warfare are exposed to view, with grim relics from
Waterloo, the Crimea, and Lucknow, that call up mingled memories of
bloodshed and bravery. Many of the curiosities are deposited in glass
cases to protect them from the touch of the vulgar or profane; there
are ivory carvings of wonderful workmanship; crucifixes, triptychs, and
devotional tablets; ancient bronzes, Papal medals, seals, and coins of
every nation under the sun, sufficient in number and variety to turn
the head of a numismatist and set the student of history a-thinking of
the changes the whirligig of time has brought about, and the dynasties
that have risen and passed away since they received the impresses they
still display.
From the library we return through the dining-hall to an apartment
named, from its proportions, the Long Room, occupied chiefly as a
museum of natural history. Tables run the entire length, filled with
geological and mineralogical specimens illustrative of every epoch
in the world’s history; precious stones of every hue; fossil remains
and skeletons of creatures of various kinds; delicately-tinted
shells, and eggs of every shape and size; butterflies, beetles, and
birds the splendour of whose plumage would defy the painter’s art to
imitate, many of them the gift of a former student of the college,
the distinguished naturalist and genial, hospitable, and cultivated
gentleman, Charles Waterton. Another room is fitted up with mechanical
appliances, models of steam engines, &c., and adjoining it is one
devoted to the purposes of a laboratory.
One of the great attractions of the place is the Sodality Chapel,
as it is called, devoted to the use of the students whilst “saying
their office,” small, but a very marvel of architectural skill and
decorative art. As we pass through the ante-chapel our attention is
arrested by a large plaster model of Auchterman’s celebrated sculpture,
the Dead Christ supported by the Virgin, placed there to commemorate
the services of Father Clough, who for a period of twelve years was
rector or principal of the college. The Sodality Chapel was erected
in 1856 from the designs of Mr. C. A. Buckler, of Oxford. It is
Gothic in character of the 15th century period, and is remarkable for
the elaborate carving and sculpture, and the profuse decoration in
polychrome displayed. There is an apsidal termination lighted by three
two-light windows with oak traceried panelling carried round; the altar
has wreathed columns of alabaster, and the reredos is of stone and
alabaster, with a statue of the Virgin in the centre, surmounted by a
richly-decorated canopy. The windows are filled with stained glass,
the work of Hardman, of Birmingham. Close to this beautiful example of
Gothic art is the Community Chapel, in which the students attend mass
every morning.
As previously stated, there is another church connected with the
institution, St Peter’s, erected nearly half a century ago, and of much
larger dimensions, being intended for the use of the neighbourhood as
well as that of the inmates of the college. It will accommodate about
1,500 worshippers, and, considering the date of its erection, will bear
favourable comparison with many of the Gothic structures of more recent
years. Painting, carving, and sculpture have been freely employed,
with everything that could add to that architectural effect the love
of which forms so distinguishing a feature of the Roman Church.
The interior, with its spacious nave, its “long drawn” aisles, its
lofty arches, and its elegant oak-panelled roof, has a very imposing
appearance. The high altar has a reredos behind, rich in carving, and
above is a magnificent window divided into five lights with a traceried
head, and subdivided by double transoms into fifteen compartments,
each filled with the image of one of the apostles or saints in stained
glass, while the storied windows of the clerestory “shoot down a
stained and shadowy stream of light.” Within the sanctuary are two
niches occupied with statues of SS. Peter and Paul, and we also noticed
two coloured frescoes, the work of Wurm and Fischer, of Munich, the one
representing Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the order, administering
the communion to his first missionary companions, and the other, St.
Francis Xavier, “the apostle of India and Japan,” who threw around
the society the lustre of poetry in action, and “the mists of the
wonderful, if not the dignity of historic heroism,” preaching to the
Indians, some of whom are represented as breaking their idols in his
presence.
The college chapel, as we have said, is situated near the south-west
angle of the main structure. Occupying very nearly a corresponding
position at the north-west side is the hospital, connected with the
main building by a broad corridor, the walls of which are hung with
portraits and engravings.
Any notice of Stonyhurst would be incomplete that did not make mention
of the gardens and pleasure grounds. Though somewhat diminished in
size by the additions made from time to time to the college buildings,
they remain pretty much in the same stiff and formal style in which
they were laid out a couple of centuries ago. They are pleasant in
themselves and pleasantly situated, commanding as they do a widespread
view of the surrounding country, a country rich in everything that
can beautify or adorn the landscape. A curious feature noticeable is
the lofty, solid, well-trimmed walls of yew which extend in various
directions. Though more remarkable for their quaintness than their
natural beauty, they furnish a pleasant shade for the students,
and have a certain air of antiquity that well accords with the
surroundings. In one part of the grounds is a large circular bowling
green, on the edge of which is placed the Roman altar found among some
rubbish in the neighbourhood in 1834, and evidently the one found at
Ribchester which Camden saw in 1603. It originally bore an inscription
setting forth that it was dedicated by a Captain of the Asturians to
the mother-goddesses, but this can now only in part be deciphered, the
greater portion of the lettering having become obliterated by exposure
to the weather. The following is Camden’s rendering:—
DEIS MATRIBVS
M. INGENVI
VS. ASIATICVS
DEC. AL. AST.
SS. LL. M.
Within the garden is a capacious circular basin, in the centre of
which, on a square pedestal, is the figure of a man in chains, said
to be that of Atilius Regulus; and near thereto is the observatory,
a building consisting of a central octagon and four projecting
transepts, fitted up with every necessary scientific appliance. The
kitchen gardens are on the south-east side, and eastward of them is
the famous “Dark Walk,” a long avenue of firs, cedars, and yews, very
patriarchs of their kind, that meet overhead, and impart a green tinge
to everything around, creating a solemn and mysterious gloom, fitted
for reflection and the meditations of the religious devotee—a solemn,
cool, and shady retreat—a very grove of Academe, and the place of all
others to dream away a summer afternoon. These trees must have budded
and flourished through long centuries of time; successive generations
of Sherburns have paced beneath their vernal shade; here the tender
tale, the word that sums all bliss, the—
Sweet chord that harmonises all
The harps of Paradise,
has doubtless oft been breathed to the fair daughters of the house; and
here, if tradition is to be believed, the last scion of the Sherburns
plucked the poisonous fruit that terminated a long and illustrious race.
The college at Stonyhurst has accommodation for 300 students, and we
were informed at the time of our visit that, including the pupils at
the Hodder House, about 250 were receiving instruction. It does not
come within our province to enter into the scholastic arrangements of
the place or the educational course pursued, and the domestic life of
the establishment is a subject too lengthy for our notice. It may be
said, however, that everything which efficient teaching can accomplish
is done; everything that skill and ingenuity and means can provide in
the shape of scientific and mechanical appliances to aid the efforts
of the teacher is there. As you pass along the corridors, and through
the halls and classrooms, you are struck with the quietude, the order,
and the perfect discipline which prevail. Morality among the students
is maintained by the strictest supervision, and equal care is bestowed
in the development of their mental powers, with the natural result
that the institution has earned the fullest confidence of its Catholic
patrons, while its pupils have given proof of the excellence of their
training by their scholarly attainments, and the distinctions so many
of them have earned in the competition for honours at the examinations
of the London University. The life at Stonyhurst is one in which
teacher and taught are in kindly sympathy with each other, and where
associations are formed productive of quiet happiness to the one and
joy and gladness to the other.
After our perambulation of the college we lingered for some time in
the gardens enjoying the prospect from the high ground, looking across
the broad fertile valleys of the Ribble and the Calder to the bleak
ridges of Pendle and the wooded heights of Bowland Forest. Daylight
was melting away into the soft warm haze of a summer eve, deepening in
splendour the woods and meads and darkening hills beyond. A peaceful
calm pervaded the scene, the stillness being only broken as now and
then some feathered warbler trilled out its evening lay, or the wind
rustled with plaintive cadence through the trees that waved sleepily
overhead, making a dreamy lullaby. Then, as the sun circling towards
the glowing west, and the chapel bell summoning the collegiates
to vespers, warned us of the approach of night, we bade adieu to
Stonyhurst, and, descending by a steep path that winds round the edge
of a thick wood, were soon wending our way along the quiet old country
lanes to our quarters at Whalley.
[Illustration: ADLINGTON HALL.]
[Illustration]