CHAPTER III.

WALTHAM CROSS AND THEOBALDS

WALTHAM CROSS, which is not to be confounded with Waltham Holy Cross, commonly called Waltham Abbey, for whilst the latter is in Essex, the former is in Hertfordshire, and forms part of the parish of Cheshunt. To reach Waltham Cross, the visitor must retrace his steps towards the railway, and passing over this, the historic monument, which stands at the junction with the old Great North Road—is reached by a walk of five minutes’ duration.

Waltham Cross was one of the several similar monuments erected to the memory of Queen Eleanor by her devoted husband, Edward I. She died at Herdby, near Grantham, on November 12, 1290, whence her remains were conveyed to Westminster for interment by stages which were marked by ten crosses. Of these only the crosses at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham remain.

Waltham Cross has long been admired as an elegant specimen of Early English or Middle Pointed architecture. It is hexagonal in form, and consists of three handsome stages or storeys, each terminated by an embattled frieze, whilst the angles are respectively supported by a graduated buttress, ornamented with foliated finials. Within the panels of the lower storey are shields bearing the arms of England, Castile, and Leon and Poictou; whilst statues of Queen Eleanor occupy niches on the second storey.

The Four Swans Inn.

Each corner of the road that here debouches upon the main high road is occupied by an inn, that nearer London being the Falcon, and the other the Four Swans. Both are survivals of that period of prosperity when the coaches between London and Cambridge sped along the road. Whilst, however, the Falcon has been rebuilt in recent times—a work which made possible the widening of the roadway and the preservation of the Cross—the Four Swans retains very much of its old-time glory, and its sign is still stretched across the main street, forming an advertisement of such a conspicuous character as would not be admissible now-a-days. The interior of this inn possesses many of those interesting features which are generally attached to old coaching and posting houses, and in its oldest portion is a handsome Jacobean staircase. Its foundation, however, dates far beyond even coaching days, for the house originally formed part of the possessions of the Abbey, of which it was a guest house, whilst the Abbot’s manorial court was held here. The oldest part of the house is that to the left of the gateway on entering, and it is highly probable that the suite of rooms in which the tenants assembled—described by Dr. Stukeley in 1752 as being “where the chimneys are”—were contained in this wing, whilst the older portion of the spacious apartment over the gateway, now used as a masonic hall, formed the abbot’s court-room. At other times the place was used for the lodgement of pilgrims and similar purposes. The sign of the Four Swans, the only one that I have met with, is derived from the arms of Earl Harold, whose shield had emblazoned upon it a cross with four swans.

[Picture: The Eleanor Cross, showing detail of carving. From “Picturesque Hertfordshire.” Drawn by Duncan Moul]

[Picture: Theobalds, formerly the favourite residence of King James I.]

Theobalds.

With the Abbey, the Cross, and the Four Swans Inn we leave behind us, it may be said, associations with and monuments of mediæval times, and enter upon the later, but no less stirring epoch of English history which is marked by the Tudor, Jacobean, and Commonwealth periods, by a visit to the historic seat of Theobalds, or Tibbles, as it is locally called. The entrance to the park is from the high road, close to Theobalds Grove Station on the Great Eastern Railway branch line to Cheshunt. As one saunters through the long leafy aisle, there comes to mind the reference to this famous seat and its locality in old Izaak Walton’s famous classic, the “Complete Angler,” wherein the angler, the hunter, and the falconer, each commends his recreation; Piscator avows his intention of going “this fine, fresh May morning,” as far as Ware, whereupon Venator says his purpose is to “drink my morning draught at the Thatched House, Hoddesdon,” and Anceps rejoins: “Sir, I shall, by your favour, bear you company as far as Theobalds, and there leave you; for then I turn up to a friend’s house, who mews a hawk for me, which I now long to see.” The present house of Theobalds, which is the seat of Lady Meux, is modern, having been erected in 1768, and, though large, is not beautiful. A view of the house and gardens can be obtained by taking the footpath on the left, running along the bank of the New River, the stream being widened into a lake here, and creating a very pretty feature of the Park lands.

[Picture: Temple Bar. In its new home, at the main entrance to Theobalds Park]

The main entrance to the house is by the famous Temple Bar, which stands a little further along the drive from which the path has been taken. A more beautiful setting for Wren’s wonderful gateway it would scarcely be possible to conceive or create, and I know not another gateway entrance to a private park or domain throughout the country that is more beautiful than this. The nobility of its lines, the grandeur of the design, and the beauty of the stone are here all thrown into wonderful relief by the rich green of the foliage which forms the setting of the gate. One cannot help wondering what Dr. Johnson, or Sir Joshua Reynolds, or Charles Lamb, to all of whom the old gate that marked the western boundary of the city was familiar, would have said if they could have seen it transported to its present position. They were all ardent lovers of the town, and would certainly have lamented its loss from their Fleet Street. The Doctor would probably have said, “Sir! it is a vile outrage upon the City of London.” Yet I think their artistic perceptions would have compelled them to admit that its new home endowed it with a grandeur that it never before possessed.

Theobalds and its immediate vicinity is very rich in historic incidents. With it are associated the lives and deeds of Cardinal Wolsey, the great Lord Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., the Cromwells, and others.

Theobalds formed one of the six manors into which was parcelled the parish of Cheshunt, which itself at the time of the Conquest formed a manor in the Honour of Richmond, conferred upon Earl Alan by his uncle, William the Conqueror. The origin of the name is unknown, but in 1441 we find the manor of Theobalds was granted by the Crown to the hospital of St. Anthony, in London. About the middle of the sixteenth century it was conferred upon William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh, Secretary of State to Edward VI. and Elizabeth. In July, 1564, the queen paid her trusty counsellor a visit here, and was so pleased with her reception and the beauty of the place, that she expressed her intention of returning hither at a future date. Cecil accordingly demolished the old grange and erected a spacious and handsome mansion for her majesty’s reception.

A contemporary biographer of Cecil has pertinently observed, “He buylt three houses; one in London for necessity, another at Burghley, of computency for the mansion of his Barony, and another at Waltham for his younger sonne, which at the first he meant but for a little pile, as I have hard him saie, but after he came to enterteyne the Quene so often there he was inforced to enlarge it, rather for the Quene and her greate traine and to sette poore on worke, than for pompe or glory, for he ever said it wold be to big for the smalle living he cold leave his sonne.” The same author also says Cecil “greatlie delighted in making gardens, fountaines, and walkes, which at Theobalds were perfected most costly, bewtyfully and pleasauntly, while one might walk twoe myle in the walkes before he came to their ends.”

Norden has remarked of Cecil’s new house: “To speake of the state and beauty thereof at large as it deserveth for curious Buildings, delightfull walkes and pleasaunt conceits within and without and other Thinges very glorious and elegant to be seene, would challenge a great portion of this little treatise, and therefore leaste I should come short of that one commendation that it deserveth, I leave it as indeede it is, a princely seate.”

Vallens, in his “Tale of Two Swannes” (1590) also pays a graceful tribute to Cecil and old Theobalds in the following lines:

“Now see these Swannes, the new and worthy seate Of famous Cecil, tresorer of the land, Whose wisdome, counsell, skill of princes’ state The world admires; then Swannes may do the same: The house it selfe doth shewe the owner’s wit, And may for beautie, state and every thing, Compared be with most within the land.”

James I. and Theobalds.

Lord Burleigh was succeeded in 1598 by his second son, Robert, first Earl of Salisbury, who here entertained James I. for four days on his way from Scotland to London to take possession of the throne, as well as the Lords of the Council, who were here to do homage to the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. In July, 1606, James again visited the earl at Theobalds, together with the King of Denmark, and their majesties were entertained with great magnificence during a stay of five days. The account of the proceedings related by a contemporary chronicler furnishes us with an interesting if not very edifying glimpse into the ways and manners of Court life in the seventeenth century. Much of the period of their majesties’ stay at Theobalds appears to have been occupied by a series of masques and debauches. At one of the pageants the King of Denmark represented Solomon, and a lady of the Court, in the character of the Queen of Sheba, proceeded to perform her part by laying gifts at the monarch’s feet. She had, however, imbibed so freely of the fine wines supplied from the Cecil cellar that she was unable to retain her balance, and fell, sprawling, into the lap of the king. Rising from his magnificent throne, the latter attempted to dance with the “fallen” queen, but the royal legs being as unsteady as those of the lady, the twain cut a sorry sight, and his majesty had to be carried away ignominiously to his chamber. “Now did appear,” writes the chronicler, who would seem to have been one of the guests, “Faith, Hope, and Charity. Hope did essay to speak, but wine did render her endeavours so feeble that she withdrew. Faith was then all alone, for I am certain she was not joined by Good Works, and left the Court in a staggering condition. Charity came then to the king’s feet, and soon returned to Hope and Faith, who were both sick in the lower hall.”

So delighted was King Jamie with Theobalds and the hunting afforded by its domain, as well as in the adjoining Enfield Chase and Waltham Forest, that he prevailed upon the noble owner to exchange it for Hatfield, and the latter has since that time (1608) remained the home of the Cecils. The king enlarged the park of Theobalds, which he enclosed with a wall ten miles in circumference. He passed nearly all his leisure here, and died at Theobalds on March 25, 1625.

Charles I. also received homage at Theobalds upon his succession to the throne, but he had not that affection for the place which his father displayed. He retired hither, however, at the end of 1641, or beginning of 1642, to escape the unpleasantness of State affairs, and in February of the latter year here received the solemn remonstrance of Parliament. Hence he set out a month later, with a body of adherents, to raise the Royal Standard at Nottingham. It is by some stated that the unfortunate king wrote a portion of the “Eikon Basilike” at Theobalds.

That strange passion for destruction which possessed Cromwell and the Parliamentarians moved these ignorant sectarians to destroy the handsome palace reared by Lord Burleigh, and enlarged and beautified by James I.; its rich contents were dispersed, and its beautiful gardens ruthlessly destroyed.

Charles II. bestowed the manor of Theobalds upon General Monk—for the consideration of £12,067 6s. 8d.—and created him Duke of Albemarle. It descended to the Duke of Montagu, and later to the Cromwell family, then with the estate of Cheshunt Park to the Russells, subsequently became the property of Sir George Prescott, and finally was purchased by the late Sir Henry Meux, Bart. In 1712, when Sir Thomas Abney lived at Theobalds, he persuaded Dr. Isaac Watts to retire hither. During his thirty-six years’ residence here the learned divine wrote his famous hymns and songs, and died in 1748 at the age of seventy-four.