Part 5

Montacute House, and the estates adjoining, have been for several centuries the property of the family of Phelips; who originally “came over” with the Conqueror, and in consideration of military services were requited with large grants of lands in Wales, where they were long settled. In the fourteenth century they “migrated” into Somersetshire, residing for many years at Barrington, not far from the present seat. The “spacious and noble building” was commenced in 1550, and finished in 1601, for Sir Edward Phelips, Knight, Queen’s Serjeant, the third son of Sir Thomas Phelips. Its cost is said to have exceeded the sum of £19,500. It has since continued in the family of the founder, in the following line of succession. Sir Edward Phelips, Master of the Rolls, Chancellor to Henry Prince of Wales, and Speaker of the House of Commons, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First; Sir Robert Phelips, his son, in the reigns of James the First and Charles the First; Colonel Edward Phelips, during the Commonwealth, and in the reign of Charles the Second;[25] Sir Edward Phelips, Knight, in the reigns of James the Second and William the Third; his nephew, Edward Phelips, Esq., in the reigns of Anne and George the First; Edward Phelips, Esq., in that of George the Second; William Phelips, Esq., in that of George the Third; and John Phelips, Esq., in that of George the Fourth; the present possessor is a minor. But, unhappily, the Mansion, so long the scene of comparatively uninterrupted hospitality, has been, of late years, deserted; stripped in a great degree of its internal decorations; and left to the mercy of time. It presents, however, one of the finest and most interesting examples of the architecture of the period, yet existing in the kingdom; “combining simplicity of design with richness of ornament,”--“a magnificent specimen of the style of Elizabeth’s reign.”

The form of the building is that of the Roman letter E; a form which the founder is said to have adopted in compliment to his Royal mistress. It is built entirely of brown stone, found on the Estate. “The length of the Eastern or principal front,” according to Mr. Shaw, (“Elizabethan Architecture,”) is one hundred and seventy feet; it is three stories in height, and is surmounted by gables and a parapet, crowned with pinnacles. Each story is marked by its entablature; the bays of its numerous windows are divided by stone mullions; and between each window of the uppermost story are recessed niches, containing a series of statues, the size of life, in Roman armour, resting on their shields.” The wings, twenty-eight feet in width, are crowned by ornamental gables; the space between them being occupied by a terrace ascended by a flight of seven steps. The Western Front--we learn from the same source--was greatly improved, in 1760, by the acquisition of an ancient screen, removed from Clifton House, near Yeovil; “it is placed between the wings in front of the original edifice; surmounted by finials, crowned with grotesque figures rising from turrets connected by a pierced parapet.” The Court, upon the Eastern front, is “a fine and appropriate accessory” to this stately Mansion. It contains two picturesque square Pavilions, or Lodges, at the angles facing the building. The sides are formed by an open balustrade, having a small circular temple in the centre of each; these latter are twenty-five feet in height, from the level of the Court. The whole composition exhibits great beauty.

Over the arched entrances in the centre compartment are the arms of the family--argent, a chevron between three roses, gules, seeded or, barbel vert, with lions rampant as supporters. Over the principal door of the building is the following couplet, indicative of the hospitality of its high-born owners:--

Through this wide opening gate, None come too early, none return too late.

This, however, is not the only inscription to convey their sense of duty to their guests. Over the North Porch is the following:--

And yours my friend.

And on one of the lodges,

Welcome the coming Speed the parting guest.

The interior is divided into suites of handsome and spacious apartments. The staircase is of the construction usual in the time of Elizabeth--stone steps round a

huge solid mass of stone. In the Hall, is a fine stone screen; and, at the end, a bas-relief, four feet six inches in height, representing the ancient custom of “skimmitting or stang-riding.”[26] The Hall contains also a curious old chest--the work, probably, of some Italian or French artist of the time of Henry the Eighth. The Rooms are generally panelled with oak; but the ceilings throughout, and the staircase, are quite plain; the walls of the principal apartments are, however, lined with finely-carved wainscotting to within a few feet of the ceiling--the intervening space being ornamented by rich plaster-work, which has a fine effect. The screen, which Mr. Richardson has pictured in the appended print, belonged originally

to the entrance to the Dining-room, and was removed to its present position by one of the later proprietors of the Mansion.[27]

Although the Mansion at Montacute supplies us with many subjects for illustration by the pencil, we have preferred to introduce a copy of the graceful and venerable School-house--one of the most striking and interesting remains of a remote period, and one with which no other than agreeable memories can be associated. The initial letter is part of the sculpture of the western front.

Unhappily, the Destroyer is busily at work about this fine old Mansion--one of the grandest, most original, and most auspiciously situated of the few unimpaired structures of the reign of Queen Elizabeth by which the kingdom is still enriched. Although its present possessor is the direct descendant of its founder, and “the line” has been unbroken for nearly three centuries, it is now deserted. All its glories are of ancient dates: the “wide opening gate” gives admission to no gay revellers; and the yet existing motto seems a solemn mockery--

Welcome the coming Speed the parting guest.

CAVERSWALL CASTLE,

STAFFORDSHIRE.

Caverswall Castle.--The pretty and secluded village of Caverswall is seated in the centre of a rich level vale, through which runs the river Blithe,--here, not far from its source, a narrow stream, which gradually swells into size and strength. The venerable Castle of Caverswall, one of the most striking, picturesque, and interesting remains of a distant age, towers above this pleasant and appropriately named streamlet, overlooking the broad valley, the whole of which it completely commands, and of which it was formerly the guardian and the glory.

In the twentieth year of William the Conqueror, Caverswall was held of Robert de Stadford by Ernulfus de Hesding; but in the time of Richard Cœur de Lion, one Thomas de Careswell was lord of this demesne, from whom it descended to Sir William de Caverswell, Knight, most likely the same who was sheriff of Staffordshire towards the close of the reign of Henry III., and whose descendant, probably grandson, of the same name and title, in the latter end of the reign of King Edward II., built

a large and strong stone castle here, surrounded by a deep moat. As additional security, when safety was worth a costly purchase, we are told he gave it the further defence of square turrets at the heads of extensive pieces of water. This is “the castel or prati-pile of Caverwell” of Leland’s time. Of its founder, we know nothing more than is revealed to us by his marble monumental slab, now reduced to the level of the church-floor at the entrance into the chancel--strange transition!--to be trodden on by every foot that passes. This “goodly castle,” as Erdeswick terms it, in his time, about two hundred and fifty years ago, he tells us, “was lately in reasonable good repair, but is now quite let to decay by one Browne, farmer of the demesnes, which he procured (if a man might guess at the cause) lest his lord should take a conceit to live there, and thereby take the demesnes from him.” Now, it is probable no remnant of this ancient Castle is extant, unless in the chiselled stones which give support to garden-hedges about the village. Still, the lower portions of the wall which surrounds the platform of the Castle, with its graduated buttresses, and perhaps also the foundations of some of the turrets, give indications of an architecture at least much anterior to the present building. We are inclined to refer this ancient wall to the period of the original Castle.

The lordship descended from the Caverswells, who enjoyed it until the nineteenth of Edward III., when by the heir-general it passed to the Montgomerys, and subsequently to the Giffards, the Ports, the family of Hastings, Earls of Huntingdon, who were owners of it in the seventeenth century; and, by purchase, to Matthew Cradock, Esq., whose father, we are told in a celebrated letter of Sir Simon Degge’s, was a wool-buyer at Stafford. In the reign of James I., this latter proprietor, it is said, employed the skill of the celebrated Inigo Jones to erect the present castellated mansion. The site of this solemn fortress-like structure, enriched by the dark-grey tints of age, is the rock which gave foundation to Sir William de Caverswell’s Castle. The grit-stone of which it is built has been excavated from the moat that surrounds the whole; the same being the case no doubt with the materials of the earlier building, for the circumstance, as we shall see, is alluded to in the Latin lines on the founder’s tomb. The Castle is placed upon an elevated quadrangular platform, which is defended by a curtain running along each side, having a number of graduated buttresses rising from the moat, and by an octagonal turret, with its base dipping in the fosse, at each angle. The pointed arched gateway, approached by a stone bridge, is flanked by an additional turret on each side, like the others, balustraded at the top. This balustrade formerly was carried round the top of the Castle also. Its removal in recent times has been injurious to picturesque effect; hence the artist has retained this proper mark of style in our lithotint. The quadrangle of the Castle is laid out in gravelled walks, shaded by fine hedges of hornbeam, and a beautiful flower-garden, exhibiting many of the gems of Flora’s chaplet, and some remarkably fine specimens of Cotoneaster trained along the walls. The building itself is chiefly interesting as presenting the ideal of the great architect of the transition from the ancient castle to the baronial mansion. The keep may be said to be still retained in the lofty square tower, which overtops the building at its western end. Two great bays ascend, one on each side, to the top of the building, which break the plainness of the front, and afford additional light to the apartments. The numerous windows are all large, divided by deep mullions; and in a winter’s evening, when most of the rooms are occupied, a distant spectator might conceive there was an illumination in the Castle. The rooms are plain, and afford nothing worthy of particular note. The square tower is chiefly occupied by staircases. The turrets have been converted into apartments of residence. Whilst around the whole, flow the dark yet clear waters of the moat, which expands on the western side into a small lake. This moat is supplied by a number of springs and a limpid rill that runs into it. Its outer margin receives the shade of some fine limes. As if in pointed contrast to all this panoply of defence, on the inner margin of the fosse there is seen a pretty little flower-border, occupying the recesses between the buttresses which support the platform.

We have here an indication of the peaceful, unwarlike purpose to which this sombre fortress is now devoted. On the decease of Matthew Cradock, Esq., who built the present Castle, it came into the hands of his son, George Cradock, Esq., who died in 1643,[28] with whose descendants it remained only till 1655. From them it passed to Sir William Jolliffe, Knight; and from him, by marriage with his daughter, to William Viscount Vane, of Ireland. It subsequently passed into the hands of the family of Parker, one worthy descendant of which house, Thomas Hawe Parker, Esq., resides at Park Hall, near the village, and still retains the manor. During the disastrous wars of the French Revolution, it was purchased for the retreat of a religious community from Ghent, in Belgium,--the Benedictine Dames,--who emigrated hither in 1811, having previously settled at Preston, in Lancashire. These ladies, in their antique black dresses and hoods, as they traverse the terraces on the platform of the Castle, or engage in the cultivation of their flower-gardens, give an air of surprising interest, of living reality, to this castellated mansion of other ages. They have erected a good-sized chapel on the eastern side of the house, in which is a large picture over the altar representing St. Benedict and St. Scholastica praying to the virgin; and they devote much of their time to the purposes of education. On the opposite side of the moat, amidst the shade of surrounding trees, we perceive the final resting-place of the sisterhood. In this neat little plot is a number of tombstones, two of which are distinguished from the rest by bearing the cross and pastoral staff--emblems of ghostly superintendence. They mark the graves of Lady Abbesses. One lay sister, now rapidly descending the vale of years, is the only religieuse who came over with the original refugees.

A doorway, now closed, formerly led from the Castle to the Church, which is close by. It is a spacious village church, dedicated to St. Peter, embosomed in a grove of

sycamores, and presenting, like many others, indications of great antiquity--indications which are almost overgrown with the additions and reconstructions of nearly every period since its foundation. The piers of the nave, which give support to a series of semicircular arches, from their plainness most probably belong to the Norman style. The decorated finds its representatives in the belfry arch, and the two aisles of the nave; whilst the perpendicular is fairly displayed in the handsome eastern window of the tower. This tower and the aisles may be referred to the fourteenth century. The beauties and harmonies of the whole have been sadly marred, especially by the low flat ceilings, which extend from the tower to the chancel, in different stages of degradation. The nave contains some plain low oaken stalls, very ancient. Some pews also and the pulpit exhibit specimens of carving in oak in a pleasing style--an illustration of which forms our initial letter. The Church is rich in monuments. Beyond mentioning a fine evidence of Chantrey’s skill, in a monumental figure to the memory of the Countess of St. Vincent,--the lady kneels in an attitude of submissiveness to the inevitable stroke, her coronet being laid aside,--beyond this mere mention, and that the family vaults and monuments of the Parker family, of Park Hall, the patrons of the living, exist here, we shall confine ourselves to the memorials of the two founders of the ancient and more modern Castles of Caverswall. At the entrance to the chancel, near to the foot of the pulpit stairs, is a massy slab of grey marble, laid in the floor. This is all that now remains of the monument of Sir William de Caverswell, the builder of the Castle in the time of Edward II., about A.D. 1300. It has originally contained a large and elegant cross-fleurie, stretching over the entire length of the slab, a shield on each side, and an inscription running along the head and the two sides, all in inlaid brass. Erdeswick, the Staffordshire antiquary, who described it about two hundred and fifty years ago, tells us that then the metal had been taken out. He adds, in a parenthesis, “such is the iniquity of this day;” but yet he was able to perceive what the letters were. These letters are in a fine character of the period, before black-letter was employed. Having carefully examined them, we were still able to decipher the whole, and now present a more correct reading than has ever before appeared, which, together with the accurate drawing of this rich and finished tablet (printed on the front page of this article) by our artist, Mr. F. Hulme, will, we trust, preserve a faint memory of the original. The inscription commences at an ornamental cross near the top on the left side, and ends at one opposite.

†Hic: jacet: Will[=s]: de: Kaverswelle: miles.†

Then follow these lines along the two sides:--

“Castri: strvctor: eram: domibvs: fossis: que: cemento. Vivvs: dans: operam: nvnc: clavdor: in: hoc: monvmento.”

Which Dr. Plot informs us was Englished thus:--

“Sir William of Caverswall, here lye I, Who built the Castle, and made the pooles by.”

In a spirit not altogether inaccordant with the original, another hand added this couplet, as Dr. Plot further says:--

“Sir William of Caverswall here you lye, Your Castle is down, and your pooles are dry.”

In the south wall of the chancel is a mural tablet in memory of Matthew Cradock, Esq., the founder of the present Caverswall Castle. In its style, this monument bears

marks of the age in which it was constructed,--the reign of Charles I. It is worthy of note, however, that, whilst the hand of man, as well as his foot, has continually warred against the monumental memorial of his great predecessor for more than five hundred years, without being able to obliterate the recognition of his name and merits, the inscription on that of Matthew Cradock, although not of half the antiquity, protected and even partially renewed, is now, in the main, irrevocably effaced. It has commenced in these terms, “Hic sepelitvr Matie Cr rmig.” The rest is so greatly defaced, as only to allow us to make out that he married Elizabeth, the daughter of a Salopian esquire, and that his first-born child married the daughter of John Saunders, M.D., which agrees with the inscription on the mural tablet of George Cradock, Esq. Some lines in white paint below profess to have derived their origin from “ I. M. R. E. de Stoke.” Matthew Cradock, we believe, was a merchant, and was returned to Parliament, A.D. 1640, 15 Charles I., for the City of London. His arms appear upon the tablet.

At an early period of the contest between Charles and his Parliament, Caverswall Castle seems to have excited notice, and was garrisoned for the Parliament; the family, no doubt, took this side. From the following entry of the Committee at Stafford, the widow of George Cradock, Esq., appears to have received some marks of respect amidst this military intrusion. “Dec. 4, 1643.--It is ordered that Captain John Young shall forthwith repayre to Carswall House, and safely keepe the same for the use of the King and Parliament, until he shall have order to the contrarie. But he is to leave his horses behind him at Stafford; he is likewise to use Mrs. Cradock with all respect, and not suffer any spoyle or waste made of her goods.” “It is ordered that Mrs. Cradock shall have, towards the fortification of her house at Carswall, liberty to take, fell, cut downe, and carrie away any timber, or other materials, from any papist, delinquent, or malignant whatsoever.” “March 1, 1643-4.--It is ordered that Carswall be made unservisable.” This last order does not appear to have been fulfilled to the letter; for Caverswall Castle still remains unimpaired, sombre and venerable, to grace the verdant meads amid which it is situated--to shelter the religieuses who have succeeded the refugees from the Low Countries--and to show the pilgrim, who wanders through shady dells and by babbling brooks, catching the bland whisperings of the spirits of the past, that--

“Time Has moulded into beauty many a tower, Which, when it frown’d with all its battlements, Was only terrible.”

INGESTRIE HALL,

STAFFORDSHIRE.

Perhaps there are few districts so rich in historical interest as that in which is situated this venerable Mansion. The manors of Shugborough, Sandon, Chartley--with its ruined Castle--Heywood, Blithfield, and Wolseley, are all within view; Tixal Heath, with its abundant legends, is close at hand;[29] and the ancient Town of Stafford is distant about three miles. Ingestrie, or, as now more commonly written, Ingestre, and anciently Ingestrent (from _ing_, in Danish, _a meadow_, that is, Trent Meadow), and in Domesday-book called _Gestreon_, was a part of the Great Barony of Stafford, and granted to Robert de Toeni by William the Conqueror, being then valued at 15_s._ 5_d._ In the reign of Henry the Second, it was held by Eudo, or Ivo de Mutton, or Mitton, who gave certain lands in Ingestre to the Priory of St. Thomas à Becket near adjoining, and then newly-founded: he afterwards became a lay-brother there, leaving his possessions to his son, Sir Ralph de Mutton, who had issue Adam and Philip, both knights. Sir Adam was also a benefactor to the fore-named convent, and had the presentation of a canon granted to him and his heirs for ever, to celebrate Divine Service for the souls of Sir Philip de Mutton, his brother, his own soul, and those of his ancestors and successors: he died in the fortieth year of the reign of Henry the Third, leaving by Isabella, his wife, Ralph, his son, who died without issue, and Isabella, his only daughter, married to Sir Philip de Chetwynd. After the death of Sir Philip de Mutton without issue, Philip de Chetwynd, son of Sir Philip and Isabella, became sole heir to that family (the Muttons) in his mother’s right, and was possessed of Ingestre, &c., &c.; which, by a continued succession, descended to Walter Chetwynd, Esq., who, dying without issue, his estates devolved to Captain Chetwynd, his near relation, whose descendants were created Barons of Ingestre and Talbot. In 1784, John Chetwynd Talbot, who succeeded his uncle William in the barony, was raised to the dignity of an Earl of the United Kingdom by the style and title of Earl Talbot of Ingestre.

His successor was his son, Charles Chetwynd, Earl Talbot of Ingestre, whose seat is still the noble old Hall of his ancestors. None of the nobles of the kingdom are more universally esteemed or respected. He has extensive estates in the immediate neighbourhood in his own holding; and is distinguished by his active promotion of agricultural improvements. The nobility and gentry of the surrounding district frequently assemble to witness the success of his experiments, and to participate in the hospitality of this noble “English farmer.” His Lordship, however, has not altogether eschewed public life. For some time he was the Irish Viceroy. The manor and estate of Ingestre have recently received a large accession by the purchase of the Tixal Estate, from Sir Clifford Constable, by the present Earl Talbot.