Part 6

Ingestre Hall is pleasantly situated on a gentle declivity, sloping towards the river Trent, in a large and richly wooded park, which contains some remarkably fine beech and other trees.[30] The house has a stately and venerable appearance. It is in the style which prevailed during the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First--having various projections, bay windows, and others with stone mullions. The north front was built by the present Earl, corresponding in character with the south front; and like that also of brick and stone; by which means several elegant rooms and a grand staircase have been added. The north side has a terraced flower-garden ornamented by fountains, a stone balustrade, &c., which add much to the elegance of this part of the building. The interior well agrees with the exterior--consisting of large and well-proportioned apartments, the principal of which is the Library, an elegant room occupying the western portion of the Mansion, containing a valuable collection of Books, placed in handsome oak cases, with pilasters, &c., of the Corinthian order; also a beautiful marble fire-place. The Billiard-room is wainscotted with oak, one-third of its height, containing a variety of grotesque heads in small panels. The grand Staircase has a massive oak railing of arabesque character. The interior, however, has been greatly modernised; and its chief attraction to the antiquary will arise from the Family Portraits, which possess considerable interest. But the Mansion contains a rich treasure of historical and antiquarian lore: in the Library are preserved five Volumes in Manuscript, collected by Walter Chetwynd, Esq., consisting of Letters, Pedigrees, &c., &c.[31]

The present Church of Ingestre is situate very near the Hall, on the S.E. side (the ancient Church was on the S.W. side of the house), and is a plain but handsome structure in the Grecian style of architecture--consisting of a Tower; a Nave, with side aisles; and a Chancel; the Ceiling of the Nave being much enriched with festoons of fruit, flowers, &c.--and that of the Chancel with shields of arms, &c. The Nave is separated from the Chancel by an appropriate Screen, having the Royal Arms in relief over the Entrance, and, together with the Pulpit, &c., is of Flanders oak. The Chancel contains several mural Monuments of the Chetwynd Family, and Busts of the late Countess and a little Boy. There is an interesting mural Tablet for the late unfortunate Charles Thomas Viscount Ingestre, who was lost in a Morass, near Vienna, on the 23rd of May, 1826, being twenty-four years of age; it represents the extrication of his dead body. There is also a figure exhibiting Religion with a chalice in the hands. This is placed on a Monument to the present Earl’s brother, the late Rev. John Talbot, Rector of Ingestre, &c. The Church has six fine Bells, and an Organ; and was built by Walter Chetwynd, Esq., in 1673. A full account of the building and consecration of the Church is given by Dr. Plot, in his “Natural History of Staffordshire.”[32]

The neighbourhood of Ingestre is full of historical interest. On Hopton Heath (now inclosed), distant about a mile and a half, a bloody battle was fought on Sunday, the 19th of March, 1643, between the King’s troops, commanded by Spencer Compton Earl of Northampton, and the Parliamentary Forces under Sir John Gell and Sir William Brereton; in which the Earl, with six captains and about 600 soldiers, were all killed. Human bones and fragments of military weapons have been turned up by the plough on this spot. One of the most interesting of several ancient remains in the vicinity is that of Chartley Castle. It has been a ruin for more than a century. The Park contains a thousand acres, inclosed from the Forest of Needwood, and never submitted to the plough. It has long been inhabited by a noble herd of “wild cattle,” descended, _in a direct line_, from the wild cattle of the country which roamed at large in ancient times over the Forest of Needwood--probably a corruption of Neat’s Wood, or the Wood of Cattle. Chartley Castle was one of the prison-houses of Mary Queen of Scots. On the 21st of December, 1585, she took her final leave of Tutbury, and was removed to Chartley. It was during her residence at the latter place, that what has been denominated “Babington’s Plot,” was matured; which, on its discovery, led to the execution of no less than twelve persons engaged in it. The discovery of this plot, likewise, in which Mary herself was intimately involved, hastened the fate of the unhappy queen. It was whilst Mary was on horseback, enjoying the sports of the field, in this neighbourhood, that she received the messenger who communicated the discovery of her guilt. The announcement of the fatal intelligence which Sir Thomas Gorges conveyed, suddenly extinguished the fond expectations which had been so long cherished. She instantly directed her horse’s head homewards; but was not permitted to return thither. She was conveyed to Fotheringay--the last sad scene of her eventful history.

THE OAK HOUSE, WEST BROMWICH,

STAFFORDSHIRE.

West Bromwich--a village distant a few miles from busy Birmingham--supplies a curious and interesting example of the half-timbered houses, of which many still remain in the Midland Counties of England. It is commonly known as “The Oak House,” is situated on the borders of the great Staffordshire coal-bed, and is now surrounded by collieries,--creating a dense and murky atmosphere, which almost hides the ancient mansion from sight. Yet the site was well chosen; for at the period of its erection it commanded extensive views of a picturesque and fertile country, now absolutely covered with iron-works and other results of the traffic peculiar to the district. Far as the eye can reach, it encounters only the smoke and steam which indicate busy labour; the few trees that endure to grace the landscape are stunted and sickly, and even the fields seem never to have borne a coating of natural green. Nevertheless, although the eye may turn away unrefreshed from a scene which exhibits Nature expelled by Commerce, the mind will be cheered to know that in these unsightly mountain-heaps, “dug from the bowels of the harmless earth,” originates the true supremacy of England. The coal-fields of Staffordshire and Warwickshire render available the gigantic discoveries which have made the present century already famous. Without their aid, science and manufacture could have achieved comparatively little; it is by such auxiliaries only we can set at work the forge and the foundry, where

“Incessant, day and night, each crater roars, Like the volcano on Sicilian shores: Their fiery wombs each molten mass combine; Thence, lava-like, the boiling torrents shine; Down the trenched sand the liquid metal holds, Shoots showers of stars, and fills the hollow moulds.”

The “Poet of Science” seems to have had in view the locality to which we refer; at least, to no part of England are his lines more strictly applicable.

Little is known of the ancient possessors of the Oak House, notwithstanding that the direct descendants of the earliest occupants continued to inhabit it until towards the close of the last century. The only author who appears to have taken any note of them is the Rev. Stebbing Shaw, who in his “History of Staffordshire,” under the head of West Bromwich[33] states, that the Oak House belonged for several generations to a branch of the respectable old family of Turton, of Abrewas, near Lichfield; and the first mentioned in this parish was John Turton, in the freeholders’ book, A.D. 1653. Amongst the inscriptions formerly in the ancient Church of St. Clement, here, was one to the memory of William Turton, of the Oak, gent., who died A.D. 1682 (son of that John), and Eleanor his wife, daughter of Robert Page, of Leighton, in the county of Huntingdon, who died A.D. 1696, ætat. 61; and one also to John Turton, of the Oak, gent., the eldest son of the above William, who died December 6th, 1705, ætat. 45. This is the same John, no doubt, who, with William his brother and Sarah their sister, are mentioned in the will of Sir John Turton, of Abrewas, as his cousins. Either from the first mentioned John, or from another of that name settled at Rowley Regis, a few miles off, was, according to Shaw, descended the eminent physician Dr. Turton, of London, whose ancestors had for some years resided in an old house called “The Hall,” at Wolverhampton. The house and estate afterwards came into the possession, by will, of a Mrs. Whylie, who left it to the present owner, J. E. Piercy, Esq., of Warley Hall; and it is now inhabited by his agent, Mr. Samuel Reeves.

The general character of the building is that of the later years of the reign of Elizabeth; this will be sufficiently apparent from the drawing of the north front, which supplies our principal plate. The groups of tall chimneys, and the minor details of the doors, windows, &c., are all of that age; while evidence of its date is confirmed by the south or garden front (as will be seen by the accompanying vignette), built chiefly of red brick, and containing the pediments and square stone mullions of the period.

Upon entering the house, through the porch, we reach a narrow passage, formed by a small room, abstracted from “the Hall”--the spacious hall of former times. At the termination of this passage a door leads into the present hall, of far more limited extent, from which a broad flight of stairs conducts to the upper apartments. These apartments, however, having been long disused, exhibit the melancholy aspect of desertion and decay. The stairs consist of four flights, and the balusters of the whole are curiously carved; the small pendant hanging from the upper flight,

as seen from the first-floor landing, supplies our initial letter. On the ground-floor there are four of the rooms pannelled with oak, the chimney-pieces being carved in arabesques.

The peculiar feature of this house, however, is the very curious timber turret or lantern which rises nearly from the centre of the roof, and has its principal frontage towards the north. It is square, and forms one small room, to which a subsequent addition appears to have been made.

The parish Church (dedicated to St. Clement) is distant from the House about two miles. Modern “improvement” has been busily at work in mutilating and defacing it; yet “ignorant churchwardens” have been unable to deprive it entirely of the venerable character it derives from age.

From the little that remains of ancient work, the whole Church seems to have been built during the later period of the Decorated style of architecture, with here and there additional portions of a later date. On the south side there is a small chapel but whether used as a chantry or not is uncertain, the date upon it being as late as 1618. It is most probable that it was used as the burial-place of the Whorwoods; an old family, who inhabited a mansion built on the site of the Priory of Sandwell, which stood at a short distance from the Church. The Tower of the Church is square, of two stories, and has an octagonal turret on its northern side. The Font also is octagonal, with the sides pannelled, and containing shields. It stands at the west end of the north aisle.

In the immediate neighbourhood of the Church are several old houses, which seem to belong to the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries, and originally formed the village of West Bromwich, which at that period must have been a very inconsiderable place; but, from its situation near the main-road through the mining district, and the rapid increase of coal and iron works in its vicinity, it has become of considerable note; the whole of the distance between the Oak House and the Church being thickly covered with houses, among which are three new churches, several meeting-houses, and the other ordinary accompaniments of a modern town. Within about the distance of a mile, at a place where three lanes meet, is a wayside inn, bearing the sign of “The Stone Cross;” of the cross which formerly existed there, barely a trace is left.

Amongst the other timber houses in the immediate vicinity of Birmingham, there are but few remarkable for any peculiarity of construction; such as still exist have been in nearly all cases subjected to the “improvements” which destroy early and valuable character; perhaps the only exception is an old house, situated on the north side of the churchyard at Kingsnorton (a village in the county of Worcester), about five miles distant from Birmingham, which is still retained for the use of a Free School, founded there by King Edward VI., but which, from having a window at its east end, that clearly belongs to the decorated period of English architecture, was most probably used as a residence for the priest of the adjacent church. But although the neighbourhood is so deficient in good examples of ancient timber houses, there will be found several mansions worthy of observation; we need mention only the names of New Hall, near the little town of Sutton Coldfield; Castle Bromwich Hall, the seat of the Earl of Bradford, erected in 1580; the ancient Castle of Maxtoke, which remains, for the greater part, in good preservation; and the magnificent pile of Aston Hall--one of the finest and best preserved Halls yet existing in the Kingdom.

THROWLEY HALL,

STAFFORDSHIRE.

Throwley Hall. In the North-East corner of the County of Stafford there exists an elevated region of limestone hills; one of which, the Bunster, rises to the height of twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea. Their scanty soil, pierced in many places by the naked rock, bears a rich verdure, which is cropped by numerous herds of cattle and sheep. The bottoms of the intervening valleys are occupied by clear streams, which dash along their stony beds, and give fertility to the various shrubs and trees growing upon their margins. In a concavity, about midway down one of these hills, stands the old Hall of Throwley. In the vale below, the superterranean or surface course of the river Manyfold winds its devious way. This stream, like its fellow, the Hamps, sinks into fissures of the rocks, and flows through caverns hid in the earth, for some miles, whilst the remaining portion of the waters, especially during floods, occupies the bed we have pointed out. The valley of the Manyfold, opposite Throwley Hall, is marked by an umbrageous wood, exhibiting a highly luxurious foliage of varied tints.

This picturesque spot, environed by the neighbouring hills of such great altitude, was chosen for the foundation of a house at a remote period. At the time of Erdeswick, we find him recounting that “Throwley is a fair, ancient house, and goodly demesne; being the seat of the Meverells, a very ancient house of gentlemen and of goodly living, equalling the best sort of gentlemen in the Shire.” In the fifth year of the reign of King John, Oliver de Meverell was settled here. In the second of Edward the First, Thomas de Meverell married Agnes, one of the five daughters and co-heirs of Gerebert de Gayton. In a deed given at Fredeswall, now Fradswell, another manor of the Meverells, in the seventeenth year of Edward the Third, we find the name of Thomas de Meverell, Lord of Throwley. The following inscription occurs on an alabaster monument in the south aisle of the chancel of Ilam Church, in which parish Throwley is situated:--“Here lyeth yᵉ bodies of Robert Meverell Esqvʳ & Eliz: his wife, Davghter

of Sʳ Tho: Fleming Kniᵗ & Lord Cheife Ivstice of yᵉ Kings Bench, by whō he had issve only one davghter, who maried Tho: Lord Cromwell, Visconte Lecaile; wᶜʰ Robert died yᵉ 5th of Febrʸ anᵒ 1626 & Elizabᵗʰ departed yᵉ 5th of Avgvst 1628.” Upon a slab are placed the effigies of this Robert, the last male of the Meverells, and Elizabeth his wife, in the magnificent ruffs and other costume of the period--the husband wearing a vast pair of boots with spurs on them, the former falling in thick wrinkles from the ankle to the knee, and terminating in a peak about the middle of the thigh. In a recess in the wall above is the kneeling figure of their daughter and heir, Lady Cromwell, wearing her coronet, and her four children by her. There are shields of arms emblazoning those of Meverell, viz., argent, a griffin segreant sable, armed gules, with the alliances enumerated; and above the tomb is suspended a helmet having a pointed visor. We are enabled to trace this heiress of the ancient House of Meverell to her last resting-place, for in the floor near the altar in Fradsivell Church is a flat stone, inscribed, “Dame Cromwell.” And on an old Tablet in the Chancel may still be read: “Iana Cromwellʳ: Ex nobilibus Familys Cromwellorum et Meverillorum.” 1647. From the family of Lord Cromwell, Viscount Lecaile, and first Earl of Ardglass, in Ireland, Throwley subsequently passed to Edward Southwell, the last Baron de Clifford; and was sold by him in 1790 to Samuel Crompton, Esq., whose son, Sir Samuel Crompton, Bart., of Wood End, near Thirsk, is now the proprietor of it. The Hall is occupied by a worthy family of the name of Phillips.

The “fair ancient house of Throwley” has undergone many mutations since the days of Erdeswick. It still, however, presents a diversity of outline which corresponds admirably with the imposing site it occupies. It is built of the limestone of the neighbourhood, quoined with larger gritstones; and its walls bear a very time-worn appearance. On the Eastern side, its gables, large bayed window of many lights, divided by stone mullions, terminating in depressed arches, and its strong square tower, carry us back to the Sixteenth Century--the period of its erection. Whether it was the work of Robert, the last male of the House of Meverell, or one of his predecessors, we are not enabled to ascertain by any positive evidence; yet there is little doubt the latter surmise is most correct. On the western side of the House there formerly stood a large Chapel, with a lofty ceiling to the roof; a stone of which, still preserved, bears the initials “F. M.”, most likely pointing to the founder of the entire structure. The little turret contains a circular stone stair, that conducts to the roof of the tower, the leads of which bear many a mark of visitors long since departed--most of them to an eternal home. The view here, as it takes in a large reach of the valley in both directions, and Castern on the opposite hill, is very fine. The principal entrance to the House of Throwley has been on the north, and leads first to a small Entrance-Hall, and next, to the great Hall; which in the strange transmutations it has undergone, retains only a portion of its wainscot and the massive beams of oak that support the ceiling. This Hall is lighted by the lower window in the large bay to the left of our litho-tint. A fine room of equal size, above, entered by a pair of oaken folding doors, has been richly finished, its ceiling still bearing a beading that has been gilt, disposed in an elegant device of octagons and stars. This chief apartment has had a large bay-window, containing two rows of six lights each, to the South, as well as the Eastern bay apparent in the engraving. All these windows are rendered secure by upright bars of iron, bearing cross-bars at short intervals. They have formerly contained some stained glass, the only remains of which, the arms of Lord Thomas Cromwell quartering the sable griffin segreant of the Meverells, are now placed in the neighbouring farm-house of Mr. Parramore. An upper wainscotted room in Throwley Hall still retains an appropriate memorial of its former lordly occupants in the armorial bearings of the House of Ardglass, elaborately carved in high relief in oak, now enriched by the tints of age, with the supporters, two fierce winged bulls. At a short distance behind the house stands a stately pile of ancient stabling, two lofty stories in height, topped with a high-pitched roof. The entrances are so tall, that we might conclude the lords and dames of other days had mounted their steeds before they issued to the chase or other amusements--among which we may presume that of falconry would be no infrequent pastime amid these wild hills.

Of the ancient owners, the Meverells, almost the only additional historical notice we can regain, is, that Arthur Meverell of Throwley was the last Prior of Sutbury. At the period of the Dissolution, A.D. 1538, he, together with eight monks, surrendered the Priory, with all its possessions, into the hands of Henry VIII.; the original deed still remaining in the Augmentation Office, with the signatures of the Prior and brotherhood, and the common seal of the Convent attached. In consideration of this surrender, Arthur, the Prior, had an annuity of fifty pounds.

Besides the remarkable natural phenomenon before alluded to, of the disappearance of the rivers Hamps and Manyfold in this vicinity, the vast caverns in the limestone rocks present to our notice objects of great interest. One of these, within a short distance of Throwley, has long been distinguished by the name of “Thor’s House.” Both rivers and caves are happily alluded to by the poet:--

“Still the nymphs emerging lift in air Their snow-white shoulders and their azure hair; Sail with sweet grace the dimpling streams along, Listening the shepherd’s, or the miner’s song; But when afar they view the giant cave, On timorous fins they circle on the wave, With streaming eyes, and throbbing hearts’ recoil, Plunge their fair forms, and dive beneath the soil.”

By following the valley from Throwley about two miles, we reach the beautiful gardens of Ilam Hall, its ivy-covered Church, and the village itself. Passing over the chaste productions of modern art crowded into this graceful spot, which is equally marked as the opening, round the base of the mighty Bunster, of the most romantic portion of Dovedale, we can scarcely refrain from noticing, as we depart, the two fragments of ancient crosses, covered with sculpture forming rude devices, in the churchyard; the curiously-figured Norman font; and the plain but handsome altar-tomb in the Church, which is pierced at the sides with large quatrefoils, and bears the designation of “Bartram’s Tomb.” This latter attracted Dr. Plot’s attention, who referred it to St. Bertelline. He was the son of a king, and a hermit, who is related to have lived on an island where the present town of Stafford is situated, till he was disturbed, when he removed into some desert mountainous place, where he ended his life. Plot has concentrated--

“Tradition’s dubious light, That hovers ’twixt the day and night, Dazzling, alternately, and dim,--”

upon the wild hills and dells which abound round Throwley, Ilam, and Dovedale. He enumerates, as corroborative testimony, this tomb, which he considers may have been renewed,--as undoubtedly it must have been if it have reference to the legend; a well, and an ash tree near it, on the western side of Bunster, towards the base;--all of them being then and still popularly appropriated to St. Bertram. St. Bertram’s ash has been cut down in the memory of many living in the village; whilst the water of St. Bertram’s Well, “clear as diamond-spark,” still rills out of the base of the mighty hill.

TRENTHAM HALL,

STAFFORDSHIRE.