The Stately Homes of England

The history of Audley End has been pretty fully told in the history of the families to whom it has belonged; but little, therefore, need be added. The architect of the mansion h...

“On each side of the hall,” writes Mr. Parker, “were two tables and benches, which, if not actually contemporaneous with it, were certainly among the earliest pieces of furnitur...

Some fine antlers, and parts of antlers, of the red deer, one of which, with four points at the top, measured more than three feet along its outer curve, and was six-and-a-half...

It may be accepted as probable that the first Norman by whom this barony was held was Gilbert Tyson, standard-bearer of the Conqueror, the kind of personage who very naturally w...

The renowned “family picture” by Vandyke is beyond question the great painter’s masterpiece: it is 17 feet in length, by 11 feet in height, and fills one end of the drawing-room...

Most of the points of interest have now been described; but the curious rambler, who may choose to linger and pry into nooks and corners, will do well to visit some of the basem...

Quite unlike the others, it was, with the exception of the flanking towers at either end, nearly flat. The first, or western of these, called the Duke’s Tower, is very large and...

Some portions of the building are of undoubted Norman origin, and it is not unlikely that even they were grafted on a Saxon erection. Norman remains will be noticed in the chape...

Among the portraits in this fine old room are the present Lord Hampton; the Earl of Strafford; Hester Perrott, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Herbert Perrott, of Haroldstone,...

The park of Cassiobury embraces an area of nearly seven hundred acres, of which more than three hundred and fifty are called “the Home Park,” and about two hundred and fifty the...

In the fifth year of King John, Baldwin de Betune gave the manors of Knole, Sevenoaks, Bradborne, Kemsing, and Seale in “frank marriage” with his daughter Alice, on her marriage...

Over the doorways, beneath cusped Gothic arches, are also the arms of Cavendish, with crescent for difference. This room, like every other portion of the edifice, has been great...

The ornamental grounds are, as will have been gathered from this description, a deep valley or ravine, which, made lovely in the highest and wildest degree by nature, has been c...

Mount Edgcumbe is in Cornwall; but until recently it was a part of Devonshire; the Act of Parliament that removed it from one county to the other dating no further back than 185...

Of the fine old oaks in Kedleston Park it is enough to say they are among the largest and most picturesque in the kingdom, the “King Oak” being twenty-two feet in circumference...

To Hever the King repaired on a visit, but probably suspecting the cause of his arrival, Anne, under the pretext of sickness, kept closely to her chamber, which she did not leav...

The Staircase leads, almost direct, to KING JAMES’S ROOM, or the GREAT CHAMBER, one of the noblest apartments of the house, the extreme magnificence of which it is not easy to d...

Under the east end of the castle is a large vault, upwards of 60 feet in length, the massive walls of which are formed of blocks of chalk, strengthened with ribs of stone, and a...

The “stagges” being, no doubt, the stags of the Hardwick arms. On each side of the tablet are the arms of Hardwick and Talbot impaled, &c. From this room a doorway in the tapest...

And here we resume our survey of the castle, setting forth towards the Keep from within the Gate-House, which is itself situated within the Barbican. We proceed eastwards to the...

To him, Mr. Hodgson is of opinion, is to be ascribed the first foundation of the manor. The descendant of Dolfin, Robert Fitz-Maldred, lineal heir to Ughtred, Earl of Northumber...

Mr. Lucas, who is the eldest son of the late James Lucas, Esq., was born in 1820, and in 1840 was married to Miss Tiffin, by whom he has, with other issue, a son, Charles James...

From the south windows of this suite of rooms a magnificent view of the grounds is obtained. Immediately beneath is the spacious lawn, bordered with raised parterres, festoon fl...

“Beneath, a sleeping infant lies, To earth whose body lent, More glorious shall hereafter rise, Though not more innocent; When the Archangel’s trump shall blow, And souls to bod...

From this John, Earl of Shrewsbury,—“the scourge of France,” “so much feared abroad that with his name the mothers still their babes,”—the manor and estates of Alton and elsewhe...

This will make the world think that the King hath good counsellors about him, when the Duke of Buckingham, the greatest man about him, is a fellow of no more sobriety than to fi...

The Cartoon Gallery—so called as containing copies in oil by Mytens of six of the cartoons of Raffaelle—is also full of historic portraits. In this room are some remarkably fine...

His lordship, dying unmarried in 1761, was succeeded by his brother George as third baron. This nobleman, who had sat in several parliaments, and held various public offices (am...

The House of Vernon is of very considerable antiquity, and derives its name, as do many others in the Baronage of England, from its primitive domicile in Normandy—the _Châtellen...

The Library has a beautiful ceiling, and is fitted with carved book-cases, containing editions of all modern authors. In the extensive collection few works of merit and interest...

The estates and earldom having reverted to the crown under Henry I., were settled upon that monarch’s second wife, Adeliza, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, who married, for he...

This Sir Edward Jernegan was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Edmund Bedingfield, Knt.; and, secondly, to Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Scroope, son...

The Library, perhaps the finest apartment in the mansion, is a noble room, of large size and lofty proportions, and fitted in a style of great magnificence. The geometric ceilin...

During the civil wars the old hall of Chatsworth was taken possession of, and garrisoned, in 1643, for the Parliament by Sir John Gell, being then placed under the command of Ca...

George Cavendish, the eldest of these three sons, was of Glemsford, and Cavendish Overhall, and is said to have been the author of “Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey,” although the aut...

The Kitchen and Fruit Gardens are about eight acres in extent within the walls, and more than that outside. They are arranged in the most effective, convenient, and admirable ma...

“Joane Talbot, married to John Carew. Joane Talbot to John de Dartmouth. Elizabeth Talbot to Waren Archdekene. Katherine Talbot to Sir Roger Chandos. Phillippa Talbot to Sir Mat...

Sir John Pakington, who, having married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Keys, died in 1688, and was in turn succeeded by his only child, Sir John Pakington, the fourth baronet, w...

The arms of the Duke of Devonshire are—_sable_, three harts’ heads, caboshed, _argent_, attired, _or_. Crest: a serpent noued, _proper_. Supporters: two bucks, _proper_, each wr...

Henry Lowther, as third Earl of Lonsdale and Viscount and Baron Lowther of Whitehaven, of the second creation, who was the son of Colonel the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther (second so...

Sir Nathaniel Curzon, Bart., succeeded his father in 1686. He married Sarah, daughter of William Penn, of Penn, in the county of Bucks, by whom he had issue five sons and four d...

The Countess, whose story is thus so plaintively told, died on the 18th of January, 1797, at the early age of twenty-four, and her portrait, preserved in the house, cannot but i...

Sir John Coke, the first of the family who settled at Melbourne, was born in 1563, and greatly distinguished himself by his learning. He was successively Professor of Rhetoric a...

In 1723 he was created Viscount Darnley of Athboy, and in 1725 Earl of Darnley, both in the peerage of Ireland. He also succeeded to the title of Baron Clifton of Leighton Broms...

and at the base, “In memoriam Matris,” the following:—“This monument to the beloved memory of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, wife of George Granville, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, i...

“At last, as malice increased in these damnable women, so his family felt the smart of their revenge and inficious disposition; for his eldest son, Henry, Lord Rosse, sickened v...

In the West Lodge, at the entrance gates, are also preserved many fragments of ancient sculpture, and a portion of a Roman tesselated pavement with _guilloche_ pattern and other...

Over the centre of the fire-place are the royal arms of England (quarterly France and England) with the supporters, a greyhound and a griffin, and on the one side a shield beari...

This Sir Robert was returned, in the seventeenth year of Edward III., as one of the principal persons in the county of Northumberland, and was entitled to bear arms by descent....

Arms of Manners, 1001, 1006, 1009, 1014; De Todeni, 1003; De Albini, 1003; De Ros, 1003; Duke of Rutland, 1001, 1009, 1014; Duke of Sutherland, 1033, 1042; Leveson, 1042; Earl D...

At a little distance across the park is Lowther Church, with the family Mausoleum in its churchyard. The Mausoleum, upon which the gifted poet, the Rev. James Dixon, wrote the f...

During all this time, Anne, Countess of Warwick, widow of Richard Nevil, had undergone great privations—her possessions being taken from her for her daughters’ husbands—and had...

The present church, completed in 1870, is a remarkably fine and elegant structure, with a lofty tower and broach spire at its west end; of it we give an engraving, as seen from...

And we rejoice to know that the noble line of the Percies was not destined finally to fail with a failure of a direct heir male; it also is a subject for rejoicing that over the...

By her second husband, Sir William Cavendish, she alone had issue. These were, as already detailed, Sir Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, who married the Lady Grace Talbot; Sir Willi...

The history of the house is thus told; but it has no pretensions to the name of a castle: the mansion is free from all semblance of character as a place for defence, being simpl...

Sir Henry Sidney had been brought up and educated with Edward VI., “being companion and many times the bedfellow of the prince;” and that young king died in his arms. This death...

The principal remaining apartment—and of this we give an illustration—is at the top of that portion of the building which overlooks the valley. It is called the “Giants’ Chamber...

Intimately connected with Warwick Castle and its former lords, is the Beauchamp Chapel attached to St. Mary’s Church. The chapel is one of the most exquisitely beautiful buildin...

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original 380 illustrations. See 51173-h.htm or 51173-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epu...

View from one of the Towers 1001 Belvoir Castle from the Grantham Road 1002 Arms of De Todeni, De Albini, and De Ros 1003 Ancient Arms of Manners 1006 Belvoir Castle from the No...

[29] In Domesday it is stated that in the time of King Edward the Confessor the Castle of Arundel yielded 40_s._ for a mill, 20_s._ for three feasts, and 20_s._ for a pasture. T...