Part 20

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 _Châtellenie_ of Vernon, forming one of the territorial subdivisions of that country: the castle, with its hereditary lords, is recorded in the Anglo-Norman chronicles. According to the present territorial division of France, Vernon is a commune in the _Département de l’Eure_ and _Arrondissement d’Evreux_; and as being the _chef-lieu_, gives name to the canton in which it is situate. From this locality, one of the most picturesque and luxuriant of the vine districts, the family of Vernon takes its origin; and also the ancient family of De Redvers—the two families, indeed, being originally identical, the name of De Redvers having been assumed by a Vernon in the eleventh century, from the place of his residence, Révière, in Normandy: his family were “Comtes de Révières and Vernon, and Barons de Néhou;” both families tracing from the d’Ivry stock. Mauriscus d’Ivry (father of Robert d’Ivry), who was father of Alselin Goël—the names of whose sons, Roger Pincerna, surnamed “the stammerer,” Lord of the Castle of Grossœuvre; William Lupellus (Lovel), who acquired the castle of Ivry on the death of his elder brother; and Robert Goël—are well known in history; the one as holding the Honour of Ivry in right of his descent from Count Ralph, uterine-brother of Richard I., Duke of Normandy; another as the founder of the family of Lovel; and the third as having held his castle of Grossœuvre against King Stephen; he had a son, Baldwin, who took the surname of De Revers from the place of his residence: and two generations later, William, the son of Richard, assumed the name of Vernon, from the _Châtellenie_ of that name which he held. His son, Hugh de Revers, or Vernon, usually called Hugh de Monachus, had a son, William de Vernon, Lord of Vernon, who founded the Abbey of Montebourg. By his wife Emma he had issue two sons, Walter and Richard: the latter of whom, Richard de Redvers (as the name became afterwards spelled), or Vernon, came over at the Conquest, and was created Baron of Shipbroke in Cheshire. He married Adeliza, daughter of William Peverel of Nottingham, and received with her in frank-marriage—that is, a free gift of an estate given with a wife on her marriage, and descendable to their joint heirs—the manor of Wolleigh, Buckinghamshire. One of these sons, Baldwin de Redvers, was created Earl of Devon, and from him descended the line of earls of that name; while William de Redvers, who inherited the Norman baronies of Vernon, Révières, and Néhou, re-assumed the surname of Vernon from those possessions. He had an only son and heir, Hugh de Vernon, Baron of Shipbroke, who married a daughter of Raynold Badgioll, Lord of Erdiswicke and Holgrave. By this lady he had a numerous issue: the eldest, Warin, continuing the barony of Shipbroke; Matthew, inheriting the lordships of Erdeswicke and Holgrave, who was ancestor of the Vernons of those places, and Richard, already alluded to. This Richard de Vernon married Avice, the daughter and co-heiress of William de Avenell, Lord of Haddon; his other daughter and co-heiress marrying Sir Simon Bassett. By marriage with this lady Richard de Vernon acquired Haddon and other estates, and thus became settled at Haddon Hall. He had issue, an only daughter and heiress, who married Gilbert le Francis; and their son, Richard le Francis, took the name of Vernon, on coming into the property, and settled at Haddon. He married Mary, daughter of Robert, Baron of Stockport. His descendant, Sir Richard Vernon, Lord of Haddon and of Appleby, &c., married Maude, daughter and co-heiress of William de Camville, by whom he had an only son and heir, William Vernon, who was only ten years of age at his father’s death in 1422, when he was found heir to his grandfather. In 1330 he obtained a grant of free warren, or the exclusive right of killing beasts and birds of warren within prescribed limits in the royal forests, &c., from the king. He married Joan, daughter of Rhee, or Rhis, ap Griffith, and heiress of Richard Stackpole, and had issue by her Sir Richard Vernon, Knt., of Pembrugge (sometimes called Sir Richard de Pembrugge), Lord of Haddon and Tonge, which latter lordship he acquired by his marriage with the sister and heiress of Sir Fulke de Pembrugge, or Pembridge, Lord of Tonge in Shropshire. Their son, Richard Vernon, was father of Richard Vernon, Treasurer of Calais, Captain of Rouen, and Speaker in the Parliament at Leicester in 1426. By his wife, Benedict, daughter of St. John Ludlow of Hodnet, he had issue, with others, Sir William Vernon, Knt., who, marrying Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Pype of Spernore, acquired that manor and lordship. He was buried at Tonge, where a monument was placed to his memory.

His son, or grandson, Sir Henry Vernon, was made governor to Prince Arthur by King Henry VII., with whom he was a great favourite. He married Anne, daughter of John, second Earl of Shrewsbury, by Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James, Earl of Ormond. By this marriage he had issue, Sir Henry Vernon, who was made High Steward of the King’s Forest in the Peak by Henry VIII., and held many other posts. He had issue, two sons, Sir George Vernon and Sir John Vernon. Sir Henry died in 1515, and was succeeded by his oldest son, Sir George, “the King of the Peak,” who succeeded to the Haddon and other estates, as will presently be shown.

Sir John Vernon, Knt., married Helen, daughter and co-heiress of John Montgomery, of Sudbury, in Derbyshire, with whom he received the Sudbury and other estates, and thus founded the family of Lords Vernon. He was one of the King’s Council in Wales, and Custos Rotulorum of Derbyshire, and dying in 1540, was buried at Clifton Camville. He was succeeded by his son, Henry Vernon, who, in his turn, was succeeded by his son, John Vernon, who married Mary, widow of Walter Vernon, of Houndhill, and daughter of Sir Edward Littleton, of Pillaton Hall, by whom, however, he had no issue. On his death in 1600, the estates passed to his stepson, Edward Vernon, the eldest son of his wife by her former husband, the family consisting of three surviving sons—Edward, Thomas, and Walter—and four daughters. By this lady, while a second time a widow, Sudbury Hall is said to have been erected. Edward Vernon was succeeded by his son, Henry Vernon, who married the sole daughter of Sir George Vernon, of Haslington, in Cheshire, and by her had issue a son, George, who succeeded him. This George Vernon was thrice married: first to Margaret, daughter of Edward Onely, by whom he had no issue; and, third, to Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon, Knt., merchant, of London. By this lady he had a numerous family, and was succeeded by his eldest and sole-surviving son and heir, Henry Vernon, who married, first, Anne, sole daughter of Thomas Pigott, Esq., and heiress of her mother, who was sister and sole heiress of Peter Venables, last Baron Kinderton; and, second, Matilda, daughter of Thomas Wright, Esq., of Longston. Henry Vernon, who thus inherited the estates of the Venables, assumed that surname in addition to his own. He had issue by his first wife, among others, a son, George Venables-Vernon, by whom he was succeeded. George Venables-Vernon married three times. By his first wife, the Hon. Mary Howard, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Howard, sixth Lord Howard of Effingham, he had issue a son, the second Lord Vernon, and a daughter, Mary, married to George Anson, of Orgrave, the father of the first Viscount Anson. By his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Lee, he had no issue; but by his third wife, Martha, sister to Simon Harcourt, first Earl Harcourt, he had a numerous family, as will be shown. This George Venables-Vernon was created Baron Vernon of Kinderton in 1762, and at his death was succeeded in his titles and estates by the eldest son of his first marriage, George Venables-Vernon, as second Lord Vernon, who married, first, the Hon. Louisa Barbarina, daughter of Bussey, Lord Mansell, by whom he had an only daughter, who died unmarried; and, second, to Georgiana, daughter of William Fanquier, Esq., by whom he had also an only daughter, Georgiana, married to Lord Suffield. His lordship was succeeded in title and estates by his brother, the Hon. Henry Vernon, as third Lord Vernon. This nobleman—whose brother Edward took the surname of Harcourt, and became Archbishop of York, and one of whose sisters, as has been shown, married the father of the first Viscount Anson, and another, Elizabeth, became the wife of George Simon, second Lord Harcourt—married twice. By his first wife, Elizabeth Rebecca Anne, daughter of Charles Sedley, Esq., of Nuttall, his lordship had issue two daughters (one of whom the Hon. Catherine, died unmarried; and the other, the Hon. Louisa Henrietta, married the Rev. Brooke Boothby, Prebendary of Southwell) and one son, George Charles Venables-Vernon, who succeeded him as fourth Lord Vernon. This nobleman married, in 1802, Frances Maria, daughter and heiress of Sir John Borlase Warren, Bart., K.B., of Stapleford, by whom he had issue the Hon. George John Venables-Vernon, fifth Lord Vernon, who assumed the surname of Warren by sign manual in 1837, for himself and the children only who should be born after that date. His lordship married twice: first to Isabella Caroline, eldest daughter of Cuthbert Ellison, Esq., M.P., by whom he had issue the present Lord Vernon, and the Hon. William John Borlase Warren Venables-Vernon (who assumed the additional surname of Warren), and three daughters; and second, in 1859, his cousin, Frances Maria Emma, daughter of the Rev. Brooke Boothby, who still survives him, without issue. Lord Vernon, as the Hon. George John Vernon, was M.P. for Derbyshire from 1830 until, on the death of his father, he entered the Upper House. He was one of the most energetic supporters of the rifle movement, being himself the most skilful rifle-shooter of his day, carrying off the principal prizes at the various Swiss Tirs, as well as elsewhere. As a scholar his lordship ranked very high, and the “Dante,” edited by him, is the most sumptuous work of its kind ever attempted. Lord Vernon died in 1866, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the Hon. Augustus Henry Venables-Vernon, as sixth Lord Vernon, the present peer, who was born in Rome in 1829, and was Captain in the Scots Fusilier Guards, and Captain Commandant of the Second Battalion of Derbyshire Rifle Volunteers. His lordship married, in 1851, Lady Hariet Anson, daughter of the Earl of Lichfield, by whom he has issue two sons and four daughters.

Having now shown the descent of the Lords Vernon from the old lords of Haddon, we return to the “King of the Peak”—Sir George Vernon—and his heiresses. He, as has been stated, succeeded to the estates in 1515, and at the time of his death, in 1567, was possessed of no fewer than thirty manors in Derbyshire alone. He was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Gilbert Taylebois, Knt.; and, secondly, to Maude, daughter of Sir Ralph Langford. He had issue, two daughters, his co-heiresses, Margaret and Dorothy, whose husbands inherited his immense possessions. Margaret Vernon married Sir Thomas Stanley, Knt., of Winwick, in Lancashire, second son of Edward Stanley, third Earl of Derby; and Dorothy Vernon, whose name has become “a household word” in this locality, married Sir John Manners, Knt., second son of Thomas Manners, first Earl of Rutland, and direct ancestor of the present Duke of Rutland. To this branch we shall presently have to refer at greater length.

Sir George Vernon lived at Haddon in such a style of princely magnificence and hospitality as to earn for himself the title of “King of the Peak.” It is said that he was generous and hospitable, as well one of as just and strict, of men, although given perhaps to undue severity and to an indulgence in “Lynch law;” and that he lived and died in the “good esteem” of all men.

One tradition, briefly told, will sufficiently illustrate the firmness and decision of his character, and the power he held over the actions and even the lives of the people around him. It is related that a pedlar who had been hawking his wares in the neighbourhood was found murdered in a lonely spot. He had been seen the evening before to enter a cottage, and never afterwards seen alive. As soon as Sir George became aware of the fact of the crime having been committed, he had the body of the pedlar removed to Haddon, laid in the hall, and covered with a sheet. He then sent for the cottager to come immediately, and, on his arrival, at once questioned him as to where the pedlar was who was seen to enter his house the night before. The man denied having seen him or knowing anything about him; when Sir George uncovered the body before him, ordering that all persons present should touch the body in succession, at the same time declaring their innocence of the murder. The suspected man, when his turn came, declined to touch the body, and instantly rushed out of the Hall, and made his way, “as fast as his legs could carry him,” through Bakewell and towards Ashford. Sir George instantly ordered his men to mount and follow him, and to hang him wherever they caught him. The murderer was caught in a field opposite the present toll-bar at Ashford, and at once hanged, and the field still bears the name of the “Gallows Acre,” or “Galley Acre.” Sir George is said to have been cited to London for this extraordinary piece of Lynch law, and when he appeared in court he was summoned twice to surrender as “the King of the Peak.” To these he made no reply, and the third time he was called on as Sir George Vernon, when he stepped forward and acknowledged himself—“Here am I!” Having been summoned as “the King of the Peak,” the indictment fell through, and Sir George was admonished and discharged. Sir George Vernon is buried in Bakewell Church, where a remarkably fine and well-preserved altar-tomb bears the recumbent effigies of himself and his two wives.

Dorothy Vernon, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Sir George, and over whom such “a halo of romantic interest” rests, is said to have been one of the most beautiful of all beautiful women, and possessed of so sweet a temper, that she was idolised by all who knew her. If it were so, however, the monument at Bakewell does not fairly represent her, for it exhibits her with an expression of countenance far from either amiable or attractive. The story of her life, according to popular belief, is that, while her elder sister, fortunate in an open attachment to Sir Thomas Stanley, the son of the Earl of Derby, and his affianced bride, was petted and “made much of,” she, the younger, was kept in the background, having formed a secret attachment to John Manners, son of the Earl of Rutland—an attachment which was opposed by her father, sister, and stepmother; she was, therefore, closely watched, and kept almost a prisoner. Her lover is said to have disguised himself as a woodman, or forester, and to have remained in hiding in the woods around Haddon for several weeks, in order to obtain stolen glances of, and occasional brief meetings with, Dorothy. At length, on a festive night at Haddon—tradition states it to have been on one of the “merry meetings,” consequent on the marriage of her sister Margaret—Dorothy is said to have stolen away unobserved in the midst of the merriment in the ball-room, and to have quietly passed out of the door of the adjoining ante-room on to the terrace, which she crossed, and having ascended the steps on the other side, her lover’s arms received her; horses were in waiting, and they rode off in the moonlight all through the night, and were married in Leicestershire the next morning. The door through which the heiress eloped is always pointed out to visitors as “Dorothy Vernon’s Door.”

Thus the Derbyshire estates of Sir George Vernon passed to John Manners, and thus it was the noble house of Rutland became connected with Haddon and the county of Derby.

John Manners, the husband of Dorothy Vernon, was knighted shortly after his marriage. They had issue three sons: Sir George Manners, who succeeded to the estates; John Manners, who died in 1590, aged 14; and Sir Roger Manners of Whitwell, who died in 1650; also one daughter, Grace, who became the wife of Sir Francis Fortescue. Dorothy died in 1584, and her husband in 1611. They were both buried in Bakewell Church, where their monument will no doubt be looked upon with interest by all visitors to the district.

Haddon continued to be one of the residences of this branch of the Manners family, ennobled in 1641 by the inheritance of the Rutland peerage, until they quitted it in the early part of the last century for Belvoir Castle, of which we shall, on a future occasion, take note.

The HALL stands on a natural elevation—a platform of limestone—above the eastern bank of the Wye: the river is crossed by a pretty, yet venerable, bridge, passing which, we are at the foot of the rock, immediately fronting the charming cottage which is the lodge of the custodian who keeps the keys. In the garden we make our first acquaintance with the boar’s head and the peacock—shaped from growing yew-trees—the crests of the families whose dwelling we are about to enter. This cottage adjoins the old stables; their antiquity is denoted by several sturdy buttresses. To the right of the great entrance-door are the steps—placed there long ago—to assist ladies in mounting their steeds, when ladies used to travel sitting on a pillion behind the rider: the custom is altogether gone out; but in our younger days, not only did the farmer’s wife thus journey to market, but dames of distinction often availed themselves of that mode of visiting, carrying hood and farthingale, and hoop also, in leathern panniers at their sides, and jewels for ornament in caskets on their laps.

The visitor now stands before the old gateway, with its massive nail-studded door, and will note the noble flight of freestone steps, where time and use have left the marks of frequent footsteps. Indeed, the top step—just opposite the small entrance wicket in the larger door—is actually worn through in the shape of a human foot. He will also notice the extreme beauty and elegance of design of the Gothic architecture of this part of the building, and the heraldic bearings with which it is decorated. Beneath the entrance archway on the right is the guard-room of the “sturdy porter” of old times: his “peep-hole” is still there, the framework of his bedstead, and the fire-place that gave him comfort when keeping watch and ward.

After mounting the inner steps, the visitor passes into the first court-yard, and will not fail to notice the remarkable character of the splaying and chamfering of the building in the angle over the inner archway. This is one of the most remarkable features of the building. Its strange character is to some extent occasioned by the winding of a double spiral stone staircase, leading to the tower over the entrance archway. The inside of this gateway, with the enormous hoop, said to have been the hoop of a mash-tub, hanging on the wall, is shown in our vignette.

We are now in the lower court-yard, and at once perceive that Haddon consists of two court-yards, or quadrangles, with buildings surrounding each. Immediately opposite the gateway are the stone steps that lead to the state apartments; to the right is the chapel, and to the left, the HALL proper, with its minstrels’ gallery and other objects of curious—some of unique interest. The general arrangement will be best understood by the ground-plan, which, however, requires some explanation.

On account of the abruptness of the slope on which Haddon is built, it stands so unevenly, that a horizontal line drawn from the ground in the archway under the Peverel Tower would pass _over_ the entrance archway. Consequently, that archway, the porter’s lodge, and entrance to the spiral staircase on its right hand, and on the left the two rooms entered from the walk behind the partition wall, and before mounting the steps, form what may, looking at it in that light, be called a basement story, to which also belongs the cellar, entered by a flight of fourteen steps descending from the buttery. Lysons, in his “Magna Britannia,” vol. v., engraves—first, a basement plan, comprising the entrance archway and the low rooms above alluded to; second, a ground plan; third, a plan of the upper floor, including the ball-room and other state rooms; and the numerous bed-rooms and other apartments on the north and west sides. These plans are extremely correct and minute: it transpires from letters in the Lysons’ correspondence (Addit. MS. 9,423, British Museum), that they were made by the surveyor of the then duke, to illustrate a little privately printed account of Haddon, written by himself, and were lent to Lysons for his work by D’Ewes Coke, Esq., barrister-at-law, then steward to the duke. The designations given by Lysons to the apartments are therefore probably correct. From his lists, and a curious catalogue of the apartments at Haddon, date 1666, we gather the general inference that the rooms on the west side of the lower court were, in the latter days of its occupation, occupied by the officials of the household; those on the entire south side were the state rooms; those on the east side of the upper court were the family apartments—the bed-rooms extending down to the intersection of the lower court; those over the front archway, &c., were the nursery apartments; and the library is believed to have occupied the rooms between these and the entrance tower.

There are second-floor apartments, not planned in Lysons, over the Peverel Tower and its adjoining rooms, and over one half of the north side, from that tower to the junction of the courts. Also solitary second-floor rooms in the Entrance Tower, Central Tower, and over the staircase leading to the ball-room. There is but one third-floor room, it is in the Eagle Tower, and is the highest apartment in the Hall.

The plan we engrave will be found the most useful to visitors. It gives the ground-plan irrespective of levels (which would only be bewildering to the visitor), with the exception of the slightly elevated ball-room and state-rooms in the upper court-yard. In fact, from even these being entered from the terrace, the whole of the plan we have prepared may, for _general_ purposes, be said to be that of the ground-floor.

On the east side there are but slight differences between the ground-floor and first-floor rooms, excepting those over the kitchen and adjoining offices, and over the central archway. On the south side the differences are material. The ball-room covers six ground-floor cellar rooms. The drawing-room is over the dining-room; and the earl’s bed-chamber and other rooms are over the long narrow ground-floor passages between that and the chapel. On the west side also the arrangement differs considerably.