Part 21

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 chapel, and, therefore, it is certain that that portion of the building, as well as others which could be pointed out, are the same as when the place was owned by the Peverels and Avenells. Before the year 1199, John, Earl of Morteigne, afterwards King John, by writ directed to his justices, sheriffs, bailiffs, ministers, and all his lieges, granted a licence to Richard de Vernon to fortify his house of Haddon with a wall to the height of twelve feet, without kernel (or _crenelle_, which was an open parapet or battlement with embrasures or loopholes to shoot through), and forbidding his being disturbed in so doing. This interesting licence, now in possession of the Duke of Rutland, is as follows:—“Johannes com. Moret. justic. vice-com. baillivis, ministris, et omnibus fidelibus suis salutem. Sciatis me concessisse et licenciam dedisse Ric. de Vern. firmandi domum suum de Heddon, muro exaltato xij pedibus sine kernello, et idem prohibeo nequis vestrum eum inde disturbet. Test. Rob. de Mara apud Clipeston.” It is endorsed “Breve patens Com. Johannis.”

The earliest portions of the buildings of Haddon now remaining appear to be a part of the chapel, and lower portions of the walls of the south front and of the north-east tower. To the next period, from 1300 to about 1380 (according to Duesbury), belong the hall-porch, the magnificent kitchen and adjoining offices, the great or banqueting hall, the lower west window of the chapel, part of the north-east tower, and part of the cellarage under the long gallery. In the third period, from about 1380 to 1470, were added the east, and part of the west end of the chapel, and the remaining buildings on the east side of the upper court-yard. The fourth period, from 1470 to 1530, comprises the fittings and interior finishings of the dining-room, the western range of buildings in the lower court, and the west end of the north range. The fifth period, from about 1530 to 1624, seems to comprise alterations in the upper court-yard, the long gallery, and terrace and gardens; the pulpit, desk, and pews in the chapel; and the barn and bowling-green. The juxtaposition of the kitchen and great hall show that they belong to the same period. The alterations since that period appear mainly to have been necessary repairs.

The principal apartments of Haddon Hall are the Chapel, the Great, or Banqueting-Hall, with the Minstrels’ Gallery occupying two sides of it; the Dining-room; the Drawing-room; the earl’s Bed-room and adjoining suite of rooms; the Ball-room, or Long Gallery; the Ante-room, from which Dorothy Vernon’s door opens on to the terrace; the State Bed-room; the Ancient State Room, or Page’s Room; the Kitchens; and the Eagle, or Peverel, or King John’s Tower. The entrance in this latter was the principal entrance to the Hall, and communicated with Rowsley and Bakewell by an old road which still exists. It was the only entrance by which horsemen or carriages could enter the Hall. The gateway by which visitors now enter, being intended only for foot-approach, mounted guests had to leave their horses at the gate. Passing in by this gateway, the visitor enters the first, or lower court-yard, and sees around him the chief features of this once gay, but now deserted mansion, grand in its solitude and attractive in its loneliness.

The first room usually shown to visitors is the so-called CHAPLAIN’S ROOM, the first door on the right, after mounting the steps into the lower court. In this small room, and in the closet attached to it, several objects of interest are preserved. Among these are a pair of remarkably fine fire-dogs, a warder’s horn, gigantic jack-Boots, a thick leathern doublet, some matchlocks and some pewter dishes. In this room, a few years ago, a remarkably curious and interesting washing-tally, engraved and described in the “Reliquary,” was found behind the wainscoting. The articles enumerated on this curious relic are “ruffes,” “bandes,” “cuffes,” “handkercher,” “capps,” “shirtes,” “halfshirts,” “boote hose,” “topps,” “sockes,” “sheetes,” “pillowberes,” “tableclothes,” “napkins,” and “towells.” It is in the possession of the Duke of Rutland.

The CHAPEL, which, after the so-called Chaplain’s Room, is the first part of the interior of Haddon Hall shown to visitors, is, as will be seen by reference to the ground-plan, at the south-east corner of the building. It consists, at present, of a nave with side aisle and a chancel, and is entered from the court-yard by an arched doorway opening into a small ante-chapel, or vestibule, through which the visitor passes. At the entrance is a _stoup_, or holy-water basin, and from the ante-chapel a staircase leads up to the turret. The arches and pillars of the nave are Norman; but the arches have been cut from their original semicircular to their present arched form, and the pillars cut and “shaved down,” and their capitals altered in character. Sufficient of these capitals, however, remains to show what was their original design. At the west end of the nave is a remarkably fine and large vestment chest of very thick timber, having carved on its front two shields of arms. At the opposite (east) end of the nave is a carved corbel, and, on the floor, is the fine old altar-table of stone bearing the usual five incised _crosses pattée_, emblematical of the five wounds of our blessed Saviour.

Against one of the pillars is a massive circular Norman font, on which is a curiously constructed cover. This font is engraved on the next page, but unfortunately the artist has omitted the cover. The chancel is raised a little above the nave; and on each side is a large high pew, with open railings in their upper portions, which have been used for the noble families who have inhabited the place; and the carved panels, and the traces of gilding and colour they contain, show, along with the remains of paintings on the walls, how magnificent must have been this place of worship in its palmy days.

The chapel consists of a nave with two aisles of unequal width, and a chancel. The entire length of the chapel is 49 feet, the chancel being 28 feet long, and the nave 21 feet. Each aisle has an arcade of two pointed arches.

The entrance to the chapel is on the north side, near to the west end. The different parts of the chapel appear to be of about the following dates, viz.:—

The south aisle, and centre circular column of its arcade, A.D. 1160. The five windows of this aisle are each of a single light and pointed. The capital of the circular column of the arcade has been cut so as to fit the arches subsequently erected over it. The lower west window, and the north aisle (except the doorway), and the north arcade, are about _A.D._ 1310. A window of this aisle formerly existed to the east of the doorway, but was blocked up when a staircase was made in the vestibule of the chapel, to give access to a small room. The chancel, the clerestory of the nave, and the south arcade, except the circular column, are of about 1425, at which time the glass of the east window was put in by Richard Vernon, as recorded in an inscription on the window itself. The bell-turret is supposed to have been erected by William, son of Richard Vernon, about 1455. The letter W, supposed to be his initial, is carved on the outside of its wall, towards the court-yard. The blocking up of the window of the north aisle, and the construction of the entrance doorway, may be of the same date. William Vernon married Margaret de Pype; and the Pype arms are on one of the south windows of the chancel.

The partial removal of the whitewash of the chapel walls, in 1858, led to several discoveries of the former arrangements of the building, and of the coloured decorations of the walls; and, were it desirable, a complete restoration of the interior to its former state would not be difficult.

There were two altars in the chapel—one at the east end, as usual, and one under the east window of the south aisle. This latter was, no doubt, a chantry. The stone slabs which formed the tops of the altars still exist, and are raised, to the extent of their thickness, above the floor: the east altar-stone is 8 feet by 3 feet, and is 8 inches thick, the edge being a fillet of 3 inches, and a chamfer; the surface is so decayed that only one of its original five _crosses pattée_ now remains.

The altar-stone of the south aisle is 5 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, the edge showing a fillet and chamfer. The five _crosses pattée_ on it are still perfect. The piscina in the chancel still remains, recessed in a fenestella.

The sill of the south window, near the altar, is low, so as to form a sedilia bench. In the middle of the sloping sill of the east window a step has been cut, no doubt for the crucifix to stand on; and on each side of it is a similar step, probably for candlesticks. On the east wall, on each side of the window, is a stone bracket, probably to support an image.

On the east wall of the south aisle there is a bracket with a grotesque head, which was probably intended to support a figure. There are signs of a large bracket having existed on the north side of the altar; and the base-mould of a small column, which possibly supported its front edge, may be seen on a block of stone rising above the pavement.

A very remarkable squint was discovered and reopened in 1859 in the south-west angle of the chancel, through which a view of the priest officiating at the chantry altar could be obtained from the rood-loft above.

In the wall, opposite to this squint, is a doorway, which gave passage from the bell-turret to the rood-loft. The sill of this doorway is 13 feet 9 inches above the chapel floor. The bell itself is now (1871) in use at the new church at Rowsley. It had been taken down from the turret many years ago.

Two fragments of the open-work of the rood-screen may be seen in the west ends of the chancel pews. They are carved in oak.

The font, which is round and perfectly plain, is of the Norman period, and probably of the same date as the early part of the chapel. It is not in its original position. The stoup for holy water is near the entrance door of the chapel.

The windows are not architecturally remarkable, but the glass is deserving of careful attention. It gives an excellent example of very good effect produced by very simple means, and excluding very little light from the interior. Each principal light in the east window, and each light in the head, has a single figure. The drawing, both in expression and in the grace of the drapery, is often very good. Yellow stain is extensively employed, but otherwise colour is sparingly, though very effectively used. There are no canopies, or other architectural accessories. The quarries, forming the groundwork of the windows, come close up to the figures. There are eight patterns of quarries remaining, besides six birds, each of a different form. Most of these patterns are good, and the whole of them may be found in the east window, except one which is in the south-west window of the chancel.

The east window has five lights. Much of the glass has been destroyed; what remains was re-leaded in 1858, and arranged according to the original design. No new coloured glass was introduced, but some old quarries were collected from other windows of the chapel, and placed in the east window to complete the groundwork. In the centre light the figure of our Saviour on the cross is nearly perfect. In the next light, on either side, is a figure more or less mutilated, and each has lost the head. One of them represents the Virgin; the other appears to be St. John, though, apparently through some mistake of the artist, he has the emblems of St. John the Baptist. The figures of the two outer lights are entirely gone. The emblems of two of the evangelists remain. In the lights of the head are figures of saints, generally well drawn. Below the principal figures of this window are three shields of arms, supported by angels, gracefully drawn. These arms are, _argent_, a lion rampant _gules_, ducally crowned, _or_; _argent_, fretty, _sable_, a canton of the first; and another shield, the bearing on which has been lost. At the bottom of the window are the remains of an inscription to Sir Richard Vernon and Benedict Ludlow his wife, as follows:—_Orate pro āiābus Ricardi Vernon et Benedicite uxoris eius qui fecerunt anō d̄ni milesimo_ CCCCXXVII. This Sir Richard Vernon, who was born in 1391, and succeeded his father in 1401, married Benedict, daughter of Sir John Ludlow of Hodnet, and died in 1451. He was “Treasurer of Calais, Captain of Rouen, and Speaker of the Parliament of Leicester, in the fourth year of Henry VI. in 1426.” Above the crucifix are the royal arms, quarterly, first and fourth France, second and third England. In the outer lights are a knight kneeling at a table, and fragments of an ecclesiastic.

The flat-headed windows on each side of the altar, in the north and south sides of the chancel, have each three principal lights, and six lights in the heads, each containing the figure of an apostle, effectively drawn.

The centre light of the north window has a figure of the Virgin being taught to read by St. Anne. To the right of this, as we face the window, is the figure of St. George slaying the dragon, and in the other light is the figure of St. Michael trampling on a six-headed dragon. Beneath, there are three mutilated shields of arms of Vernon, &c., and in the bottom of the window are the remains of a candlestick or hour-glass stand. In the south window are the arms of Pype, _azure_, crucilly of cross-crosslets and two pipes in pale, _or_; and those of Vernon, _argent_, fretty, _sable_, on the dexter side of an impaled shield, the impalement on which is lost. Over the arms of Pype is the fragment of the original inscription, reading “Margareta Pype, vxo.”

The mural decorations, of which traces have been found, are of various character and of much interest. The oldest fragments are two running patterns of good design. One is on the arches of the north arcade, and of the same date as the stonework on which it appears, viz., about 1310. The other, which seems to be of the same age, is on one of the jambs of the east window of the south aisle, over the altar. In this window there are traces of a figure, now almost entirely destroyed. Over the arches of the nave there are traces of two different designs, one on each wall. Both are much defaced. On the west wall of the nave there is a design consisting of a running pattern of rose branches and leaves, with red flowers of five petals. The stems and leaves are shaded grey and black. Traces of the same design have been found on the walls of the south aisle, and on the jambs of its west window. The date of this rose pattern is probably about 1427, when the glass of the east window of the chancel was put in.

There is a pattern of green and dull red on the east wall of the chancel, and on the south wall is a very similar pattern, which enclosed four groups of figures, two on each side of the window over the sedilia bench. There is no border surrounding each group, but merely the diaper pattern. They are probably of the same date as the glass in the east window. The figures of these groups are generally effectively drawn, though with occasional exaggeration and distortion. They are in distemper on the plaster, and are black, with the exception of some dresses, which are green. There are scrolls to each group, corresponding with the number of figures, but without any name. These groups had been much injured before they were covered with whitewash, and the injury appears as if partially intentional. The groups form a series of subjects, and commence with the upper group on the east side of the window. The subject is the presentation of the Virgin in the Temple by Joachim and Anna. The three figures remain. Below this is a group, much injured, apparently Anna teaching the Virgin to read, whilst Joachim stands by. Two of these groups, for which we are indebted to the “Reliquary,” are here shown.

The upper group on the west is a Holy Family. The Virgin holds the infant Jesus in her arms; St. Joseph stands by; St. John the Baptist raises his hands and eyes towards the infant Saviour.

Below this is a group, much injured, with four scrolls, and apparently four figures. A female figure, probably the Virgin, seems to be carrying a child, whilst a male figure follows behind. There seem to be indications of a fourth and small figure. The subject appears to be the flight into Egypt, with, contrary to custom, the figure of St. John introduced.

Traces of colour are found on the fenestella of the piscina, on the circular columns of the south arcade, and on the brackets near the altar.

Leaving the chapel, the visitor will cross the court-yard to the BANQUETING-HALL; but he will notice on his way a flight of stone steps leading from the court-yard, near the doorway of the ante-chapel, up to the state apartments, so that the family could attend the chapel without passing through the hall, and could also, with their guests, be admitted at other times to their suite of rooms.

In this first court-yard he will also do well to take especial notice of the beautiful and intricate designs on the lead-work of the heads of the spouts—many of which are filled with delicate Gothic tracery—and the gargoyles, or water-spouts, some of which are grotesquely carved in figures of curious character, and some of them of uncouth shape. One or two of these we have engraved on another page.

Entering the open doorway of the advanced porch, which, with a wide passage adjoining, forms the way through to the inner, or second court-yard, the visitor will notice, standing on the stone bench on his left hand, a fine Roman altar which, many years ago, was dug up in the grounds. It bears the inscription,—

DEO MARTI BRACIACÆ OSITTIVS CAECILIANS PRAEFECT COH I AQVITANO V S

which may be rendered, “To the God Mars, Braciaca, Osittius, Caecilianus, Prefect of the first Cohort of the Aquitani, in performance of a vow”—the term _Braciacæ_: as applied to Mars being singular.

To the left of the passage four arched doorways conduct respectively to the buttery, the great kitchen, and other domestic offices, and to a staircase leading to the long suite of chambers on the north side, and also communicating, by means of a gallery in the Banqueting-Hall, with all the other apartments of the building. To the right is a massive and time-worn oak screen, with two open doorways, which divides the Banqueting-Hall from the passage. Entering by the first of these openings in the screen, the visitor will not fail to notice a suspicious-looking little iron bracket with ring attached, high above his head. This, tradition says, was an instrument of punishment for enforcing the observance of laws of conviviality. For it is said, if, in the days of feasting and merriment in the “good old times,” a man should fail to drink up his quota of liquor, he was fastened up by the wrist to this ring, and the liquor poured down his sleeve so as gradually to trickle down him on to the floor; or, if guilty of any other breach of the law or decorum of the board, he was similarly tied up, and compelled so to remain during the carousal, and was treated now and then not only with a stream of cold water poured down his sleeve, but by other indignities forced upon him.

The BANQUETING-HALL, or GREAT HALL, as it is sometimes called, measures, within the screen, about 35 feet in length, and about 25 in width, and it is of the full height of the building, with an open timber roof. It is entered, as has just been stated, by two open doorways in the screen which separates it from the passage. The screen also forms the front of the MINSTRELS’ GALLERY over the passage. The screen is beautifully panelled, each panel being headed with cinquefoil cusps, above which is other Gothic tracery of elegant design. At the opposite end from this screen is the raised daïs for the lord and his family and honoured guests, where still stands the grand old table on which so many of the good things of this life have been spread in ages long since passed away.

This table is one of the finest examples of its kind yet remaining anywhere in existence—it is now worm-eaten and decayed, like those who once feasted around it; but still it stands, a proud monument of those ancient times so long gone by. Over the daïs a modern window has been inserted, and formerly a doorway, to the left of the lord as he sat in the centre of the large table, opened into what is now the dining-room, but in those days was the withdrawing-room.

To the right hand, on entering, is the gigantic fire-place with its huge open chimney; and on the opposite side, at the end next the high table, a flight of steps leads up to the state apartments; and close by, through a corner partitioned off by the oak wainscoting, another door leads to the private dining-room and to the grounds. On the walls of the Banqueting-Hall are some magnificent stags’ heads and antlers, which bear evidence not only of extremely fine growth, but of great age, since they fell to the lord of the chase. There are also several pieces of old furniture: and on the walls are oil-paintings of Martin Middleton of Hazelbadge, and of an old and favourite huntsman and gamekeeper—honoured and respected retainers of the family.

The galleried passage, of a later date, to the Minstrels’ Gallery, occupies one side, and the “Minstrels’ Gallery” itself one end, of the Banqueting-Hall—that portion of the gallery along the side forming a passage from the drawing-room and state apartments on one side to the range of rooms on the other. The portion of the gallery over the end of the hall is considerably wider than the other, and would hold a goodly company of minstrels, or of guests, to look down on the “lord of misrule” and other revels below. In one of our engravings we show the panelled front of the Minstrels’ Gallery, and on the preceding page we give a vignette of the entrance to the gallery from the drawing room.

Passing out from the Banqueting-Hall, the visitor should next enter the DINING-ROOM, which is one of the most charming, and certainly one of the most interesting, apartments in the whole building. The end opposite to the entrance doorway is entirely taken up by a Gothic window of eight lights, filled with glass disposed in an elaborate geometric pattern. In some of the lights are shields of arms in stained glass, one of which displays the arms of Vernon with its quarterings of Avenell, Pype, &c., &c.; another, Vernon only; and another, Vernon impaled. This room is wainscoted, the upper row of panels throughout being filled in with exquisitely-carved Gothic tracery and with heraldic bearings, &c.