Part 22
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 bearing the three feathers of the Prince of Wales, with the initials E. P., and on the other the arms of Vernon with its quarterings, and supported by a lion and a boar. Below these is the motto, “DREDE GOD AND HONOR THE KYNG,” carved in Gothic capitals. Near this also is the carved inscription, “Anno Dni 1545. Monseigneir de Vernon,” and, with arms, the initials “G. V.,” and “M. V.” The remainder of this fine old heraldic frieze contains a large number of shields bearing the arms of the Vernons and of the various families allied with them, interspersed with the Vernon crest, &c. At the end of the room next the fire-place is a small, but exquisitely beautiful, recessed or oriel window, with seats on all sides, and forming one of the most delicious little retirements imaginable—overlooking, as it does, the lawns and terraces, and the romantic grounds and winding river, of Haddon. This recess is panelled in the same elaborate heraldic and Gothic manner as the room itself, and, besides the coats of arms and crests, bears on one of its panels a grotesque head of a court fool, or jester, traditionally said to have been intended as a portrait of Will Somers, jester to the “merry monarch” and to his predecessor; and on two others the heads of Henry VII. and his Queen, Elizabeth of York.
The ceiling of the dining-room is divided into compartments by transverse beams, and has been elaborately painted and decorated. In the large window will be noticed a fine old wine-cooler of bronze, and the fire-place and fire-dogs are also very curious and interesting.
Passing out from the dining-room, the visitor will next ascend the stone stairs leading up from the Banqueting-Hall to the state apartments. Arriving at the top of this short staircase he will find three doorways, that to the left opening into the long gallery, or ball-room; the one to the right giving access to the drawing-room, the Earl’s room, &c.; and the third simply opening to a staircase to the leads, &c. Passing through the door to the right the visitor enters the DRAWING-ROOM, which is situated over the Dining-room just described. It is a charming room, hung with grand old tapestry, above which is a frieze of ornamented mouldings, in pargetting work. This frieze is of five heights, each being decorated with a separate moulding of raised festoons, fruits, flowers, &c.
To the left, on entering, is a beautiful recessed, or bay, window, over the similar one in the Dining-room; and from this window one of the most beautiful views of the terrace, the foot-bridge, the river, and the grounds, is obtained. This window recess is wainscoted in panels, which have originally been painted and gilt—portions of the colour and gilding still remaining; its ceiling is in the form of a large star of eight points, with intersecting segments of circles attaching the inner angles to each other, and forming a geometric pattern of great beauty. The ceiling of the room is also richly ornamented. Above and around the fire-place the wall is wainscoted in panels, in a similar manner to the recess. In the fire-place is one of the most curious of existing grates, the alternate upright bars of which terminate in _fleurs-de-lis_, and a pair of exquisitely beautiful fire-dogs; the two bosses on each being of open metal-work, of the most chaste and elaborate design and workmanship. They are of brass; and the bosses, which are circular, are designed in foliage and flowers.
In these beautiful remains Haddon is especially rich; but the pair in this room, and the two remarkably fine enamelled bosses in the so-called “Chaplain’s Room,” are the most interesting and elegant. Opposite to the recessed window, a doorway in the tapestry opens upon the side gallery of the “Banqueting Hall,” and so gives access to, and communication with, the apartments on the opposite side of the quadrangle.
The opposite end of the Drawing-room from the entrance doorway is occupied by a large window, of similar size to that in the Dining-room beneath it, which overlooks the lower court-yard or quadrangle. In this room are still preserved some pieces of ancient furniture. Near the further window a doorway opens into what is called
The EARL’S DRESSING-ROOM, a small but remarkably pretty apartment, hung with tapestry, and lighted by a recessed window. This room, as shown in our engraving, immediately communicates with
The EARL’S BED-CHAMBER, so called in connection with the one just described, because thus occupied by the Earls of Rutland when residing at Haddon. This room is hung with tapestry representing hunting scenes, &c. From this chamber a doorway opens into
The LADY’S DRESSING-ROOM, also hung with tapestry, and lighted with a recessed window. From this room a doorway opens out to the top of the flight of steps already spoken of as giving access to these apartments from the lower court-yard. By this means access was easily obtained to the chapel, and the lord and lady could enter or leave these apartments without passing through the Banqueting Hall. A small padlocked door, in the tapestry of this room, leads up a narrow flight of steps to the leads over the chapel and to the open side of the belfry tower, where the works of the old clock may be seen.
Returning through the Earl’s Bed-chamber and Dressing-room, from the fire-grate in which it is said “the celebrated Count Rumford obtained his plan to prevent chimneys smoking,” and retracing his steps through the Drawing-room, the visitor passes out to the landing-place of the staircase leading up from the Banqueting Hall. From this a doorway leads up to a small rude apartment, with a fire-place, and an old chest; and also leads to the leads of the roof of the Drawing-room, Earl’s Bed-room, Long Gallery, &c.
The LONG GALLERY, or BALL-ROOM, one of the glories of fine old Haddon, is next entered by a flight of semicircular steps of solid oak, said to have been cut from the root of a single tree that grew in the park of Haddon, the trunk and arms of which are also asserted to have furnished the whole of the timber of the floor of the Long Gallery, or Ball-room, itself. Thus, if the story be true, the whole of the flooring of this superb apartment, which is 109½ feet in length, and 18 feet in width, as well as these massive steps outside the room, were obtained from one single oak-tree grown on the spot.
Ascending the STEPS, of which we give an engraving, the visitor will do well to notice the lock and other details of the door, which are somewhat curious. This noble apartment extends, as will be seen on reference to the engraved plan already given, nearly the entire length of the south side of the upper court-yard—commencing near the Banqueting Hall, and, running the entire remaining length of the upper court-yard, is carried out into the winter garden beyond.
This grand room is wainscoted throughout its entire dimensions with oak panelling of remarkably good architectural character. The general design is a series of semicircular arches, alternately large and small, divided by pilasters with foliated capitals, and surmounted by a frieze and a turreted and battlemented cornice. The pilasters, divided like the whole design up to the frieze, are of three heights. The basement of the wainscoting, about one-eighth of its entire height, is plainly panelled, and devoid of all ornament. The second height, rising to more than a third of the whole, is of a much more decorated character. The pilasters are fluted, and the spaces between them filled in with geometric designs, the narrower spaces being by far the most elaborate in their design. The third height is a series of semicircular arches, alternately wide and narrow, divided by the pilasters, the crown of the arch of the narrower ones being on a level with the springing of the larger ones. The whole of the arches, in which pictures formerly hung, spring from small brackets and semi-pilasters at the sides of the pilasters, and are elaborately decorated. Over each of the smaller arches is a shield of the arms of Manners, with a crescent for difference, and surmounted on the frieze by their crest, a peacock displayed, also differenced with a crescent, alternating with those of the Vernon crest, a boar’s head. The pilasters in this height are carved in scale pattern, and are finished with capitals of foliage filling up the spandrels of the arches. Above these is the frieze, the spaces of which are occupied respectively with the crests just named, alternating with the rose and thistle conjoined on one stem. Above this is a remarkably fine turreted and battlemented cornice, in which the loopholes, &c., are cut quite through the whole thickness of the wood.
The ceiling of this magnificent room is coved—the coving receding for the cornice. It is covered with elaborate and exquisitely designed geometric tracery, consisting of squares, lozenges, quatrefoils, &c., beautifully foliated at their points, and containing shields of arms and crests, the arms being those of Manners impaling Vernon, and the crests those of Manners and Vernon alternately. This ceiling was originally painted and gilt in a very rich manner, remains of the colouring and gilding being still distinguishable, here and there, through the whitewash. On the walls still hang one or two pictures, which perhaps, however, only add to the solitariness of its appearance.
On the south side of this noble apartment is a charming central recessed window of large size, 15 feet by 12 feet—large enough, in fact, to accommodate a goodly party around the fine old central table, which still remains—and two smaller recessed, or bay, windows. On the north side are two windows looking into the upper court-yard; the east end is entirely taken up by a strongly stone-mullioned window of twenty-four lights, with a side window on each side. In the recessed windows are the royal arms of England, and the arms of Vernon, Manners, Talbot, &c., in stained glass. Our engraving shows about one-half, in length, of this noble room.
Opposite to the central recess is a fire-place, which still holds the original fire-dogs rising from goats’ feet, and decorated with human heads and heads of goats. In the centre of the large window at the end will be observed a glass case, containing a cast of the head of Lady Grace Manners, whose monument is in Bakewell Church. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepoint, and wife of Sir George Manners, of Haddon, the eldest son and heir of Sir John Manners and Dorothy Vernon his wife. Lady Grace “bore to him (her husband) four sons and five daughters, and lived with him in holy wedlock thirty years. She caused him to be buried with his forefathers, and then placed this monument (at Bakewell) at her own expense, as a perpetual memorial of their conjugal faith, and she joined the figure of his body with hers, having vowed their ashes and bones should be laid together.”
From near the upper end of this Long Gallery, or Ball-room, a highly enriched doorway opens into the Ante-room, or Lord’s Parlour.
The ANTE-ROOM, now occasionally called the “Lord’s Parlour,” and, two centuries ago, was designated the “Orange Parlour,” is a small room, hung with paintings, and having around the upper part of its walls a cornice embellished with the crests of the Vernon and Manners families. The interest, however, attached to this apartment rests in the strongly barred door which opens from it on to a flight of stone steps leading down to the terrace and winter-garden. This doorway, known far and wide as DOROTHY VERNON’S DOOR, we have engraved, both as seen from its exterior side and its interior side, and have also given the “initial” illustration on page 221.
It is said, and no doubt with truth, that it was through this doorway and down these steps that the lovely Dorothy Vernon, one of the co-heiresses of that grand old family, passed on the night of her elopement, and that at the top of the opposite flight of steps, shown in our ground plan, and known as “Dorothy Vernon’s Steps,” she was received into the arms of her ardent and true lover, John Manners, who had horses in waiting; and that they flew through the woods and fields until they gained the high road, and made their way into the neighbouring county. It was through this doorway then that not only the lovely Dorothy passed, but with her the fine old mansion itself and all its broad lands, into the hands of the noble family now owning it.
Very sweetly has the tradition of the love and elopement of this noble pair been worked up by imagination in a story, “The Love-steps of Dorothy Vernon,” by a popular writer in the “Reliquary;” and thus another modern author very pleasantly embodies it in verse:—
“The green old turrets, all ivy-thatch, Above the cedars that girdle them, rise, The pleasant glow of the sunshine catch, And outline sharp on the bluest of skies.
“All is silent within and around; The ghostly house and the ghostly trees Sleep in the heat, with never a sound Of human voices or freshening breeze.
* * * * *
“It is a night with never a star, And the Hall with revelry throbs and gleams; There grates a hinge—the door is ajar— And a shaft of light in the darkness streams.
“A faint sweet face, a glimmering gem, And then two figures steal into light; A flash, and darkness has swallowed them— So sudden is Dorothy Vernon’s flight!”
Passing through the Ante-room, the visitor next enters the STATE BED-ROOM, known two hundred years ago, it seems, as the “Blue Drawing-room.” The walls are hung with Gobelins tapestry, the subjects being illustrations of Æsop’s Fables; and above this is a frieze, similar to that in the Ante-room, bearing the crests of Vernon and Manners. This apartment is lighted by a large bay-window, overlooking the upper court-yard, and raised a couple of steps above the level of the floor of the room itself. In this window stands an antique dressing-table and a grand old looking-glass, which are worthy of the most careful examination. Over the chimney-piece is a fine example of pargetting, representing Orpheus, by his musical powers, charming the brute creation.
The STATE BED, shown in our engraving, measures 14 feet 6 inches in height. It is furnished in green silk velvet and white satin, exquisitely embroidered and enriched with needlework. It is one of the finest remaining beds in existence, and is presumed to be the work of Eleanor, daughter of Thomas, and eldest sister and co-heiress of Edmund, Lord Roos, of Hamlake, and wife of Sir Robert Manners; which lady died in 1487. According to traditional report, it was removed many years ago from Haddon to Belvoir Castle, and afterwards restored to Haddon. The last person who ever slept in it is said to have been George IV., when Prince Regent; he occupied it during his visit to Belvoir Castle.
From the State Bed-room a doorway behind the tapestry opens upon a short flight of stone steps, leading to what is usually called the ANCIENT STATE ROOM, or PAGE’S ROOM, and which two centuries ago was called the “Best Lodging-room.”
This apartment, like the previous one, is hung with Gobelins tapestry, the subjects being illustrations of some of the events in the life of Moses. The thickness of the walls, the small size of the windows, and the lowness of these rooms, show that they belong to the more ancient part of the building.
From the Page’s Room a short flight of steps leads into a passage, or small room, which may appropriately be called the ARCHERS’ ROOM and is shown in our engraving, where the visitor will notice a remarkable WOODEN FRAME for the stringing of bows and cross-bows—the only one probably which he will ever see preserved. It forms one of our illustrations. The passage leads by a few stone steps into a rude apartment, probably a guard-room, where, behind the rafters, innumerable bats now build their nests; also into the cross-bow room, where the bows were hung; and into several other old and cheerless-looking rooms; also to a spiral stone staircase, which, springing from the gateway under the PEVEREL TOWER, leads by seventy steps, some so worn that they have been covered by wooden ones, to the top of the tower, the ascent of which will amply repay the visitor for his trouble by the grand and interestingly beautiful view he obtains of the mansion and the neighbourhood. Of the turret on the PEVEREL, or EAGLE TOWER, we give an engraving.
Having descended the tower, the visitor returns through the State Bed-room into the Ante-room, and is here usually dismissed into the grounds, through “Dorothy Vernon’s Door.” As we have not, however, initiated _our_ tourist into the mysteries of all the rooms and passages of this noble pile of building, we will not dismiss _him_ in this summary manner, but bring him back into the Banqueting Hall, whence we will show him the kitchens and suite of rooms on the north side, and then conduct him to the grounds and to some of the interesting places in the neighbourhood.
The KITCHEN and range of domestic offices at Haddon are very large and extensive, and show, more strikingly than any description, the marvellous amount of cooking that must have been carried on, and the more than princely hospitality observed by its owners in its palmy days.
The four doorways, already spoken of as existing in the wall of the passage opposite to the screen of the Banqueting-Hall, and beneath the Minstrels’ Gallery, have all of them pointed arches. The first of these doorways, on entering from the lower court-yard, or quadrangle, yet retains its old oaken door. This room was the _buttery_, and the door still has perfect its buttery-hatch in the middle. This is a small opening, with a little wicket to close and fit, just large enough to pass out a trencher of provisions to the servants or retainers, or as alms to wayfarers. From this room a flight of stone steps conducts to the vaulted cellars, and it also communicates with the storerooms and other offices, &c.
The second doorway, which is open, leads down a long passage to the GREAT KITCHEN. At the end, the passage terminates in a strong and massive half-door, the top of which is formed into a broad shelf. To this point only were the servants permitted to come, but were forbidden access to the kitchen itself. The dishes were placed on the door-shelf by the cooks on the one side, and removed by the servitors on the other, and by them carried up the passage into the Banqueting-Hall. The kitchen is of immense size, its ceiling supported by massive beams and by a central support of solid oak. It contains two enormous fire-places, stoves for various purposes, and spits, pot-hooks, and tenter-hooks by the score; enormous chopping-blocks, dressers of all sorts and sizes, tables of solid oak, six or seven inches in thickness, and hollowed into circular chopping-troughs—one of which is worn through by constant use—and every possible appliance for keeping open house in the most lavish style. Adjoining the kitchen are a number of rooms, bakehouse, larders, pantries, salting-rooms, &c., all fitted in the same marvellously massive manner. In one of these should be noticed an enormous salting-trough, hollowed out of one immense block of wood, without joint or fastening. This is among the most wonderful relics of the place, and ought to claim attention from the visitor.
The third doorway opens into what is conjectured to have been the wine-cellar—a vaulted room well adapted for the purpose, and close at hand for the Banqueting Hall.
The fourth doorway opens at the foot of a flight of stairs leading up to the apartments on the north side, which, for more than half its length, contains a second as well as a first floor. These rooms are many in number, and curiously labyrinthine in construction, and although not possessing attraction enough to be shown to the general visitor, are nevertheless among the most interesting in the mansion. Some of them are hung with tapestry which ranks among the best in the house: one room especially, where groups of children gathering fruit are depicted, is peculiarly beautiful. In two of the apartments on this side are charming little closets, on the tapestry of one of which the royal arms are depicted.
One of these tapestried rooms is named in an old list of apartments of 1666 as “Lady Dorothy’s Chamber,” and a neighbouring apartment is called “Lady Cranborne’s Chamber.” A third tapestried apartment was called “Roger Manners’ Room.” All these rooms are on the central portion of the northern side of the Hall, over the kitchen and adjoining rooms. The apartment over the buttery was the “Great Nursery.”
Most of the rooms on this side of the building have evidently been intended for sleeping apartments; and there is a staircase with ornamental rails, on which remains of the original gilding still serve as a relief to the sombre colour of the oak.
One of the most charming “bits” on this side is a short WOODEN GALLERY, here engraved, with oak balustrades, which leads across a tiny little open court from one of the tapestried apartments to another, and on the walls of which mosses and lichens grow in luxuriance. It is just the spot, opening from the heated rooms, for a lounge in the pure air; and no doubt from this gallery Dorothy Vernon, and many another high-bred dame, has looked up to the stars overhead while passing from room to room, on a festive night, as well as on many a quiet evening.
Among the apartments not usually shown are also two handsome wainscoted rooms, with carved ceilings, situated over each other, in the entrance gateway tower. Above the uppermost of these is a room supposed to have been a place of confinement, because there are traces of _external_ bolts and bars. It has two windows, in one of which are two massive stone seats inserted in the wall. It has also a door leading out to the leads.