Page images
PDF
EPUB

Shalford House, Surrey;

THE SEAT OF

HENRY EDMUND AUSTEN, ESQ.

SHALFORD HOUSE is situated on the banks of the Wey, within one mile of Guildford, in Surrey. The family of Austen settled in this neighbourhood in the reign of Henry VII., coming from Toddington, in Herts, where they had long been established. Mr. John Austen, in conjunction with his brother George, purchased the rectory impropriate of Shalford-cum-Bromley, in 1599, and built the present mansion about the year 1600, on the site of the ancient rectorial manor-house. He represented Guildford in parliament in 1563, as did his brother George in 1603; and to the learning and research of the latter gentleman, the town of Guildford is indebted for the knowledge and consequent preservation of many of its estates and immunities.

Mr. Henry Austen succeeded to this estate in 1769, and shortly afterwards modernized the House; on whose death, in 1786, his brother, Robert, became possessed of the inheritance, and to his care and taste it owes much of its improvement and increase.

He built, in 1790, the present small, but neat, Parish Church, procuring the stone from his Nore estate, in Bramley. By his will, he gave the painted Chancel Window to the Church, which represents the Resurrection, taken from an original by Carlo Dolce.

In the Mansion is a good collection of paintings, most of which came from the Orleans Gallery. A curious carved oak chimney-piece, exhibiting the several armorial bearings of the family, is the only vestige now left, to denote the era when the house was built.

Mr. Robert Austen, dying in 1797, was succeeded by his son, the present proprietor; who, by large plantations and improvements, has much contributed to the embellishment of the property and village.

Shalford is a very pretty village on the road from Guildford to Horsham, and is watered by the Tillingbourne. The House is seen to considerable advantage from St. Catherine's Hill, the picturesque ruins on which present a singularly beautiful object from its windows. The river Wey meanders here in a more serpentine course than any other river perhaps in the island.

His Majesty, Charles X. of France, resided at this seat some time during his former exile, just previously to his occupation of Holyrood House.

The family arms, granted by Henry VIII., are, Azure, a chevron between three Cornish choughs, or. Motto, Ne quid nimis. Crest, on a leopard's head, azure, a falcon rising, or.

A List of the principal Pictures at Shalford House.

THE DRAWING-ROOM.

A large Battle-piece-Vandermeulen.

A beautiful Interior of a Flemish Cottage-
Teniers.

A Dance of Fauns and Satyrs-Poelembourg.
Rubens' Daughter-Rubens.

Hagar and Ishmael-supposed to be Poussin.
A Landscape-Ruysdael.

A View of the Meuse-Zachtleven.

A View of the Appenines-Teniers, in his
tapestry style.

A Sunset, near Rome-Isaac Moucheron.
A peculiar beautiful Landscape, represent-
ing the scriptural story of Tobit and his
Dog, the Figures by Paul Brill, the Land-
scape-Annibal Caracci.

The celebrated Old Woman's Head-Denner.
A fine Old Man's Head-Fielding.

THE DINING-ROOM.
Several Family Portraits, by Sir Godfrey
Kneller, Cornelius Jansen, Dance, Syme, and
Gaugain.

THE LIBRARY.
The well-known Portrait of Pope, by Jervis,
which has been engraved. This was the
last Portrait taken or the poet, and tradi-
tion says it was finished or corrected by
himself.

In the BREAKFAST-PARLOUR and STUDY are several Pictures, by Elmer, Russell, and some by unknown masters.

THE SEAT OF

LORD DOVER.

THE site of this House, and the extensive pleasure grounds and gardens which surround it, constituted Putney Park, which in the reign of Charles I. belonged to Richard Weston, Earl of Portland, K.G., who was appointed Lord High Treasurer in 1625, and who constantly made Roehampton his summer residence. The Earl died in 1634, after which Roehampton House was occupied. by Christian, Countess of Devonshire, the daughter of Edward, Lord Bruce, of Kinloss, and sister to Thomas, Earl of Elgin, the father of Robert, Earl of Ailesbury; she was a lady of considerable celebrity, and of a very singular character. She died in 1674.

The present Mansion, of which we have represented the South or Garden Front, was erected from the designs of the late James Wyatt, and contains, on the ground-floor, a noble Suite of Rooms, consisting of a Hall, Staircase, Breakfast-room, Dining-room, two Drawing-rooms, and a small Library, with two Sleeping Apartments in the wings. The North Front of the house commands a most beautiful and striking view, over the River Thames, of the county of Middlesex, to Harrow, Hampstead, Highgate, &c. The South Front consists of a centre and wings; the façade ornamented with columns, and balustrades over the entablature, and is crowned with a cupola. On this Front is a Lawn and Flower Garden, with a handsome Conservatory on the west..

Amongst the Pictures which adorn the principal apartments, are the following particularly worthy of notice: Two Pilgrims-Teniers. Portraits of his Father and Mother-Cuyp. A Man's Head-Tintoretto, very fine. Portrait of Himself-Salvator Rosa. The Portrait of John Baptist Monoyer, the celebrated flower-painter-Sir Godfrey Kneller. Of this there is an Engraving by G. White, in 1715. Monoyer was brought to England by the Duke of Montagu, and died in Pall Mall, in 1699, æt. 64. The Portrait of "The Fair Quaker," with whom King George III. was said to have been in love—Sir Joshua Reynolds. Two Portraits in the same picture of Caroline, Viscountess Clifden, and her sister, Lady Elizabeth Spencer, daughters of the Duke of Marlborough-G. Romney.

[graphic][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][subsumed]

Arundel Castle, Sussex,

THE SEAT OF

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORFOLK.

THIS ancient ducal residence is situated on the north-east side of the town of Arundel, and is supposed to have been built at the beginning of the reign of King Alfred, as that monarch bequeathed it to his nephew Athelm, and this is the first authentic notice we find of it. Some authors suppose Bevis, from whom one of the towers takes its name, to have been the founder of this Castle. Nothing more is however known, than that Bevis was Warder at the Gate of the Earls of Arundel, and probably this tower was built for his reception. The next historical notice to be found of Arundel Castle, is in a grant made of it soon after the Norman Conquest by King William to Roger de Montgomery, created Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury, who repaired it. In Domesday-book it is described in the territory of Earl Roger, as a Castle, which is the only notice of a castle in that Survey.

The subject of Plate I., is a general view of the Castle, which stands on the summit of a hill, at whose foot flows the river Arun. It is surrounded on the west and north sides by a deep and wide ditch. This fortress suffered considerably during the great Rebellion, and remained in a ruinous condition until the year 1791, when the late Duke of Norfolk restored a great part of it in the ancient style, and expended about £5000 a year on it till his death. In order to complete the alterations, it became necessary to take down some of the most interesting parts of the old building, but in many places the original walls were built upon. Considerable taste as well as judgment was evinced by his Grace in the selection of plans and materials. The stone selected, is of three kinds, Portland, Ketton, and Whitby, as being best suited to render the new work similar to the remains of the ancient fabric. The entrance Gate-way, anciently fortified by a drawbridge and portcullis, was built by Richard Fitz-Alan in the reign of Edward I., and repaired and restored by the fifth Earl. The domestic offices occupy the whole of the ground-floor around a spacious court, (Plate II.) over these is a magnificent Library in imitation of the aisle of a Gothic cathedral, the ornaments of which are taken from the cloisters at Gloucester and St. George's, Windsor, 122 feet long and 30 wide: the ceiling, columns, &c. are entirely of mahogany. It is calculated to contain 10,000 volumes. The Great Hall, called the Barons' Hall, was begun in 1806, and is 70 feet by 34, and 36 feet high, the roof being of Spanish chesnut curiously wrought, and the plan taken from Westminster, Eltham, and Crosby halls. There is a series of stained glass windows, thirteen in number, portraying the figures of some of the Barons from whom the late Duke was descended, and they are likewise portraits of his family. The window at the end of the Hall represents King John signing Magna Charta. The Dining-room is a large handsome apartment, having at one end a window of painted glass, by Eggington, representing the late Duke and Duchess in the characters of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, at a banquet. At the opposite end of this room is an Orchestra, and over the door is an imitation of basso-relievo, by Le Brun, of Adam and Eve in Paradise. There is another stained window, by Eggington, in the Gallery which divides these apartments from a range of bed-chambers.

Some of the walls, together with the Keep, is all that now remains of the ancient Castle of Arundel. The Keep is a circular stone tower, 60 feet in diameter, and is the most perfect in England. It has been tenanted for some years by owls. These birds were sent as a present to the late Duke of Norfolk from North America; they are very large, and of beautiful plumage. Each bird has a significant name given to it. On the south side of the Keep was the ancient entrance, now partly walled up; it consisted of a circular early Norman arch richly ornamented.

The descendants of Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel, did not long keep possession of this castle. In the reign of Henry I. Robert de Bellesme, who sided with

« PreviousContinue »