Whitley Abbey, Warwickshire;

THE SEAT OF

VISCOUNT HOOD.

WHITLEY ABBEY is an ancient Mansion, of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, possessing all the character of the architecture of that interesting age. It is capacious, and, from its situation on a gentle eminence, commands agreeable views over a great extent of country. The Abbey is situated near Whitley Bridge, at the distance of about a mile and a half from the city of Coventry; and, in the year 1642, when King Charles the First unsuccessfully summoned that city, tradition relates that his Majesty fixed his station at this seat.

It was the estate and residence of the late Francis Wheeler, Esq., the grandson of Admiral Sir Francis Wheeler, Knt., and third son of Sir Charles Wheeler, Bart.; and it devolved, upon his death, to the present noble proprietor, who married Jane, only daughter and heiress of the above-mentioned Francis Wheeler, Esq.

His Lordship is descended from a respectable family in the county of Dorset, where, at the time of the civil wars, they possessed a considerable landed property.

The late Viscount and Admiral Hood commenced his naval career as midshipman in 1740; in 1746, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant; in 1754, to the rank of commander; in 1756, captain; in 1768, he hoisted a broad pendant as commodore; and, on the 20th of April, 1778, he had the dignity of Baronet conferred on him; in 1780, he hoisted his flag as rear-admiral of the blue, on board the Barfleur of 98 guns, in which ship he greatly distinguished himself in the action with the Comte de Grasse, of the 12th of April, 1782, under Lord Rodney; for which, on the 28th of May following, he was created Baron Hood, an Irish title; and, on the 24th of September, 1787, he was made vice-admiral of the blue; in June, 1788, his Lordship took his seat as a lord of the admiralty; in June, 1792, he was port-admiral at Portsmouth; and, in 1793, his Lordship was appointed to the command in the Mediterranean, where his services at Toulon and Corsica are well known.

Previous to his Lordship being elevated to the title of an English Viscount, in 1796, his lady, Susanna, daughter of Edward Lindzee, Esq., of Portsmouth, was created Baroness Hood, of Catherington, in Hampshire, in 1795, with remainder to her issue. Upon the death of his mother, in 1806, Henry, their eldest son, succeeded to her title; and on the death of his father, the late Viscount, in 1816, the noble proprietor of Whitley attained the English Viscounty, being now Viscount Hood, of Whitley, in Warwickshire; Baron Hood, of Catherington, in Hampshire; Baron Hood, in Ireland; and a baronet: the rewards of merit accumulated by the late gallant admiral during a length of service scarcely to be paralleled.

THE SEAT OF

SIR EDMUND CRADOCK HARTOPP, BART.

THIS mansion is a large and handsome structure, of a quadrangular form, having the principal front, which is of stone, ornamented with a pediment supported by four lofty pilasters of the Ionic order: the ascent to the interior from the lawn is by a broad flight of steps leading to a spacious hall, with communications to the various apartments, which are in general very judiciously arranged. It contains many noble rooms, and was built for Simon Luttrell, Lord Irnham. A beautiful lawn stretches in front of the house, with a verdant slope; beyond which, deep woods appear on every side, where the walks wind under the thick foliage, and exhibit advantageous views of the Park at every opening: the whole demesne is well stocked with deer and game of every sort. The situation is nearly the centre of the kingdom, east of Sutton Coldfield; and to the west of the grounds lies Sutton Park, containing about 3,500 acres, through which passes the Roman Ickneild Street, in a high state of preservation. This extensive district, comprehending the chase of the ancient Lords of the Manor of Sutton, and formerly appropriated to the sports of the field, was bestowed on the poor inhabitants, for the purpose of pasturage, by John Vesey, bishop of Exeter, and a native of this part, where he spent the latter part of his life in retirement, having been compelled to resign his bishoprick at the Reformation. His wealt he expended in works evincing great public spirit, and ardent attachment to the place of his birth. He died in the year 1555, at the age of 103, and was buried in the church of Sutton Coldfield.

The Hartopps are an ancient Leicestershire family, and may be regularly traced from Ralph Hartopp, in the time of king Richard the Second, of which family Edward Hartopp, Esq. of Freathby, in that county, was created a baronet by king James the First, December 3d, 1619. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Erasmus Dryden, Bart., and left issue Sir Edward Hartopp, his successor, who married Mary, daughter of Sir John Cook, of Melburn, in Derbyshire, Knt., principal Secretary of State to king Charles the First. Sir Edward, however, was a strenuous parliamentarian, and formed a family connexion with the celebrated Charles Fleetwood, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, whose only daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Sir John Hartopp, the third baronet, and only son of Sir Edward. Sir John thrice represented the county of Leicester in parliament, during the reign of king Charles the Second. His only surviving son, Sir John Hartopp, the fourth baronet, married, in 1716, Sarah, daughter of Sir Joseph Woolfe, of Hackney, Knt., and alderman of London, by whom he had two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, coheiresses the latter married Timothy Dallow, M.D., of Epsom, in Surrey, and died without issue; Sarah, the eldest, married Joseph Hurlock, Esq., governor of Bencoolen, by whom she had Anne, an only daughter and heiress, who married, in 1777, Edmund Cradock Bunney, Esq., only surviving son of John Bunney, of Newark, in Leicestershire, who became the representative of the four ancient and opulent families of Bunney, Cradock, Fleetwood, and Hartopp. He obtained an act of parliament, to take the surname of Cradock, for the estates his mother possessed; and, at the death of Sir John Hartopp, Baronet, in whom the title became extinct, he took the surname and arms of Hartopp, pursuant to his will, and was created a Baronet, by the name and style of Sir Edmund Cradock Hartopp, Bart., May 12, 1796. His eldest surviving son, George Harry, has taken the name of Fleetwood in addition, to be used before his own, as a memorial of his lineal descent from General Charles Fleetwood, mentioned above, and whose estates descended to his mother.

Foxcote Hall, Warwickshire;

THE SEAT OF

FRANCIS CANNING, ESQ.

THIS seat stands in a part of the county bordering upon Gloucestershire, in the Hundred of Kineton, and about four miles from Shipston-upon-Stour: on the southern declivity of the Ilmington hill, an eastern extension of the Cotswold hills; it is thus sheltered from the north winds, whilst it is sufficiently elevated, from the base of the hills, to have a deep valley underneath filled with a fine sheet of water, ponds, &c.; commanding a beautiful view of Ebrington, Earl Fortescue's demesne, and bounded by the Wold of Stow in the distance.

The present Mansion was built on the site of the ancient Manor House about 1700, by Francis Canning, Esq., whose arms, impaling those of Apollonia, the daughter of Robert Barker, Esq. of Montwick, Essex, adorn each front; the whole is an elegant work in the Doric order, particularly the south front, which is farther enriched by a grand double flight of steps and balustrades, leading to an arch of entrance, supported by Corinthian columns, &c. built with the Campden stone, so much resembling that of Bath. Connected with it by a piazza at the east end, the present proprietor has built a chapel on a large scale for the use of his family, and the Roman Catholics of the neighbourhood; the altar is magnificently supplied with the ornaments and vessels necessary to the celebration of mass, of silver; and Mr. Canning has lately purchased a grand altarpiece at Rome, painted by one of the great masters of Italy, for its farther decoration. The residence of the Chaplain is within the park.

The estate is thus noticed by Dugdale, in his elaborate History of Warwickshire:

"Foxcote having been anciently a member of Ilmingdon, and possest therewith by Peter de Montfort in 7 Edward I., was then held by the same tenure (Knight's Fee;) all the tenants which the said Peter had here, being nine in number, holding eight yard-lands of him by certain rents, and several base services; doing their suit twice a year at the Court Leet held for the Honor of Leicester. In which family it continued a great while; for Sir William Montfort of Colshill possest it in tenth Henry VI.; but it hath long been depopulated."

"In the twenty-third of Edward I., one Jeffery de Marshall, of this place, by his deed bearing date here at Foxcott, granted and confirmed to his son Gilbert le Marshall all his lands and tenements in the town and fields of Foxcott; for which grant the said Gilbert gave unto him before-hand forty marks sterling. Eustachia, daughter and heiress of Gilbert, married John Salmon, son of Thomas Salmon of Cheddre, temp. Henry IV., who, in her right, became inheritor of le Marshall's lands at Foxcott. Agnes, their eldest daughter, married Thomas Canning and temp. Henry VI. her mother, by a deed, did, in "pura viduitate suæ," release all her claim, title, and interest, in the lands and inheritances at Foxcott, to Thomas Canning, and Agnes his wife; and their lawful heirs, their descendants, have been ever since possessed hereof, and have here resided."-Dugdale's History of Warwickshire, by Dr. Thomas, p. 633.

Jeffrey Canning, a younger brother of Thomas Canning, was father of John Canning, a Bristol merchant, who had two sons, Sir Thomas Canning, Knight, Lord Mayor of London; and William Canning, who was five times Mayor of Bristol, co-founder of the beautiful church of St. Mary Redcliffe, there, wherein he lies buried under a costly monument, having died in 1474 Dean of Westbury; the church whereof he founded, together with an alms-house, for poor men and women.

The Right Honourable George Canning also derives his descent from a junior branch of this family, long settled in the north of Ireland.

The burial-place of the family is in the parish church of Ilmington, where are many handsome monuments to its deceased members.

About a quarter of a mile west of Ilmington a strong chalybeate spring arises, formerly much frequented, through the recommendatory treatise of Doctors Cole and Derham. Lord Capel being then Lord of the Manor, gave the ground around the well to the public for ever, and the Earl of Essex, his nephew, in his deed of sale in 1699, declares the tenement near this spring to be public property for ever.