Wellcombe, Warwickshire;

THE SEAT OF

GEORGE LLOYD, ESQ.

ONE mile north from the town of Stratford-on-Avon, on the road leading to Warwick, is the Mansion and hills of Wellcombe. These hills are celebrated in a Poem written some years since by one John Jordan, a wheelwright of Stratford, who speaks of them as having been anciently the scene of much warlike operations between the ancient Britons and

Saxons.

The intrenchments, or Dingles, (as they are called,) are very deep and perfect; and numerous earth-works still exist, particularly the cone-like hill near the house, which is supposed to have been thrown up to cover the bodies of those who were slain in battle. The Mansion, in its gabled-end state, was the seat of William Combe, brother of John de Combe; who in his time was reckoned a great usurer, and also an acquaintance of Shakspeare; to whom by his will, he bequeathed £5. Though this friendship did not, it seems, prevent the following satirical lines to be written upon him by our bard :—

"Ten in the hundred lies here engrav'd,

'Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not sav'd;
If any one ask who lies in this tomb,

Oh, Oh, quoth the Devil, 'tis my John o' Combe."

This seat, after William Combe's death, went to decay, and, in the year 1775, it was purchased of one Simon Cole, by John Lloyd, Esq. who dying in 1777, it descended to his eldest son, George Lloyd, Esq. the present proprietor. This beautiful spot, so much favoured by nature, has received much embellishment by art. Mr. Lloyd, having within these few years made large purchases of lands adjoining, re-built the old house, and added the present Gothic front, and ornamented the grounds with picturesque cottages and thriving plantations. Upon the summit of the cone-like hill, adjoining the house, (on which a Gothic temple is built, encompassed with a laurel grove and gravel walks,) a most extensive and diversified amphitheatre of wood and water delights the eye. From hence the windings of the soft-flowing Avon, the seats of the neighbouring gentry, with the town of Stratford, (the birth-place of Shakspeare,) in the near view, and the Edgehills, the hills of Shuckbro' Broadway, Ilmington in Gloucestershire, and Malvern in Worcestershire, are easily distinguished.

Although no mention is made in history of a battle having been fought on this ground, yet little doubt can be entertained of the fact, as the skeletons of warriors have been repeatedly dug up. And Mr. Lloyd has now in his possession two spears, which were found some years ago on the top of Castle-hill. The one in the form of a long pike, the other a smaller weapon, barbed with griffins' heads; and when first discovered was plated with silver. The intrenchments also very much corroborate the above conjecture: through the windings of these an easy approach is made to the house.

We cannot conclude this description better, than by transcribing some very beautiful Lines, lately written by Mr. Neale, when on a visit to these hills :

"Oh! this is holy ground, though never blest,
By Priest, or hallowed by religious rite.
There Nature's balmiest incense rises; here
Heav'n's brightest fires descend; and here a chorus,
Sweeter than ever through Cathedral aisle
The anthem swell'd, warbles from morn to eve
Immortal Melody!-The gentle Avon
Wanders like thought down its own flow'ry vale-
Now hid between its willows, and now bursting,
Bright with the beams of Heav'n, upon the sight;
Kissing away the moss that hinders it..
The everlasting hills are ranged around,
Magnificent; and on the highest summit,

:

The noontide rays in lines of glory fall,

And form a path--a path of light that seems

To lead from Earth to Heav'n.-Oh! how the heart
Leaps like a babe at the maternal smile,
At such a scene as this! for then it feels
Its fellowship with nature.-Of one clay
The world and man were made, and there are times
When that mysterious unison's felt; then sweet
And strange emotions, like remembered music,
Steal o'er the soul; and every bud of feeling,
Like Coerulea, when the day-god smiles,
Opens, expands, and blossoms."

The Coerulea, the common blue Passion-flower. The singular property of this flower, of opening in the morning, and closing again at night, is well known.

Y

THE SEAT OF

WILLIAM DILKE, ESQ.

THIS ancient structure stands on a plain, in a most sequestered spot, surrounded by trees; at the distance of one mile and a half north-west of Coleshill, and about a mile from Blythe Hall, the Seat of Dugdale Stratford Dugdale, Esq., M. P. for the county. It was built by Sir William de Clinton, Knt. eldest son of John, third Lord Clinton, in the year 1356, 30th of King Edward III., and it is one of the very few remaining buildings of that interesting period. The plan of the Castle is quite regular, forming a parallelogram, with an hexagonal tower at each angle, and enclosing an open area, within which is the dwelling; an accidental fire destroyed a part of this interior, but a great portion of the ancient edifice yet remains, a fine example of the architectural mode of the age in which it was erected. There is still the spacious Hall, the usual scene of the generous hospitality of ancient times, also a large Dining Chamber: the Chimney-piece of this Room, as well as the Door, is ornamented with rich carving. The venerable Chapel is also preserved, and the old Kitchen is now in use.

Within the Court, the crenellated or embattled walls are pierced with divers cells, the ancient casernes, or lodgings, for the soldiery of the garrison.

The grand Tower of entrance, in the centre of the front, is flanked by hexagonal turrets, and is approached by a stone bridge across the moat which encompasses the whole castle over the gateway is the arms of Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Buckingham, impaling those of his Countess, Anne Neville, daughter of the first Earl of Westmoreland; they are supported by two antelopes, assumed in allusion to his descent from royal blood, his mother being the daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester; the burning nave, and the knot, known by the name of the Stafford Knot, are also upon the Tower, and were his own peculiar badges. The great gates are in their original state, and are covered with plates of iron; the groove for the portcullis is also to be seen. This Entrance Tower was built by the Earl of Buckingham; he was afterwards created a Duke, 25th year of Henry VI. with a special grant, to him and his heirs, of precedence above all Dukes, whether in England or France, excepting of such as were of the blood royal upon which extraordinary elevation, a grand dispute arose between him and the Duke of Warwick; when it was determined, by Act of Parliament, that they should have precedence by turns; an arrangement soon set at rest by the death of the Duke of War

wick without an heir.

This Castle came into the possession of the Duke of Buckingham in 1437, by exchange with John, the fifth Lord Clinton, for the Manor of Whiston, in Northamptonshire, and it became the favourite residence of that nobleman; but, upon the decapitation of his son Henry, Duke of Buckingham, for his attempt to dethrone King Richard III. in 1483, the Castle was seized by that monarch, who visited it on his progress to Nottingham, a short time previous to the battle of Bosworth Field, and ordered all the inner buildings of Kenilworth Castle to be removed here. After the death of the King, Edward, the son of the late Duke, was restored to all his father's honours and estates; he, however, fell a sacrifice to Cardinal Wolsey, and was beheaded in 1521, and then sunk for ever all the splendour and princely honours and estates of the renowned family of Stafford. When the Emperor, Charles V., heard of his fall, he is said to have exclaimed, “A butcher's dog has worried to death the finest Buck in England!" This Estate, again forfeited, was granted, in 1521, to Sir William Compton, a favourite of King Henry VII. and ancestor to William, Lord Compton, who, in 1596, disposed of it to the Lordkeeper Egerton, who, in two years after, sold it to Thomas Dilke, Esq., in whose family it has remained to the present day.

In the neighbourhood is the remains of a Priory founded by William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, for Canons-regular of the order of St. Augustine; the ruins are rendered mournfully picturesque, by the varieties of evergreen foliage environing them in every direction; the endowment of this Priory was ample, and, at the dissolution, was valued at 1301. 11s. 8d. per annum.