THE SEAT OF THE HONOURABLE

CHARLES CECIL COPE JENKINSON, M.P.

THE Old Hall House at Pitchford is a fine specimen of architecture in wood, a practice in use at a very early period, and which was continued to the time of Henry VIII. when a decay of the forests induced a more general use of stone and brick. The House appears to have been framed wholly with timber springing into a variety of forms for its support, while the interstices are filled in with plaster, which are whitened, and the beams coloured black. The whole is very substantially constructed, and contains some excellent apartments, which, however, are not lofty. It is very picturesque in its appearance, particularly from the road, whence our view is taken, and is surrounded by beautifully disposed grounds, diversified with wood in abundance; and a small stream of water flowing in front of the House. The rooms are adorned by a few original family portraits.

Pitchford is in the Hundred of Condover, about six miles south from Shrewsbury, and is said to have taken its name from a bituminous spring rising within the parish. In early times it was the Manor and Estate of an ancient and respectable family, who derived their name from their habitation; and it is related by Camden, that at the siege of Bridgnorth, in 1102, Ralph de Pitchford behaved himself so valiantly, that King Henry I. gave him Little Brug, near it, to hold by the service of finding dry wood for the Great Chamber of the Castle of Brug, or Brugnorth, against the coming of his sovereign lord the king.

Albrighton, in this county, became the seat of another Ralph de Pitchford, who served in the reign of Edward I., and the Manor of Pitchford was held by Edward Lord Burnell, whose heirs-general succeeded to it in the time of Henry V.

For nearly four centuries, and from the reign of Edward IV., this Estate was the seat and residence of the ancient family of Öteley, or Ottley, of which William Ottley, Esq., was High Sheriff for the county of Salop, 15th of Henry VII., and again, the 5th year of the reign of Henry VIII. It is not improbable that the House was constructed by him, as it bears every mark of that period. The arms of this family are, Argent, on a bend, azure, three oatsheaves, or; and the crest, an oatsheaf, or, banded vert. Robert Ottley, Esq., was Lord of the Manor in the reign of Elizabeth. During the Civil War this family most consistently espoused and served the royal party. Sir Francis Ottley, Knt., was successively Governor of the towns of Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth; the latter he surrendered, after a siege in 1646, to the Parliamentary forces. The identical articles of capitulation are in the possession of Mr. Jenkinson, at Pitchford. In it is stipulated, that "Sir Francis Ottley be permitted to retire with his family and baggage to his home at Pitchford, or at the Hay," which also belongs to Mr. Jenkinson. Thomas Ottley, Esq. resided here in the reign of Charles II.; and Adam Ottley, Esq., in that of Queen Anne. The late Mr. Ottley devised the estate, in 1806, to the present proprietor, the Honourable Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, M.P. brother of the Earl of Liverpool, and lineally descended from Sir Robert Jenkinson, of Walcot, in Oxfordshire, who was knighted by King James I. in 1618, and died in 1645. His son, Sir Robert Jenkinson, was created a Baronet in 1661, and represented Oxfordshire in Parliament; he married the daughter of Sir John Banks, of Kingston Hall, in Dorsetshire, and died in 1677. Sir Robert Jenkinson, his eldest son, also represented Oxfordshire till his death. His second son, Sir Robert Banks Jenkinson, Bart., who died in 1738, was grandfather of the late Sir Banks Jenkinson, Bart., who died in 1789, unmarried; when the Baronetage devolved on the Right Honourable Charles Jenkinson, the son of his younger brother, Colonel Charles Jenkinson, who died in 1750, and who had been created Lord Hawkesbury, 21st Aug. 1786, and was farther advanced to the dignity of Earl of Liverpool, 28th May, 1796. He married first, Amelia, daughter of William Watts, Esq., Governor of Fort William, in Bengal, by whom he had issue, Robert Banks, the late Earl of Liverpool, K.G. &c. His Lordship married, secondly, Catherine, daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, Bart., and widow of Sir Charles Cope, Bart., of Orton Longueville, who was his Lordship's first cousin, and by her he had issue the Honourable Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, M. P., now of Pitchford, who married Julia, only child of Sir George Augustus Shuckburgh Evelyn, Bart.

Stanley Hall, Shropshire;

THE SEAT OF

SIR THOMAS JOHN TYRWHITT JONES, BART.

STANLEY HALL is situated on the western bank of the Severn, about a mile and a half from Bridgnorth. The grounds surrounding the Mansion constitute a commanding and well-wooded table of the warmest and richest land, dropping on the west and south into sombre and romantic dingles, and into the verdant valley of the Severn, on the east.

The present proprietor has recently made very extensive plantations, and other considerable improvements in the grounds, and has repaired and added to the ancient Family House, yet strictly preserving the style of the original mansion, erected about 1642.

The principal part of the House now consists of a vestibule, entered from the south, conducting to a Hall and Staircase, which is 31 feet long by 17 feet wide, and 28 feet high. The windows of this apartment are filled with armorial bearings of the family, executed by Collins; on the right is a Boudoir, 25 feet by 20; a Drawing Room, 30 feet by 20; and an Eating Room, 31 feet by 20; and to the left is a small Library. The windows of these rooms possess the best aspect, and command the richest scenery of the immediate demesne and surrounding district. There is also a large Billiard Room. The principal apartments contain a good collection of Family and other Pictures. The detail of subordinate apartments is extensive, and peculiarly convenient. The Kitchen is 35 feet long, by 21 feet wide, and 17 feet high. A general chain of buildings to the back of the Mansion, presenting neat and varied elevations to the grounds on the west, east, and north sides, entirely seclude a space within, containing neat office, stable, and farm-yards. From the top of the highest Tower, a singular view is obtained into every abrupt and romantic dingle, surrounding the site of the Mansion; and in the distance the Clent Hills, which rise in the extreme boundary of the counties of Worcester, Warwick, Stafford, and Salop. The Malvern Hills, in Worcestershire, and the Clee Hills, and Wrekin, in Shropshire, are distinguishable objects.

The whole of the arrangements for the improvement of Stanley Hall have been carried into effect under the direction of Mr. Smalman, architect, of Quatford near Bridgnorth, who, in the short space of two years, has, at a less effort, produced an infinitely more picturesque object, than is usually done at an immense expense.

This property was part of the ancient possessions of the family of Billingsley, in which it remained until the year 1647, when Francis Billingsley, Esq. of Aston Abbots, sold it to Francis Huxley, Esq. of Broseley; and it devolved to the present family, upon the marriage of Mary, only surviving child of John and Margery Huxley, with Edward Jones, Esq. in 1730, whose son and heir, Sir Thomas Jones of Stanley, Knt. dying unmarried in 1782, devised this property, with other estates in Salop and Denbigh, to his cousin, the father of the present Baronet.

The family of Jones is of considerable antiquity in the county of Salop. Thomas Jones, the immediate ancestor of the present possessor of Stanley, was seated at Uckington in this county, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was descended from a family of that name at Holt, in Denbighshire; and married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas Cottell, whose arms, viz. "Gules a bend Or," are quartered with those of Jones, on the ancient monuments of the family. His son, William Jones, an alderman of Shrewsbury, left four sons, of whom Edward married Mary, daughter of Robert Powell, of The Park, in the county of Salop, Esq., and was the father of Sir Thomas Jones, Knt. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who died in 1692. The Chief Justice married Jane, daughter of Daniel Bevan, of Chester, and left issue several sons and daughters, of whom, Edward Jones, D.D., one of the Canons of Windsor, was the father of Edward Jones, Esq., who in 1730 intermarried with the daughter and heir of John Huxley, before-mentioned; and whose son, Sir Thomas Jones, of Stanley, Knt., was the last survivor of the family in the male line. He died in 1782, leaving his possessions, as before stated, to Thomas Tyrwhitt, Esq., eldest son and heir of John Tyrwhitt, of Netherclay House, in the county of Somerset, Esq., by Catharine, his wife, only child of the Rev. Dr. Rennystone Booth, some time Dean of Windsor, and of Catherine Jones, aunt of the last Sir Thomas Jones. The said Thomas Tyrwhitt (father of the present Baronet) took the surname and arms of Jones, in compliance with the will of the last survivor of that name, by a royal license, dated 3d of March, 1799.

THE SEAT OF

WILLIAM ORMSBY GORE, ESQ.

PORKINGTON is situated near the town of Oswestry, about one mile south of the great road between London and Holyhead, and not far distant from the borders of Wales.

This Mansion is principally indebted to the heiress of the late Owen Ormsby, Esq. (who succeeded to it in right of his wife Margaret Owen,) for its present correct and beautiful appearance; the house having been built at three different times, presented specimens of the diversity of taste prevalent at each period, until the alterations, effected some years back, when the whole acquired uniformity, and now appears an elegant Grecian elevation.

On the pediment of the portico, the arms of the present family are in alto-relievo on the stone.

Porkington was formerly the residence of the now extinct family of Laken, and bore the name of Constable's Hall. The heiress of Laken brought it into the Welsh family of Mawrice, by her marriage with Sir William Mawrice of Clenenney, whose granddaughter and heiress married John Owen; their son was the Sir John Owen, distinguished during the Parliamentary Wars, by his steady adherence to the royal cause, of whom Pennant gives an interesting account in his "Tour through North Wales." It remained in his family until the death of the last male heir, when it devolved to his sister, who married Owen Ormsby, of Willowbrook, in Ireland; their daughter and heiress married William Gore, the present proprietor, representative of the Woodford branch of that family, in Ireland, who added her paternal name on his marriage.

What time this place changed its name from Constable's Hall to Porkington, is not ascertained. According to Pennant, the present name is a corruption of Brogyntyn, an old castle of the Welsh princes, the site of which remains in the pleasure grounds, and has been converted into an ornamented pheasantry, surrounded on all sides by plantations.

The dome, of stained glass, which gives light to the great staircase, represents in separate compartments the name and arms of each family, with the respective dates of their occupation, also the names and armorial bearings of several heiresses married into this house, forming eight shields, one in each angle of the octagonal frame. These represent the heraldic coats of Laken, Mawrice, Owen, Anwyll, Wynne, Godolphin, Ormsby, and Gore, exhibiting at the same time a beautiful effect, and a chronological record of the history of the house. A plan has been adopted, whereby the painted glass is made transparent at night, serving equally to ornament and illuminate the interior of the building. The reception rooms are fitted up in a correspondent style. In the Saloon is a full-length Portrait of the great dramatic heroine Mrs. Siddons, a most singularly striking likeness; and a curious painting on panel, being the only part saved of the altar-piece of the Abbey of Vale Crucis.

The demesne is ornamented by some very fine old timber, and has lately been considerably extended by the present owner, whose large plantations give promise of future beauty. The hills of Wales, which bound the prospect on one side, have a majestic appearance; to the east the eye roams unconfined over the rich and highly ornamented plains of Shropshire, commanding the view of Hawkstone Hills, Aston, Holston, and many other beautiful seats; or turning northward, the distant hills of Cheshire, with the romantic country about Wynnstay, Chirk Castle, and Brynkinalt, in the fore-ground.