THE SEAT OF

JOHN MABERLY, ESQ.

THIS Mansion is situated on the east of Croydon, in a fine sporting neighbourhood on the skirts of Shirley Common, and under the Addington Hills. It was erected in 1721, by John Claxton, Esq., after a design of his own, and in the style of Mansard, the French architect, whose ideas of general design were then esteemed noble, and his taste in ornamenting the inferior parts delicate. It was built on an estate purchased, in 1714, of Thomas Best, citizen and embroiderer, of London. In 1733, it was leased to John Sheldon, Esq., and afterwards to Roger Drake, merchant, whose family resided in it for some years. In 1777, it was in the occupation of John Claxton, Esq., F.S.A., who, in 1788, purchased a farm at Shirley, adjoining to his own lands, of William Hayley, Esq., the poet, to whom it came by marriage from the family of Lockington. The whole was sold by the grandson of the original possessor to John Maberly, Esq., who has recently added a considerable quantity of land to the estate; he has also turned the Wickham road more to the north of the House, enlarged the canal, and made other considerable and ornamental improvements.

The Park contains three hundred acres, and is in a beautiful valley, well wooded and watered. Shirley Common, though highly picturesque, being covered with purple heath, is extremely barren, the soil consisting almost wholly of shingles, or loose round pebbles, with a very small intermixture of earth; underneath is a stratum of white sand, in which water is always found at the depth of about twenty feet: this high ground extends into the parish of Addington, where it terminates towards the south-east in headlands of a very singular appearance. Mr. Maberly has planted a great part of the common with forest-trees, which appear to be in a thriving state. At a short distance from Shirley is Spring Park, containing six hundred acres, in a beautiful and romantic situation, which also belongs to Mr. Maberly.

To the admirers of hunting, Shirley, in the season, is the chief point of

attraction.

The Rookery, Surrey;

THE SEAT OF

RICHARD FULLER, ESQ.

THIS Seat is delightfully situated about two miles from Dorking, on the left of the road from that town to Guildford, from whence it is distant about nine miles. It stands in a beautiful valley, and on the banks of a clear winding stream, that adds its waters to the river mole. The estate was formerly known by the name of Chartgate, and was for a considerable period the property of the family of Comber, one of whom sold it to Abraham Tucker, Esq. of Beechworth Castle in this county, and of him it was purchased in the year 1759 by Daniel Malthus, Esq. This gentleman, taking advantage of the peculiar beauties of its situation, where all the varieties of landscape, hill and dale, wood and water, were to be found, laid out the grounds with taste and spirit, displaying the scenery in all its natural simplicity. He, at the same time, converted the House, by a judicious style of accommodation, into a genteel residence, and first gave it the name of The Rookery.

The vale of Mereden, in which The Rookery stands, is a delightful spot, commencing between Cold Harbour and Boar Hills, each clad with wood. In this valley is a farm of the same name, belonging to the hospital of the Holy Trinity at Guildford, founded by Archbishop Abbot. In a copse, upon this farm, is a spring of some celebrity in the neighbourhood, named Meg's Well; its water is of great purity, uncommon coldness, and, when outwardly applied, detergent some extraordinary cures have been attributed to its effect.

The rivulet called Pipbrook, which waters this beautiful range of rural scenery, rises in the side of the hills, at the upper end of Mereden Vale; and after winding through the ornamented lawn at the Rookery, which is clothed with the softest verdure, and prettily chequered with trees, it turns two mills for grinding corn; and taking its course parallel with the town of Dorking on the north side of it, it afterwards crosses the road to the metropolis, and empties itself into the river Mole under Box Hill, an elevated situation, which commands one of the most enchanting views in England.

This elegant seat was purchased of Mr. Malthus in 1768, by Richard Fuller, Esq., a banker in London, by whom it was altered and considerably enlarged. Its interior arrangement comprehends convenience and elegance; the principal apartments are proportioned with symmetry, and decorated with taste. Mr. Fuller died January 2nd, 1782, and The Rookery descended to his eldest son Richard, since whose decease it has been the residence of his widow, Mrs. Fuller, but is the property of his son Richard Fuller, Esq.

This estate is in the hundred of Wooton, and in Westcote Borough, a tithing of the parish of Dorking. The hamlet of Westcote is about half a mile north of The Rookery, and about the same distance from the town of Dorking on the west. On Westcote Heath two fairs are held annually, viz. 15th April and 28th of October; the grant for which was procured in 1726, by Sir John Evelyn, Bart. of Wooton.

THE SEAT OF

ROBERT MONRO, ESQ.

THIS seat is in the parish of Godalmin, one mile south of that town, and thirty-five miles south-west of London; it is approached between two handsome entrance lodges, opening upon a winding drive, margined by lofty forest trees and luxuriant plantations. The building is a uniform structure, of handsome elevation, covered with Roman cement, standing in the midst of pleasure grounds, in a park, rich in a variety of landscape scenery, and adorned with fine sheets of water, and cascades.

The annexed View, shewing two principal fronts, is from the side of the water, immediately below the house.

The estate formerly belonged to a family, who derived their name from it, and remained possessors till the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII.; it then went to a family of the name of Eliot, who retained it till the year 1710, when it was purchased by John Walter, Esq., of Barbadoes; and in 1748 became the property of Philip Carteret Webb, Esq., an eminent lawyer, and solicitor to the Treasury, who died about 1770, after which his widow sold the estate to Sir Robert Barker, Bart., many years commander-in-chief of the East India Company's forces in Bengal. A treaty concluded by him in 1772, at Fahzabad, was the subject of a picture painted by Tilley Kettle, containing the portraits of the Nabob Sujah Dowlah, Vizier of the Mogul empire, and his four sons, Sir Robert Barker and his two aids-de-camp, Captain Cockerell and Captain Harper, and Mr. Davy, the Persian interpreter: the picture was preserved at Busbridge, together with another by the same artist, containing a portrait of the Great Mogul, Shaw Allum, viewing the third brigade of the East India Company's troops in the plains of Allahabad. Sir Robert was created a baronet in 1781, and died at this seat, 14th of Sept. 1789; his daughter married Philip, the grandson of Philip Carteret Webb, Esq. above mentioned.

Busbridge then passed to Henry Hare Townshend, Esq., and in 1823 was purchased by Robert Monro, Esq., the present proprietor.

The House is particularly commodious, and contains a very handsome suite of apartments, the principal of which are the Vestibule, twenty-four feet by twenty, adorned with columns and appropriate frieze; a Hall twenty-seven feet by seventeen feet six inches; a Breakfast-room, twenty-four feet by twenty-two; a Dining-room, thirty-two feet by twenty-two, including a recess, supported by columns and two pilasters of the Ionic order; a Boudoir, twentyfeet by fifteen, which communicates with the Drawing-room, thirty-two feet six inches by thirty-two; the ceiling of this apartment, sixteen feet high, is painted, and it is also adorned by two recesses, formed by columns and pilasters. On the ground floor is also a Billiard-room, and above stairs is an elegant Music-room and Library, thirty feet by twenty-six, and twenty-two feet high, with recesses for bookcases between twenty Ionic pilasters.

In the pleasure grounds is a Conservatory, filled with ornamental shurbs and exotics, one hundred and eighty feet long, with a Tea-room, at the one end, and plate-glass folding doors, opening to a bold terrace-walk in front, at the end of which is a hermit's cell, cut in a rock, in a winding direction, exceeding one hundred and forty feet in length, and terminating in a circular chamber, supported by a massive pier in the centre, a part of the rock. The lawns, extensive walks, and pleasure grounds, are decorated with stately timber trees, ornamental shrubs, and exotics, pieces of water with bridges, cascades, &c., the effect of the whole much increased by an aviary, temples, grotto, statues, &c.