Crewe Hall—situate about four miles from the town of Nantwich—affords a striking example of the singular changes to which a baronial residence and its dependencies may be subjected in this utilitarian age. Formerly, it occupied the centre of a sequestered valley—now and then, when the wind was southerly, the ti-ri-la of the horn of a distant “stage” to Chester, fell upon the ear of secluded villagers; it was almost the only sound that connected them with the business of actual life. The lord of the mansion and his humble neighbours, dwelling apart from the stir of traffic and the din of commerce, scarcely heard even those “rumours of oppression and deceit” that followed or preceded “unsuccessful or successful war;” content, in their “dreary contiguity of shade,” to be overlooked and unheeded by the busy world about them. The picture at Crewe is now a new one: it is the largest of all the railway stations between Birmingham and Liverpool: the moaning of steam-engines never ceases there; a smoke perpetual gathers over the trees; travellers are rushing backwards and forwards every hour of the day; the noise unnatural is also unceasing, and is audible for miles around, breaking the calm of night in the country, and making the day seem devoted to unhealthy and unpeaceful toil. The contrast between what this pretty hamlet was and is, becomes the more striking because, as yet, the station is at some distance from the gigantic warehouses, engine-room, and coke-stores, which have suddenly grown into existence here. A small inn—new, but not much out of keeping with the ancient aspect of the place—stands beside “the station,” and on the main road which leads from Crewe Hall to Nantwich; the former being distant about a mile, the latter about four miles.

Crewe Hall is the seat of the Right Hon. Hungerford Crewe, third Baron Crewe, who was born in 1812, and succeeded his father in 1835. His grandfather, the first peer, represented Cheshire in parliament from the year 1768 until his elevation to the upper house in 1806. The manor was from a very early period the property of the family of Crue, or Crewe, and some remains of a far more ancient seat are still to be found in the neighbourhood. “About the year 1300, Joan, eldest daughter and co-heiress of the last male heir of the elder branch of the family, married Robert Praers, whose grand-daughter conveyed the manor to Sir Robert Foulshurst.” From this family it was purchased, in 1578, by Sir Christopher Hatton. “A fortunate lawyer” had the means of restoring it to the race to whom it had originally belonged. About the year 1610 Sir Randal Crewe, Serjeant-at-Law, descended from Patrick, a younger brother of Thomas de Crewe, bought it from Sir Christopher’s heirs, and erected, between the years 1615 and 1636, the present mansion. In 1684 the male line became extinct, by the death of John Crewe, Esq.; Anne, his eldest daughter, having married John Offley, Esq., of Madeley Manor, their eldest son, John, subsequently took the name of Crewe in 1708, and, as we have stated, the family was ennobled in 1806.

The hall is a remarkably beautiful structure, and a fine example of the architecture of the period. It is characterised by a distinguished architect as “undoubtedly one of the finest remaining specimens of the English branch of the Italian cinque cento, which may be considered to have arrived at its full state of perfection during the reign of James I.” According to some passages in Fuller, at the period of its erection it must have been classed among the more sumptuous edifices of the kingdom. He says, “Nor must it be forgotten that Sir Randal first brought the model of excellent building into these remote parts—yea, brought London into Cheshire, in the loftiness, sightliness, and pleasantness of their structures.” Although it has undergone many improvements, it has lost but little of its original character. “It consists of two lofty stories, surmounted by a sculptured open parapet, concealing, in some degree, the high roof, from which rise the chimneys, representing detached octagonal columns, with their plinths, bases, and capitals.” The central compartment—the line of the front being broken at each extremity by bow windows—is composed entirely of stone, and is rich in decoration; the arch of the doorway is supported by four fluted Ionic columns, on sculptured pedestals. A dwarf wall and balustrades surround the edifice at its base; and the courtyard, now a prettily laid out lawn and garden, is entered by some finely modelled gates of cast-iron, produced at the foundry of Messrs. Bramah. The

exterior is now undergoing thorough repair under the superintendence of Mr. Edward Blore. Mr. Richardson has supplied us with the appended copy of the decoration, in carved stone, which surmounts the entrance, and also of one of the exterior ornaments, of which we have formed an initial letter.

The interior of this fine old mansion is in the purest possible state; such alterations as time or circumstances may have rendered necessary have been effected with judgment, skill, and taste. “It presents an extraordinary variety of decorated ceilings, enriched plaster-work, and carved wainscot, the design and execution of which are masterly, fully equalling the choicest specimens of the French renaissance of the reign of Francis I.” It contains some bas-reliefs of a very early age, and these, probably, were removed from the still older mansion of the Crewes. It must also have undergone some changes at so late a period as that of Charles II., and these, no doubt, were rendered necessary in consequence of two sieges to which it was subjected during the civil wars. In 1643 it was garrisoned by the Parliamentary troops, who were besieged there by the Royalists under Lord Byron, to whom they yielded in consequence of failure of food and ammunition: “becoming prisoners, stout and valiant soldiers, having quarter granted them.” During the subsequent year the mansion was taken by the troops of the Parliament, and, in like manner, the garrison was permitted to go out in honourable safety.

The hall, which is somewhat low and narrow, is of carved oak; to the left is the dining-room,

of which the accompanying print, in lithotint, affords a satisfactory idea. The screen of richly carved oak is as fresh and sharp as if it had been painted by the artist only yesterday. The fireplace of cut stone is inlaid with marbles of various colours and countries. Opposite the screen is a fine oriel window; and the ceiling is of exquisite design, and remarkably bold in character. A side entrance leads through “the carved parlour” to the upper rooms by a staircase of surpassing beauty, “made gay” by painted monsters of all kinds, bearing blank shields. The several apartments, drawing-rooms, and bedchambers, are furnished with great taste; the library is exceedingly fine and spacious: here, as in other parts of the house, we find treasures of ancient art, and, among them, very choice productions of the modern school of England. At the extremity of the hall is the chapel of the mansion, small in size but of exquisite workmanship, being formed entirely of carved oak, to which Time has given the sombre tint that ever harmonises well with the sacred character of the structure. The chapel contains a painted window by Willement, and two noble paintings by Giordano. The roof is of white and gold, with a single pendant; the gallery is for the servants, and there is a small place at the entrance for dependants.

On the whole, there are in England few fresher or finer examples of the period of its erection.