FEERING is situated on the highroad between London and Colchester, and is a picturesque and secluded village, full of antique houses and quiet tenantry, through which runs the Eastern Counties Railway,—the modern “improvement” that looks strangely out of place in connexion with the associations engendered by so retired a spot. It is a place whose history is almost unrecorded. Morant, in his “History of Essex,” says:—“This parish is of pretty great extent, and lies partly on the London road, being divided from Kelvedon by the river Pant. The name is formed from two Saxon words, signifying Bull’s meadow or pasture. In records, it is called Feering, Feringes, Frearing; and in Domesday Book, Pheringas and Ferlingas. In Edward the Confessor’s reign, Harold, afterwards King of England, and Brictmar, had the chief part, if not the whole, of this parish. At the time of the general survey it was holden by the Abbot of Westminster and Ralph Peverell; and from thence were derived the two capital manors here, Feringbury and Prested Hall. The former is a considerable estate, for many years part of the revenues of Westminster Abbey, by whom given I cannot find; however, they were possessed of it in 1343, and continued so till their dissolution, when it came to the crown. Henry VIII., upon his erecting Westminster Abbey into a bishoprick, endowed it, among other things, with the manor and rectory of Fering, and the advowson of the vicarage, January 20, 1540. But Edward VI. suppressed that bishopric, and gave the premises, April 12, 1550, to Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London, and his successors. Queen Mary I. confirmed the same, March 3, 1553, to Edmund Bonner, bishop of London, and his successors for ever; and they have remained possessed of them ever since. Prested Hall, sometime written Persted and Porsted, and in Domesday Book, Peresteda, was holden by Ralph Peverell at the general survey; but it had belonged before to one Brictmar. The mansion-house stands about half a mile from the church, a little way south from the London road. In the reign of King Henry II. Brien, son of Ralph, held this lordship of the honor of Peverell of London.” There are two lesser manors in the parish called Chambers and Howchins, alias Fowchins; the latter “standing a little way from the road leading from Marks Tay to Coggershall. The lands lie partly in the adjoining parishes of Little Tay and Great Tay. It appears to have been what anciently belonged to Hugh de Feringe, who took his surname from this parish. In the year 1332 he and Alianore, his wife, gave it to St. John’s Abbey in Colchester;” and at the dissolution it reverted to the Crown.

The most interesting old house in the parish or neighbourhood is the one which forms the subject of our plate, and which stands close to the edge of the river Pant, or Blackwater, a small stream, seen in the back-view of the ancient mansion given in our initial letter; the triple gable here peeps above a rich group of old trees, and the carved barge-boards and richly clustered chimneys invite the traveller’s nearer view. Crossing the small bridge, he will find his expectations in no degree disappointed; the mansion exists in pristine purity, with all its richly carved decorations untouched by modern hands. From this point our view of the exterior is taken. The elegant pendants to each gable, the involuted foliage running along the beams and barge-board, the decorated spandrils, the antique bow-windows, and the beautiful porch, elaborately carved and covered with ivy, at once meet the view, and greatly excite curiosity as to whether the interior in any degree corresponds with so perfect a piece of antiquity. An entrance is no way difficult of

accomplishment. Alas, for worldly grandeur! this mansion, upon which the art and expenditure of the sixteenth century was lavished, is now an ale-house; and not even one of a first-rate class—being only “licensed to sell beer.” Few but the poorest class of labourers sit in the parlour, which forms the subject of our plate, and its beauties are unappreciated. To which of the families of note in the olden time (and many resided here) this mansion belonged, cannot now be ascertained with any certainty; whether Ridley or Bonner (names which give rise to so many and such varied associations) once sat in these rooms is unrecorded, but the taste and expenditure here exhibited denote the superiority of the original occupant. It is seldom we see a more perfect and remarkable specimen of the in-door aspect of a gentleman’s house in the early part of the sixteenth century; all here is original, and all perfect; no plaster-work is any where visible, but walls, ceilings, and floor, are of oak; the massive beams of the roof boldly cut in a pattern of running leaves, the angles of the smaller ones tastefully chiselled and sculptured; figures of angels playing on the lute are upon the beams in the bay-windows, in which is preserved some of the original painted glass, “richly dight,” and exhibiting the crowned monogram of the Virgin, an eagle bearing a scroll, and the royal arms of England, with the initials E. R. on each side of them. The walls of the room are entirely covered with carving in a series of patterns, the lower ranges of which are of that species termed “the napkin pattern,” most delicately and beautifully chiselled, and untouched by the painter, as well as uninjured by time. The uppermost range of panels are cut in oval frames, from the centres of which peep forth, in high relief, a series of male and female heads, cut with a vigour and truth at once bold and effective; the head-dresses of all are remarkable, and present a singular variety of fashions. Mr. Fairholt, in his “Costume in England,” has noticed that the principal attention of the ladies was given to this portion of dress, and that they sometimes consisted of a mere “heap of finery, combining cap, coverchief, and hood, which was at that time the extreme of fashion.” This remark is fully carried out in the series we now describe, no two of which are precisely alike, yet all are elaborate in design and elegant in ornamental detail. Beneath them run a series of elongated panels, containing smaller heads in the centre of arabesque ornaments, which are thrown up in strong relief, as the ground of the panel is painted blue; the projecting pillars which support the main beams are similarly decorated; and the door is also carved all over with the napkin pattern, and has the original ring-handle upon it, as well as the chased steel lock. A more perfect interior of this peculiar period, or a more elegant one, could not be found. Our view comprehends one half of the room, reaching to the central beam, the other half of the room is dark and dingy, and has been separated in a more modern style from the older and larger room. A fire-place and a carved locker are preserved; and the pattern of the pomegranate and its leaves, rather lavishly introduced here, would seem to point out the period when the house was erected—as the pomegranate was the badge of Catherine of Arragon, the first wife of Henry VIII.

This fine old mansion stands on the boundary of the parish of Feering, the village and church being about half-a-mile, or more, distant, and a little out of the main road. It is, as we have observed, quiet and secluded, in a fertile county, embracing the ordinary flat, fertile, and extensive views for which Essex is remarkable; but little of modernisation appears there, and the visitors would seem to be “few and far between.” From the churchyard the view is very extensive. Morant says:—

“The church, dedicated to All Saints, stands high and pleasant. The body of the church and the chancel are tyled, but a north or south aisle adjoining to the church are leaded. The south wall and the porch are of brick; and in the windows are pictured a shuttle and three feathers, with the letters H. P., which gave rise to the vulgar tradition that they were built by a weaver. At the west end there is a square tower of stone, containing eight bells.

“This church was given with the manor to Westminster Abbey. It was originally a rectory and sinecure, but in Henry the Third’s reign a vicarage was here ordained, and endowed in the patronage of the rector or possessor of the sinecure: afterwards the rectory or great tithes were appropriated to the said abbey and convent, and they remained patrons of

the vicarage till their suppression; and then they were granted to the see of London, as hath been mentioned above.”

The most remarkable feature of the interior is the roof of oak, the beams and king-posts are richly sculptured, and in good preservation; it contains no old tombs or brasses; the font is simple, and the only objects worthy of note are some remains of distemper-painting on the north wall: a figure of St. Christopher bearing the infant Saviour is still visible, together with the fragments of an elegant diaper-pattern, which had probably originally covered the entire wall.

The porch, which we engrave, is entirely built of fine red brick, in which the elegant windows, niches, tracery, battlements, and pinnacles of the later Gothic architecture, are beautifully formed and finished with a sharpness and accuracy which may almost be said to be peculiar to this county, as we seldom meet with brick-work in this style so rich in design and execution elsewhere.