  Dorothy Vernon’s Door. HADDON HALL is, perhaps, the most interesting, and is certainly the most attractive, of all the ancient mansions of England: and none have been so fertile of material to Artists. Situate in one of the most picturesque, if not the most beautiful, of our English shires, absolutely perfect as an example of the Baronial Halls of our ancestors, and easily accessible by charming routes from populous towns, it is not surprising that it should be visited annually by tens of thousands; and that in America it is regarded as one of the places in the “Old Country,” which no visitors, even of a week, to the classic land of their History, should neglect to see, examine, and describe. Haddon Hall is distant fourteen miles from Buxton; perhaps the most fashionable, as it certainly is one of the most cheerful, and, we believe, the most healthful of all the Baths of England. Its waters are as efficacious, in certain ailments, as are those of Southern Germany; while the surrounding district is so grand and beautiful, so happily mingling the sublime and the graceful, as to compete, and by no means unfavourably, with the hills and valleys that border the distant Rhine. The poet, the novelist, the traveller, the naturalist, the sportsman, and the antiquary have found appropriate themes in Derbyshire, in its massive rocks—“Tors”—and deep dells; its pasture-lands on mountain-slopes; its rapid, yet never broad, rivers—delights of the angler; its crags and caves; its rugged and ragged or wooded steeps; above all, its relics of the earlier days when Briton, Roman, Saxon, and Norman, held alternate sway over the rich lands and prolific mines of this lavishly endowed county; and of a later time, when shrewd monks planted themselves beside the clear streams and rich meadows, to which they bequeathed magnificent ruins to tell of intellectual and material power in the time of their vigorous and prosperous strength. Unequivocal evidence exists that the Romans knew the curative properties of the Baths at Buxton; and it is almost certain, from the many Celtic barrows and stone circles found in the neighbourhood, that a still earlier race was acquainted with them. Probably, therefore, for more than a thousand years Buxton has been one of the principal “health-resorts” of this island. Yet few remains of antiquity exist in the town. The dwelling—in which was lodged Mary, Queen of Scots, on her several visits, while in custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, and to which “good Queen Bess,” while sojourning at Kenilworth, sent the Earl of Leicester, that he might drink of the healing waters, “twenty days together”—was removed just a century ago: a handsome and very commodious hotel occupies the site: it is still called the “Old Hall;” and immediately behind it are the two springs—the Saline and the Iron—the Chalybeate and the Tonic. On a window-pane of one of the rooms in this Old Hall, Mary, Queen of Scots, is said to have scratched the following touching and kindly farewell—the pane of glass having been preserved until recent years:— “Buxtona, quÆ calidÆ celebrare nomine lymphÆ, Cheerfulness is the handmaid of health: and, although there are many patients in and about Buxton, they do not seem to suffer much: there are more smiles than moans in the pump-room; and rheumatism is not a disease that makes much outer show of anguish. It would be difficult to find in any part of the British dominions a drive so grandly beautiful as that between Buxton and Haddon. Within half a mile of its centre is “the Duke’s Drive” (formed in 1795 by the then Duke of Devonshire): it runs through Ashwood Dale, Miller’s Dale, and Monsal Dale, Haddon, from the Meadows on the Bakewell Road. To give a list of the several objects that delight the eye and mind during this comparatively short drive, would fill more pages than we have at our disposal. The lowest part of the town of Buxton is one thousand feet above the level of the sea; the naturalist, the botanist, and the geologist will find treasure-troves in any of the surrounding hills and valleys: while natural marvels From Manchester and Buxton the way to Haddon is through the ancient town of Bakewell, to the venerable parish church of which we shall, in due course, conduct the reader—for it contains the monuments of the Vernons. But before entering the old Hall, we must ask the reader to glance at another route to Haddon—that which he will probably take if his tour be made direct from London. No doubt many visitors to Haddon will start from Derby; and if the road from Buxton is charming, so also is that from the capital of the shire: it is more open; the vales are wider; the views are more extensive; there are the same attractions of hill and dell and rock and river; cottages embosomed in foliage; church steeples seen among richly-clad trees; clean and happy-looking villages; and distant towns, never indicated, except in one case—that of Belper—by the chimneys and sullen shadows of manufactories. For more than twenty miles there is an unbroken continuation of scenic loveliness, such as, in its calm and quiet charm, its simple grace, and all the attractions of home nature, can be found nowhere else in the wide world. Leaving Derby, and passing by the famous “Boar’s Head” cotton manufactory of Messrs. Evans on the left, and Breadsall on the right, the first station arrived at is Duffield, a delightful village, where was once the castle of the Peverels, and so on to Belper, famous for its cotton mills of the Messrs. Strutt; thence through a delightful country to the pleasant Junction of Ambergate, from whence the railway runs by the picturesque village of Cromford, the creation of one great man, Sir Richard Arkwright; Matlock Bath, the most popular and beautiful of inland watering-places, whose villa residences peep out from the heights in every direction, and whose “High Tor” frowns down upon the railway beneath; Matlock Bridge, whose hill-side of Matlock Bank is studded with famous hydropathic establishments; and Darley Dale, with its fine old church, and grand old yew tree, the largest in the kingdom, The Peacock at Rowsley. “The Peacock” at Rowsley is one of the prettiest and pleasantest inns in “all England:” it has ever been in high favour with “brethren of the angle”—long before the neat and graceful railway station stood so near it that the whistle of the train is audible a dozen times a day, and twice or thrice at night. The fine old bridge close at hand throws its arches across the Derwent; neatly and gracefully trimmed gardens skirt the banks of that clear and bright river, into which flows the Wye about a furlong off; and rivers, meadows, rocks and dells, and hills and valleys “all round about,” exhibit to perfection the peculiarities of the vale, so rich in the beautiful and the picturesque. “The Peacock” is the nearest inn to Haddon; and here hundreds of travellers from all parts of the world have found not only a Haddon, from the Rowsley Road. At Rowsley the tourist is but three miles from Chatsworth, and two miles from Haddon. A pleasant walk through the valley brings him in sight of Haddon Hall; and from this road he obtains, perhaps, the best view of it. Partly hidden, as it is, by tall and full-leaved trees, its grandeur is not at once apparent; but the impression deepens as he ascends the steep pathway and pauses before the nail-studded door that opens into the court-yard. Before we proceed to describe the Hall, however, we shall give some The history of Haddon, unlike that of most of our ancient baronial residences, has always been one of peace and hospitality, not of war and feud and oppression; and however much its owners may, at one period or other, have been mixed up in the stirring events of the ages in which they lived, Haddon itself has taken no part in the turmoils. It has literally been a stronghold: but it has been the stronghold of home and domestic life, not of armed strife. Arms of Vernon quartering HADDON, at the time of taking the Domesday survey, when the manor of Bakewell belonged to, and was held by, the king, was a berewite of the manor; and there one carucate of land was claimed by Henry de Ferrars. Over-Haddon, a village two or three miles off, on the hills, was also another berewite of the same manor. To whom Haddon belonged in the Saxon period is not clear; the first owner of which there is any distinct knowledge is this Henry de Ferrars, who held it in 1086, and who, by grant of the Conqueror, had no less than 114 manors in Derbyshire alone; he built Duffield Castle, and founded the Church of the Holy Trinity, near the Castle of Tutbury. Haddon was at a very early period held, it is said, by tenure of knight’s service, by William Avenell, who resided there, and was possessed of much land in the neighbourhood. Soon after the foundation of Roche Abbey, in 1147, William de Avenell, Lord of Haddon, gave to that establishment the grange of Oneash and its appurtenances. One of the daughters and co-heiresses of William de Avenell, Elizabeth, married Simon Bassett, of the fine old family of Bassett, owners of much property in this and the neighbouring The House of Vernon is of very considerable antiquity, and derives its name, as do many others in the Baronage of England, from its primitive domicile in Normandy—the ChÂtellenie of Vernon, forming one of the territorial subdivisions of that country: the castle, with its hereditary lords, is recorded in the Anglo-Norman chronicles. According to the present territorial division of France, Vernon is a commune in the DÉpartement de l’Eure and Arrondissement d’Evreux; and as being the chef-lieu, gives name to the canton in which it is situate. From this locality, one of the most picturesque and luxuriant of the vine districts, the family of Vernon takes its origin; and also the ancient family of De Redvers—the two families, indeed, being originally identical, the name of De Redvers having been assumed by a Vernon in the eleventh century, from the place of his residence, RÉviÈre, in Normandy: his family were “Comtes de RÉviÈres and Vernon, and Barons de NÉhou;” both families tracing from the d’Ivry stock. Mauriscus d’Ivry (father of Robert d’Ivry), who was father of Alselin GoËl—the names of whose sons, Roger Pincerna, surnamed “the stammerer,” Lord of the Castle of Grossoeuvre; William Lupellus (Lovel), who acquired the castle of Ivry on the death of his elder brother; and Robert GoËl—are well known in history; the one as holding the Honour of Ivry in right of his descent from Count Ralph, uterine-brother of Richard I., Duke of Normandy; another as the founder of the family of Lovel; and the third as having held his castle of Grossoeuvre against King Stephen; he had a son, Baldwin, who took the surname of De Revers from the place of his residence: and two generations later, William, the son of Richard, assumed the name of Vernon, from the ChÂtellenie of that name which he held. His son, Hugh de Revers, or Vernon, usually called Hugh de Monachus, had a son, William de Vernon, Lord of Vernon, who founded the Abbey of Montebourg. By his wife Emma he had issue two sons, Walter and Richard: the latter of whom, Richard de Redvers (as the name became afterwards spelled), or Vernon, came over at the Conquest, and was created Baron of Shipbroke in Cheshire. He married Adeliza, daughter of William Peverel of Nottingham, and received with her in frank-marriage—that is, a free gift of an estate given with a wife on her marriage, and descendable to their joint heirs—the manor of Wolleigh, Buckinghamshire. One of these sons, Baldwin de Redvers, was created Earl of Devon, and from him descended the line of earls of that name; while William de Redvers, who inherited the His son, or grandson, Sir Henry Vernon, was made governor to Prince Arthur by King Henry VII., with whom he was a great favourite. He married Anne, daughter of John, second Earl of Shrewsbury, by Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James, Earl of Ormond. By this marriage he had issue, Sir Henry Vernon, who was made High Steward of the King’s Forest in the Arms of Lord Vernon. Sir John Vernon, Knt., married Helen, daughter and co-heiress of John Montgomery, of Sudbury, in Derbyshire, with whom he received the Sudbury and other estates, and thus founded the family of Lords Vernon. He was one of the King’s Council in Wales, and Custos Rotulorum of Derbyshire, and dying in 1540, was buried at Clifton Camville. He was succeeded by his son, Henry Vernon, who, in his turn, was succeeded by his son, John Vernon, who married Mary, widow of Walter Vernon, of Houndhill, and daughter of Sir Edward Littleton, of Pillaton Hall, by whom, however, he had no issue. On his death in 1600, the estates passed to his stepson, Edward Vernon, the eldest son of his wife by her former husband, the family consisting of three surviving sons—Edward, Thomas, and Walter—and four daughters. By this lady, while a second time a widow, Sudbury Hall is said to have been erected. Edward Vernon was succeeded by his son, Henry Vernon, who married the sole daughter of Sir George Vernon, of Haslington, in Cheshire, and by her had issue a son, George, who succeeded him. This George Vernon was thrice married: first to Margaret, daughter of Edward Onely, by whom he had no issue; and, third, to Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon, Knt., merchant, of London. By this lady he had a numerous family, and was succeeded by his eldest and sole-surviving son and heir, Henry Vernon, who married, first, Anne, sole daughter of Thomas Pigott, Esq., and heiress of her mother, who was sister and sole heiress of Peter Venables, last Baron Kinderton; and, second, Matilda, daughter of Thomas Wright, Esq., of Longston. Henry Vernon, who thus inherited the estates of the Venables, assumed that surname in addition to his own. He had issue by his first wife, among others, a son, George Venables-Vernon, by whom he was succeeded. George Venables-Vernon married three times. By his first wife, the Hon. Mary Howard, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Howard, sixth Lord Howard of Effingham, he had issue a son, the second Lord Vernon, and a daughter, Mary, married to George Anson, of Orgrave, the father of the first Viscount Anson. By his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Having now shown the descent of the Lords Vernon from the old lords of Haddon, we return to the “King of the Peak”—Sir George Vernon—and his heiresses. He, as has been stated, succeeded to the estates in 1515, and at the time of his death, in 1567, was possessed of no fewer than thirty manors in Derbyshire alone. He was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Gilbert Taylebois, Knt.; and, secondly, to Maude, daughter of Sir Ralph Langford. He had issue, two daughters, his co-heiresses, Margaret and Dorothy, whose husbands inherited his immense possessions. Margaret Vernon married Sir Thomas Stanley, Knt., of Winwick, in Lancashire, second son of Edward Stanley, third Earl of Derby; and Dorothy Vernon, whose name has become “a household word” in this locality, married Sir John Manners, Knt., second son of Thomas Manners, first Earl of Rutland, and direct ancestor of the present Duke of Rutland. To this branch we shall presently have to refer at greater length. Sir George Vernon lived at Haddon in such a style of princely magnificence and hospitality as to earn for himself the title of “King of the Peak.” It is said that he was generous and hospitable, as well one of as just and strict, of men, although given perhaps to undue severity and to an indulgence in “Lynch law;” and that he lived and died in the “good esteem” of all men. One tradition, briefly told, will sufficiently illustrate the firmness and decision of his character, and the power he held over the actions and even the lives of the people around him. It is related that a pedlar who had been hawking his wares in the neighbourhood was found murdered in a lonely spot. He had been seen the evening before to enter a cottage, and never afterwards seen alive. As soon as Sir George became aware of the fact of the crime having been committed, he had the body of the pedlar removed to Haddon, laid in the hall, and covered with a sheet. He then sent for the cottager to come immediately, and, on his arrival, at once questioned him as to where the pedlar was who was seen to enter his house the night before. The man denied having seen him or knowing anything about him; when Sir George uncovered the body before him, ordering that all persons present should touch the body in succession, at the same time declaring their innocence of the murder. The suspected man, when his turn came, declined to touch the body, and instantly rushed Dorothy Vernon, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Sir George, and over whom such “a halo of romantic interest” rests, is said to have been one of the most beautiful of all beautiful women, and possessed of so sweet a temper, that she was idolised by all who knew her. If it were so, however, the monument at Bakewell does not fairly represent her, for it exhibits her with an expression of countenance far from either amiable or attractive. The story of her life, according to popular belief, is that, while her elder sister, fortunate in an open attachment to Sir Thomas Stanley, the son of the Earl of Derby, and his affianced bride, was petted and “made much of,” she, the younger, was kept in the background, having formed a secret attachment to John Manners, son of the Earl of Rutland—an attachment which was opposed by her father, sister, and stepmother; she was, therefore, closely watched, and kept almost a prisoner. Her lover is said to have disguised himself as a woodman, or forester, and to have remained in hiding in the woods around Haddon for several weeks, in order to obtain stolen glances of, and occasional brief meetings with, Dorothy. At length, on a festive night at Haddon—tradition states it to have been on one of the “merry meetings,” consequent on the marriage of her sister Margaret—Dorothy is said to have stolen away unobserved in the midst of the merriment in the ball-room, and to have quietly passed out of the door of the adjoining ante-room on to the terrace, which she crossed, and having ascended the steps on the other side, her lover’s arms received her; horses were in waiting, and they rode off in the moonlight all through the night, and were married in Leicestershire the next morning. The door Thus the Derbyshire estates of Sir George Vernon passed to John Manners, and thus it was the noble house of Rutland became connected with Haddon and the county of Derby. Haddon: from the Meadows. John Manners, the husband of Dorothy Vernon, was knighted shortly after his marriage. They had issue three sons: Sir George Manners, who succeeded to the estates; John Manners, who died in 1590, aged 14; and Sir Roger Manners of Whitwell, who died in 1650; also one daughter, Grace, who became the wife of Sir Francis Fortescue. Dorothy died in 1584, and her husband in 1611. They were both buried in Bakewell Church, where their monument will no doubt be looked upon with interest by all visitors to the district. Haddon continued to be one of the residences of this branch of the Manners The Main Entrance. The Hall stands on a natural elevation—a platform of limestone—above the eastern bank of the Wye: the river is crossed by a pretty, yet venerable, bridge, passing which, we are at the foot of the rock, immediately fronting the charming cottage which is the lodge of the custodian who keeps the keys. In the garden we make our first acquaintance with the boar’s head and the peacock—shaped from growing yew-trees—the crests of the families whose dwelling we are about to enter. This cottage adjoins the old stables; their antiquity is denoted by several sturdy buttresses. To the right of the great entrance-door are the steps—placed there long ago—to assist ladies in mounting their steeds, when ladies used to travel sitting on a pillion behind the rider: the custom is altogether gone out; but in our younger days, not only The visitor now stands before the old gateway, with its massive nail-studded door, and will note the noble flight of freestone steps, where time and use have left the marks of frequent footsteps. Indeed, the top step—just opposite the small entrance wicket in the larger door—is actually worn through in the shape of a human foot. He will also notice the extreme beauty and elegance of design of the Gothic architecture of this part of the building, and the heraldic bearings with which it is decorated. Beneath the entrance archway on the right is the guard-room of the “sturdy porter” of old times: his “peep-hole” is still there, the framework of his bedstead, and the fire-place that gave him comfort when keeping watch and ward. After mounting the inner steps, the visitor passes into the first court-yard, and will not fail to notice the remarkable character of the splaying and chamfering of the building in the angle over the inner archway. This is one of the most remarkable features of the building. Its strange character is to some extent occasioned by the winding of a double spiral stone staircase, leading to the tower over the entrance archway. The inside of this gateway, with the enormous hoop, said to have been the hoop of a mash-tub, hanging on the wall, is shown in our vignette. We are now in the lower court-yard, and at once perceive that Haddon consists of two court-yards, or quadrangles, with buildings surrounding each. Immediately opposite the gateway are the stone steps that lead to the state apartments; to the right is the chapel, and to the left, the Hall proper, with its minstrels’ gallery and other objects of curious—some of unique interest. The general arrangement will be best understood by the ground-plan, which, however, requires some explanation. On account of the abruptness of the slope on which Haddon is built, it stands so unevenly, that a horizontal line drawn from the ground in the archway under the Peverel Tower would pass over the entrance archway. Consequently, that archway, the porter’s lodge, and entrance to the spiral staircase on its right hand, and on the left the two rooms entered from the walk behind the partition wall, and before mounting the steps, form what may, looking at it in that light, be called a basement story, to which also belongs the cellar, entered by a flight of fourteen steps descending from the buttery. Lysons, in his “Magna Britannia,” vol. v., engraves—first, a basement plan, comprising the entrance archway and the low rooms above alluded There are second-floor apartments, not planned in Lysons, over the Peverel Tower and its adjoining rooms, and over one half of the north side, from that tower to the junction of the courts. Also solitary second-floor rooms in the Entrance Tower, Central Tower, and over the staircase leading to the ball-room. There is but one third-floor room, it is in the Eagle Tower, and is the highest apartment in the Hall. The plan we engrave will be found the most useful to visitors. It gives the ground-plan irrespective of levels (which would only be bewildering to the visitor), with the exception of the slightly elevated ball-room and state-rooms in the upper court-yard. In fact, from even these being entered from the terrace, the whole of the plan we have prepared may, for general purposes, be said to be that of the ground-floor. On the east side there are but slight differences between the ground-floor and first-floor rooms, excepting those over the kitchen and adjoining offices, and over the central archway. On the south side the differences are material. The ball-room covers six ground-floor cellar rooms. The drawing-room is over the dining-room; and the earl’s bed-chamber and other rooms are over the long narrow ground-floor passages between that and the chapel. On the west side also the arrangement differs considerably. The first Court-yard. Some portions of the building are of undoubted Norman origin, and it is not unlikely that even they were grafted on a Saxon erection. Norman remains will be noticed in the chapel, and, therefore, it is certain that that portion of the building, as well as others which could be pointed out, are the same as when the place was owned by the Peverels and Avenells. Before the year 1199, John, Earl of Morteigne, afterwards King John, by writ directed to his justices, sheriffs, bailiffs, ministers, and all his lieges, granted a licence to Richard de Vernon to fortify his house of Haddon with a wall to the height of twelve feet, without kernel (or crenelle, which was an open parapet or battlement with embrasures or loopholes to shoot through), and forbidding his being disturbed in so doing. This interesting licence, now in possession of the Duke of Rutland, is as follows:—“Johannes com. Moret. justic. vice-com. baillivis, ministris, et omnibus fidelibus suis salutem. Sciatis me concessisse et licenciam dedisse Ric. de Vern. firmandi domum suum de Heddon, muro exaltato xij pedibus sine kernello, et idem prohibeo nequis vestrum Gateway under the Eagle Tower. The earliest portions of the buildings of Haddon now remaining appear to be a part of the chapel, and lower portions of the walls of the south front and of the north-east tower. To the next period, from 1300 to about 1380 (according to Duesbury), belong the hall-porch, the magnificent kitchen and adjoining offices, the great or banqueting hall, the lower west window of the chapel, part of the north-east tower, and part of the cellarage under the long gallery. In the third period, from about 1380 to 1470, were added the east, and part of the west end of the chapel, and the remaining buildings on the east side of the upper court-yard. The fourth period, from 1470 to 1530, comprises the fittings and interior finishings of the dining-room, the western range of buildings in the lower court, and the west end of the north range. The Chaplain’s Room. The principal apartments of Haddon Hall are the Chapel, the Great, or Banqueting-Hall, with the Minstrels’ Gallery occupying two sides of it; the Dining-room; the Drawing-room; the earl’s Bed-room and adjoining suite of rooms; the Ball-room, or Long Gallery; the Ante-room, from which Dorothy Vernon’s door opens on to the terrace; the State Bed-room; the Ancient State Room, or Page’s Room; the Kitchens; and the Eagle, or Peverel, or King John’s Tower. The entrance in this latter was the principal entrance to the Hall, and communicated with Rowsley and Bakewell by an old road which still exists. It was the only entrance by which horsemen or carriages The Chapel. The first room usually shown to visitors is the so-called Chaplain’s Room, the first door on the right, after mounting the steps into the lower court. In this small room, and in the closet attached to it, several objects of interest are preserved. Among these are a pair of remarkably fine fire-dogs, a warder’s The Chapel, which, after the so-called Chaplain’s Room, is the first part of the interior of Haddon Hall shown to visitors, is, as will be seen by reference to the ground-plan, at the south-east corner of the building. It consists, at present, of a nave with side aisle and a chancel, and is entered from the court-yard by an arched doorway opening into a small ante-chapel, or vestibule, through which the visitor passes. At the entrance is a stoup, or holy-water basin, and from the ante-chapel a staircase leads up to the turret. The arches and pillars of the nave are Norman; but the arches have been cut from their original semicircular to their present arched form, and the pillars cut and “shaved down,” and their capitals altered in character. Sufficient of these capitals, however, remains to show what was their original design. At the west end of the nave is a remarkably fine and large vestment chest of very thick timber, having carved on its front two shields of arms. At the opposite (east) end of the nave is a carved corbel, and, on the floor, is the fine old altar-table of stone bearing the usual five incised crosses pattÉe, emblematical of the five wounds of our blessed Saviour. Against one of the pillars is a massive circular Norman font, on which is a curiously constructed cover. This font is engraved on the next page, but unfortunately the artist has omitted the cover. The chancel is raised a little above the nave; and on each side is a large high pew, with open railings in their upper portions, which have been used for the noble families who have inhabited the place; and the carved panels, and the traces of gilding and colour they contain, show, along with the remains of paintings on the walls, how magnificent must have been this place of worship in its palmy days. The chapel consists of a nave with two aisles of unequal width, and a chancel. The entire length of the chapel is 49 feet, the chancel being 28 feet long, and the nave 21 feet. Each aisle has an arcade of two pointed arches. Norman Font in the Chapel. The entrance to the chapel is on the north side, near to the west end. The different parts of the chapel appear to be of about the following dates, viz.:— The south aisle, and centre circular column of its arcade, A.D. 1160. The five windows of this aisle are each of a single light and pointed. The capital of the circular column of the arcade has been cut so as to fit the arches subsequently erected over it. The lower west window, and the north aisle (except the doorway), and the north arcade, are about A.D. 1310. A window of this aisle formerly existed to the east of the doorway, but was blocked up when a staircase was made in the vestibule of the chapel, to give access to a small room. The chancel, the clerestory of the nave, and the south arcade, except the circular column, are of about 1425, at which time the glass of the east window was put in by Richard Vernon, as recorded in an inscription on the window itself. The bell-turret is supposed to have been erected by William, son of Richard Vernon, about 1455. The letter W, supposed to be his initial, is carved on the outside of its wall, towards the court-yard. The The partial removal of the whitewash of the chapel walls, in 1858, led to several discoveries of the former arrangements of the building, and of the coloured decorations of the walls; and, were it desirable, a complete restoration of the interior to its former state would not be difficult. There were two altars in the chapel—one at the east end, as usual, and one under the east window of the south aisle. This latter was, no doubt, a chantry. The stone slabs which formed the tops of the altars still exist, and are raised, to the extent of their thickness, above the floor: the east altar-stone is 8 feet by 3 feet, and is 8 inches thick, the edge being a fillet of 3 inches, and a chamfer; the surface is so decayed that only one of its original five crosses pattÉe now remains. The altar-stone of the south aisle is 5 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, the edge showing a fillet and chamfer. The five crosses pattÉe on it are still perfect. The piscina in the chancel still remains, recessed in a fenestella. The sill of the south window, near the altar, is low, so as to form a sedilia bench. In the middle of the sloping sill of the east window a step has been cut, no doubt for the crucifix to stand on; and on each side of it is a similar step, probably for candlesticks. On the east wall, on each side of the window, is a stone bracket, probably to support an image. On the east wall of the south aisle there is a bracket with a grotesque head, which was probably intended to support a figure. There are signs of a large bracket having existed on the north side of the altar; and the base-mould of a small column, which possibly supported its front edge, may be seen on a block of stone rising above the pavement. A very remarkable squint was discovered and reopened in 1859 in the south-west angle of the chancel, through which a view of the priest officiating at the chantry altar could be obtained from the rood-loft above. In the wall, opposite to this squint, is a doorway, which gave passage from the bell-turret to the rood-loft. The sill of this doorway is 13 feet 9 inches above the chapel floor. The bell itself is now (1871) in use at the new church at Rowsley. It had been taken down from the turret many years ago. Two fragments of the open-work of the rood-screen may be seen in the west ends of the chancel pews. They are carved in oak. The font, which is round and perfectly plain, is of the Norman period, and probably of the same date as the early part of the chapel. It is not in its original position. The stoup for holy water is near the entrance door of the chapel. The windows are not architecturally remarkable, but the glass is deserving of careful attention. It gives an excellent example of very good effect produced by very simple means, and excluding very little light from the interior. Each principal light in the east window, and each light in the head, has a single figure. The drawing, both in expression and in the grace of the drapery, is often very good. Yellow stain is extensively employed, but otherwise colour is sparingly, though very effectively used. There are no canopies, or other architectural accessories. The quarries, forming the groundwork of the windows, come close up to the figures. There are eight patterns of quarries remaining, besides six birds, each of a different form. Most of these patterns are good, and the whole of them may be found in the east window, except one which is in the south-west window of the chancel. The east window has five lights. Much of the glass has been destroyed; what remains was re-leaded in 1858, and arranged according to the original design. No new coloured glass was introduced, but some old quarries were collected from other windows of the chapel, and placed in the east window to complete the groundwork. In the centre light the figure of our Saviour on the cross is nearly perfect. In the next light, on either side, is a figure more or less mutilated, and each has lost the head. One of them represents the Virgin; the other appears to be St. John, though, apparently through some mistake of the artist, he has the emblems of St. John the Baptist. The figures of the two outer lights are entirely gone. The emblems of two of the evangelists remain. In the lights of the head are figures of saints, generally well drawn. Below the principal figures of this window are three shields of arms, supported by angels, gracefully drawn. These arms are, argent, a lion rampant gules, ducally crowned, or; argent, fretty, sable, a canton of the first; and another shield, the bearing on which has been lost. At the bottom of the window are the remains of an inscription to Sir Richard Vernon and Benedict Ludlow his wife, as follows:—Orate pro aiabus Ricardi Vernon et Benedicite uxoris eius qui fecerunt ano dni milesimo CCCCXXVII. This Sir Richard Vernon, who was born in 1391, and succeeded his father in 1401, married Benedict, daughter of Sir John Ludlow of Hodnet, and died in 1451. He was “Treasurer of Calais, Captain of Rouen, and Speaker of the Parliament of The flat-headed windows on each side of the altar, in the north and south sides of the chancel, have each three principal lights, and six lights in the heads, each containing the figure of an apostle, effectively drawn. The centre light of the north window has a figure of the Virgin being taught to read by St. Anne. To the right of this, as we face the window, is the figure of St. George slaying the dragon, and in the other light is the figure of St. Michael trampling on a six-headed dragon. Beneath, there are three mutilated shields of arms of Vernon, &c., and in the bottom of the window are the remains of a candlestick or hour-glass stand. In the south window are the arms of Pype, azure, crucilly of cross-crosslets and two pipes in pale, or; and those of Vernon, argent, fretty, sable, on the dexter side of an impaled shield, the impalement on which is lost. Over the arms of Pype is the fragment of the original inscription, reading “Margareta Pype, vxo.” The mural decorations, of which traces have been found, are of various character and of much interest. The oldest fragments are two running patterns of good design. One is on the arches of the north arcade, and of the same date as the stonework on which it appears, viz., about 1310. The other, which seems to be of the same age, is on one of the jambs of the east window of the south aisle, over the altar. In this window there are traces of a figure, now almost entirely destroyed. Over the arches of the nave there are traces of two different designs, one on each wall. Both are much defaced. On the west wall of the nave there is a design consisting of a running pattern of rose branches and leaves, with red flowers of five petals. The stems and leaves are shaded grey and black. Traces of the same design have been found on the walls of the south aisle, and on the jambs of its west window. The date of this rose pattern is probably about 1427, when the glass of the east window of the chancel was put in. There is a pattern of green and dull red on the east wall of the chancel, and on the south wall is a very similar pattern, which enclosed four groups of figures, two on each side of the window over the sedilia bench. There is no border surrounding each group, but merely the diaper pattern. They are probably of the same date as the glass in the east window. The figures of these groups are generally effectively drawn, though with occasional exaggeration Wall-paintings in the Chapel. The upper group on the west is a Holy Family. The Virgin holds the infant Jesus in her arms; St. Joseph stands by; St. John the Baptist raises his hands and eyes towards the infant Saviour. Below this is a group, much injured, with four scrolls, and apparently four figures. A female figure, probably the Virgin, seems to be carrying a child, whilst a male figure follows behind. There seem to be indications of a fourth Traces of colour are found on the fenestella of the piscina, on the circular columns of the south arcade, and on the brackets near the altar. Steps to State Apartments. Leaving the chapel, the visitor will cross the court-yard to the Banqueting-Hall; but he will notice on his way a flight of stone steps leading from the court-yard, near the doorway of the ante-chapel, up to the state apartments, so that the family could attend the chapel without passing through the hall, and could also, with their guests, be admitted at other times to their suite of rooms. In this first court-yard he will also do well to take especial notice of the beautiful and intricate designs on the lead-work of the heads of the spouts—many of which are filled with delicate Gothic tracery—and the gargoyles, or water-spouts, some of which are grotesquely carved in figures of curious Entering the open doorway of the advanced porch, which, with a wide passage adjoining, forms the way through to the inner, or second court-yard, the visitor will notice, standing on the stone bench on his left hand, a fine Roman altar which, many years ago, was dug up in the grounds. It bears the inscription,— Roman Altar, Haddon Hall DEO which may be rendered, “To the God Mars, Braciaca, Osittius, Caecilianus, Prefect of the first Cohort of the Aquitani, in performance of a vow”—the term BraciacÆ: as applied to Mars being singular. To the left of the passage four arched doorways conduct respectively to the buttery, the great kitchen, and other domestic offices, and to a staircase leading to the long suite of chambers on the north side, and also communicating, by means of a gallery in the Banqueting-Hall, with all the other apartments of the building. To the right is a massive and time-worn oak screen, with two open doorways, which divides the Banqueting-Hall from the passage. Entering by the first of these openings in the screen, the visitor will not fail to notice a suspicious-looking little iron bracket with ring attached, high above his head. This, tradition says, was an instrument of punishment for enforcing the observance of laws of conviviality. For it is said, if, in the days of feasting and merriment in the “good old times,” a man should fail to drink up his quota of liquor, he was fastened up by the wrist to this ring, and the liquor poured down his sleeve so as gradually to trickle down him on to the floor; or, if guilty of any other breach of the law or decorum of the The Banqueting-Hall: with the Minstrels’ Gallery. The Banqueting-Hall, or Great Hall, as it is sometimes called, measures, within the screen, about 35 feet in length, and about 25 in width, and it is of the full height of the building, with an open timber roof. It is entered, as has just been stated, by two open doorways in the screen which separates it from the passage. The screen also forms the front of the Minstrels’ Gallery over the passage. The screen is beautifully panelled, each panel being headed with cinquefoil cusps, above which is other Gothic tracery of elegant design. At the opposite end from this screen is the raised daÏs for the lord and his family and honoured guests, where still stands the grand old table on which so many of the good things of this life have been spread in ages long since passed away. Old Oak Table in the Banqueting Hall. This table is one of the finest examples of its kind yet remaining anywhere in existence—it is now worm-eaten and decayed, like those who once feasted around it; but still it stands, a proud monument of those ancient times so long gone by. Over the daÏs a modern window has been inserted, and formerly a doorway, to the left of the lord as he sat in the centre of the large table, opened into what is now the dining-room, but in those days was the withdrawing-room. The Hand-lock in the Banqueting-Hall. To the right hand, on entering, is the gigantic fire-place with its huge open chimney; and on the opposite side, at the end next the high table, a flight of steps leads up to the state apartments; and close by, through a corner partitioned off by the oak wainscoting, another door leads to the Staircase to Minstrels’ Gallery. The galleried passage, of a later date, to the Minstrels’ Gallery, occupies one side, and the “Minstrels’ Gallery” itself one end, of the Banqueting-Hall—that portion of the gallery along the side forming a passage from the drawing-room and state apartments on one side to the range of rooms on the other. The portion of the gallery over the end of the hall is considerably wider than the other, and would hold a goodly company of minstrels, or of guests, to look down on the “lord of misrule” and other revels below. In one of our Passing out from the Banqueting-Hall, the visitor should next enter the Dining-room, which is one of the most charming, and certainly one of the most interesting, apartments in the whole building. The end opposite to the entrance doorway is entirely taken up by a Gothic window of eight lights, filled with glass disposed in an elaborate geometric pattern. In some of the lights are shields of arms in stained glass, one of which displays the arms of Vernon with its quarterings of Avenell, Pype, &c., &c.; another, Vernon only; and another, Vernon impaled. This room is wainscoted, the upper row of panels throughout being filled in with exquisitely-carved Gothic tracery and with heraldic bearings, &c. Over the centre of the fire-place are the royal arms of England (quarterly France and England) with the supporters, a greyhound and a griffin, and on the one side a shield bearing the three feathers of the Prince of Wales, with the initials E. P., and on the other the arms of Vernon with its quarterings, and supported by a lion and a boar. Below these is the motto, “DREDE GOD AND HONOR THE KYNG,” carved in Gothic capitals. Near this also is the carved inscription, “Anno Dni 1545. Monseigneir de Vernon,” and, with arms, the initials “G. V.,” and “M. V.” The remainder of this fine old heraldic frieze contains a large number of shields bearing the arms of the Vernons and of the various families allied with them, interspersed with the Vernon crest, &c. At the end of the room next the fire-place is a small, but exquisitely beautiful, recessed or oriel window, with seats on all sides, and forming one of the most delicious little retirements imaginable—overlooking, as it does, the lawns and terraces, and the romantic grounds and winding river, of Haddon. This recess is panelled in the same elaborate heraldic and Gothic manner as the room itself, and, besides the coats of arms and crests, bears on one of its panels a grotesque head of a court fool, or jester, traditionally said to have been intended as a portrait of Will Somers, jester to the “merry monarch” and to his predecessor; and on two others the heads of Henry VII. and his Queen, Elizabeth of York. The ceiling of the dining-room is divided into compartments by transverse beams, and has been elaborately painted and decorated. In the large window will be noticed a fine old wine-cooler of bronze, and the fire-place and fire-dogs are also very curious and interesting. Oriel Window in the Dining-room. Passing out from the dining-room, the visitor will next ascend the stone stairs leading up from the Banqueting-Hall to the state apartments. Arriving at the top of this short staircase he will find three doorways, that to the left opening into the long gallery, or ball-room; the one to the right giving access to the drawing-room, the Earl’s room, &c.; and the third simply opening to a staircase to the leads, &c. Passing through the door to the right the visitor enters the Drawing-room, which is situated over the Dining-room just described. It is a charming room, hung with grand old tapestry, above which is a frieze of ornamented mouldings, in pargetting work. This frieze is of five heights, each being decorated with a separate moulding of raised festoons, fruits, flowers, &c. Ante-room to the Earl’s Bed room. To the left, on entering, is a beautiful recessed, or bay, window, over the similar one in the Dining-room; and from this window one of the most beautiful views of the terrace, the foot-bridge, the river, and the grounds, is obtained. This window recess is wainscoted in panels, which have originally been painted and gilt—portions of the colour and gilding still remaining; its ceiling is in the form of a large star of eight points, with intersecting segments of circles attaching the inner angles to each other, and forming a geometric pattern of great beauty. The ceiling of the room is also richly ornamented. Above and around the fire-place the wall is wainscoted in panels, in a similar manner to the recess. In the fire-place is one of the most curious of existing grates, the alternate upright bars of which terminate in fleurs-de-lis, and a pair of exquisitely beautiful fire-dogs; the two The Ball-room, or Long Gallery. In these beautiful remains Haddon is especially rich; but the pair in this room, and the two remarkably fine enamelled bosses in the so-called “Chaplain’s Room,” are the most interesting and elegant. Opposite to the recessed window, a doorway in the tapestry opens upon the side gallery of the “Banqueting Hall,” and so gives access to, and communication with, the apartments on the opposite side of the quadrangle. The opposite end of the Drawing-room from the entrance doorway is occupied by a large window, of similar size to that in the Dining-room beneath it, which overlooks the lower court-yard or quadrangle. In this room are still preserved some pieces of ancient furniture. Near the further window a doorway opens into what is called The Earl’s Dressing-room, a small but remarkably pretty apartment, hung with tapestry, and lighted by a recessed window. This room, as shown in our engraving, immediately communicates with The Earl’s Bed-chamber, so called in connection with the one just described, because thus occupied by the Earls of Rutland when residing at Haddon. This room is hung with tapestry representing hunting scenes, &c. From this chamber a doorway opens into The Lady’s Dressing-room, also hung with tapestry, and lighted with a recessed window. From this room a doorway opens out to the top of the flight of steps already spoken of as giving access to these apartments from the lower court-yard. By this means access was easily obtained to the chapel, and the lord and lady could enter or leave these apartments without passing through the Banqueting Hall. A small padlocked door, in the tapestry of this room, leads up a narrow flight of steps to the leads over the chapel and to the open side of the belfry tower, where the works of the old clock may be seen. Returning through the Earl’s Bed-chamber and Dressing-room, from the fire-grate in which it is said “the celebrated Count Rumford obtained his plan to prevent chimneys smoking,” and retracing his steps through the Drawing-room, the visitor passes out to the landing-place of the staircase leading up from the Banqueting Hall. From this a doorway leads up to a small rude apartment, with a fire-place, and an old chest; and also leads to the leads of the roof of the Drawing-room, Earl’s Bed-room, Long Gallery, &c. The Long Gallery, or Ball-room, one of the glories of fine old Haddon, is next entered by a flight of semicircular steps of solid oak, said to have been cut from the root of a single tree that grew in the park of Haddon, the trunk and arms of which are also asserted to have furnished the whole of the timber of the floor of the Long Gallery, or Ball-room, itself. Thus, if the story be true, the whole of the flooring of this superb apartment, which is 109½ feet in length, and 18 feet in width, as well as these massive steps outside the room, were obtained from one single oak-tree grown on the spot. Ascending the Steps, of which we give an engraving, the visitor will do well to notice the lock and other details of the door, which are somewhat curious. This noble apartment extends, as will be seen on reference to the engraved plan already given, nearly the entire length of the south side of the upper court-yard—commencing near the Banqueting Hall, and, running Steps to the Ball-room. This grand room is wainscoted throughout its entire dimensions with oak panelling of remarkably good architectural character. The general design is a series of semicircular arches, alternately large and small, divided by pilasters with foliated capitals, and surmounted by a frieze and a turreted and battlemented cornice. The pilasters, divided like the whole design up to the frieze, are of three heights. The basement of the wainscoting, about one-eighth of its entire height, is plainly panelled, and devoid of all ornament. The second height, rising to more than a third of the whole, is of a much more decorated character. The pilasters are fluted, and the spaces between them filled in with geometric designs, the narrower spaces being by far the most elaborate in their design. The third height is a series of semicircular arches, alternately wide and narrow, divided by the pilasters, the crown of the arch of the narrower ones being on a level with the springing of the larger ones. The whole of the arches, in which pictures formerly hung, spring from small brackets and semi-pilasters at the sides of the pilasters, and are elaborately decorated. Over each of the smaller arches is a shield of the arms of Manners, with a crescent for difference, and surmounted on the frieze by their crest, a peacock displayed, also differenced with a crescent, alternating with those of the Vernon crest, a boar’s head. The pilasters in this height are carved in scale pattern, and are finished with capitals of foliage filling up the spandrels of the arches. Above these is the frieze, the spaces of which are occupied respectively with the crests just named, alternating with the rose and thistle conjoined on one stem. Above this is a remarkably fine turreted The ceiling of this magnificent room is coved—the coving receding for the cornice. It is covered with elaborate and exquisitely designed geometric tracery, consisting of squares, lozenges, quatrefoils, &c., beautifully foliated at their points, and containing shields of arms and crests, the arms being those of Manners impaling Vernon, and the crests those of Manners and Vernon alternately. This ceiling was originally painted and gilt in a very rich manner, remains of the colouring and gilding being still distinguishable, here and there, through the whitewash. On the walls still hang one or two pictures, which perhaps, however, only add to the solitariness of its appearance. Dorothy Vernon’s Door: Interior. On the south side of this noble apartment is a charming central recessed window of large size, 15 feet by 12 feet—large enough, in fact, to accommodate a goodly party around the fine old central table, which still remains—and two smaller recessed, or bay, windows. On the north side are two windows looking into the upper court-yard; the east end is entirely taken up by a strongly stone-mullioned window of twenty-four lights, with a side window on each side. In the recessed windows are the royal arms of England, and the arms of Vernon, Manners, Talbot, &c., in stained glass. Our engraving shows about one-half, in length, of this noble room. Opposite to the central recess is a fire-place, which still holds the original fire-dogs rising from goats’ feet, and decorated with human heads and heads of goats. In the centre of the large window at the end will be observed a glass case, containing a cast of the head of Lady Grace Manners, whose monument is in Bakewell Church. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepoint, and Dorothy Vernon’s Door: Exterior. From near the upper end of this Long Gallery, or Ball-room, a highly enriched doorway opens into the Ante-room, or Lord’s Parlour. The Ante-room, now occasionally called the “Lord’s Parlour,” and, two centuries ago, was designated the “Orange Parlour,” is a small room, hung with paintings, and having around the upper part of its walls a cornice embellished with the crests of the Vernon and Manners families. The It is said, and no doubt with truth, that it was through this doorway and down these steps that the lovely Dorothy Vernon, one of the co-heiresses of that grand old family, passed on the night of her elopement, and that at the top of the opposite flight of steps, shown in our ground plan, and known as “Dorothy Vernon’s Steps,” she was received into the arms of her ardent and true lover, John Manners, who had horses in waiting; and that they flew through the woods and fields until they gained the high road, and made their way into the neighbouring county. It was through this doorway then that not only the lovely Dorothy passed, but with her the fine old mansion itself and all its broad lands, into the hands of the noble family now owning it. Very sweetly has the tradition of the love and elopement of this noble pair been worked up by imagination in a story, “The Love-steps of Dorothy Vernon,” by a popular writer in the “Reliquary;” and thus another modern author very pleasantly embodies it in verse:— “The green old turrets, all ivy-thatch, Above the cedars that girdle them, rise, The pleasant glow of the sunshine catch, And outline sharp on the bluest of skies. “All is silent within and around; The ghostly house and the ghostly trees Sleep in the heat, with never a sound Of human voices or freshening breeze. ***** “It is a night with never a star, And the Hall with revelry throbs and gleams; There grates a hinge—the door is ajar— And a shaft of light in the darkness streams. “A faint sweet face, a glimmering gem, And then two figures steal into light; A flash, and darkness has swallowed them— So sudden is Dorothy Vernon’s flight!” Passing through the Ante-room, the visitor next enters the State Bed-room, known two hundred years ago, it seems, as the “Blue Drawing-room.” The walls are hung with Gobelins tapestry, the subjects being illustrations of Æsop’s Fables; and above this is a frieze, similar to that in the Ante-room, bearing the crests of Vernon and Manners. This apartment is lighted by a large bay-window, overlooking the upper court-yard, and raised a couple of steps The State Bed-room. The State Bed, shown in our engraving, measures 14 feet 6 inches in height. It is furnished in green silk velvet and white satin, exquisitely embroidered and enriched with needlework. It is one of the finest remaining beds in existence, and is presumed to be the work of Eleanor, daughter of Thomas, and eldest sister and co-heiress of Edmund, Lord Roos, of Hamlake, and wife of Sir Robert Manners; which lady died in 1487. According to traditional report, it was removed many years ago from Haddon to Belvoir Castle, and afterwards restored to Haddon. The last person who ever slept in it is said to have been George IV., when Prince Regent; he occupied it during his visit to Belvoir Castle. From the State Bed-room a doorway behind the tapestry opens upon a short flight of stone steps, leading to what is usually called the Ancient State Room, or Page’s Room, and which two centuries ago was called the “Best Lodging-room.” This apartment, like the previous one, is hung with Gobelins tapestry, the subjects being illustrations of some of the events in the life of Moses. The thickness of the walls, the small size of the windows, and the lowness of these rooms, show that they belong to the more ancient part of the building. The Archers’ Room—for Stringing Bows, &c. From the Page’s Room a short flight of steps leads into a passage, or small room, which may appropriately be called the Archers’ Room and is shown in our engraving, where the visitor will notice a remarkable Wooden Frame for the stringing of bows and cross-bows—the only one probably which he will ever see preserved. It forms one of our illustrations. The passage leads by a few stone steps into a rude apartment, probably a guard-room, where, behind the rafters, innumerable bats now build their nests; also into the cross-bow Having descended the tower, the visitor returns through the State Bed-room into the Ante-room, and is here usually dismissed into the grounds, through “Dorothy Vernon’s Door.” As we have not, however, initiated our tourist into the mysteries of all the rooms and passages of this noble pile of building, we will not dismiss him in this summary manner, but bring him back into the Banqueting Hall, whence we will show him the kitchens and suite of rooms on the north side, and then conduct him to the grounds and to some of the interesting places in the neighbourhood. The Rack for Stringing the Bows. The Kitchen and range of domestic offices at Haddon are very large and extensive, and show, more strikingly than any description, the marvellous amount of cooking that must have been carried on, and the more than princely hospitality observed by its owners in its palmy days. The four doorways, already spoken of as existing in the wall of the passage opposite to the screen of the Banqueting-Hall, and beneath the Minstrels’ Gallery, have all of them pointed arches. The first of these doorways, on entering from the lower court-yard, or quadrangle, yet retains its old oaken door. This room was the buttery, and the door still has perfect its buttery-hatch The Eagle, or Peverel Tower. The second doorway, which is open, leads down a long passage to the Great Kitchen. At the end, the passage terminates in a strong and massive half-door, the top of which is formed into a broad shelf. To this point only were the servants permitted to come, but were forbidden access to the kitchen itself. The dishes were placed on the door-shelf by the cooks on the one side, and removed by the servitors on the other, and by them carried up the passage into the Banqueting-Hall. The kitchen is of immense size, its ceiling supported by massive beams and by a central support of solid oak. It contains two enormous fire-places, stoves for various purposes, and spits, pot-hooks, and tenter-hooks by the score; enormous chopping-blocks, dressers of all sorts and sizes, tables of solid oak, six or seven inches in thickness, and hollowed into circular chopping-troughs—one of which is worn through by constant use—and every possible appliance for keeping open house in the most lavish style. Adjoining the kitchen are a number of rooms, bakehouse, larders, pantries, salting-rooms, &c., all fitted in the same marvellously massive manner. In one of these should be noticed an enormous salting-trough, hollowed out of one immense block of wood, without joint or fastening. This is among the most wonderful relics of the place, and ought to claim attention from the visitor. The third doorway opens into what is conjectured to have been the wine-cellar—a vaulted room well adapted for the purpose, and close at hand for the Banqueting Hall. The fourth doorway opens at the foot of a flight of stairs leading up to the apartments on the north side, which, for more than half its length, contains a second as well as a first floor. These rooms are many in number, and curiously labyrinthine in construction, and although not possessing attraction enough to be shown to the general visitor, are nevertheless among the most interesting in the mansion. Some of them are hung with tapestry which ranks among the best in the house: one room especially, where groups of children gathering fruit are depicted, is peculiarly beautiful. In two of the apartments on this side are charming little closets, on the tapestry of one of which the royal arms are depicted. Gallery across Small Yard. One of these tapestried rooms is named in an old list of apartments of 1666 as “Lady Dorothy’s Chamber,” and a neighbouring apartment is called “Lady Cranborne’s Chamber.” A third tapestried apartment was called “Roger Manners’ Room.” All these rooms are on the central portion of the northern side of the Hall, over the kitchen and adjoining rooms. The apartment over the buttery was the “Great Nursery.” Most of the rooms on this side of the building have evidently been intended for sleeping apartments; and there is a staircase with ornamental rails, on which remains of the original gilding still serve as a relief to the sombre colour of the oak. One of the most charming “bits” on this side is a short Wooden Gallery, here engraved, with oak balustrades, which leads across a tiny little open Room over the Entrance Gateway. Among the apartments not usually shown are also two handsome wainscoted rooms, with carved ceilings, situated over each other, in the entrance gateway tower. Above the uppermost of these is a room supposed to have been a place of confinement, because there are traces of external bolts and bars. It has two windows, in one of which are two massive stone seats inserted in the wall. It has also a door leading out to the leads. Most of the points of interest have now been described; but the curious rambler, who may choose to linger and pry into nooks and corners, will do But enough has been said of the interior of Haddon to satisfy the wants of the tourist, and, although we could linger for hours over the various rooms not yet specifically described, and fill several chapters with their description, we must reluctantly leave them, and pass on into the grounds, and so make our way to Bakewell, to show the visitor the last resting-places of the noble families to whom Haddon has belonged. Leaving, then, by a small doorway at the end of a passage leading out from the Banqueting-Hall, and passing the Dining-room on the right, the visitor will enter what is called the “Upper Garden.” To his right he will see below him, on looking over the strongly-buttressed wall—one of the oldest parts of the building—the “Lower Garden,” roughly terraced down the hill side, and to his right a gravelled path leads by the side of the building to the wall of the chapel, where, by a long flight of sixty-seven steps, it descends to the old foot-bridge—one of the prettiest objects in the grounds: this we have engraved. To his left, the “Upper Garden,” 120 feet square, is a lawn; up its centre, as well as around it, runs a broad gravel walk, opposite to which rises a splendid wide flight of stone steps, with stone balustrades, leading to the The Terrace. The Terrace, one of the glories of Haddon, extends the full width of the Upper Garden, the balustraded wall running flush with the end of the Long Gallery. From this terrace the finest view of the south front of Haddon is obtained, and it is indeed a view to revel in, and not to be forgotten. The Winter Garden of the terrace is planted with yew-trees, many centuries old, whose gnarled and knotted roots may be seen curiously intertwining and displacing the stone edgings of the parterres. It is altogether one of the most charming outdoor “bits” which even the most romantic and vivid imagination can conceive. At the north end of the Winter Garden of Haddon Hall, in that charmingly shady corner formed by the wall of the Long Gallery on the one side, the outer wall of the garden on the opposite, and overhung with a grand melancholy-looking The Hall from the Terrace. From the interior, by the way of Dorothy Vernon’s Door, a short flight of stone steps, with balustrated sides, leads down to the Winter Garden, on the opposite side of which, nearly opposite to this doorway, a long flight of stone steps leads up to another, and considerably higher terrace, called Dorothy Vernon’s Walk—a broad pathway, or promenade, passing between an avenue of lofty lime and sycamore trees—and one of the most secluded and romantic “lovers’ walks” in the neighbourhood. The old Bowling Green, near the summit of the hill above Haddon, occupied an acre of ground, and was approached by an avenue of trees. It was enclosed by a thick hedge of yew, with a flight of stone steps for an entrance. On one side was a lodge, or summer-house, over one of the There is also a plot of ground, levelled, and in form a parallelogram, which is known as the “Archery Ground.” Before leaving Haddon, the visitor should step inside the building now used as a stable, in which he will find some features worthy of observation. In the cottage inhabited by the kindly and respected custodian of Haddon, is some fine carved furniture, and in the garden in front, the yew trees, cut into the form of a peacock and a boar’s head—the crests of Manners and of Vernon—form pleasing objects, and are sure to attract the attention of the visitor. MANY other interesting particulars regarding this grand old mansion might be given, but we now proceed to speak of the family of its present noble owner, the Duke of Rutland, in the same way as we have already done of its former possessors, the Avenells and Vernons. The noble family of Manners, like that of Vernon, is of considerable antiquity; and, although the records of its early members do not extend so far back as those of the Vernons, its history is more illustrious, and its dignities are more exalted. The most ancient of the ancestors of the present Duke of Rutland, of whom there is direct evidence, was Sir Robert Manners, Lord of the Manor of Ethale, in Northumberland, from whom descended another Sir Robert, who married Philippa, daughter of St. Bartholomew de Mont Bouchier, by whom he had issue, a son, also named Robert, who married Hawise, daughter of Robert, Baron de Muschamp, in the reign of Henry I. Their great-grandson, another Sir Robert Manners, married Agnes, daughter of Sir David Coupland. Their son, Sir Robert, had issue by his wife, Joan de Heton, four sons; three of whom dying without issue, the second son, William Manners, inherited the estates. He married Ellen, or Janetta, daughter of David Baxter, of Derby, by whom he had a son, Sir Robert Manners. This Sir Robert was returned in the seventeenth year of Edward III., as one of the principal persons in the county of Northumberland, and was entitled to bear arms by descent. In the first year of Edward’s reign, being governor of Norham Castle, he distinguished himself by his successful defence of that stronghold against the Scots, who “despising King Edward’s youth, on the very night of that day on which King Edward was crowned, intended to take Norham Castle by surprise; and so well managed their design, that about sixteen of them had already mounted the walls. But the captain, Sir Robert Manners, being warned of the matter beforehand, by one of his garrison, who was a Scotsman, had so well prepared to receive them, that of those who had mounted he took five or six, and put the rest to the sword, their companions below, upon this disappointment, retiring.” In the next year he was constituted one of the “conservators of the truce made with the Scots for all hostilities to cease.” Soon afterwards he was made Sheriff of the county of Selkirk, and appointed to keep and defend the forts of Selkirk, and Ettrick, &c. In the fourteenth of the same reign he represented Northumberland in Parliament, and again subdued Scotch incursions. Soon afterwards he obtained a licence from the king “to strengthen and embattle his dwelling-house at Ethale, in Northumberland, with a wall made of stone and lime, and to hold the same to himself and his heirs for ever.” The next year he was constituted one of the Commissioners to treat with David Bruce and his adherents for a peace, and subsequently was made Lord of the Marches. At the battle of Neville’s Cross, in 1346, under Queen Philippa, in which the Scottish king was taken prisoner, Sir Robert displayed great valour, and was entrusted to keep charge of the prisoners, and deliver them to the Constable at the Tower of London. He died in 1355, leaving his son and heir, John de Manners (by his wife Aliva, or Alice, daughter of Henry Strather), only one year and three weeks old. This John Manners received the honour of knighthood, and married Alice, widow of William de Whitchester; and, dying in 1402, was succeeded by his son, Sir John Manners, who was Sheriff of Northumberland, and, with his son John, was accused of the murder of William Heron and Robert Atkinson or Akyman; they were prosecuted by Sir Robert de Umphreville, and Isabel, widow of William Heron, and were ordered to “cause 500 masses to be sung for the health of the soul of the same William Heron within one year then next ensuing, and pay unto Sir Robert de Umphreville, and Isabel, to the use of the said Isabel and her children by Heron, 200 marks.” He was succeeded That was Sir Thomas Manners, who, on the death of his father, became thirteenth Lord Roos of Hamlake, and Baron Trusbut, Riveaulx, and Belvoir. He was with Henry VIII. and his Queen at the celebrated interview between that monarch and the King of France at Guisnes, and in the same reign was made Warden of the East Marches, and had many other honours granted him. In the seventeenth year of the same monarch he was created Earl of Rutland—“a title which none but the royal family had ever borne, and, by reason of his descent from the sister of King Edward IV., had an augmentation to his ancient arms,” or, two bars azure, and a chief, gules: which chief was augmented thus:—quarterly azure and gules:—in the first and fourth two fleurs-de-lis, and in the second and third a lion passant guardant, all or. He was also installed a Knight of the Garter. A few years later this nobleman was present at the second interview between Henry VIII. and Francis I.: he was also present at the marriage of his sovereign with the ill-fated Anne Boleyn; and, The eldest son, Henry Manners, succeeded his father, in 1543, as second Earl of Rutland. He was married twice: first to Margaret, daughter of the fourth Earl of Westmoreland, by whom he had issue; and, second, to Bridget, daughter of Lord Hussey, by whom he had no children. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Manners, as third Earl of Rutland, who, dying without male issue, was succeeded by his brother, John Manners (the second son of the second Earl), as fourth Earl of Rutland. This nobleman married Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Charlton of Apsley, by whom he had issue, with others, three sons—Roger Manners, Sir Francis Manners, and Sir George Manners—who successively became fifth, six, and seventh Earls of Rutland. All these dying without surviving male issue, the title passed to the descendants of the second son of the first Earl. Sir John Manners, second son of the first Earl of Rutland, and who was consequently great grandson of the sister of King Edward IV., is the one member of this illustrious family with whom Haddon is especially connected. This John Manners, before he was knighted, became attached to Dorothy Vernon, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Sir George Vernon of Haddon Hall, known far and wide as “the King of the Peak.” Disguised, as we have already related, as a forester or woodman, John Manners for some time lived in the woods about Haddon, in the hope of obtaining occasional glimpses of, and stolen interviews with, Dorothy Vernon; and at length so wooed that he won her, and carried her off on horseback into his own county of Leicester, and there married her. The story of this romantic elopement is one of the pleasantest episodes in the history of Haddon, and will have again to be alluded to later on. By that marriage the grand old mansion of Haddon Hall, and the Derbyshire property of the “King of the Peak,” passed into the family of Manners, and helped to swell its already large rent-roll of estates. This John Manners, who was knighted in 1603, had issue by his wife, Dorothy Vernon, three sons: Sir George Manners who succeeded him; John Manners, who died at the age of fourteen years; Sir Roger Manners, of Sir George Manners, their son, married Grace, daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepoint, and sister to the Earl of Kingston, by whom he had issue, with others, John Manners, his eldest son, who not only succeeded him, but also succeeded his own cousin George, seventh Earl of Rutland, in his title and estates, and thus became eighth Earl of Rutland. He married Frances, daughter of Edward, Lord Montague of Boughton, by whom he had issue four sons and seven daughters. He was Sheriff of Derbyshire in the ninth and eleventh years of Charles I., and also represented that county in Parliament. His lordship was attached to the Parliamentary interest during the Civil Wars, and was one of the twenty-two peers who remained at Westminster when the king summoned both houses to attend him at Oxford. As a consequence, his castle of Belvoir was seized by the Royalists, and was held by them and Sir Gervase Lucas, and here the king frequently resided; it was finally surrendered to the Parliamentarians in January, 1645-6. In 1649 the castle was demolished, by consent of the earl, who soon afterwards set about rebuilding it, which he completed in 1668. During this time the earl lived principally at Haddon Hall, where he died in 1679. Here he lived in a style of almost princely magnificence, maintaining a large number of servants and retainers, and dispensing, especially at Christmas time, his hospitality with a lavish hand. About this time, from 1660 to 1670, although the family only occasionally resided here, there were generally killed and consumed every year at Haddon between thirty and forty beeves, from four to five hundred sheep, and a number of swine, so that there was no lack of the good things of this world for visitors to this hospitable place. This nobleman was succeeded by his third and only surviving son, John Manners, as ninth Earl of Rutland. This nobleman was born in 1638, and, in 1679, was created a peer in his own right by the title of Baron Manners of Haddon; and in September of the same year, his father dying, he became Earl of Rutland. When twenty years of age he had married the Lady Anne Pierrepoint, daughter of the Marquis of Dorchester, from whom he was afterwards divorced; and married, secondly, Lady Diana Bruce, widow of Sir Seymour Shirley, and daughter of the Earl of Aylesbury, who died in child-bed. His lordship married, thirdly, Catherine, daughter of Baptist Noel, Viscount Campden, by whom only he had surviving issue. He lived a country life, John, second Duke of Rutland, when scarcely seventeen years of age, was married to Katherine, second daughter of Lord William Russell, who was beheaded in 1683. He then bore the title of Lord Roos; and the wedding festivities seem, judging from some curious letters still extant concerning them, to have been of the most lavishly extravagant character. This lady who was sister to the Duchess of Devonshire and to the Duke of Bedford, gave birth to five sons and four daughters, and died in child-bed, in 1711. The Duke married, secondly, Lucy, daughter of Lord Sherard, and sister of the Earl of Harborough, by whom also he had issue, six sons and two daughters: his grace died in 1721, and was succeeded, as third Duke of Rutland, by his eldest son, John Manners. This nobleman, who was born in 1696, married, in 1717, Bridget, only daughter and heiress of Lord Lexington (an alliance that gave him a large accession of estates), by whom he had issue thirteen children, nearly all of whom died young. He was the last of the family who made Haddon Hall a residence. The estates of Lord Lexington having been settled upon the younger branch of the family, the second and surviving sons, successively, took, by Act of Parliament, the additional surname of Sutton, and thus founded the family of Manners-Sutton. The Duke, who was familiarly known as “the old man of the hill,” dying in 1779, was succeeded by his grandson, Charles Manners, son of the celebrated Marquis of Granby, Commander-in-chief of the British forces in Germany, and Master of the Ordnance, who died during his father’s lifetime. Charles, fourth Duke of Rutland, married Mary Isabella, daughter of Charles Noel, Duke of Beaufort, by whom he had issue four sons—viz., John Henry, who succeeded him, Charles Henry Somerset, Robert William, and William Robert Albini; and two daughters—viz., the Lady Elizabeth Isabella, married to Richard Norman, Esq., and Lady Catherine Mary, married to Lord Forester. His grace died while holding office as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and was The present peer, Charles Cecil Manners, sixth Duke of Rutland, Marquis of Granby, Earl of Rutland, and Baron Manners of Haddon, &c., &c., was born in 1815, and has held many important appointments. His grace is not married: the heir to the title and estates being his brother, Lord John Robert Manners (Marquis of Granby, by courtesy), M.P. for North Leicestershire, who is also known for the official posts he has held in the government of this country. The arms of the Duke of Rutland are, or, two bars, azure; augmented by a chief, quarterly, first and fourth azure, two fleurs-de-lis, or (France), second and third gules, a lion passant-guardant, or (England). Crest, on a chapeau, gules, turned up, ermine, a peacock in pride, proper. Supporters, two unicorns, argent, horns, manes, tufts, and hoofs, or. Motto, “Pour y parvenir.” The meadows around Haddon—with the river Wye twisting and turning about in all imaginable forms—are very delightful, and some of the pleasantest strolls conceivable may be taken along them, both up and down the stream, which is full of fine trout, and is, therefore, a source of endless delight to the angler. Having thus given our readers as full an account as would appear necessary both of the noble families to whom Haddon has belonged, and of the Hall itself, and told them as much of its history as is requisite for our purpose, we take leave of this interesting pile, and proceed to speak of one or two matters connected with its immediate neighbourhood, before passing on to the fine old church at Bakewell, where lie interred so many of the families of Vernon and Manners. Haddon has been a prolific theme for writers, and an endless source of inspiration for poets and artists, and long will it continue to be so, for no “olden” place can be more picturesque or more romantic. It is said that Mrs. Radcliffe was so struck with it, that she laid the scene of her “Mysteries of Udolpho” here; and Allan Cunningham, the Countess de Carabrella, and The Foot-Bridge. As may naturally be expected, in a neighbourhood so rich in interest as that of Haddon, some singular discoveries have at one time or other been made. Among these the Roman altar, described on a preceding page, is perhaps the most important. The opening of barrows in the neighbourhood has brought to light many interesting remains of the ancient British period, and also of Romano-British times. These consist of interments in which have been found cinerary urns, Some fine antlers, and parts of antlers, of the red deer, one of which, with four points at the top, measured more than three feet along its outer curve, and was six-and-a-half inches in medium circumference, have also been found. But these are not the only remains of extinct animals found in the neighbourhood, for those of the wild dog, the wild hog, the horse, the deer, the roebuck, and the ox—both the Bos urus and the Bos longifrons—all of which once ran wild in Derbyshire, have been found, in the course of deep draining near the Hall, and preserved under the careful direction of Mr. Nesfield. Ring found at Haddon Hall. Perhaps the most elegant relic yet discovered is the ring shown in our engraving, which is in possession of his Grace the Duke of Rutland. It was found a few years ago, not far from the “Bowling Green,” and is evidently of the fifteenth century, and is of extremely fine workmanship and elegant design. The hoop is wreathed, and has originally been enamelled, and bears between the foliage the inscription, in old English letters, “de boen cuer,” which is one of frequent occurrence as a posy upon mediÆval rings, probably in this case, meaning de bon coeur, and showing the hearty affection of the giver to the receiver. The little figure engraved on the besel is St. John the Baptist, with the Lamb enfolded in his mantle, and has most likely also been enamelled. It is probably a kind of charm-ring—i.e., a ring possessing physical or phylacteric qualities against epilepsy, the mal de St. Jean. It is of the purest gold, and weighs ninety-seven grains. Washing-Tally found at Haddon Hall. Another interesting “find” was the Washing-Tally already referred to, which is of the time of Charles I, and of extreme rarity. Of this tally, as intimately connected with the inner and home life of Haddon, at the period of the height of its hospitality and glory, we give the accompanying accurate engraving, which is drawn of a somewhat reduced size, and for which, as for the ring, and other engravings, our readers are indebted to the Reliquary ArchÆological Journal, edited by Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A. This very interesting relic is five-and-a-half inches in length and four-and-a-half inches in depth. It is formed of a piece of beech-wood, a quarter of an inch in thickness, covered with linen on the back and sides. Its construction is precisely that of a “horn-book.” In front, the names of the different articles of clothing are printed from a copper plate and protected by a sheet of horn. Around the edge, a narrow slip of thin brass, fastened down with highly ornamented nails, attaches the horn, the paper, and the linen, to the wood. The “tally” is divided into fifteen squares, in each of which is a dial numbered from 0 to 12, and above each square is the name of the article of clothing intended to be taken into account. These are “Ruffes,” “Bandes,” “Cuffes,” “Handkercher,” “Capps,” “Shirtes,” “Half-Shirtes,” “Boote-hose,” “Topps, It may here be well to note, that although Haddon Hall is no longer used as a residence by the Duke of Rutland, he has within three or four miles of it a delightful shooting-box, Stanton Woodhouse, pleasantly situated and charming in every respect, where he and others of his family occasionally sojourn. This and his other shooting-lodge, Longshawe, some distance across the moors of the same county, are two charming retreats for the sportsman. It may be mentioned, too, that at Rowsley, close at hand, is the admirably executed effigy of Lady John Manners and her infant, by W. C. Marshall, R.A. Passing on from Haddon to Bakewell, the tourist will not fail to notice the Dove-cote on a mound near the road-side, and from this road-side he will obtain one of the best and most charming views of the Hall to be gained from any point. Bakewell Church, the burial-place of some of the members of the Vernon and Manners families, to whom Haddon Hall successively belonged, is nearly two miles distant from Haddon, and may be seen on looking up the valley of the Wye. Bakewell itself is a pleasant and remarkably clean little market-town, built on the banks of the Wye; there are several good public buildings in the town itself, and many substantial residences in its neighbourhood. It is, however, to the church only that we now desire to call attention in a short description. Bakewell Church. It is a cruciform building, of about 150 feet in length from west to east, and about 105 feet in width across from wall to wall of the north and south transepts, with a central tower and spire. It contains some extremely fine Norman and Early-English features, and is lofty and remarkably well proportioned. In the centre rises a noble tower, the lower part of which is square, and the upper octagonal, with the angles boldly chamfered, and this is surmounted by a lofty spire. There can be no doubt, from remains which have been found, that a church had existed on this spot from very early pre-Norman times. In Domesday survey, it is stated there were two priests for the church of Bakewell. It was afterwards made a collegiate church. It was granted by William the Conqueror to William Peverel, his natural son, but was, with the other immense possessions of that family, forfeited by attainder by one of his descendants in 1154; it remained in the possession of the crown till it was given by Richard I., on his accession to the throne in 1189, to his brother John, Earl of Morteigne, afterwards King John. To him is traditionally ascribed the rebuilding of the nave (with the exception of the west end, which he is said to have left standing), and its endowment; but it is more probable that it was built and endowed by a Peverel, who gave part of the Bakewell tithes to Lenton Priory. In 1192, Earl John gave the church, with all its prebends and other appurtenances, to the present cathedral of Lichfield. In 1365, a chantry was founded in the church by Sir Godfrey Foljambe and The church was extensively repaired and restored in 1841, when numerous very interesting remains were brought to light. These included an extensive series of incised sepulchral slabs, of very early date, bearing crosses of various forms, and many interesting devices; several ancient crosses used as headstones; a considerable and extremely beautiful assemblage of fragments of encaustic paving tiles; and several fragments of coped tombs, and of crosses with the interlaced ornament so characteristic of the Saxon period, as well as many stone coffins, and sculptured fragments of mouldings, capitals, &c., belonging to the more ancient edifice. Of these curious remains the greater part were preserved in the porch of the church, and consist of considerably more than fifty incised slabs—some of which are perfect, and others in fragments—and perhaps a score or two of other stones. It is also stated, and is much to be regretted, that at least four times the number of sculptured stones preserved were rebuilt into the walls during the alterations, so that, including a number taken away and now preserved at Lomberdale, there must have been from three to four hundred found. In the same porch, a selection of the ornamented paving tiles is also preserved; among the patterns are many of extreme beauty and elegance. The font is also deserving of especial notice. It is octagonal, each of its sides bearing a figure beneath a crocketed canopy. A fragment of another ancient font will be seen in the porch. The part of Bakewell Church, however, with which we have now particularly to do is the Vernon Chapel, in which, divided from the south transept by a beautiful open oak screen, lie buried the later Vernons and the earlier members of the Manners family connected with Haddon. This chapel was, it appears, erected “late in the Decorated period, about 1360, upon the walls of the former chapel. The Early-English half-pillars at each extremity of the arches had been retained, and were very beautiful examples, well worthy of imitation. The hollows of the mouldings, up to a certain height, being filled with bold roses, capitals in a different style were afterwards added to suit the decorated arches. The central pillars, with their central clustered shafts, are of singularly elegant design; the tracery of the windows partakes In the centre of the Vernon Chapel stands a fine altar-tomb, bearing the recumbent effigies of Sir George Vernon, the “King of the Peak,” and his two wives, Margaret Taylebois and Maude Langford. This tomb is an extremely beautiful and characteristic example of the elaborately decorated monuments of the period to which it belongs. Along its sides, under a series of canopied arches, are figures bearing shields of the arms of the Vernons and their alliances and those of the families of his two wives. Sir George is habited in plate armour and surcoat, and wears a straight long beard and straight hair. He has a double chain and a sword. The inscription on this interesting tomb is as follows:—“Here lyeth Sr George Vernon, Knight, deceased ye —— daye of —— ano 1561, and Dame Margaret his wyffe, daughter of Sir Gylbert Tayleboys, deceased ye —— daye of —— 156—; and also dame Mawde his wyffe, dawghtr to Sr Ralphe Langford, deceased ye —— daye of —— anno 156— whose solles God pdon.” The inscription, it will be seen, has never been finished, the blanks for the dates not having been filled up. The surcoat worn by the knight is elaborately emblazoned with his own arms with all its quarterings; and, taken altogether, this is a remarkably fine and interesting monument. At the south end of the chapel stands, to visitors to Haddon, perhaps the most interesting of its monuments. It is that of Dorothy Vernon, about whose elopement we have already discoursed, and her husband, Sir John Manners, with their children. This lady, it will be recollected, was one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir George Vernon, whose monument we have just been describing, and his first wife Margaret Taylebois, and by her marriage with Sir John Manners, she conveyed Haddon Hall and the other Derbyshire estates of the Vernons to the family of Manners, to whom they still belong. This monument we, for the first time, engrave. It is a large and very imposing-looking erection. At the top, in the centre, is a large shield, bearing the shield of Manners, with its sixteen quarterings, and on either side is an obelisk ornament, one of which bears the arms of Manners and the other of Vernon. Beneath these is a bold cornice and ornamental frieze, on which again occur three shields with the arms, respectively, in the centre Manners impaling Vernon; and on one side Avenell, and on the other Roos. Monument of Sir John Manners and his wife, Dorothy Vernon. This cornet and frieze surmount a semicircular arch, beneath which are the kneeling figures, facing each other, of Sir John Manners, in plate armour, and his wife, Dorothy Vernon, in close-fitting dress, with cap, and frill or ruff around the neck. Between them there is a pedestal, bearing the following incription:—“Here lyeth Sr John Manners, of Haddon, Knight, second sonne of Thoas, Erle of Rutland, who dyed the 4 of June, 1611, and Dorothie his wife, one of the daughters and heires to Sr George Vernon, of Haddon, Knight, who deceased the 24 day of June, in the 26 yere of the raigne of Queen Elizabeth, 1584.” Above the pedestal is a large shield, with quarterings of the armorial bearings of the families of Manners and Vernon and their alliances; the shields bearing the sixteen quarterings of Manners, differenced with a At the opposite or north end of the chapel is a much larger and more pretentious monument, that of Sir George Manners, son and heir of Sir John Manners and Dorothy Vernon, and of his wife, Grace Pierrepoint. At the top is a large shield bearing the arms of Manners with its sixteen quarterings, and on each side is an obelisk. Beneath these is a massive and bold cornice, supported on Corinthian pillars, forming a recess in which is a semicircular arch, elaborately carved, and over it the inscription, “The day of a man’s death is better than the day of his birth.” Under this arch and cornice are the effigies of Sir George Manners and his wife, kneeling, and facing each other, while between them is a double desk, or lectern, on the front of which are the words—“Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up before thee,” and a shield bearing the arms of Manners impaling Pierrepoint. Behind the figures, on a tablet, is a Latin inscription, which has been thus translated:—“Sir George Manners of Haddon, Knt., here waits the resurrection of the just in Christ. He married Grace, second daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepoint, Knt., who afterwards bore to him four sons and five daughters, and lived with him in holy wedlock thirty years. She caused him to be buried with his forefathers, and then placed this monument, at her own expense, as a perpetual memorial of their conjugal faith, and she joined the figure of his body with hers, having vowed their ashes and bones should be laid together. He died 23rd April, 1623, aged 54. She died ——.” Sir George is represented in armour, and his lady is habited in close dress, with ruff, hood or coif, and long veil. Beneath the figures of the knight and his lady, the monument is divided into two heights, each of which is formed into an arcade holding the effigies of their children. The upper arcade consists of four semicircular arches, with shields of armorial bearings in the spandrels. Within the first of these arches is the effigy of the eldest son—a “chrisom child”—who died in infancy and is, as usual, represented bound up, mummy fashion, in swaddling-clothes; in the second, the kneeling effigy, in armour, of John Manners, who ultimately succeeded to the title of eighth Earl of Rutland; and in the third and fourth, those of two of the daughters. In the lower arcade, which is formed of five On the wall is a memorial to John Manners, son of Dorothy Vernon and her husband, Sir John Manners, with the inscription—“Heare lieth buried John Manners, gentleman, third son of Sr John Manners, Knight, who died the xvi day of July, in the yeere of our Lord God 1590, being of the age of 14 yeers.” The most ancient, and certainly one of the most interesting, monuments in the church, is that of Sir Thomas de Wendesley, or Wensley, of Wensley, who was killed at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. It is an altar-tomb, with the recumbent effigy of the knight in plate armour, wearing the conical helmet or bascinet, and camail or tippet of chain mail, with gussets of the same at the arm-pits. His girdle, which is exceedingly rich, encircles his hips; the sword is lost, but the dagger remains. His surcoat is emblazoned with his arms, and he wears the collar of SS. On the front of the helmet is inscribed IHO NAZAREN. In the chancel is an altar-tomb to John Vernon, 1477, the inscription on which runs as follows:—“Hic jacet Johis Vernon filius et heres Henrici Vernon qui obiit xii die mensis Augusti Anno Dni Mo cccclxxvii cuj anime piciet de;” and in the Vernon Chapel is an incised slab, with the arms of Eyre. In the nave is a small but exceedingly beautiful monument bearing the half-length effigies, side by side, under an elaborately-crocketed canopy, of Sir Godfrey Foljambe and Avena his wife. The knight is represented in armour, with conical helmet or bascinet, and tippet of chain mail; his surcoat bearing the arms of Foljambe. The lady wears a reticulated caul. In each of the spandrels is a shield, the one bearing the arms of Foljambe, the other that of the family of Ireland, of Hartshorne, to which the lady belonged. There are several tablets and inscriptions in various parts of the church which are worthy of a passing glance, and there are also some memorial stained-glass windows of good design. Among these is one in memory of the late Duke of Rutland, representing the Resurrection, bearing the following inscription:—“The above window was erected, by subscription, in memory of John Henry, Duke of Rutland, who died 20th January, 1857, aged seventy-nine years.” Others are put in to the memory of the late Mr. Allcard and of Mr. Jonathan Wilson and others. Before leaving the interior of this fine old church, it will, no doubt, interest the visitor to be told in fewer words, and more correctly than could be gleaned from the strange tales sometimes told in the place, the story of the uncovering of the remains of Dorothy Vernon, her husband, and other members of the family, during the rebuilding and alteration of the church. When the excavations were commenced on the site of the monument of Sir John Manners and his wife Dorothy Vernon, the remains of two persons, supposed to be the knight and his lady, were found; the skull of the one was identified as that of Sir John, by its peculiar form and its likeness to his sculptured effigy; that of the other, which lay near it, with beautiful auburn hair still attached, among which were some pins that had been used to fasten it—was naturally, and no doubt correctly, considered to be that of the once lovely Dorothy. In another part three children’s leaden coffins were found, but not opened, and the bones of an infant (probably the “chrisom child,” represented on the tomb of Sir George Manners) were discovered rolled up in a sheet of lead. These, no doubt, were the children of different members of the Manners family. A leaden coffin was also found which contained the body of a lady. The part of the lid over the head had been violently torn away—the piece of the sheet of lead being missing—and this was carefully and thoroughly examined. The body had been buried in lime, but the part of the lid had been torn off, the head cut off, taken out and surgically examined, and then hastily replaced, but with the face downwards. The rest of the body was undisturbed. Several Ancient Cross, Bakewell Churchyard. In the churchyard, near the east wall of the south transept, stands one of the finest so-called “Runic crosses” in the kingdom. It is, exclusive of the modern pedestal, about eight feet in height: the upper limb of the cross is broken off. Of this fine old cross we give an engraving. The front of the cross, which in bad taste has been turned towards the wall, is sculptured in four heights, with figures beneath arches—the upper group being the Crucifixion: the whole, however, is much defaced. The opposite side, the one shown in our engraving, is boldly sculptured, with a beautiful scroll-pattern of foliage terminating at the top in an animal, and at the bottom is a cross within a circle; on the head is a figure on horseback. The sides of the cross are sculptured in scroll-work of foliage, of much the same design as the side just described; the end of one of the limbs bears an interlaced ornament, and the other a figure. This cross, and the one at Eyam, a few miles distant, are among the most perfect and beautiful remaining examples of the early period to which they belong. If the tourist still wishes to linger for a few minutes in the churchyard, he will find much to interest, to please, and to amuse him. To interest him in examining the external features of the church, especially the Norman doorway and arcade, &c., at the west end, and the beautiful doorway of Early-English design on the south side, as well as the stone coffins grouped together in one corner. To please him, in the magnificent view he obtains of the surrounding country, especially of the valley of the Wye as it runs its zig-zag course towards Haddon; and to amuse him, One of these, to the memory of a former parish clerk and leader of the choir, reads as follows:— “Erected to the Memory of Philip Roe, who died 12th September, 1815, “The vocal Powers, here let us mark, Another long inscription to the memory of John Dale, barber-surgeon, of Bakewell, and his two wives, Elizabeth Foljambe and Sarah Bloodworth, 1757, thus curiously ends:— “Know, posterity, that on the 8th of April, in the year of grace 1757, the rambling remains of the above-said John Dale were, in the 86th yeare of his pilgrimage, laid upon his two wives. “This thing in life might raise some jealousy, Another reads as follows:— “These lines I with watery eye For my dear friend indite, Who for his worth, none such on earth, Heaven crown him with true light. “A lawyer just, a steward most just, As ever sate in court, Who lived beloved, with tears interred, This is his true report.” Another, locally said to have been written by Charles Wesley, brother to the founder of Methodism, reads as follows:— “Beneath, a sleeping infant lies, To earth whose body lent, More glorious shall hereafter rise, Though not more innocent; When the Archangel’s trump shall blow, And souls to bodies join, Thousands shall wish their lives below Had been as short as thine.” It may be as well to note that the principal inn at Bakewell is the Rutland Arms: it is a family hotel, but there are other comfortable inns in the place. Opposite the Rutland Arms are the baths and bath-gardens: the baths, which were known to the Romans, have the reputation of being efficacious in rheumatism. Having already very briefly alluded to the routes by which Haddon Hall may be visited both from Buxton on the one hand, and from Derby on the other, and having then spoken of some of the attractions of Buxton, it may be well now to say a few words regarding Matlock Bath, through which the visitor will pass by rail on his journey from London, from Derby, or from the North. Matlock Bath is about seven miles from Haddon Hall; and, exclusive of its baths, which are as famous as those of Buxton, and for the benefit of which the invalid may pass the season pleasantly and profitably, it has attractions of scenery which no other inland watering-place can boast. Its “High Tor” rising almost perpendicularly to a height of about 400 feet above the river Derwent, which flows at its base; its “Lovers’ Walks,” winding along by the side of the river, and zig-zagging up the mountain side; its “Heights of Abraham” and “Masson” towering over the valley: its “romantic rocks,” and its many caverns; its petrifying wells, its “grottoes,” and its other attractions, render Matlock Bath a place of delight to the tourist; while the surrounding district, rich in minerals, in ferns, and in other botanical specimens, and full of gorgeous scenery, is “passing beautiful,” and will amply repay the pleasant labour of exploring. At Matlock Bath the principal hotels are the “New Bath,” “Walker’s Terrace Hotel,” “The Temple,” and “Hodgkinson’s,” and the place swarms with lodging-houses and all things to attract and to keep the tourist. From And now, may not a visit to this grand old Hall be productive of thought? First, let us give thanks to the noble owner—the Duke of Rutland—that he freely opens its gates to all comers, keeps it in a state of neatness and order, and takes special care that Time shall make no farther inroads on the mansion of his ancestors, preserving it for the enjoyment of all who seek instruction and pleasure there; permitting them, indeed, to make of one of its rooms a dinner-room for the day; rendering it, in fact, the common property of the public, and by his occasional presence ascertaining that all is done that can be done for their happiness while in its gardens or within its walls: thus practically commenting on the exhortation and protest of the Poet-laureate— “Why don’t those acred sirs |
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