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ANNALS

AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

ANNALS

OF AN

OLD MANOR-HOUSE

SUTTON PLACE, GUILDFORD

FREDERIC H[ARRISON

ILLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS

WM. LUKER, JUN, W. NIVEN, and C. FORSTER HAY WARD
Fellow of the Royal Institute op British Architects

Hontion

MACMILLAN AND CO.

AND NEW YORK
1893

Rights of translation and reproduction reserved

' • . • • ? * i • •

•*'*.:'-•;

•- • I •'• '

FRANCIS HENRY SALVIN

OF SUTTON PLACE

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ARE .

INSCRIBED
BY HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR

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PREFACE

One by one the old buildings of our country are perishing by acci-
dent, neglect, or wanton destruction ; their memory passes away, and
their place knows them no more. When the passion for covering this
island with railways and factories shall have done its worst, our great-
grandchildren will hardly possess a fragment of the older work to recall
to their eyes the beauty and the life of England in the past. And so it
becomes a sort of social duty for those to whom chance has thrown it
in their path to preserve such wreckage of old things as the tempest of
change has left — any relic that they find still mouldering in the flotsam
and jetsam of time.

Thus I came to put together in spare days of leisure some memorials
of a very beautiful and most interesting house, which is a landmark in
the history of art, and has not a few associations with the history of our
country. During the last eighteen years I have often found there a
time of peace and quiet thought ; and pacing up and down the court,
and watching the hues of russet and orange in the mouldings, or the
evening light as it glowed through the jewelled quarries in the oriels, I
became curious to know a little more about the builders and the build-
ing of it. From what movement of art did it spring ? Whence came
those amorini over Tudor gates, and the Italian arabesques in those
Gothic traceries ? What manner of life did these walls witness and
serve ? Of what kin were the men whose devices are recorded in the
painted glass ? As, one by one, I learned to recognise the story they

viii ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

could reveal, and had found how curiously the house was connected
with the tempestuous days of the eighth Henry and his three children
and successors, as I traced all the circumstances of the strange and
bloody tragedy which set its mark upon these walls almost before the
mortar in them was dry, I began for myself a connected record of the
place.

A well-known historian used to say to me, " Sink a shaft, as it were,
in some chosen spot in the annals of England, and you will come upon
much that is never found in the books of general history." So I sunk
my shaft in this spot, and tried to understand a bit of local history, as
seen from a single manor and a particular family and house. I tried to
identify SUDTONE, as it is described in Domesday, and to make out
the meadow, and the land or arable, the woodland "of 25 swine," and
the mill. The fortunes of the manor sway back and forwards during
feudal times, as the fortunes of England itself. Ten times it fell back
into the hands of the Crown ; ten times it was granted to royal favour-
ites or ministers ; eight times it was lost by attainder, forfeiture, or sur-
render between the days of the Conqueror and the days of the Tudors ;
till at length Henry VHI. grants the ancestral domain of the last of the
Beauforts, his father's mother, to the soldier and minister of his own
who built the house.

I have often pictured to myself the veteran gazing at his newly-
finished home when his only boy lay headless in the fresh grave on
Tower Hill. I would wonder if he still continued to entertain here his
fierce master, and still put his faith in princes. It would seem so, for
he kept his honours and his wealth ; and in the inventory of his goods
for the proving of his will is a " grete carpete to lay under the Kyng's
fete." And we find his widow soon after sending presents of game
and " swete bagges " from this house to the Princess at Guildford. And
then I would try to conceive with what feelings the son of that
slaughtered youth came to receive the daughter of Anne Boleyn in the

PREFACE ix

house which his father had not lived to inherit, which he himself owed
to the slayer of that father. With what thoughts, I have often asked
myself, did Elizabeth keep state in the hall associated so closely with
the death of her mother and the wayward passions of her father, where
are still to be seen the emblems of Catherine of Aragon and Jane
Seymour, of Mary and Gardiner, of a succession of chiefs from both
camps in that furious revolution ?

And the old Duke of Norfolk, the hero of Flodden, and Lord
Berners, the friend of Caxton, both the colleagues of the founder, and
Stanley of Derby, the famous Chamberlain, and Paulet of Winchester,
the famous Treasurer, do their emblems commemorate their presence
here ? And the calm proud face on the canvas of Zucchero, which
smiles as she might have smiled in welcome to the Queen, that Dorothy
Arundell who had lived to see some twenty of her relations die as
traitors in the Tower, did the past become to her a dream ; and as she
did the honours of her home, did she find it a natural incident of life
that attainder should fall on the head of her father, and her mother, and
her aunt, and her husband's father, and on her relations of both sexes
and of every degree on her father's and her mother's side ?

And then that later Sir Richard Weston, who made the canal upon
the Wey, and who laboured so much in agriculture, how came he to
keep his house safe and his estate intact in the great Civil War which
shook and battered down so many of his neighbours around him ? How
come we to find in his windows designs from the fancy of the Parlia-
ment Poet, and also the portrait of King Charles ?

These men and women were nothing to me or to mine, no more
than any other names in the history of those days ; their house and
their pictures and their escutcheons do not belong to mine or to me,
who am but a passing visitor amongst them. But I came to love the
old place, the very brickwork and the weeds and lichens which have
clung round the mouldings, the swallows twittering round the tiles.

X ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

and the deep glow of the painted glass. So, bit by bit, my notes grew
into a connected account of the house and its vicissitudes. And as the
owner pressed me to work into it the memoranda which he had collected
in manuscript, and the hints of many artistic and antiquarian friends,
I found it convenient for the curious in art, and the neighbours who
might visit it, to put the rough sketch I had gathered together into
print.

So this humble book is but the expansion of a catalogue or manual
that I began long ago for the use of our friends. To any special
acquaintance with art or with antiquities of any kind I can make no
sort of pretension. I have sought, since no one else was disposed to
do so, to make a record or inventory of that which is passing away
before our eyes. I am neither professed historian nor antiquary, and I
certainly am no genealogist or herald. I am trying merely to rub the
dust and weeds from the tombstones of the past, as " Old Mortality "
would do in pious reminiscence of departed saints. My part is but to
scrape and copy the inscription on the neglected stone, to learn who lie
beneath, that I may keep their memory green. In giving some portion
of my leisure to the study of the place, I feel as if I were repaying a
personal debt that I owe to a spot endeared to me by the recollection
of hours of perfect peace ; above all, as if I were fulfilling a duty to my
father, who lived and died in these walls, and who laboured so lovingly
to preserve them.

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• • • •*

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Introductory *

CHAPTER n
Vicissitudes of the Manor of Sutton 14

CHAPTER HI
Part L — Before the Reformation — Sir Richard Weston the Elder,

Builder of the House 31

Part II. — After the Reformation 52

Part III. — Westons, Knights of St. John 66

CHAPTER IV
Sir Francis Weston, the Son and Heir 72

CHAPTER V
Sir Henry Weston 87

CHAPTER VI
Sir Richard Weston, the Agriculturist, 1613-52 97

CHAPTER VII
From the Civil Wars to the Present Time 108

CHAPTER VIII

The House. 120

zii ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAPTER IX

PAOK

The Quadrangle 136

CHAPTER X
The Great and the Panelled Hall 145

CHAPTER XI
The Long Gallery, Tapestries, Portraits, and Escutcheons . . .150

CHAPTER XII

The Painted Glass 164

Coats of Arms, etc., in Windows . . . . ' . . .169

APPENDICES

I. Pedigree of Weston in the British Museum 191

II. Grant of Manor and Letters by, or relating to, Sir R. Weston in

Record Office . . . . . . . . .198

III. Will of Sir Richard Weston (1541) 204

IV. Inventory of Goods of Sir Richard Weston (1542). . . . 206
V. Will of Sir Henry Weston (1589) 214

VI. (a) Table showing the Intermarriages of the Weston Family from

1460 TO 1690 .......... 219

{b) Table showing the Connection of Dorothy Arundell, Wife of

Sir Henry Weston (1560-92), with the Family of Howard . 220
{c) Table to show the Connection of Dorothy Arundell, Wife of

Sir H. Weston (1560-92), with the Family of Grey . . 221
Vll. (a) Table to show Descent of Mary Copley, Wife of John Weston
(1637), FROM THE Families of Copley, Hoo, Hastings, Welles,

WaTERTON, and EnGAINE 222

{b) Table to show Descent of Mary Copley from Families of

Shelley and allied Families . . . . . . .223

Index 227

INDEX OF PLATES

PLATE

1. Doorway, Great Hall, South Side Frontispiece

(From a Photograph by J. F. Leese, Q.C., M.P.)

2. Oriel Window, Courtyard To face page x

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

3. Old Drawing, Sixteenth Century, showing Gateway and

Tower, North Front „ i

4. View in Courtyard „ 4

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

5. Gateway, Tower, and North Front prior to 1782, as

restored by C. F. Hayward „ 6

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

6. Courtyard from the Great Hall Door, showing Gateway,

Tower, etc, prior to 1782, as restored by C. F. Hayward „ 10

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

7. North Front, 1892 „ 13

(From an Etching by W. Niven)

8. The Great Hall „ 14

(From an Etching by W. Niven)

XIV

PLATE

9. North Front, 1892

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.) "

10. Doorway in the Courtyard

(From a Drawing by W, Luker, junr.)

11. Oriel Window in the Wainscot Parlour .

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

12. The Wainscot Parlour

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

13. East Wing from the Warren .....

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

14. South Front from the Warren .....

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

15. Details of Terra-Cotta Ornament, Courtyard Centre

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

Facsimile Letter of Sir R. Weston ....

16. "Lady Weston's Walk"

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

17. View in old Walled Garden .....

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

18. South Front, Eastern Half, from the Lawn

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

19. East Wing from the Garden

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

20. The Great Hall looking East , , , . .

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

21. The Great Hall looking West

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

22. East Wing and Cypress Tree from the Garden

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

23. Details of Terra-Cotta Ornament, Courtyard

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

24. South-East Corner from the Lawn ....

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)
Facsimile Letter of Sir Francis Weston .

25. South Bay, Great Hall

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

26. Staircase to Long Gallery. .....

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

To face

page 18

»l

»»

)«

))

)»

80, 81

INDEX OF PLATES

PLATE

27. The Long Gallery

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr,)

28. South Front from the Warren, S.W. ....

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

29. Portrait by F. Zucchero of Dorothy Arundell, Lady

(Henry) Weston, 1575 .

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

30. View in Small Courtyard .......

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

31. View in Small Courtyard prior to 1838 ....

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

32. South Front from the Warren, S.E

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

33. South Front, Western Half, from the Lawn .

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

34. "Lady Weston's Walk"

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

35. Old Lodge, entrance to Walled Garden ....

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

36. The Long Gallery

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

37. Old Lodge

(From a Photograph by Sidney Harrison)

38. Lime Trees, North Front

(From a Photograph by Charles Harrison)

380!. View in Walled Garden, Seventeenth Century, re-
stored

(From a Drawing by W. Luker, junr.)

A. Courtyard, South Elevation Between pages 1 20-1 21

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

B. Courtyard, West Elevation

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

C. Courtyard, East Elevation

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

D. Courtyard, North Elevation, restored

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.LB.A.)

E. Entrance Gateway and Tower Elevation, restored .

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.LB.A.)

To face page 87
88

90
92
94
97

TOO
104
106
108
112

116

122-123
124-125
126-127
128-129

ZVl

PLATE

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

. To face page 130

132

» 134

Between pages 136-137

^38-139
1 40-1 4 1

EE. North End of East Wing, the Mullions restored
(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

F. Details of Doorway, Courtyard ....

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.LB.A.)

G. Details of Bay Window, Courtyard .

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.LB.A.)

H. Details of Terra-Cotta Ornament

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

HH. Details of Terra-Cotta Ornament .

HHH. Plan

(By C. F. Hayward, F.S.A., F.R.LB.A.)

I. Detail of Elevation, Courtyard ....

(By A. Gladding)

J. Section of Great Hall

(By A. Gladding)

K. Courtyard, Half of Centre Elevation, South Side

(By A. Gladding)

L. Elevation of Centre of South Side .

(By A. Gladding)

M. Plan of the Great Hall

(By A. Gladding)

N. Detail of Terra-Cotta Ornaments, etc.

(By A. Gladding)

O. Plan of Gateway, North Front ....

(By Sidney Harrison)

P. Outline of the North Front (pulled down in 1782) facing

THE Courtyard

(From a Drawing by J. Wolfe, dated ist February 1750)

Q. Outline of the North Front (pulled down in 1782) facing
THE Courtyard, Exterior View .....
(From a Drawing by J. Wolfe, dated 1st February 1750)

39. Glass Window in South Bay, Emblem of Jane Seymour

(Coloured Plate)

40. Glass Window, Crest of Sir Richard Weston, 1521

(Coloured Plate)

Coat of Arms from the Weston Pedigree in the British

Museum (reduced Facsimile Coloured Plate) . . Between pages 168-169

.. 142-143

„ 144-145

. To face page 146

Between pages 148-149

. To face page 150

•> 152

.1 154

156
„ 160

„ 164

166

INDEX OF PLATES

xvii

PLATE

41. Glass Window in South Bay, Arms of Sir Richard Weston,

1521 (Coloured Plate) To face page x^o

(The same Arms are shown on the Cover)

42. Glass Window — Various Tudor and other Devices (Coloured

Plate) „ 172

43. Glass Window, Arms of Edward, 3RD Earl of Derby, K.G.

(Coloured Plate) „ 1 74

44. Glass Window, Arms of Thomas, 2ND Earl of Derby, K.G.

(Coloured Plate) „ 176

45. Glass Window, Arms of Thomas, 2ND Duke of Norfolk,

K.G. (Coloured Plate) „ 178

46. Glass Window in North Bay, Rebus (The Tun) for Sir

R, Weston, 152 i (Coloured Plate) „ 182

The Weston Pedigree in British Museum, in Nine Sheets.

Photographed from a copy by Mrs. Salmon . . . At end, after Index

The view at page 119 is from an old drawing in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1789,
vol. lix. p. 108. This and all the designs of the Head and Tailpieces, etc. (except those
from the painted glass), are taken from the ornamental terra-cotta work, and are from
Woodcuts by G. N. Martin.

The Headpieces from the painted glass — Rose crowned. Castle crowned, and
Hawthorn Bush and Crown (p. 1 64) — are by Messrs. W. Griggs and Sons ; as are the
Letters, Pedigree, and Coats of Arms in Colours.

NOTE

The writer has to acknowledge assistance in preparing this volume rendered to him by
Mr. F. H. Salvin, the owner of the house and estate, who first urged him to undertake
it, and who by himself and various antiquarian friends supplied a certain amount of
material.

The writer's thanks are also due for various suggestions to friends ; amongst others
to Mr. T. G. Jackson, A.R.A. ; Mr. C. F. Hayward, Fellow R.I.B.A. ; Mr. C. Alban
Buckler, Surrey Herald Extr. ; and to Mr. Everard Green, F.S.Ant. and Rouge Dragon,
Coll. of Arms.

He begs to acknowledge the courtesy with which Mr. E. Maunde Thompson,
Principal Librarian, Brit. Mus., and Mr. H. C. Maxwell Lyte, of the Record Office,
facilitated searches and copying in the noble libraries under their care.

The drawings are by Wm. Luker, junr., who illustrated London, Old Kensington, etc.,
and by W. Niven, arch., author of Old Worcestershire Houses, etc. The architectural
drawings and plans have been prepared from surveys and measurements on the spot by
Mr. C. Forster Hayward, author of several well-known memoirs, and by Mr. A. Gladding,
architect. They have been reproduced by the Typographic Etching Company.

The coloured plates and all the architectural drawings and facsimiles are by W.
Griggs and Sons. The woodcuts are by G. N. Martin.

The whole of the illustrations have been arranged by, and under the direction of,
Sidney Harrison, now lessee and occupier of the house.

The Rolls Series of the Calendar of State Papers, Henry VHI., Foreign and
Domestic, are referred to as Calendar VI. (volume), and unless otherwise indicated by
the number of the document.

Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, 3 vols., folio (1804), is referred to as Manning
ii. 198.

Brewer's History of Henty VIII., 2 vols. 8vo, 1884; Paul Friedmann's Life and
Times of Anne Boleyn, 2 vols. 8vo, 1884, are referred to as Brewer — Friedmann.

The windows in the Great Hall are referred to thus — Begin with the upper row of the
windows on the north side at the west end I.-III. 1-6, for the six lights. Then pass
to the lower windows on the same side IV.-VI.

North and South Bays, each Upper and Lower Bay.

South side. Upper Windows numbered VH., VHL

,, Lower Windows numbered IX., X.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

• ••••••• . • • •

• •••,*•■• •
••••• >» ■'•

• • • • •••,*. ••- •. • •

•• • ••*. • *•. ••

*•■ • • * > ^ •••••• '

Sutton Place is an ancient manor-house on the banks
of the Wey in Surrey, about 4 miles from Guildford and
as many from Woking ; and it was built between 1520-30
by Sir Richard Weston. It was the work of a great
building age; Henry VUI,, in the words of the old
chronicle, was "the onlie phoenix of his time for fine
and curious masonrie " ; for this was the age of Hampton
Court, Christ Church, Oxford, and Trinity College,
Cambridge ; of Thornbury, Hengrave, Grimsthorp, Ken-
ninghall, and Layer Marney. It was built in the first
outburst of the new art, which in Europe is called
Renascence, when Henry was the successful rival of
Francis and the Emperor Charles, and fornied the centre
of one of the most creative moments in art which our
country has ever seen. The house is almost contem-
porary with some of those exquisite chateaux of the age
of Francis which are still preserved on the Loire. Like
them it possesses Italian features of a fancy and grace as

a ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

remote from the Gothic as from the classical world. Like them,
as was every fine work of that age, it is the embodiment of a single
idea, of the personal sense of beauty of some creative genius ; and thus
it stands apart in the history of house-building in Europe, a cinque-
cento conception in an English Gothic frame.

Here the airy and fantastic grace of the Renascence, as we find it
at Pavia and Blois, has lighted up a mass of Tudor Gothic. Yet
withal there is no single classical feature, nor one that recalls the florid
style of the Stuarts. It is as if some prophetic genius in art, saturated
with Southern ideas of beauty, had been seeking to develop here a
new English style, which should be as little military or Gothic as it
should be classical. Had our builders continued on these lines of
thought, it is possible that our architecture might never have fallen
beneath the domination of Palladio, and yet might have worked clear
of the imitation feudal castle and the mesquin inanity of debased
-^'"Gdtfert; ••But- die idea, to whomsoever it belongs, perished with him.
Sutton Place remains the single extant production of a peculiar and
suggestive type of Renascence Gothic.

The material in which it is built, like much in the conception itself,
is Italian rather than English. It is one of the very few ancient build-
ings still remaining in our country which are made of terra-cotta and
brick without any dressing of stone. The use of terra-cotta, not merely
as a superimposed ornament, but as a constructive element, is exceed-
ingly rare and instructive. And in this house the terra-cotta is used,
not only with profusion for purposes of ornament, but precisely as stone
is used where a building of brick is dressed with stone. Mullions,
dripstones, string courses, turrets, arches, parapets, groins, and finials
are all moulded in fine terra-cotta with delicate designs. After 370
years of exposure the mouldings remain almost as perfect as when they
were cast ; nor in the main does the terra-cotta show any sign of
yielding to natural decay. The mass and the completeness of the
terra-cotta work is hardly equalled by any old work in England. Now
that our builders are- seeking to acclimatise anew this potent resource
of construction, it is of special interest to observe the methods in use in

I INTRODUCTORY j

the bold attempt made to introduce terra-cotta as material for building
more than three centuries and a half ago.

The house, too, has the singular fortune to retain, at least on the
outside, its original form, and to be quite free from later additions.
Save that one side of the court has been removed, the principal
quadrangle, as seen from within, is in every essential feature exactly as
the builder left it. Nor, except by the removal or the renewal of some
mullions, has the exterior on any side suffered any material change.
It is not, like so many of our ancient mansions, a record of the caprice,
the ambition, the decay, or the bad taste of successive generations.
No Elizabethan architect has added a classical porch ; no Jacobean
magnate has thrown out a ponderous wing with fantastic gables and
profusion of scrolls ; no Georgian squire has turned it into a miniature
Blenheim, or consulted his comfort by adding a square barrack. Sir
Richard Weston, were he to return from his long sleep with his fore-
fathers in Trinity Church at Guildford, would find his way to the door-
way in the court, and would recognise his home, worn and dimmed a
little in these 370 years, but, it may be, mellowed by time into a peculiar
charm, softened by the mosses and the lichens on the cornices, and
the wallflowers and the ferns which nestle beneath the traceries of
the bays.

This unity and peace, which seem to rest on the old house almost
as on a ruin or a cloister whence modern improvements are shut out,
are doubtless due to this : that from its building till to-day the place
has remained in the same family, and that a family debarred by ad-
herence to the ancient faith from taking active part in the world of
affairs. The hall itself was built before the Reformation, as the
emblems and arms of Catherine of Aragon remain to witness. Under
Elizabeth the house was searched as a secret receptacle of priests.
In the next century the heir married the heiress of an eminent Catholic
leader. According to the tradition of the family, the mass has been
continuously celebrated within its walls, more or less openly, from the
time they were raised until the other day when the new chapel was built
in the park. During the civil wars and the last century the penal

4 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

laws pressed heavily on Catholics, and after the civil wars the family
took no part in public. Being neither wealthy, nor ambitious, nor busy,
they clung to the old place, and th^y left it to hold its own with time,
unaltered and unimproved. Thus it comes about that whilst the
famous mansions of England bear the marks of succeeding generations,
this one has remained with the unity and the pathos of a ruin, and still
with but little of structural decay.

It has another feature which is of much account in the history of
manners, and marks one of the great epochs in the history of architec-
ture. It is, if not the earliest, at least one of the very first extant
specimens in England of a mansion-house built wholly as a peaceful
dwelling, and entirely without any thought of defence. Down to the
€nd of the fifteenth century all houses in the country of any import-
ance or size were built either as actual castles and castellated mansions,
or at least in the form and in the spirit of a castle. Narrow windows
turret staircases, cramped doorways, an irregular plan, battlements,
embrasures, and dominant towers were the first necessities of a home
to a wealthy and powerful chief who was living on his own estates.
Penshurst, Haddon, Sudeley, Warwick, even Thornbury and Kenning-
hall, are all castles originally built with ideas of war, and gradually
transformed under habits of peace. They are in spirit Gothic and
feudal. When fifty years later, in the piping times of Bess, Longleat
and Woollaton were built, when the Cecils, the Sackvilles, and
Willoughbys were designing their new and stately palaces, all notions
of a castle were abandoned. But early in the reign of King Henry
VIII. it required an effort of the mind to perceive that the wars of the
barons were over ; that a gentleman might live at his ease under pro-
tection of law and the king's peace.

In Italy and in France men had long been building palaces instead
of castles. As we shall see, Sir Richard Weston had gone on an
embassy to Francis I. in 1518, and was taken across France at the
very time when the new chateaux were building. It was natural that
the minister and courtier who had attended in full bravery at the Field
of the Cloth of Gold, and who was the trusted colleague of Wolsey,

Pl.f.

I INTRODUCTORY 5

should be one of the first to raise in England a country house in our
modern sense, instead of an imitation castle. Here, at any rate, Sir
Richard built him a dwelling which would hardly resist the assault of
a burglar ; symmetrical, airy, light, and commodious, with large and
regular windows, with an even and balanced facade, with wide hall
doors opening on to the green ; with no towers, winding stairs, moat,
battlements, or outer rampart, but merely and simply a quiet country
home. Here is nothing feudal ; all is peace and art, and the art is
rather Southern than Northern in idea. To conceive such a home
was to inaugurate a peaceful revolution in manners.

It is well known how deeply, all through the sixteenth century,
the ruling classes in England and in France had absorbed that New
Life and New Art which in Italy had been fully developed in the
century before. The Machiavellian turn for craft, secrecy, and sudden-
ness of stroke, the passion for the beautiful, the revolt against the
feudal habits of war and the old traditions of religious art, — all these
colour the politics, the poetry, and the manners of the age. Henry
loved the artists of Italy as much as did Francis ; Wolsey lived sur-
rounded by Romans ; and Thomas Cromwell had his training in Italy
itself. Weston's brother, the Prior of St. John's, spent much of his
life in command at Rhodes, and they both belonged to a family which
had served as Knights of St. John, and had seen foreign service for
generations. Here, then, was exactly the combination best fitted to
introduce into English homes that Southern grace, that colour and
delight in life, that New Birth of beauty which warm the whole six-
teenth century in England, and with which Surrey and Raleigh, Spenser
and Shakespeare, so deeply filled their souls.

Sir Richard Weston was one of those skilful, wary, and trusty
servants of the Tudors by whose energy and craft they established a
strong personal government in England. He was made Knight
of the Bath in 15 18, and in 15 19 he was named with three other
"sad and ancient knights" as gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. He
was subsequently Master of the Court of Wards, Treasurer of Calais,
and Under-Treasurer of England. In 15 18 he was sent on an embassy

6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

to Francis I. with his brother, the Prior of St. John's, and Sir T.
Boleyn. In 1520 he accompanied the King in state to the Field of
the Cloth of Gold. In 1523 he took part in the campaign in France,
and he served under the Duke of Suffolk in the siege of Boulogne.
In 1 52 1 he received a grant from the King of the royal manor of
Sutton, and in 1530 he received a further grant of lands at Clandon
and Merrow. His only son and heir, a personal playmate and minion
of the King, had been married to a rich heiress by the King's favour
in 1530, and in 1532 he was made Knight of the Bath at the corona-
tion of Anne Boleyn, Four years afterwards that son was executed on
Tower Hill as one of the reputed lovers of the Queen. Yet the father,
mother, and widow remain at Sutton and enjoy and accept the favour of
the King. They send presents to the royal family when they pass near
them at Guildford. In 1 539, but three years after the catastrophe, we find
the old knight still at Court. He is chosen with other knights to attend
the reception of Anne of Cleves in 1539. Then follow quickly the divorce
of Anne, with the marriage and execution of Catherine Howard.

All these Sir Richard lived to witness. He died in 1542. For
thirty-three years he was the trusted minister and servant of Henry ;
he had held his offices under Wolsey and under Cromwell, through
the Reformation, the Six Acts, and the Pilgrimage of Grace, and all
through Henry's first five marriages. He lost his son, but not his
head ; his patrons, but not his estates. The wild surging of those times
from Catholic to Protestant professions, the deadly conflicts of that
reign between mighty nobles and low-born ministers, did not shake
Weston from his place, his offices, or his King's favour. In 1521, in
the heyday of Henry's renown and the full ascendency of Spain, he
received the grant of the royal manor of Sutton. In 1525 Wolsey
writes to ask for him from the King the Chancellorship of the Duchy of
Lancaster, In 1539 Cromwell, who devised the marriage with Anne
of Cleves, was all-powerful. Weston is one of those chosen to receive
her in honour, as his son had been appointed to wait on Anne Boleyn.
The very next year Cromwell is overthrown and brought to the
scaffold as a traitor in the Tower. Two years afterwards Sir Richard

I INTRODUCTORY 7

himself dies peacefully at home ; his goods are inventoried at Sutton,
and his executors are Sir Christopher More of Loseley, Fitzwilliam
the Earl of Southampton, Sir John Russell, then Lord Admiral, and
founder of the house of Bedford, and Lady Weston, the widow.
Truly such a man who had weathered so many storms of Henry's
passion in rule, in religion, in friendship, and in love, and is tranquilly
laid to his rest full of years and of honours, must have been of the
order of men to which belonged Paulet, he who said, "I am the
willow, not the oak."

The vicissitudes and ironies of such a career give one a vivid sense
of the tremendous whirlpool in which the Reformation and its conse-
quences kept men revolving in the days of Henry. Here is an officer
of state who serves the King for thirty-three years, and retains the
confidence successively of Warham, More, Wolsey, Cromwell,
Southampton, and Russell ; who was a courtier through all the negotia-
tions with Louis XII., with the Emperor, with Francis I., with the
German princes. He goes on an embassy to Francis I. ; he names
his only son after that king. He who had obtained his grant under
Wolsey, and had adorned his house in honour of Queen Catherine,
accepts the new order of things under Cromwell, and procures for his
boy a place about the person of Anne Boleyn. His brother is the prior
of a great monastic house, who dies of grief at the dissolution ; Sir
Richard himself undoubtedly dies a Catholic, and yet he is chosen to
welcome the Protestant Anne of Cleves, and makes Russell of Woburn
the executor of his own will.

When the son is beheaded as a traitor, the Constable of the Tower
who executes the warrant is the knight who had been chosen with the
father, eighteen years before, to be one of the four personal companions
and advisers to the King. Yet the grandson lives to marry the cousin
of Anne Boleyn, a cousin also of Catherine Howard, of Lady Jane Grey,
and of Lord Surrey. The old knight himself serves first with the
Bourchiers, the Fitzalans, the Howards, the Stanleys, Berkeleys, and
Brays, whose arms and coronets and garters he so proudly displays
in his hall, and then with the new men, the Paulets, Fitzwilliams,

8 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Wriothesleys, Gardiners, and Russells. In the end he leaves his will
to be executed by the personal confidants of Henry; and to this
very day we find in his house a portrait of the Emperor, the devices of
Aragon and Castile, the pomegranate of Catherine, the phoenix arising
from the flames of Jane Seymour, the arms of Bishop Gardiner, and the
arms and portrait of Queen Mary side by side with the devices of
Elizabeth and the portrait and escutcheons of her cousin and hostess.

And what a wreck and ruin after all was the old man's life ! With
what bitterness and hopelessness of heart in his last years must he have
looked across the links of the Wey and beheld the fresh beauty of his
newly risen house. There is a certain accord between the fortunes of
the knight and the fortunes of his master; and the home which the
minister built him on the ancestral manor of the King has shared in the
blight which crushed the lives of both. It is still overshadowed by the
catastrophe which snatched from the one his wife and from the other
his son. Bright and promising was the fortune of Henry and the
fortune of Sir Richard when these walls first rose in the freshness of
their fanciful grace. But the only son who had played within them as
a boy never lived to inhabit the house he had watched in the building.
He who gave the estate in his bounty cut off the first heir to it in blood
and shame. He who obtained the estate by the King's favour lost the
son who should have inherited it by the King's fury. And the two
men so strangely linked seemed still to have lived on in relations of
intercourse, nay almost of friendship, as if their calamities had come to
them by some inscrutable destiny, as if the father could as little blame
the King as the King could blame the father. And now as we look
on the building where 350 years ago the bereaved father lived on with
the dead son's widow, it seems to bear traces of the tragedy and the
ruin with which it began. One wing and the gateway are gone ; one
remaining wing is desolate and bare. Huge stacks of chimneys tower
up, but are never warmed by a fire ; the chapel and the chapel bell are
gone ; the amorini still dance and sport, but under mosses and weeds ;
decaying casements creak in the wind, and ivy encumbers the arab-
esques upon many an empty mullion.

1 INTRODUCTORY 9

Sir Francis who died on Tower Hill left an only child in his father's
house. The child grew up to be Sir Henry Weston, a soldier and a
politician. He served with distinction in the last siege, when Calais
was lost for ever in 1558. He was made Knight of the Bath with ten
other gentlemen at the coronation of Elizabeth. In the next year he
was High Sheriff of Surrey, and in the year following he was elected
to Parliament as Knight of the Shire. Cousin by marriage of Eliza-
beth herself, and son of the man who had died in the same condemna-
tion with her mother, he was in favour with the Queen. Two years
after her accession she visited him in this house, and stayed in it three
days. Many years later we find her again dating despatches to her
ambassador from hence. It is probable that she was often here, as it
stood on the way to Loseley, Cowdray, and other houses which she
constantly visited. One of these visits of the Queen was the occasion
of a serious fire, a fire of which traces remain, and which apparently
destroyed one wing in some irreparable way. Kings and queens
alike were destined to be dangerous friends of the house.

Sir Henry had married a lady (her portrait still hangs in the hall)

whose family history was yet more tragic than his own, as her birth

was far more illustrious. As he was the son of the man who had been

executed as a traitor in 1536, so she was the daughter of Sir Thomas

Arundell of Wardour and of Margaret Howard, both attainted in

1552 in the coup (THat that struck down the Protector Somerset.

Sir Thomas Arundell was a grandson of Grey, Marquis of Dorset, and

thus great-grandson of Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII., once

Queen Dowager of France. He was a nephew of that Henry Grey,

Duke of Suffolk, who was beheaded in 1554, of Leonard Grey, who

was beheaded in 1541, and of Thomas Grey, who was beheaded in

1554 ; he was cousin therefore of Lady Jane Grey, who was beheaded

with her husband, Guildford Dudley, in the same year, at the accession

of Mary. He was a cousin also of Catherine Seymour, the unhappy

victim of Elizabeth, who died prisoner in the Tower in 1567. Indeed

ten of Lady Weston's near relations on the father's side had perished

on the scaffold. But on her mother's side the havoc had been even

to ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

greater. Her mother was attainted but not actually beheaded in 1552 ;
her mother's sister was Catherine Howard, the queen who was executed
in 1542 ; her mother's cousin was Lady Rochford, sister-in-law of Anne
Boleyn, who was beheaded in the same year ; her mother's cousin also
was Anne Boleyn, who had been beheaded along with Sir Henry's father
in 1536. Margaret Howard was great-granddaughter of the famous
" Jockey of Norfolk," who was killed at Bosworth, granddaughter of
the second Duke of Norfolk, who after being attainted by the Tudors
and spending three years in the Tower, lived to be the victor over
James IV. at Flodden ; she was niece of the third Duke of Norfolk,
who was attainted in 1546, and of Thomas Howard, who died prisoner
in the Tower in 1536 ; she was cousin of Lord Surrey, the poet, who
was beheaded in 1547 ; of the fourth Duke, who was beheaded in 1572 ;
of Philip, Earl of Arundel, who died prisoner in the Tower in 1594;
and she was sister-in-law of Ann Howard, who was attainted and died
in prison in 1542. For two generations from the building of it the
masters and mistresses of Sutton had worn mourning in their hearts, if
not in their hall, for almost every head that had rolled on Tower Hill.
The career of Sir Henry and his house in the reign of Elizabeth
seems to have closed as darkly as the career of Sir Richard in the reign
of Henry. From the time when the tremendous conflict with Spain
shook the throne of the Queen, as the internecine war of assassination
on the one side and executions on the other began to grow fiercer, it
seems that the position of Sir Henry became less brilliant or less secure.
After 1570 we find him in no public office. In 1569 he receives from
Sir Thomas Copley, a desperate Catholic recusant, who ultimately ended
his career fighting on the Spanish side, a letter imploring his inter-
cession from his "loving neighbour and assured pore friend." Sir
Henry's great-grandson married the descendant of this very man ; it is
possible that the knight interceded for the exile to his own cost.
From this time the fortunes of the house, which still remained Catholic,
seemed to fade. They sought no alliances with the great houses whose
family burial-place was by Tower Hill; they avoided the perils of the
Court, and they took no public employment. It would seem almost as

I INTRODUCTORY Ii

if they lived more constantly on the Clandon estate, and ceased to
reside in a house darkened by so many memories and seriously injured
by the fire.

One other effort alone was made in the next century. Sir Richard
Weston, the grandson of Sir Henry, and fourth in descent from the
founder of the house, was in possession of the manor from 1613 to
1652. He seems to have occupied himself enthusiastically with agri-
culture, travelled much in Holland, and wrote a valuable treatise which
introduced some new devices of scientific husbandry. He made
known in England not only several foreign products, but the Dutch
system of canals with locks, and for years he was occupied in obtaining
an Act for his canal upon the Wey. By what skill he succeeded in
carrying his project through the reign of King Charles, and then got
his Bill passed by the Parliament of the Commonwealth, we have not
succeeded in learning. He was a neighbour and a collateral connection
of Richard Weston, Earl of Pordand, the favourite of Charles, High
Treasurer, and Royalist minister. And yet Sir Richard, who had
been made a Royal Commissioner by Charles I., and was a known
Catholic and Royalist, lived peacefully for years under the rule of the
Parliament, and is buried in Guildford, full of honour, in the high tide
of the Commonwealth.

He married his son to the heiress ot Gatton, and thereby the
Westons obtained the splendid estates and quarterings of Copley.
They sold the Clandon estates to Sir R. Onslow ; they seem to have
refitted the house at Sutton, placing the family residence in the
undamaged side, and probably they built the new quadrangle on the
western side, now the offices. From this time the family is heard of
in history no more. Their children and fathers, their uncles and
cousins no longer lay their head on the block. No kings or queens
are again ever welcomed at Sutton. The fortunes of the family not
only disappear from the annals of England, but they hardly are trace-
able in the annals of the county. They mind their lands beside the
Wey, nor think of adding a brick to the old place that was now too
large for their estate. The stirring traditions of Sutton Place end

t» ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

with the Commonwealth, where for the most of our famous mansions
the stirring traditions begin.

From that day till our own the silent process of decay has slowly
gone on with but little violent change. No structural additions were
made to the house ; one ruinous wing was pulled down in the last
century ; the pictures, the furniture, the parchments have gradually
been lost to sight. Some few portraits remain — Queen Mary and the
hostess of Elizabeth ; the Weston who married the heiress of Gatton ;
William Copley, her grandfather ; the last of the direct line of the
founder ; the ladies of the last century and the collateral Westons, to
whom it passed in 1782. But of the glass in the hall the choicest and
rarest part is happily preserved. The red and white roses united,
the Tudor portcullis and the crown of Henry, the hawthorn and the
monograms of Henry of Richmond and Elizabeth of York, the arms
of the archbishop who married them, of Richard, whom Henry Tudor
defeated and slew at Bosworth, — these remain of the same workmanship
as the fragments in the chapel of Henry VH. in the Abbey at West-
minster, and are evidently the work of the same school. There are
the coats, too, of the finest period of painted glass in England, mag-
nificent specimens of that wonderful art, in the arms with crown and
garter of Henry, of Catherine of Aragon, of the Duke of Norfolk of
Flodden, of the two Earls of Derby, the successors of the husband of
Margaret Beaufort. There, too, remain in the richness of their colours
the arms or devices of the men with whom the founder had served as a
colleague and friend — Stephen Gardiner, and Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel,
and Lord Berners, and Sir Reginald Bray, and Sir Walter Dennys.
And above, of a later age, and in less conspicuous quarries, may be
found the coats of Cecil, Paulet, Vane, Shirley, Coke, and Onslow.

The glowing blazons of these mighty and stormy personages which
gleam across the hall like ghosts in a dilapidated house are all that
remains in Sutton to recall its connection with the great. For two
centuries and a half it has neither sought nor found such relations.
Within the last seventy years its possession has passed in the same
family five times, and only twice has the son succeeded the father.

.H J .! ) I I I A J

|| :i 17. 'I .•
A I, I ,■' >) .1 :i I .\

I INTRODUCTORY 13

The pressure of the penal laws of religion has hardly yet been redressed.
Happy (in an antiquarian sense) is the house whose annals are a
blank. The restorer, the improver, the architect, and the landscape •
gardener have no scope for their art. Time and our forefathers have
the long-drawn fight to themselves.

Thus it has come to pass that the genius of the place has retained
in no scanty degree the peace and retirement of a ruin. The gently-
gliding circles of the Wey, where it issues through the gate in the chalk
at Guildford, wind round the house in long enfolding reaches, which
on three sides alike shut it off from the neighbouring country. The
water meadows stretch for miles from the foot of the wooded bank on
which the house is placed. Far beyond them, on the ridge between
Guildford and Farnham, lies the ancient track of the pilgrims from the
west to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury. Above Guildford
the Chapel of St. Catherine and the Chapel of St. Martha crown the
western and the eastern hills. Through the gap where the Saxons
bridged the Wey at Guildford the glades of Surrey reach in broken
vistas to the weald. To the east, head away in the distance, in sweeps
of woodland and copse, the downs of Effingham and Clandon and
Horsley. Broad open upland is all around, nor has our nineteenth
century as yet broken the spell. One may watch the brickwork and
the mouldings that the old knight raised in the heyday of the merry
king without disturbance from the world or an echo of busy life. One
listens to the cooing of the wood-pigeon in the shady masses of the limes ;
one may watch the king-fisher skim the unruffled bosom of the Wey
and the heron at work in the shallows. And in the evening there
comes across the warren the murmur of the tumbling bays — the in-
vention that the younger Sir Richard brought out of Brabant, — and the
beat of the water-wheel of the mill, which is the mill recorded by the
Conqueror in his Domesday.

CHAPTER II

VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON

The manor of Sutton, lying quietly out of the way in a home
county, with nothing of any distinguishing character about it, supplies
a good example of the vicissitudes which befell thousands of estates in
England between the Conquest and the battle of Bosworth. Encircled
in the reaches of the Wey a little below Guildford, it was far from the
great tide of civil war which rolled so fiercely in Plantagenet times
through the Midland and Northern counties. It was not near any
great stronghold or battle-ground, nor did it form part of any rich and
coveted tract of land. And yet during four centuries it is continually
changing hands, passing from the Crown to the Crown favourites ;
back again to the Crown, and thence into a new line. It is held in
turn by a succession of men and women famous in English history,
and the domestic annals of this unobtrusive manor form a rude outline
of the history of England.

Though not very valuable in itself, and not forming part of the
great vantage grounds of war, it was sufficiently desirable, inasmuch as
it lay not far from the valley of the Thames, and was conveniently
placed between the important city of Guildford and the capital to be
worth possessing by statesmen and favourites of the Crown. It is
thus during four centuries tossed about like a racquet-ball from chief
to chief, as were scores of estates in the south, if they were worth the
having. It passes successively to eight or ten families. More than ten

CHAP. 11 VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON 15

times it is forfeited to the Crown. At least ten times the owner of it
or the immediate heir to it is beheaded, attainted, or killed in civil war.
It passes from king to baron, and back from baron to king, from
Red Rose to White Rose, from York to Lancaster, and during the
Wars of the Roses it is not easy to say at any given time to whom
it belongs in law. It is held in turn, amongst other owners, by the
Conqueror, by his favourite Robert Malet, by King Stephen, by his
son William, Earl of Warren, by Henry II., by King John, by the
Lords Basset, by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, by Hugh Despenser,
by Edward III., by Edmund of Woodstock, half-uncle of Edward III.,
by Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, by John, Earl of Kent, by Joan,
the Fair Maid of Kent, afterwards wife of the Black Prince, and by
Thomas, Earl of Kent, her son. Thence it passed by marriage to
John, Earl of Somerset, the son of John of Gaunt. At last, by the
death of various Beauforts who fell in battle or on the scaffold in the
Wars of the Roses, the inheritance ultimately passed, in 1468, to
Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the mother of Henry VII. Of
course during the reign of the house of York the manor was actually
possessed by the Crown in the time of Edward IV. and Richard III.
But after the battle of Bosworth, in 1485, Henry VII. put his mother in
possession of the estate. She included it in her marriage settlement
with Thomas, Earl of Derby, and at her death, in 1509, she left the
manor to Henry VIII., her grandson.

During the stormy times of Angevins and Plantagenets the unfor-
tunate manor seemed to grow less and less valuable. At each
inquisition the value dwindles below its rating in the age of the Con-
fessor. In three centuries the arable land diminishes from 500 to 300
acres, then to 130 acres, and in 1353, the date of the Statute of
Labourers, between the battles of Crecy and of Poictiers, we find the
inquisition run thus :

" I. A ruinous messuage valued, after reprisals, at . . j£o o o
2. A dovecote, intirely ruined, as appears on view of the same o o o "

Such was the result of three centuries of feudalism.

1 6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

But feudalism practically ended with the battle of Bosworth.
Henry VIII, and his grandmother quietly retain the property for
thirty-six years. Then in 1521 Henry grants the estate to a favoured
comrade and friend to build himself a stately mansion ; and from
that day to this the property has remained in the same family, and
descends peacefully from father to son or from kinsman to kinsman,
save only that the ancient spell of treason, attainder, and beheading
seems so far to cling round the manor, that hardly had its last grantee
covered in the roof of his new home when his only son and heir was
convicted of high treason and beheaded in one of the passionate
outbursts of his fierce benefactor and king.

The hapless lad's son grew up to enjoy in peace his grandfather's
home, though his own wife in turn had seen nearly a score of her near
relations die on Tower Hill in the wild hurly-burly of the Reformation
settlement. Thenceforth the manor peacefully descends from father
to son for three centuries ; and (what is not a little singular) the
place which during the Wars of the Roses had changed its owner
almost with every great battle remained perfectly undisturbed during
the great civil war of the seventeenth century. The home of a devoted
Catholic and Royalist family, of the same name and stock as that of one
of Charles's most unpopular ministers, a house within an hour's walk of
a stout Puritan town, and within a day's ride of Winchester and of
Basing House, has not an escutcheon defaced or a window broken.
The portraits of Dorothy Arundell, the hostess of Elizabeth, of Mary
Tudor, the crowns, the garters, the red and white roses, the emblems
of royal and noble persons, leopards and fleur-de-lys of England,
and the arms and crest of Weston, kinsman of the hated Earl of
Portland — all stood uninjured in the great hall whilst Oliver's fierce
Ironsides were sweeping by to the storm of Basing House. And
Protectorate, Revolution of 1689, and Hanoverian dynasty leave the
stubborn, Jacobite, and non-juring race unbroken, though cruelly dis-
abled by sequestration and fine.

And now at length, after more than eight centuries, on the very
spot where the Confessor had his hunting lodge, they build a chapel of

11 VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON 17

the old faith and dedicate it to St. Edward, and continue to worship
after the ancient rite in despite of Tudor reformations and Eliza-
bethan persecutions, and in despite of Roundheads, Whigs, and
Georgian penal statutes. The manor of Sutton is thus one of the
very few estates still remaining in England of which we can positively
assert that it has never for a day passed away from Catholic hands,
and wherein the mass has been continuously celebrated since the times
of our Saxon kings.

The manor of Sutton, which is a member of Woking parish, and
evidently so named as the southern hamlet of the Woking village
community, was originally, we are told, held by the Saxon kings.
King Edward the Confessor had there a hunting lodge, on the hill
about three miles north of Guildford, close by the modern church of
St. Edward and the priests' house. Vine Cottage. A clump of birch
trees marks the remains of a very ancient well, always called St.
Edward's Well, within which fragments of old pottery and of very
early encaustic tiles have been found. The spot is still known as the
" Manor Field." ^

Edward the Confessor, it appears from the Survey, had granted the
manor of about 500 acres to one Wenesi. The account given in the
Domesday Survey (1082-1086) is as follows : —

SUDRIE.— XXVIII—

TERRA ROBERTI MALET— IN WOKINGES HUNDREDO—

ROBERTUS Malet tenet SUDTUNE. Wenesi tenuit de rege Edwardo. Tunc se
defendebat pro v hidis, modo pro iii hidis. Terra est iii carrucatarum. In dominio est
una, et v villani et v bordarii cum ii carrucatis. Ibi vi servi, et unus molinus de v
solidis, et xx acrae prati. Silva de xxv porcis. Tempore Regis Edwardi, et post,
valuit viii libras, modo c solidos. Hanc terram saisivit Durandus, et dicunt homines
quod iniuste habet, nam nemo eorum brevem regis vel liberatorem vidit.

In English it would run thus : —

The land of Robert Malet, in Woking Hundred.
Robert Malet holds Sudtune. Wenesi held it of King Edward. It was then rated for

1 Information supplied by F. H. Salvin, from MSS. and relics in his possession. The
account of the manor of Sutton down to the grant to Sir R. Weston is taken from Manning
and Bray, i. 120 et seq. They have been followed by Brayley, Surrey (1850), vol. ii. 16.

1 8 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

5 hides ; now for 3 hides. The arable land is 3 carnicates. There is i in demesne, and
5 villains and 5 bordars, with 2 catrucates. There are 6 serfs, and i mill of 5^.
a year, and 2 o acres of meadow. Woodland to feed 2 5 swine. In the time of King
Edward, and afterwards, it was valued at j£8 : now at loos. JDurand has seized
this land: but tlu homage present that he hath it unjustly, for that none of them hath seen
the King's precept or officer to give him seisin.

When Wenesi held this manor of the Confessor, and at the date
of the Conquest, it was assessed at 500 acres, and valued at ^8 per
annum (or say about ;^500 of our currency). At the time of the Survey,
twenty years after the Conquest, the assessment was reduced to 300
acres, valued at ;^5. It actually contained, however, 300 acres of
arable and 20 acres of meadow, with woodland for 25 swine. ^
The right of pannage would probably extend over 50 acres at least.
The mill is valued as equal to 1 5 acres (roughly about ;^ 1 5 of our
value). Of the manor, 100 acres were in demesne, occupied by the
lord himself, 200 acres were occupied by 5 villains regardant, or
attached to the soil, and tenants of the class which ultimately developed
into copyholders, and 5 cotter tenants, bound to supply the lord's
establishment, and there were 6 serfs, the lord's personal property,
and acting as his domestics.^

Thus an estate of about 400 acres in actual use supported and
was worked by 16 resident tenants, and was valued at something
like the equivalent of ;i^400 per annum of our currency. The
value of it was much about what it would be now ; but the tenants,
about one to each 25 acres, would be more in number than would
now be found on it.

In the same Survey the manor of Loseley is given as of 200
acres, with a value of 60s., and with 10 tenants. And the important

1 Both hide and carrucate were varying measures, the latter being the quantity of land
that could be ploughed in a season by a team. This was determined in 1 194 to be equal to
100 acres. Both hide and carrucate may be taken for our present purpose as roughly equal
to 100 acres. See Stubbs's Constit. Hist. i. 74.

2 For the Survey see Freeman, Norman Conqiiest, vol. v. As to villains, etc., p. 476 ; also
see W. E. Robertson, Historical Essays (Edinburgh, 1872), pp. 66, 89, and Stubbs's Constit.
Hist. chap. ix.

11 VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON 19

manor of Woking in the Survey was rated at 1550 acres, and valued
at ;^90, having 600 acres of arable and 42 villain tenants.

Besides the King and the Churchmen, who together hold the
greater part of the county, there are only mentioned in the Survey
about twenty holders of land in all Surrey. Every one of them
appears to be a foreigner, and not one a native Englishman.^

The manor of Woking, which at the Survey was held by the
King in demesne, was retained by the Crown as a royal manor
until the reign of Henry II. But the manor of Sutton, in the same
parish, had been granted to a subject by the Confessor, and was
again continually separated from that of Woking by the Conqueror
and his successors.

The Conqueror gave Sutton, along with immense possessions
in five other counties, to Robert Malet, son of that William Malet
to whom, with Toustain, the White, and many paladins, the mighty
William entrusted the consecrated banner at the battle of Hastings,
and whom he charged with the interment of Harold. William
Malet, one of the most favoured of his chieftains,^ and ancestor of
the house of Malet, which still serves the Crown in Berlin, died
about 1 07 1 in the campaign against Hereward, but the Conqueror
heaped estates on his son Robert. As he had no other manor
in Surrey, that of Sutton was apparently worth having by a royal
favourite. Henry I. made Robert Malet Great Chamberlain of
England ; but on his taking part with Robert, Duke of Normandy,
in the conspiracy of the Duke against his brother, as did most of
the Norman barons, Robert Malet was banished and his property
confiscated (1102).

On the forfeiture of the estates of Robert Malet, Henry I. gave
his possessions to Stephen of Blois, the son of Adela, the daughter of
the Conqueror ; and he, on coming to the throne as King Stephen,
granted the manor of Sutton to his own son William, afterwards Earl

1 " Kent, Sussex, Surrey, became above all other shires the prey of the spoiler." — Freeman,
Norman Conquest, v. 41.

* Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii. 466, 514 ; iv. 472. "William Malet, well-nigh the only
Norman on whom Englishmen can look with personal sympathy and honour."

ao ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

of Warren. As there is no trace of any castle of importance on the
manor, and as the adjacent manor of Woking remained in the hand of
the Crown, there is no reason to suppose that during the terrible
twenty years of Stephen's reign this particular district suffered especi-
ally from feudal anarchy. When Henry II. came to the throne in
1 1 54 he, in accordance with a previous treaty, restored to William of
Warren the lands which his father had held as a subject, and Sutton
was amongst the vast estates of the popular prince.

On the death of William, Earl of Warren, Morteigne, and Surrey,
in 1160, the manor of Sutton again reverted to the King. Henry II.
gave it to one Urric, and it was confirmed to his sons by Richard I.
It was then valued at ;^8 (say, vaguely, about ;^30o).^ Urric, called
the Engineer, left it to a son ; but on his death without heirs it again
reverted to the Crown, King John then granted it to Gilbert Basset,
son of Lord Basset of Wycombe ; and in the family of Basset the
manor remained for upwards of seventy years. The manor of Sutton
was now again united with that of Woking, and it remained so joined
for the 300 years which separate the Great Charter from the time of
Henry VIII. Though the great house of Basset were owners from
the reign of John till the end of the reign of the third Henry, the
estate descended rapidly through the family. Gilbert Basset died
young from an accident in the hunting field, and his infant son followed
him immediately to the grave. His next brother having been killed
in battle, the estate descended to the third brother, Fulc, Bishop of
London ; and on the speedy death of Fulc, to Philip, a fourth brother.
Philip was one of the barons who fought for the King at the battle of
Lewes, 1264, and there was made prisoner along with his royal master.
On his death, some years later, his inheritance passed to Aliva, his
only surviving child, formerly wife of Hugh Despenser, the famous
Justiciary, but now the wife of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.

The mighty baron, the Earl Marshal, who in a famous scene

1 Money values in ancient times cannot be reduced to any modem equivalent. The
older writers gave arbitrary equivalents by multiplying by 12, 20, or 40, and they are some-
times followed here. But they have no real authority, and are not adopted by good modem
authorities.

II VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON 21

bearded the greatest of the Plantagenets/ possessed the estate in right
of his wife; but on her death, in 1283, he was forced by law to sur-
render it to her son by her first husband. Hugh Despenser had been
killed at the battle of Evesham in 1265 ; but he left by Aliva Basset
a son, Hugh Despenser, Earl of Winchester, father of Edward H.'s
wretched favourite, who was executed like him in 1327. And thus,
for the fifth time since the Conquest, the manor reverted to the
Crown.

On the death of Philip, the last of the Bassets, and on the claim of
Roger Bigod to the inheritance in right of his wife, an inquisition was
taken in the year 1272. It consisted of a tenement of the value of
IS. In the 200 years which had passed since the Great Survey
the 300 acres of arable land had sunk to 145. There were 17
cocks and hens of the yearly value of is. 5d. (nearly half as much
again as the "tenement"), the customs and services of the villains
amount to _;^3:i8:2, and the total value is /^i7:s:6. The whole
was held of the King in chief by the office of Mareschal and the
render of a pair of buckskin gloves furred with minever.

Roger Bigod, the great Earl Marshal, on the death of his wife,
Aliva, attempted to hold her estates on the plea of having issue by her
born alive — as the lawyers still call it, as tenant by the courtesy of
England. But a jury being impanelled to inquire into this plea,
Roger, Earl of Norfolk, thought fit to withdraw from trial and sur-
render the estate. It seems a strange and somewhat pettifogging pro-
ceeding of so mighty a baron ; for he could hardly have been ignorant
whether or not his lamented spouse had borne him a son who would
be her heir. And it seems to show that in 1283, in the days of the
''Statute of Merchants'' and "Quia Emptores" and the rest, the
law-courts of our English Justinian were strong enough to deal
even with an earl marshal. At any rate Earl Bigod withdrew
and left young Despenser in possession of the estate. He was
not then of age ; but he retained it for forty-four years, till his own
death in 1327.

* See Stubbs's Constit. Hist. i. 132.

at ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR- HOUSf: chap.

Hugh Despenser lived to be Earl of Winchester, and father of
Edward II.'s arrogant favourite. He shared in the overthrow and
death of his king and his son, and was attainted and hanged in the
furious revulsion of feeling which swept into space the wretched
Edward of Caernarvon. The manor, of course, was forfeited to the
Crown. The very first year of his reign Edward HI., or those who
acted in his name, gave the manor to his half-uncle, Edmund of
Woodstock, second son of Edward I., by Margaret of France. Three
years later Edmund engaged in a conspiracy against the hated tyranny
of the infamous Isabella, the queen mother, and her favourite, Roger
Mortimer, Earl of March. He had short shrift, and was beheaded
in 1330 ; and again the manor reverted to the Crown. The manor was
found on inquisition to have fallen again in value. It is now worth
altogether only £12 : 7 : 5^- The "tenement" of Bigod's time, worth
IS., is now a "ruinous messuage," ;^o:o:o. The arable and the
meadow lands have both fallen in value ; there is a " warren " of
28., but the "cocks and hens" have disappeared. However, such as
it is, with Woking and other estates, Roger Mortimer obtained a grant
to himself and his sons.

But the triumph of Mortimer was short. A few months later
Edward III., then a youth of but eighteen, seized the reins of govern-
ment, arrested Mortimer with his own hand in the castle of Nottingham,
and summarily brought him to the block. Thus within three short
years of storm, insurrection, and rebellion the manor of Sutton had
seen three of its lords and masters attainted and beheaded. And
three times in as many years the manor was forfeited to the Crown.
It is no wonder that its value appears to diminish, the messuages to
get more and more ruinous, and the very cocks and hens of Roger
Bigod to disappear.

Edward III. was now well seated on the throne, which he
occupied for fifty years ; and one of his first cares was to undo the
infamous work of the favourites of his father and of his mother.
Edmund, Earl of Kent, the son of Edward I., lay in a traitor's headless
grave ; but his sons Edmund, and then John, were restored in blood, in

II VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON »$

honours, and in estate, and were successively Earls of Kent.^ Edmund,
John, and John's widow became entitled to the manor, and peacefully
enjoyed it; but on the death of John, in 1352, subject to the dower
of John's widow, the inheritance passed to his sister Joan, commonly
known as the " Fair Maid of Kent." Joan was the wife, first, of Sir
Thomas Holland, one of the original Knights of the Garter, by whom
she left a family, then of William, Earl of Salisbury, and then of
Edward, the Black Prince, by whom she became the mother of Richard
II. From Joan the estate passed through a succession of Earls of
Kent and Earls of Somerset, all her lineal descendants, to Margaret,
Countess of Richmond, and thence to her grandson, Henry VIII.
But though during 1 50 years the estate descended in the same blood,
this period includes the tremendous struggle of the Roses ; so that
attainder, executions, and forfeitures are for this period even more
frequent in the annals of the manor than they had been in the 150
years preceding.

When in 1352 the estate came to Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, its
annual value had sunk to ;^8 : i : 6 ; " the ruinous Messuage " and " the
Dovecote, intirely ruined," were valued at /^o : o : o. The 300 acres of
arable of the Conqueror's Survey were shrunk to 130; the pannage,
or right of turning pigs to feed in the wood, was worth 5s. ; and there
is another wood " whose pasture is worth nothing " at £0 :o : o. The
Fair Maid, the great heiress and principal par^t of her time, must
have had more profitable estates than Sutton before she won the Black
Prince, her chivalrous, ferocious, and splendid cousin. The fact was
that Elizabeth, daughter of John, Marquis of Juliers, and widow of
John, Earl of Kent, Joan's brother, had a settlement of these estates
by way of dower, and she kept actual possession of them till her death
in 141 1. In the meantime the inheritance or feudal lordship continued
to pass through the descendants of Joan.

Joan had a son, Thomas, by Sir Thomas Holland, who was created

1 For the genealogies of York and Lancaster, Beauforts, Hollands, and Staffords consult
the tables in Sir James Ramsay's valuable work, Lancaster and York, Oxford Clarendon
Press, 2 vols., 1892, Tables I., II., III., IV.

414 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Earl of Kent after the extinction of that title in the person of Edmund
of Woodstock ; and Thomas the second in due time became Earl of
Kent. He died in 1397, when Thomas, his son, who succeeded as Earl
of Kent, was created Duke of Surrey. "He was one of those," writes
the patient historian of the county, "who in the very beginning of the
next reign (Henry IV,) entered into a conspiracy for seizing the King's
person ; but failing in the attempt, was taken prisoner at Cirencester,
whither he had fled, and according to the custom of the times beheaded
the day following without further ceremony. An attainder and for-
feiture of his estates was the consequence."^ The next year, 1400,
Bolingbroke, for reasons of his own, restored the estate to the mother
of the Duke, Alice, daughter of Richard Fitzalan, the tenth Earl of
Arundel, and Earl of Surrey, the great seaman, who himself, after a
stormy career, lost his head on the scaffold in the later days of Richard
II., 1397.^ The surviving son of Alice Fitzalan was Edmund, Earl
of Kent, to which title he succeeded on the execution of his elder
brother, Thomas, Duke of Surrey, in 1400. But as he died a few
years after his unhappy brother without issue the inheritance next
descended on their sisters. One of these was Margaret Holland (after-
wards wife of that Duke of Clarence who was killed in his brother's wars
in France), previously the wife of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset,
eldest son of John of Gaunt by Catherine Swynford, his mistress, and
then his third wife.

Here we come, in 1408, into the times of the Beauforts, in which
family the estate remained until its alienation by the Crown. It
remained, indeed, but with wild vicissitudes, deaths, attainders, and
constant revolutions. John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, died, strange
as it may seem, in his bed about 1410. His eldest son, Henry, Earl
of Somerset, died a minor, and without issue, in 1418, John, Earl and
Duke of Somerset, the next brother, his heir, assigned the estate to his
younger brother, Edmund, eventually Earl and Duke of Somerset, who
was killed in the first battle of St. Albans in 1455. His eldest son,

1 Manning and Bray, Surrey, i. 121.
2 Stubbs, ii. 495.

11 VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON 25

Henry, Duke of Somerset, who succeeded, founder of the ducal house
of Beaufort, was taken, after the battle of Hexham in 1464, and
promptly beheaded on the field. The second and third sons were slain
at Tewkesbury, 1471, without issue, and thereupon, the male issue of
John of Gaunt being extinct, the manor of Sutton at last devolved on
Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the famous mother of Henry VH.

One need hardly say that the manor of Sutton was not the only
inheritance which the whirligig of civil war, battles, attainders, and
executions had cast into the lap of Margaret Beaufort. As the only
child of John Beaufort, third Earl of Somerset, she represented the
family of John of Gaunt by his third wife. One part of the inheritance
aforesaid was the claim to the throne of England. Henry VIH., as
every one knows, at last combined the claims of the Red and White
Rose ; and it is indeed no wonder that the house built on the Wey
by Henry's minister should be covered with the symbolic emblems of
Red and White Rose in union ; for the knight there received from his
master a manor which for 1 20 years had belonged to the Red Rose,
but which the White Rose had been so constantly confiscating, seizing,
and occupying all through the grand tussle.

The succession to the manor of Sutton, which from the time of
Edward I. really follows the lines of the succession to royal titles and
the control of the State, is, as every lawyer would perceive, a legal,
and not a possessory interest. The heirs-at-law were very far from
being always in possession. Widows were very real powers in feudal
times, and dower was a fact and not a conveyancing conundrum. In
truth, Elizabeth, daughter of the Marquis of Juliers, and Alice Fitz-
alan, the daughter of the Earl of Arundel, both kept possession of the
estate by right of their dower. And furthermore, when the estate did
devolve on the Beauforts, their actual enjoyment of it not a little
depended on the issue of the battles and the ups and downs of war and
intrigue.

On the attainder of Henry, Duke of Somerset, after the battle of
Hexham, the estate was forfeited to King Edward IV. He and his
brother, Richard III., kept possession of the forfeited estates during

2 6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

their reigns. Edward IV. resided not seldom in his manor of Woking,
which, as we saw, was conjoined to that of Sutton throughout the whole
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the hall of Sutton to this day
stands the blazon of Richard when Duke of Gloucester. No doubt
as king he held possession of the estate ; but it was only on the battle
of Bosworth, in 1485, that Henry VII. could put his mother in effective
possession of estates which, confiscation and attainder apart, had
been her property for the 20 years since the battle of Hexham, and
which Margaret Holland had first brought to the Beauforts just 80
years before. Here, with Bosworth field, ends the whirligig of escheat
and forfeiture which had swept round continually since the death of the
great Edward Longshanks. During that period of 178 years the
estate had been forfeited eight times on the attainder, execution, or
death in civil war of the legal owner. There is nothing exceptional in
this. It is a fair average specimen from a southern English county in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. There is much to learn by
observing feudalism at home in its own manor house and its " ruinous
messuage."

We need not here'rehearse the virtues, piety, dignities, and benefi-
cence of Margaret Beaufort, sole remnant and hope of the Red Rose,
Countess of Richmond, and then of Derby, who lies in so noble a
monument in the south aisle of Henry VI I. 's Chapel at Westminster.*
She married first, at the age of sixteen, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Rich-
mond, a son of Catherine of France, widow of Henry V., by whom she
became the mother of Henry VII. Then she married Sir H. Stafford,
son of the Duke of Buckingham ; and thirdly she married Thomas,
Lord Stanley, the hero of Bosworth, and first Earl of Derby. Great
ladies in those days, as we see in the little story of our manor, married
early and married often ; and as their lords and masters soon came to
untimely ends in the field or on the scaffold, they carried their hands

1 She " whose merit exceeds the highest commendation that can be given," as the laborious
Camden declares. Her Latin epitaph was written by Erasmus. — Brayley, Westminster Abbey,
i. 70. For Margaret Beaufort's title to the Crown see Mr. Alfred Bailey's excellent book,
The Succession to the English Crown, 1879.

,r VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTl^ON 27

and their possessions through half the feudal nobility. Lady Margaret,
the saintly princess of whom Gray sings —

" Foremost and leaning from her golden cloud,
The venerable Margaret " —

has perpetuated her name by the foundation of St. John's College and
Christ's College at Cambridge, and the divinity professorships at both
universities which bear her name. She was a learned and pious
woman, as is fully told in Halsted's Life, and she herself translated from
the Latin the Imitation and other books of devotion.^ And as engaged
in religious vows, she is represented in the well-known picture, belong-
ing to Mr. Milner Gibson, exhibited at the Tudor Exhibition in 1890,
in the habit of a nun. She died in 1509, at the age of sixty-eight,
having lived to see her grandson crowned as Henry VII L

Margaret Beaufort lived much at Woking from the battle of Bos-
worth till her death, and the manor of Sutton was practically a part of
her home estate. She often received in it her son, Henry VII., many
of his Acts being there signed. Woking and Sutton were both included
in the settlement which Margaret made on the marriage with the Earl
of Derby, and were appointed to the Earl for life after her decease.
But as she survived him, the two manors, with much else, passed by
her will to her grandson, now Henry VIII.

Henry VIII., when possessed of the manor and mansion of Woking,
used it as a summer residence all through his reign. "In the middle
of September 1515," we are told by Grafton, "he came to his Maner
of Okyng, and thether came to him the Archebishop of Yorke, whom
he hartily welcommed, and shewed him great pleasures," and there " a
Letter was brought to the Archebishop from Rome, certifying him howe
he was elected to be a Cardinall."^ As Richard Weston was already
attached to the King's person, and held various offices, there is every
probability that he was often with the Court at Woking ; and he may
well have been one of those who congratulated Wolsey on the coveted

1 C. A. Halsted, Life of Margaret Beaufort, 1839, p. 195.
2 Grafton, Chron. p. 1016.

28 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Red Hat. During these visits he must have had occasion to notice
the obvious advantages that the manor of Sutton would offer as the
site of a mansion. Woking remained a royal manor and the residence
of the sovereign all through the reigns of the Tudors ; and in 1621
James I. granted it to Sir Edward Zouch. But a hundred years before
this the manor of Sutton was granted to Sir Richard Weston in
May 1521.

King Henry VHI., by Letters Patent, dated at Westminster 17th
May 1 52 1, in the thirteenth year of his reign, granted the manor of
Sutton with its appurtenances and all the knights' fees thereto belong-
ing, villains, goods and services, waifs and strays, wardships and rights,
woods, meadows, pastures, fisheries, water, vineyards, ponds, rents,
reliefs, escheats, court-leets, weirs, with all the profits of the same
and free warren within the forest, in consideration of good and faithful
service, "to his noble and well-beloved Privy Councillor, Sir Richard
Weston, Knight, his heirs and assigns." ^

Nine years later Sir Richard Weston received a further grant,
^e dated 25th May 1530, which gave him license to impark 600 acres

-* of land and pasture, 50 acres of wood, and 400 acres of heath and

furze, in the parishes of Merrow and Clandon, with free warren and
fishery.- This made him lord of the lands lying south of the manor
of Woking, across both banks of the Wey, as far up as the top of
Merrow Downs. The dates of these grants deserve notice. The
first grant was during the zenith of the power of Cardinal Wolsey,
when he had just negotiated a league between Henry VHI., the
Emperor Charles V., and the Pope, at the time when Wolsey was
aspiring to the Papacy, and when the English Government was strain-
ing every nerve to carry on the war with France. The grant of Sutton
followed close on the visit of Charles V. to Henry VHI. at Dover and
Canterbury. Sir Richard Weston had been one of the witnesses to

^ The grant is abstracted in the Calendar of State Papers, Rolls Series (Brewer), iii.,
1519-23, Record Office, No. 1324, 17, marked S.B., pat., p. 2, m. 18. An ancient copy
of the patent is in possession of the owner of the estate, F. H. Salvin, Esq., and a translation
of this is set forth in the Appendix. ^ Manning and Bray, iii. p. 60.

yiiL

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j::s£-

'Ak-.

II i; I V. " I
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II VICISSITUDES OF THE MANOR OF SUTTON 29

the treaty with the Emperor, and one of the noblemen and knights
appointed to receive and attend him at Dover. The second grant was
made after the fall of Wolsey and the trial for the divorce of Catherine
of Aragon.

From the date of the grant in Wolsey 's time the manor has been
held by the Westons, descendants of Sir Richard, and since 1782 by
Westons from an allied branch of the same family. The present
owner, F. H. Salvin, is the sixth son of Thomas Salvin of Croxdale, in
Durham, by Mary Ann Weston, eldest daughter of John Webbe-
Weston, the devisee of the estate on failure of the issue of Sir Richard.
It is somewhat remarkable that an estate which, from the Conquest to
the battle of Bosworth, had been so often forfeited to the Crown
should never since have passed out of the same family, although the
only son of the grantee was attainted and executed fifteen years after
the grant, although the grandson of the grantee was a notorious
Catholic all through the penal laws of Elizabeth, and although its
owners were Catholics and Royalists, malignants of the deepest dye,
all through the times of the Civil War, the Commonwealth, and Pro-
tectorate, though they were non-jurors and obstinate Jacobites under
the Dutch and Hanoverian dynasties.

From the day when Henry VI H. granted the estate to his favourite
knight and to Wolsey 's " most humble servant," " through whose
goodnes and medyacion all that I have now proceded and came," as Sir
Richard wrote to "my lorde legate's grace" in 1527, down to this
day the manor of Sutton ceases to have any connection with the
history of England, and becomes a mere private estate and unobserved
country mansion. Henry VIII. was frequently there : indeed he con-
stantly resided at Woking and at Guildford, and he could only pass
from one to the other across the manor of Sutton. He was entertained
in the hall both before and after the murder of the son and heir,
Elizabeth was often there too ; for she, too, was constantly passing it
on the way to Woking, Pirford, Guildford, and Loseley. From that
day to the present time the owners of Sutton had little trust in princes,
and small favour to expect at Court. They were Catholics, non-jurors,

3°

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP. II

disaffected Jacobites, and deeply alien to all Protestant settlements.
Henceforth the history of the manor concerns no one but the owners
and their family.

It may be partly by chance, and possibly by some removal of painted
glass from the old manor-houses at Sutton or at Woking, but it is
singular that to-day we find in the windows and quarries of the hall
arms, emblems, and devices of a great number of historic persons and
families, all of whom had some connection with the past history of the
manor, who had owned it, or had been visitors in it, or were friends
and colleagues of its owners. Amongst theSe may be mentioned the
Beauforts, Edward IV. and Richard III., Henry VII. and Henry VIII.,
the Earls of Arundel, Earls of Derby, and Dukes of Norfolk, Arch-
bishop Bourchier, Catherine of Aragon, Sir Reginald Bray, Edward
VI., Mary Tudor, Philip of Spain, Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Gardiner,
Paulet, Marquess of Winchester, Charles II., and the Earls of Onslow.
There is no reason to suppose that Sir Richard Weston when he built
his house was deeply versed in the history of his manor ; but when
he came to place in his hall the coats, crests, and devices of men ot
historic name with whom he had served, or who had visited his hall,
he was really placing there the same emblems which centuries before
had been borne on the pennons of the lords of the manor before him.

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PLll.

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CHAPTER III

PART I.— BEFORE THE REFORMATION

SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER BUILDER OF THE HOUSE

Sir Richard Weston, who built Sutton Place and there founded a
family, was one of those typical men, at once soldiers, diplomatists, and
statesmen, by whose arms and brains Henry VH. and Henry VHI.
consolidated the great Tudor monarchy of the sixteenth century. In
following up his life and story, we are struck with the vast change in
social and political life which this monarchy introduced, and with the
flexible, versatile, Italian character of the agents by whom these master-
ful kings were served. Ordinary history does not say much of Sir
Richard Weston. But the State papers are full of his name. There
is hardly a single State ceremony or event during the eighth Henry's
reign in which he is not recorded to have part. A bare list of the
offices he held would fill some pages. He is a soldier, seaman,
ambassador, governor, treasurer, privy counsellor, judge of the Court
of Wards, courtier, the amasser of great possessions, a munificent patron
of art, a wary, adroit, and successful man of affairs.

$2 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Sir Richard Weston was just such a man as was Sir Richard Crom-
well, founder of the Hinchinbroke family, great-grandfather of the
Protector, or such as Sir Henry Marney, Sir Edward Seymour, Sir
Thomas Boleyn, and Sir John Fitzwilliam. He served his royal
master for more than thirty-two years, from the first year of the reign
until his own death at a great age ; and there is almost complete
evidence that he never lost the King's favour or resigned a single
oflfice till his last illness. He saw out all the changes of policy and
religion, the book against Luther, the Reformation, and the Six Articles ;
he did homage to five of Henry's queens, he saw scores of his colleagues
and his own son beheaded on charges of treason, and yet he retained
to the last the confidence of the King. It gives one a new idea of
Henry's character, to see the unbroken loyalty which he could show to
an old and tried servant. Sir Richard seems to have been indeed a
servant after Henry's own heart : brave, discreet, wary, magnificent,
artistic, cosmopolitan, without troublesome scruples or feelings, either
in Church or State ; a man without any feudal connections or instincts,
and with no dangerous ambition ; devoted to his master, body and
soul, essentially one of the "new men."' He rose into royal favour
under Archbishop Warham long before Wolsey ; he retained it under
Wolsey, and after Wolsey's fall, after that of More, and after that of
Thomas Cromwell. He served them all, and he outlived them all.

There is nothing about him of the old feudal nobility. He belongs
to an ancient family of knights and squires, soldiers and crusaders, men
of good blood, but not noble in the legal sense of the word. In the
splendid pedigree of the family, the work of Garter- King-at- Arms in

' See Henry's own view of his councillors, in the answer to the rebels of Yorkshire, 1537.
" In the beginning of our raigne, where it is said that so many noblemen were councillors, we
doe not forget who were these councillors, for of the Temporally there were but two worthy
to be called noble — the one the Treasurer of England, the other the Lord High Steward of
our Household ; others as the Lords Marney and Darcy, but scant, wel-born gentlemen, and
yet of no great lands till they were promoted by us, and so made Knights and Lords " (Speed,
p. 776, bk. ix.) Howard of Norfolk was Treasurer ; the High Steward was Talbot, fourth Earl
of Shrewsbury (Brewer, i. 54). Weston was exactly one of Henry's scant, well-bom gentlemen,
of no great lands till promoted. Consult Paul Friedmann, An/te Boleyn, vol. i. pp. 26-29.

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 33

1632, long preserved at Sutton Place, and now in the British Museum/
the family of Weston is traced from the time of Henry I. ; but with its
galaxy of Norman and feudal chivalry there is not a single alliance of
a Weston with any of the greater houses or titled nobility. Sir Richard
was evidently one of the able men, of courage, brains, and culture, on
whom the Tudors relied to break the teeth of the barons and such
remnants of them as the Wars of the Roses had left, and to build up a
modern king-craft of a civilised, organised, rich, artistic, intellectual
order, such as was the dream of Francis I., Charles V., and afterwards of
Elizabeth of England and Henry IV. of France. Sir Richard Weston
was evidently one of the men who helped on this work ; after his kind,
personally unscrupulous, grasping, time-serving, and self-seeking, but
withal of unblemished credit, and staunchly faithful to his master and
to his friends.

According to the pedigree made by Garter, one may suppose, in
anticipation of the famous Copley alliance of 1637, the Westons of
Sutton are descended from a very ancient family seated in Lincolnshire
in the time of Henry I. The judicious historian of the nineteenth
century will as little guarantee as he will dispute the accuracy of a family
genealogy of such absolute heraldic authority, and blazoned in so splendid
and scientific a form as is the Roll which is now one of the prizes of
the British Museum.^ In that gorgeous family tree the race starts from
Hayleric of Weston in Holland, County Lincoln, temp. Henry I., and
descends through a succession of Nigels and Lamberts, who witness
charters and otherwise prove their reality, if not their relationship, down
to one Humphrey of Prested Hall, in Essex, 13 Richard II. (1390).
Humphrey Weston, by his first wife, Catherine, widow of John de

1 Addit MS. 31, 890, and for a copy of it, Appendix I.

* See Friedmann's Anne Boleyn, i. 37. "Nowhere has the making of false pedigrees
been so extensively practised as it was in England during the sixteenth century. Every man
or woman who rose into the royal favour had but to apply to the herald to have — for a
consideration — some genealogical tree made out, the root of which was a fabulous Saxon
chieftain, or an equally imaginary Norman knight." But then judicial Mr. Friedmann is a
foreigner, of a somewhat sceptical turn, and a cruel judge of Henry and of Anne. Besides
Segar's pedigree was made in the reign of Charles I.

34 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Beauchamp, was the father of John de Weston of Boston, 38 Henry
VI. (1460), from whom descend in right line the Westons of Sutton.
By his second wife, Joan, he was the father of the Robert de Weston,
the ancestor of the Westons of Prested Hall, Essex,^ from whom
descended Richard Weston, Earl of Portland, 1632, temp. Charles
I., and also John Webbe- Weston (the devisee of the estates from the
last male descendant of Sir Richard), who was grandfather of the
present owner.

John, the eldest son of Humphrey aforesaid, was settled at Boston,
in Lincolnshire. It is proudly recorded by Garter that he received four
yards of scarlet cloth at the coronation of Henry V. in 1413. His son
Peter (temp. Edward IV.), likewise of Boston, had by Agnes, daughter
of John Daunay of Escrick, in the county of York, three sons, Edmund,
John, and William. John, the second son, was Lord Prior of the
Knights of St. John in England, 1476, and died in 1489. William,
the third brother, was a Knight of St. John's at Rhodes. Edmund,
the eldest, also of Boston, was the father of Sir Richard Weston and
of Sir William Weston, last Prior of St. John's in England.

This Edmund Weston married Catherine, daughter and ultimately
heir of John Camell of Shapwick, in the county of Dorset, by whom
he had two sons and two daughters.^ William, the younger son,
became a Knight of St. John's, took part in the heroic defence of
Rhodes against Solyman, and, after a life of great services in arms and
in diplomacy, was, as his uncle had been, Lord Prior of St John's in
England, and died of grief, 1540, on the day of the dissolution of his
order in England. The elder daughter, Mabel, married Sir John
Dingley of the Isle of Wight, and was mother of Sir Thomas Dingley
or Dyneley, who served at Malta in 1531, and who was executed in
1539. Ann, the younger, married Sir Ralph Verney of Bucks. The
eldest son of Edmund Weston of Boston was Sir Richard Weston,
the builder of the house.

1 See Morant's Essex, ii. 70, 171.

2 For the pedigree of Catherine (or Anne) Camell (or Cammell), traced from Sir John de
Plecy, temp. Edward I., see Manning and Bray, ii. 638, and Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i. 152.

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 35

Boston was at this time one of the great ports of the kingdom,
and it carried on a large trade with the Levant.^ The Westons were
great seamen as well as soldiers ; Sir John Weston, 1474, and also
Sir William, the Prior, 1520, served as Admirals of the Fleet of the
Knights of Rhodes ; and it is possible that the family assisted
Richmond in his landing at Milford Haven before Bosworth. The
services of three Westons, Knights of St. John, the brother and two
uncles of Sir Richard, in the heroic crusade against the Turk, will
be spoken of later. There seems some ground for thinking that the
Westons had materially contributed to the successful venture of Henry
Tudor, which eventually placed the crown on his head on Bosworth
field.

Within a month of the coronation of Henry VH. in Westminster
Abbey by Archbishop Bourchier,^ we find Edmund Weston, the
father of Sir Richard, promoted by the King. On 28th November
1485 a grant is made to Edmund Weston and Thomas Saintmartyn,
Esquires, in survivorship ("in consideration of good and gratuitous
services performed by them with great labour and great personal
cost to themselves ") of the office of Captain, Keeper, and Governor
of the island of Guernsey, and castle of Cornet, and of the other
islands and places in those parts, and the castles and fortresses
within the same, and the revenues, without rendering any account
thereof.*

What were these "good and gratuitous services" performed at
"great labour and great cost "? Doubtless the use of money or ships ;
possibly a contingent that fought at Bosworth. The extreme haste
of the reward, within three months of the great battle, suggests it;
and that the service was great is shown by the nature and value of

1 See Pishey Thompson, History of Boston in Lincolnshire, 1856, p. 184, tomb of a
Weston, Knight of St. John. Sir W. Weston of Boston is mentioned 1333 and in 1377 (pp.

467, 469).

2 Emblems of the King and the arms and mitre of the Archbishop are represented in the
painted glass of the hall of Sutton ; see chap. xii. " The Painted Glass Windows " (I. 6 ; II. 5).

* Calendar, Henry VII., i. pp. 186, 372, Public Records, Record Office, P.S. No. 514, pat.,
p. 2, m. 20.

36 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

the gift. Edmund Weston proved to be the survivor, or the more
successful, for four months later, on 8th March i486, there is a grant
for life to Edmund Weston, now Esquire of the King's Body ("in
consideration of various services in which he had expended large sums
of money "), of the office of Captain, Keeper, and Governor of the
island of Guernsey. The office became almost hereditary in the
family. The year of the accession of Henry VIII., Richard Weston, the
son of Edmund, was appointed to the same office, 22nd May 1509, and
he held it for thirty-two years. ^

The Westons were evidently of a family which had rendered signal
service to the Tudors, and were high in favour with Henry VII.
Edmund twice received a lucrative and important government, and
was named Esquire of the King's Body in the first year of the reign.
His younger brother, John, had been appointed by Peter d'Aubusson,
then Grand Master of the Order, Lord Prior of St John's in England ;
and Edward IV., in a letter to Pope Sixtus IV., accepts the nomination
of the Grand Master and the Pope.^ The elder prior, as afterwards
was the second prior, his nephew, was employed in embassies by the
King. In i486 we find him one of the Commissioners to arrange a
treaty between Henry VII. and James III., King of Scotland; and in
1488 he is one of the ambassadors to treat for peace with Ferdinand
and Isabella of Spain.^ He himself died in 1489.

Richard Weston, accordingly, in the reign of Henry VII. was the
eldest son of an officer high in favour with the King, and heir of a
family which had rendered him conspicuous services in peace and war.
It does not appear whether Richard had any part in Bos worth field
and the campaign which it ended. As he was probably born about
1465 or 1466, he would be under age at the time of the battle, but

1 See W. Berry, History of Guernsey, 4to ed., 1815, p. 205. The office of Governor of
the Island is one of great antiquity, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries had been
often held by royal princes. The Westons held the post continuously from 1488 to 1541.

2 Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1 202-1 509 (Archives of Venetian Library), No.
452. Letter of Edward IV. to Pope Sixtus IV., 25th February 1476,

3 Materials for History of Henry VII., Rolls Series ( Campbell), vol. i. 480, vol. ii. p. 273.
He is there called " Friar John Westoun, prior of the order of St. John Jerusalem in England."

HI SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 37

may well have taken part in it. He would be early introduced to the
King and the Prince ; and he certainly held office in Berkshire under
Henry VH.^

The very first year of the young king, Henry VHI., we find
Richard Weston receiving promotion and grants, just as his father
Edmund had received them in the first year of Henry VH. ; and in
such hot haste that it would seem as if the splendid young prince (he
was then but eighteen) thought that Weston, who was then more than
forty, had not been duly recompensed. Henry VHI. had not been king
a month, and had not yet been crowned, when three patents were signed
in favour of Richard Weston. He was made Keeper of Han worth
Park and of the manor of Cold Kennington, Steward of Marlowe,
Cokeham, and Bray, and finally he was appointed Captain, Keeper,
and Governor of Guernsey, of the castle of Cornet, and the isles of
Alderney, Sark, etc., as held by Edmund Weston, etc. All this on
2ist to 22nd May 1509, before the King had been crowned.^

May, we shall find, is a critical month to the Westons. The day
of the coronation Weston is appointed Steward of the Lordship of
Flamsted ; two months later he has the custody and wardship of a
young heir; his wife, Anne Weston, " gentlewoman with the Queen,"
has the wardship of another young heir ; the next year he is in the
Commission for Berkshire ; the security for a loan to him by the King
of ;i^ioo is cancelled ; he has the grant of the manor of Upton Pole,
Berkshire, forfeited by the attainder of Francis, Lord Lovell ; he has
license to freight a ship with wools, skins, etc., to carry them to

1 Calendar of State Papers, Henry VHI., i. 1505. In the Privy Purse Expenses of
Elizabeth of York, Queen of Henry VII., we find in I 502 that ^4 : los. was paid to Richard
Weston for " certain harnesses of gyrdelles by him brought for the Queen beyond the sea."
And in 1502 and 1503 (pp. 23, 99) wages (£6: 12 : 4) are paid to "Mrs. Anne Weston,"
a lady in attendance on the Queen. This was obviously Sir Richard's wife. Thus both he
and his wife were in the service of Henry VII. as well as that of Henry VIII. ; and in all
probability Anne, afterwards Lady Weston, was in attendance at the death of the Queen,
Elizabeth of York. There is also mention of money paid to Weston for " the kinges losse at
disse opon Shrove Monday, £1 : 13 : 4," i8th February 1502 ; and again, "to Weston for
the king to play at Cheke, £2." — Excerpta Historica, p. 127.

2 Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., i. 92, 93, 94, 231, etc. N.B. — This was six years
before the rise of Wolsey, whilst the Great Seals were held by Archbishop Warham.

38 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

foreign parts through the Straits of Marrok (Morocco) ; and the next
year he is appointed Lieutenant of the Castle and Forest of Windsor,
with lodgings in the Lieutenant's Tower, and perquisites as held by
Sir John Williams or Sir John Norres (2nd June 151 1).

There is no doubt that he married some years before Anne, the
daughter of Oliver Sands or Sandys of Shere who died on the 7th
November 15 15. His son Francis appears to have been born in 151 1.
Mrs. Weston is mentioned as gentlewoman of the Queen in 1509, as
she no doubt was to Queen Elizabeth of York, who died 1503.^ The
King has only been on the throne two years when Richard had two
noble governorships, lands, wardships, stewardships, and a mercantile
patent. Truly this is a man bent on amassing a great fortune, the
destined architect of a broad and stately career.^

Every few months during the earlier part of Henry's reign the
State Papers record some appointment in favour of the Westons.
In 1 5 10 {Calendar, Henry VHL, i. 1262) we have a letter from
the Grand Master of Rhodes, Emery d'Amboise, to the King,
notifying receipt of the King's letter on behalf of William Weston
of the preceptory of Badislay. The Grand Master has given him an
annuity.®

In the following year Richard Weston is sent with the force under
Lord Darcy to assist Ferdinand, King of Spain, in the campaign
against the Moors.* Ferdinand had asked of Henry 1000 English
archers. These were sent under the command of Lord Darcy.
" There were appointed to go with the Lord Darcie, Lord Anthony
Grey, brother to the Marquis Dorset, Henry Guildeford, Weston,

^ Manning and Bray, i. 524. For pedigree of Anne Sandys see Manning and Bray, ii. 671,
where she is said to be the sister of Oliver Sandys of Shere, and daughter of WiUiam Sandes
of Rotenby, St. Bees, in Cumberland. So Berry, Genealogies of the Surrey Families — Westons
of Sutton Place.

2 Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., i. Nos. 231, 424, 867, 885, 1006, 1207,
1208, 1707.

3 Brit. Mus., Otho, ix. 4, 6.

* The history of this expedition may be read in the historians Brewer, i. 1 8 ; Rapin, i.
710; Rymer, Feed. xiii. 297; Hall, Chron. p. 522; Stow, p. 488; State Papers, Henry
VIII., i. 297, 1566.

(■• _

--■ r

. '. r.

.1 f'

IH SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 39

Broune, William Sydney, Esquires of the King's Horse." ^ Nothing
came of the expedition, but Weston at any rate did not disgrace him-
self or lose favour. Shortly afterwards the King makes him a loan of
;^250.^ According to Hall [Ckron. p. 522), Weston and other young
and lusty esquires had leave to visit the court of Spain, where they
were handsomely received. The King dubbed them all knights,
"and gave to Sir Weston and Browne an eagle of Sicily on a chief to
the augmentation of their arms."' Weston was too prudent to avail
himself of this foreign knighthood and honour, for no trace of it ever
appears in his house or his own history.

Richard Weston was made knight by Henry VHI. in 15 14, and
thenceforth his fortunes grew apace. He is present at the marriage of
Mary, the King's sister, to Louis XH. of France, 14th October 15 14.*
In 1516 he is appointed Knight of the Body; he is made Keeper of
Hanworth Park, of Le Mote Park in Windsor Forest, of the Swans on
the Thames, of the Chase at Cranbourne, Steward of the Lordship of
Caversham, and then of the Lordship of Marlowe, all of these, with
salaries and dues. As Knight of the Body, he is in personal attendance
on the King, and is associated with many of Henry's knights and
ministers, with whom Weston became connected — Sir T. Arundell, Sir
J. Russell, Sir C. Pickering, Sir W. Sandys, Sir W. Dennys.®

One cannot here follow the shifting European policy of Henry and
of his tortuous minister, the Cardinal. But whatever it may be, the King
finds in Weston an ever obsequious agent. On 2nd October 15 18
Henry signed his solemn and short-lived treaty of peace* "between
the Confederated Kings of France and England," and amongst the
witnesses stands the name of Richard Weyston (sic). Others who

1 See Hall, p. 520. 2 Calendar, Henry VIII., i. 1455.

^ This was no doubt the eagle displayed as borne by the Emperor Frederick II. See
an example in Westminster Abbey (Boutell, English Heraldry, No. 200), and also as borne
in the arms of the Emperor Charles V. The Ordinary of British Armorials (Papworth and
Morant, i. 301) gives the arms of Frederick II., Emperor, as — Or, an eagle displayed, wings
downwards, sable. So Sandford, Genealogical History, fol. 1707, p. 87. These were the
arms granted by Segar in 1628 to Weston of Rugely, County Stafford.

* Calendar, Henry VIII., i. 5483. ^ Calendar, Henry VIII., iv. 2735.

* Brit. Mus., Vit, bk. xx. 92 ; Calendar, Henry VIII., ii. 4469.

40 ANNALS GF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

sign the stately but worthless roll are Wolsey, Dorset, Surrey, T.
Boleyn, Maurice Berkeley, Sir T. More, William Fitzwilliam ; and
on the 4th October 15 18 is signed by the same personages the
treaty of marriage between the Princess Mary and the Dauphin of
France.^ This was the vain and short-lived project of an alliance
between Mary Tudor, afterwards our Queen Mary, and the eldest son
of Francis I. He was then a baby of six months, and she was three ;
and, as we all know, she in the end married Philip II, of Spain. Had
the ill-starred project of Wolsey succeeded, and the royal children of
France and England lived to become husband and wife, a good many
things might have gone differently. But, though the project resulted
in nothing so far as the history of England is concerned, it perhaps
had no small effect on the house of Sutton ; for during his embassy
in France Sir Richard Weston must have seen, envied, and determined
to imitate the chateaux of the Loire.

In the autumn of 15 18, tenth year of Henry VIII., a solemn
embassy was sent over to Francis to obtain ratification of this treaty.
The ambassadors named are the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of
Worcester, the Earl of Surrey, the Lord Admiral, West, the Bishop
of Ely, Dockwra, the Lord Prior of St. John's, Sir Thomas Boleyn,
accompanied by seventy knights, with whom Sir Richard Weston, Sir
W. Fitzwilliam, Sir Maurice Berkeley, and others were named.^ They
were abroad fifty days, and the expenses allowed to the Lord Chamber-
lain are £166, to the Bishop of Ely, £i2,Z> to the Prior of St. John's,
;^ic)0, to Lord E. Howard, Lord Ferrers, Sir R. Weston, and other
knights, _j^66 each.^

The ambassadors, with a train of about 500 persons, came by
Calais to Paris. They were treated by Francis with great magnificence ;
and, desiring to display his wealth and taste, he induced a separate
embassy, of which the Bishop of Ely, Sir T. Boleyn, the Lord Prior,

1 Brit. Mus., Vit., chap. xi. 169 ; Brewer, Henry VIII., i. 194.

2 Calendar, Henry VIII., 4409 ; Brewer, i. 202.

3 An interesting account of the embassy will be found in Hall's Chronicle (p. 596), and
in Holinshed, vol. iii. (pp. 634 and 1519).

:-.if »v

I
I'

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 45

solid than Court gaieties. He now seems to have turned his mind
very seriously to duties that involved trust, care, and profit — the ward-
ships of heirs of tender years. In the very year 15 19 he has several
such grants, amongst others that of William Lytton, of Knebworth,
Herts, with custody of the profits of the manor of Knebworth and a
reversion of part of the manor. He has a grant of the wardship of
Ann, daughter and heiress of Sir Christopher Pickering, deceased, nth
July 1519.^ Now the prudent knight eventually married this girl,
heiress of immense possessions in Cumberland, to his only son, Francis,
in 1530, and they became the ancestors of the Westons of Sutton
Place. The knight nursed the young lady and her estates for eleven
years, and the husband he found her was only about nineteen at the
wedding, and must have been cutting his teeth when the knight
secured the wardship. In the same year Sir Richard is mentioned as
associated with Sir Thomas Lovell, the Master of the King's Wards,
with a salary of ;i^ 100 a year. He had also a salary of ;i^ 100 a year as
Knight of the Body, and he gets a grant of £']<^ for a new lodge in
Windsor Forest. And in the following year (1520) Sir Richard
Weston and Sir E. Belknap are appointed to be surveyors, governors,
keepers, and sellers of wards and their possessions during pleasure, at
a salary of ^100.^

But Sir Richard Weston is not content with wardships and the care
of infants and their possessions. He passes from soldier, diplomatist,
official, to the place of judge. In 15 19 "the following councillors, my
Lord of Westminster, the Dean of St. Paul's, my Lord of St. John's,
Sir Richard Weston, and four others, are appointed to hear the causes
depending in the " Sterred Chambre," and will sit in the White Hall in
Westminster, where the said suitors shall resort."^ In the following
year took place the meeting of Henry and Francis, known as the
" Field of the Cloth of Gold." Sir R. Weston is one of the knights
selected for Hampshire, along with Sir W. Sandys, Sir W. Fitzwilliam,

1 Calendar, Henry VIII., iii. 405. , 2 /^/^ ygj jjj nji, 10.

* Ibid. vol. iii. 571. This is, of course, the famous Star Chamber, finally suppressed in
1641 by the Long Parliament.

4« ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

and Sir W. Dennys.'' Doubtless we have the portrait of the knight
himself in one of the pictures of the scene now in Hampton Court ; but
there is no means of identifying him ; his banner is not visible, and
beyond his name as one of the knights in the King's retinue we have
no record of his part.^

The alliance with Francis, as history relates, was short indeed. In
spite of the efforts of Wolsey, Henry in his self-will flung himself into
the arms of his young nephew, the astute Charles V., and within a few
months he signed with him a treaty of alliance. Weston, as before, was
one of the witnesses (Brit. Mus., Galba, bk. vi. 144).^ In July followed
the meeting of Henry and the Emperor, and again, with Boleyn,
Berkeley, Fitzwilliam, and others. Sir Richard Weston attends the
King.

In the dark tragedy carried out by the insatiable ambition of
Wolsey and the remorseless jealousy of his master — the judicial murder
of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, — Sir Richard Weston has a part. In
April 1 52 1 there is a highly significant passage in a letter from Pace
to Wolsey.* Pace, who was then at Greenwich with the King, and
was his secretary, informs Wolsey, who was then in London, under
date (i6th April), that " Sir Richard Weston signifieth unto your Grace

1 Calendar, Henry VIII., iii. 703.

2 In the College of Arms is an exemplification of the standard of Sir Richard Weston,
thus blazoned : " Or and Vert. A. on a wreath Argent and Sable, a Saracen's head affronte,
with a band round the neck, Or, couped at the neck proper, wreathed about the temples
Argent and Azure. Motto on each side of the two bands, Ani boro." The arms are the
same as before described (Excerpta Histonca, p. 183). As to this motto, a long and apparently
undecided battle has raged ^.mongst the heralds as to the origin of this motto, its correct
form, and whether it belongs to the family of Weston or to the order of St. John ; see the
Herald and Genealogist, v. 530; vi. 369; viii. 182. It is said that it is derived from the
Syriac Ani buroh, meaning " I go," " I am sped," " I am killed." The story is that Sir
Hugh de Weston, having killed a Saracen emir in hand-to-hand conflict and taken a Moslem
standard, took as his crest and motto the head and last cry of the emir. Other authorities
have found Sane Baro as a motto of the priors of St. John, and declare that the motto is
not a family motto at all. Certain it is that in the College of Arms this motto is attri-
buted to Sir R. Weston in the sixteenth, and also to J. Webbe- Weston in the eighteenth
century.

" Calendar, Henry VIII., iii. 739; Rymer, Feed. xiii. 714.

* Ibid. vol. iii. 1233 ; see Vit, bk. iv. 96, and Ellis, Letters, etc., 2nd series, i. 286.

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 45

that the King doth well approve such things as you communed with
him this morning." What were these things ?^ The letter refers just
above to the examination of the Duke's serving-men. It is not precisely
so stated, but one remembers that the trial of the Duke began on 8th
May, just twenty-two days after this letter.

Wolsey stood at the head of the French party, Buckingham of the
Spanish. The Duke, the son of Richard III.'s Buckingham, beheaded
in 1483, was at the head of the English aristocracy, and claimed descent
both from John of Gaunt and also from Thomas of Woodstock, sons
both of Edward III. The Duke had openly sworn to have Wolsey 's
head, if' both survived the King, and Wolsey had sworn (less openly)
to have the head of Buckingham. As Shakespeare makes the Duke
say {Henry VIII., Act I., Scene i) : —

" The net has fall'n upon me ! I shall perish
Under device and practice. . . .
... It will help me nothing
To plead mine innocence."

Wolsey triumphed. On i6th April the Duke was arrested — the very
day of Weston's message to the Cardinal. On 8th May the indictment
was found.^ The jury who found the indictment were the Lord Mayor
(Sir John Brugge) and fourteen others. Amongst them are Boleyn,
Fitzwilliam, William Shelley, Marney, Lovell, Sir J. More, and Sir
Richard Weston.^ Weston is thus one of Henry's creatures in the
judicial assassination of the next most eminent representative of the
royal house ; and the Duke died the death of a traitor, as his father
had done in 1483, as his grandfather had done in 1455, ^^ his great-
grandfather had done in 1460, as his great-uncles in 1464 and 1471,
and his mother's great-grandfather in 1455.

^ Brewer, i. chap. xiii.

2 Calendar of State Papers, iii. 1284, R. O. Rep., iii., App. II. 230; State Trials, i. 287.

3 Every one of these were closely associated with Weston through life. Fitzwilliam built
Cowdray Castle, and More's son built Loseley Hall. Lovell was Sir Richard's colleague in
custody of the wards ; William Shelley was an ancestor of Mary Copley, who married the
sixth owner of Sutton in 1630, and Boleyn's son and daughter were executed together with
Sir Richard Weston's son in 1536.

46 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

The unlucky Duke was executed on ijth May 1521, and it is most
significant that the grant of the manor of Sutton was sealed on that very
day to Sir Richard Weston, one of the jury on the indictment of the
Duke.^ On that day was made the grant in fee simple to Sir Richard
Weston, Knight of the Body, Knight Councillor, etc., of the manor
of Sutton, in Surrey, found by inquisition at Southampton to have been
held by Margaret, Countess of Richmond, on whose death it descended
to the King. For a full account of this grant see note above, chap. ii.
page 28. Was this grant the price of blood ? Who now can say ?
If it were, the sins of the father were visited unto the third and
fourth generation. Exactly sixteen years later, on 17th May 1537,
young Weston was beheaded on the same charge and on the same
spot.

Honours continue to pour in upon Sir Richard. In the next year,
1522, he is made one of the cup-bearers to the King along with Brian,
Jerningham, Lord Herbert, and Lord Roos. In the year following he
is Sheriff for Berkshire. In the same year the bubble of the French
alliance broke down ; and, in spite of Wolsey, the King received the
Emperor with great state. Sir Richard Weston, along with Boleyn,
Fitzwilliam, Kingston, Marney, and the Prior of St. John's, is
ordered to attend the King at Canterbury, 27th May 1522 ;^
and in one of the attendances on the King, Weston received a grant
of ;^ioo.^ On New Year's Day 1522 he receives "twelve pairs of
shoes." *

In 1523 followed the foolish and useless war with France, and
here Sir Richard Weston raised a contingent and served under the
Duke of Suffolk.^ The force consisted of 13,000 or 14,000 men, and a
further foreign contingent of 7000 men. It was the largest army, as
Wolsey said, that had ever left these shores for a hundred years.® It
proved a miserable failure, owing to the incapacity of Brandon and

1 See State Papers, Henry VIIL, iii. 1324, 17, Record Office, S.B. pat., p. 2, m. 18.

2 Ibid. iii. 2288. » Ibid. iii. 2483.
* Ibid. iii. 2585. * Ibid. 3288.

8 Brewer, i. 504 ; ii. i ; Hall, p. 662.

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 47

the petty jealousies of the allied princes. Suffolk sailed in great pomp
in August, and returned crestfallen in December 1523.

Hall relates that "the Duke and his captains came not to the
King's presence in a long season, to their great heaviness and dis-
pleasure. But at the last all things were taken in good part, and they
well received and in great love, favour, and familiarity with the
King.^ "

But though Sir Richard earned no glory in a war ill-planned and
shamefully mismanaged by Brandon, the coarse and stupid commander-
in-chief, the martial honour of the Westons was sustained by his
brother Sir William. He took part in the heroic defence of Rhodes,
June to December 1522, under the immortal type of the true Crusader,
Villiers de Lisle-Adam. A graphic account of this magnificent ex-
ploit, where 300 knights, with about 1000 soldiers and 4000 townsmen,
for six months kept at bay the whole forces of Solyman the Magnificent,
at the height of the Turkish power, may be read in a report in our
State Papers by Sir Nicholas Roberts, one of the survivors.^ Sir
William Weston bore his share in this great struggle, was wounded,
and lived to be appointed by his noble chief the Head of the Order in
England.

In 1525 Sir Richard obtained the important and lucrative appoint-
ment which he long retained. This was evidently the gift of Wolsey ;
for Wolsey asks Henry VHI. to give to Sir R. Weston the office of
the Duchy of Lancaster in lieu of that of Master of the Wards, or his
annuity of ;^ioo per annum (1525). In the Record Office is a Bill
signed by Wolsey appointing Sir R. Weston, Knight of the Body, to
be Treasurer of the Town and Marches of Calais, surrendered by Sir
W. Sandys.^ Sir W. Sandys, who in 1523 was made a peer by
Wolsey,* was subsequently Comptroller of the Household. It was
this Sir W. Sandys who built the Vyne in Hampshire about 1509. He

1 Hall, p. 972 ; in Brewer, ii. 2.

2 Calendar III. 1272; see the story in Brewer, i. 581, and in Porter's History of the
Knights of St. John (ed. 1883, p. 360).

3 Calendar IV. 58. The salary appears to have been £,ii,o per annum.
* Calendar III. 2982.

48 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

was a valiant soldier and a staunch Catholic, the exact contemporary
of Sir R. Weston, dying in 1540, two years before him, and was closely
associated with the knight during his whole career. Compare the
History of the Vyne, by Chaloner W. Chute, late owner of the Vyne,
1888. The arms, badges, and devices of Sandys do not appear at
Sutton, but many of the devices given in Mr. Chute's work may be
seen at Sutton, and the inventory taken at the Vyne, 1541, should
be compared with that of Sutton, 1542, preserved at Loseley (see
Appendix).

This year, 1525, was that of the battle of Pavia, in which Francis I.
was taken prisoner, and in which Sir Thomas Boleyn was created
Viscount Rochford. Henry made peace with France soon after, and
entered into an alliance against the Emperor in the year following.

Sir Richard appears to have resided much in Calais in discharge of
his duties. On various local grounds it seems more probable that the
house was at least partially built in the years between the grant of
the estate, in May 1521, and the appointment of the knight to his
treasurership in Calais, 1525. There is frequent mention of him in the
Chronicles of Calais}

Nor was Sir Richard content with obtaining office for himself
The very next year, 1526, we have an entry that " young Weston " is to
be the King's page.^ From that day the spoiled lad lived mainly at
Court till his worthless young life was cut short on Tower Hill. An
account of him is reserved for the next chapter. And again, in 1527,
we have Sir Richard interceding with Wolsey to promote his brother.
Sir W. Weston, " the Turkopolyer " of the Order, to the office of Prior
of St. John's in England. The letter is dated 12th April 1527, and is
written from Calais. It may be seen in the Record Office.*

As the letter is one of the two which have been traced in the hand-
writing and with the signature of Sir Richard, it is here set forth
verbatim.

1 Camden Society's publications, Chron. of Calais to 1540, edited by J. Gough Nichols,
1846. 2 Calendar IV. p. 86 1.

3 Ibid. No. 3035. A facsimile by Messrs. Griggs and Son faces the next page.

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Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 49

" Pleaseth yo' good grace to be advertyzed That where as I am credebly enfourmed
that my lorde of Sainct John's is veary sore sick, and lyeth at the mercy of God — In cas
God do call hym out of this transytory lyff, I beseche yo"" grace as my singular good
and gracious lorde and refuge in all my peticions and affaires ( through whose goodnes
and medyacion all that I have is proceded and com), That it may please yo' grace the
rather at the contemplacion of this my poore instance and supplycacion to be benimg
and gracious lorde unto my brother Sr Will". Weston, Turkepolyer, in the preferrement,
and promocion of him unto the foresaide lorde of Sainct John's rome ; Reducing unto
your grace's rememberaunce the consyderacion, that by auncyen custume and good
congruence The Turkepolyer hath evermore bene wont to succede the master of Sainct
Johns in his rome. Wherefor eftsones I humbly beseche yo"^ grace to be good and gracious
lorde unto my said brother in the premisses. And I trust yo"" grace shall allways fynde
him in arredynes to do yo' grace as acceptable servyce to his power as ever any other
in that rome hath done. And during his lyff and myn yo"" grace shall bynde us from
much to more, to contynue yo"" grace's servauntes and bedemen. At the toune of Caleys
the xii day of Aprel.

" Yo' most humble serv'

"RYCHARD WESTON."
" Endorsed — To my Lorde Legate's grace."

Whether owing to the importunity of Sir Richard, the influence of
Wolsey, or rather, let us trust, his own fame and character. Sir William
Weston was on 27th June 1527 appointed by the Grand Master Lord
Prior of England. This put him at the head of the titular Roll of the
Barons, made him a member of the Upper House, and gave him rank
as one of the great officers of State. The letter of Sir Richard calls
for little comment. It shows him as the almost menial "bedeman" of
Wolsey. But such language was the ordinary form of all solicitations
in that age. The rhythm of the words almost recalls the collects of
Cranmer in the phrase "through whose goodnes and medyacion all
that I have is proceded and com." The spelling is much superior to
the time, and the language is that of a practised penman. It is probable
that the letter is in the handwriting of the knight, but hardly that
it is his own composition. It is a somewhat fulsome letter to be
addressed to the Cardinal in 1527 by one of Brandon's captains, and
by one who in 1530-36 was in high favour with the Boleyns and
Cromwell. Such was the way of the times !

In this year, 1527, and in the very month in which this letter was

so ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

written ( April), the Records reveal that Henry first stirred with his
advisers the possibility of obtaining a divorce from Catherine. In the
great fireplace of the hall at Sutton, and in that of the panelled
parlour, is still to be seen, in contemporary terra-cotta castings, the
pomegranate, the special badge of Catherine of Aragon.^ Would a
Knight of the King's Chamber, an obsequious follower of Wolsey,
put up in his fireside the personal badge of the Queen at any date later
than April 1527? In the July following Wolsey went to France,
passing by Calais, and he must have there seen the Treasurer.

In the following year we have a second letter of Sir Richard to
Wolsey "written at the Kinges towne of Calays the XXXth day of
October" 1528. The letter is in the Record Office. It is entered in
the Calendar, vol. iv. No. 4887. It is a business letter of no great
importance, and is without any special character or interest.

It begins thus : —

" Pleaseth your grace to be advertyzed that I have receyved by the handes of my
Lorde Chamberlayne, the lettres which it hath pleased your grace to send unto me,
whereby your grace woUeth me to make undylaid payment unto the said Lorde Chamber-
lain Captain of Guysnes."

It ends thus: —

" Wherefore I beseche yo"^ grace that I may be advertyzed of yo' pleasure in the
premisses. And I shall endeavour myself to accomplisshe the same to the best of my
power ; humbly beseching your grace to be good and gracious lorde unto the Kinges
poor servauntes here in this toune, who suffre great necessyte for lacke of payment of
their wages."

The whole letter is an urgent appeal to Wolsey to permit the first
payments made into the Treasury of Calais — the Company of the
Staple being in arrear of their dues — to be paid to the " Kinges poor
servauntes in Calays," of course including Sir Richard Weston himself
He insists that his own salary was payable from the day of his patent.

The Lord Chamberlain mentioned above is Lord Sandys, whom
Weston succeeded at Calais. It will be noted that the spelling, writing,

1 This badge was also placed in his house by Lord Sandys, and is still to be seen there.
— Hist, of the Vyne, C. Chute, p. 135.

SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER

and phraseology of these two letters agree in the main. They are
certainly signed and probably written by Weston. The handwriting
of both letters is the same, and the name Wesion in the first letter
seems to coincide with the signature.

The signature, strangely enough, varies in spelling. The letter of
1527 is signed Rychard Weston. The letter of 1528 is signed
Rychard Weyston, as was the treaty of 15 18. The knight, like every
one in that age, had no settled mode of spelling his own name. In
1532 he again wrote Rychard Weston.

The two letters above are the only pieces of Sir Richard's own
correspondence of any interest now in the Public Records, though
his name occurs in many hundreds of papers. There is nothing
singular in this. Letters of any importance were in those days
instantly destroyed, and private correspondence, as Friedmann tells us
(Preface 6), hardly ever alluded to public affairs.

The better to understand the man we have to deal with, we must
take some note of the momentous change which now began in the
history of England.

PART II.— AFTER THE REFORMATION

It was in July 1528 that Wolsey first received his great rebuff
from Anne Boleyn and his first formal reprimand from the King. In
July 1529 he was practically superseded, and his fall began. In
October following he was deprived of the seals and was a ruined man.
In November 1530 he was arrested, and he died a few weeks later.^
Thomas Cromwell took his place. In this very year Cromwell
became the King's secretary and chief adviser. He actively allies
himself with Anne and her party ; he suggests an attack on the
Churchmen as a means of securing the divorce. In 1531 Catherine
is expelled from the palace; in 1533 Henry VIII. is married to Anne
Boleyn, and the train of events is prepared which brought about the
Reformation.^

Through all these stirring times Sir Richard Weston, as a practi-
cal man, kept on undisturbed the even tenor of his way ; and before
the fall of Wolsey, " through whose goodnes and medyacion all that
he has preceded and came," Sir Richard is high in favour with
Wolsey's successor and Wolsey's enemy, Anne Boleyn, in whose

1 See Friedmann, I. chap. iii. ^ Friedmann, I. chaps, iv., v., vi.

PLi6.

I' i; IV. 1. 1
f- /. I II V I, (; I /,

/, 1 1; 1, (' ••, 1 ,1 /.

CHAP. Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER S3

goodness he appears to have found another mediator, we can suppose
" his singular good and gracious lady and refuge in all his petitions and
affairs." No doubt the stout old knight ( he was now upwards of sixty-
five) said to Wolsey in the words of Cromwell ( Shakespeare's Henry
F///., Act III., Scene 2):—

" O my lord,
Must I, then, leave you ? must I needs forego
So good, so noble and so true a master ?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
The king shall have my service ; but my prayers
For ever and for ever shall be yours."

The King certainly had the old knight's service, and so did the
Queen, and three queens after her. The Treasurer of Calais parted
from Cromwell as easily as he had parted from Wolsey. And the
knight had his reward, and also his retribution. That is to come ;
in the meantime Sir Richard and his house thrive exceedingly.

Three years after his appointment as Treasurer of Calais Sir
Richard was made Under-Treasurer of England — Michaelmas 1528
(20 Henry VIII., Rot. 24, memoranda in the Rolls, sub voc, Sub-
Thesaurarius). This office, though not of great authority or value, was
one that could only be then held by a trusty and devoted servant of
the King, who was ready to execute any order whatever with silent
precision. Gardiner had been made Chief Secretary to the King in
July 1529, and Anne's influence was now paramount. The office of
Under-Treasurer was held by Sir Richard for twelve years more.
He surrendered it at the time of his last illness (he must have been
then about seventy-five), in the thirty-second year of Henry VIII., 1541,
Hilary Term, as is testified by a memorandum in the Record Office,
Rot. 7. It is there stated that he surrendered this office to the King,
and Sir John Baker was appointed in his place, Sir John Baker paying
to Sir Richard ;^ioo a year for his life. Sir Richard withdrew from
office with grace and profit ; ;^ioo was the salary of the Speaker of the
House of Commons, half the salary of the Lord Chancellor, and is
equal, at least, to ;;^I200 of our money.

54 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

All this while the records of the Exchequer are full of the bounties
of the King to "young Weston," who had been made page in 1526.
And it must have been one of the duties of the Under-Treasurer to
pay out or countersign the orders for young Weston's hose and shirts,
and for the monstrous sums which the King suffered him win at " dyce,"
tennis, and " imperiall." But after four years of these high jinks at
Court, the prudent old knight thought it time for the lad to settle.
Accordingly in May 1530 Francis Weston was married to Ann, the
daughter and heiress of Sir Christopher Pickering, the great heiress of
Cumberland, whose wardship the old knight had secured in 1 5 1 9, eleven
years before. The marriage was a splendid alliance, for Ann was one
of the great partis of her age, and brought to the Westons of Sutton
Place undoubted quarterings and indisputable estates. Nor was the
marriage at all unfavourably viewed at Court. The King gave him
as a wedding present £,6 : 1 3 : 4, a sum equivalent to about ^80 to-
day, and one wonders if it was the fashion of those times to send
wedding presents in specie or by cheque. The wedding was hardly
over when " young Weston " continues the same gambling games with
his sovereign, beats him at tennis at 40s. a game (that is £2\ !), and
wins at a sitting at dyce £\(i {i.e. ;^55o!)

Sir Richard, however, as became his years, steadily kept his eye on
the main chance. In the very month in which his son is married. May
1530, he received a new grant of lands, a license to impark more than
1000 acres of land and heath at Merrow and Clandon, the present
Clandon estates of the Onslows, and in 1533 he obtained a renewal
of his patent as Captain, Warder, and Governor of Guernsey, which
he had now held for twenty-four years, since the King's accession, and
it is regranted to Sir Richard and his son in survivorship. The office
was thus made hereditary in the third generation^ {State Papers,
Calendar VI. p. 596, No. 1481),

This last grant was in the full tide of the ascendency of Anne

1 There is in the Record Office a letter of Sir R. Weston to Cromwell, ist September
1532, relating to the seizure of some Guemseymen's goods, to the value of _;^i5oo {Calendar
V. No. 1276).

yi.v/.

■•, (' .\ 1 1, 1'
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Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER St

Boleyn. She was crowned ist June 1533. Francis Weston, now
become, in right of his wife, an illustrious and broad-acred squire, was
made Knight of the Bath at the coronation, and soon became one of
the Queen's personal courtiers and gentleman of her chamber. The
coronation of Anne was received somewhat coldly by the mass of the
English nation, and by all but the party of the Court. But the two
Westons were foremost in testifying their devotion. Within two
months of the coronation Henry made a state visit to Sutton Place.

In two letters preserved at the Record Office we hear of this visit.
On the 4th of August 1533 Lord Sandys, writing " at the Vyn " to Lord
Lisle at Calais says : —

" Concernyng newis here be non wourthe the writing, saving that God be thanckid
the Kinges highnes is in prossperous astate at this present tyme at Sir Richard Westons "
{Calendar VI. No. 936).

And on the 6th of August we have a letter, written and dated from
Sutton by Sir John Russell to Lord Lisle, in which we read : —

" My Lord, newes here ys none but that thankyd be God, the kynges Highnes ys mery
and in good helth and I never saw hym meryer of a great while then he is now. And the
best pastyme in huntyng the redd dere that I have sene. And for chere what at my
lord Marques of Exetours Mr Treasourers and at Mr Weston's, I never saw more dylicates
nor better chere in my lyff. The kyng was myndyd to go to Fernham, and from thens
to Est Hampstede and so to Wyndsour. And now he commyth not ther by cause of the
Sweatt. And he was fayne to remove from Guyldford to Sutton, Mr Weston's howsse,
by cause of the sweatt lykewise. And now within these viii days he commyth from hence
to Wyndsour, and sone after the Quene removyth from thens to Grenewich, wher Her
Grace takith her Chambre." 1

Lord Sandys, the writer of the first of these letters, was Sir Richard's
old colleague, whom he had succeeded as Treasurer at Calais. Sandys
was now Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and one of the com-
missioners and judges by whom Anne was done to death. His place,
the Vyne, in Hampshire, is within a ride of Sutton.^ He was presum-
ably a connection of Weston's wife, nie Anne Sandys.

Lord Lisle, to whom both letters are addressed, was Deputy of
Calais. He was Sir Arthur Plantagenet, one of the official group

1 Calendar VI. No. 948. 2 History, by Chaloner Chute, 1888.

S6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

called to the Upper House by Wolsey, along with Sir William Sandys,
in 1523.

Sir John Russell was afterwards Lord Russell, founder of the ducal
house, and a tried envoy and minister of Henry.

The Treasurer was Sir William Fitzwilliam, a firm friend and
neighbour of Weston's, afterwards known as the Earl of Southampton,
who had recently received the adjacent manor of Pirbright, etc.^
He and Lord Russell were two of Weston's executors. Thus all the
persons mentioned in these letters were closely associated and belong
to the innermost circle of Henry's confidants.

The news, or no news, which Sir John Russell conveys to the
Deputy of Calais was not a little disingenuous. There was indeed
great news at that crisis, and no one knew it better than Sir John.
A few weeks before, the Pope and cardinals in open consistory had
annulled the pretended marriage with Anne, and on the 28th of July
Lord Rochford, her brother, reached the King with the news. The
Court had left London and gone to Hampton Court. The King was
restless and anxious ; the Queen was expecting her confinement, and
she and the King were frantically hoping for a son. Elizabeth was
born at Greenwich, 7th September, whither the King and Queen had
returned on 28th August. When the King was at Sutton, three weeks
previously, things were almost desperate with him, and he was trying
to conceal his anxiety from the expectant mother. His "pastimes in
huntyng the redd deer " were often at this time expedients to meet his
council secretly ; and it is not improbable that the old roof of Sutton
Hall has covered many a gloomy council board and caught the murmur
of whispered plans in one of the great crises of Henry's reign — the
real turning-point in the Reformation. The following year Fisher
and More were committed to the Tower, and the convocation of York
declared that the Pope had no power in England. It is most doubtful

^ Sir William Fitzwilliam had a grant of the manor of Pirbright, 19th December 1520,
a little before the grant of Sutton to Weston, and Sir William died seized of it, 14th October
1542. — Manning and Bray, Surrey, i. 148. He was created Earl of Southampton,
October 1537.

«i SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 57

that Anne, within one month of her expected delivery, on which so
much turned, was then at Sutton with the King. She was carefully
nursed, whilst he travelled about, angry, restless, and violent.

In 1534, the year following, Cromwell sends to Weston a patent
that had been granted to him (Calendar VII. No. 73).

A little later we find him still Steward of Cokeham and Bray. And
in the same year are two memoranda in the voluminous and curious
document known as Cromwell's Remembrancer} In that year Cromwell
was made Master of the Rolls, and Henry was declared, by Act of
Parliament, head of the Church. It must have been a terrible dilemma
to the old knight, the brother of the Lord Prior of St. John's. Did
Cromwell mean by these lists to remind Weston that he owed all to
the King ?

If hint were given at all. Sir Richard acted on it, for he never
swerved from his duty to his sovereign nor lost the favour of those in
power. The tremendous drama unfolds itself with rapid revolutions
year by year. In 1535 Fisher and More are executed. In 1536
Catherine died and Henry fell in love with Jane Seymour. In April,
with Cromwell's assistance, he determines on the destruction of Anne.
Cromwell himself, Lord Sandys, Sir Wm. Fitzwilliam, and others are
amongst the commissioners and judges. On 2nd May Anne is arrested.
Two days later Francis Weston is arrested. On the 1 7th of May he
is executed. Two days later the Queen is executed. On the third
day after Henry marries Jane Seymour, the mother of our most
Protestant sovereign, Edward VI., Defender of the Faith, and founder
of the Established Church of England.

Sir Richard held on to his King, whose passion and lust had just
cut off his only son. There is abundant evidence that the execution
was regarded by himself, by the King, and by others as a melancholy
incident which in no way affected his public position any more than if
his heir had died by any ordinary accident. There is extant, in a

' Calendar VII. No. 923, i. vii. " Item, a paper of the names of the oiBces of Sir
Richard Weston." " Item, a paper of offices and fees granted by the King's Hygnes unto Sir
Richard Weston, knight." Repeated search has failed to discover these lists.

S8 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

fragmentary state, a letter from a trusty agent of Cromwell and Cranmer,
an old friend of Sir Richard's, who says : " I lament extremely the evil
sort of young Wes[ton, because of the] amity which I had with his
father a man of great [ ? favour with ?] the King's Majesty, a prudent
and most gentle Knight" (Edmund Harvell to Thomas Starkey, 15th
June 1536; B.M., Vit, bk. xiv. 228; Calendar XL No. 1142).
This is the only contemporary character of Sir Richard Weston that
we have. Every one, and especially the King and his ministers, were
friendly to the "prudent and most gentle knight." In September of
this year Sir W. Weston writes two letters from Sutton to Cromwell,
remonstrating with him in matters relating to the Priory of St. John's.
In October we have a list of the noblemen and gentlemen to attend
the King's own person. For Surrey there are Sir Richard Weston,
with 150 men at arms, and he and his brother, the Lord of St.
John's, are named to attend the Queen's Grace.^ Queen Anne
brought the son to Tower Hill ; Queen Jane must be served by the
father.

In June of the next year the governorship of Guernsey, etc., had
to be filled up, as a vacancy had been caused by the death of Sir F,
Weston, who had held it since 1533. Accordingly, by patent 26th
June 1537, "the office of Captain, Keeper, and Governor of Guernesey
and the island of Cornet is granted to Sir N. Carewe, K.G., in
reversion from Sir R. Weston, now holding it, in lieu of Sir F. Weston,
attainted and executed."^ About this time Cromwell seems to have
resided at Sutton. On nth July Sir J. Russell, writing apparently by
the King's order from Guildford to Cromwell, says, as he, Cromwell,
has a servant ill of the plague, the King suggests that not to frighten
the Queen, then with child (Edward VI.), Cromwell might lie at Mr.
Weston's, Mr. Browne's, the Lord Marquis's, or other good fellows'
houses and meet the King by day.^ Cromwell evidently chose Sutton
and went there. We hear of him there on 17th July and on 26th
August.^

1 Calendar XL No. 579. ^ Calendar XII. pt. ii. 191 (46).

s Ibid. pt. ii. No. 242. * Ibid, pt ii. Nos. 267, 583.

rr
( -

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 59

At the splendid pageant of the christening of the young Prince, who
became Edward VI., 15th October 1537, a scene preserved to us by
Holbein, we find Sir Richard Weston present as usual.^ And when a
few weeks later Queen Jane Seymour is buried (12th November), we
have him there at the pompous funeral.^ Births, marriages, and deaths
come all alike to the veteran courtier.

Jane Seymour died in October 1537. The Six Acts were passed
in 1539; in 1536 the Lesser Monasteries were suppressed; in 1539
the Greater Monasteries. In 1540 Henry married Anne of Cleves,
repudiated her, had Cromwell executed, and married Catherine Howard.

The year 1540 was one of importance for Sir Richard Weston. He
was of great age, and had served the King more than thirty years. At
the marriage of Anne of Cleves, in January 1540, Sir Richard, who had
figured in the pageants of three queens already, was sent to meet the
fourth queen on her landing in England. He is there with Sir Walter
Dennys, his own son-in-law, and Sir T. Arundell, whose daughter
married Sir Richard's grandson. The odious marriage enraged Henry
against Cromwell, its adviser; and in July the great contriver of the
Reformation, Thomas Cromwell, now Earl of Essex, lost his King's
favour and his own head.

But the fall of Cromwell no more shook the credit of Sir Richard
than did that of Wolsey. In the very year of it the old knight is
appointed Master of the New Court of Wards.* It was a new office
created by 32 Henry VIII,, c. 46 ; enlarged by 33 Henry VIII., c. 22 ;
and abolished by the Long Parliament, confirmed at the Restoration

1 Calendar XII. pt. ii. No. 911 (ii.) - Ibid. pt. ii. No. 1060.

3 Appended to Ley's Reports, folio 1659, by Sir James Ley, afterwards Earl of Marl-
borough, is a Treatise concerning Wards and Liveries. "The Master of the Wards," runs
the patent, " shall dispose of all our wards, idiots, lunatics, and their lands, tenements, and
hereditaments." There had always been an officer to deal with the estates of tenants in capite
dying with heirs under age as Master of the Wards. Sir Richard Weston had held this office
since 1519. But after twenty years it was found necessary to create a Court of Wards, in
which, under statute, were consolidated the equitable authority and powers of the Crown over
all estates where the legal owners were under any incapacity. Such an office was practically
that of Chancellor, and must have opened unlimited opportunities for jobbery and malversa-
tion to unscrupulous men.

6o ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

by 12 Car. II., c. 24. And it was natural that Sir Richard Weston, who
in 1 5 19 had been appointed with Sir Thomas Lovell Master of the
King's Wards, and in 1520 had been named with Sir E. Belknap to
be surveyor, governor, and seller of wards and their possessions, should
now be appointed Master of the New Court.

He seems to have held office until his death. But a new
disaster was on him. The Greater Monasteries were suppressed in
1539; but the illustrious Order of St. John still remained at its
house in Clerkenwell. The old prior, Sir William Weston, who
had been relieved of his duties through the infirmity of old age
four years before, died on Ascension Day, 7th May 1540, the very
day of the Dissolution of the Order in England. He was treated by
the King with great honour, for he received a pension of ;^iooo a
year.^

This month of May seems strangely big with weal and woe to the
house of Weston. The first batch of offices and honours fell to Sir
Richard 21st May 1809. On the 17th of May 1520 Sir Richard
Weston has the grant of Sutton, the very day of the execution of
Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. In May 1530 he had a grant of
Merrow and Clandon, and in May of that year, too, his only son is
married to a great heiress. In May 1533 Sir Francis is made Knight
of the Bath. On the 17th of May 1536 that son is beheaded as a
traitor on the very day of the same month as the Duke in the same
place. And now in May 1540 the Order of St. John, of which Sir
William Weston is the English head, is suppressed, and he himself
dies of grief on the same day.

Within two years Sir Richard had to follow his noble brother. In
1 541 Sir Richard's infirmities compel him to surrender to Sir John
Baker his office of Under-Treasurer of England,^ 20th January 1541-
42. It is remembered before Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, that Sir R.
Weston, Sub-Treasurer of England, ob senectutem debilitatam et con-

1 An enormous sum, five times the salary of the Lord Chancellor, perhaps equivalent to
;£i2,ooo. The entire revenue of the house at the Dissolution was only ^282.

2 Record Office, 32 Henr>- VIII., Rot. 7-

HI SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 6i

tinuavt infirmitatem, resigns his office with a pension of ;^ic>o a
year, payable to him by Sir John.'

In the year following his long and busy life was over. He died
7th August 1542, it would appear about the age of seventy-five. His
will was proved in November of that year, and in the Inquisitiones Post
Mortem (34 Henry VHI.) he was found to hold lands in Somerset, in
Surrey, in Hampshire, in Dorset, and in Berkshire.

He was buried in the family vault in the Parish Church of the
Trinity in Guildford, in the chapel which he built for the purpose ; but
all traces of his burial and his tomb have perished in the destruction
and rebuilding of the church. By his will, made the i6th day of May
1 54 1 (always the month of May is an epoch in the Weston calendar),
he describes himself as Sir Richard Weston of Sutton, in the County
of Surrey, Knight. The will and the inventory made by his executors
may be read in the Appendix (Apps. III., IV.) He appoints as his
executors " my Lorde Pryve Seale," that is, Lord Southampton, formerly
Sir W. Fitzwilliam, his old colleague, and the builder of Cowdray
Castle, " my Lorde Admirall, Lorde Russell," i.e. Sir John Russell,
the founder of the ducal house, his wife Anne, and Sir Christopher
More, Knight, the founder of the house of Loseley, to be overseer,
with legacies of ;^20 to each of those named.

Sir Richard dies as a good Catholic," He bequeaths " his soul to
Almighty God and to his blessed mother our Lady Saint Mary and to
all the holy company of Heaven ; " and he wills that " there may be
said immediately after his decease fifteen trentals of masses for his soul
and his father's soul and his mother's soul." He bequeaths to Lady
Kingston "the Pownse Cupp with the cover which Mr. Wyngfield gave
me."^ Lady Kingston was the widow of Sir W. Kingston, the Con-

1 Hilary Term, 32 Henrj' VIII., R. O. Memoranda Roll, Recorda, L. Treasurer Remiss.,
L.T.R. Sir Richard's style in Latin runs thus — " Miles pro corpore, Magister Wardorum,
Thesaurarius Calisise, et Sub-Thesaurarius Anglije."

2 Lady Weston, the widow, seems to have been in 1 542 and 1 543 an adherent of the Princess
Mary. — Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary, by Sir Harris Nicolas, pp. 33, 34, no.

' Pounce cup was a cup with holes to sprinkle pounded sugar, said to come from pumex,
pumice, quasi spumex, pouncet box, box with holes for scent.

62 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

stable of the Tower, who had been the jailor of Anne Boleyn and
of Francis Weston. It was, as we now know, solely through the
report made by Kingston to Cromwell that young Weston had been
implicated. No doubt both kept their own counsel, and the
father never knew the whole story. Sir W. Kingston and Sir
R. Wingfield were two of the four "sad and ancient Knights" who
entered the King's Privy Chamber in 15 19 along with Weston and
Jerningham.

The will of Sir Richard is short and simple. He bequeaths
to Anne, his wife, all his lands for life, and then to Henry Weston,
his grandson, the only child of Sir Francis (then aged six years),
in default of which the lands were to go to the sons of his
daughters, Lady Dennys and Lady Rogers. To his wife he
bequeaths his personal goods, furniture, and household stuff for her
life, and then to Henry Weston. And after some gifts to servants,
he gives the residue of his estate to Anne, his wife, to dispose of " for
the health of our souls and our friends' souls and of all Christian
souls." Truly the venerable knight made a pious end of his
life. If there were no recording angel, he was indeed an honourable
man.

The will was proved 22nd November 1542, A.D. MD "quadra-
gesimo secundo. " For the proof of the will an inventory was prepared
which remained in the archives of Loseley Hall until it was recently
presented by the late Mr. More-Molyneux to F. H. Salvin, the owner
of Sutton Place. It is set forth in the Appendix (IV.), and will be
described when we are speaking of the house (chap, viii.) The
executors deposited with Sir W. Gresham as banker the sum of
;^363 : 5s. in specie and gold chain. " The cheyne of fyne gold
with a cross, " weighing 68 ounces, was valued at ;i^io7 : 6s. This
must have been a grand jewel, as it would now amount to ;i^i28o
alone.

The inventory gives a list of furniture, stores, and goods suitable
for a house of the kind, tapestries for the great hall, "and a grete
carpet to the table there ; " "a gret carpet in the parlour agreable to

'miii'^'^£-rs

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Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 6j

the table there : a turkey carpet in the wadrobe : a grete carpete to lay-
under the kyngs fete : also xxv carpetts for wyndows in sundry
chambers (no doubt carpets for the oriels), besyds the seyd xxv
carpetts iii verder peces to lay in wyndows. " This profuse use of
carpets was unusual luxury in 1530. Verdures were tapestries of
scenery.

There is the priest's chamber, and the fool's chamber, and the lads
of the kitchen, Sir John Rogers's chamber (his son-in-law), a chapel,
and chapel stuff. In the armoury are 102 pairs of harness, 102 sallats ^
and gorgeats,^ 88 paire of " spleatts, " ' 38 bows, and 54 sheaves of
arrows with their cases, 25 bills and i battle-axe, and a pavilion (tent)
and a hall. Of plate there are 2 gilt basons and ewers, 2 white silver
basons and 2 ewers parcel gilt, 8 silver pots and 4 silver flagons, 18
chased goblets, 4 standing cups and 7 cruises, 6 dishes of silver, 24
trencher plates of silver, " 1 8 silver spoons of the apostles upon the
knobs." Let us trust these were real " antique " and not made up at
Birmingham or Antwerp. There are also 8 silver spoons of another
sort, a chafing bason, and chafing dish, etc. In all, the plate is priced
at ^164 : 2 : 6 = about ;^2000. There are 400 sheep, 100 beasts, and
60 horses. It must have been a stately mansion, well stocked and
mounted.

So Sir Richard Weston was gathered to his fathers, and little
Henry Weston, his grandson, became his heir and successor.

Lady Weston, his wife, survived him at least a few years, though
she must have been of venerable age. A Mrs. Weston, most probably
the same, had been a lady in the service of Queen Elizabeth of York
in 1502; and in 15 10, thirty-two years before, she was gentlewoman
to the Queen, Catherine of Aragon, was the wife of Sir Richard, and
guardian of a young ward. Her family of Sandys or Sands was a

1 Sallats or sellats were helmets, engraved or chased, said to come from ccelata, chased.
So Shakespeare — " But for a sallet, my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown bill." —
2 Henry VI., Act IV., Scene lo.

2 Pieces for the throat.

* " Spleats " = sflents were little plates which protected the arm, garde de bras. Palsgrave
(Halliwell, Diet, of Archaic Words, ii. 786).

64 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

branch of the family of Rotenby, St. Bees, in Cumberland, whence her
father, William Sandys, came. Her brother was Oliver Sandys of Shere,
in Dorking, and she was doubtless of the family of William, Lord
Sandys.' She proved the will of Sir Richard, and possibly had much
to do with the bringing up of the young heir of Sutton Place, then a
boy of seven or eight. She seems to have attached herself to the
party of Mary and her Catholic friends. We have frequent notices of
her in the Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary, ed. Sir H;
Nicolas.''

During the years from 1537 until 1544 money is entered for
the servants of Lady Weston for bringing presents of pudding
and artichokes for the Princess Mary when at Guildford ; and
again we have her sending to the Princess " Peacocks, herons,
and swete baggs " (sachets). Mary was born in 15 16, and Lady
Weston may have been gentlewoman to the Queen Catherine at her
birth.

Besides the only son, Francis, Sir Richard and Lady Weston had
two daughters.

Margaret, the wife of Sir Walter Dennys, the eldest son of Sir
William Dennys, of Dyrham, County Gloucester, by Anne, daughter
and co-heiress of Maurice, Lord Berkeley. There is in the painted
glass in the hall (lower north bay, No. 7) an emblem or rebus for
her — a Marguerite growing out of a tun ; and in the lower south
west window ( No. X. 3) is a magnificent coat of arms of Sir Walter
Dennys, quartering the coat of Berkeley in right of his mother.
She afterwards married Richard Stafferton.

The second daughter, Katherine, named, of course, after the Queen
( her mother being Lady of the Chamber), was married to Sir John
Rogers, son of Sir John Rogers of Brianston, Dorset ( see Hutchins's
Dorset, i. 250, 3rd ed., 1861). One of the rooms at Sutton was called
in the inventory "Sir John Rogers's room." In the time of James L
the Herald's Visitation for Surrey records as being in the hall the

^ Manning and Bray, ii. 671. ^ Pp.' 33, 34, no.

Ill

SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER

arms of Rogers ; but they are no longer visible.^ Both Lady Dennys
and Lady Rogers had sons named Richard, after their grandfather.
They are mentioned in the old knight's will on failure of heirs of Sir
Henry Weston.

' On the tomb of Sir John Rogers of Brianston the arms are given thus — i and 4, Argent
on a chief or, a fleur-de-lys gules, in base a mullet, pierced sable. 2 and 3, Argent, fretty
sable, a chief ^«/«.

Sir Richard Rogers, grandson of Sir Richard Weston, married Cecilia Lutterel, and
died 1604. Their grandchild, Elizabeth Rogers, in the fifth generation, married Charles
Stuart, sixth Duke of Lennox and third Duke of Richmond. He died September 1672. —
Burke, Dormant Peerages, p. 513.

'iiiipiiiiiiiiiiBiiiiimHiiffiiiiiiiaiiiBiiiiiiiai*!

PART III.— WESTONS, KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN

As the Lord Prior of St. John's Order in England, Sir William
Weston, the brother of Sir Richard, was so closely associated with him
throughout life, some account must here be given of the Westons of
St. John.

The Westons had a long connection with the martial order, whose
true style is — The Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem, commonly called the Knights of Malta, after their establish-
ment there in the year 1530, or the Knights of Rhodes, down to the
capture of the island by the Turks in 1522.^

The illustrious Order of St. John, founded in 11 18, never shone so
nobly as during the sixteenth century, when they, almost unaided,
maintained the honour of Christendom against the Turks. They were
established at Rhodes in 1 3 1 1 ; and on the loss of that island they
were settled by the Emperor Charles V. at Malta, which they held
down to the present century. They had various houses in England,

1 There are various histories of this order by Sutherland and others, one of the more
recent being that by Major-General W. Porter, revised edition, 1883. It contains lists of
the priors, and a full account of the glorious defence of Rhodes. Other information has been
supplied from the Records of the Order by Mr. E. Waterton, in a paper communicated to F.
H. Salvia, Esq.

VlK.

/ 1 1: (, !■■•, I.I /.

CHAP. Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 67

of which that of St. John's at Clerkenwell was the centre. The Order
was governed by a Grand Master, who usually resided at Rhodes, or
afterwards at Malta. The head of the English branch was called
Lord Prior of St. John's in England, and his headquarters were at
the house in Clerkenwell, suppressed at the Reformation in 1540, re-
mains of which existed until our own day. The Lord Prior of St. John's
was entered as first of the lay barons in the Roll of Peers, coming
next after viscounts. Selden, in his Table Talk, says — " The Prior of
St. John's was primus Baro Anglice, because, being last of the spiritual
barons, he chose to be the first of the temporal. He was a kind of
otter, a knight half spiritual, half temporal."

Not to speak of a certain William Weston who, as Knight of the
Order, witnessed two charters in 1280 and 1281, or of a Thomas Weston
who was made Commander of the Commanderies of Dingley and of
Copmanthorpe in 1420 and 1422, we have two uncles of Sir Richard and
Sir William Weston mentioned as knights in the fifteenth century.
Sir William Weston, the elder, was brother of Sir John Weston, the
prior, and was Knight of the Order in 1471.

His brother. Sir John Weston, was the son of Peter Weston of
Boston, in Lincolnshire, by Agnes, daughter of John Daunay of Eskrigg,
County York, and she was a sister of Sir William Daunay, the Turko-
polier of the Order, an official usually regarded as lieutenant, and
second to the Grand Master. Peter Weston was grandfather of Sir
Richard, who thus had four Knights of St. John amongst his near
relations — viz. three uncles and a brother, his brother and one uncle
being Lords Prior, and two of his uncles Turkopoliers of the Order.

Sir John Weston, the uncle, was at one time General of the Galleys
of the Order, and was Turkopolier in 147 1 ; and in 1476 (24th July), by
a Bull of the Grand Master, Peter d'Aubusson, dated from Rhodes, Sir
John Weston, Turkopolier and Commander of Balsal and Newland,
was appointed Lord Prior in England.

It was the custom of the first Tudors often to employ the Lord
Prior of St. John's on embassies ; and as we have already seen
above (p. 36), he was named as Commissioner on Embassies to the King

6i ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

of Scotland in i486, and to the King of Spain in 1488. He died in
1489, having lived to see his elder brother, Edmund, Governor of
Guernsey, and Edmund's sons, afterwards Sir Richard and Sir
William, young men of promise and ambition.

The third Weston, Knight of St. John, of this particular house, was
Sir William Weston, the brother of Sir Richard. He was the second son
of Edmund Weston of Boston, of which we have spoken above (p. 35).
On 27th September 15 10 certain rights of andennei^ were granted to
him in Rhodes. The knight was then about forty ; his brother Richard
was already high in favour at Court, and Governor of Guernsey, as
their father Edmund had been. Sir William is summoned to a chapter
at Rhodes in June 1515. (Sir Richard, the brother, was then Knight
of the Bath, and attending Mary Tudor on her marriage to the King
of France.) He was appointed Turkopolier, apparently before the
great siege of Rhodes (July to December 1522). At this he distinguished
himself greatly, was wounded, and for his services he received the next
year special honours. In July 1523 a Bull from Baiae, near Naples,
granted to Sir William Weston, Turkopolier, with the universal consent
of the English knights, right of ancienneU and succession to the priories
of England and Ireland. The defence of Rhodes against Solyman
is one of the most glorious and moving episodes in modern history, as
Villiers de Lisle- Adam, the Grand Master, who conducted it, was one
of the most perfect types of the hero — in courage, piety, endurance, and
dignity of nature fit to stand beside even Godfrey de Bouillon. To
have earned the trust of such a man was the glory of a life.

On 27th June 1527 a Bull of the Grand Master, Villiers de Lisle-
Adam, from Corneto, appoints Sir William Lord Prior of England, and
three days later Sir William notifies his appointment to the King.
He shortly after returned to England and took his seat in the House
of Lords as Premier Lay Baron. In 1532 it seems that, as Prior of St.
John's, he exchanged the Manor of Hampton Court for the Priory of
Stanesgate, in Essex {Calendar V. No. 627, xviii.) He spells badly,
and like a German, for joint patentee becomes jund pattend {Calendar
V. No. 417).

Ill SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER 69

There is evidence that the Lord Prior did not belong to the party
of Thomas Cromwell and the Boleyns. He was not employed by Henry
VIII. On the contrary, there is every evidence that he opposed the
Reformation and the anti-papal policy of Henry, and held by the
claims of Mary Tudor. Morette, the ambassador of Francis I. in
England, then actively opposing the party of Anne, "gave a great
dinner party, at which the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, Sir William
Weston, Prior of St. John's, Lord Abergavenny, and other influential
adherents of the papacy were present. Palamede Gontier told them
of the auto da fd at Paris lately, when Francis himself with his sons
had marched in the procession and had watched the torturing and
burning of a good number of Protestants. The English lords were
delighted to hear of this, and praised Francis for what he had done."^

Sir William Weston was apparently in opposition, and soon with-
drew from public life. The Calendars contain a few letters from him
to Lord Lisle, Cromwell, etc., and various references. From the
Journals of the House of Lords, vol. i. 103, the name of the Prior of
St. John of Jerusalem appears regularly as a daily attendant at Parlia-
ment in the 25 Henry VIII., 1533. He comes next after Viscount
Lisle, the junior viscount, and above Lord Burgavenny, the senior
baron, ancestor of the Marquis of Abergavenny. The Lord Prior
also appears as a regular attendant in the Parliament of 28 Henry VIII.,
1536. He does not appear in the Parliament of 31 Henry VIII., 1539,
although the abbots of the great monasteries do ; and his name
never occurs again in the Roll of Parliament. We have a letter of the
Prior, written in French, 7th September 1537, from Sutton, superscribed
" to me neve Sir Thomas Dyngle." This is his nephew. Sir T. Dingley,
a Catholic martyr, who was executed for denying the supremacy in 1539.
In the year 1539 Sir William Weston, continuis devexatus infirmitatibus,
appoints Lord Latymer and Lord Windsor as his proctors.

The old knight was borne down by illness and yet more by grief.

On 7th May 1 540 his Order was dissolved in England. By the

1 Friedmann, ii. 54, citing a despatch of Gontier himself. See the despatch abstracted.
Calendar IX. (1535), No. 174, Gontier to Chabot, where the name is spelt Ovaston.

70 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Act of Dissolution he was secured a pension of ;^iooo a year. " But,"
says Weever, " he never received a penny of it ; for it so fortuned that
upon the seventh day of May 1540, being Ascension Day, and the
same day of the Dissolution of the House, he was dissolved by death,
which strooke him to the heart at the first time when he heard of the
Dissolution of the Order." ^ And Fuller quaintly remarks, "His
Hospital and earthly tabernacle were buried together, and gold, though
a great cordial, could not cure a broken heart." ^

The venerable knight was buried with great state and laid in a
noble tomb in the Church of St. James, at Clerkenwell. An account
of this tomb, now destroyed, may be seen in the History of Clerkenwell,
by W. I. Pinks, London, 8vo. 1865; new edition by Edward J.
Wood, London, 1881, from which the following notes are taken.

The Priory of the Knights of St. John was retained by Henry
VHL in his own hand, and was preserved from destruction by being
used as a royal store. The church was destroyed by the Protector
Somerset. In the reign of James \. what remained of the priory
became private property. It was destroyed in the last century (1788).
John Weever, who was buried in the church, describes the monument
of Weston as he saw it about 1640. " In the North wall of the Chancel
is a fair marble tomb, with the portraiture of a dead man lying upon
his shroud, the most artificially cut in stone that ever man beheld." *
Above it was a canopy with escutcheons, arms, and crests, and above
the recumbent figure, apparently, were two kneeling figures and the
objects of their adoration. In the centre of the canopy was the achieve-
ment of the Lord Prior in stone, above which, on a helmet, is the
Saracen's head, affrontd or full-faced, wreathed argent and azure.
The arms are the same as those of Sir Richard at Sutton, quarterly,
Weston and Camell, with the Cross of St. John in chief. Underneath
is the motto, which seems to read ANY BORO.

When the old church was removed in 1788 this noble monument
was destroyed. The skeleton measured exactly 5 feet 1 1 inches, and

1 J. Weever, Funeral Monuments, 1631, p. 430. 2 Fuller, Memoirs, folio, p. 574.

3 Weever, Funeral Monuments, p. 430.

Ill

SIR RICHARD WESTON THE ELDER

Pennant, in 1793, saw fragments of it in the garden. The effigy
remained in the church, and was afterwards removed to the gatehouse.
That is the last remnant of a gallant man.

Sir William was a great seaman as well as soldier, and commanded
the first ironclad recorded in history. She was called the Great
Carrack. She was sheathed with metal and perfectly cannon-proof
She had room for 500 men and provisions for six months. A picture
of this famous ship is in the Royal Collections at Windsor.

CHAPTER IV

SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR

_,. T-4.'^ai g; , The only son of Sir Richard Weston, the founder of
Sutton, must have been a boy when his father received
his grant of the manor and built the house. He entered
the King's service as page in his teens, was a spoiled
favourite, first of Henry, and then of Anne Boleyn, and
was suddenly beheaded about his twenty-fifth year in the
lifetime of his father. It does not appear in what year
precisely he was born ; but he did not obtain livery of the
lands to which he was entitled in right of his wife until
24th June 1532,^ although he was married to her in 1530.
It is highly probable that this gives the date of his
majority, as his father would certainly have secured him
in possession of the vast estates he had obtained by mar-
riage at the earliest possible moment.

Again, in 1533, Sir Richard procured the grant of
the office of Governor of Guernsey in survivorship to

1 Calendar, Henry VIII., v. Na 1207 (4),

Pl.21.

V i; I V, M

(• M I I (• K I,' I /

/. 1 1,

( ■■, I.I /.

CHAP. IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 73

himself and his son Fra^cis.^ In the same year Anne Boleyn was
married, and Francis Weston was created Knight of the Bath during
the ceremonies, 31st May 1533. It is hardly conceivable that such
an office as the governorship of Guernsey, or such an honour as the
knightship of the Bath, could have been conferred on a youth still
under age ; and it is almost as unlikely that, in his position, livery of
the lands of his wife should have been withheld from him after he was
of age.

The only circumstances on the other side are, first, his name Francis,
and his being treated as a child, found in clothes, and mentioned with
Patch, the Fool, down to his marriage, and always spoken of as "young
Weston." Francis is a name that never occurs in the Weston pedigree
either before or since ; ^ it is not the name of any royal or eminent
Englishman of that age, and until 15 15, we may say, was a most
uncommon name in England.^ Francis, Duke of Angouleme, and heir-
presumptive under Louis XII., did not come to the French throne until
1st January 1515. After that date there was every reason why a
courtier of Henry VIII. who attended the marriage of Mary Tudor to
Louis XII. and followed his king to the Field of the Cloth of Gold
should have named his son after the French king. But before ist
January 1515 it was a most uncourtierlike thing to do. But it must
be remembered that the Westons were a family with wide foreign con-
nections. In 1502 Richard Weston is paid ^^4 : los, for " gyrdelles "
"brought for the Queen beyond the sea," and in 15 10 he had license
to freight a ship to trade through the straits of " Marrok." Francis was
a name common enough in Italy and France. However, if Francis
Weston were not born until 151 5, he must have been married at fifteen,
and made governor and knight at eighteen, and executed at twenty-one.

The more probable view is that he was born in 151 1, and named
Francis after the Duke or some other foreign prince. His father was
then about forty-five, was high in favour, had served in Spain, and held

1 Calendar V. No. 1481, p. 596.

2 The present owner of the house is Francis H. Salvin.

^ Miss Yonge, Christian Names (Francis), vol. ii. p. 198.
L

74 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

several offices. Even then Francis Weston would be a most pre-
cocious youth ; but the dates of his career are intelligible enough. He
was brought to Court and made page {cetat. fifteen). He beats the
King at tennis, playing for heavy stakes {(stat. nineteen). He could
hardly have beaten Henry, who was so great a tennis player, until
about that age, and had he been some years older, an ambitious courtier
would hardly have been so ill-advised as to beat his king at all. The
spoiled lad is married {cetat. nineteen) ; comes of age, and is made
Knight of the Bath {atat. twenty-one) ; is made Governor of Guernsey
and Gentleman of the Queen's Chamber {(ztat. twenty-two) ; his only
son is born {cetat. twenty-four) ; he is executed for high treason {cetat.
twenty-five). Truly a brief, rapid, and brilliant career, even in those
days.

The name of Francis Weston first occurs in 1526, when the Records
inform us that "young Weston" was appointed to be the King's page.^
In the Chronicles of Calais'^ and the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry
VIII. ^ we have constant mention of young Weston as a spoiled
minion of the King and reckless gambler. In May 1530 {cetat. nineteen)
3s. are paid for Master Weston's shirts, 15s. for three pair of hosen,
20s., "the King's reward at Easter" (equivalent say to £\2). Then
we have £(i paid to Lord Rochford for Weston for four games of
tennis which he won of the King at 4 angels apiece. This is high
play, £']2 for four games.

In May 1530 the sum of ;^6 : 13 : 4 is paid to Master Weston at his
marriage.* In the same year is an entry for "hose for Master Weston,
Mark, and Patche, the King's fool." Mark, of course, is Mark Smeaton,
Anne Boleyn's musician, who was executed along with Weston and the
rest. In 183 1 the King's "reward" has risen to ;^2=;^24, for the
minion is now a married man and has a wife to keep, and is not let into
possession of her estates. The King loses £\ to Weston at tennis at
40s. a game; he loses £\: los. to Weston at Eltham at bowls at 4

1 Calendar IV. p. 86 1. ^ Chronicles of Calais, edited by J. Gough Nichols.

3 Privy Purse Expenses, edited by Sir Harris Nicolas.

* Calendar V. pp. 750, 757, 759.

PlE2

1. 1 1', t. !■ ••, IJ /. ;•

IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 75

angels the game. The King lends "young Weston" jC^o; that is
^240. He pays him £/^6 ( =;i^55o), " for that he wonne of the King
at Dyce at Langley, C C (200) corons " (crowns), and soon after
;^6 : 3s. ( = ^75), "wonne of the King at Imperiall." In 1532
_;^46 : I : 4 ( = £460) is paid to Master Weston, " wyune of the King at
Dyce at Calys"; again _;^ 18 were lost by the King to Weston "at
popes July's game"; then ^3 at the same; then 50 crowns (;^ 150)
are lost at cards and dyce to Bryan and Weston ; 4s. is paid to a
servant "who brings brawn and pudding from Lady Weston (his
mother) to the King"; and 4s. for a present of wild fowl. "Tips"
and "vails" were in those days substantial things. Fifty shillings "to
drink y' honour's health " to the footman who brings a parcel of brawn
and pudding is a truly xoyaS. pourboire. In 1532 "young Weston's"
reward against Christmas has risen to ;^5 ( = ;^6o) ; Henry did things
handsomely, even if he did cut off heads.^

But young Weston is now of age ; and in 1532 ^ he is appointed as
Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, the office with which his father began
his career, twenty years before, and he is ordered to serve six weeks in
the Privy Chamber along with Sir N. Carew, Sir John Russell, Browne,
Page, Bryan, and Knevitt. These men, who live on the canvas or
cartoons of Holbein, are all members of the innermost circle of Henry's
favourites. Browne is the half-brother and successor of Fitzwilliam,
Earl of Southampton. Sir Nicholas Carew was a constant agent of
Henry, a Knight of the Garter, and one of Anne Boleyn's enemies.
Sir John Russell, afterwards Lord Russell, was one of Sir Richard
Weston's executors. Sir Richard Page was arrested with Francis

1 Among various entries in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII. from ij2g-j2,
edited by Sir Harris Nicolas (1527), are the following — " Hose for Weston, 15s.," p. 15;
" £6 at Tennis," p. 37 ; " 20s. reward at Easter," p. 37 ; " reward for keeping a young hound,
1 5s." (no doubt at Sutton Place), p. 50. " A servant for bringing two bucks, 6s. 8d." ; in
1532 "the Kyng lost at Pope Julius game to my lady marques, master Bryan, and Master
Weston, £9:6: 8." Again at Greenwich, the same game and same players, £i& : 12 : z^;
again, the same game and same players without Bryan, ;^3 : 12 : 8. The "lady marques"
here is obviously Anne Boleyn, created in 1532 Marchioness of Pembroke. Weston, a lad
barely of age, is one of the royal minions at the intimate parties of play.

2 Calendar V. No. 927.

76 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Weston in 1536, but allowed to escape. Sir Francis Bryan was a
frequent envoy of Henry ; he was cousin of Anne Boleyn, and brought
news of her condemnation to Jane Seymour. Gardiner called Bryan
" the vicar of Hell." ^ The gentlemen of the King's Privy Chamber in
1532 were not burdened with scruples or indifferent to promotion.

Henry had privately married Anne Boleyn on 25th January 1533,
and in April he publicly appeared with her as his wife. The
coronation in Westminster Abbey took place on ist June following ; on
31st May she went in state from the Tower to Westminster, according
to the custom at coronations down to James H. On that day Francis
Weston was made Knight of the Bath, and his name and arms are
enrolled accordingly in the MS. already cited as in the British Museum
(Claudius cm. XIV. E.)

At the coronation of Anne, says the historian,^ " The people
remained silent. There was none of the enthusiasm with which in all
ages Englishmen have greeted a popular queen." It was not easy to
find her an adequate escort. So it appears that the young Court
favourite, now just twenty-two, was promoted to be Knight of the
Bath. "Among the friends of Anne there was a young courtier
named Sir Francis Weston, the son of Richard Weston, Under-
Treasurer of the Exchequer. He had first been a royal page, but had
risen to the rank of Groom of the Privy Chamber, and was now one of
the gentlemen of it. For the last eighteen years, by reason of his
office, he had resided constantly at Court, and he had obtained a good
many grants and pensions.^ In Maj?^ 1530 he had married Ann, the
daughter and heiress of Sir Christopher Pickering, and having thus
become a man of considerable property, he was created at the coronation
of Anne a Knight of the Bath." *

An account of the family of Pickering of Westmorland and
Cumberland proves that the heiress was of ancient race and large

1 Friedmann, ii. 185, 302-9. ^ /j/^ ; 205.

8 This is a slip of the very accurate Mr. Friedmann. Francis Weston had been seven
years only at Court, 1526-33 ((?/(i^. fifteen to twenty-two); he does not seem to have had
any pension but his salary. He is apparently confused with his father.

* Friedmann, ii. 248.

Pl.25.

' / I I I ' I I I '

1. 1 r, >, (■ •■. 1 .1 /. ;■

IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 77

possessions.^ The estate of Killington, in Kirby Kendal, had been
granted to William de Pickering, 44 Henry III. (1259). His de-
scendant, Sir James Pickering, married the heiress of Moresby,
Cumberland. Sir James's son. Sir Christopher Pickering, had an
only daughter, Ann, who ultimately inherited the Pickering and
Moresby estates. She was made the ward of Sir Richard Weston on
the death of her father, Sir Christopher, in 1519 ; and eleven years later
she was married by her judicious guardian to his son, Francis, then
apparently about nineteen. She brought into his family shield the
quarterings of Pickering, Threlkeld, Lassels of Eskrigg, Moresby,
Fenwick, Tyliol, Longuevilliers, Etton, and Lewkenor.^

Their son (and only child), afterwards Sir Henry Weston, was
born in 1535. The next year Ann was a widow. She then married
Sir Henry Knyvett of East Horsley, Surrey ; and her third husband
(for heiresses then never remained long single) was John Vaughan,
whom she outlived. She died in 1582, fifty-two years after her first
marriage, and nearly fifty years after the great tragedy of her life. She
is not mentioned in Sir Richard's will, as she was then Lady Knyvett.
By her will she directed that her body should be buried, not near that
of any of her three husbands, but beside that of her father-in-law. Sir
Richard Weston, who had been laid in Trinity Church, Guildford, just
forty years before.*

History knows nothing more serious of Sir Francis Weston than
his gambling escapades and tennis-playing until the great tragedy in
which he had a brief, humble, but cruel share. This is not the place
wherein to tell again the oft-told tale of the judicial murder of Anne
Boleyn. It has lately been restudied and written afresh by a learned
student, who has ransacked the archives of this and of foreign
countries with great success."

1 Nicholson and Burn, Westmorland, 410, 1777, vol. i. p. 261.

^ The arms of Pickering : Ertnine, a lion rampant sable, crowned or, are given by Benolt
in the Visitation of Surrey, collection of anns with their quarterings. They can no longer be
seen at Sutton Place.

' Manning and Bray, ii. 640.

■• Anne Boleyn, a Chapter of English History, 1527-36, by Paul Friedmann, 2 vols., 8vo,

78 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

So far as Weston was concerned the story is this. It was in April
1536 that the first steps were taken towards the execution of Anne
Boleyn. On the 24th the King signed a secret Commission authoris-
ing certain persons named and nine judges to inquire into every kind
of treason and to try the offenders. Besides certain great officials
there were named Lord Sandys, Thomas Cromwell, Fitzwilliam, and
Paulet. The Commission met avowedly to find evidence which might
convict Anne of guilt. " Her courtiers," we are told, " soon found out
that the surest road to her favour was either to tell her that other men
were in love with her, or to pretend that they were in love with her
themselves. She was extremely coarse, and lived at a most dissolute
court ; so that the flattery she asked for was offered in no very modest
terms." ^

On the 30th April Mark Smeaton, a Groom of the Chamber and
player on the lute, was arrested, and either torture, fear, or hope led
him to confess that he had been guilty of criminal acts. On ist May
Noreys was arrested ; on and May Anne was taken to the Tower,
and her brother, Lord Rochford, followed. The Queen was put
into the custody of Sir William Kingston, the Constable (one of
the "sad and ancient Knights" with Sir Richard Weston in 1519), and
of Lady Kingston, to whom the old knight by his will bequeathed
" the Pownse Cupp with the cover." Fitzwilliam, Paulet, and the
Kingstons, with Lord Sandys, were foremost amongst the enemies of
the Queen. They were also all old friends and colleagues of Sir
Richard Weston.

In the Tower Anne began to talk to her attendants in a state of
hysterical excitement, and every word she uttered was carried to
Kingston and his wife. The Queen talked of Noreys and then of
Francis Weston. Noreys was engaged to Margaret Shelton, Anne's
cousin, and one of her attendants. The Queen thought Francis
Weston was making love to the girl, neglecting his young wife, who

Macmillan, 1884. It has also been told by Mr. Froude in his slipshod and partisan style,
Divorce of Catherine of Ar agon, 189 1.
1 Friedmann, ii. 247.

tL.24..

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IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 79

remained away from Court. She had upbraided him, she said, with
making love to Margaret and for not loving his wife. The young
man, perhaps knowing her appetite for flattery, had answered that he
loved someone in her house more than either his wife or Madge.
Anne asked who was that, and Weston replied it was herself She
professed to be very angry, it is said slapped his face, rebuked him for
his impudence, and told him to go home to his own wife. Weston
continued his flirtation, and said that Noreys, like himself, came to
her chamber more for her sake than that of Madge. The original
account runs thus : —

Sir William Kingston to Cromwell — " Sir, syns the makynge of thys letter the
Quene spake of Wes[ton, saying that she] had spoke to hym bycause he did love hyr
kynswoman (Mrs. Shelton and) said he loved not hys wyf, and he made ansere to hyr
[again that h]e loved wone in hyr howse better then them bothe. And [the Queen said
— who is] that ? It ys yourself. And then she defyed hym, as [she said to me].

"Will'm Kyngston."

All this pitiful cackle the half-crazy Queen repeated in the silly
strain of the courts in which she had lived from childhood, and under
the influence of unnerved anxiety and excitement. Every word of it
was repeated to Lady Kingston, and reported by Sir William to
Cromwell. An old copy of his report may be read to-day in the
British Museum.^ That day Sir Francis Weston was arrested and
placed in the Tower.

The prisoners of the Queen's household were tried on 12th May,
the Duke of Norfolk presiding, Henry and Cromwell in secret ar-
ranging every detail. Smeaton pleaded guilty, Weston and the rest
not guilty, to all the charges. For the grand jury twelve knights were
sworn. They were all officials, justices, sheriffs, and men trusted by
the Crown. A verdict of guilty was pronounced, and they were all
condemned to the horrible punishment reserved by the old law for the
crime of high treason. " An attempt was made to save Sir Francis
Weston, whose family was powerful and rich, and had generally sided

^ Kingston to Cromwell, 3rd May 1536, Cotton MSS., Otho, C. x. fol. 225, British
Museum; Ellis, 1st series, ii. 53 ; Singer's Cavendish, ii. 217 ; Calendar X. No. 882.

8o ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

with the Boleyns."^ He was a very beautiful young man, another
historian relates, and his mother and wife had offered a sum of
100,000 crowns for his life.^ Even the French king, whose name
he bore, and perhaps whose godson he was, seems to have inter-
ceded on his behalf " Quelque instance quaye faicte levesque de
Tarbes ambassadeur ordinaire de France et le Seigneur de Tinteville
lequel arryva yci avant hier pour en saulver ung nomme Vaston."^
He is also called " Master Ubaston who used to lie with the king. "
On 1 6th May the condemned were told to prepare for execution.
They confessed, made out lists of their debts, wrote farewell letters to
their families, whom they were not suffered to see. The letter of Sir
Francis may be seen in the Record Office.* A facsimile faces this
page.

" Father and mother and wyfe, I shall humbly desyre you for the salvacyon of my sowle
to dyschardge me of thys byll, and for to forgyve me of all the offences that I have done
to you. And in especyall to my wyfe, whiche I desyre for the love of God to forgive me,
and to pray for me, for I beleve prayer wyll do me good. Goddys blessing have my
chylderne and meyne. By me a great offender to God.
" Endorsed — detts to divers by S"' Francis Weston."

The poor lad saw the truth at last.

The list of his debts at the end of which his letter was written
amounts to the sum of ^925 : 7 : 2, owing to about fifty different
persons.

1 Friedmann, ii. 283.

2 Miss Stnck\and, Lives 0/ ihe Queens of England, yo\. \s . 264. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
boldly says (Two Queens, w. 321), "The young man's mother, dressed in the deepest
mourning, flung herself at the King's feet and prayed for a reprieve. His young wife offered
to give up everything they had in the world — land, houses, and manorial rights, the appanage
of a baron — if the King would spare his life. But Henry wanted a confession, not a sum of
money, and he answered the broken-hearted women, ' Let him hang, let him hang ! ' " But
Mr. Dixon gives no authority for this somewhat melodramatic scene ; nor does he give any
for his assertion (p. 253) that Weston was near of kin to the Queen. We can hardly take
either statement on the authority oi MSS. penes Dixon. — Two Queens, iii. 360 ; iv. 253, 321,
and Tower of London. J. Husee to Lord Lisle, letter of 13th May, " If any escape, it will be
young Weston, for whom importunate suit is made." — Calendar X. No. 865.

3 Chapuis to Charles V., 1 9th May 1 5 36, Calendar X. No. 908 ; also quoted by Friedmann.
It may be noted that Dinteville is no doubt the ambassador in Holbein's famous picture lately
added to the National Gallery. * Henry VIII. , 1536-37, x. No. 869.

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IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 8i

The lad owes " my cousin Dingley with my father " ;^30. He owes
£(i to " Barnarde my father's Coke " ; to " Browne, the draper," ;^50 ;
to " Genenes, the page of the chamber," £(>: 13:4; to "my lorde of
Wylshyre," Anne Boleyn's father, and one of his own judges, £\o
in angels; to "Bridges, my taylor," £26; to "parson Robynson "
£(i(i ; " item to a pooer woman at the Tennes play for bawles I
cannot tell howe muche ! " to Mr. Bryan, " the vicar of Hell "
aforesaid, ^76 in angels ; to the Kynges Hyghnes £if(> ; and to
Marke Smeaton £^2, : 6 : 7. These of course are gambling debts.
But as the King had the boy's head, he would hardly ask for the
;^46. He owes his shoemaker £\(i { = £^12); to Sir Richard
Gresham £\\ ; to "Lady Mosgrave" £^^6, for which she held a
pledge of plate ; and to Secheper (? Shakespeare) that pleythe at the
dyce, 30 crowns.

The total of the debt (^925) might amount, say roughly, to about
;^ 1 2,000 of our money, and was equal to about ten times his yearly
salary as Gentleman of the Chamber,^ It was a goodly list for a
young man of twenty-five. It was nearly three times the amount at
which, five years later, his father's whole personal estate was proved
by the executors.

By royal order the scaffold was prepared, not at Tyburn, but
on Tower Hill ; and instead of being hanged, disembowelled, and
quartered, the prisoners were simply beheaded. They were allowed
to address the people who had come in great numbers to witness their
execution. They did not confess their guilt ; but as was usual, and
indeed necessary for the sake of their families and possessions, they
made no vehement protestations of innocence. It was part of the
terrible game that was played by courtiers and politicians that if they
spoke at all they would not attack the government or their judges,
for ample means remained of bringing them to retribution.^ So

1 The salary of the Lord Chancellor was ^200, and the revenues of the Priory of St
John at the Dissolution were £2%i.

2 In the Excerpta Historica, p. 260, is given a translation of a letter from a Portuguese
gentleman, probably an eye-witness of the execution of Anne Boleyn and Weston, whom he

82 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Weston, like the others, confessed that he was a sinner, but said
nothing which could be tortured into evidence against the Queen.
According to Constantine, in his letter to Cromwell, Weston said : " I
had thought to live in abomination yet this twenty and thirty years,
and then to have made amends ; I little thought I would have come
to this."i

So on Wednesday, the 17th of May, Sir Francis Weston was
executed on Tower Hill ; and all the eye-witnesses relate that he died
with courage. "They died very charitably," writes John Husee to
Lord Lisle, 19th May [Calendar X. No. 919).

Nothing in life became him like the leaving it ; but like the
sovereign whom his great-grandson served in the next century —

" He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene.

But with his keener eye

The axe's edge did try ;
Nor called the Gods, with vulgar spite,
To vindicate his helpless right ;•

But bowed his comely head

Down, as upon a bed." ^

The body with the head was placed in a simple shell, and thrown
into a grave with that of Noreys in the churchyard of St. Peter's in
the Tower.^

The Queen was beheaded within the Tower on 19th May.
She had undoubtedly caused the death of the poor lad by her frenzied
talk, as she had encouraged him to continue with her a coarse and
unmeaning flirtation. There is not the slightest reason to assume any

calls Monsire Nestom, " the which said no more than that they besought the bystanders to
pray for them, and that they yielded themselves to death with joy and exceeding gladness of
heart."

1 Friedmann, ii. 285 ; State Trials, i. 425 ; Wriothesley, Chron. Camden Soc. 1875,
PP- 36, 39; Hall, Henry VIII., 214.

^ A. Marvell, Horatian Ode.

3 Camden Soc, Wriothesley's Chron. vol. i. p. 36 ; Hep. Dixon, Story of Two Queens ;
Tower of London ; Doyne-Bell, The Tower; Miss Strickland, Life of Anne Boleyn ; Weever,
Memorials, p. 514 ; Froude, Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, 1891.

Vl2S.

•', 1' .VI I. I'

/, 1 1; >, <■ \ 1 .1 /.

IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 83

kind of criminality between them worse than gross folly and shame-
less indecorum. Anne was now a woman of thirty-four, who had lost
her health, her looks, and her spirit, already on the verge of disgrace
and repudiation, and known to be surrounded by deadly enemies and
unscrupulous rivals. The wild lad was merely a butterfly casually
crushed between the fierce millstones of ambitious intrigue ; and clearly
he was a mere accidental object of Cromwell's plot. The whole thing
was as sudden as lightning. Sir Francis, a gay and_ popular courtier,
was arrested suddenly on the 4th of May, and on the 17th he
was a headless corpse. This 1 7th of May was the same day of the
same month on which his father had helped in the execution of
Buckingham, and also that on which he had received the princely gift
of Sutton.

The judicial murder of his only son does not appear to have made
any difference in the official position of Sir Richard Weston. The son
was attainted, and all his goods and estates were confiscated to the
King, the list of debts and request that they might be paid was an
ordinary and necessary form. The father's estate, offices, and favour
were not touched by this disaster. In the days when desperate
games were played at Court, wherein the stakes were heads, it was a
point of honour with the gamblers to pay the forfeit with a good grace
and bear no malice. The Earl of Wiltshire (Sir Thomas Boleyn) was
duly summoned to the Court which condemned his own son and
daughter to death ; and the Duke of Norfolk, the hero of Flodden,
with tears in his eyes condemned the Duke of Buckingham to the
scaffold.

Sir Richard bore his bereavement like a man, retained the King's
good graces, saw the childhood of the grandson who survived to
inherit Sutton, and was appointed by Henry and by Cromwell, the
two murderers of his only son, to attend the ceremonies and funeral of
Jane Seymour, the baptism of Edward VI., and the state reception of
Anne of Cleves, Henry's fourth wife.

The young widow in due course married Sir Henry Knyvett,
one of the comrades and fellow-courtiers of her first husband, and

84 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

doubtless forgot her brilliant young spouse, of whom she had seen so
little.

There is a curious and interesting account of Francis Weston and
his execution in Crapelet's Lettres de Henri VIII. (2nd ed., Paris, 1835,
p. 185). It is in the form of a poem, in French, composed in London,
2nd June 1536, Weston, it says, was young, of high and ancient
lineage, of good manners, and exceeding all in elegance ; in jousts, in
the dance, and in leaping a perfect athlete, and in tennis excelling
the most skilful players of the nation. None dared intercede for him
but his mother, who, oppressed with grief, humbly petitioned the King,
and his wife, who offered freely rents and goods {i.e. lands and chattels)
for his deliverance. But the King resolves that the sentence passed at
their trial should be carried out. And if money had had any avail for
him, the fine would have been 100,000 crowns.

The French is : —

" Pauvre Waston qui estoit de jeune aage
Yssu de hault at tr^s ancien lignage
De bonnes meurs et graces tous passant,
En lisse, en bal, "k saulter, effagant
En jeu de paulme en grand perfection
Les plus adroitz de cette nation.
Et de tous biens en luy tant abondait,
Que le pays tout honor^ rendoit.
Nul pour luy n'en osa faire instance
Sinon sa mbre, en grand dueil oppress^e,
Qui humblement au Roy s'est adressee ;
Sa femme aussi, offrant enti^rement
Rentes et biens pour son delivrement.
Mais le Roi veult que soit exdcutde
De leur procbs la sentence arrestee,
Et si I'argent pour luy eust eu puissance
D'escuz cent mil eust fix^ la chevance."

Out of this plain tale Mr. Hepworth Dixon and Mr. Froude have
elaborated melodramatic romances of their own. Mr. Dixon tells us
that the " mother, dressed in the deepest mourning, flung herself at the

?L.!

f / I'l ( ! I 11

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IV SIR FRANCIS WESTON, THE SON AND HEIR 85

King's feet." All we know is that she was "oppressed with grief, "^
and humbly addressed the King, possibly by petition. Mr. Froude
says the mother and young wife "appeared in court," meaning before
the judge and jury. That would have startled even a Tudor judge,
and was quite impossible even in that age. Mr. Dixon tells us that
Henry answered the broken-hearted women, " Let him hang, let him
hang!" Mr. Froude tells us that Weston was well known in Paris, and
had been much liked there. We have not a word recorded of Henry,
nor is there a trace of the lad having ever gone to Paris. Next
we are told that M. Dinteville came over as his friend. But M.
Dinteville was a special ambassador of Francis. And then Mr.
Froude quotes the lad's last letter (see above, p. 80), in which, by the
way, he inserts three errors of copying, as proof of young Weston's
guilt. It is well known that discreet silence in prison and at the
scaffold was the price that one paid for being spared torture and confis-
cation. Mr. Froude's argument would excuse every judicial murder
by any Tudor or Stuart sovereign. The idea of Weston's self-proven
guilt is as gratuitous an invention as Mr. Dixon's " deepest mourning,"
" the appanage of a baron," and the King's " let him hang ! " or Mr.
Froude's own introduction of the wife and mother at the trial offering
bribes to judge and jury, Weston's Parisian popularity, and M.
Dinteville's friendship.

Assuredly Francis Weston was not a man to be remembered long.
The doggerel of the Rhyming Chronicle in Cavendish's Life of
Wolsey ' puts the truth when it runs thus : —

" Weston the wanton, ye shall understand.
That wantonly lyved without feare or dreade.

Beyng but young, and skant out of the shell,
I was dayntely noryshed under the king's wyng,
Who highly favored me and loved me so well
That I had all my will and lust in everything."

1 Cavendish, Life of Wolsey, by Singer, vol. ii. p. 30.

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP. IV

A wanton and a worthless youth ! But youth, beauty, high
courage, and splendid station, suddenly cut off in blood amidst the
whirl of a great historical tragedy, command our sympathies, we know
not why, and however little reason for sorrow that we find in sober
reflection.

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CHAPTER V

SIR HENRY WESTON

Henry Weston, the only child of Francis, who was the only son of
Sir Richard, was an infant in his first year at the date of his father's
bloody death, and a boy of seven when by the death of his grandfather
he succeeded under the will as devisee of all Sir Richard's lands. He
could not of course inherit through his father, whose attainder
involved " corruption of blood." It appears by the inquisition taken
after the death of Sir Richard^ that Henry, the only son of the
attainted Sir Francis, was born in 1535, and that his aunts, Margaret,
Lady Dennys, and Catherine, Lady Rogers, were alive.

Young Henry was bred to arms, not to courts. During the
stormy times which closed the reign of Henry VHL, and which
followed on the reigns of young Edward and Mary, the heir of Sutton
was a youth in his teens. He came of age in the fourth year of
Mary's reign, in the height of her effort to restore the Catholic faith
by force.

The young soldier distinguished himself in the war with France,

1 R. Off. Inquisit. Post Mortem, 33-34 Henry VIII., Berkshire.

88 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

which broke out when he was but twenty-two ; and at the age of
twenty-three he was greatly honoured for the gallant stand he made
when Calais was lost for ever to the English crown, to the inex-
pressible grief of Queen Mary, as we all know, and the incalculable
advantage of the English people. Mary, as we are told, died of grief
within a few months of this memorable feat of arms.

At the accession of Elizabeth, in 1558, the young hero of Calais
stood high in favour. As a minor he had taken no part in politics or
in the great religious revolutions of the last twenty years. His father
died on the scaffold during the judicial murder of Elizabeth's mother,
and had undoubtedly fallen a sacrifice to her mother's imprudent con-
duct, and to the bitter animosity of her mother's enemies. He himself
had married a lady of the noblest blood, who was a cousin of Elizabeth
herself, and who, like her husband, had lost a father on the scaffold.

Accordingly, at the coronation of Elizabeth, January 1559, Sir
Henry Weston was created Knight of the Bath, and his name and
arms are duly entered in the MS. volume already cited, ^ as had been
those of his father and grandfather.

In the year 1550, second to third year of Edward VI. cap. 6, by Act
of Parliament, he had obtained restitution in blood after the attainder
of his father, and possession of all estates which he had inherited
through his father. And in the same year the estates at Clandon were
confirmed to him which had been leased for sixty years to Sir Richard
in 1532 (Pat. 2 Eliz., Treas. Remembr.) Sir Henry was thus a man
of large possessions, being in enjoyment of the lands of his grandfather.
Sir Richard, and entitled in remainder to the lands of his mother, the
heiress of Pickering. She died in 1582.

Sir Henry Weston married in 1559 Dorothy,^ daughter of Sir

^ Cotton MSS., Claudius CIII. XIV. E. The arms given are quarterly of six — i. IVeston.
2. Camell, as before, chap. iii. 3. Pickering: Ermine, a lion rampant sable, armed gules,
ducally crowned or. 4. Lascelles of Eskrigg : Argent, three chaplets gules. 5. Moresby
(Cumberland) : Sable, a cross argent, in the first quarter a cinquefoil or. 6. Fenwick
(Northumberland) : Perfesse, gules and argent, six martlets counter-changed. Crest : A
camel sable, spotted argent, collared and hoofed or.

2 This lady is named Margaret in Segar's great pedigree of Weston in the British
Museum, and this has been followed by Manning, Hoare, Collins, and others. It appears

V SIR HENRY WESTON 89

Thomas Arundell of Wardour, also, like Sir Francis Weston, one of
the Knights of the Bath at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, and also
beheaded for treason (1552) as one of the partisans of the Protector
Somerset, on the fall of the haughty Seymour. Her mother, Margaret
Howard, sister of Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VHI.,
was the elder daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, Marshal of the
Horse at the battle of Flodden, and granddaughter of the second
Duke of Norfolk, the famous commander in that battle. Through her
mother, Margaret Howard, Lady Weston was thus allied to the royal
house and to the noblest families of the age. Her family history is so
characteristic of the times, and is stained with bloodshed so often and
so continuously, that it may be of interest to follow it. To make it
more clear, a genealogical tree has been added in an Appendix,
No. VL

Lady Weston's father, Sir Thomas Arundell, of an ancient family
in the west, obtained from his father. Sir John Arundell, the grant of
Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, formerly a royal possession. His
mother was Eleanor, youngest daughter of Thomas Grey, second
Marquis of Dorset. Her three brothers, Henry, Duke of Suffolk,
Thomas, and Leonard, were all beheaded. Eleanor's nieces were Lady
Jane Grey, who married Guildford Dudley, and Catherine, who married
Lord Hertford, and died of her cruel confinement in the Tower in.
1567. Henry, Duke of Suffolk, who was beheaded in 1554, married
Frances, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, by Mary, sister of Henry VHL Sir Thomas Arundell, by
his wife, Margaret Howard, became the grandfather of Sir Thomas
Arundell, the hero of the battle of Gran, Count of the Holy Roman
Empire, 1595, and first Baron Arundell, 1605.

Sir Thomas Arundell, father of Lady Weston, and his wife, Margaret

from a very fine old pedigree of the Arundells and from family deeds, now in the possession
of Lord Arundell and Wardour at Wardour Castle, Wilts, that her only name was Dorothy.
So also in the parish register of West Clandon, Surrey, the birth of her sons is thus registered,
e.g. " 1 561, 13th October, was baptized Henry, son of Sir H. Weston, knight, and Dorothy,
his wife." It throws some suspicion over the accuracy of Segar's pompous pedigree, with its
roots traced back to Adam, when we find him in error on so important a name.

9^ ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Howard, were both committed to the Tower, and he was executed in
the desperate duel between the Protector Somerset and Dudley, Duke
of Northumberland, in 1552.^

Margaret Howard, mother of Dorothy, Lady Weston (temp. Queen
Elizabeth), was by her father's side granddaughter of the second Duke
of Norfolk, attainted in 1485, but eventually restored, and great-grand-
daughter of the first Duke of Norfolk, the Jockey of Norfolk, who lost
his life on the field of Bosworth. Her uncle, the third Duke of Norfolk,
was attainted in 1 546 ; her cousin, the Earl of Surrey, was beheaded in
1547 ; the Earl's son, fourth Duke of Norfolk, was beheaded in 1572 ;
and his son Philip, Earl of Arundel, was attainted and died in the Tower,
1594. Margaret Howard's sister was Catherine Howard, whom, on
sufficient proof of her adultery and vice, Henry beheaded in 1542.
Margaret Howard's aunt was Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Boleyn,
Lord Rochford and Earl of Wiltshire, whose daughter was Anne
Boleyn, and whose son was Lord Rochford, both beheaded in 1536, as
was also- Lady Rochford in 1 542.

Dorothy Arundell, Lady Weston, whose portrait smiles so grace-
fully from the walls of the hall where she entertained Elizabeth, was
thus a lady endowed with a somewhat interesting family tree, full of
splendid alliances and of blood-stained records. She was the cousin
of four queens, of Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, and
Lady Jane Grey. Her father's uncle, her mother's sister and cousin,
had all three married into the royal house of Tudor, the first being
the husband of Henry VIII.'s niece, and the two latter being wives of
Henry himself. The heralds must have drawn up her genealogical
tree with unusual expectation of reward and no little professional
unction ; for it is freely studded with dukes, duchesses, princesses,
kings, and queens. And as these illustrious personages really have a
place in the history of England, the tree is not nearly so imaginative
as is too often the case with the heraldic glories of that age.^

But if the tree is full of splendid alliances, it is also as full of bloody

1 Machyn's Diary, pp. 10, 15.
2 See the pedigree in Appendix VI.

V\2<j

V. I I

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1. 1 r, t. (' ■•, 1 .1 1.

SIR HENRY WESTON

memories. It is at once comical and shocking to note how a person
of distinguished lineage in that sixteenth century could make out a list
of relations by blood or marriage who had all suffered death on the
scaffold or had been attainted as "traitors." In fact, in Tudor times
to be attainted as traitor was nearly equivalent to the modern phrase
of " going out of office " ; and to be gently born at all, it was almost
essential that at least one member of your family should have been
condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The following chronological table may represent the havoc which
politics had made in the family of Dorothy Weston n^e Arundell : —

Attainted Relations of Dorothy Arundell, Wife of
Sir Henry Weston, 1560.

Father's side.

beheaded

1. Her father, Sir T. Arundell .

2. Father-in-law, Sir Francis Weston .

3. Father's uncle, Henry, Duke of Suffolk

4. „ „ Thomas, Lord Grey

5. „ „ Leonard, Lord Grey

6. Father's first cousin. Lady Jane Grey

7. Lady Jane's husband, Guildford Dudley

8. Lady Jane's brother-in-law, Francis Dudley

9. Lady Jane's father-in-law, Duke of Northumberland „

I o. Father's first cousin, Catherine Seymour, died prisoner in the Tower

Mother's side.

attainted but not beheaded
beheaded

11. Her mother. Lady Arundell

12. Mother's sister, Catherine Howard,

13. Mother's first cousin, Anne Boleyn

1 4. Mother's first cousin. Earl of Surrey

15. Mother's first cousin by marriage. Lady Rochford

1 6. Mother's cousin, fourth Duke of Norfolk

17. Mother's sister-in-law, Ann Howard . . . attainted

18. Uncle, third Duke of Norfolk

1 9. Grandfather, second Duke of Norfolk

20. Great-grandfather, first Duke of Norfolk, killed in

civil war .....

21. Cousin, Earl of Arundel, died in the Tower

22. Great-uncle, Lord Thomas Howard, attainted, died in the Tower

1552
1536
IS54
1554
1541
1554
1554
rSS4
1554
1567

1552
1542
1536
1547
1542
1572
1542
1546
1485

1485
1594
1536

9» ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

She must have been a fine lady. The noble portrait in the hall by
Federigo Zucchero represents her as she stood there in the heyday
of her dignity and grace. She is attired in the Venetian laces and
brocades, with frill, ruff, headdress, in the style so familiar to us as
that of Elizabeth. The embroideries are superb, and she is covered
with jewels, in the fashion of that time, holding a feather fan in her
hand. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in Burlington
House in 1884, and was described as by Zucchero, full length, canvas
71 by 40 inches. Zucchero, who was born in 1543, and worked much
in Flanders, came to England in 1574, where he stayed until 1578,
painting the Queen, her courtiers, and ministers, amongst others Lord
Howard of Effingham, who was at once a cousin and neighbour of
Lady Weston. The date of the picture was about 1575, when she was
about thirty-five. There is also a portrait of her about fifteen years
later, in which we see the same features, somewhat dimmed by the
advance of years.

Sir Henry Weston was Sheriff of Surrey in 1569 and in 1571, and
he represented the county in the Parliament of 1571.^ He entertained
Elizabeth at Sutton Place on several occasions.^ The first occasion
was in the beginning of her reign, in her second year, when the
Protestant religion was being officially re-established. Sir Henry, who
had been recently knighted and married, was but twenty-five years of
age, and was in the first spring of his youthful fame and splendour.
On that occasion a fire took place in the house, the exact effect of
which is not quite apparent. In Machyn's Diary {Camden Society
Publications, p. 241) we read: "The vij day of August was Suttun
bornyd, wher the Quen's grase dyd ly iij nyghtes afor, that was
master Westun's plase." Again Elizabeth was certainly there in
September 1591, on her way from Farnham to Richmond, and we

1 Loseley MSS, by Rev. A. J. Kempe, 1835. In order to fill his public office of sherift
Sir Henry was compelled to conform to the Elizabethan regimen, and accordingly we find
that he made a declaration of " obedience to the Act of Unifonnity of Common Prayer and
Observance of the Sacraments." — Calendar, Elizabeth, 1547-80, p. 348, the date being 28th
November I 569.

2 Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, chap. i. p. 86, and chap. iii. p. 121.

PL.?0.

V SIR HENRY WESTON 93

have a letter of hers to Sir H. Unton, ambassador in France,
"given under our signet at Sutton near Guildford," nth November

In the second visit Sir Henry must have been a man of fifty-six,
and Elizabeth was two years older. Many things had happened in the
interval. Mary Queen of Scots had been executed just three years,
and the Armada had been destroyed just two years before. The
tremendous struggle between the two religions was at its height, and
the times were dark and terrible, especially to Englishmen who were
not willing to worship in the forms prescribed by the imperious
daughter of the first Defender of the Faith. Sir Henry may have
retained the personal goodwill of his sovereign, but he holds no office
now. He is neither employed in war or in peace. He no longer
serves in Parliament ; he receives neither grant nor honour. The
Reformation is established, and the Westons of Sutton Place have
henceforward no part with princes, courts, and office ; and they drop
quietly from the pages of English history, well content if they can
preserve their heads, their liberty, and the remnant of their estates
from the grasp of a government wherein they have no share.

Sir Henry Weston is frequently referred to in the Loseley papers
abstracted by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, vol. vii. He is
at Loseley (p. 649 a) ; Lord Howard of Effingham writes to Sir W.
More (5th April 1591) begging Sir William's good offices to obtain
election of Lord Howard's "cousin," Sir H. Weston, to the vacant
office of Verderer of Windsor F"orest. In another letter (p. 661 b)
Lord Howard speaks of Sir Henry "as his good friend and kinsman."
Sir Henry asks for the support of Sir W. More in his election, 1558-59.
There is a letter (17th November 1569) from Thomas Copley to Sir H.
Weston begging for reasonable time to consult his conscience (p. 622 a).
In the Calendars, 1547-80, there are many notices of his acting as
magistrate in formal matters.

It seems almost certain that Sir Henry Weston was a secret
supporter of the old faith. In 1569 a letter is addressed to Sir Henry,

1 Rymer, Foed. chap. xvi. p. 122.

94 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

then High-Sheriff for Surrey, by one Sir Thomas Copley of Gatton,
who signs himself " your loving neighbour and assured pore friend," ^ in
which Sir Thomas begs his loving neighbour's protection and help
under the persecution to which he was exposed. Now this Sir Thomas
Copley was a " Popish recusant " of the most pronounced kind, most
dangerous to Elizabeth's government ; he retired to the Spanish
Netherlands, and ultimately joining the Spanish arms, served in war
against his country and Queen, and died in 1584. Letters of marque
were granted to him by Requesens, Philip's viceroy, in which he is
styled Don Thomas Copleus. It was the great-granddaughter of Sir
Thomas, Mary Copley, who ultimately brought the estates of Gatton
to the Westons, when she married, in 1637, John Weston, the great-
grandson of Sir Henry.

It is melancholy that no traces can be found that Sir Henry drew
or offered his sword in the great struggle which Elizabeth waged with
the foreign powers for her life and nation, 1584-88. There is rather
evidence to the contrary. Sir Henry was not more than fifty, and had
yet seven years of life. At the end of May 1584, whilst the murder of
Elizabeth and invasion were imminent, just one month before the
assassination of the great William of Orange, it was ordered, 31st May,
that 1000 men should be raised in Surrey, and the following captains
of 250 men each were named — Sir Henry Weston, Sir T. Carew, Sir
T, Browne, Sir George More ; but it is recorded that " Sir Henry
Weston, having great occasion to be in the North this summer, desires to
be discharged as captain, and W. Gresham was appointed in his room "
(Manning, iii. p. 666). Sir H. Weston's name does not after this
appear in the official records of Surrey, nor is he mentioned in the story
of the Armada, 1588.

Again in 1591 '^ there is recorded an order to search Sutton House
for concealed priests, and to find one Morgan, believed to be there
concealed under a false name.^

Sir Henry Weston died nth April 1592, at the age of fifty-seven,

1 Loseley MSS., 1835, pp. 241, 243. ^ Hist. MSS. Comm. vii. 649.

3 In the will of Sir Henry is the gift of a mourning ring to " his cozen Morgan."

V SIR HENRY WESTON 95

having made his will the year preceding, which was duly proved, i6th
May 1592/ In it there is no trace of the Catholic profession so
obvious in the will of Sir Richard. The Queen is named as Defender
of the Faith. The knight is described as of Sutton, in the parish of
Woking, and goes on : " First — I commend my soul to Almighty God
and to His Son Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer, and to the Holy
Ghost, Three Persons and one God ; most humbly beseeching the
most Holy and blessed Trinity to have mercy on my soul, and to
pardon and forgive my sins and offences ; that I may after this mutable
life ende with the Elect, and have the life and fruition of the Godhead
by the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." This
is evidently the writing of a man who has before his eyes the Thirty-
nine Articles of Religion and the service-book of Edward VI., as now
by law was established. It is the language of the Judicious Hooker,
nay, almost it might seem of Jeremy Taylor or John Milton.

There is not the slightest reason to suppose that this edifying and
somewhat Calvinistic formula was at all the composition of the gallant
knight himself. He is as little responsible for the sonorous benedic-
tions as he is for the legal verbiage of the bequests that follow. In
1590 it would have been most dangerous to deny that the Queen was
Defender of the Faith. And a man who was known as " the loving
neighbour " of Sir Thomas Copley, the recusant, rebel, and traitor, and
whose house had just been searched for a concealed priest, might
naturally leave the drafting of his will to the learned doctors of the
Court of Arches, whose business it was. His own last words can be
as little taken literally as those of his father on the scaffold.

The will directed that the testator should be buried in the Chapel
of the Holy Trinity, where his grandfather had been laid exactly fifty
years before, which had opened for his own mother just ten years
before. There were gifts to the poor of Guildford and Woking, West
Clandon and Merrow, Send and Ockham.

He gives to his wife various chattels, sheep, cattle, horses, "and
one coach which was my Lady, my mother's, with all the furniture there-

^ A copy of it will be found in Appendix V.

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP. V

with belonging," and two coach-horses, six feather beds, "whereof one
of them to be the bed that I now lie on." He gives to his wife one
half of his plate, and the jugs of ivory bound with ribs of silver, and
the one half of his linen, and the furniture of the chamber "known as
my Lord of Leicester's Chamber," and he gives to his wife for her life
all the furniture of his house at Clandon. There are numerous gifts to
servants, a gift of personalty at Sutton to his son Richard, legacies to
his half-brothers. Sir Henry Knyvett and Thomas Knyvett, and to his
half-sister Lady Dacres. He gives to his daughter Jane the residue of
the personalty at Pirford and Ockham, and he appoints his daughter
Jane sole executrix. There are legacies to Sir W. More (of Loseley),
his cousin Morgan, E. Slyfield, his cousin Stoughton ; and then he
directs that the estates, manors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments
shall go according to the terms of a series of settlements made in the
same year, John Weston the younger being therein described as of
Ockham.

So the gallant Sir Henry, having made his disposition of his goods,
and having commended his soul to God, was buried in Trinity Church,
Guildford, and was succeeded in the estate of Sutton by his son,
Richard.

■I -■>,.!

I) ;i 17, •! .■'
\ I.I ,-■ '1 J :i I '

CHAPTER VI

SIR RICHARD WESTON, THE AGRICULTURIST, 1613-52

Sir Henry Weston, the heroic knight and defender of Calais, in which
fortress his grandfather had so long held office, was succeeded by his
son, the second Sir Richard, who was born 1 564, and who was knighted
by James I. on his accession at Whitehall, 23rd July 1603.^ He
married Jane, daughter of John Dister of Bergholt, Essex, 27th May
1583.^ He died September 16 13, and was interred in Trinity Church,
Guildford, his wife surviving him until 1625 ; she was buried at West
Clandon, His life seems to have been absolutely uneventful, both in
the history of his country and of his own family. He was succeeded
by his eldest son, the third Richard, fourth in descent from the founder,
who was born in 1591, and was thus twenty-two on his accession to the
estate.

The third Sir Richard was a man of enterprise, who passed much

^ Nichols's Progresses of James /., vol. i. 215. As is well known, James I. made knight-
hood compulsory on all gentlemen of an adequate estate ; and in his canny way treated it as
a source of royal revenue.

2 Parish Register of West Clandon, Surrey.

98 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

of his life abroad in Flanders, where it is said that, as a Catholic, he
was educated. He introduced many agricultural and industrial im-
provements into England. In 1622 he was knighted at Guildford by
James I.^ In 1641, doubtless to carry on his canal scheme, he sold
Temple Court Farm, at Merrow, with the mansion at West Clandon, to
Sir Richard Onslow, M.P. for Surrey in the Long Parliament, and a
stout Parliamentarian. This was the origin of the Clandon estates of
the Earls of Onslow.^

In 1645, the year of the battle of Naseby, in the midst of the civil
wars, Sir Richard Weston published anonymously a very remarkable
book on agriculture, in which he detailed a system that effected a
practical revolution in British farming. In the valuable historical sketch
prefixed to the article on " Agriculture " in the Encyclopcedia Britannica,
vol. i. p. 297 (9th edition), Mr. J. Wilson, the eminent authority on
farming, declares that Sir Richard's little volume marks " the dawn of
the vast improvements which have since been effected in Britain."
Mr. Wilson makes the natural mistake of confounding our Sir Richard
with Sir Richard Weston, his kinsman, the ambassador, and afterwards
minister as Earl of Portland ; but he speaks of him as having the merit
of being " the first to introduce the ' great clover,' as it was then called,
into English agriculture about 1645, and, probably, turnips also. His

1 Manning and Bray, iii. p. 89, Appendices LIV., LVI.

2 During the absence of Sir Richard Weston abroad it is said that Sutton Place was
occupied by Ann, Countess of Arundel, widow of Philip Howard, eldest son of the fourth
Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1572. Philip, Earl of Arundel, was attainted in
1590, and died in the Tower, it is thought by poison, in 1594. A few years ago, in making
some alterations in Sutton Place, a deed was found concealed, executed by " Anne, Countesse
Dowager of Arundell," dated 13th April 1621. The south bay window (light 3) has the
arms of Fitzalan, seventeenth Earl of Arundel, quartering Widville, Clun, Maltravers.
Obviously this is a simple coincidence, and was long before the time of Ann, widow of Phihp
Howard, in 1621. It appears from the Coke MSS., in the possession of Lord Cowper at
Melbourne Hall, that in 16 19 the Countess sent for a physician from London to attend her
gfrandchild, Charles Howard, who was seized, as it would seem, with peritonitis, and who died
at Sutton Place. The aged Countess wrote from thence : " I beseech you send with speed
the best doctor may be had." The physician who came down, and who attended the child
and conducted the post-mortem, was the illustrious William Harvey, then at the height of his
reputation. We must count the immortal discoverer of the circulation of the blood as amongst
the historical persons who have stayed in the house.

VI SIR RICHARD WESTON, THE AGRICULTURIST 99

directions for the cultivation of clover are better than was to be
expected." The result was astonishing. In less than ten years after
its introduction, says Mr. Wilson, "the cultivation of clover, exactly
according to the present method, seems to have been well known in
England." It is interesting to the present writer, as he pens these
words, to note in the high " Manor Field," by the Chapel of St.
Edward, one of the most magnificent crops of red clover in blossom to
be seen in the county. After 400 years of stormy history the deserted
and ruinous manor for which Roger Bigod and his peers had contended
was to be the nursery of scientific agriculture in Great Britain.

Sir Richard introduced into England from his foreign experiences
other grasses, and also the systematic cultivation of turnips. He was
the first, we are told, to cultivate turnips as a cattle crop. The im-
portance of this cannot be over-estimated. As Mr. Wilson says
{Ency. Brit. i. 297), "the introduction of turnips as a field crop consti-
tutes one of the most marked epochs in British agriculture." Sir
Richard was an enthusiast for agriculture, and his little book has a
curious bibliographical as well as historical interest. It was frequently
reprinted, but remained without a name, and was never directly acknow-
ledged or even published by its author. It is extremely rare ; but it
may be seen in various forms in the British Museum. It was first
published in 1645, without name, by Samuel Hartlib, Milton's friend
and correspondent, a busy Puritan pamphleteer and editor. In 1651
Hartlib published, in small quarto size, what he calls an Enlargement
of the Discourse of Husbandry used in Brabant and Flanders —
Sir Richard Weston s Legacy to his Sons. To that edition Hartlib
prefixes a preface of his own, in which he says that the author of the
discourse which he formerly published was unknown to him, but having
lighted on a more perfect copy he offers it to the public in a second
edition, Hartlib prints two letters of his own, dated 2nd May and loth
October 165 1, to Sir Richard Weston, begging him to revise and
republish the book, but he seems to have had no answer at all from the
knight, who died in 1652, at the age of sixty-one. And then Hartlib
published in 1652 an edition, corrected and enlarged, entitled A

loo ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Discourse of Husbandry used in Brabant and Flanders : showing the
wonderful improvement of land there ; and serving as a pattern for our
practice in this commonwealth. It is preceded by a long and flowery
Scriptural appeal to the Council of State by Hartlib himself. The
garrulous Puritan continued to publish other works on husbandry, to
which he added little, having no practical knowledge of his own.

Sir Richard's own work is curious and instructive, and, as being
exactly contemporary with Milton's famous tractates, it has a certain
literary interest. The earnestness, the solemnity, the involved sen-
tences, the occasional dignity of its rhythm remind one of a tiro whose
ideal was the epistle to Mr. Hartlib on education. It is a real testament
or last will. It opens thus : " My sonnes, I have left this short ensuing
Treatise to you as a Legacy ; if I shall not live my selfe, to show you
(what therein is written) by examples, which I know instruct far more
then precepts ; yet precepts from a dying father, instructing of his
children what he hath seen and known and received information of
from witnesses free from all exceptions, should make such an impression
on them, as at least to believe th^ir father writ what he thought was
true ; and therefore suppose those things worthy to be put in practice
by them, which he himself would have done, if it had pleased God to
have granted him Life and Liberty " — and five or six lines more before
the verbose old knight can end his sentence.

He then goes on to show how his method will improve barren and
heathy land by ways commonly practised in Brabant and Flanders, but
unknown in England, and lead to a noble augmentation of an estate.
" That man is worthy of praise and honour, who being possessor of a
large and barren demesne constrains it by his labour and industry to
produce extraordinary fruit, which redounds not only to his own par-
ticular profit, but also to the public benefit. Cato saith, it is a great
shame to a man, not to leave his inheritance greater to his successors
than he received it from his predecessors."

He says the object of all men is to get land and to cultivate it. He
waxes eloquent, if not extravagant, like all projectors, over the vast
profits to be made by his system. " By this little Treatise you shall learn

VI SIR RICHARD WESTON, THE AGRICUL'J'.UKlS'i' ,' ..'. '. ..i.oi^.

... , i '' \ ; ••! • .\ • .-••,

how to do more than treble your principal in one year's compass ; and
you shall see how an industrious man in Brabant and Flanders would
bring 500 acres of barren and heathy land that was not worth at the
most about ;^5 a year to be worth ;^7ooo a year in less time than
seven years." Land worth ^^14 an acre, or at modern computation of
money, about j^jo per annum ! Truly the knight is an enthusiast. The
estate of Sutton has no very rich soil at all : the water meadows are
fairly good, but the upper lands are of the Bagshot sand, with patches
of clay. Some of the land is exceedingly poor ; and it is interesting to
find one of the great revolutions in British agriculture made on one of
the poorer soils.

"You must not expect," says the knight, "either eloquence or
method in this ensuing treatise, but a true story plainly set forth in the
last will and testament of your father, which he would have you execute ;
but before all things to be sure you lay the foundation of your husbandry
upon the blessing of Almighty God, continually imploring His Divine
aid and assistance in all your labours ; for it is God that gives the
increase, and believing this as the quintessence and soul of Husbandry,
Primum qucBrite Regnum Dei, et postea hcec omnia adjicientur vobis :
These things being briefly premised, I will leave the rest to this short
ensuing treatise, and commit you all with a father's blessing to the
Protection and Providence of Almighty God." All this, except for the
use of the Vulgate instead of the Authorised Version, might have come
from Milton, Hartlib, or any other Puritan ; and it is curious as written
in the height of the Civil War by a Catholic Royalist.

Sir Richard tells us that he went abroad, after thirty years' experi-
ence in husbandry (that is, in the first year of the Civil Wars), having
improved his land as much as any man in this kingdom hath done both
by fire and water, but found he was to learn a new lesson in Brabant
and Flanders. This Arthur Young, or rather Coke of Holkham, of the
seventeenth century, tells us how he landed at Dunkirk, went thence to
Bridges (Bruges), a distance of 40 miles ; thence to Gaunt (Ghent), 24
miles distant, and so to Antwerp. He found the cultivation of flax
the wealth of Flanders, and he describes his talk with " the Bores, so they

.JV.^ '. './.' ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

J ^ •

term their farmers" (Boers). "One acre of good fiax," he says, "is
worth four or five acres of the best corn." He carefully studies the
raising of flax, clover-grass, and turnips. He declares that clover is
worth £ 1 2 per acre, and he insists on the enormous profit to be made
by cultivating clover-grass, turnips, and flax. " Regina Pecunia ! " he
cries to his children, " Monie is the Queen that commands all." This
was no doubt the root idea of the founder of the Weston family ; but
what a change in the hundred years which separate the third Sir
Richard from his grandfather, the gallant soldier of Calais, Sir Henry,
and his great-grandfather, the wild courtier, Sir Francis !

But the knight is a genuine enthusiast ; and he closes his testament
thus : " Besides the excessive profit you will reap by sowing these
commodities, imagine what a pleasure it will be to your eyes and scent
to see the russet heath turned into greenest grass ; which doth produce
most sweet and pleasant Honeysuckles ; and what praise and reputation
you will gain by your examples, first introducing that into your country,
which being followed by others, must needs redound to the general
benefit of the whole commonwealth. I do by my Will command you
for to execute no more than what I would myself to-morrow put in
practice, if I had Liberty : you should then learn these things I have set
down by examples, which I am enforced to leave to you as a father's
precepts, and with a Father's blessing to you all, desiring God Almighty
to guide you and direct you in all your actions, I will leave you to His
Divine protection and providence." Then after this sonorous conclu-
sion there follows, with delicious ndivetd, a sort of codicil to his will
in these words — " Note, that the Clover-grass seed will be ripe about a
month after it appeareth in the husk."

The little treatise itself is only of twenty-seven small quarto pages, but
it contains much careful practical advice, and is the work of a thorough
man of business. No doubt Sir Richard's example was of far greater
value than his book. It would seem indeed that his estate was seized
and put under sequestration by the Commonwealth, which accounts for
the form of his " Legacie." He lives seven years after its date,
and does not seem to have been incapacitated by disease, nor is it clear

VI SIR RICHARD WESTON, THE AGRICULTURIST 103

why he should speak of himself as a dying father ; but he was evidently
not free to work his estate himself; and he seems to have pushed his
industrial schemes with the aid of influential Puritans ; nor is there in
his little treatise one word that betrays any kind of political or religious
party spirit. It gives us a new insight into English life to find that, in
the ten years that separate the battle of Edgehill from the battle of
Worcester, a Royalist gentleman of wealth and rank in Surrey could
devote himself to an industrial revolution, and write very popular
pamphlets, as Hartlib tells us, on agriculture.

Sir Richard Weston was not only the first to introduce into British
farming the systematic culture of grasses and of roots, but he was also
the first to popularise in England the method of canalisation by locks.
These he studied in Holland, where we are told that he travelled in his
youth. He finally resolved to introduce the invention into his own
property. He began by making a cut from the river Wey near Stoke
Mill for the purpose of watering some of his meadows, and he carried
it some 3 miles, greatly improving his property.^ He made a lock at
Stoke, and formed the idea of making the river navigable from Guild-
ford to Weybridge. He entered into agreements with most of the pro-
prietors through whose lands the canal was to pass ; and so early as
1635 he had been named one of the Royal Commissioners for the scheme.

Before the work had proceeded far the Civil War began (1642) ;
and as Sir Richard Weston joined the Royalist party, his estate was
seized, and he was not allowed to compound as many had been.
Accordingly, he looked out for a coadjutor on the Parliamentary side,
and he found him in James Pitson, a major in the Parliamentary army,
and a Commissioner for Surrey in 1649. Pitson entered into an agree-
ment to solicit the discharge of Sir Richard's sequestration, and to
apply for an Act of Parliament to authorise the navigation. The
petition was presented in the name of the Corporation of Guildford,
Pitson, and another, and Acts were passed in 1650 and 1651 by the

1 This account is abridged from Manning, iii. Appendices LIV.-LVI., who had access to
documents and deeds in possession of the family.

I04 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Long Parliament. The capital was ^6000, of which Sir Richard
found ^^3000.

Thereupon Sir Richard went to work with extraordinary energy.
He employed 200 men at a time, and pressed on the operations with
such rapidity that in nine months he had finished 10 out of 14 miles of
the canalised river (the new cuttings do not exceed more than i or
2 miles). In doing this he expended ^4000 of his own money, and
used timber of his own to the value of ^2000. He had thus expended
;^6ooo (which may be equal to about ;^30,ooo), and he agreed to raise
another ;^iooo. But in the midst of his labours he died, in May 1652,
aged sixty-one. After the death of Sir Richard his younger son,
George, finished it as far as the last lock, within i mile of its termina-
tion. But it was then taken out of their hands by Pitson, who finished
the remaining part ; and the navigation was opened in November
1653, just as the Protectorate of Oliver was about to succeed the Long
Parliament.

The canalised Wey from Guildford to Weybridge was now open for
some 14 miles. It had ten locks, four tumbling bays (weirs), and twelve
bridges. Its utility was immediately proved, for it soon produced a
revenue of ;^ 1500 per annum, which on a capital of ;^ 10,000 was 15 per
cent. But the landowners were still unpaid, and a long course of
litigation ensued, which lasted nearly twenty years, and practically
ruined the family of the projector himself, although in 1662, at the
Restoration, a Committee of the House decided that Sir Richard
Weston was the designer of the navigation. In 1670 John Weston,
the heir of Sir Richard, submitted to arbitration, and was released from
the incumbrances created on his estate, and in 1671 a new Act was
passed which settled the claims of the various litigants.

"Thus," says the historian of the county, "after all the labour,
expense, and vexation incurred by Sir Richard Weston and his family,
all the recompense they obtained was to be discharged of the incum-
brances incurred in prosecuting the work, and the trifling privilege of
lading and unlading their own goods on that land which they had
dedicated to the public service." It is the usual fate of inventors.

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VI SIR RICHARD WESTON, THE AGRICULTURIST 105

The canal proved of great public utility, and is still in use, the first of
all the canals in our kingdom. Sir Richard's dreams of wealth were
cruelly disappointed. The practical advices of his legacy were sounder
than his cry of Regina Pecunia ! He left his estate greatly reduced
and burdened to his children ; but he left to his country lessons in
husbandry of priceless value, and the first-fruits of an industrial
revolution which, down to the age of steam locomotives, was the source
of untold wealth and progress.

According to Aubrey {Surrey, iii. p. 228), it was about 1643 that
Sir Richard introduced the grass called Nonesuch into the parish of
Worplesdon, part of the Sutton estate, along with the first clover-grass
out of Brabant and Flanders, "at which time he also brought over the
contrivance of locks, turnpikes, and tumbling bays for rivers. He
began the making of the new river in 1650 or 165 1, but he lived not
to finish it, dying 7th May 1652." Sir Richard, indeed, appears to
have been occupied for a large part of his life with the scheme of the
canal, and it seriously encumbered his estates and impoverished himself.
In 1635, during the ministry of Laud, he was named member of the
Royal Commission for the consideration of the project, but the Act was
not obtained until 1650, under the Commonwealth. A second Act was
passed in 165 1. By this, navigation was effected from London to
Guildford. The canal was not completed in Sir Richard's lifetime. It
is a singular example of devotion to industrial improvement that the
knight, belonging to a Catholic and Royalist family, should have spent
seventeen years in carrying through the Wey canalisation scheme, and
should have had sufficient credit to obtain official sanction for it — first
from Charles I. in the crisis of Strafford's policy, and then from the
Commonwealth after the execution of the King.^

Sir Richard had as his contemporary another famous Sir Richard
Weston, created Lord Weston of Neyland 1628, and Earl of Portland

1 The editor of Camden's Britannia (Suth-rey), says that the navigation of the Wey brings
in great profits to this part of the country, and speaks of Sir R. Weston, " to whom the
whole shire is obliged as for this, so for several other improvements, particularly clover and
saintfoine."

io6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

in 1632, the unpopular minister of Charles I., who died in 1635.^ The
Earl of Portland was descended from Humphrey Weston, a common
ancestor of himself and of Sir Richard Weston, the founder. From
Dorothy, the sister of the Earl, who married Sir Edward Pincheon of
Writtle, the family of Webbe- Weston and of the present owner, F. H.
Salvin, are descended. The last male descendant of the Earl of
Portland died in 1688, when the title became extinct.

But though Sir Richard Weston of Sutton belonged to a Catholic
and Royalist family, and was a cousin and neighbour of his namesake,
the anti-popular minister of Charles and colleague of Strafford, there is
no trace of the Westons of Sutton taking part in the Civil War, nor
does the house ever seem to have been the scene of any act whatever in
the great struggle which tore England in pieces between 1640 and 1650.
During all this time Sir Richard, now a man of between fifty and sixty,
seems to have kept himself tolerably aloof from politics. He was
denounced as a recusant, and apparently arrested. On i6th May 1650
an order was issued for Richard Weston to be sent in safe custody for
holding correspondence with the enemies of the Commonwealth ; but
he escaped absolute ruin after his sequestration, for which he did not
compound.^ No one of the family has his name mentioned in the
records of the troubles ; nor does the slightest injury seem to have
befallen the house. The hall with its painted glass, crowded with
crowns, mitres, and garters, and the devices of royal personages.
Catholic bishops, and " malignant " peers, with the arms and quarterings
of Fitzalans, Paulets, Howards, Stanleys, Copleys, and Bourchiers, the
emblems of Catherine of Aragon and Bishop Gardiner, of Mary Tudor
and Philip of Spain, and a portrait of a king, said to be Charles I.,
remains untouched, although it is within a day's ride of Basing House
and the scene of many a combat in Hampshire and Berkshire.

1 See Gardiner, Hist, of England, 1603-42 (1628-29). "Weston, the Lord Treasurer,
was as unpopular at Court as he was in the country." Clarendon, in his trenchant way, calls
him " a man of big looks and of a mean and abject spirit."

2 Tfie Catalogue of the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen who have compounded for their
Estates, Th. Dringe, London, 1655, and reprinted, Chester, 1733, does not give any Weston
of Sutton Place.

P156.

SIR RICHARD WESTON, THE AGRICULTURIST

107

It is in vain to speculate on the causes of this abstention of the
Westons of Sutton. The house was no doubt spared because lying
wholly within the sphere of the Parliament's power, and close to
Guildford, a stronghold of the Puritan party, no opportunity was left
to the owners of Sutton to raise the royal standard. Being an utterly
indefensible private mansion, and not castellated, it could not be
regarded by either side as a military post. Certain it is that during
the whole of the Civil Wars the Westons of Sutton busied themselves
with their estates, their improvements, canal navigation, and clover-
grass ; they sold broad acres and acquired broad acres ; they were
married and given in marriage ; and never meddled or appeared in any
public part whatever, whether civil or military. Sir Richard Weston,
the agriculturist and scientific landowner, was in possession of the
estates for nearly forty years, and died quietly at the age of sixty-one,
in 1652, during the crisis which led to the Protectorate of Oliver
Cromwell, and was buried with his ancestors in Trinity Church,
Guildford. His wife, Grace, daughter of John Harper of Cheshunt,
Herts, survived him many years, and lived well into the Restoration of
Charles II., until 1669. She was buried at Guildford, 28th February
in that year. And now, with the fourth generation laid to its rest, the
manor and hall of Sutton finally pass out of all touch with the history
and progress of England, and sink into the simple routine of an
ordinary county estate.

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CHAPTER VII

FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME

The 240 years which have glided by since the death of the famous
agriculturist until to-day need not occupy many pages. They recount
nothing but the even tenor of an ordinary Catholic family. As Richard,
the fourth of that name, the eldest son of Sir Richard, the agriculturist,
died in infancy, the estate was inherited by the second son, John, who
in 1637 had married Mary, daughter and heiress of William Copley of
Gatton, near Reigate, on whom with her sister Anne had descended the
considerable estates of the Copleys in Surrey and Sussex, together with
some very ancient quarterings in which the Copleys seem to have taken
no small pride.^ The pedigree of the Copleys of Gatton, in Surrey, and
of Roffey or Roughey, in Sussex, may be read in full in Berry's Sussex
Genealogies, 296, and also in Horsfield's Sussex, ii. 263.^ William
Copley was a grandson of Sir Thomas Copley, the exile and rebel in

^ It was in anticipation of marriage, perhaps, that the portentous pedigree ot the Westons,
now in the British Museum, was prepared by Garter King of Arms in 1632. The original
vellum roll measures nearly 27 feet in length by 5 in breadth, and was imposing enough to
convince even Copley of Gatton that Weston of Sutton was by no means novus homo.

2 See Appendix VII.

CHAP. VII FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME 109

Elizabeth's time who had married Katherine, daughter and heiress of
Sir Thomas Luttrell. Sir Thomas Copley was himself son and grand-
son of two successive Sir Roger Copleys, high-sheriffs of Surrey in
1529 and 1 5 14, and traced his descent to Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, the Chief-
Justice Sir William Shelley, Thomas, Lord Hoo of Hastings, Lord
Beauchamp of Bletsoe, Sir R. Waterton, and Leo, Lord Welles,

Thus it comes that the hall and house are full of the arms of the
Copleys and the families whom they claimed to quarter in their coats.
Everywhere we observe argent, a cross moline sable, a crescent for
difference, for Copley ; or, a lion rampant double-queued sable, for
Welles; sable, a fess engrailed between three whelk-shells, or, for
Shelley ; and so forth. In the west and east staircases are three
painted escutcheons with the arms of Sir Thomas Copley dated 1567
and 1568. In these and in the windows may be seen the arms of
Welles, Hastings of Hoo, Waterton, Engaine, Shelley, Luttrell,
Belknap, Havercamp.

Mary Copley, who was apparently only seventeen at her marriage,
brought wealth to the family ; and she seems to have kept her husband
and his kinsmen well out of civil war and treason, which had caused
the ruin of her own great-grandfather. It may be assumed that much
of the woodwork, panelling, etc., which we now see was executed
about this time, or at least during the long possession of Sir Richard
Weston, 1613-52; and in all probability the glasswork of the hall
was repaired, renewed, and altered, and the numerous lights with
Copley coats of arms were inserted. These were, no doubt, brought
from Gatton or Roffey, for many of them, and also the escutcheons on
panel, are obviously of sixteenth, and not of seventeenth century work.
It is plain that the coat in the panelled hall over the fireplace there
(see chap, ix), showing the arms of Weston impaling Copley, is of the
date of the marriage, 1637. This was also, no doubt, the period of the
building of the second or western quadrangle, which is certainly no
part of the original design of 1521.

It is worth noting that during this period the royal mansion of
Woking on the Wey was pulled down by the Zouch family, to whom it

no ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

had been granted by James I. in 1620 ; and it has been suggested that
some of the older fragments of painted glass, especially the royal
devices in the two bays, may have been brought from Woking about
this time. As to the coats of the Copleys with their quarterings, some
of which are evidently fine early work {e.g. window VI. 2), it is quite as
probable that they record some visit or other connection with Sir Roger
Copley of Gatton, the sheriff of the county about the date of the
foundation of the house. However, the three escutcheons on panel,
with the monogram T.C., could only have been brought in after 1637
by the heiress of the Copleys, and some of the glass has doubtless the
same origin. It will be noticed that there are in the hall windows
alone no less than eight Copley coats with their quarterings.

With the Copley alliance, the sale of the estate and mansion at
Clandon, and the completion of the Wey canal, the Westons of Sutton
seem to have taken a new departure. In 1654 John Weston and
Mary his wife sold the estate of Gatton (Manning, ii. 231). The old
house at Sutton became their only seat, and was completely renovated
and altered. The eastern wing, which the destruction of the gate-
house by fire had made more or less inaccessible, except through the
great hall, was probably abandoned as a residence. The western wing,
in the original plan the offices, was now converted into the residential
part of the quadrangle ; and a new quadrangle was built out on the
west of it, between the original house and the garden, to serve as
offices. The coat of arms which Aubrey saw "in the parlor" about
1673 was till lately in the panelled hall, which was thus in the western
wing of the house! It is now placed over the broad staircase; and
perhaps the three crosses moline on the parapet of the south side of
the house were of this date, and were rudely inserted in the Tudor
ogee niche.

A portrait, stated to be that of John, the husband of Mary Copley,
is in the hall, together with that of William Copley, his wife's grand-
father, a picture dated " 1620, cetatis sucb, 55." (William Copley, the
elder, was born in 1565.) John, to judge by his portrait, was a very
mild and inoffensive person, who looks as if he would rather not be

VII FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME iii

asked to make up his mind. He was in possession of the estate, Hke
his father before him, for nearly forty years, all through the Protector-
ates of Oliver and of Richard Cromwell, the Restoration of Charles II.,
the reign of James II., and the Revolution of 1689. Whatever John
thought, history knows nothing of what John did. He paid his dues
quietly, and kept his estate together. He was gathered to his fathers
in Trinity Church, Guildford, in the reign of William and Mary in
1690, as was his wife, Mary Copley, in 1694, she being seventy-four.

Thus in the 1 70 years since the grant of the estate there had been
only five owners in possession, with an average tenure of thirty-four
years. What tremendous changes had taken place in England in those
1 70 years : the change of religion, the disappearance of feudalism, new
manners, fresh modes of life. In 1520 there were living men who had
fought in the Wars of the Roses. In 1690 Newton, Addison, and
Swift were in active career ; and yet the old place of Sutton was
scarcely changed, either within or without. The quadrangle stood
untouched, just as the contemporaries of Holbein and Trevisano had
fashioned it in the age of Francis I. The owners of Sutton clung to
the old religion, and maintained the mass in their ancient chapel ; and
amidst the revolutionary fervour of Jacobites and Orangemen they
gazed silently on the helmets, the halberds, and escutcheons in the
hall, where Catherine, the daughter of Ferdinand, the Catholic, had been
entertained, where Henry VIII. had conferred with Wolsey and Crom-
well. The house and its belongings remained a solid bit of Catholic
and feudal England in the midst of Protestant and Whig.

John's son by Mary Copley was Richard, fifth and last of that name,
of whom we know even less than of John, his father. He married
Melior, daughter of William Nevill of Holt, Leicestershire ; and dying
in 1 701, after a tenure of only eleven years, was buried at Guildford,
25th April, He left the estate to his only son, John.

John, the second of that name, and the last heir male of the blood
of the founder, was in possession for nearly thirty years, from 1701-30.
He married Elizabeth, sister of Thomas, the first Viscount Gage. She
was a daughter of Joseph Gage by Elizabeth Penruddock, heiress and

If J ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

great-granddaughter of Colonel Penruddock, who had attempted insur-
rection under the Protectorate, and was beheaded by Cromwell in 1655.
John Weston himself was fined ;C939 ^ for refusing to take the oaths to
King George.

But John Weston managed to restore and repair the house. He
refitted the upper part of the eastern wing, which had been in a
dilapidated state since the fire of 1561, and, it is said, formed it into a
long gallery. In the window (VIII. 3) is a rude memorandum cut with
a diamond that John Weston "putt in this painted glass, August ye
28, 1724." This, then, may be taken as the date of the principal
eighteenth-century restorations in the house, especially of the more
recent insertions and confusions in the painted glass, the panelling in
the dining-room, staircases, and part of the eastern long gallery.

John Weston died in June 1730, having lived well into the reign of
George II. ; his wife had died in 1724. Both were buried in Guildford.
He left the estate to his daughter, Melior Mary, then aged twenty-
seven. A very pleasing portrait of this lady at a rather earlier date
hangs in the hall. Its date is 1723, when she was aged twenty. And,
though she had beauty as well as acres, and, according to her monument,
"superior understanding and distinguished virtues," she lived and died
unmarried and in solitary possession of her ancient patrimony for fifty-
two years. The lady, as masses of family papers testify, was a most
energetic, industrious woman of business, and seems to have been
constantly engaged in complicated litigation. She apparently did
nothing to alter and hardly anything to repair her mansion, in which
she seems to have lived in great retirement. She died in June 1782 at
the age of seventy-nine, and was buried in Trinity Church, Guildford,
where a monument with an elaborate record of her merits was placed
by her grateful successor.

Melior Mary was the last survivor of the blood of the founder.
Her aunt, Frances Weston, whose portrait, in the Lely style (about
1 700), hangs in the hall, had married William Wolffe of Great Haseley,
who was a son of John Wolffe of Great Haseley by Ann, daughter and

1 J. Robinson, Names of the Roman Catholic Non-jurors, 1745.

Pl.57.

I) r I

1. 1 1; \A\ 1.1/

VII FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME 113

co-heiress of John, son of Sir Edward Pincheon of Writtle, by his wife,
Dorothy, sister of the first Earl of Portland. The Wolffes of Great
Haseley were thus descended from Sir Richard Weston, the founder,
through Frances, the sister of John Weston, the last male Weston of
Sutton ;^ and they were also descended from the Westons of Essex,
the senior branch of the Westons of Prested Hall, both families, like
the Westons of Sutton, claiming descent from Hamon de Weston of
Weston under Lizzard, temp. Henry II.

The Wolffes, then, during the middle of the last century were evi-
dently regarded as the eventual heirs of Sutton, since Melior Mary
was now a confirmed old maid. And portraits of William Wolfife by
Hussey, and also of John Wolffe, his grandson, also by Hussey, and
dated 1754 (^(Btat. eleven), may be seen in the hall. But William Wolfife
died in 1739, and his grandsons, John Wolffe, in 1758, Charles Wolffe,
in 1768, and William Cosmos Wolffe, in 1766. Whatever females there
were of the house were nuns. Thus, at the decease of Melior Mary
Weston in 1782, the blood of the founder, both in the male and female
line was exhausted. As her tombstone records, Miss Weston was " the
last immediate descendant of an illustrious Family which flourished in
this county for many successive generations." She stood, in fact, in the
eighth generation from Sir Richard, the grantee of 1521. Melior Mary
at her death had the absolute disposition of all her estates, and was
without any blood relations whatever nearer than her mother's nephew,
the second Viscount Gage, and John Webbe, third in descent from
John Wolffe of Great Haseley, whose son had married Frances Weston,
and fifth in descent from Dorothy Weston, sister of the first Earl of
Portland.

Accordingly, Melior Mary Weston, very naturally passing over her

^ Frances, the youngest sister of John Weston, married William Wolffe about 1700. It
is curious that T. Benolt, Clarencieux King of Arms, found at an earlier date the arms of
Wolffe in the hall of Sutton — all the more that they are not the arms of Wolffe as quartered
by John Webbe- Weston (H. 7, College of Arms, Suthery and Isle of Wight). As given by
Benolt, the arms display neither wolves nor wolves' heads erased, as all the many variations
of Wolffe do ; but are quarterly, first and fourth (without tinctures), six mullets, three, two,
and one.

114 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

cousins, the Gages, on her mother's side, resolved to devise her estates
to John Webbe as descended from the sister of William Wolffe, the
husband of her paternal aunt, Frances, and also as descended from the
Westons of Prested Hall, Essex, and of West Horsley, in Surrey. By
her will, then, Melior Mary devised her Sutton estate to John Webbe,
on the condition of his taking the name and arms of Weston.'

This within a few weeks he did; and on 6th July 1782 a proper
license was granted and duly recorded by Garter and the rest of his
posse comitatus, authorising John Webbe to take and bear the name and
arms of Weston. He was thenceforward styled John Webbe- Weston
of Sutton Place ; the arms of Weston being thus blazoned — " Arms :
Ermine, on a chief azure, five bezants. Crest : on a wreath of the
colours, a Saracen's head couped at the shoulder, the tongue hanging
out proper, wreathed about the temples, argent and azure, to be borne
singly or quarterly with Webbe ; being gules, a cross between four
falcons, or. Motto: Ani boro" (College of Arms, Norfolk, i. 124).

^ In Trinity Church, Guildford, may be seen a handsome monument to Melior Mary
Weston. It reads thus —

To the Memory

Melior Mary Weston

of Sutton Place in the county of Surrey, Spinster

This Marble was erected

as a tribute of sincere respect and gratitude by

John Webbe Weston

of Samesfield Court in the county of Hereford, Esq.

Who

in pursuance of her last will and bequest

succeeded to her name and estates

She

was the last immediate descendant

of an illustrious Family

which flourished in this county

for many successive generations, and

with the ample possessions of their ancestors

inherited

. their superior understanding

and distinguished virtues

obiit, 10 Junii, MDCCLXXXII, aet. 79.

R.I. P.

Vll FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME iij

John Webbe- Weston possessed the estate for forty-one years ; and
during his tenure many changes were made in the house, but fortunately
many others which he had projected were abandoned. Mr. Weston at
once proceeded to pull down the ruinous gatehouse and the whole
building that connected the east with the west wing on the north side
of the quadrangle. This was accomplished in 1782, as the bills of the
contractor, William Brooks of London,^ show. There can be no
question that the house gains in comfort by opening the quadrangle
to the north. A quadrangle only 81 feet square and 35 feet high, with
a tower of about 50 or 60 feet on one side and a vast roof on the other,
never could have been quite airy or light.^ The removal of the north
tower and wing greatly improved the comfort and convenience of the
house ; though there is a tradition in the family that George III., when
returning from a stag hunt, was shown over the house in the absence of
the owner, and then said, " Very bad, very bad ! tell Mr. Weston the
King says he must build it up again ! " If His Majesty saw the gate-
house in course of demolition, his remark was natural ; but if he meant
that the gatehouse and north wing added convenience to the house,
we cannot admire the royal taste. Mr. Weston spent between ;^20oo
and ;^30oo in repairs, restorations, and renewal of the house ; and these
were finished in 1 784. Fortunately he did not carry out the monstrous
proposal of Bonomi, an Italian architect of repute in the last century,

1 Voluminous bills, documents, specifications, and estimates relating to the works are still
in the possession of F. H. Salvin.

2 The elevation of the north wing and gatehouse as seen from within is exactly reproduced
in a careful architectural drawing, signed and dated — " Front of Sutton in com. Surry as it
stood, Jan. 22, 1750, John Wolffe delin. 17 Feb. 1750." "Front of Sutton towards the
Court as it stood Jan. 22, 1750, the little pillars 67I high, 5 ft. diam. The Court 81.3 square
exclusive of the base." These drawings show that the quadrangle was perfectly symmetrical ;
one gives the northern (outside) view of the gatehouse, and one gives the southern (inside)
view of the same. The hexagonal turrets were precisely the same as those now standing on
the south wing, which are also 67^ feet high, 5 feet diameter. The arch of the gateway into
the court seems circular. The gatehouse had three stories, the lower window of eight lights,
the two upper windows of four lights. On each side of the gateway were three windows uni-
form with the east and west wings. The drawing is evidently by John Wolffe, first cousin of
Melior Mary, the then owner, who may have been contemplating the removal of the ruined
wing.

1,6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

who prepared a design to transmodify the house in a modern bastard
Italian style. He wanted to introduce classical columns, pediments,
and the like, and to convert the hall into a two-storied suite of modern
chambers. Mr. Weston was happily deterred by the formidable
estimate of his advisers, and Sutton Place escaped a greater danger
than it had ever run, even in the fire of 1561, or in all the commotions
of the Civil War and the Revolution. The designs for the " improve-
ments " — these truly atrocious monuments of Vandalism — are now in
the possession of F. H. Salvin.

Mr. Webbe- Weston inherited in 1794, on the death of his cousin,
Anne Monington, the estate of Sarnesfield Court, in Herefordshire.
He himself died suddenly at Hereford in 1823, leaving by his wife,
Elizabeth, only daughter of John, the third son of Sir John Lawson,
Bart., of Brough Hall, York, a numerous family. Elizabeth Weston
died in 1791, and is buried in Trinity Church, Guildford. The present
owner of Sutton, Francis H. Salvin, is the son of Anna Maria (daughter
of John Webbe- Weston and Elizabeth Lawson), who in 1800 married
William Thomas Salvin of Croxdale, in Durham.^

John Webbe- Weston, whose first wife died in 1791, at the age of
thirty-four,^ married secondly, in 1794, Mary, eldest daughter of
William Haggerstone Constable, of Everingham, County York, by
whom he had no issue. On his death, in 1823 (he is buried in Sarnes-
field Church, County Hereford), he was succeeded by his eldest son,
John Joseph Webbe- Weston, who in 181 1 had married Caroline
Graham, only daughter of Charles Graham. Charles Graham was
great-grandson of Sir George Graham of Usk, and grandson of Sir
Reginald Graham of Norton-Conyers. Caroline Graham, Mrs. John
J. W. Weston, was thus a cousin of Sir James Graham, the statesman
who died in 1861.

1 It is rather remarkable that in the 302 years which separate the grant of 1521 from
the death of J. Webbe- Weston the estate had been held in possession by no more than nine
owners, giving an average tenure of more than thirty-three years apiece. In the 400 years
separating Domesday from the battle of Bosworth there had been about fifty owners with an
average of eight years.

2 See monument in Trinity Church, Guildford.

I'!.)!

V i: I V, f. I

■■, I' .\ I I. u

VII FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME 117

On the death of John Joseph Webbe- Weston, in 1840, he was suc-
ceeded by his only son, John Joseph Webbe-Weston, the second of
that name, a captain in the imperial Austrian service. He in 1847
married Lady Horatia Elizabeth Waldegrave, daughter of John James,
sixth Earl Waldegrave. Captain Weston served in the war between
Austria and Hungary in 1848-49. Both he and his wife were taken
prisoners by the Hungarian national troops, and detained in captivity
some time. Captain Weston died s.p. of cholera during the siege of
Comorn, on the Danube, 24th September 1849. Lady Horatia Weston,
his widow, was in possession of the Sutton estates until her re-marriage.
On 28th November 1854 she married John Wardlaw, brother of
General Wardlaw. She died in June 1884.

Upon her second marriage the Sutton estates passed to Thomas
Monington Webbe-Weston,' uncle of the late Captain Weston, for his
life. He married Mary Wright, and died without issue in 1857.
Thereupon the male descendants of John Webbe-Weston were
exhausted; and by the will of Captain J. J. W. Weston the estates
passed to his cousin, the present owner, Francis Henry Salvin of
Croxdale, County Durham, a grandson of John Webbe, the devisee from
Melior Mary in 1782.

The windows with painted glass and coats of arms in the east and
west staircases, on the south front, were placed by F. H. Salvin in 1857,
from the designs of Charles Buckler. Those in the east window give
the names and dates and arms of the six owners of the estate after
Sir Henry Weston, who died in 1591. Those in the west window give
the names, dates, and arms of the five owners since the estate passed
to the Webbe- Westons in 1782. In each case they impale the arms of
their respective wives. Hence we find the coats of Dister (married
1583); Harper {6.\&d 1669); Copley (married 1637); Nevill {about
1 701); Gage (1730); Lawson (married 1778); Constable (married
1795); Graham {msxx\^d, 1811); Waldegrave (vaaxxx^A 1847); Wright
(about 1854) ; Salvin (1857).

1 The Webbe-Westons inherited the Samesfield estate from Anne, surviving daughter and
heiress of John Monington of Samesfield.

ii8 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

There are pictures in the house of the following members of the
family — Dorothy Arundell, Lady Weston, 1575 and 1590; William
Copley, 1620 ; John Weston, 1634, who married William Copley's grand-
daughter in 1637; William Wolffe of Haseley, died 1739 — portrait
by Giles Hussey ; Frances Weston, his wife (about 1720); John
Wolffe, their eldest grandson {(Btat. eleven, 1754), by Giles Hussey;
Thomas Webbe (died 1780); Anne Tancred, his wife; John Webbe-
Weston, their son, devisee of estates in 1782, and grandfather of F. H.
Salvin. This picture is a pastel by Russell, R.A., of Guildford. It
represents Mr. Webbe as a very young man : it was exhibited with
many of Russell's works at Guildford in 1887.

Francis H. Salvin, on coming into possession of the estate, made
no structural alterations in the house, except the insertion of two six-
light windows with stone mullions, filled with painted glass, in the
eastern and western staircases facing south. The eastern wing in its
lower story had apparently been unused since the fire of 1561. But a
portion of the upper story was fitted up as a chapel. In 1876 the
Chapel of St. Edward was built on the site, it is believed, of the
original mansion and castle of St. Edward. It was founded by the late
Miss Salvin, who is there buried.^

The house stands thus very nearly the same on the outside as it
was when raised by Sir Richard in 1525. It is indeed now far more
like its original form since the twelve mullioned windows, destroyed
in the last century, have been replaced. Of very few houses in
England in the course of 370 years have the external walls been so
little altered. That which has been so ruinous to the fortunes of the
family has been the salvation of their house. As a Catholic family,
constantly and stubbornly opposed to the Elizabethan, Parliamentarian,
Cromwellian, Orange, and Hanoverian governments, the Westons
were excluded from public life in England, and were constantly and

1 At the same time the long gallery was restored, and the terra-cotta mullions of the
windows were replaced from castings. The present drawing-room, formerly the kitchen, was
arranged, and the dividing wall and chimney stack removed under the plans of Norman Shaw,
R.A., by Frederick Harrison, then lessee of the house. He died there in 1881, and the house
is now in the occupation of his widow and of his son, Sidney Harrison.

VII

FROM THE CIVIL WARS TO THE PRESENT TIME

119

heavily mulcted in their estates under the Test and Penal laws of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They thus had no resources
wherewith to modernise their family mansion, or to vie with their
Protestant neighbours in converting Gothic or Jacobean piles into the
style of Wren, Vanbrugh, or Soane — the ruthless destroyers of many a
fine old court. A succession of very long tenures by some very quiet
country gentlemen and that excellent old maid, Melior Mary, and since
then a series of fortunate accidents have prevented the owners of
Sutton from destroying, as so many squires throughout the country
have done, the venerable home of their forefathers. To touch it now,
to add to it, to "restore" it, would be a social crime. Let us keep its
bricks, its tiles, and its painted windows together as best we can, until
the miserable day shall come when the elements shall have to them-
selves the proud house of Wolsey's "most humble servant," and the
hall where Sir Richard was so careful of the "grete carpete to lay
under the Kyng's fete."

CHAPTER VIII

THE HOUSE

There is reason to think that the house was built
about 1523-25. The date is given by Manning (vol.
i. p. 136) as 1529 or 1530; by Aubrey (vol. iii. p. 228)
as 1 52 1. It is exceedingly improbable that the house
was built so late as 1529, the year of the divorce of
Catherine of Aragon, since her device of a pomegranate
appears in the spandrels of the arched chimney-piece in
the great hall, and again in that of the panelled hall, and
her arms are found in the hall (window north-east, VI.
i) impaled with the arms of England. As Catherine
had lost the favour of Henry VIII. in 1527, it is
hardly conceivable that her emblems and arms were
placed at any later date in the hall of one of the King's
ministers.^ The better conclusion seems to be that the

1 There are other things which also suggest the earlier date. The
great bell, which is now removed to St. Edward's Chapel, would not have

ELEVATION OF SOUTH FRONT

Sexxh

TOWARDS THE COURTYARD

Plate a.

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CHAP, viii THE HOUSE 121

house was erected between the date of the grant of the manor (152 1)
and 1527 ; probably on the return of Sir Richard Weston from the war
in France in 1523.

The present house was built about a quarter of a mile from the site
of the previous manor-house, which stood on the hill now occupied by
St. Edward's Chapel and Vine Cottage. Here, it is said, originally
was the hunting lodge used by Edward the Confessor, when Lord of
the Manors of Woking and of Sutton, and the mansion-house of Sutton
subsequently took its place. The survey taken at the death of Philip
Basset, the Lord of the Manor, in 1270, gives it as "a tenement, con-
taining about one acre of land, of the yearly value of is.;" in the
surveys of 1329 and of 14 10 it is spoken of as " a ruinous messuage,
value £0 : o : o." Traces of the old house have been found in the field
south of the present chapel. A clump of birch trees marks the site of
the old well, of which the remains have been recently examined. This
very ancient well under the clump of birch trees has always been called
St. Edward's Well. Old encaustic tiles have been there found. The
field is still called the Manor Field. The decay of the village of Sutton,
now only represented by a few cottages on Sutton Green, probably
followed the removal of the manor-house eastwards to the banks of
the Wey and the extension of the estates towards Clandon and Merrow,
on the building of the new Sutton Place by Sir Richard Weston, say
in 1525.

The house, as originally built, consisted of a principal quadrangle,
enclosing a space of 81 feet on each side, and fronted by an arched
gateway with a tower flanked by lofty hexagonal turrets. On the
western side is now also an inner quadrangle, enclosing a space of about
50 by 40 feet, with stabling and offices beyond. Careful examination
shows that the smaller quadrangle on the west side is not part of the
original edifice. The brickwork and terra-cotta moulding of the base

been erected till the whole pile was complete. It bears the legend — Pierre Baude 7nafaicte
1530. Also in the hall are the arms of second Lord Derby, died 1522 ; and second Duke
of Norfolk, died 1524 ; also of Nicolas Lepton, the vicar of St. Nicholas, Guildford, who died
1527.

taa ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

are traceable all round the western wing, and the wall of the smaller
quadrangle is merely built up to and on it, and is not worked in with
the original brickwork, as is the case with the angle of the main quad-
rangle. This is observable both within the smaller quadrangle, at its
north-east junction with the older building, as well as without. In the
old pen-and-ink drawing in the possession of Mr. Salvin (Plate III.)
there is no second quadrangle. The whole house is built of brick and
terra-cotta, no stone whatever having been used in the construction or
ornamentation. This use of terra-cotta is one highly characteristic of
the builder's age ; it is found in one or two other contemporary
examples,^ but it was shortly afterwards abandoned, and did not
reappear until very recent times.

Sutton is one of the very earliest existing specimens of the purely
domestic mansion-house, entirely planned and constructed in an era
when no purpose of defence was thought of, and when modern ideas of
domestic economy had been fully developed. With Layer Marney
Towers, in Essex, and Compton Winyates, in Warwickshire, both built
about 1520, Sutton Place remains the earliest example of a non-
castellated domestic residence. In all the examples of houses built
before the sixteenth century, of which Haddon Hall is a familiar
instance, either an existing castellated work was adapted or incorpor-
ated with the house, or the house itself was planned with a view to
military defence.^ Down to the sixteenth century mansion-houses
consisted mainly of a great hall used for common purposes, and a few
separate chambers for the master and his family, the rest of the edifice
consisting of kitchen, buttery, guard -room, bakehouse, brewery, and
other outbuildings. At this date the rooms were not regularly con-
nected with each other. Access to them was only possible by passing
across the quadrangle, and the stories were reached by a succession of
winding stairs in turrets and projecting angles. So in Thornbury
Castle and Sudeley Castle, in Gloucestershire, and other mansions of

1 In particular. East Barsham, Norfolk, and Layer Marney, Essex.

2 Hever Castle, built by Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London, and great-grand-
father of Queen Anne Boleyn, and completed by her father, was strongly fortified.

ELEVATION OF WEST WING

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VIII THE HOUSE * 123

the fifteenth century. At Sutton Place we find a house planned with
all the apartments recognised by modern habits, some forty in number,
large, symmetrical, and unguarded windows, and all the chambers
reached by passages and staircases, and not by circular stairs in turrets.
The large staircases, however, are obviously more recent ; and there
are traces of turret staircases in the original work on the north wing
only. It is accordingly an example of the modern mansion-house of
the class of which Hatfield House and Longleat are splendid speci-
mens. But it is much earlier in date, and of an order of architecture
differing radically from any Elizabethan or Jacobean work. It is one
of the very few extant complete examples of the Gothic Renascence
style of the age of Henry VIII. and Francis I.

The revolution in habits and ideas implied in the building of a first-
rate mansion on purely pacific principles, without any defensive char-
acter at all, is one of the most important in the history of manners.
For five centuries perhaps no man of mark had ever built a residence
in the country without providing for the case of its needing to be
defended at least against a mob. Sir R. Weston, who was himself a
soldier of experience and could remember the battle of Bosworth,
builds a house in which no trace of war appears, even by way of orna-
ment. The forty years of Tudor sovereignty had done their work.
The " King's peace " was so perfectly a habit, that the minister of
Henry VIII. takes no more heed of defending his house than would a
minister of Victoria.

Every separate work of this age was the distinct creation of some
particular artist. The charm of the Renascence in France especially
is that each product of it is unique. At Sutton Place this blending of
the Gothic and Renascence elements is treated in a way special to
itself. In this age of transition each artist selected the parts of each
style for himself, and himself devised the spirit in which they should
combine.

In the house before us the elements of the Gothic and the Rena-
scence are combined in a way that is perhaps without any exact counter-
part. Was the designer of this house working under English, French,

134 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

or Italian influence ? Was he consciously undertaking a new method
of building ? Was he following a known model ? Did he belong to the
masters of the Gothic art or of the Renascence ?

Seen from a distance, the house appears to be simply Gothic of the
early Tudor age. But the details are in many cases purely Renascence,
and Italian rather than English in style ; whilst there are occasional
points of resemblance (arabesque and Rafifaellesque) to some of the
buildings of the age of Francis I. in France. Sir Francis Weston, the
only son of the founder, who was born about 151 1, was obviously named
after the brilliant French king. He is the only Francis in the family.
It was a great building age, and one when England was brought into
close relations with the artistic work of France and of Italy. Henry's
visit to Francis at the Field of the Cloth of Gold took place in 1520. As
we have seen. Sir Richard Weston, the builder of the house, was one
of the knights who attended him. In 15 18 Weston had been one of
the embassy sent to Paris to Francis I., and probably saw the chateaux
of the Loire recently erected. Leonardo da Vinci was at this time
living at Amboise.

On the other hand, Henry VIII. had employed many Italian work-
men, both on the chapel of Henry VII. at Westminster Abbey, and
elsewhere. Girolamo da Trevizi was the King's architect, and he is
said to have introduced terra-cotta or moulded brickwork for ornaments.
Mr. Hayward in his account of Layer Marney^ quotes Dallaway in his
notes to Walpole thus : —

" Girolamo da Trevizi and Holbein introduced both terra-cotta or moulded brickwork
for rich ornaments and medallions, or bas-reliefs fixed against the walls, plasterwork laid
over the brick wall, and sometimes painted, as at Norwich, and square bricks of two
colours, highly glazed and placed in diagonal lines, as at Layer Marney."

All of these devices are found at Sutton Place. And Mr. Hayward
then quotes from a communication made to him by Mr. Digby Wyatt
as follows : —

1 "Architectural Notes on Layer Marney Hall, Essex," by Charles Forster Hayward,
F.R.LB.A., 1862, in Transactions of the Essex Archaological Society, vol. iii. part i.

ELEVATION OF EAST WING

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vra THE HOUSE 125

" Among other Italians in this country whose taste exercised a powerful influence
upon architecture and the application of sculpture and painting to architecture were —
John of Padua, Torrigiano, Girolamo da Trevizi (often called Trevisano), Tolo dell'
Annunciata, a painter, Benedetto da Rovezzano, a very able Florentine sculptor who was
associated with Holbein, Zucchero, the painter, Luca Penni. Of these Luca Penni, painter,
Tolo deir Annunciata, painter, and Trevisano, architect and engineer, all pupils or of the
school of Raffaelle, were attached to the court of Henry VHI., and at work before
Holbein came here. Layer Marney terra-cotta ornaments were very likely executed
under the influence of Girolamo da Trevizi, the King's architect, with whom Sir Henry
Marney, the founder of the house, must, as Captain of the Guard to Henry VHI., have
come into occasional contact."

Holbein came to England first as a young man in 1526. It is more
likely that Girolamo or one of the Maiani was the man whose influence
gave to Sutton its marked Italian character.^

The house, therefore, is probably a work of builders trained in
Gothic art, but working under directions of a designer familiar with the
new domestic architecture of the Renascence, and possibly with designs
for the details or moulds given by a foreign and no doubt Italian
artist. There is no improbability in supposing that the general artistic
superintendence and the finer ornamental work was given by Trevisano.

The parts where the different styles appear may be said to be as
follows : —

The general plan of the house is that of the domestic architecture
of the first half of the sixteenth century, and in its general outline and
main characteristics it is Gothic. It is far more distinctly Gothic than
the houses built in the second half of that century. The gateway and
tower, the quadrangle, the great hall dividing the two wings with the
principal chambers at the upper end, and the kitchen, buttery, and
cellars at the lower end are features invariably found in the centuries
preceding, and in Gothic and castellated edifices. The pointed arch
distinctly appears over the mullions of the upper lights in all the
windows of the ground floor, in the small arcade of the parapet on the
fagade, and in the heads of the doors, large and small. The use of

1 The famous terra-cotta medallions of the Csesars at Hampton Court were executed by
Giovanni Maiano. For these and an account of terra-cotta work by Italians for English
palaces see History of Hampton Court Palace in Tudor Times, by Ernest Law, p. 50.

i»6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

mullions, transoms, and labels for the windows, the trefoils and quatre-
foils, the bays and gables, are essentially Gothic. The irregular disposi-
tion of the garden or south front is also essentially English and
Perpendicular Gothic. The general disposition of the house, however,
is Tudor rather than strictly Gothic, and entirely English in character.

On the other hand, the use of terra-cotta is almost always traceable
to foreign influences, usually Flemish or Italian. The diaper pattern
in dark brick is said to have been introduced by Holbein, but was prob-
ably earlier. The use of steps in the gables, as seen in the wings on
the north end, is said by Mr. J. J. Stevenson ' to be originally a French
artifice, and it is certainly rare in England, though occasionally seen in
the Perpendicular style. It is very marked at Layer Marney, as is
shown by Mr. Forster Hayward's drawings. Again, the quadrangle of
Sutton shows a symmetry and careful disposition of parts so as to pro-
duce a regular facade, which is not characteristic of Gothic work, but is
peculiarly a feature of Italian Renascence. The quadrangle would be
exactly symmetrical in all its parts were it not that on the western side
the windows are not all placed at regular intervals. There is perhaps
no known example in England of a house of a date so early having a
plan and fagade so symmetrical as is the interior of the great quad-
rangle of Sutton. Nor will it escape notice that the ancient chimneys
are carefully kept out of sight from the quadrangle, the fireplaces through-
out the house being mostly in the outer and not in the inner walls.
Some of the chimney-stacks are obviously more recent additions.

But the most distinct feature of Renascence work that the house
contains will be found in the details of the ornament in terra-cotta.
The amorini over the hall doors, north and south, and in the parapet
above, the arabesque work in the mullions, the string-courses moulded
with the " tun," the baluster ornament, the small arabesque mould-
ing with it, and also the lozenge ornament are all entirely in the taste

1 House Architecture, 1880, vol. i. p. 354. It is a special peculiarity of Scotch architec-
ture, and was there called " corbie steps " — the name indicating its foreign origin. It is also
seen at Stockbridge Hall, in Westmorland (see Parker, Domestic Architecture, vol. iv. 209), and
at Hillfield, Warwickshire, 1560 (see Old Warwickshire Houses, by W. Niven, 1878).

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viu THE HOUSE 127

of the Renascence, and are apparently of refined Italian design.
Nothing in the least like any of them is to be found in Gothic work ;
and the perfect freedom and grace with which these Renascence details
are adapted to the Gothic work, and even applied to pointed arches,
is one of the peculiar features of this house.

Yet whilst many of the details of the ornament are of strictly Rena-
scence character, there is no single example, even the smallest, of
classical work.^ The column, the round arch, the pilaster, the archi-
trave, the cornice and baluster, and the pediment are nowhere seen ;
nor, on the other hand, are the broad scrolls, contorted gables, the
lattice- work and fantastic parapets of the Elizabethan style proper.
The spirit of the work is rather horizontal in its lines than perpendicu-
lar, but the number and disposition of the mullions over each other
prevent the horizontal lines from being prominent.^

The house remains, the unique work of some unknown " Master of
1525," as one of the landmarks in the history of English architecture.
It is so far modern that it has all the symmetry of a Palladian design,
whilst it has no single classical feature such as occur at every point of
a building of Renascence times. The work as a whole is truly Gothic,
but Gothic treated with the eye for ornament of an Italian of the age
of Raffaelle. The profuse ornamentation is of the most delicate kind,
never obtruding itself, and in singular contrast with the coarse and
florid decoration by which the Elizabethan and Jacobean builders
sought to obtain effects of shadow and of contrast. It is interesting to
speculate what might have been the futyre of English domestic archi-
tecture if it had sought to adapt and retain the Gothic forms to new
uses in the refined and graceful spirit of the builder of Sutton.

The problem remains who was he, of what nation, of which school ?
The solution which seems the more probable is this — That the house

1 The classical style was introduced into England by John Thorpe, at Longleat, in Wilt-
shire — date 1567-97. Every Elizabethan example has classical features : there is not one at
Sutton.

'^ A good collection of views of Elizabethan houses is given in a recent work. Architecture
of the Renaissance in England, 1360-1630, by J. Alfred Gotch and W. Talbot Brown, London,
1 89 1. It will be seen how greatly all of these differ from Sutton, which remains Gothic.

128 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

was erected by English builders in the contemporary English style of
domestic Gothic ; that it was planned under the influence of men who
had seen the great palaces which had recently risen in Italy and France,
and who understood the new requirements which the modern life of the
sixteenth century had introduced ; and that the English builders were
assisted in the symmetrical design and in the details of the ornamenta-
tion by Trevisano or some of his countrymen and companions.

Whatever may be its origin, it is a building of singular interest in
the history of art, as well as of a rare and peculiar beauty. It is a
significant example of the flexibility of the Gothic architecture, and of
the vitality that remained in it just as it was about to be swept away.
It is an evidence of the possibility of building a modern house entirely
graceful and light without resorting to a single classical expedient.
Lastly, it is a wonderful example of the resources and durability of
terra-cotta in building. The brickwork and moulded terra-cotta, which
was originally prepared in several shades of red and orange, has now
been softened by age and exposure into a rich assemblage of different
hues : red, brown, russet, chocolate, orange, salmon, and straw colour,
but all harmonising with ordinary brick far better than would stone of
any shade. The whole of the work, constructive and ornamental, is in
brick and terra-cotta. The bases, doorways, windows, string-courses,
labels, and other dripstones, parapets, angles, cornices, and finials are of
moulded clay.^

In all, about forty or fifty different moulds appear to have been used.
These are combined and arranged with great ingenuity and freedom.
An elegant quatrefoil parapet ornament is obtained by uniting above
and below two of the trefoil heads of the window lights. Beside this
about six other moulded plaques are used in varied combinations.
One consists of a lozenge and ball ornament, one is an arabesque
balustrade, others are horizontal mouldings and string-courses ; three

1 I have not been able to discover in the original building a single piece of stone of any
kind, except on the tops of the semi-octagonal turrets flanking the north door to the hall, and
the toy battlements between these turrets. The great gates of the main north gateway were
of course hung in stone. Fragments of these mouldings remain in front of the central door
into the hall.

RESTORED ELEVATION

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VIII THE HOUSE 139

Others contain a "tun," R.W., and a conventional bunch of grapes,
being a "rebus" or punning emblem of the builder.^ The whole of
this series of ornaments of the most delicate character is in a wonderful
state of preservation. Not a single piece is wanting in the quadrangle ;
and after 370 years of exposure it is so sharp and perfect that casts
have been recently taken from it and new mullions reproduced. It
may be taken as certain that from the date of its erection till our own
day those moulded ornaments have never been copied or reproduced,
and that every piece now remaining in the building is the original work
of Sir R. Weston, except the portions which have been quite recently
renewed. In 1875 terra-cotta mullions and frames, taken in moulds
from casts of the existing windows, were replaced in windows which
had been altered to modern sash windows probably early in the
eighteenth century. The new mullions then inserted were the follow-
ing — Four windows in the east wing, at its southern end ; eight windows
in the garden front, at its western end ; and two small windows were
inserted when repairing the gables of the quadrangle. The terra-cottas
for this work were made by Messrs. Blashfield of Stamford in 1875.

The age in which Sutton Place was built was fruitful in works of
domestic architecture. Henry VIII. is called by Harrison {Description
of England, p. 330) "the onlie phoenix of his time for fine and curious
masonrie." Cardinal Wolsey was building Hampton Court, Christ
Church, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge ; Edward Stafford,
the princely Duke of Buckingham, built Thornbury Castle, in Gloucester-
shire, between 151 1 and 1520. Grimsthorp, in Lincolnshire, was built
by the Duke of Suffolk ; Kenninghall, in Norfolk, by the Duke of
Norfolk ; and Layer Marney Towers, in Essex, by Lord Marney. The
latter is the building which comes nearest to Sutton Place in character.
It was built by Lord Marney about 1520, and is also remarkable for the

1 Of course the vulgar story that the "tun" and the "bunch of hops" show that the
builder was a brewer is an idle blunder. The grapes appear as an ornament at Layer Marney,
and show a foreign rather than an English designer. The grapes at Layer Mamey are
certainly as much like " hops " as those at Sutton. One supposes that in Essex they say to
this day that Lord Mamey, Captain of the Bodyguard, was the King's " brewer."

130 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

use of terra-cotta combined with brick. Like Sutton Place, it is a
Perpendicular Gothic building, the windows having mullions, transoms,
and labels, pointed arch and fantastic Renascence ornaments in the
Italian style. It was probably designed or decorated by Trevisano.

The points of resemblance between Layer Marney Towers and
Sutton Place are these — Layer Marney was built about 1520, Sutton
about 1525. Both are of brick and terra-cotta, and both are English
Perpendicular, with Italian Renascence details. In both the main
brick walls are diapered. They both have in plan a symmetrical court-
yard, hexagonal turrets, parapets, and circular staircases. But the
details of the work at Layer Marney are far more distinctly Renascence
than at Sutton ; and this is especially visible in the parapet. There is
nothing at Sutton so rococo as the parapet at Layer Marney.

Layer Marney Towers still exists about 8 miles from Colchester.
A good account of it, with drawings by Charles F. Hay ward, was pub-
lished by the Essex Archaeological Society in 1862 {Transactions of the
Essex ArchcBological Society, vol. iii. part i.) An account also appears
in the Building News, 19th September 1879.

Other buildings of the same date are Hengrave Hall, in Suffolk,
built by Sir Thomas Kytson, 1525-38, and Boughton Malherbe,
Kent, both built by courtiers of Henry VIII. The following are
houses nearest in date to Sutton Place — East Barsham, Fakenham,
Norfolk (temp. Henry VII.), also a brick building. It shows the H.R.
and E.R., griffin and greyhound, crown and hawthorn bush as in the
windows at Sutton. Also parts of Haddon Hall, 1545 ; Littlecotes,
Wilts ; Bramhall Hall, Cheshire (see accounts of this in Ormerod's
Cheshire). Of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, built by Sir Thomas Kytson,
1525-38, there is an excellent account {History and Antiquities of
Heng7'ave, by John Gage, 203, 4to, 1822),' and see Parker's Domestic
Architecture of the Middle Ages, and House Architecture, by J. J.
Stevenson, 1882.

Terra-cotta is used profusely in the following contemporary build-

1 Hengrave is built of freestone and white brick, but without terra-cotta. Its plan is not
symmetrical, like that of Sutton ; the entrance is not in the middle of the quadrangle.

ELEVATION OF NORTH END OF EAST WING.

Plate E E.

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vni THE HOUSE 131

ings — Hampton Court, Layer Marney, East Barsham ; but it seems
to have disappeared almost immediately from English work until
revived in this generation,

A plan of a house during the sixteenth century is described in a
curious book, A Dyetorie or Regiment of Health, by Andrew Boorde of
Physick Doctor, 1547 (edited by F. J. Furnivall, E. E. Text Soc,
1870). In chap. iv. he writes — "Make the hall under such a
fasshyon that the parler be anexed to the heade of the hall, and the
buttery and pantry be at the lower ende of the hall, the seller under the
pantry, yette somewhat abase ; the kychen set somewhat a base from
the buttry and pantry commyng with an entry by the wall of the
buttry, the pastry-house and the larder-howse anexed to the kychen.
Then devyde the lodgynge by the cyrceute of the quadryngall courte,
and let the gatehouse be opposyt or agaynst the hall-dore (not directly)
but the hall-dore standing a base, and the gatehowse in the mydle of
the front entry into the place : let the pryve chambre be anexed to the
chambre of astate, with other chambres necessary for the buyldynge, so
that many of the chambres maye have a prospecte in to the Chapell."
And then he goes on to describe the proper position for the stables,
the slaughter-house, half a mile from the mansion, also the bakehouse,
how to keep the moat clean, the fruit garden, fish-pool, the park "with
deer and conyes," butts, and a bowling-alley.

This is the plan followed at Sutton Place. The hall is in the centre,
entirely dividing the east from the west wing, and occupying the height
of two stories.^ The principal sitting-room was at the east end of the
hall. The kitchen was in the west wing, the room now converted into
the drawing-room. The principal apartments were in the east wing,
the buttery and pantry at the west end of the hall, with the cellars
underneath. As originally built, the north end of the quadrangle was

1 A feature worthy of notice is that the hall door is precisely in the centre of the quad-
rangle, and hence in exact line with the gateway in the tower of the north front, and both are
also in line with the garden door of the hall. This is contrary to the directions given in the
Dyetorie and apparently contrary to the universal practice. At least, I can find no plan of a
Gothic house where a right line passes true through the external gateway and the inner and
outer hall doors, and is at the same time the central axis of the principal court.

132 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

occupied by a wing communicating across, and having in the middle a
lofty tower with gateway. This wing, like the east wing, was externally
27 feet in width. It was, of course, in length exactly the same as the
quadrangle, i.e. 81 feet. This front appears in three drawings in the
possession of the present owner, one being about the beginning of the
seventeenth century, say 1600; a second is dated 1750; and the third
is 1779. An engraving of the latter was given in the Gentleman s
Magazine, p. 108, February 1779. This tower and side of the quad-
rangle had long been in a ruinous condition, and it was removed by
the then owner in 1782.^ A careful architectural elevation taken
previous to that date is now in Mr. Salvin's hands (1750). From these
it would appear that the gate-tower rose to a height nearly double the
existing house. It had a large gateway, apparently four-centred arch,
with three entire stories over the gateway. The central windows were
of four lights with transoms, the lowest window of eight lights ; the
mullions, labels, cornices, and medallion ornaments in terra-cotta, pre-
cisely similar to those of the present facade of the quadrangle. Beside
the gateway were two turrets, obviously containing staircases, and giving
access to the stories above. From the ends of each wing a high wall
with a coping is shown in the older drawing (1600), terminating at the
corners with hexagonal towers, similar to that one now remaining
entire in the garden. Of these turrets in the curtilage there are said to
have been eight.^

With the exception of the removal of the north side, the quadrangle
as seen externally remains in its original form. Whether the hall is
internally in its original form, or whether it extended to the west so as
to include another window, or even another bay, is very doubtful. The
present partition at the west end of the hall is slight. We meet inside
no solid and thick wall until we reach the west bay ; and the height of
the rooms adjoining the minstrels' gallery corresponds with the ceiling

1 The bills of the contractor for the pulling down the tower are now in the possession of
Mr. Salvin. They are dated 1 782. The receipts for the various works and alterations (.£2445)
are dated 1784.

2 See Plates D, E, HHH, O, and P.

DOORWAY IN NORTH FRONT.

Plate F.

— Clevg rioi? —

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'i 0.,V I I', LI

vm THE HOUSE 133

of the hall, and not with that of the other rooms.' Here stood the
pantry and buttery, adjoining the kitchen, and close to the stairs
descending on the garden side, under the present staircase, to the cellars
and vaults. In houses of this date the sets of rooms round a quad-
rangle do not communicate. As Mr. J. J, Stevenson says [House
Architecture, ii. p. 34), "the house (of 1500-50) is only a collection of
separate houses ; access between them could only be got by going
outside." And the fact that there are three doors together makes it
evident that this was the plan adopted here. The present opening
through the wall at the west angle into the corridor to the great hall is
recent. Originally, it is probable that the rooms of the west wing did
not communicate with the hall except through the kitchen ; and it is
probable that the rooms on the ground floor in the east wing did not
communicate with the hall.

There is no reason to suppose that any of the three great staircases
as now seen in the house belonged to the original work. They present
the character of a later date. The north and east sides of the quad-
rangle were those chiefly injured by the fire of 1560; and they seem
' never to have been completely restored or adapted to use. What was
the original character of the rooms, and whether the existing party
walls were so planned, it seems impossible now to determine.

The present long gallery occupies the upper floor of the whole east
wing. It was restored in its present form in 1878. About half of it
had previously been used as a Catholic chapel during this century.

1 The fact that the west wall of the hall is a slight partition wall is not at all decisive
against its being the original end of the hall. Although the hall as it stands might well be
longer for its width, it would be highly unusual and inconsistent if the hall door stood any-
where near the middle, instead of the end of the hall. As it is, it occupies a very unusual
place, one due probably to the desire of the designer to produce a symmetrical facade. It
will be observed that in the inventory of 1542 there is next to the butler's chamber the
"litle chambre bi the mydell entre." This must have occupied the site of the present
passage which gives access to the hall at its north-west door. The hall, therefore, could not
very well be longer than it is now. Besides, with the increase of living rooms in a mansion
the great hall was reduced in size. It was no longer the general living and sleeping room of
the retainers, as it had been in the thirteenth and fourteenth century (Parker, Dom. Arch
iii. 15).

134 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

Whether the original plan contained a long gallery at all resembling
the present may well be doubted. No long gallery of the scale and
completely developed character of the present can be found in England
so early as 1525. That which we now see resembles the fully formed
galleries of the Elizabethan and Jacobean age. It is certain that the
gallery, if any such there were, was much shorter than the present one ;
otherwise it would have had windows on all four sides, and would have
been hardly habitable in winter. There are now behind the panelling
recesses for four fireplaces, not for one as we now see. They com-
municate with chimneys in the four double stacks visible in the eastern
wall, all part of the original edifice. And it may be doubted if the
builders of the early sixteenth century ever designed a single room to
be warmed by four fires in place of one large one. In the inventory
taken at the death of the builder in 1542 (see Appendix) there is no
description of a room which would correspond with the long gallery, as
"thegret chambre" is undoubtedly the present hall. It is probable
that three, if not four rooms, or even more, occupied the place of this
gallery.

In the original plan the private rooms of the master were probably
in the south end of the east wing, adjoining the head of the hall, the
old solar, in fact. An opening, loft, or gallery may have existed on the
upper story, whence the family could see what was going on in the hall
after they had left it. The entrance door in the quadrangle to the east
wing led to the set of chambers quite distinct from the rest of the house,
and the entrance in the quadrangle to the west wing led to the offices
and kitchen. The original chapel is said to have been in the western
side of the inner court facing the stables, and the priest's room was till
lately the low panelled room facing the garden at the extreme south-
west angle of the house. This, at least, has been the disposition in the
last century, when the family were under the pressure of the anti-
Catholic laws. Whether there was any other chapel in the original
design is not clear. No traces of it appear, and it may have been in
the east wing.

The plan of the house will be made out best by following the

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VIII

THE HOUSE

135

inventory. It is possible that was drawn up in this way : beginning
with the hall in the centre, it passes into the chambers in the east wing ;
so round the east wing to the gateway or northern front, and thence
round to the west wing, the kitchen, pantry, offices, and stables. But
the original chambers cannot now be identified ; and doubtless the
house as planned consisted of four sides of a great quadrangle, each
side being practically separate, and having access without and within
the quadrangle by separate entrances. Within these four distinct
blocks of building, north, east, south, and west, the separate apartments
were only divided by very slight, and perhaps variable partitions of
panelling, or even screens of tapestry and canvas. The dimensions of
the principal halls are as follows — The hall is 5 1 feet 6 inches long by
25 feet 6 inches, or between the bays 38 feet. It is 30 feet 9 inches
high. The long gallery is 1 74 feet long by 23 feet wide, and 15 feet high.
The account given by Aubrey in his Natural History of Antiqui-
ties of Surrey, iii. 228, is as follows — "The place is a noble seat, built
of brick, and has a stately gatehouse, with a very high Tower, bearing
a turret at each angle. In it is a square court. The windows [? mullions
and transoms] are made of baked earth, of whitish yellow colour (like
Flanders bricks). The mouldings within the house are adorned with
pendants of Fruits and Flowers of the same brick, where is R.W. and
the Figure of a Tun, as a rebus of his name. In the hall (of the same
sort of work as in King's College, Cambridge, if not by the same hand)
is the crest of Weston. In the parlour is his coat of arms."

i!>j..biuiii:n:i=iiiMMMiMlii^^

■iiJiP{V:'ii'i!':LlliifM!!!;^;-:i2

CHAPTER IX

THE QUADRANGLE

The quadrangle, in its original form, as completed by the northern
wing, measured within (above the moulded base) 8 1 feet 3 inches x 8 1
feet 3 inches/ It is remarkable for two essential features which distin-
guish it from the English architecture of the period ; the first being its
regular and symmetrical character, both in plan and in elevation ; the
second, that its scheme of ornament is in the low and delicate relief of
the Italian style, rather than of the open cut and linear work of the late
Gothic manner. The quadrangle is in height on the east and west
wings 32 feet 6 inches from the ground to the top of the parapet. It is
divided into two stories by a string-course, the lower story being 16
feet from the ground to the string-course, the upper story 13 feet,
and the parapet itself is 3 feet 6 inches. On the south wing, where
the upper story is 2 feet 6 inches higher, the measurement from the

1 The exact line of the northern wing, both on its inside and outside walls, is easily trace-
able, the return of the moulding of the skirting or base being visible both on the east and
west wings ; and the foundations have recently been opened and discovered by Mr. Sidney
Harrison ; see Plate O.

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CHAP. IX THE QUADRANGLE 137

ground to the top of the parapet is 35 feet. It appears from the mould-
ings and the bases on the two entrance doors of the hall north and
south, and the two entrance doors in the east and west wings, that the
level of the quadrangle is nearly, if not exactly, the original, as is the
floor of the hall.^ It is no doubt one of the peculiarities of the building,
perhaps due to the extreme evenness and dryness of the situation, that
the entire ground floor of the whole house in both quadrangles now
stands on the exact level of the soil, both on the quadrangle and the
garden side ; so that no step of any kind is employed for entering the
house on any side, and apparently none was ever designed.

The entrance doors to the hall and all the windows of the lower
story throughout the house are protected by dripstone labels ; the
windows of the upper story have none. The windows of the upper
story are sufficiently protected by the string-course and dripstone
under the parapet, the upper story being 3 feet higher than the
lower ; thus the heads of the windows in the upper story come close
up to the string-course. The windows of the lower story also have
in their upper range of lights four cusps, forming at the top a pointed
head. The other lights have two cusps, forming a round head. A base
with moulding, at present 2 feet 6 inches from the level of the soil,
runs round the building. Over the second story stands a parapet, and
the whole building is covered by a high-pitched tiled roof.

The principal entrance, called in the inventory of 1542 "the mydell
entre," opening into the west end of the hall, is in the centre of the
south side of the quadrangle, and stood in exact line with the gateway
in the north tower and wing, now removed. It is also in exact line
with the similar entrance to the garden on the south side of the house.
Thus the axis through the centre of the quadrangle passed through the
centre of the outer gateway, and also through the two great doors of
the hall, north and south.

1 The surrounding soil must have been raised somewhat in three centuries by the action
of earth-worms ; see Charles Darwin on the action of earth-worms, which raise open ground
about I foot in each century {The Fortnation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms,
1881).

138 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

At the upper end of the quadrangle in the west and east wings are
two similar doorways, exactly facing each other. All of these are
1 1 feet high. Nearly in the centre of the west and east wings are two
sloped bays, 13 feet by 3 feet, also facing each other, and in every way
identical. North of each bay on the upper story are three windows,
and south are two windows ; all of them having six lights. The four
windows, identical in design and corresponding with each other, on
either side of the two side doors, east and west, have four lights each.
The rows of windows on the two stories stand nearly, but not quite,
regularly over each other, and are placed nearly, but not quite, at
regular intervals. From the old pencil drawing by William Woolfe,
signed and dated 1 750, it would appear that the northern wing, then
standing, as seen from the quadrangle, nearly corresponded with the
existing southern wing, and had six windows of six lights each on either
side of the gateway. The principal entrance door in the south wing
is obviously planned with a view to a symmetrical fa9ade, and is hardly
the most convenient for the use of the hall itself. The quadrangle
itself is an exact square. An arrangement of the quadrangle so
symmetrical is quite contrary to all the methods of building adopted
in earlier times, or in any building of a castellated kind. It may
well be doubted if there is extant in England any earlier example
of such a plan, and in any case it was due to foreign influence and
reminiscences. It would probably be difficult to find in England a
house so early as 1520 where, as at Sutton, the desire of symmetry
in the external elevation entirely dominated the claims of convenience
within.

The south side of the quadrangle, as seen from within it, is perfectly
regular in plan and elevation. It is 2^ feet higher than the wings on
the side, east and west. The entrance in the centre is flanked by two
regular half- octagonal turrets, 3.2 feet in diameter above the base,
rising to a height of 48 feet. The string-courses and ornament of the
parapet are carried round the turrets. They are completely covered
from top to bottom with moulded ornaments, being the terra-cotta
plaques with the R.W., the "tun," and the grape patterns set close

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IX THE QUADRANGLE 139

together. At the top they are now capped with large finials of stone,
and they are connected with an ornamental embattled parapet. It
seems not improbable, from the way in which the parapet is built on
to, and not into, the turrets, that it was a later addition, in spite of the
use of the lozenge plaques between the embrasures. The fragments of
stone before the main central doorway are probably pieces of the piers
in which the great outer gates were hung. This is the only instance in
the existing building where either stone or battlements are found.
Both have been repaired at some unknown date ; but there seems no
means of ascertaining if they are precisely according to the original
design. The change, if any there be, is very slight.

Over the entrance are two tiers of amorini, or winged cupids,
handling apparently rosaries, or strings of beads with crosses. They
are quite Italian in conception, but crudely executed and somewhat
monotonous in arrangement, as though English artificers were working
out an Italian sketch or suggestion. The amorini appear immediately
over the entrance door, which is itself a very fair specimen of Tudor
Gothic with geometric tracery and quatrefoils in the spandrels. Under
the embattled parapet above, the rows of amorini appear again, each in
a rather tame and awkward niche of low Gothic pattern, apparently
formed by inserting a double cusp.

The parapet, which runs completely round the quadrangle, is fanciful
and varied. It consists, in alternate spaces of about 10 feet each,
arranged without precise regularity, of three distinct sets of ornaments
— the lozenge pattern, the flat oblong plaque only used here, and the
common English quatrefoil pattern, ingeniously contrived by inserting
four of the cusps used in the window heads. Neither this nor any other
part of the parapet is open or pierced. On the east and west wings
the lozenge ornament is found also between the windows under the
string-course. On the south wing there is a continuous band of the
lozenge ornament over the windows and under the string-course. At
the juncture of each of the patterns for the parapet is a finial, now much
decayed, as it would seem, four finials in each wing. Enough remains
of the finials to show that they were formed of plain and solid hexagonal

140 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

blocks of terra-cotta, about 14 inches high, set on bases formed of hollow
blocks of the same form. What now looks like stone is the decayed
plaster backing for the hollow pieces of terra-cotta. The parapet above
the bays is formed of the lozenge ornament in rows, capped by the
coping of toy battlemented work characteristic of English Perpendicular.
The finials were probably capped in the same way as the hexagonal
turrets now are.

The north wing appears to have been of the same width as the
east wing, viz. 27 feet (externally). A good idea is obtained by the
pencil drawings of Mr. W. Woolfe, dated 1750, of its north and south
front. The gate tower was about 70 feet high.^ The large gateway
in the centre was a four -centred Tudor arch with deep mouldings.
Over this was a flat band of ornamental terra-cotta work, with the
amorini similiar to that over the entrance doors to the hall inside the
quadrangle. Above the gateway were three stories, each lit by a large
window, the lower one having transoms and eight lights, the two upper
four lights in one row. All three windows were protected by labels.
The gate tower was flanked by two large octagonal turrets, apparently
6 or 7 feet in diameter, and have six lights, one above the other, between
which, at the top, ran a battlemented parapet. These turrets obviously
served as staircases to reach the upper stories. The chimney-stacks
are here, as elsewhere, on the outside, there being few chimneys on the
quadrangle side throughout the house. The gateway as shown in
several drawings is a Tudor arch with mouldings and no label. Though
it was originally pointed, it is drawn as roughly rounded in the three
independent drawings extant. The gateway, and indeed the windows,
more nearly resemble those of Layer Marney, also a terra-cotta work
of this date, than perhaps any other extant example of Tudor
architecture.

The whole fagade of the quadrangle is ornamented profusely with
terra-cotta plaques and mouldings. The quoins are all worked with

^ The ground has been recently opened and trenched by Mr. Sidney Harrison, who has
made careful measured plans. From these the exact line of the building can be followed, and
it is exhibited in the "restored" etching; Plates 5 and 6, and see HHH, O, and P.

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IX THE QUADRANGLE 141

alternate squares of the R. W., " tun," and grape design, the black bricks
forming a diaper pattern on the red bricks, and the terra-cotta being
in two main colours, one deep brick -red, the other an orange -straw
colour, several of the designs appearing alternately in the two colours.
The brickwork and terra-cotta have by age acquired an immense
variety of different tints, varied by the grays and greens of lichens,
mosses, and wallflowers, so that the whole presents an extraordinary
assemblage of warm and harmonious hues.

There seems to be but little attempt to cover brickwork with plaster,
as at Layer Marney, the chief examples of this being on the parapet
as a backing to the quatrefoil ornament, and again on the parapet on
the garden front south of the house.

The elaborate scheme of ornamentation is confined to the quadrangle.
The gateway front to the north, and the external walls of the house
east and west, have no ornamental work beyond the mullions of the
windows and the moulded base, and no parapet and no string-courses or
dripstones. The garden front is of a very different character from the
quadrangle. All attempt at symmetry is discarded, the parts are
grouped in deep and irregular masses, and the chimney-stacks and
gables characteristic of Tudor architecture are disposed irregularly.
The garden door to the hall on the south side is ornamented similarly
to that in the quadrangle on the north side, and the parapet is carried
along the south side. No doubt the external south side of the building
was protected by an outer wall.

It may be noted here that the large and ungainly cross moline made
of coarse tiles, which is inserted three times under an ogee pattern in
this parapet, is almost certainly a late addition, not earlier than 1640.
The cross moline is the coat of Copley, whose heiress married John
Weston in 1637. There is nothing in the family heraldry to account
for the cross moline before the year 1652, when John Weston suc-
ceeded. It is plainly not the cross of St. John, to which Sir Richard
Weston could have no claim. And though a cross moline is found
in one of the quarters of the coats of Sir Francis and Sir Henry
Weston, 1536-92, it is simply for Longuevilliers, one of the quarter-

142 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

ings of Pickering. It could have no meaning as a bearing of Sir
Richard Weston.

The external walls measure 3 feet in thickness ; the north wall of
the northern gateway wing measures 4 feet, as the broken return now
shows. The roof over the east and west wings, and also that over the
south wing, are similar, and form one continuous structure, open through-
out, though on rather different levels. The roof is high-pitched and
tiled, supported by immense arches of oak fastened by cross pieces,
and bound together by huge horizontal transverse beams resting on
the walls. There is no evidence that these were ever prepared so as
to form an open roof, or that any room or dormitory ever existed in
the roof; the few and irregular dormer windows are merely to light
the roof Beneath the transverse beams are now flat ceilings of lath
and plaster, and the form of the ceiling in the roof, with a coving of
about 1 5- feet, is perhaps not far from the original form. The immense
beams in the roof that cross the ceiling may easily have supported
pendants in the hall, but there is nothing to show that they did. The
action of fire is visible in the i"oof of the northern part of the east wing,
as it is in the brickwork of the ground floor of the same wing. The
roof of about half the east wing, at the northern end of it, is evidently
a later and rather rude restoration. The two small double light windows
in the gables of the east and west wings are still visible on the north
end. The mullions seem to have been early removed from the eight
windows on the north ends of the east and west wings, as appears from
the old pen-and-ink drawing, made apparently in the seventeenth
century.

As originally built, the house appears to have consisted of this
quadrangular court, with probably a chapel in the south-west corner,
but without the second court on the west. The smaller quadrangle on
the west does not contain any terra-cotta whatever. The inventory
made on the founder's death mentions about thirty-two rooms. There
are now more than this number in the house, without reckoning the
north and east wings at all, and few of the existing rooms answer to the
''lytell closets," which were merely bits enclosed from other rooms.

IX THE QUADRANGLE 143

No partition walls of any solidity appear in the house, except that the
walls of the east and west wings are carried along across the south
wing at a thickness of 2 feet 6 inches. These are probably the
only partition walls in the original structure, as in accordance
with the practice of the times the apartments would be separ-
ated only by panelling or other light division. The original stair-
cases, either as external adjuncts or within, cannot now be positively
traced.

There is no doubt that the house, as now and for a long period
inhabited, has been completely transposed. The most pleasant part
of the house must have been the east and south-east wings. The
part of the house reserved for the family was doubtless in the north
and east wings, one of which is now removed altogether, and the other
practically abandoned as a residence. The west wing, in which the
present residence is, was the quarter of the offices ; the present drawing-
room was the kitchen until about forty years ago ; the present dining-
room was probably once connected with the back buildings, on which
it abuts. The west wing measures i foot less in width than the eastern
and the north wings.

It is probable that from the time of Sir H. Weston (temp. Eliz.)
down to that of the third Sir R. Weston (temp. Car. I.) Clandon and
not Sutton was the principal residence of the family. Their baptisms
and marriages are registered at West Clandon, and in existing deeds
of the seventeenth century Sir R. Weston is described as of Clandon,
not of Sutton. If so, the rooms injured by the fire in the time of
Elizabeth, in the north and east wings, may never have been completely
refitted and furnished. In 1641 Sir R, Weston sold the Clandon
estate and mansion to Sir R, Onslow. It was then, probably, that the
house at Sutton was refitted anew, and to this date we may attribute
much of the carved panelling and oak doorways and staircases, and the
Copley arms — a cross moline — on the parapet, etc., and in the panelling ;
and as Sir R. Weston devoted much of his fortune to the canal specula-
tion, and ultimately embarrassed his estate, he may have lived at Sutton
with less magnificence than did his grandfather. Sir Henry, eighty

144

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP. IX

years before, and thus, after the sale of Clandon, he fitted up for his
own residence the west wing. Aubrey calls the panelled hall the
"parler," so that in his day (1673) the family apparently lived in
the west wing ; and at this epoch it is not improbable that the small
quadrangle on the west side of the house was added.

More. 1^ Scchoti.* f^ttwr^ii ^

"iTjc bosttwei^'T coqtJt^fe of cellars ^intd bv tncfr walls
wl;ic|[ suf>tx>rr I^E slbi« ftrcroft^ ljo\l IfJ Soi'Je places

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CHAPTER X

THE GREAT AND THE PANELLED HALL

The smaller hall in the west wing, abutting on the west entrance from
the court, now serves as the general entrance hall to the building.
Aubrey, writing in 1673, speaks of it (iii. p. 228) as the "parler." It
measures 24 feet by 19 feet 6 inches, excluding the bay. It is now
completely panelled in old oak wainscoting. The whole of this was
until recently covered with layers of old paint, whitewash, and canvas.
The room had long been used as a lamp-room. In 1874 the screens
and paint were removed and the panelling cleaned. Some pieces from
other parts of the house were used in forming recesses and doors, but
in general the panelling is in its original condition. These alterations
or repairs were made by Frederick Harrison, then in occupation under
a lease. The panelled hall has a Tudor four-centred arch for the fire-
place of terra-cotta, similar to that in the great hall, and like it orna-
mented with the pomegranate, the badge of Catherine of Aragon.^
This would show that the fireplace itself was not later than 1527, the

^ Ferdinand V. of Spain was engaged in the conquest of Granada, 1483-85, when he
received news of the birth of Catherine, and she received the pomegranate {granada) as her
badge, in commemoration of the issue of the campaign. In the spandrels of the arch are the
arms of Weston and of Camel, as they were quartered by Sir R. Weston, the founder, £ind
appear in the original glass windows of the great hall.

146 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

year of the disgrace of Catherine ; and it would show that this room,
if the fireplace is in situ, belonged to the more important parts of the
house. The fireplace might possibly have been removed and placed
here when the carved oak chimney-piece was fitted up, the date of
which it is easy to fix.

Over the fireplace is a panel, and painted on the oak are the arms
of Weston, impaling those of Copley. This was the coat borne by
John Weston, who married Mary Copley in 1637, and who died 1690.
Above this used to stand the large escutcheon of the arms of Sir
Thomas Copley, with numerous quarterings. In 1874 the paintings
and woodwork were restored by Mr. F. H. Salvin, and the escutcheon
was removed and placed in the south end of the long gallery in the
east wing. The woodwork and fittings of this hall are therefore to be
attributed to about the middle of the seventeenth century, and the same
is perhaps the date of much of the carved oak panelling in the hall
and elsewhere in the house.

In this hall is an old picture of a large house of the Jacobean period,
which has not been identified. The painted iron safe is of the same
period. Both of these are supposed to have been part of the original
furniture. The other pictures and furniture in this hall have no
historical connection with the house, and have been recently placed
there. This hall in the original plan may have served as a guard-room,
armoury, or lower hall.

THE GREAT HALL

The great hall, which occupies the larger part of the south wing, is
a noble apartment, 51 feet 6 inches in length, 25 feet 6 inches in breadth,
and nearly 31 feet in height. It has two principal entrances facing
each other, the centre of both being now 1 2 feet from the west end of
the hall — the one on the north opening into the court, the other on the
south into the garden. The hall is warmed by an open fireplace on the
south side, which, it will be observed, is one of the immense stack of
chimneys 5 feet thick in the south wall. The other two chimneys must

Plate K.

guTTO.K PbACE j^AT[ GU1LDFQT\D.

ClfC ffic window % door jambs t qcajs it as oho 1fjt diamoad 15 cusf>td.
t ficjurcd /loneJs 1, oraomeaJal blocks lo ec/a^ons ^ quoias art uerra Cotfa. .

'3\\t ty egerol date o/t^e "bmldino is l5gO.

HALF ELEVATION OF SOUTH FRONT TOWARDS THE. COURTYARD.

K) 5
— ' ■ ' — ^-

Scalt of Jttt"^

uoft.t

\ (i .VI i; II

MI'it, OMI.i/,

X THE GREAT AND THE PANELLED HALL 147

have belonged to the vaults. The hall occupies both stories, and is
lit by the four windows of the two bays, north and south, and by six
other windows on the north, and four on the south side.

The position of the entrance doors is certainly most unusual. Halls
of this class usually are entered at their lower end, or if entered by the
side, then the entrance is at the extreme end, and is protected by a
screen of some kind. Here the main entrance, called in the inventory
of 1542 the " mydell entre," is so far from the end of the hall that the
passage running across the two doors cuts off exactly one-third of the
whole length of the hall. It is extremely difficult to see how any screen
could have crossed the hall without destroying its appearance and obscur-
ing the view of the painted glass in the windows. It is equally difficult
to see how the hall could have been either longer or shorter than it is
at present. All the windows of the hall now have their painted glass,
apparently in their original position, and contemporary with the house,
at least those in the lower windows are (see the arms of Lord Derby
in IV., and of Sir Walter Dennis in X. 3).

The inventory of 1542 mentions a room " bi the mydell entre,"
which could hardly have been so called if the hall were longer.
Although an entrance at the side of the hall and so near its centre
must always have been inconvenient, it seems to have been so used
until the alterations of 1874, though by the removal of the north wing
the court is now much more exposed to the weather. The entrance
was probably protected by a small screen enclosing a few square
feet round the door. Another peculiarity is that there is no trace of
any dais in the hall, and the windows of the bays north and south are
so near the level of the soil that probably none ever existed.' At the
east end of the hall a solid party wall 2 feet 6 inches thick separates
the hall from the east wing. At the lower or west end of the hall no
solid partition of any kind is traceable. We find none until we reach
the wall continuous with that of the west wing, which is 2 feet 6 inches

^ There is no dais in the great hall of Hampton Court. The dais was omitted about this
period. As to this, and the reduced size of the mediaeval hall, see Parker, Dom. Arch,
iii. 15, 78.

148 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

thick. The cellars below show buttress work, as though designed to
support the end of the existing stone floor.

The ceiling is now a flat plaster roof, which was painted for the
owner in 1874. There is no trace of any pendant work, or of any other
class of roofing. The beams in the roof over the hall were evidently
not constructed to be shown as an open timber roof ; they are perfectly
equal to support any weight that might be hung from them, but there
is no trace of anything of the kind. The dormer windows in the roof
are too small and few for any other purpose except just to light the
roof, and there is nothing to show that any habitable rooms ever existed
in it. Thus every examination leads to the belief that the hall, as we
now see it, is not very far from its original appearance.

The general disposition of the hall appears to have been as follows —
At the upper or east end, where the billiard table now is, the high table
stood across between the bay windows north and south. Here was the
" gret carpet to the table there " in the inventory ; also in the wardrobe
prepared for royal visits was the "grete carpete to lay under the Kyngs
fete." Below this in the body of the hall stood the "bord in the gret
chambre," where sat the officers, retainers, and strangers, for the inven-
tory speaks of "a clothe of dyap for a square borde " ; "xi fyne table
clothes for the hawle for strangers." In a house of this kind, in a
country at that time so thinly cultivated, something like open house was
a necessity of the age. Round the walls were, no doubt, hangings of
some kind of tapestry, for the inventory gives in " the gret chambere,"
" Ffyrst . . . peces of hangyngs of the Story of the Egypcyons."
Behind the high table would be the door communicating with the
principal rooms of the family in the east wing, and doubtless, as now,
a gallery in the upper story from which they could survey the hall after
leaving it. At the west end of the hall was the buttery, butler's pantry,
and other offices, "the butler's chamb," and the "litle chamb bi the
mydell entre." Adjoining the pantry was the staircase leading down to
the cellarage, which is no doubt much in its original condition. The
kitchen stood further west, next to the garden, in the part now occupied
by the inner drawing-room. This was still the kitchen within the last

ELEVATION OF CENTRE OF SOUTH

J£=

ftcol

SIDE TOWARDS THE SOUTH.

Plate L.

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C-/;l.ir(

I. I I', 1, S I .' f. y<

THE GREAT AND THE PANELLED HALL

149

forty years. On the second floor, at the west end of the hall, stood, as
is now to be seen, the minstrels' gallery.

The whole of the hall is vaulted underneath with an extensive
system of cellars. The arches and jambs of these are made of hard
chalk. The huge oak beams and doors are still in many places visible.
It would appear that two of the chimneys in the great stack of three in
the south wall were intended for these cellars.

The fireplace is of terra-cotta, and is apparently in its original place
and form. It is a four-centre arch with Tudor-Gothic mouldings, the
spandrels of the arch showing rudely-worked Saracens' heads, the crest
of the Westons, and also branches of pomegranates with fruit and
tendrils. As observed in the similar fireplace of the panelled hall,
p. 145, the pomegranate implies a date earlier than 1527, the year when
Henry VIII. actively promoted the divorce of Catherine.

The wainscoting of the hall is no doubt of various dates, perhaps
none of it contemporary with the house. No part of it seems earlier
than the seventeenth century, the ornamental work over the two large
doorways being apparently Jacobean and in its proper place. The
carved work over the fireplace is obviously made up of seventeenth-
century fragments, perhaps pieces from the ends of bedsteads or sides
of chests ; and it would be unsafe to assign any definite date to this
rather artless concoction of stray fragments. The bulk of the panelling
in the hall is probably of the seventeenth century, with perhaps some
repairs, alterations, and refittings of the eighteenth century. It may be
mentioned that the furniture, chandeliers, carved chairs, cabinets and
chests, tables and tapestries, both in the hall and in the long gallery,
have no historical connection with the house.

liieaiiSiiiiiiii

liiiiii.;,

ji:i:k.fe'^ ' ^:i' ' '''" ' ^!!fS I S'^':u ' ]i' ! l' ' !!l!ii'te!^iJ:

CHAPTER XI

THE LONG GALLERY, TAPESTRIES, PORTRAITS, AND ESCUTCHEONS

The east wing of the house, in which with the northern or gateway
wing were situated the principal apartments of the original building, was
partially destroyed by the fire of 7th August 1 560. The extent of the
fire, which injured about one-third of the east wing on its northern end,
can be distinctly traced in the roof, and also in the ground floor. And
there is every reason to think that the whole of the east wing was never
completely restored. A portion of it was formerly fitted up as a Catholic
chapel, and the staircase and much of the woodwork evidently belongs
to the last century.

In the year 1878 the gallery was restored in its present form by
Frederick Harrison, the lessee. As now fitted up, somewhat short of
the external length of the wing, the gallery measures internally, and
including the staircase, 152 feet by 21 in width. Mr. Harrison replaced
the terra-cotta mullions, frames, and mouldings in four of the windows
there ; reglazed the lights on the windows at the northern part of the
gallery, and fitted up the panelling and tapestries. The panels were for

■ U3
t-
<

CHAP. XI

THE LONG GALLERY

151

the most part discovered by the owner, F. H. Salvin, in another house,
and were replaced ; the tapestries are the property of Mr. S. Harrison,
and form part of the furniture of the house. The windows, with stone
mullions and painted glass arms and quarterings of the Westons, were
placed there by F. H. Salvin in 1857.

It may be taken as certain that the house, as originally built, did
not contain any such long gallery as we see. Many points in its con-
struction, as well as the inventory, concur in leading to this conclusion.
If the gallery be the original, its great size and early date would make it
a more remarkable fact in the history of domestic architecture than any-
thing else in the house ; for thus two sides of the quadrangle of which
the house then consisted would have been almost entirely occupied by
two very large chambers. The panelling of the gallery is of a com-
posite kind, none of it apparently earlier than the seventeenth century,
and most of it of the eighteenth century, with some recent additions.
There were not found any traces of ornamental ceilings or painted
glass in the windows.

The Tapestries

The tapestries have no historical connection with the house, and are
the property of Mr. Sidney Harrison. Most of them are very fine
Brussels work of the sixteenth century. They bear the well-known marks

for Brussels

a u^B

also

a castle or on a

shield gules. Amongst the maker's cyphers are the following —
j— I for Herselin, a famous Brussels artist, 1530-40;

for Fran9ois Speering, about 1588. He made the famous

tapestry of the Armada in the Houses of Parliament, burnt in the fire
of 1834;

1 52 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

I Y • possibly for Alard Herselin, one of the Brussels family ;

possibly for No. 3 in the series of subjects ;

possibly a fragment of Herselin's cypher ;

apparently the mark of Jean Raes ; intended for C il

E E"^R

Jean Raes was a famous Brussels artist who made the Seven Capital
Sins and the Battle of the Virtues and Vices.

< I also occur.

may be for W. Pannemaker, who made the History of

Abraham, 1548. But the marks in the margin of the pieces are all
more or less defaced by injury and repairs.

The tapestries are not all of the same class, but a pair of them are
of the very finest work of the Brussels designers of the best age. The
two tapestries representing the story of Joseph are the work of Herselin
of Brussels about 1530-40, and must be from the designs of Bernard
von Orlay, or some other master of that school. If these are compared

Plate N,

so .VI r, u
'. 1 1; f. (' s 1 .1 /. [<

XI THE LONG GALLERY 153

with the grand pieces by Bernard von Orlay in Hampton Court, little
doubt will exist that the designs are from his hand. The Hercules
between Pleasure and Wisdom (not hung) is almost equally fine in
design, and is also possibly a work by Herselin, but the cypher is
injured. The finer tapestries are thus contemporary with Henry VIH.
and Elizabeth. The Brussels pieces have the characteristic border of
vines and pomegranates on a blue ground. One or two pieces are
verdures, where the landscape is the principal subject.^

The subjects and makers of the tapestries are as follows, the order
taken being from the great hall at the staircase to the end of the gallery —

I. In vestibule facing the stairs — The Capture of Carthage by Scipio
Africanus. The Roman general, surrounded by his officers and troops,
is receiving the spoil — plate, vestments, and ornaments — which the
women of the captured city lay at his feet. As this is a historical mis-
take, the city may be Saguntum, unless the camels are intended to
suggest an African city.

This is a fine work of the Roman school of the Raffaelesque period.^

It has the Brussels mark and the cypher . y > possibly for Alard

Herselin.

2. Between the windows on stairs — A similar piece, being the sub-
ject usually known as the Clemency of Scipio. It has the legend Scipio
mulierculas in gratiam recipit. Scipio promises his protection to the
women of a captured city. He raises them up and pledges himself not
to sell them into captivity. This is a companion piece to No. i, and
is of the same date and author.

3. On staircase (lower piece) — The Meeting of Abraham and
Melchizedek after the rescue of Lot. " And Melchizedek, king of
Salem, brought forth bread and wine," Gen, xiv. 18.

1 See Jacquemart, Old Furniture, English ed. pp. 97-99 ; A. Pinchart, Lcs Tapisseries
dans les Pays-Bos, Bruxelles, 1859-64 ; Jules Houdoy, Les Tapisseries de Haute Lisse, Lille,
1871 ; J. J. Guiffrey, Histoire de la Tapisserie, Tours, 1886.

2 The painter Giulio Romano made in 1530 a famous series of designs for the History
of Scipio in twenty-two pieces.

154

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP.

Melchizedek is surrounded by servants bringing bread, fruit, and
wine. Lot stands beside Abraham, the victorious army in the distance.
All three have their names on their robes, also Vin.

This is a fine piece of Brussels work, sixteenth century. It has
the Brussels mark, a castle or on a field gules, and apparently the cypher
of A. Herselin.

4. On staircase (upper piece) — Mythological piece, Pelops wins
Hippodameia. CEnomaus had learned from the oracle that he was
destined to be killed by his son-in-law. So he refused to give his
daughter, Hippodameia, in marriage, save to one who could conquer
him in the chariot race ; and to cool the advance of suitors, he made it
a condition that the vanquished candidate should be put to death.
Pelops accepted the condition, but privately induced the charioteer to
loosen the lynch pin of the King's chariot. CEnomaus fell in the race
and was killed. Pelops carried off Hippodameia in triumph, and she
became the mother of Atreus and Thyestes. In the background is
the episode of the vanquished suitors. The personages in the
story are named. This is an inferior piece of Brussels work with

the mark

This is said to mark the number in

the series,

5. On staircase on east wdXX— Joseph and Potiphar. Joseph is accused
before Potiphar. In the background is the episode of Potiphar's wife
tempting Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 20 (much damaged).

6. On staircase, east wall — A hunting piece (ruined).

7. On landing, east wall — Prince with his Bi-ide taking leave of King
and Qtieen at a Seaport. The retinue prepare for the voyage. A scene
from one of the popular romances, perhaps the Roman de la Rose.

This is a piece of Brussels work with the cypher
for Speering.

Possibly

Plate 0.

COURT YARD

SCALE iV TO I FOOT.

SUTTON PLACE.
Plan of North Front, pulled down in 1781.

(From excavation made 1891J.

SrOKST HABKISON.

tri-trr. r, i;(<.

•f (' . \' ( II (I

'■ I I', }, t. N M /. ;,

XI THE LONG GALLERY 155

8. On the sliding panel to gallery over the hall — A Hunting Scene
or verdure.

9. West side, adjoining the screen — -Joseph interpreting Pharaoh! s
Dreams, Gen. xli. 25. Joseph stands before Pharaoh ; the wise men,
who have failed in their interpretation, stand aside. The seven ears of
corn and the seven kine are represented in the background. In the
left corner is shown the dream of Pharaoh in bed with a flagon beside
him on a stool.

This and the accompanying piece (No. 10) bear the Brussels mark

and the cypher \— 4 for Herselin. The grandeur of the drawing,

the skill of the grouping, and the noble lines of the drapery, the dignity
of the expression, and the perfection of all the accessories mark these
two pieces as belonging to the highest point ever reached by the art
of tapestry. They can hardly come from any other hand than that of
Von Orlay, Raffaelle's pupil, and they may have been seen by Wolsey
and Henry VIII. Von Orlay was born 1470 and died 1541 ; working
at tapestry, 1520-40.

10. West wall, north end of gallery — T]\& Advancefucnt 0/ Joseph by
Pharaoh. Companion piece to No. 9, similarly marked, "And Pharaoh
said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And
Pharaoh took off the ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand,
and put a gold chain about his neck," Gen. xli. 41. "And he gave him the
daughter of the priest of On to wife." The herald in the background is
proclaiming Joseph's honours, and the marriage is being celebrated.

1 1. West wall — The Capture of Troy. Perhaps the son of Achilles
is slaying Priam or one of his sons, yEneid, book ii. In the background
is seen the city of Troy and the Wooden Horse. This piece has the
Brussels mark and a somewhat damaged and illegible cypher.

This is apparently the mark of Jean Raes.

156 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

12. Samson slaying the Lion, Judges xiv. 6; seventeenth-century
work.

13. End of gallery, north wall — A large and most ambitious piece
of an allegorical kind representing Vices and Virtues in contrast, or
Vices and Crimes. In the centre above are the wise virgins with their
lamps trimmed, going to meet the bridegroom. In the lower centre
are seen — Joseph escaping from Potiphar's wife, Herodias's daughter
with the head of John the Baptist, the triumph of Bacchus, a dissolute
group, and a drunken king on the ground. This has been a very
fine and brilliant piece, apparently Brussels work of the sixteenth
century.

14. East wall — Abimelech, King of Gerar, restores to Abraham his
wife Sarah, with the legend from the Vulgate, "In simplicitate cordis mei
et munditia manuum mearum feci hoc (v. 5). Nunc ergo redde viro suo
uxorem quia propheta est et orabit pro te et vives," Gen. xx. 7. "In the
integrity of thy heart, and in the innocency of thy hands, thou didst
this ; now therefore restore the man his wife ; for he is a prophet, and
he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live," Gen. xx. 5-7. This and the
next piece (No. 15) are from the same series, and are Brussels work of
the sixteenth century.

The cypher is • y (?) for Alard Herselin.

15. East wall (companion piece) — Abraham offering up Isaac,
with the legend from the Vulgate [" Dixitque ad pueros suos] Ex-
spectate hie cum asino : ego autem et puer illuc usque properantes,
postquam adoraverimus, revertemur [ad vos "], Gen. xxii. 5. " And
Abraham said unto his young men. Abide ye here with the ass ; and I
and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you."
"And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay
his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him," Gen. xxii. 5-1 1.

Two pieces in the gallery are not hung.

16. Hercules between Pleasure and Wisdom — This is a very fine
piece of Brussels work of early sixteenth-century work. The cypher is

Plate P.

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XI THE LONG GALLERY I5f

mutilated, but is apparently ^/^ , which may be the half of U— [

for Herselin.

17. The Continence of Scipio (not hung) — Scipio, during the war
of Spain, treats with respect a beautiful captive who had been offered
to him as a concubine. This is apparently part of the story of Scipio
in the series to which Nos. i and 2 belong, and is doubtless Brussels
work of the first half of the sixteenth century.

Window on Eastern Staircase, south

The two large six-light windows with stone mullions on the stair-
cases east and west of the great hall were placed on the south or
garden side of the house by F. H. Salvin in 1857. They had in them
painted glass coats- of arms from the designs of C. A. Buckler. They
give, with names and dates, the coats of the Westons and their wives
from Sir R. Weston the second, died 161 1, to Melior Mary, died 1782.
In each case but the last the arms of Weston impale those of the wife.
They are as follows —

1. Weston, ermine on a chief azure, five bezants, impaling Dister,
gules, a chevron ermine between three eagles displayed argent ; for
Sir Richard Weston, died 161 1, married Jane Dister of Bergholt, Essex.

2. Weston impaling Harper, sable, a chevron and canton ermine ;
for Sir R. Weston, the agriculturist, married Grace Harper of Cheshunt,
Herts, died 1652.

3. Weston impaling Copley, argent, a cross moline sable ; for John
Weston, died 1690, married Mary Copley of Gatton.

4. Weston impaling Nevill of Holt, gules, a saltire argent ; for
Richard Weston, married Melior Nevill of Holt.

5. Weston impaling Gage, per saltire azure and argent, a saltire ^«/(?i-;
for John Weston, died 1730, married Elizabeth, sister of Thomas,
Viscount Gage.

158

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP.

6. Melior Mary Weston, died 1 782, the last lineal descendant of
the founder.

Window on Western Staircase, south

The window on the south-western staircase, facing garden, has also
six coats for the owners of the Webbe- Weston family.

1. Weston impaling Lawson, argent, a chevron between three
martlets sable; for John Webbe -Weston, married (1778) Elizabeth
Lawson.

2. Weston impaling Constable, quarterly ^«/(?.y and vair^, over all a
bend or; for John Webbe-Weston, married (1795) Mary Constable.

3. Weston impaling Graham, or on a bend sable, three escallops of
the first; for John Joshua Webbe-Weston, married (181 1) Caroline
Graham.

4. Weston impaling Waldegrave, per pale argent and gules ; for
John J. Webbe-Weston, married (1847) Lady Horatia Waldegrave.

5. Weston impaling Wright, azure, two bars argent, in chief a

leopard's head or; for Thomas Donning-
ton Webbe-Weston, married (1854) Mary
Wright.

6. Salvin, argent on a chief sable, two
mullets of the first, a mullet for differ-
ence ; for Francis Henry Salvin of Crox-
dale. County Durham, succeeded 1857 ;
present owner.

The Escutcheons

There are three large ancient escut-
cheons painted on panel, each about 4x5
feet, forming very complete specimens t
of the armorial blazonry of the sixteenth i,
century. They are all for Sir Thomas
Copley; one is dated 1568, and two 1
are dated 1567. They were, no doubt,

XI THE LONG GALLERY 159

brought to Sutton Place from Gatton some time after the marriage
of John Weston with Mary Copley in 1637. They consist of
elaborate marshalling of the Copley coats and quarterings with arms,
mantling, crest, motto, cords, tassels, and the like within a marble
colonnade. The three are nearly the same design, and bear the mono-
gram T.C., the dates 1567-68, and for motto Medittm tenere beatum.

The principal escutcheon is now placed between the windows on the
eastern staircase going up to the long gallery. It was removed from
the panelled hall, where Aubrey saw it. It is thus blazoned in four
grand quarters. Refer to pedigree of Copley, Appendix.

First grand quarter. Copley. — Argent, a cross moline sable, in the
centre of the cross, a crescent or for difference.

Second grand quarter. Welles. — Or, a lion rampant, double-queued
sable quartering ^«/^^, a fesse dancett^e between six crosses crosslet or.

This is for Engaine of Essex.

Third grand quarter. Hoo. — Quarterly sable and argent.

Fourth grand quarter. Waterton. — Barry of six, ermine aind gules,
over all three crescents sable.

On this shield is an escutcheon of pretence for Luttrell Or, a bend
between six martlets sable.

Sir Thomas Copley, born 1535, died 1584, married Catherine,
daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Luttrell.

Supporters. Lion rampant sable. Swan proper, ducally crowned
and gorged or.

Crest. On a knight's helmet, wreathed sable and argent, a griffin
segreant or.

On separate shields are : (i) Copley impaling Hoo ; (2) Copley impal-
ing Shelley, sable, a fesse between three whelks, or; (3) Hoo impaling
Welles ; (4) Hoo impaling St. Leger, azure, fretty argent, a c2LXv\.ovi gules ;
(5) Hoo impaling Scotland, differenced, or, within a tressure flory-
counter-flory, a lion rampant ^«/^.f ; (6) ZTiJo impaling Welles ^ssA Water-
ton quarterly.

All of these arms occur constantly in the glass in the hall (see chap,
xii.), the arms of Copley and the crest alone in lower north bay No. 8.

tio

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP.

Also a shield ermine on a chief sable, three crosses crosslet argent, for
Wychinghon or Wickingham.

The two escutcheons or hatchments dated 1567 are at the top of
the western staircase.

Small Escutcheons in Great Hall

There are also in the great hall several small
escutcheons, apparently modern.
They are as follows : —

I. Weston. 2. Copley. 3. Luttrell. 4. Engaine
of Essex. 5. Barrow, sable, two swords in saltire
between four fleur de lys or, within a bordure or.
William Webbe of Salisbury, temp. Henry VIII.,
an ancestor of J. Webbe- Weston, married Catherine,
daughter and co-heir of John Barrow. 6. Pinchyon
of Writtle, County Essex. Per bend argent and
sable, three roundels within a bordure engrailed
counter-changed. John Wolffe of great Haseley married Ann, daughter
and co-heir of John, son of Sir Edward Pincheon. Their daughter
Bridget married John Webbe, and was by him grandmother of John
Webbe-Weston. 7. Wolffe, gules, a chevron between three wolves'
heads erased or. 8. Webbe, gules, a cross between three falcons or. 9.
Salvin, argent, on a chief sable, two mullets of the first, a mullet for
difference.

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XI PORTRAITS i6i

Portraits

In the two halls are many historical portraits, which have been
mainly identified from information supplied by the owner,

1. Henry VIII. (on panel) — The well-known portrait after Holbein,
small half length.

2. Queen Elizabeth (on panel) — The well-known portrait after
Zucchero, small half length.

3. Queen Mary (on panel) — Full length, about 70 by 45 inches ;
standing in black robe, holding a miniature in frame, apparently after
Antonio More.

4. Dorothy Arundell, wife of Sir Henry Weston, by Federigo
Zucchero. Exhibited by the Royal Academy at the collection of old
masters, 1884. It was described thus in the catalogue — "Painted
probably about 1575, when Zucchero was in England. Full-length
figfure standing to right, lace head-dress and collar, rich dress, feather
fan in her right hand, the left hand rests on a chair, dark background,
canvas 71 by 40 inches."

This very fine portrait gives us the likeness of the noble lady who
entertained Queen Elizabeth so frequently at Sutton (see chap, v.)
She was cousin of Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth, Queen
Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey ; being great-granddaughter
of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, and of Thomas Grey, Marquis
of Dorset. The picture must have been painted by Zucchero about
1575 ; he was in England 1574-78, when he painted, amongst others,
the portrait of Lord Howard of Effingham, Lady Weston's cousin and
neighbour. At that time Lady Weston was about thirty-five ; and her
husband, who had been High Sheriff for the county in 1569 and M.P.
in 1571, was at the height of his splendour and popularity. The
expression of noble stateliness and power, with the wonderful mastery
over the details of jewellery, lace, embroideries, and brocade, mark this
portrait as a characteristic and excellent specimen of the painter's
qualities.

i6s ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

5. William Copley, with date and inscription —

iETATIS-SU^-55-i62o.

William Copley, born 1565, died 1643, was the son of Sir Thomas
Copley, whose escutcheons stand on the staircase, by Catherine Luttrell.
He married Magdalen Prideaux, and was grandfather of Mary Copley,
married John Weston in 1637. The picture, a half-length life size, is
perhaps by one of the Janssens (Corneliez Janssens, born 1590, died
1665).

6. Portrait of Dorothy Arundell, Lady Weston, in Marie Stuart
ruff, about atat. sixty-five. This now hangs in panelled hall. The
likeness to the large Zucchero portrait (No. 4) is very marked.

7. Portrait of John Weston, husband of Mary Copley, 1637.

8. Portrait of Frances Weston, youngest sister of John Weston,
died 1730, last male descendant of the name and family of the founder.
She married William Wolffe of Great Haseley, and their issue became
extinct in the second generation. She was aunt of Melior Mary
(No. 11); painted about 1700 {cetat. thirty) in the manner of Kneller
(born 1648, died 1723).

9. William Wolffe of Great Haseley, married Frances Weston, died
1739. He was son of John Wolffe by Ann, granddaughter of Dorothy,
sister of Richard Weston, Earl of Portland. Picture by Hussey.

10. John Wolffe, died 1758, s.p. ; inscribed on back, Joann Woolfe,
i^^dsA eleven, 1754. j^gid. Hussey pinxit. Portrait by Hussey. John
Wolffe was the grandson of Frances Weston (No. 8) and William Wolffe
(No. 9), and was equally descended from the Westons of Sutton and the
Westons of Prested Hall. By his death, and that of his brothers, all
s.p., the blood of the founder became extinct, with the exception of
Melior Mary.

11. Melior Mary Weston, born 1703, died unmarried 1782 ; half
length, in the style of Kneller, painted about 1723 {cstat. twenty).

1 2. Thomas Webbe of Fulham, died 1 780, father of John Webbe-
Weston ; full length, in rich lace coat.

13. Anne, his wife, daughter of Thomas Tancred, full length.

PORTRAITS

163

14. John Webbe-Weston, devisee of the Sutton estate, 1782, son
of Nos. 12 and 13, grandfather of F. H. Salvin. Pastel by J. Russell,
R,A., of Guildford, born 1774, died 1806, exhibited at the Guildford
Exhibition, 1879.

1 5. On staircase in western wing — Portrait of Rev. Father Leander
A St. Martino (J. Jones, D.D.) a Catholic bishop, 16 18, and President
of the Benedictine Order, 1633-35, died 1635, cetat. sixty-one. He was
much esteemed by Queen Henrietta Maria, and was one of her advisers.
He was in England during the time of Sir Richard Weston, the
agriculturist, who was doubtless his host.

16. Portrait of a young lady, dated 16 10, cetat. eighteen. This may
be Jane Weston, daughter of Sir Richard Weston the second, and sister
of the agriculturist. She married Sir Thomas Bishop, Bart.

Other historical portraits of ecclesiastics have not been identified.
The landscapes and pictures on the staircases and passages seem to be
without interest or history. There are a set of old engravings of
French and Dutch towns of the age of Sir Richard Weston, the
agriculturist, and doubtless brought by him from abroad.

The pictures in the living rooms of the family are the property of
Mr. Harrison, the lessee, and have no historical connection with the
house.

CHAPTER XII

THE PAINTED GLASS

The most interesting feature in the hall is to be found in the fine
painted glass with which it abounds/ The whole of the fourteen
windows, having ninety-two separate lights in all, are adorned with
shields and quarries of painted glass, one coat or set of devices in
each light. They are of different dates and of various quality, but
they seem to belong to about three different epochs, and hardly one
of them is without some relation to the founder or his family. Some
specimens are of extraordinary beauty and rarity ; in some cases they
seem to be older than the house itself, ^ and from the remarkable number

^ For painted glass refer to Charles Winston, Memoirs on the Art of Glass-Painting
(1865) ; Difference of Style in Ancient Glass-Painting (1847), and his other Memoirs ; also
see A, W. Franks (of the Brit Mus.), Ornamental Glazing Quarries (1849), and Principles
of Glass-making (1883), by H. J. Powell, etc.

2 As Winston tells us, glass-painting in England reached its perfection between 1530-
50, and had begun to decline in 1545. — Winston, Art of Glass-Painting, p. 248.

The original glass in the hall is almost exactly of the date 1530. The glass in Henry
VII.'s Chapel was begun 1502, finished about 1510 ; the glass was so fine that it was taken
as a model for King's College, Cambridge, finished 1516.

For glass in King's College, Cambridge, see History of Cambridge and its Colleges, by

Plate 39.

uiMV, or

f, M- r r n n r; ( f.

'• I II tl '1 I .1 /, ;i

CHAP. XII THE PAINTED GLASS 165

of royal and historical characters, whose arms and devices are shown,
they are of unusual interest. If we take the historical associations of
the hall itself, and follow up the ,suggestions of the many heraldic
coats and emblems, we are carried into the strange and revolving
picture of the sixteenth century in Europe.

The hall is profusely decorated with emblems of the Roses, both
White and Red, the badge of the union of the rival houses of York
and Lancaster under the first Tudor king ; it has the arms in full of
Richard III. as Duke of Gloucester, and the emblems of the battle of
Bosworth. During the fifteenth century the manors of Woking and
of Sutton had passed with strange rapidity from one family to another,
and had reverted to and been held by every king from Henry IV.
down to Henry VIII. The estate was actually won back at the
battle of Bosworth to the Red Rose, and Woking was the residence
of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, during the latter part of her life.^
It is most probable that the fine glass of this age anterior to the house
was brought either from the earlier house that stood on the same
manor, or from the mansion at Woking.

The different epochs at which the glass was designed are as
follows : —

1. There are some magnificent specimens of the finest painted
glass of the time of Henry VIII. Some of these are identical with
pieces still to be found in Henry VI I. 's Chapel at Westminster, and
some others are exactly similar to designs now in the stone or metal
work in the chapel.

2. Much of the original glass placed here by the founder, and of

Professor Willis and J. W. Clark, 1880, vol. i. chap. xi. "Glass in King's College, begun by
Bernard Flower, the King's glazier, i 5 1 5." It contained portcullis, red and white rose, white
rose en soleil, hawthorn, H.K., H.E., pomegranate, as seen at Sutton. Bernard Flower
died in 1526, and he doubtless executed the pieces anterior to that date.

1 About 1497 Margaret of Richmond "retired to her patrimony of Woking in Surrey,
the manor-house of which had been recently enlarged and repaired by Henry VII. She
there fixed her abode, and there she continued to dwell with little intermission for the
remainder of her life." — Halsted, Life of Margaret Beaufort, p. 195.

i66 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

his date, still remains. This is as fine in execution as any extant of
the period, and is probably by the same hand or from the same works
as the glass in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge.

3. Another series of heraldic coats and emblems belongs to the
Copley family, and was probably brought from their mansions and
inserted here about 1637, when other restorations took place.

4. From time to time additions were made in the upper windows,
possibly from neighbouring houses or from dilapidated chapels in
Guildford. Many of these are connected with the Onslow and allied
families.

5. Lastly, it appears from inscriptions cut with a diamond in some
of the upper windows that the glass was repaired first by John Weston
in 1724, and secondly in 1844.

Amongst the most noteworthy of the coats and emblems in the
windows of the hall are the following : —

1. A series of coats of asms, crowns, crests, and badges for Henry
VII., the battle of Bosworth, Sir Reginald Bray, Lord Bourchier,
Archbishop Bourchier, the Beaufort portcullis crowned, and the
badges of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, red and white rose
united.

2. White rose en soleil, and arms of Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

3. Arms of Henry VIII. impaling those of Catherine of Aragon ;
also arms of King Arthur and badge of Catherine.

4. Arms of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, the victor of
Flodden ; of Thomas, second Earl of Derby, and Edward, third Earl
of Derby ; the arms of William Fitzalan, thirteenth Earl of Arundel,
1524; of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Bishop White
of Winchester.

All of these are very fine specimens of the best work of the early
sixteenth century.

5. The arms, crests, and devices of Sir R. Weston, the founder.

Plate 40,

in: I V, or
r. r r I r r- r r: i /:

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XII THE PAINTED GLASS 167

and others of his family, also of his son-in-law, Sir Walter Dennys,
quartering Berkeley — all very fine specimens of glass of 1530.

6. The badge and crown of Jane Seymour (a splendid specimen),
the arms of Philip and Mary impaled, and a portrait of Charles II. in
painted glass.

7. A series of coats of the Copley, Cecil, Shirley, Paulet, and
Onslow families of the seventeenth century.

8. A series of Dutch emblems, grotesques, and scenes, scriptural
and rustic, of the middle of the seventeenth century. The dates 1630,
1629, and reference to a book published in 1635, occur here.

The following is an exact account of the glass now found in the
hall. For purposes of reference the windows are referred to by a large
Roman figure, the lights in each window by a large Arabic numeral.
(For convenience, the lights below the transoms are numbered as
distinct lights.) The numbering of the windows begins from the west
end of the upper story of the north side of the hall.

I., II., III. are the upper windows on the north side from west to
east.

IV., v., VI. are the lower windows on the north side from west to
east.

VII., VIII. are the upper windows on the south side from east to
west.

IX., X. are the lower windows on the south side from east to west.

The bays are described as north and south bays, upper or lower
story. Thus : —

North bay, upper and lower, are the two windows on the side of
the court.

South bay, upper and lower, are the two windows on the side of
the garden.

The lights are numbered 1-6, or in case of the bays, 1-8, begin-
ning at the top left-hand corner (as looked at), and passing horizontally —
in the same way as the quarterings in a heraldic shield are read.

t68 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap, xii

Thus : —

III.

Accordingly, III. 6 stands for the light in the lower right-hand
corner of the upper story window next to the bay on the north side
of the hall.

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COATS OF ARMS, ETC., IN WINDOWS

Window No. I

I. I. Here was originally the white and red rose united, as in I. 5, II. 1, etc. In the centre the

portcullis chained or, for the Beaufort family or Henry VII. In place of coronet or crown
is the head of a king crowned in aureole, probably for Edward the Confessor. This is fine
old glass of the beginning of the sixteenth century. This piece has been repaired with old
fragments representing flowers and other devices, obviously used in quarries in lower windows,
but the pieces are all original, if not earlier than the house. In the sides of this piece are
two coats of arms, not visible from the floor, and evidently late additions. They are not in
full colours, and are apparently intended for the following : —

A. HOLCROFT quartering CULCHETH, County Lancaster, impaling JENNINGS. Sir T,
Holcroft, 1538, married daughter and heiress of N. Jennings of Poynton.

I and 4. Argent, a cross and bordure engrailed sable, for HoLCROFT of Holcroft, County
Lancaster.

2. Argent, an eagle displayed preying on an infant ppr., swaddled gules, banded or,
CULCHETH of Lancaster.

3. Argent, a griffin segreant azure, armed or, CULCHETH of Chester. — See Baines's Hist,
of Lancashire, \\\. 129. HoLCROFT impales Jennings.

1 and 4. Argent, on a fesse gules, three bezants, Jennings.

2 and 3. Argent, a bull's head cabossed sable, armed or, for DUNSTON. Same as in
XL 1; See J. P. Rylands, Genealogy of Holcroft, 1877.

B. The second coat appears to be for Nicholson quartering Fromonde.

1 and 4. Ermine, on a pale sable, three martlets argent.

2 and 3. Ermine, a chevron between three fleurs de lys or.

Fromonde — William Copley, born 1565, whose portrait is in the hall, married Margaret
Fromonde, and was grandfather of Mary Copley, who married John Weston.

The arms of the See of Winchester impaled with those of John White, Bishop of Win-
chester, 1557-59, viz. party per chevron, embattled or and gules, three roses counter-
changed, slipped vert. On a chief of the second, three hour-glasses, argent, framed of the
first. The whole surrounded with the Garter. The mitre has been injured and replaced by
fragments. These arms were granted by Dethick, Garter King in 1557.

John White was a Marian Bishop, who resigned on the accession of Elizabeth. Sutton
Place is in the diocese of Winchester.

I. 2.

170 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

This piece of glass is very fine, and the date is fixed by the family anns of the Bishop
(see R. Bedford, The Blazon of Episcopacy, p. 103, and Warren, Arms of the English Episco-
pate).
I. 3. Portcullis chained or, similar to I, 1, and of date of the house. Remains of a Red Rose

with fragments from lower windows, flowers and devices from the original quarries, oak leaves,
roses, and daisies of same period. Also two shields A and B (not in colours).

A. Crown and two crosses patte'e in pale.

B. Ermine, a chevron between three fleurs de lys or, Fromonde.

In the place of the crown over the portcullis is now the head of an angel, corresponding
with the crowned head in aureole in I. 1.
I. 4- Entirely made up of fragments, principally architectural canopies, late Gothic, with some

pieces of fleur de lys. Garter, etc., of seventeeth-century work.
I. 5- A very grand White and Red Rose united with the Crown of Heni7 VIL This is identical

in colour and drawing with the similar rose in Henry VI I. 's Chapel at Westminster, and may
be taken to be from the workshop of Bernard Flower or his successors, 1515-25. Doubt-
less this specimen, compared with similar united roses in II. 3, and III. 5, gives us a good
idea of the original design in the upper windows.

In one of the lozenge panes below this there is the following inscription cut with a
diamond : —

" This Hall was reglazed by Painter James Cruikshank, Mr. D. Laing of 2 Villiers Street,
Strand, London, in April 1844."
I. 6. This light contains an elaborate coat with ornamental mantling, apparently of sixteenth-

century work (Elizabethan), and many pieces of different dates, evidently collected from other
windows. The most remarkable are four devices of the Crown in Hawthorn Bush, and the
initials H. and E. for Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York. These are better seen in the lower
south bay, and will be described there. There are other devices from the original work.
Besides there are several coats. A, B, C.

A. Azure, three saltires argent in pale, for Lane quartering Malmaynes, Stretlev of
Northampton, Hussey of Dorset. These are as follows : —

1. Azure, three saltires argent in pale, possibly meant for Lane.

2. Aztire, a fesse between six cross crosslets or, possibly also for Lane.

3. Azure, three sinister gauntlets couped argent, Malmaynes.

4. Gyronny of eight, or and sable, on a canton gules, a covered cup or, Stretley of
Northampton and Oxon.

5. Barry of six, er?nine and gules, HusSEY of Dorset.

B. Same as I, 1, B. C. Same as I. 3, B.

The original design for both I. 4 and I. 6 has been completely lost, and it has been
replaced in a very careless and unmeaning manner.

Window No. II

II. I. Fragments of a White Rose and Crown, similar to I, 5, but imperfect. The crown is

exactly similar to examples in Henry VI I. 's Chapel.

Plate 41.

in; I V, or
r. r itror im/

s (' .VI r. u

L 1 1', t, I' S 1 .1 /, I'

XII

THE PAINTED GLASS

171

In a small shield are the anns with names inscribed, apparently Pile and JENNINGS of
Hayes, Middlesex. The family of Pile also took the name of Gernon.
Pile — Gules, three Piles wavy argent, impaling : —

1 and 4. Jennings — Argent, on a fesse gules, three bezants.

2 and 3. DUNSTON — Or, a bull's head cabossed sable.

JJ_ 2. This very interesting fragment shows two heads, A and B, of fifteenth-century costume,

both with helmets or caps bearing crests or badges. The helmets have been injured and
repaired with fragments of mantling.

A. Has a crest with swan's head gorged with a ducal coronet.

B. Has a crest, apparently a bear muzzled. Between them are two White Roses en
soleil. The swan and the bear were well-known badges of the Beauchamps, Earls of
Warwick, and their descendants. See both together in the seal of Sir Richard de
Beauchamp, K.G., fifth Earl of Warwick, died 1439, in Boutell, English Heraldry, frontis-
piece.

These heads are fine and interesting, and are apparently older than the house. One
bears some resemblance to the portraits of Richard III. They evidently belong to the White
Rose (York), and may have come from the house at Woking.
II. 3. Remains of a magnificent Red and White united Rose and Crown, similar to that in I. 5,

evidently from the same workshop as the Rose and Crown in the next window.

In the sides are two shields, both alike, being the arms of Onslow, argent, a iesse gules
between six Cornish choughs proper, 3, 2, and i, impaling a coat, three bucks' heads cabossed
(2 and i), a canton or, not otherwise tinctured.
II. 4. In this large shield, similar in shape originally to I. 4 and I. 6, are some very old frag-

ments. Two have the monogram H., crowned in the form of the Dragon, the badge of
Henry VII. It is better seen in V. 5, a lower window ; also the Crown in Hawthorn Bush,
and some fine fragments of mantling (original). In the midst of this is inserted a shield of
much inferior and later work, being the arms of Onslow with their quarterings.

Carr — Gules, on a chevron or, three mullets sable.

Haughton of Chester — Argent, three bars sable. This coat impales — sable, a chevron
between three elephants' heads erased argent, tusked or, a chief (7r; possibly for HUSKISSON
of Earth, Sussex, but the tinctures are indistinct and very doubtful.
II_ c. This very interesting piece gives the arms of Archbishop BOURCHIER. Above is a mitre.

Archbishop Bourchier crowned Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey, October 1485, and
married Henry VII. to Elizabeth of York, January i486.

This may have come from an older house, perhaps the Royal Manor of Woking, long the
residence of Margaret Beaufort, Henry's mother. The coat shows : —

i. First grand quarter, quarterly —

1 and 4. Argent, a cross engrailed gules between four water bougets sable, Bourchier.

2 and 3. Gules, billettde or, a fesse argent, Lovain, over all a label of three points gules,
on each point three lioncels rampant or.

ii. Second grand quarter, quarterly — Or and vert, Berners.

ill. as ii. ; iv. as i.

Also in small shields, carelessly mended, are — Onslow impaling three stags' heads
cabossed sable, a canton or (?).

In this very fine old design there are many of the original ornamental pieces, fleur de lys,
devices of birds, and ornamental initials and monograms.

172

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP.

One of these !s

gram [? James Nicholson]

Also apparently a merchant's or artist's mono-

II. 6.

There is also T. C, doubtless for Sir Thomas Copley, and I. P., both with string orna-
ments in the Henri II. French manner (1550).

There are also, apparently of later date, two small shields of eight quarterings. These
are (A) apparently for William Cecil, second Earl of Exeter, 1613, married Lady
Elizabeth Manners, Baroness Roos, only daughter of Edward, third Earl of Rutland. — See
J. Doyle, Official Baro7iage of England, i. 716, and iii. 190.

These coats are (A) Cecil impaling Manners.

(A) I. Barry often, argent and azure, overall six escutcheons, 3, 2, i, sable, each charged
with a lioncel rampant of the first, Cecil.

2. Per pale gules and azure, a lion rampant argent, holding a tree eradicated vert,
Wynston of Hereford.

3. Or, two bars azure, a chief quarterly azure and gules, i and 4 charged with two
fleurs de lys, 2 and 3 with a lion passant guardant, all or, MANNERS.

4. Gules, three water bougets argent, De Roos.

5. (Broken) ? gules, a saltire argent, Nevill.

6. Or, fretty gules, on a canton argent, a ship sable, Nevill of Bulmer.

7. Gules, a lion passant guardant argent, crowned or.

8. Gules, three lions passant guardant or, a bordure argent.

(B) Quarterly of eight —

1 and 6. Ermine, on a pale sable, three martlets argent, NICHOLSON.

2 and 5. Gules, a chevron cottised between three trefoils, slipped or.

3. Argent, on a bend saile (or azure), between two eagles' heads erased, a rose argent, a
bordure engrailed sable (or azure).

4. Gules, on a bend wavy argent, three martlets sable.

7. Argent, a fesse between three boars' heads erased sable.

8. Argent, a chevron engrailed gules between three bugle horns sable, stringed or. Petit.
The design in this light has been much injured, and the centre replaced with a very poor

and late Rose in Garter with Crown. There are four initial letters

Plate 42.

II c IV. or

Cl.\ i\ Of, (,'l /.

■i (' . \' I I', u

/. 1 1; t: (• \ I .! /. ;■

XII THE PAINTED GLASS 173

(twice), apparently for Sir Henry Weston, 1 560. There is also an M. crowned, and H. E. with
the Crown in the Hawthorn Tree. These are of earlier date. The M. may stand for Queen
Mary, but probably is for Margaret, Queen of Scotland, or Mary, Queen of France, both
sisters of Henry VIII. Sir Richard Weston was one of the knights who went with Mary
Tudor to France on her marriage with Louis XII. in 15 14.

Window No. Ill

III. I. This light originally contained a Red and White Rose, of which only the extremities

remain, with the ornamental devices of flowers, animals, etc., of original glass.

In place of the Rose has been inserted an old inscription of which all we now see is — O
PRETIU EST DAT HONORES MICITIAS IBIQUE. lA. Probably not later than
the house.

It may be noted that at King's College, Cambridge, are similar mottoes — Sola salus
servire Deo — Sapientiae et felicitatis (Willis and Clark, i. 578).

There are also two shields of later date.

A. I. Argent, a fesse^«/« between two crescents and a bugle horn, stringed vert, Neale,
Hants, 1579, impaling sable, two bars or, in chief three mullets or, Freke of Dorset.

B. I and 4. Argent, on a fesse sable, three mullets or, in chief two dragons' heads couped,
in base a cross formde fitchde sable. Pound.

2. Argent, three fleurs de lys, two and one sable, Arden.

3. Argent, a chevron between three eagles' legs erased sable. Bray.

III. 2. Here has been an original White and Red Rose, crowned, with fragments of the Garter.

Pieces have been inserted badly. The fragments show —

I. Vair, 4. gules, a saltire argent, for Nevill, very fine in colour.
Also fragments of a coat sable, two lions passant or.
III. 3. Remains of an original Rose, with floral designs surrounding it. In the place of the Rose

has been inserted an inscription similar to that in III. 1 — NON EST MIHI SAPIE RE
VIVAM SERA NIM ASTINA DIE. Beside this is a shield, England, in a garter, and

the following device — \ Jf^ / (') ^°'' ^" Warneford, see IV. 5.

III. 4. This light contains, with fragments of original devices, a large and much more recent

coat of Strangeways quartering Ratcliffe, and impaling HowsoN of London (1605).
The crest, a lion passant paly argent and gules, has been reversed in repairs.

Strangeways is sable, two lions passant in pale, paly of six, argent and gules.

Ratcliffe of Essex is argent, a bend engrailed sable, an escallop in chief sable.

HowsON, quarterly argent and sable, four roundels counterchanged.

XJ4 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE ' chap.

The date below is 1621.

Sir R. Onslow, M.P., temp. Charles I., married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of
Richard Strangeways, County Durham.
There are also two small coats at side.

A. Same as I. 1, B., crest, a leopard pierced through with an arrow,

B. Onslow impaling Swan, a crescent for difference.

IIL 5- Here is a magnificent specimen of the old Red and White Rose united, seeded or, with

the crown of Henry VII. This is doubtless from the same artist who produced the Roses in

Westminster Abbey (compare I. 5).
in. 6. This light is uninjured. In it is a fine specimen of the coat of Strangeways quartering

Ratcliffe, with mantling, crest complete, a lion as in the anus, and also dated 162 1. Same

as dexter side of coat III. 4, which see.

1 and 4. Strangeways.

2 and 3. Argent, a bend engrailed sable, in chief an escallop sable, Ratcliffe of Essex.
Compare the Onslow quarterings in the ancient glass windows of West Clandon Church,

and the fine illuminated pedigree of the family in the possession of the Earl of Onslow.

Window No. IV

IV. I. We have here, nearly perfect, a very fine design contemporary with the house, and of the

finest glass of the period (see Plate 43).^

It is the coat of arms of Edward, third Earl of Derby, K.G., impaling those of his first
wife, Dorothy, daughter of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk. The coronet is wanting. He
may not at this time have succeeded to the title, if the glass is earlier than 1522.

The arms of this Duke of Norfolk, his father-in-law, are found in IV. 3 (see Plate 45),
and those of Thomas, second Earl of Derby, his father, are in IV. 3 (see Plate 44).

This Edward, Earl of Derby, succeeded his father in 1522, and was third in descent from
the Lord Derby who contributed to the victory at Bosworth. He was High Steward at the
coronation of Queen Mary, and was Chamberlain of Chester under Elizabeth. He was cele-
brated for his magnificence. He died in 1572. This coat may date from any year after his
marriage (see Memoirs of the House of Stanley, 4to, 1767).

The quarters for Howard on the feme side are quite similar to those of the Duke of
Norfolk in FV. 3, and are no doubt of the same age.

It will be observed that the coats of the Lords Derby here and in V. 1 differ very
slightly, and are both nearly the same as those represented on the bronze tomb of Margaret,
Countess of Richmond, in Westminster Abbey, for their ancestor, her third husband.

The coat of Edward, third Earl of Derby (Plate 43), is : —
i. First grand quarter, quarterly —

I and 4. Stanley — Argent, on a bend azure, three bucks' heads cabossed or.

* It will be noticed that in the coats guks (both here in IV. 1, as in IV. 3, V. 1, V. 3, VX 3, and in south
bay) the pattern is produced by grinding off the ruby glass so as to produce white or yellow objects on a red
ground. This is now effected by fluoric acid. The use of the diamond was not known before the seventeenth
century. The ruby glass became gradually thinner in successive ages. The effect of this process is that of an
intaglio, the charge being engraved like a seal on the field. — See Winston, Style in Ancient Glass- Painting,
1847, p. ng ; H. J. Powell, Principles of Glass-Painting, p. 99.

Plate 43.

If I' '

r /■.lift' (j; I/-

/, I I', t, S I J /.

XII THE PAINTED GLASS 175

2 and 3. Lathom — Or, on a chief indented azure, three plates,
ii. and iii. Isle of Man, of which Earl of Derby was king. Gules, three legs conjoined
in the fesse point in armour proper, garnished and spurred or.
iv. Quarterly —

I and 4. Strange — Gules, two lions passant guardant in pale argent.

2. WiDViLLE — Argent, a fesse and canton gules.

3. MOHUN — Or, a cross engrailed sable.

On an escutcheon of pretence is De Montalt, azure, a lion rampant argent.

See Brayley, Westminster Abbey, Tomb of Margaret of Richmond ; J. Doyle, Baronage,

«• SS3-

The only difference between these coats is that the coat of the father, V. 1, quarters
Warren ; that of the son, IV. 1, quarters also Mohun.

It will be observed that the quartering of Widville in IV. 1 is or, a fesse and canton gules.
Or is evidently an error for argent. It is correctly shown in V. 1, and in upper south bay 3.

It will be noticed that neither this coat, VI. 1, nor that of the Duke of Norfolk, IV. 3, nor
that of the second Earl of Derby, V. 1, show any traces of the Garter, as they all impale the
arms of their wives.

The arms of Dorothy, daughter of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, are given on the feme side.
They are as follows : —

I. Lost and replaced by a fragment of mantling ; 2. Howard ; 3. Warren ; 4. Mowbray,
damaged. The peculiarity that Howard is in the second place in this coat, as it is in IV. 3,
will be noticed presently.
IV. 2. A magnificent shield of the arms of Copley, probably the coat of Sir Roger Copley of

Roffey, about 1530. The quarterings are similar to those in the painted panel in the gallery
dated 1567 (see page 159), with initials R.C. ; but this glass has no escutcheon for Luttrell,
the wife of Sir T. Copley. It shows in six quarterings, badly re-set and broken.

I. Copley; 2 and 5, Waterton.

3. Has been removed, and in its place we have a fine fragment of the lions from some
coat of England,^ and a fragment of what is intended for St. Omer, azure, a fesse be-
tween six cross crosslets or.

4. Is Leo, Lord Welles ; 6 is Lord Hoo and Hastings. Refer to the Copley escut-
cheons in chap, xi., p. 159, and further see the Copley pedigree. Appendix VII. ; and com-
pare the Copley coats in VI. 2, and in the upper south bay.

These coats belong to the family of Copley about the time of the founder, and are of
glass of that date. A question arises how they came here. John Weston married the
heiress of Copley in 1637, a hundred years later. Possibly these Copley coats were brought
and inserted here about that date at the same time as the three panels or escutcheons of Sir
T. Copley, 1 567, or they were inserted in the hall at the building. Sir Roger Copley (i 540)
was a grandson of Sir G. Boleyn, and the Copley and Weston families were connected long
before the marriage. Sir R. Copley was High-Sheriff of Surrey at the time of the building of
the house.2

* See the corresponding fleurs de lys, which have slipped into the Copley coat in VI. 2.

2 Note on IV. 2 as to pedigree of Copley, communicated to F. H. Sahnn by D. G. C. Elwes, Esq.
' ' Leo, Lord Wfxls, married for his first wife Joan, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Waterton, Knight.
His second wife was Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsoe. His daughter
Eleanor married Thomas, LORD Hoo AND Hastings. The latter married first Elizabeth, daughter and heiress

X76 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

IV. 3. We have here a magnificent piece of glass of the date of the foundation (see Plate 45).

The coronet is damaged. Note that the field of ruby glass is deeply incised, to show the
charges. This is the coat of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, K.G., and
Lord Treasurer (15 14), died 1524, at the age of eighty. He commanded the English at the
battle of Flodden, where James IV. of Scotland was killed, 1513. He was Treasurer of
England whilst Sir R. Weston was Under-Treasurer. He was grandfather of the Queens
Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, and also of Margaret Howard, Lady Arundell, and thus
he was great-grandfather of Dorothy, Lady Weston (1560). On the feme side are the arms
of Tilney. Tilney — Argent, a chevron between three griffins' heads erased ^«/w, beaked or.
The Duke married successively Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Frederick Tilney, and
Agnes, sister and heiress of Sir Philip Tilney. This coat is for the second wife, who was
mother of Dorothy, Countess of Derby, in IV. 1 (see p. 174 and Appendix VI.)

This coat of the Duke of Norfolk, and also that for Dorothy, his daughter, IV. 1, show a
very great and interesting peculiarity. The arms borne by the Dukes of Norfolk are, as is
well known : —

1. Howard.

2. England (differenced), for Thomas de Brotherton, son of Edward L

3. Warren.

4. Mowbray (or recently Fitzalan). The two coats in these lights (about which there
cannot be the least doubt that they represent the Norfolk arms at the date 1530), show —
1. Blank (lost) in both cases ; 2. Howard ; 3. Warren; 4. Mowbray. Examination
shows that in both cases the glass bearing the arms of Howard was painted for the second,
and not for the first quarter. Unquestionably, the first quarter in both was occupied by the
missing arms oi de Brotherton, possibly without the label of cadency. It is well known that
Lord Surrey, the grandson of this Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, was executed, and also
Thomas, the third Duke, the son of the second Duke, was attainted in 1546 on charges of high
treason, one of the proofs being that they had improperly borne the royal anns. The Duke,
upon his trial, admitted that he had borne the arms of de Brotherton in the first quarter (see
Howell's State Trials, vol i. p. 457, Confession of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, 38 Hen. VIII.
1546). " I do likewise confess," he says, "that to the peril, slander, and disinherison of the
King's Majesty and his noble son, Prince Edward, his son and heir apparent, I have against
all right unjustly and without authority borne in the first quarter of my arms ever since the
death of my father the arms of England, with a difference of the labels of silver * * * , which
I know and confess by the laws of the realm to be High Treason." There is said to be no
extant example of this peculiar quartering in the case of the Duke himself. But the
royal lions were borne in the first quarter by some families at that date, e.g. by Stafford,
Duke of Buckingham. It is found in seals of William Berkeley : — dexter side, de Brotherton;
sinister side, Berkeley. Also of Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, which is : — dexter side,
de Brotherton J sinister side, Howard and Warren, quarterly. In the Memorials of Howard,
by Henry Howard, 1834, folio, p. 9, in a portrait of the victor of Flodden, from a book of

of Sir Thomas Felton, Knight ; second, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Wickingham,
Knight, by whom he had an only daughter, Anne, married to Sir Geoffrey BuUen or Boleyn, Knight, Lord
Mayor of London ; third, Eleanor, daughter of Leo, Lord Wells, sister and at length co-heir to Richard, Lord
Wells. The daughter of Thomas, Lord Hoo and Hastings, by Eleanor, daughter of Lord Wells, was Anne
{or Jane), married to Sir Roger Copley."

Plate 44.

tM,' IV, or
f. /, i-iro i.i;u

^■M-,._

••V *. JlQ)

\ (' .VI r, u
'. 1 1'. >; >i I J /, f

XII

THE PAINTED GLASS

177

IV. 4.
IV. 5.

IV. 6.

heraldry, 1597, the arms are quartered — i. Brotherton ; 2. Howard; 3. Warren; 4.
Mowbray.^

Doubtless they were shown so here originally. But on the attainder of Lord Surrey and
the Duke, in 1546, the compromising lions of England were rudely removed by the
widow, Lady Weston, or by the Anne Pickering whose husband, Sir Francis Weston, had
been executed ten years before. These windows, if we assume, as we must, that the first
quarter contained originally the royal arms, are quite independent evidence that the Howards,
Dukes of Norfolk, had borne their coat in that form in a preceding generation, and twenty-
two years before the attainder. And it will be noticed that they were so shown in the hall
of a colleague, in which it is certain that Henr>' VI 11., Wolsey, Cromwell, and other ministers
of the king were frequently in council with him. It throws new light on the monstrous
absurdity and iniquity of this particular charge against the Duke and the Earl of Surrey.

In the brass effigy of this Duke of Norfolk, on his tomb at Thetford, his arms are given
impaling those of Tilney for his wife, Agnes (see H. Howard, Memorials, p. 29).

Fragments of heads, rudely mended, the Stafford knot, and a bit of the Garter.

A quarry of four curious devices of original glass ; two are the well-known Bourchier
knot forming a double B. Sir John Bourchier, Lord Bemers, the famous soldier, author
and statesman, was Lieutenant of Calais i 521-32, and there he died in 1 532. Sir R. Weston
was at that date Treasurer of Calais. Sir John Bourchier, Lord Bemers, was Chancellor of
the Exchequer whilst Sir R. Weston was Under-Treasurer. He was the friend of Caxton,
the translator of Froissart, and one of the foremost of those who in the age of Henry VIII.
promoted the extension of European culture.

Here is also a coat — Party per fesse embattled argent and sable [sic], six crosses patt^e,
3 and 3 counterchanged, a crescent for difference. A motto, DA MIHI FERRE CRVCES.
At each side are the initials R.W. This must be for one of the family of Warneford
of Warneford Place, Wilts. Above, in place of crest, is a Latin cross. The family crest is
a garb proper.

Fragments badly replaced and unintelligible.

Window No. V

V. 1. A very fine coat of the date of the house (see Plate 44). It gives the arms of Thomas,

second Earl of Derby, grandson of the first Earl, husband of Margaret Beaufort. He impales
the arms of Anne, daughter of Lord Hastings of Hungerford, whom he married, 1507. This
Lord Derby succeeded his grandfather in 1504, and died in 1522 (see J. Doyle, Official
Baronage, i. 553).

The coat of this Lord Derby is almost identical with that of his son, the third Earl,
Window IV. 1 (Plate 43), except that in the first grand quarter. No. 3, he quarters Warren,
cheeky or and azure, and in fourth grand quarter. No. 3, he omits MOHUN and repeats
WiDViLLE, as in No. 2. The coat impales Hastings of Hungerford, as he married Anne,

^ An example of the arms of John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, with the royal arms of De Brotherton
in the first quarter, is to be found in MS. E., Philpott's Press, in the College of Arms (MS. Letter of
Charles A. Buckler).

2 A

178 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

the daughter of Edward, Lord Hastings of Hungerford. On the feme side the coat displays
quarterly —

1. Hastings — Argent, a maunch sable.

2. Hungerford — Sad/e, two bars argent, in chief three plates.

3. BOTREAUX — Argent, a griffin segreant gules.

4. MOLEYNS — Paly wavy of six, or and gules.

It will be observed that this glass, like that in IV. 1 (Plate 43), IV. 3 (Plate 45), and
others, is of "pot metal," the colour being run in the glass (see Winston, Memoirs, 1865,
p. 79), and in the ruby pieces the charge is produced by grinding the surface. Owing to this,
the charge on the Hastings coat. No. 3, looks like two garbs, and is not like a griffin at all.
Compare Comyn of York, argent, three garbs gules, banded or. This was, however, the
designer's intention (see J. Doyle, Baronage, ii. i 50 ; Papworth and Morant ; Banks's Dormant
Baronage, vol. ii. etc.). The coat. No. 4, is sometimes attributed to MoELS, also a bearing
of Hastings. This Lord Derby, according to Collins, iii., was Viscount Kynton, Lord
Stanley and Strange, Lord of Knokyn, Mohun, Basset, Bumal, and Lacy, Lord of Man and
the Isles. His wife, Anne, sister of George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, was daughter
of Lord Hastings, who was, in right of his wife. Lord Hungerford, Botreaux, Moleyns, Moels,
and de Homet. Hence these quarterings. They are explained by reference to the
pedigree.i

V. 2. A magnificent head of Saracen, the crest of Sir Richard Weston (see chap. iii. p. 44,

and chap. vii. p. 114), with wreath and "tun," green, blue, and red (Plate 40). This seems
nearly perfect, and is one of the original pieces in situ. Doubtless several of the lower
windows were filled with these heads. Compare lower south bay No. 5, and X. 2.

V. 3- A very fine coat of Copley, nearly perfect, the quarterings of which are all shown in the

painted escutcheons dated 1568 (see chap, xi.) But this coat is evidently earlier, and of the
date of the house, or shortly afterwards. It is quarterly of six —

1. Copley — Argent, a cross moline sable, a crescent for difference.

2. Hoo — Quarterly sable and argent.

3. St. Omer — Azure, a fesse between six crosses crosslet or, a quartering of Hoo (see
Banks's Dormant Baronage, iii. 376 ; and also the seal of Sir W. de Hungerford, died 1410,

3 Roger le Strange, d. 1383 = Alice, d. of Earl of Arundel

John le Strange, d. i397 = Maud, d. and heiress of

I John de Mohun William,
^1 Lord Botreaux

Richard le Strange = Elizabeth, d. of Sir Robt. Hungerford= Margaret, d. of

Richard, I Lord Botreaux

Lord Cobham |

Sir T. Stanley, = Elizabeth Nevill, John le Strange, = Jacquetta, d. of Robert Hungerford = Alianore, d. of

-* T? — 1 „fT~i — u., J -fTsr-i ] J T.;_i I \»7:j- 'ii- t T iA»_i:__

1st Earl of Derby,
d. 1504

d. of Richard, d. 1477

Earl of Salisbury

Richard Widville, | Lord Moline

Earl Rivers _

I I Thomas, Lord Hungerford=Anne, d. of H. Percy

Sir George Stanley, =Joan, d, of John, |

■» o. » Ijord Strange Mary, d. and sole heir of =Edward, Lord Hastings

Lord Hungerford, etc I

Baron Strange, d, 1477

Thomas Stanley, and Earl of Derby=Anne, d. of Edward, Lord Hastings
d. 1522 I

Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, d. 1 574 = Dorothy, d. of Thomas, 2nd Duke of Norfolk

Plate 45.

r M-iriM, r I

/, 1 1; (, (• '•, I .) /,

XM THE PAINTED GLASS i79

Archceological Journal, xiii. 195). This piece has been broken and badly mended. The
fesse in St. Omer has been replaced by a fragment of Shelley, turned on its side in a very
clumsy way. The marriage of Sir Roger Copley with Elizabeth Shelley was after 1530.

4. Welles — Or, a lion rampant double queued sable.

5. Engaine — Gules, a fesse dancettde between six crosses crosslet or.

Adam de Welles, Lord Welles, married, 1299, Margaret, daughter and heiress of John
de Engaine, Lord of Grimsby before 1295 (J. Doyle, Official Baronage, iii. 605).
Hence comes this coat which figures so often in the Copley quarterings.

6. Waterton — Barry of six, ermine and gules, over all three crescents sable.

Leo, Lord Welles, killed at Towton, 1461, married, first, Joan, daughter and heiress of
Sir R. Waterton, and, second, Margaret Beauchamp, Duchess of Somerset.

This coat, unless Shelley is improperly inserted in it, as seems probable, might be for
Sir Thomas Copley, born 1535, the son of Elizabeth Shelley, but of course before his marriage
with Katharine Luttrell (Escutcheons, chap, xi.) For pedigree of Copley see Appendix VII.

V. 4- Fragments of a Red Rose, very fine in colour, restored.

V. 5- This light, like the corresponding lights, TV. 5, VL 5, IX. 5, X. 5, contains four lozenge-

shaped devices, arranged in a lozenge. The three upper pieces are probably original, two
of them being curious devices of Sir Reginald Bray, one a hemp-crusher, bray, of very curious
form; the other a Hawk's lure (see Boutell, English Heraldry, p. 104, and Manning,
pp. 514-525). Sir R. Bray was in the service of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and was
an active instrument in placing the crown on the head of Henry VII., and is said to have
found the crown in the hawthorn bush. He was the architect of Henry VII. 's Chapel in the
Abbey, and of St. George's Chapel at Windsor. He laid the first stone in 1502. His
badges are found in many churches in Surrey, e.g. Shere, Godalming. As he died in i 504,
it is unlikely that this badge was originally placed in the hall. But he served with Sir
Richard Weston ; or the badge may have been used by inheritance. Sir Edmond Bray of
Stoke dAbemon was High-Sheriff of Surrey in 1521, and Sir Edward Bray also in 1538.
The third lozenge contains an initial H. crowned, formed by a dragon, probably for Henry
VII. This occurs also in n. 4. See it in A. W. Franks's Ornamental Glazing Quarries, p. 98.
The fourth lozenge contains a crest — a demi-bull, collared and chained, a crest of
Hastings.

V. 6. Fragments of a Red Rose, badly restored.

Window No. VI

VI, I. This is a fine coat of arms, being the arms of Henry VIII. impaling those of Catherine

of Aragon. This is probably nearly perfect, but is without the Crown. He was king at his
marriage. Part of a lion passant remains. The coat shows on baron side France and
England ; on feme side —

1 and 4. Grand quarters — Leon and Castile, quarterly.

2 and 3. Grand quarters — Aragon impaling SiCiLY, per saltire, BRABANT (Willement,
Royal Heraldry, p. 67 ; Jenkins, Heraldry, 1886, p. 83, where these quarterings are shown
and explained; see H. Woodward and Burnett, Heraldry, 1B92, p. 495).

iSo ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

VI. 2. A fine shield for the Copley family, somewhat transposed, but probably for Sir Thomas

Copley, about 1560. See the Copley pedigree, Appendix VII.
It is much injured and badly restored.
It may have been originally quarterly of eight.

1. Copley; 4. (.') broken, a^wr^, fretty a/^i?«/ (?) Etchingham.-
5. Welles ; 8. Hoo.

2, 3, 6, 7, appear to have been badly repaired and transposed, and have a fragment, as it
were in chief, azure, three fleurs de lys or, from some older royal coat.

There are also Belknap, azure, three eagles in bend between two cottises argent,
quartered with Shelley, sable, a fesse engrailed between three whelk shells or. Sir W.
Shelley, Chief- Justice of the King's Bench, 152 i, married Alice, daughter of Sir H. Belknap
of Essex. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Roger Copley. Also there seem to be
coats — or, two bendlets gules, Sudeley, and azure, on a bend flanchd or, a hawk argent.
VI. 3, A grand coat of the finest glass, contemporary with the house or older, being probably a

fanciful coat for the ancient kings of Wales, and representing Henry VII. or Henry VIII.
as hereditary King of Wales or England by descent from the Britons. It is quarterly.

1 and 4. Or, lion statant regardant gules.

2 and 3. Azure, three ducal coronets in bend or.
The traditional arms of Wales are —

Quarterly, i and 4. Gules, a lion passant guardant or.
2 and 3. Or, a lion passant guardant gules.

The piece is surrounded with a wreath in fine old work, and above is a lion passant.
The ruby glass is deeply incised. See Heylin's Help to History of England, pp. 7, 20 ; Pap-
worth, p. 593. Azure, three crowns or, for King Arthur (Sandford, Royal Genealogies, p. 277).
VI. 4- A circular piece enclosing the arms of England and France, and crown, with fragments of

the Garter. R. with crown, from device H.R., and apparently another bray, device of Sir
Reginald Bray (see V. 5, badly restored).
VI. 5- The lozenge piece enclosing four lozenge devices —

1. Arms of England and France quarterly.

2. A tulip, finely drawn, see the same in X. 5.

3. A parrot.

4. Grotesque, more recent, a man shearing a pig, or a pig in ram's fleece.

VI. 6. This interesting circular piece encloses, with fragments of royal arms and the Garter, a

portrait of Charles II., probably at the date of his restoration, astat. 30, 1660. He wears the
ribbon of the Garter. The portrait has the Crown and C.R. Though the portrait is not very
life-like, and is apparently that of a yoimger man, it is hardly probable that this piece, to
which the iron bar of the window is adapted, could have been placed here during the
Commonwealth. Brayley {History 0/ Surrey, ii. p. 20) calls this a portrait of Charles I., and
indeed it is almost as much like him as his son.

Upper North Bay

U. N. Bay I. This light has a magnificent specimen of a Red and White Rose, dimidiated with
green petals, the Rose being party per pale argent and gules, with the Tudor Crown, and
probably with a wreath and monogram, H.R., as in upper south bay 1.

XII THE PAINTED GLASS i8i

This glass is evidently identical with similar roses and crowns in Henry VII. 's Chapel
in the Abbey.
U. N. Bay 2, Here is a very fine coat, contemporary with the founder, for a Bishop of Winchester,
with Garter and Mitre. But the piece has been broken and badly repaired.

The dexter side gives the arms of the see imperfectly, gules, a sword and one key in
saltire argent, badly mended.

The sinister side seems to be —

Azure, on a chief argent, a saltire gules (? St. Patrick), or this may be that aeure is a
restoration or clumsy repair.

Round, with fragments of Garter, are some letters, apparently ABP-OS-T-E., or APS-OS-
A'T"S. Doubtless, this once contained the arms of Cardinal Wolsey.
N. Bay 3- Another magnificent coat of arms for Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.

On the dexter side is, in chief —

Gules, two keys in bend, argent and or, between them a sword of the second.

And in base is —

Gules, three crescents argent (?), careless restoration, taken from another coat.

On the sinister side are the arms of Gardiner. Azure, on a cross or, between four
griflfins' heads erased, a cinquefoil gules, pierced of the second (see Rev. R. Bedford, Blazon
of Episcopacy, 1858, p. 103).

Stephen Gardiner, 1483-1555, was Bishop of Winchester from 1531-52; he was in
France with Wolsey, 1527 ; and ambassador to the Pope, 1528. He was Master of Trinity
Hall, Cambridge, from 1525-49, and again, 1553-55. He was also Archdeacon of Norfolk.
N. Bay 4. A splendid Red and White Rose with Tudor Crown. The crown and wreath are
almost perfect. The rose has been broken.

These are doubtless contemporary with the house, and from the factory of Bernard Flower.
Henry VI I. 's Chapel was filled with pieces from the same workmanship.

Upper North Bay {Lower Half)

Windows 5, 6, 7, 8 are apparently Onslow coats, and their quarterings of seventeenth
or late sixteenth-century work.
U. N. Bay 5. Quarterly of six.

I, 2, 3 are apparently removed and replaced by a large hand, the sleeve striped or,
holding a fish vert. But this is not heraldic, or from a coat.

4. Carr — Gules, on a chevron or, three mullets sable. Edward Carr married Jane,
daughter of Sir Edward Onslow, who died 1 571. (?) Cobham of Kent.

5. Now simply azure.

6. Argent, goutt^e du sang, a lion rampant sable, Kynaston. John de Onslow,
8 Henry VI., married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Madoc Kynaston of Shropshire
(Collins, Hist. Peerage, v. 462).

This impales the coat of Shirley of Sussex quartering Brewse or Braose, azure,
sem^e of crosslets, a lion rampant or, langued gules.

Sir Edward Onslow, died 1571, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley of
Sussex. The coat shows —

I and 4. Shirley — Paly of six, or and azure, a canton ermine.

i82 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

2 and 3. Braose, as above.
U. N. Bay 6. Coke impaling PiLLETT.
Quarterly —

1 and 4. Coke — Party per pale gules and azure, three eagles displayed argent.

2 and 3. Argent, a chevron azure between three torteaux, on each a saltire of the first :
(?) wreaths.

Feme side is Pillett — Sable, a chevron argent between three covered cups or.
U. N. Bay 7. Broken fragments, badly replaced and unintelligible.
U. N. Bay 8. Onslow — Quarterly of six. Same as dexter side of Window II. 4.

1 and 6. Onslow — Argent, a [esse ^ules between six Cornish choughs proper, a crescent
for difference.

N.B. The piece above the fesse is broken and lost.

2. Kynaston — Argent, gouttde du satig, a lion rampant sable, langued gules.

3. Carr — Gules, on a chevron or, three mullets sable.

4. Argent, on a chevron sable, three bezants. (.') BOND, County Devon.

5. Barry of six, sable and argent, a canton argent. Underneath is the date 1639,
which may be transposed. Houghton.

Lower North Bay

L. N. Bay I. A magnificent original piece, the device of the founder, the tun with wreaths. Quite
perfect and very brilliant (Plate 46).

L. N. Bay 2. A fine old coat, damaged, but apparently party per bend sable and orj it may be or, a
grayhound, monkey, or monster sable, on a chief sable, three bezants.

Above is an old White Rose e7i soleil, the badge of the house of York, also in the next light.

L. N. Bay 3- This very magnificent and interesting piece gives us the coat of Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, being the royal arms, with a label of three points ertnine, on each point a canton
gules (see Boutell's Heraldry, Royal Cadency, p. 222), with the White Rose en soleil. The
colouring and design of this splendid specimen of the coat of Richard as Duke is singularly
fine. It remains a doubt how the coat, which must be older than the house by forty years,
came in so conspicuous a position in the hall where Henry VIII. was undoubtedly entertained
by his Minister. After his accession, June 1483, the coat of Richard, as Duke of Gloucester,
could not have been made new. It has no doubt been reset. It may have come from the
older house, or from the hall at Woking. Both this manor of Sutton and that of Woking
undoubtedly were in the possession of Richard III. as king.

L. N. Bay 4. Here was the device of the "tun," with a wreath similar to No. 1. In lieu of the tun
we now see architectural fragments of Perpendicular style, beginning of sixteenth century,

L. N. Bay 5- Picture of sheep-shearing — seventeenth century; poor work; pigs and bullocks at the
side ; an owl holding a mirror, a fox and some flowers and birds are of original and much
finer glass.

Lights 6 and 7, both here and in lower south bay, are filled with lozenge ornaments made
up of nine lozenges. Many of these are original.

L. N. Bay 6. a portcullis crowned, a grasshopper, and a fox are fine original designs and very
interesting. Then come grotesques, a monkey playing on a guitar, and an eagle playing on
the same, with a crest, a horse's head couped (now brown, probably or and gules, armed

Plate 46.

[I u \v, or
r- Ai-iror:i;u.

''V .V I I', u
'.I I, !,('», I.W. V

XII

THE PAINTED GLASS

183

and plumed), and a crescent for difference. Then a curious and interesting monogram design
dated

intertwined with a true lover's knot. It is uncertain for which of the Weston family this is.

Sir Henry Weston, an only child, and Dorothy Arundell had been married apparently in
1560 ; Lady Anne (Pickering) was now Lady Knyvett, and at least forty-five. Richard, the
eldest son of Sir Henry, was born in 1564, and married Jane Dister in 1583. This may
have been for the betrothal of the infants.

There is also twice repeated a later design, a book with a ducal coronet above it ; on the
dexter page a heart and three stars above ; on the sinister, a key. Motto, Respice, Suspice,
1630.
N. Bay 7. Here is another 'quarry of nine lozenges ; many of them are original and very finely
drawn. ^

The first is a marguerite or double daisy rising out of a tun. This is undoubtedly a rebus
for Margaret, the daughter of the founder, the wife of Sir Walter Dennys, whose magnificent
coat of arms is seen in X. 3. Below this is a camel, probably from the arms of Camell,
borne by the founder, but certainly later in date ; the White Rose en soleil, same as in 2 and
3, is fine ; an eagle's head erased, a mushroom, a design of an eye in the sun, the crest of
Blunt of Maple-Durham. A shield argent, a chevron between three fleurs de lys (?) gules (now
brown), a crest, a white hart lodged, attired and hoofed or, collared with oak leaves and
acorns vert, a crescent for difference, Bellasis, Yorkshire, or Belasvse, County Lincoln.

In the centre is a complete coat of arms of Spain, impaling those of England, being no
doubt for Philip of Spain and Mary, 1554. Sir Henry Weston, the then owner of the estate,
defended Calais for the Queen. This coat, which is contemporary, is merely drawn, and not
coloured. The arms of Philip are nearly the same as those of Catherine of Aragon in VI. 1,
except that they quarter France within a bordure gobonated for Burgundy, and Flanders
— Or, a lion rampant crowned sable. See Woodward and Burnett, p. 495.
L. N. Bay 8. The arms of Copley, with mantling and crest complete, probably of late sixteenth-
century work, far inferior to the original design.

Here is a fragment also seen in VIII. 4 ; a circular enclosure, with palisade.

Upper South Bay

This contains in its upper lights some splendid examples of glass of the date of the house,
uniform with the upper tier of lights in upper north bay. The lower lights, as in north bay,
have later (Copley) coats.
U S. Bay I . ^ magnificent Red Rose crowned and in wreath. This is very rich in colour and quite
perfect. The wreath bears the monogram f-R.

' As to quarries (from quarrel, quadrellum, low Latin) see A.
Quarries, 1849, where several of these specimens are given.

W. Franks, Ornamental Glaxing

1 84 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

U. S. Bay 2. Royal arms of England with Crown and Garter ; perfect, and very fine in colour and
design.

U. S. Bay 3. The arms of William Fitzalan, thirteenth Earl of Arundel, K.G., succeeded to the
earldom 1524, died i 544. He was Lieutenant of Calais, 1541. He was the son of Margaret
Widville, daughter of Earl Rivers, and was cousin of Henry VIII. (see History of Arundel^
by M. A. Tiemey, 1834, vol. i. ; Doyle, Official Baronage, vol. i.) His coat, which has the
Coronet and Garter, shows —

1. FiTZ.\LAN of Arundel — Gules, a lion rampant or. The brilliancy of this in the mid-
day sun is extraordinary.

2. Fitzalan of Bedale — Barry of eight or and gules.

3. Widville — Argent, a fesse and canton gules.

4. Quarterly, being —

1 and 4. Maltravers — Sable, a fret or.

2 and 3. Fitzalan of Clun — Argent, a chief azure.

U. S. Bay 4. A very fine Red Rose with Crown and motto— DIEU ET MON DROIT.

All these are unquestionably of the date of the house, and the finest work of 1530.
U. S. Bay 5- A very elaborate, but rather later coat of Copley, in eight quarters, with an escut-
cheon of pretence for Luttrell (see Escutcheons, chap, xi.) Surrey Archaeol. Coll. iii.

1. Copley — Argent, a cross moline sable, a crescent for difference.

2. Welles and Engaine — Quarterly, see Window V. 3.

3. Waterton — Barry of six ermine and gules, over all three crescents sable.

4. Hoo — Quarterly, sable and argent.

5. St. Omer — Azure, a fesse between six crosses crosslet or.

6. Malmayns — Azure, three sinister hands couped argent.

7. Wychingham — Ermine on a chief sable, three crosses patt^e argent.

8. St. Leger — Azure, fretty argent, a chief or.
On an escutcheon of pretence is —

Luttrell — Or, a bend between six martlets sable.

This coat is doubtless for Sir Thomas Copley, died 1584, great-grandfather of Mary, wife
of John Weston, 1637.

St. Omer, Malmayns, and St. Leger were quarterings of Hoo. The first Lord Hoo,
1446, was the son of Alice St. Maur, whose mother was Jane, daughter of Nicolas Malmayns.
His second wife was Elizabeth Wickingham. See Appendix VII.
U. S. Bay 6. The coats in Nos. 6, 7, 8 are all Copley coats with nearly the same quarterings, appar-
ently of the same date, and for the same Sir Thomas Copley. They have been injured and
badly repaired, especially No. 6, the lower quarters of which, 5 to 10, are not intelligible.
U. S. Bay 7. 7, sable, three talbots' heads erased argent. Hall, County Lincoln ; argent, a lion rampant
U. S. Bay %. azure (f) Fauconberg. In 8 appears Neville — Gules, a saltire argent, and Mowbray
— Gules, a lion rampant argent. These are probably misplaced during repairs.

In 8 are two very fine monograms. R. with crown, and H.E. with crown and hawthorn
bush, fleur de lys, etc.

Here are also two of the original grotesques, a monkey and a griffin, both finely drawn ;
also the device of Henry VII., H.E., and the crown and hawthorn bush, with some fine
original emblems.

xii THE PAINTED GLASS 185

I Lower South Bay

L. S. Bay I. Fragments of Tudor crown, very fine old glass, not of one coat. There is a grand
fragment from the arms of Catherine of Aragon, Leon and Castile, with arms of England,
also the following : —

i. Azure, upon a chevron between three harts at gaze or, as many crowns sable. (?) Green,
Norfolk. This seems to impale —

ii. I. Or, three fleurs de lys azure in pale.

2. Vair^, Beauchamp of Hache.

3. Gules, two lions' heads erased or.

4. Quarterly, i and 4. Gules, a castle or; 2 and 3. Argent, a lion rampant gules,
crowned or.

But the whole coat has been transposed and entirely confused in the resetting.
L. S. Bay 2. a magnificent original design, happily quite perfect, the arms of the founder (see

Plate 41).

1 and 4, Weston — Ertnine, on a chief azure, ; bezants.

2 and 3. Camell — Argent, three camels trippant sable. Sir R. Weston was the son of
Catherine Camell, heiress of John Camell of Shapwick, Dorset. See Appendix I.

L. S. Bay 3. A splendid head of Saracen for the crest of Weston, with mantling (compare V. 2,
and see Plate 40).

This and the last light enable us to judge of the appearance of the hall as originally com-
pleted, and shows most noble examples of the work of the glass-makers of 1 5 30.
L. S. Bay 4. This design is much mutilated. It shows us the portrait of a king crowned, apparently
Henry VII., certainly not Henry VIII. Below are the arms of England impaling those of
Catherine of Aragon, White and Red Roses. Fragment argent, a saltire gules. (?) St.
Patrick.

This and a fragment vair^ are found together in HI. 2, and are fine and original ; also in
upper north bay 2.
L. S. Bx\Y 5. Remains of a Tudor crown, apparently with wreath ; now in the place of the arms is a
circular niche of late Gothic work ; within (not in colours) a shield, being —

Arms of the Adventurers or Hambrough Merchants. This society was incorporated 24
Edward I., 1296, and obtained ample privileges and a confirmation of their charter from
Queen Elizabeth. See Cunningham, Etigltsh Industry, i. 372.

Arms — Barry undde of six, argent and azure. A chief quarterly gtiles and or, on the
first and fourth quarters a lion passant guardant of the fourth ; on the second and third two
roses gules, barbed vert (Boutell, Plate 13, p. 328; and Edmondson, Heraldry s Gwillim,
Heraldry). Sir Richard may have been a member, see p. 73.
L. S. Bay 6, The lozenge, with nine lozenge devices (chiefly original, see Plate 42).
I. Castle crowned. Castile. See head-piece, p. 164.

2 and 3. Two Roses argent, seeded gules, crowned. Two crown and hawthorn with
monogram H.E., a bird with buckle, and the punning rebus Lep above a tun, for Lepton.

The quarries of Lepton are cut with a diamond and inscribed thus — " W.E. 1704," and
"A 1702."

Rev. Radulph or Christopher Lepton, Canon of Wells, was Rector of Alresford and St.
Nicholas, Guildford, 1504-27 (Manning, i. 65, 69).

2 B

i86 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

L. S. Bay 7. Another lozenge quarry of nine pieces ; three appear to be original ; an eagle apparently
saying grace before sitting down to table ; a fox with bird, and the crown and hawthorn.
Two are figures of late seventeenth-century work, apparently Dutch — Christ before Pilate, two
sea monsters, dolphin and dragon; also Respice, Suspice, 1630. The book and crown as
in lower north bay.

L. S. Bay 8. Here is a splendid and apparently perfect royal device, a fine Tudor crown, uninjured,

which supports a wreath of magnificent blues and orange (see Plate 39). Within is the
following devices : —

A donjon of a castle with two wards and a gate with portcullis forms a bed for flowers ;
out of the castle rise two roses and two marigolds, apparently counterchanged — a heart and
cross are in flames ; out of the flames rises an eagle, hawk, or phoenix crowned, with wings
outspread. This is for Jane Seymour, and it was also borne at times by her son, Edward VI.
(Willement, p. 71, Plate 17). The same appears in Hampton Court Palace (see History by
Ernest Law, vol. i. p. 181).

The work is apparently contemporary with the house. Jane Seymour was married i 536,
and died 1537. It is singular that the personal badge of Jane Seymour should be put in the
hall of the father whose only son had been executed just before her marriage as one of the
lovers of Anne Boleyn. But Sir Richard Weston attended the court ceremonies of Jane
Seymour, as we see in chap. iii. pp. 58, 59.

Window No. VII

Vn. I. The Garter encloses a crest, a falcon displayed belled and gorged with a ducal coronet,

the crest of Paulet, Marquis of Winchester. This light is much injured ^nd badly mended
with modern fragments. It contains the portcullis chained, and a coat for Onslow impaling
' Swan, same as in II. 2, II. 3 ; azure, three swans argent, a chief or.

VIL 2. Here was a magnificent original Tudor crown and Red Rose of the Abbey design, appar-

ently encircled by the Garter.

vn. 3. The Garter as in No. 1, HONY SOYT QUY MAL Y PENSE, enclosing a coat of ten

quarterings for Paulet.

1. Paulet — Sable, three swords in pile argent, points to bases, pommels and hilts or, a
, crescent for difference.

2. Roos — Gules, three water bougets argent.

3. POVNINGS — Barry of six, or and vert, a bendlet gules, a crescent for diflference.

4. St. John — Or, on a chief ^/«, three mullets pierced argent.

5. Delamare — Gules, two lions passant guardant argent.

6. HUSSEY — Barry of six, ermine and gules.

7. Skelton — Azure, a fesse between three fleurs de lys argent.

8. Ireby — Argent, a fret sable, a canton of the second.

9. Delamere — Argent, six martlets (3, 2, i) sable (see Baigent, Practical Manual, p.
35, where these quarterings are given from a monument in Croxdale Church).

These are the arms of William Paulet, K.G., first Marquis of Winchester, 155 1, created
by Henry VIII. Lord St. John, 1539, and one of his executors. He succeeded Sir Richard

XII THE PAINTED GLASS 187

Weston as Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries, 1540-54 (J- Doyle, Official Baron-
age, iii. 700). He was Lord Treasurer during the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth,
and he explained his long tenure of office by saying that he was " the willow, not the oak."
He was the builder of Basing House, about twenty-five miles from Sutton, and must have
been well known both to the founder and to his grandson. Sir Henry Weston. He died 1572,
aged eighty-seven. The crescent for cadency marks the fact that the elder branch is repre-
sented by Earl Poulett.

The crest, falcon gorged with a ducal coronet and belled, appears also in Vm. 1. Below
is a coat, gules, five leopards rampant in cross or, for Bvntworth, and the word Bcntsworth.
VI L 4. Here are two devices or rebus, a circular enclosure surrounded by a stockade, in front

a five-barred gate, inside trees, above J., below R.

A late sixteenth-century coat with mantling and crest sable, four or six lions rampant
in cross argent, langued and armed gules, a scutcheon of pretence ermine (?) St. Martin.

Crest on a knight's helmet, a lion statant argent, langued gules, armed or, on a cap of
maintenance. The whole is a complete piece of seventeenth-century work.
VII. 5- This light has been injured and badly mended. Several pieces of the original devices,

birds and animals, remain.
VII. 6. This light has been injured and badly mended. Also the original hawthorn crowned

and rose-tree crowned with H.R. In the centre of the design is a large shield of four
quarters impaling sable, three pickaxes argent, for PiGOTT.

The coat shows : —

I and 4. Sable, a buck's head cabossed attired or, between the antlers a cross crosslet
fitchde or, langued or, and pierced through the nose with an arrow or.

2. Argent, a chevron between three rooks' heads erased sable, the chevron charged with
an annulet or. (?) Norrevs.

3. Argent, a chevron gules between three squirrels siegant sable, each holding a nut or

SCOBINGTON.

Window No. VIII

\ VIII, I. Original wreath from Saracen's head, badly mended ; within is a large crest, falcon gorged

and belled as in VII. 1, for Paulet, Marquis of Winchester.
I VIII. 2. Very fine original Red Rose with crown above, similar to that in VI. 4, but much

[ damaged.

VIII. 3. Fragments of original wreath from Saracen's head, badly mended, three fleurs de lys, one

quarter of royal arms, original glass of 1 5 30.
VIII. 4- Original quarries of birds, grotesques, and mantling. Three birds sitting down to dinner.
In the centre a shield, sixteenth century, of four quarters.

I and 4. Babington of East Brigford, Notts — Argent, ten torteaux, 4, 3, 2, i, a label
of three points azure.

2. Dethick of Derby — Argent, a fesse vaird or and gules between three water bougets
sable.

3. Argent, a chevron (?) between two compasses and a globe or{?). Company of
Carpenters, who had a grant of arms, 1466 (Boutell, 331). Transposed in mending.

x88 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE chap.

The family of Babington of Notts, from Sir John de Babington, chief Captain of Morlaix,
in Bretagne, under Edward III., intermarried with family of Dethick, County Derby. Of this
family was Anthony Babington, executed 1586.
VI n. 5. Birds, grotesques, and fragments of original glass, the H.E. and H.R. with hawthorn
and crown, and a large coat with six quarters.

I. Ermine on two bars sable, three fleurs de lys or.

3. Sable, six lioncels rampant or, 3, 2, i. (?) St. Martin of Wilts.

3. Sable, a griffin segreant between three cross crosslets argent. {T) Froxmore.

4 and 5. Quarterly (unintelligible and transposed) — (i) goat's head erased, homed or;
, (2) leopard's head cabossed ; (3) two leopards' heads cabossed ; (4) two goats. An
escutcheon of pretence argent, three crescents sable.

6. Fleur de lys, from original royal arms.
Vin. 6. Late sixteenth-century shield, nearly complete, supporters two camels. This has been
transposed ; originally it contained arms, crest, and supporters of the Merchant Taylors'
Company with their motto (incorp. 1466 and 1503). Crest, on a knight's helmet a lamb en
soleil argent, on a cap vert. The shield below has been apparently filled with the royal arms
as borne by James I., and is a good deal injured.

1. In the first quarter of the royal coat is now a rabbit, with the letters W.T. In sole
posuit tabemaculum suum. See Psalm xix. v. 4.

2. In the second a White and Red Rose.

3. The harp, for Ireland.

4. England and France quarterly. Below the motto, Concordia res parvce crescunt,
motto of the Merchant Taylors' Company. See Burke, General Armoury, under " London,
Companies of."

In this window, light 3, is an inscription with a diamond — " John Weston Esquire putt in
this painted glass, August ye 28, 1724," apparently done by a workman during some repair.

Window No, IX

IX, I Very fine original designs of the arms of the founder. Both the same. Weston

and 3- quartering Camell, same as in lower south bay No. 2, and in X. 1 (see Plate 41). These
are fortunately complete, with their mantling, and give an excellent conception of the best
armorial decoration of the period.

IX. 2. The rebus of the "tun" for the founder, as in lower north bay No. 1, and probably

similar, surrounded with wreathing (see Plate 46).

IX. 4. Here are curious sixteenth-century fragments, heads of kings, birds, grotesques, and two

fleurs de lys.

In the centre is a sundial, marked from 10 to 8. This very curious piece is probably
in situ, and by a metal rod or bracket, placed outside, it apparently indicates the time.

IX. 5- Here is a lozenge-shaped quarry of old grotesques; an eagle or hawk is wheeling in a

barrow a smaller bird. It looks like an illustration of the Burial of Cock Robin ; also an
eagle, hawk, or rook on two staffs, crutches, or stilts, with a pack on his back, apparently
disguised as a pedlar. Also a demi-virgin couped below the shoulders, issuant out of clouds,
vested and crowned or, the crest of the Mercers' Company, 1394. The motto Virtutis laus

XII THE PAINTED GLASS 1,89

actio is for Corbet, one of the quarterings of Onslow. This motto was also used by William
Howard, Earl of Arundel, whose family occupied Sutton Place 1615-25.
IX. 0, Here are later fragments, not now intelligible ; in the centre a Madonna and Child.

Window No. X

Here are, no doubt in situ, in the upper tier of lights, the arms and crest of the founder
and the arms of his son-in-law.
X. I. The arms of Weston quartering Camell, as in IX. 1 and 3 (Plate 41).

X. 2. The Saracen's head with wreath, much injured (compare V. 2, Plate 40).

X. 3. Here is a magnificent coat of arms, contemporary with the hall, and almost perfect. This

splendid specimen gives a vivid impression of the command over the resources of colouring
possessed by the glass-painters of 1530. It gives the arms of Sir W. Dennys quartering
the arms of Berkeley in right of his mother.
This beautiful coat is thus blazoned : —

1 and 4. Grand quarters —

Dennys — Gules, three leopards' heads or, jessant de lys azure {sic)s over all a bend
engrailed of the last.

2 and 3. Grand quarters, quarterly —

1. Berkeley — Gules, a chevron between ten crosses pattde, six in chief and four in
base, argent.

2. Brotherton — Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or, a label of three
points argent.

3. Warren — Cheeky or and azure.

4. Mowbray — Gules, a lion rampant argent.

These are the arms in contemporary glass of Sir Walter Dennys, who married Margaret,
daughter of Sir Richard Weston (see her rebus in lower north bay, No. 7). Sir Walter was
the son of Sir William Dennys of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, by Anne, daughter and co-heir
of Maurice (Lord) Berkeley, descended from James, Lord Berkeley, 1421, who married Isabel,
second daughter of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Hence the Mowbray and Warren
quarterings.

A communication from Mr. Charles A. Buckler, loth August 1880, himself descended
from a sister of Sir Walter Dennys, who married Sir Richard Buckler, County Dorset, states
as follows — " The royal coat of Brotherton is, in the first place, in the seals of William
Berkeley and Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk. It is curious that, at Sutton Place, as the
royal quarter had precedence in the Howard shield (see Plate 45), it was not similarly
treated in the Berkeley quarterings, two sisters and co-heirs having transmitted it to both
families. At Sutton Place the fleurs de lys in the coat of Dennys are azure. This occurs in
the earlier instances. Later they were leopards' faces, jessant de lys or, in order to avoid the
azure bend."
X. 4. Fragments, apparently of fine sixteenth-century work. A fleur de lys, White Rose, rose

5. en soleil, etc.

6. A quarry in lozenge of four designs, apparently all of the seventeenth century, and much
inferior to the original work.

190

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

CHAP. XII

(l) A woman nursing an infant swaddled with bands ; (2) an elephant ; (3) tulip, as in
VI. 5; (4) a curious and amusing design from George Withers's Emblems, published 1636.
G. Withers was a Guildford man, a stout Puritan, and a Commissioner under the Common-
wealth. His Emblems had a great success.

' ' A fool sent forth to fetch the goshngs home,
When they unto the river's bank were come,
(Through which their passage lay) conceived a feare
His dame's best brood might have been drown'd there,
Which to avoyd he thus do show his wit
And his good nature in preventing it,
He underneath his girdle thrusts their heads,
And the coxcomb through the water wades.
Here learne that, when a fool his help intends,
It rather does a mischief than befriends."

,_J ' ' '"' -'' ' ■» - <'^ ''■■■ ■■■■1 .."■'■-I

.iU- Ml"— --"" !ll \ ITTl

APPENDIX I

PEDIGREE OF WESTON

The history of the beautiful manuscript pedigree of the Wesions in the British Museum
(Addit. MSS. 31,890), which has been frequently mentioned in the text, is this : —

It is a vellum roll about 27 feet long by 5 feet wide, with a great number of illumina-
tions in colours and other drawings, extracts from deeds, wills, registers, etc. It was prepared
for Sir Richard Weston, the agriculturist, in 1632, by Sir William Segar, Principal Garter
King of Arms, as he pompously signs himself on each skin. It was then continued down to
John Webbe- Weston, the last entry being 1789. When F. H. Salvin succeeded to the
property in 1857, the pedigree, which had been removed from Sutton Place, was not to be
found. It was accidentally discovered many years afterwards by Colonel Hunter Weston of
Hunterston, West Kilbride, Ayrshire, a descendant of the Staffordshire family of Weston.
Colonel Weston bought it in a damaged condition and had it repaired ; but finding that it
did not relate to his own family, and being unaware of its origin, he presented it, about 1880,
to the British Museum.

The text has been carefully copied for this work by Mrs. Salmon, and it is given in fac-
simile in nine sheets at the end of the work. The great coat of arms in colours is a
facsimile of the illumination at the end of Segar's roll (Sheet 7). The original is a very fine
specimen of the quaint, complicated, and pompous genealogies which were in great vogue
down to the times of the Long Parliament.

This magniloquent work is thus described in the Latin title, of which this is a transla-
tion : —

" The genealogy and descent of the Westons, a most ancient knightly family, so named
from Weston, near Spalding, in the County of Lincoln. It starts from Haylerick de Weston,
a Saxon gentleman, of the time of Henry I., from whom the illustrious Sir Richard Weston,
Knight, of Sutton, in Surrey, is descended," and so forth, " with proofs from State archives,
private documents, churches, monuments, histories, registers of monasteries and rolls of arms
of extreme antiquity, and other evidences from venerable ages and indubitable truthfulness,
all of which, with laborious and scrupulous accuracy, have been set forth for the perpetual
memory of this matter by William Segar, Garter King," and so forth, " 1632."

As both the father and the mother of Dorothy Arundell, wife of Sir Henry Weston, 1560,

,92 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

traced their descent through Arundells and Howards to the Plantagenet princes, and as
the Camells claimed descent from William Longuep^e, natural son of Henry II. by Fair
Rosamund, Segar thinks fit to introduce his genealogy with the descent of the Royal House
of Plantagenet from Adam. This is the old monastic " common form," found in the Saxon
Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, and other chronicles. It had now become, after a thousand
years, heraldic bombast. Translated it runs thus : —

" In the year of our Lord 1231, fifteenth year of Henry III., who was the son of John,
brother of the invincible and imperial (?) King Richard, who was the son of King Henry II.,
whose mother was Matilda the Empress, whose mother was Matilda, Queen of the English,
whose mother was Margaret, Queen of the Scots, whose father was Edward, whose father was
Edmund Ironside, whose father was Adelred (Ethelred), whose father was Eadgar, the Unwar-
like, whose father was Edmund, whose father was Edward the Elder, whose father was the
glorious Alfred, who was the son of Eadrolf [Ethelwolf] (and so on), son of Egbright, Alhimund,
Effa, Eppa, Ingats, whose brother was the most famous king, Ine Nonnen, whose father was
Ceounred, the son of Ceowald (and so on), of Cutha, Cuthwin, Ceaulin, Cynric, Creorda,
Ceordic, Elesa, the son of Esla, who was the stock-root. This was the head of the race
from whom the [West Saxon] people derived their name. His father was Wig, whose father
was Frewine (and so on), through Freodigar, Brand, Bealdaes, Woden, Fredewald, Freolof,
Fredewolf, Fringoldwolf, Geta, Geatwa, Bew, Stelwa, Stereward, Sterwod, Bothkar, Walla,
Beadwid, Sem, whose father was Noah, who was the son of Lameth, who was the son of
Methusaleh, who was the son of Enoch, who was the son of Jareth, who was the son of
Mahalael, who was the son of Canaan, who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth,
who was the son of Adam, who was the son of the living God."

Thirty-eight generations separate Alfred from Noah. This would hardly account for a
thousand years !

The pedigree is a very complicated one, and it may be divided into ten lines.

1. The main tree of the Westons of Sutton Place, from Haylerick, County Lincoln,
temp. Henry I.

2. The descent of the Camells, from whom Sir Richard the founder descended through
his mother, Catherine, daughter and heiress of John Camell, traced up to Norman times.

3. The descent of Anne Sandys, wife of Sir Richard, from John Sandys of Lancashire.

4. The family of Pickering, from the time of Henry I., for Anne, wife of Sir Francis
Weston.

5. The family of Arundell, traced through Grey, Neville, Montacute, and Holland
to Edward III., for Dorothy Arundell, wife of Sir Henry Weston.

6. The family of Howard, traced through Mowbray to the Plantagenet princes for
Margaret Howard, mother of Dorothy, Lady Weston.

7- The family of Weston of Prested Hall, temp. Henry V., ancestors of John Webbe.

8. The family of Webb, traced from William Webb of Salisbury, 1496.

9. Family of Pinchyon, traced from Nicholas Pinchon, Sheriff of London, 1 532.
10. Family of WOOLFE, traced from Francis Woolfe of Shropshire, 1659.

1. Family of WESTON

Haylerick de Weston in Holland, County Lincoln, temp. Henry I., witnesses a charter, as
appears by the roll of the Priory of Spalding. (An account of the Benedictine Priory of

APPENDIX I 193

Spalding is found in Dugdale's Monasticon, iii. 206.) The same unimpeachable evidence
establishes that the son of Haylerick was Ascinus, whose son was Nigel, whose son was
Lambert, whose son was a second Nigel, whose son was a second Lambert, whose son
was Henry, whose son was a third Lambert, whose son was Humphrey (30 Edward IIL)
Humphrey was the common ancestor of the Westons and the Webbes. By Catherine
Beauchamp he was the father of John Weston, great-grandfather of Sir Richard, the founder.
By Joan, his second wife, he was the father of Robert Weston of Prested Hall, Essex.

From Humphrey Weston (30 Edward IH.) the pedigree continues as set forth in chap,
iii. p. 34, and with abundant extracts from deeds and registers which prove SegaHs industry, if
they do not establish relationship. Between Sir Richard the founder (1530) and Haylerick
(about 1 100), there are eleven successive generations of Westons, or an average of nearly
forty years for a generation. In the 360 years between the founder and to-day there are
twelve generations, or an average of nearly thirty years. Truly it is a long-lived race, with
an average of thirty-three years over nearly eight centuries !

II. Family of CAMELL

As Sir Richard the founder quartered Camell in right of his mother, and as the pedi-
gree reminds us that the editor of Camden's Britannia says this ancient family was " bettered
by an heire of J. Camell," Segar traces the origin of this house to the times of the Normans.

Walter of Salisbury, it seems, married Sibilla, daughter of Robert of Cadurcis or Chaworth.
Their son Patrick, Earl of Salisbury (in the time of Henry II.), married Ela, Countess of
Surrey, daughter of the Count of Ponthieu. Their son was William of Evreux, Earl of Salis-
bury, whose daughter, Ela, married the famous William Longuepde, natural son of Henry II.,
created Earl of Salisbury, whose beautiful tomb is still seen in Salisbury Cathedral. Their
daughter and co-heiress married Philip, Lord Bassett, Justiciary of England, died 1271,
whose daughter, Ela, married Robert de Plescy of Northampton and Gloucester. John de
Plescy (29 Edward I.) married Margaret, daughter and heiress of James Bulingham of Hedley,
whose son, Robert de Plescy, married Matilda, daughter and heiress of John de Acton.
Their granddaughter, Joan, married Robert Camell of Shapwick, County Dorset, whose
granddaughter, Catherine, the ultimate heiress, was, by Edmund Weston, the mother of Sir
Richard, the founder. For the pedigree of Camell consult Manning and Bray, ii. 638 ;
Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii. 166. The family of Camell contributes altogether ten coats
to Segar's composite set of fifty quarterings.

III. Family of SANDYS or SANDS

John Sandes (sic). County Lancaster, married the daughter and heiress of William Rawson.
Their son, William Sands (sic), married Margaret, the daughter and heiress of John Gerard,
by whom he became the father of Oliver Sandis (sic) of Shere, Surrey, the father of Anne,
wife of Sir Richard, the founder.

Anne, Lady Weston, thus contributes only the modest quota of three coats to Segar's
array of fifty quarterings. These are Sandys, Rawson, Gerard. The arms of Sandys
are or, a fesse dancettee, between three crosses crosslet fitchee gules, not, it will be observed,
the arms borne by Lord Sandys of the Vine, 1520, which were argent, a cross ragulee and
trunked sable.

2 C

194 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

IV. Family of PICKERING

The family of Pickering, the heiress of which married Francis Weston in 1530, brings
in no less than thirty-four of Segar's fifty quarterings (see p. ^^). The enumeration of these
must be left to the account of the composite coat. They begin with Noel, Lord of Ellen-
hall, Staffordshire, temp. Henry I., Robert de Courcy and his wife, Rohesia, daughter of
Hugh de Grantmesnil, William de Meschines and his wife, Cecilia, daughter and heiress of
Robert de Rumilly, of Skipton, in Craven. These are continued through Neville, Laceby,
Gerard, Camoys, D'Oyley, Bardolf, Lewkenor, and Lascelles, all of which, according to Segar,
ultimately vest in Anne Pickering. The thirty-four quarterings, authentic or not, were accom-
panied by most authentic estates.

V. Family of ARUNDELL

Dorothy, wife of Sir Henry Weston, 1560, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Arundell and
Margaret Howard. This is the family now represented by Lord Arundell of Wardour. As
Dorothy Arundell was not an heiress, she brings in no quarterings, nor are the family
arms to be found in the pedigree or at Sutton Place. But she was of ancient and royal
descent both on the father and the mother's side. Sir Thomas Arundell was the son of
Eleanor, daughter of Thomas Grey, second Marquis of Dorset, K.G., and sister of Henry
Grey, third Marquis, whose wife was Frances, eldest daughter and heiress of Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk, by Mary, sister of Henry VIII. Thomas, the second Marquis, grandfather
of Sir Thomas Arundell, was grandson of Elizabeth Widville, Queen of Edward IV. His
mother was Cicely, daughter and heiress of William, Lord Bonville, whose mother was
Catherine Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, grandson of John of Gaunt,
who married Alicia, daughter and heiress of Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, who was
herself granddaughter of Thomas Holland, first Earl of Kent, and of Joan, the Fair Maid of
Kent, granddaughter of Edward I.

VI. Family of HOWARD

Margaret Howard, mother of Dorothy, Lady Weston, was granddaughter of Thomas,
second Duke of Norfolk of the Howard family. His descent is traced through MOWBRAYS
and Fitzalans to Thomas of Brotherton, son of Edward I. About this there is no
question, and it is too well known to require comment.

VII. Family of WESTON of Essex

This branch of the Westons starts, as we have seen, with Robert Weston of Prested
Hall, Essex (2 and 3 Henry V.), half-brother of John Weston of Boston, great-grandfather
of the founder. From him it descends in six generations to Jerome Weston, the father of
Richard Weston, Earl of Portland, and also of Dorothy, the wife of Sir E. Pinchyon of Writtle.
Ann Pinchyon, Dorothy's granddaughter, married John Woolfe, by whom she had a son,
William Woolfe, who married Frances Weston, sister of John Weston, died 1730, the father
of Melior Mary, who died 1782. This branch of the Westons seems to have become extinct
in the male line on the death of the fourth Earl of Portland in 1688. It was continued in
the female line from Dorothy Weston.

APPENDIX I I9S

VIII. Family of WEBB

Bridget, sister of William Woolfe, and great-granddaughter of Dorothy Weston, sister to
the first Earl of Portland, married John Webb, and by him became the grandmother of John
Webbe-Weston, the devisee, in 1782. John Webb of Queen Square, London, who died 1729,
was seventh in direct descent from William Webb or Kellowe, of the city of Salisbury, of
which he was Mayor, 1 496 ; whose great-grandson, William Webb, was also Mayor of Salis-
bury in 1 561 ; and his grandson. Sir John Webb of Oldstock, Wihs, was created a baronet
in 1644. Descendants of W. Webb, both named John, removed to and died in London,
where John Webbe-Weston, the devisee, was bom, in the parish of St Paul's, Covent Garden,
in July 1753. The genealogy here is most obscure, and it has no official authority. This
John Webbe-Weston was the father of Mary, the mother of Francis Henry Salvin, the present
owner of Sutton Place.

IX. Family of PINCHYON

Bridget, wife of John Webb of London, who died there in 1729, traced her descent from
Nicholas Pinchon, who came from Wales, and was Sheriff of London, 1532. His son, John
Pinchon of Writtle, in Essex, married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Richard Empson.
Their grandson, Sir Edward Pinchon of Writtle, married Dorothy Weston, sister of the first
Earl of Portland. The Earl took to wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Pinchyon. Dorothy
Weston's granddaughter, Anne, married John Woolfe of Great Haseley, who died in 1699.

X. Family of WOOLFE

Francis Woolfe of Madeley, Shropshire, died 1669, was the father of John Woolfe who
married Anne Pinchon. They were grandparents of the Woolfes, whose family became
extinct in the male line in 1768, and were also great-grandparents of John Webbe-Weston.

It will be noticed that the descents under sections VII. VIII. IX. and X. are all additions
to Segar's roll. Of all the families in the pedigree the only coats of arms still to be seen in
the painted glass at Sutton are the following :— Weston, Camell, Dennys, and Copley.
Those of Howard, Mowbray, Fitzalan, Neville are not intended to represent family
connection.

The Coat of Arms

This curious specimen of the heraldic pedantry of the Caroline age consists of fifty
quarterings of Weston, with elaborate mantling, and the Saracen's head crest. The names
are given in a margin, and thus they can be identified where damage or careless retouching
has destroyed the original blazon. They are in six rows : nine coats in the two upper, and
eight coats in the four lower rows. This is their order : —

First row, i. Weston; 2. Moulton ; 3. Camell; 4. Plescy ; 5. Bassett ; 6. Dunstanville ;
7. Gay ; 8. Evreux ; 9. Longuepde.

Second row, 10. Rosmere ; 11. Bullingham ; 12. Acton; 13. Sandys; 14. Rawson ;
15. Gerard; 16. Pickering; 17. Lascelles ; 18. Burdett.

Third row, 19. Rockcliffe ; 20. Moresby; 21. Fenwick ; 22. Tyliol ; 23. Longuevilliers ;
24. Tyliol ; 25. Etton ; 26. Lewkenor of the Castle of Bodiham.

Fourth row, 27. Bardolf; 28. D'Oyley ; 29. Stoke; 30. Duston ; 31. Noell ; 32. Tregoze ;
33. Ewiasj 34. Dallingridge.

,96 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

Fifth row, 35. Delalynde; 36. Neville; 37. Laceby; 38. Gerard; 39. Cundy; 40. Courcy;
41. Meschines ; 42. Rummely.

Sixth row, 43. (?) Raddenden ; 44. Chamont ; 45. Camoys ; 46. Foliot ; 47. Roscelyn ;
48. Louche; 49. Wace; 50. Dister.

The elaborate coat has been most carefully reproduced by Messrs. Griggs and Co. ; but
the tinctures have been much obliterated by decay.

Coat 2 (first row), argent, two bars gules, is said to be for Weston ; but it is plainly
Moulton of Moulton, County Lincoln. Moulton and Weston are manors close to Spalding,
original seat of this branch of the Westons.

Coats 3 to 1 2 inclusive are all quarterings of Camell.

Coat 9, azure, six lioncels rampant, seem to be argent instead of or, for the famous son of
Fair Rosamund, William Longuepee.

Coat 1 2, Acton of Leicestershire, is quarterly, per fesse indented argent and azure. This
is the last of the Camell quarterings.

Coats 13, 14, and 15 are brought in by Anne Sandys, wife of Sir Richard, the founder;
Sandys being evidently intended for or, a fesse dancettde between three crosses crosslet
fitchde gules.

Coat 1 4 is Rawson of Yorkshire, party per fesse (the fesse not wavy), gules and sable, a
castle argent.

Coat 15 is Gerard, azure, a lion rampant ermine. This differs from No. 38 below, also
for Gerard.

Coats 16 to 49 are all Pickering quarterings.

Coat 18 is BuRDETT of Yorkshire, azure, two bars or, each charged with three martlets
gules.

Coats 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 (third row) are all fairly preserved, and correspond
with the arms as given in the books.

Coat 27 (fourth row), for Lord Bardolf, was obviously azure, three cinquefoils or.

Coat 28, D'Oyley VIZ.S gules, three bucks' heads cabossed or.

Coat 29 is Stoke of Northampton, barry of ten, argent and gules, a chevron or.

Coat 30 is effaced. DuSTON is gules, a buck's head cabossed argent, attired or.

Coat 32, Tregoze, is intended for azure, two bars gemelles, and in chief a lion passant or.

Coat 34, Dallingridge, is obviously meant for argent or or, a cross engrailed ^//^j.

Coat 35 (fifth row) was Delalynde, a quartering of D'Oyley, now effaced ; it should be
gules, three stags' heads couped argent.

Coat 36, Neville (effaced), gules, a saltire argent.

Coat 37, Laceby ij) gules, two bars, and in base a maunch argent (J).

Coat 38, Gerard, apparently gules, a lion statant reguardant argent (J) or. Not the
same as No. 1 5 above.

Coat 39, Cundy, argent, two lions passant in pale azure, crowned or.

Coat 40, De Courcy, argent, three eagles displayed gules, ducally crowned or.

Coat 41, Meschines, or, a lion xixa^&nx gules.

Coat 42, Rummely, barry of eight, or and gules.

Coat 43 (sixth row), (?) Raddenden (effaced), not known.

Coat 44, Chamont (effaced), not known.

Coat 45, Camoys. Here is or {f argent) on a ch.\t.i gules, three hurts (should be plates).

APPENDIX I 197

Coat 46, FOLIOT, gules, a bend argent.

Coat 47, RoscELYN, gules, three buckles between nine crosses crosslet or.
Coat 48, Louche, argent, two bars, in chief a lion passant gules.

Coat 49, Wake (effaced) of Deeping, Lincoln, argent, two bars gules, and in chief
three torteaux.

Coat 50, DiSTER (effaced), see p. 157.

WEBBE-WESTON AND SALVIN FAMILIES

The pedigree in the Museum has blanks for the children of John Webbe-Weston, except
Bridget, the youngest daughter, born 1789. The following table will complete the pedigree,
and so bring it down from Haylerick, temp. Henry I., to the present day.

John Webbe-Weston, who was in possession of the estate for forty-one years, left two sons
and five daughters. The issue of both sons failed, and thereupon the estate passed by will to
F. H. Salvin, the sixth son of the second daughter of John Webbe-Weston. To bring the
pedigree down to our times we must add the following : —

John Webbe-Weston, devisee of Sutton = Elizabeth Lawson, d. 1791
from Melior Mary Weston, succeeded
1782, d. 1823

John Joseph, = Caroline Graham Thomas Monington, = Mary Wright Mary Ann = Thomas Salvin

d. 1840 I d. s.p. 1857

of Croxdale, Durhain,
m. 1809

John Joseph, =Lady Horatia Waldegrave,
Capt. Austr. Emp., d. 1883 6th son,

d. s.p. 1849 Francis Henry Salvin, b. 1817,

devisee and present owner
of Sutton Place

For the very ancient Catholic family of Salvin of Croxdale, Durham, refer to Surtees,
History of Durham, iv. 117, where the account of this family is set forth in full, together with
a pedigree as elaborate and long as that in the text. The family is traced by Surtees from
Joceus le Flemangh, who came over with the Conqueror, and held knights' fees in Cukeney,
Notts. One Gerard Salvin, then of Herswell, Yorks, acquired Croxdale by marriage (1402)
with Agnes de Whalton.

Surtees gives the arms of Salvin, as they appear in the hall of Sutton, argent, on a chief
sable, two mullets of the first.

The quarterings are — Bertram, Roos, Roos of Warke, Espec, Trusbut, Harcourt, Brus,
Lancaster, Whalton, Thornton, Radcliffe, Ciilcheth, Plessington, Derwentwater, Cartington,
Claxton, Tindale, Devileston, Menvill.

APPENDIX II (A.) See Page 50
R.O. State Papers, Henry VIII. Cal. Vol. IV. No. 4887

Letter of Sir Richard Weston to Wolsey

30 October [1528].

Pleaseth your grace to be advertyzed that I have receyved by the handes of my lorde
Chamberleyn the lettres which it hath pleased yo"" grace to sende vnto me, wherby yo"^ grace
woUeth me to make vndylaid payment vnto thesaid lorde Chamberleyn Capitain of Guysnes,
aswell for the wages and fees due to him and his retynue for the castell of Guysnes afforsaid
to the vj. day of October last past, and the som of Ivj li sterling due to him of his annuytie at
thesame day, as also of all such money as is due to him & his late retynue both in wages
and fees by reason ofthoffice of Treasoro'' of this toune, vnto the tyme of his departur and
leving of thesame office of treasoro'', and also of 1 markes Rest of C markes which I agreed
& promysed vnto him bifore yo'' grace.

If it lyke yo"^ grace I have dyuers tymes byfore and sythins the vj'ii day of October
afforsaid, called apon the company of the staple for the payment of the money which they
shulde make vnto me at this tyme for the wages aswell of the Kinges retynue of this toune
as of the retynues at guysnes hampnes the castell & othre fortresses w'in the marches here.
But as yet no money can I gett of them, nor no determynate ansuer what tyme they woU
make me payment ; Afferming vnto me that they have no money, Ne knowe not how this
payment can be by them fournysshed, As wherby (if it lyke yo' grace) I can not as yet
accomplisshe yo"" pleaso"" comprysed in yo'' said lettres. But as sone as the said company
of the staple shall delyver vnto my handes any money I shalbe glad w' dyligence to fullfill
yo'' said pleasour ; Notw'stonding that it hath bene allways vsed and accustumed that of the
first money that shuld com to the Treasoro''s handes. The Kinges poor seruauntes of his
retynue of this toune, who have none othre relieff ne lyving but by their wages oonly, and
som not able to buy them mete & drinck for them their wyffes and childeren, shuld evermore

APPENDIX II 199

be fyrst paid, And the Capitain of the Castell of Guysnes to be of the last that shuld be paid
for him & his retynue.

And as toching the 1. markes of the C. markes sterling, I shall not fayll to perfourme
yo"" forsaid pleasour, and make vnto my said lorde Chamberleyn payment of the first money
that I shall receyve in myn offyce here according to the promesse I made byfore yo"' grace.
And where yo'' graces pleasour is that I shuld make payment vnto thesaid lorde Chamberleyn
of such money as is due vnto him and his late retynue, both in wages and fees, by reason of
thoffyce of Treasorour from the vj''' day of Aprell vntill his departur from the same offyce,
which admounteth to xlviij //. sterling or therabouttes : If it lyke your grace he surrendred
into the Kinges handes byfore your grace his patent of thesaid offyce the vj* day of Aprell
last past and my patent of thesame offyce was than graunted vnto me : So that we therupon
cam bothe to this toune, & arryved here the xiij or xiiij day of thesaid moneth of Aprell,
And the xxj day of that same moneth I was sworn in the Kinges counsell chamber here. As
wherby me thincketh, I ought to have the hole wages myself from thesame vj day of
Aprell forward. Nevertheles so as yo"" grace have knowlege what it admounteth unto, I
am content to accomplisshe yo'' forsaid pleaso'.

And where as yo"' grace wolleth me to make vndelayd payment vnto my said lord
Chamberleyn of Ivj. li. sterling for his annuyte, And where as he demaundeth of me also
payment of Ixx. U. sterling, for his half yeres fee of Treasoro''ship, due at the vj. day of Aprel,
of such money as is growen vnto the Kinges Highnes of his custume of wolles here at the
beame, and of othre the Kinges custumes here : If it lyke yo"^ grace all annuytes and fees
w'in this toune & marches be payable but oons in the yere. To witt at the feast of saynct
mychael tharchaungel, And must be leveyd and receyved of such rentes reuenues custumes
& othre the Kinges droictes, as be growing and payable here to the Tresoro''s handes for
the tyme being. And to advertyse yo'' grace of the trouth (as my deutie is) The said
lorde Chamberleyn hath allreddy receyved of the Kinges custumes growen w'in this toune,
this last yere, Cliij li. sterling or theraboutes, which is more than his forsaid annuyte & fee
doth admounte vnto by xxvij //. sterling. Albe it he sheweth vnto me, that he woU make
accompt of the forsaid Cliij li. byfore M"' Daunce, And desyereth to be paid of me therfor
of his forsaid annuytie and fee. Wherfor I beseche yC grace I may be aduertyzed of yo"^
pleaso' in the premisses. And I shall endeuof my self to accomplisshe thesame to the best
of my power : Humbly beseching yo"^ grace to be good & gracious lorde vnto the Kinges
poor seruauntes here in this toune, who suffre great necessyte for lacke of payment of their
wages.

Written at the Kinges toune of Calays, the xxx day of October.

Yo^humble seruaunt

Rychard Weyston.
[Addressed :]

To my lorde Cardinals grace.

>9oo ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

See Page 55

R.O. State Papers, Henry VIII. Cal. Vol. VI. No. 936

Letter of Lord Sandys to Lord Lisle

4 August 1533.

Right honourable and my very esspeciall good lord in most benygn wise I recummend me
vnto yo'' good lordshipe, advertising the same that I have receyuid yo'' most gentill and kind
letter wherby apperith the contynewance off yo"^ lordships goodnes the which it alwais pleasid
you to extend towardes me and myn w'l'out eny my deseruyng wherby lam dayly bounden
more and more to do yo"' lordshipe such pleasur and seruyce as may lye in my poore habilite
■during my liff.

And my lord according to yo'' cummaundement my brother doith send vnto his deputye
M' Milner the Copy of his patent, who woll gyve attendance apon yo'' lordshipe w^ii the
same, to thentent that at yo'" pleasur it may appere vnto you, that my seid brother is bayly
boithe off the Skunadge and of Coin' ; and my lord I marvell what the late maio' meanythe,
•for at the Kinges graces last being at Calais as he rode towardes BuUoign, when he cam w'l'out
the gates his highnes callid the maior back, and seid you may now dischardge you of yo"'
mace for now we be in Sir Richard Sandes bayliwicke ; and more ouer vntill this man, my
brother hath quietly exercised according to his patent w'^'out interrupcion wherfor my good
lord I most hertily pray you to mayntayn my poore brother in his right.

For the grete payn it hathe pleasid yo"' lordshipe to take in the mater betwen Wynebancke
and Marckes to sett theym at a good end w'l^ all my hert I do rendre yo"' lordshipe effectuell
■thanckis and for that it pleasid you to visite my office at Guysnes now in my absence, butt
sory I am bicause that as I suppose yo"' lordshipe had there but mean chere.

Concernyng newis here be non wourthe the writing saving that god be thanckid the
Kinges highnes is in prossperous astate at this present tyme at S"" Richard 'Westons : Besech-
ing that w'h yo"' lordships fauo"^ this my poore writing may present my lowly recummenda-
cions vnto my good lady yo"' bedfew, and suche pleasur or seruyce as I may do you in thiese
parties shall be alwais redy, by the grace of the holy gost who preserve yo"' good lordshipe
in his etemall proteccion : at the Vyn the iiij'i" day of august.

All yo's assurid at Cummaundement

■WvLL'iM Sandys.
[Addressed :] To the right honourable and my very Especiall good lord, my lord

Lisle deputye of Calais.
[Endorsed :] S"' W"" Sandis the iiij''" of august.
My lord Chamberlein.

See Page 55

R.O. State Papers, Henry VIIL Cal. Vol. VI No. 948

Letter of Sir J. Russell to Lord Lisle

6 August 1533.

Right honorable and my singuler good Lord in my hartyest maner I commaunde me vnto
yo' good Lordship. And very gladd I am to here of the good Report of you, how well you

APPENDIX II aoi

ar belouyd and how well you vsse yoi'self ther w<: ys greate comfort and pleas' to yo^ Frendes
here. How be it I wold fayne know how you lyke the Towne and the Contre ther and the
ayre ther a bowt. My Lord newes here ys none but that thankyd be god the Kynges highnes
ys mery and in good helth and I neuer saw hym meryer of a great while then he is now and
the best pastyme in huntyng the redd dere that I have sene. And for Chere, what at my
lord Marques of Exetours, M' Treasourers and at M' Weston' I neuer saw more dylicates
nor better Chere in my lyflf. The Kyng was myndyd to go to Femham and from thens to
Esthampstede and so to Wyndsour. And now he Commyth not ther by cause of the Sweatt ;
And he was fayne to remove from Guyldford to Sutton M' Weston' howsse by cause of the
Sweatt in lykewise. And now w'in this viij dayes his grace commyth ayene to Wyndsour.
And sone after the quene remouyth from thens to Grenew' wher her grace takith her
Chambre.

My Lord yo"" Lordship was so good vnto me at yo' departyng that you promysyd to
prouyde me of iij Tonne of wyne wherof I hartely desyre yo' Lordship to be so good vnto
me as to send me one Tonne of French Wyne to Brydwell to one Gayes skynner. For I
can gett none in London that is ought for no money. And I pray you to send me a letter of
the pryce therof and I shall content the brynger for the same.

My Lord, my Lord of Karlehyll hath ben very sore sykk and dyd send for M' Kynskeston
and thought that he shuld neuer haue skapyd but thankyd be god he is well a mendyd a
yene and I trust he shall do well. Yf ther be any pleas'" or seruyce I may do you you may
commaunde me as he that is yo"" owne assurydly to the best of my lytle po'. As knowith o""
Lord who preserue ybf Lordship and send you good honorable and long lyff. From Sutton
the vj''^ day of August.

I pray that I may be commaundyd vnto my good Lady yo"" wyff.

Your owen to comande

J. Russell.
[Addressed :]

To the right Honorable and my singlr good Lord Lysle the Kynges
Deputie of Calais this be dd.

See Page 57

R.O. State Papers, Henry VIII. Vol. VII. No. 923, i.

[Cromit/ell's Remembrancer, Jime 1534.]

Here after folowith a declaracion of all suche escriptes and writinges as remayneth in my p. S-
Maisters* custodye pertaynyng vnto sondry persons which cam to his possession from the * Cromwell,
feast of Saynt Michaell Tharchaungell Anno xxj° R. Henrici octaui vsque ad festum Sancti
Michaelis Archangeli anno xxiij" R. predicti.

Item, a paper of the names of the ofifices of S"" Richard Westons. p. 6.

Copies of Indentours. p. 20.

Item, a paper of offices and fees graunted by the Kynges Highnes vnto S"" Richard Weston p. 24.
Knight.

2 D

ao8 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

APPENDIX II (B.)

Translation of the Original Grant of the Manor of Sutton, 17th May 1521 — See pp. 28,
46. From an ancient attested copy of the Patent in the possession of F. H. Salvin

Thirteenth Year of King Henry the Eighth

THE KING SENDETH GREETING to all to whom these Presents shall come —
WHEREAS Inquisition was duly taken at Southwark in our County of Surrey on the 4th
day of February in the twelth year of our reign before John Lovette then our Commissioner
of Escheats in the said County, upon our writ issued after the decease of Margaret, Countess
of Richemond AND WHEREAS it was therein found by the oath of twelve jurymen duly
summoned that the aforesaid Countess Margaret was seized (inter alia) in domain and in fee
of the Manor of SUTTON with its appurtenances in the said County, and so continued seized
(inter alia) in like manner, and at her decease was so seized as aforesaid AND WHEREAS
after the decease of the said Countess Margaret the Manor aforesaid (inter alia) passed by
inheritance to the royal descendant of the said Margaret, her heir, videlicet, the son of Henry
the Seventh, late King of England, who was the son and heir apparent of the said Countess
Margaret as is fully set forth in the Inquisition now enrolled in our Chancery KNOW ALL
MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that of special grace and full knowledge and of our own free
motion and also in consideration of good and faithful services rendered to us by our noble and
well-beloved Privy Counsellor Richard Weston Knight of the Body WE HAVE GIVEN AND
GRANTED and by these Presents WE DO GIVE AND GRANT unto the aforesaid
RICHARD WESTON the said Manor with its appurtenances TOGETHER WITH ALL
Knights' Fees, Villans, and all other Bondsmen, Goods and Chattels, WayfTs and Strays,
Wardships, Marriages, Woods, Underwoods, Fields, Meadows, Pastures, Fisheries, Waters,
Vineyards, Ponds, Mills, rents, reliefs, escheats, Court Leets, rivers, weirs, and all advantages
and profits of every kind whatsoever appertaining to the said Manor and Domain or
regarding or belonging thereto and thenceforth TO HAVE ENJOY AND HOLD the
Manor aforesaid and All Knights' Fees, Villans, and other Bondsmen with their belongings.
Goods and Chattels, Wayffs and Strays, Rents, Wardships, Marriages, Reliefs, Escheats,
Court Leets, Waters, Fisheries, Weirs, Lands, Tenements, Fields, Meadows, Pastures,
Woods, Underwoods, and all other the advantages and profits aforesaid and other the
premisses with their appurtenances UNTO THE SAID RICHARD WESTON his
Heirs and Assigns for ever in faithful allegiance to US and our Heirs free from all other
services suits and demands whatsoever. AND WE HAVE GRANTED and by these
Presents WE DO GRANT to the said Richard Weston all and all manner of profits and
revenues of the said Manor rents and arrears due or to accrue due from the same premisses
from the Feast of SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL last past down to the date of
these Presents and thenceforward to HAVE to TAKE and to RECEIVE the said revenues
and profits to the said Richard Weston whether by his own hands or by the hands of his
Bailiffs or Farmers of the said revenues and profits whatsoever without any examination or
account [compotus] by Us or by our Heirs to be had made or taken. AND WE DO ALSO

APPENDIX II

203

GRANT AND GIVE of our plenary grace and pleasure to the said Richard Weston and his
Heirs FREE WARREN in all the domain lands and woods to the said Manor appertaining,
notwithstanding that the same may be within the bounds, limits and extent of our royal Forest
within the county aforesaid, AND THAT the said Richard Weston and his heirs, within the
said Domain lands woods and Manor aforesaid may have and enjoy LICENCE to hunt and
chase hares, foxes, coneys and all ferae naturae, partridges, and pheasants, and to do all
things whatsoever appertaining to venery and free warren to take and take away the game
and to order all things necessary for the keep of hounds and the due management of the same.
AND WE DO ALSO WILL AND ORDAIN that the said Richard and his heirs may be
foresters or may appoint their own foresters and agents to manage the woods and underwoods
in the said Manor AND IN the said woods and underwoods-may cut down and carry away
timber and coppice AND MAY cultivate manage and use the said domain and lands to their
own benefit and profit free from any disturbance let or hindrance from Us or our Heirs our
justices, foresters, verderers, agents, inspectors or other officers, AND ALSO free from any
due in respect of assessment or any other matter or under any statute whatsoever. IN
WITNESS whereof we have set our seal this 17th day of May, at our court at Westminster.

Executed by His Majesty the day aforesaid.

(Compared with the Record and examined by me Robert Sanderson).

The Patent above may be compared with similar grants, etc., in Dr. W. Cunningham's
Growth of English Industry atid Commerce, Cambridge, 1890, vol. i.

' .•'/!'/ i!t/fir/r Jill ■■' J ,,^ ^, i,j^ -=

.irwiMil,'. .LiiHiiililiiUiii I..I h.i.l.

APPENDIX III

WILL OF SIR RICHARD WESTON

IS4I

IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. The xvi'h daye of Maye in the yere of of Lorde God
a thousande fyve hundred xli'i I SIR RICHARD WESTON of Sutton in the Countie of Surr^
Knight now beinge of hole mynde and good memorie ordeyn and make my p'sent Testament
and last Wyll in maner and forme folowing As first I bequeth my Soule to Almightye God
and to his blessed Mother our lady Saynte Mary & to all the holy Company of Hevyn and
my body to be buryed in the Pyshe Churche of the Holy Trinitye w'!" in the Towne of Guld-
forde in a Chapell whiche I have caused to be made for the same yntent. Also I bequeth at
the daye of my buryall to every po"' man and woman that shall be there present iiij^ a pece
and to evy poure childe ij^ Item at my moneths daye in lyke wyse to be done Also I bequeth
to xxiiii'i po"" men to here Torches at my buryall xxiiii'' gownes of black cloth and xxiiii^ in
money for thyr labour The torches to be gyven and to remayn in the seyd Churche of the
Trynitie Also I will that there may be sayd immediately after my deceas fyften trentalls of
Masses for my Soulle my fathers soule my Mothers sowle and all my frends soules for the
execucon of the whiche myn Executours shall gett as many preests as they can to the whiche
they shall give viii^ a pece for their labour Also I bequeth to the Pishe Church of the Trynitie
my best Coppe and my best Vestment of Cloth of 'gold and my best Aulter clothe of clothe of
gold & cremesyn velvet Item I bequeth to my Lady Kyngston the Pownse Cup w' the cover
whiche M"" Wyngfeld gave me Item to my doughter Rogers fyfty pounds To Henry Dungley
fyfty pounds and to Richard Staflferton twenty pounds Item I bequeth to Ann my wyfe all my
lands for terme of her lyfe and after her deceas unto Henry Weston according to the infeof-

APPENDIX III

305

ments which I have made And for lacke of the seyd Henry Weston my lands to retornne
eqally to Richard Denys and Richard Rogers the sonnes and the heyres of my sayd daughters
Item I bequeth to Henry Weston all my stuf of household as hanging sparvers beddes sheets
fustyns Napery w' all other stuff belonging to household and all my plate Also 1 wyll that my
wyfe have the keeping of all my sayd stuff and platte for terme of her life And after her
deceas there where she shall then thinke best unto suche tyme that the seyd Henry Weston
comyth to the age of twenty and one y'ere then I wyll my seid stuff and plate retomyth to
Richard Denys and Richard Rogers the sonnes and the heyres of my seyd daughters Also I
bequeth to every one of my s^vnts that dwellith with me at the daye of my burying a black
cote and half yeres wages at the ende of the same half yere that I do dep'= oute of thys
Worlde Also I bequeth to Gylles Cowke my s'vnte twenty pounds Itiii I bequeth to my s'vnts
all my Mayres and coltes and some of my geldings to be devyded amonge theym as myne
Executours shall thinke best and most convenient The residue of all my goodes after my wyll
and this my present Testament pformyd I do give to Anne my wife to dispose the same as
she shall thinke best and convenient for the welth of our Soules and our frends soules and
all "ten soules And I ordeyn and make myn Executors my Lord Pryve Seale and my Lorde
Admyrall lorde Russell and Anne my wyfe the seyd lord Prive Seale and my Lorde Admirall
to have for their labour twenty poundes a pece for to se the true pformance of this my last
Wyll for the whiche I make and ordeyn myn Ov%eer Sir Cristofer More Knight & he to
have for his labour twenty poundes In wytnes of this my last Wyll I have sett my signe and
seale the daye and yeare above said Wytnes also Sir Richard Gruffen Vicai^ of the sayd Pishe
of Woking — Anthony Cawsheys Gierke my Chapelyn pme Richardum Gruffen Vicarm de
Wokinge pme Richard Byg pme Anthonin Cawcheys Capellum — RICHARD WESTON.

PROBATUM fuit supscriptum Testm coram diio apud London xxvii° die mensis Novem-
bris Anno Dfii Millimo quingentesimo quadragesimo secundo Juramento xpoferi Robynson
Nor'J pn'' procur' Dne Anne Relicte et Executric. in hinoi test5 noiat. Ac approbatu et insu-
matu Comissagz fuit admi'stratio om & singulor. bonorum Jurium et Creditorum dicti
defuncti p'fat Executric De bene &c. Ac de pleno et fideli Inventario &c. consinend Necnon
de piano et vero compoto reddend Ad Sancta Dei Evangelia in psona diet Procurator. Jurat
Res'vata ptate Duo Russell Execiafn &c. cum venerint.

■ It - '^ I.:

APPENDIX IV

INVENTORY OF THE GOODS OF SIR RICHARD WESTON

1542

INVENTORY OF GOODS at SUTTON & CLANDON belonging to S' RICHARD
WESTON made by one of his servants by order of his Executors. 33 Hen. VIII.,
1542.1

INVENTORY of Goods at SUTTON HOUSE
Anno 33 Hen: viij, 1542
Copied from the original by Rev"^ Chas. Kerry, Puttenham

The gret Chambere

the Chamber next the
gret Chamt

the m'' Chamt next

SUTTON

Ffyrst . . . peces of hangyngs of the Story of the Egypcyons

A gret carpet to the table there. X".

iiij pecys of hangyngs of Hollofemes and a nother pece of the Story of Seynt George

A gret carpet agreable to the table there.

a bedstede of brasell w' a tester of crymsyn satyn w' a cultayn of tynsell apon it & a
frenge.

A tester of red sylke and gold & V curtayns toth bedstede of crymsyn sarcynat

a bed of downe w'a fustyan tyke a fyne matrese

a payre of fustyan blankats to the same & a bolster a quylte to the same of changeable
sarcynat.

vij pecis of hangyngs of the Story of the Egypcyons a trussynge bed w' a tester of purple

to the gret Chatnl5 satyn w' a ... of cloth of golde of tyssue w' V cortens belongynge to the same of the color

' The Rev"* Ch* Kerry who made this transcript from the original in my possession says : — " It is a most
valuable and curious document illustrating so admirably the manners of the i6th Cents'." The original came
from Ijoseley House, and was given to me by the late James More Molyneux, Esq'., whose ancestor was
one of Sir Rich<> Weston's executors — Aug^' 1874. — F. H. Salvin.

APPENDIX IV ao7

of camacyon of crymsyn red a bedde of down to the same w' a fyne tyke a fyne matrese and

a payre of fustyon blankets to the same. A red quylt of Turkey makynge lynyd w' grene a

cheyer of brassell and a lytle stole cou'd w' clothe of gold frengyd w' red & also a bolstere to

the same bedde belongynge. xiijH vi* viij<l

A trussynge bedde of Kervyd worke w' a tester paned w' yalowe and blewe satyn of brygys A lytyll closet w«yn

a bedde of downe w' a ffyne tyke a bolstere a payre of ffustyan blankatts w' a cou' of verder ''^^ ^^3"^ ChamB

to the same bedd

An aulter clothe paned w' tynsell satyn & crymsyn velvat In the gret closet

A hangynge of satyn of brydgys . . . rounde all . . . of one sorte all strykyd. Lxs. In the lytle closet
" vi pecs of hangyngs of tapestry of lords, ladys, & gentylmen storyed callyd the story

of" (sic)

a trussynge bedde w' a tester of clothe of gold frenged w' whyte sylk

a bedde of downe w' a ffyne tyke a bolster to the same a matrese a payre of fustyans w' a

quylte of rede of Turky makynge w' a Skochyn to set yn armes in the same quylt and lynyd

w« yalowe and iij cortens of grene sarcynate

vij pecs of smale verders storyed w' bests & ffowles j^^ Chamt ou" the

iiij pecs of verders paned w' redd and white borderyd w' Sarsyns hedde, the Tonne and gate

wt the Skochyn of armes [see Plates, 4°, 4i, 46]. The next Chamls ou"

' ■- 7 -r 7 T , T J jj^g joyners ChamB

iiij pecis of hangynge of the Story of HoUofemes a playne trussyng bedd w' a tester of The corner chaml5

clothe of gold frengyd w' whyte sylk and gold a bedde of downe w' a ffyne tyke w' a bolster "^"^ ^^^ Chamt

rr , , r J r-T, , , , j . agaynst the Wodc-

to the same a matrese a payer of fustyans w' a quylte of red of Turky makynge lynyd w' grene yard

and V cortens of yalowe sarcynate

viij pecis of hangyngs Storyed w' bests and naked peple a trussynge bedde w' a tester of The next Chamt
grene velvat frengyd w' yalowe and grene sylke w' a bedd of downe w' a fyne tyke and a agaynsttheWodeyard
bolster a matrese & iiij cortens of yelowe sarcynatt a quylt of the same of changeable sarcynat

Hanged w' Say paned w' yalowe and grene a trussyng bedd w' a fether bedde a bolster The lytle ChamIS next
a payer of woUon blankats and a contpoynte of verder w' a tester of crayne colord sarcyna
w a frenge of silk of yalowe and Russatt.

A lytle Rownde trussynge bed w' a tester of . . . and yelowe sarsynate wythe a bedd The little Chamls next
of downe w' a fyne tyke a bolster to the same a payer of wollon blankats and a count'poynte to that Chamts
of grene verder and the same chamb hangyd w' Say payned w' yalowe and grene

vij pecs of hangyngs of the Story of the Founteyns and a standyng bedd w a spver of The Chamfe next the
russet velvate and tawnye wythe a fetherbede of downe a bolster to the same of fyne tyke a selyd Chamfe
payer of wollon blankats and a count'poynte of Imagery.

A standyng bedd wythe a fetherbedd and a bolster a payre of wollon blankats a cont''- The lytle mercery
poynte of verder and a spver of tawney damaske and domyxe chamt that is selyd

vj pecs of hangyngs w' a lytle pece ou ' the chemynye of byrds and bests of grene and My masters Chamber
yalowe a playne trussynge bedd w' a tester of blake velvate and tawney damaske a bedd and
a bolster of downe w' a fyne tyke a payre of fustyans and a count'^poynte of grene verder and X

yalowe w« iiij cortens of tawney and changeable sarcynatt and iij matres apon the same bedd
also a lytle trussynge bedd ther w' a tester of grene damaske and yalowe wythe V cortens of
russate and yalowe sarcynat w' ij fetherbedds a bolster and a matras and a payer of fustyans
and a cont"poynte of verder.

f A trussyng bed w« ij fetherbedds and one bolster a payre of blankats and a contpoynte The Dayne Chamber
I of verder.

208

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

The Selyd Chamber}

The plot Chamber

The woman's

Lodgynge

The com' Chaml5 in

the couate w'in the

joyn's ChamtS

The joyn's chamti in
the courte

The gestyn Chamb in
the cornB of the courte

The prests Chamber

The yoman's
Chamber

The butlers Cham*

The litle chamt bi
the mydell entre

The Chamt betwene
the butler's Chamt &
the buk house
The fooles chamb w'
the lads of the Kechen

The Stewards
Chamber

Sir John Rogers
Chamb

Thep

ners ward

Spenser lodge}

The masons 1
Chamber j

A trussynge bedd w' a tester of blake velvat and tawney embrawdred w* the Kyngys armes
a bed of downe a bolster w' a tyke a payre of fustyans a cont'poynte of the story of Egypcyons
ij matreses w' V ... of blewe sarcynat a hangynge of satyn . . . yalowe blewe and . . .

vij pecis of hangyngs of the Story of Shep''^ and storyes of other wyld bests a bedstede of
brasell w' a tester of ij colours of tawney velvat w' paynts trussyd of red sylke and gold cut
yn panes losynge wise, vi cortens of blewe sarsynate to the same w' a bedde of downe a
bolster and a payre of fustyans a matrese and a cont'poynte of blake velvat embrowdred w'
garters and Heythornes w' V curtens of blewe sarcynate a fetherbed w' a bolster a payre of
fustyons a count'poynte of verders.

iij fetherbedds iij bosters iij payre of blankats iij conterpoynts.

The hangynge of the chamb of bokeram paned w' yalow and rede and the same chamfe a
spver of fustyans in apes paned of the colours of redd and grene a bedstede w' a fetherbedd
a bolster a payer of blankats and a quylte a trussynge bedd w' a tester of red and grene say
paned w' V curtens of the same coloure a fetherbede a bolster a payre of blankats and a
cont'paynte of verder.

The hangyngs of bokeram of the colore of yalowe and rede paned a trussynge bedd w' a
tester of yalowe and grene say frengyd a fetherbedd a bolster a payre of blankats a quylte a
nother trussynge bedd ther w' a tester of yalow and grene say frengyd a fetherbed a bolster
a payre of blankatts and a cont'poynte of imagery work.

The hangyngs there of grene and yalowe say paned, w' a trussynge bede a tester of blake
bokeram w' iij cortens to the same of grene and yalowe saye a fetherbed w' a bolster a payre
of blankats a quylte and a nother trussynge bed w' a tester of red and yalow say w' iij cortens
of the same colo"' a fetherbed ... of blankats a quylt to the same bed.

(no inventory — In the year 1542 the priest and his vestments would be concealed.)

The hangyngs of yalow and grene say paned w' iij playne bedstedles w* iij fetherbedds iij
bolsters iij payre of blankats iij quylts.

A playne bedstede a fetherbed w' a bolster and a payre of blankats a cont'poynte of
domyxe

iij playne bedsteds a fetherbedd a bolster a payre of blankatts a cont^poynte of domyxe
and one other bedd a matrese a bolster of fethers a payre of blankats and a quylte.

ij playne bedsteds a fetherbedd a bolster a payre of blankats a quylte and one other bed-
stede a matrese a bolster of floks a payre of blankats and a quylte.

ij playne bedsteds a fetherbedd a bolster a payre of blankats a cont'poynte of domyxe and
a matrese a bolster of floks a payre of blankats and an old cont^'poynte of verders

ij bedsteds and a trukyll bedd iij fetherbedds iij bolsters iij payre of blankats iij cont'poynts
a rownde tester of red and grene say frengyd of say of red and grene ou" the bed the same
chamber hangyd w' bokeram of yalow and red paned.

The hangyngs of yalowe and redd bokeram paned a tmssynge bed w' a fetherbedd a
bolster a matrese of fustyan a payre of blankats a cont'poynte of verders a tester of yalowe
and grene say and V cortens to the same of the same sorte a pallet fetherbedd w' a bolster a
payre of blankets and cont'poynte of domyxe

A bedstede w' a tester of yalowe and grene

a fetherbede a bolster a payre of blankats and a cont'poynte of domyxe

a bedstede

APPENDIX IV 209

a gret carpet in the pier agreable w' the table there Carpets in the Ward-

a turky carpet in the wardrobe '°"^

a grete carpete to lay under the Kyngs fete

also XXV carpetts for wyndows in sondry chambers and ou' that there be of arrys work to
lay in wyndows

besyds the seyd xxv'' carpetts iiij carpetts iij verder pec^ to lay in wyndows

There be a xi of one fasshyon of arrys work and eu'y coshyn is w' a woman apon it Cosshyns in the

also there is iij coshyns of blake velvate chekerd also there is vj carpetts coshyns for the Wardrobe and other
chambers also there is one coshyn w' beane flowers and and a nother w' the newe tyche w' ^ "
youre armes a nother of sylke wrought w' crownes and flower de luce.

iij bedsteds wherof ij be of joynyd work and the thyrd is for to cary Wa . . .

Itm there is there ij fetherbedds ij bolsters and of pyllowes there is xvi'*"

Itm there is of fustyans iiij payre.

Itm there is one Turky quylt of red and grene . . . and another Turky quylt of orenge
coloure

a nother quylte of yalowe sarcynate

a nother fyne whyte quylte

Itm there is a tester of a bedd of blake velvate and damaske paned also ij testers of
satyn of brygys paned yalowe and grene and ix cortens to the same ij better of the
same coloure and worke and a tester of red and grene say paned w' V cortens agreable to
the same and a cont'poynte of flowers lynyd w' canvas and a cont^poynte w' wylde beasts
pcell lyned w' canvas and a nother cont'poynte of flowers w' a harte and . . . bests and
fowles.

and iiij cont'poyntes more of verders

Itm ij Sumpter clothes w' youre armes

Itm vi coshyn clothes in one pece of yo"" armes

Itm ij brusshynge clothes of verders.

ffyrst a Coope of clothe of gold and a nother of blewe damaske Chapel stuff

Itm a vestamente of clothe of gold w' all thyngs belongynge to the same.

Itm a vestament of crymsyn satyn and embrawdred w' clothe of gold w' a cute w' all Wardrobe
thyngs belongyng to the same.

Itm a nother vestment of purple velvate and flowers

Itm an aulter clothe for the chapell of crymsyn velvate and clothe of tynsell paned Wardrobe

Itm a nother alter clothe of white damaske and russet paned w' the armes of Cryste.

Itm ij alter clothes of whyte bustyan for the tyme of . . . and a nother of lynen clothe
w' tharmes of the po . . . and also a vestament for lenton season.

Itm a canape of changeable damaske of yalow w' yalow red and grene sylke. . . . Wardrobe

A grete diap table clothe for the bord in the grete chamfc branchede w' the flower de luce Napery Stuff in the )
and the Roose pantry J"

A Towell accordynge to the same of the same work

Itm iij diap table clothes flowered with paunces.

Itm a fyne clothe of damaske worke

Itm ij towells accordynge to the same clothe

Itm ij table clothe of dyap worke w' columbein flowers

Itm iij fyne dyap table clothes that were bowght at Calyce

2 E

2IO

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

Napery

Shells
Shells
Shells Ihal

Pillow bens
Napery

In the armery

Playte

Itm iij playne dyap table clothes of dyu's work that were browght oute of Normandye by
S' Andero Powes.

Itm a clothe of dyap for a square borde

Itm a dosyn and a half of fyne napkens of damaske work

Itm ij dosyn and x napkens of dyap of another sorte

Itm ij lytle washynge towells of dyap w' blew lysts at the ende

Itm ij fyne dyap Towells of a fyne worke

Itm iij dyap towells of a nother sorte

Itm a nother fyne dyap towell w' the collumbyne work

Itm ij towells of dyap

Itm ij cubberd clothes of playne dyap

Itm ix payre of canvas shetts of ij leves in one cofer

Itm iiij payre of leves & a half in the same cofer

Itm in a nother cofer there be xiij payre of iij leves and a payre of ii leves and V payre
and one shete of two leves and a half

Itm in a nother cofer there be of fyne shetts a payre of fyne hoUon of iij leves & a half
vi payre of fyne ... of iiij leves, ii payre of fyne shetes of iij leves iij fyne shetts of ij leves
and ij fyne half shetts.

V payre of fyne pyllow beres of Hollen clothe ii payre of fyne canvas in the same coffer.
Itm in a nother cofer of table clothes, there be ffyrst iij fyne table clothes of playne clothe

one of them w' a blewe lyste

V shorte table clothes of good bred w' blew lysts at the ende
xi fyne table clothes for the hawle for strangers

V fyne canvas table clothes for the bordes at Clandon.

V corse table clothes for worne

iii dosyn napkyns of playne clothe lakyng one napken

ii olde dyap cubbarde clothes.

ffyrst V score and ii peyre of harnes

Itm V score and ij sallats and fyfty gorgeatts

Itm iiij score and viij payre of spleatts

Itm xxxviij bowes & Liiij sheffs of arrowes w' there cases and gerdyls of lether.

Itm iiij and one of bylls w' there staves and one batell axe

Itm iij Jakks w'out spleats or sallats

Itm a pavylyan and a halle wych is at Clandon place.

Ffyrst ij gylte basons w' ij Ewers to the same all gylted

ii whyte sylv^ basons w' ij Ewers to them pcell gylted

ij grete sylu' potts w' cou's all clene gylted

ij other sylu* potts of a lese sorte

ij grete sylu' potts w' cou's to them pcell gylted

ij other sylu'' potts of the smaleste sorte

iiij flagons of sylu' w' there close staples and chenys to them

viij sylu' bolles of ij sorts w' iij cou^s all clene gylted

vi brede bolles of sylu' w' one cou'

vj chased goblats of the newe fasshyon w' one cou° to them all clene gylted

vj chased goblatts of the same fashyon w* one cou' pcell gylt

APPENDIX IV 211

and one other chased goblate of the same fashyon w' a cou' pcell gylted ow<.

iiij standynge cuppes w' iiij cou's to them all clene gylted

vij standyng cruses w' vij cou's to them clene gylted ou^ all. ow'.

V standynge salts w' iij cou^s to them clene gylted ou" all

V shorte salts for the pantrey w'oute any cou's
vi dyshes of sylu"

ij dosyn trencher platts of clene sylu'
xviij sylu^ spones of the apostoles apon the knoppes
viij sylver spones of a nother sorte

a chavynge bason of sylu^ *

a chaffynge dyshe of sylu"

vij sylu' candyll stykks w' iiij pkks to them of sylu'
iij gylted goblatts w' one cou' that be of one fashyon
iij stonyd cruses w' cou's of sylu'-' and foote bands to them all gylted
iiij stone cruses w' cou's to them sylu'

S* of the plate that is cou** & gylt w' it is preysed at} CxLiiij''. ij*. vjd (almost illegible : ap-

parently the writing
of S' W"" More of

M<J that she hath (sic) goblatts of sylu' pcell gylt which remayneth in her hands of oor Loseley the son of S'

wyshe & desier for a dett to the Kings matie and other plate for the other payment Xpofer the executor.

C. Kerry)

A cross w' the pycture of Cryste Mary & John clene gylt Chapell Stuff

A chalese w» the patente all clene gylted

A pyxe of sylu' to pute the blessyd sacrament yn

ij crewates of sylu' w' cou's to them pcell gylted

a lytle sacrynge bell of sylu' w' a clapper of sylu' to it.

a pax of sylu' pcell gylted

ij grete candyll stykks of sylu' for the hyghe altar

ij lytle candyll stykks of sylu' for the hyghe ault' also.

Ffyrst xxx" spytts gret and smale Kechyn stuff as Iren

Itm iiij payre of iren raks gret and smale

Itm iiij gredems ii cheyns of Iren to hange potts on

Itm ij payre of pote hangers vi dryppynge panns

Itm ij pelys of iren and a fyer shovell & iij bares of iren to hang potts apon ij fryeinge
panes and too irens to them.

Itm xij brase potts and chafers of grete & smale a fleshe hoke

Itm vi panes ij Ketyls and a gret Kawdron

Itm a fumes pane of batry stuff

Itm a brason morter w' a Iren pestell & iiij stone morters

Itm ij brase ladyls and ij skymers of laten of good and bade

Itm in the Kechon viii knyves wherof there be ij dressynge knyves one clever a mynsynge
knyfe and iiij lechynge knyves of good and badde

Itm in the Kechon of pewter there is one gamyshe w'out any chargers Pewter Stuffe

Itm in the Kechon iij dosyn platers

Itm in the Kechon xiiij pewter dysshes

Itm in the Kechon a dosyn &* di (a dozen and a half) of pewter sawcers

212

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

Shepe
CatcU

Horses &c

Itm a dosyn and a half of pewter potyngers
Itm in the store howse as ffyrst on dosyn & ix chargers
Itm in the store howse also xiiij dosyn platers
Itm V dosyn dyshes
Itm dosyn and X sawcers
Itm there a dosen of pewter potyngers.
Itm in Shepe of yonge and old to the nuber of C, C, C, C,

Itm of oxon buUoks bulls mylche bests and other yonge catell to the nuber of one
hundred 8 ma C.

Itm there be in horses geldyngs mares colts and mules the wyche for the moste parte of

them be wild to the s'unts XL.

CLANDON

In the chamber at the estend ou* the rowme at the s . . . dore a bedstede w' a fether-
bede a bolster a cubbarde a hangynge of yalowe and blew say

In the doble presse chamB there is too cont'poynts of verder and a carpet of verder for
the table in the pier and a carpet for the cubbarde a brusshynge clothe a cheyer of lether
a cheyer of brasell and a hangynge for the pier of blew and yalow say and a hangynge for
the pier chamb of yalow and grene say and ij testers of red and grene say and X cortens of
red and grene saye and a close cubbard w' V dores.

In my maisters chamber ij bedstedes ij beds of downe ij bolsters and one payre of fustyans
a cubbarde and a yoyned cheyer (^joined chair)

And in the jun' chamfe next to the same chamfe there is ij fetherbedds ij bolsters a trus-
synge bedstede

In the gret chamber a table a payre of trestles ij cubbords.

In the next chamb to that to the chapell warde a bedsted a fetherbedd a bolster a tumyd
chayer & a cubbarde

In the chamb ou' the chappell a trussyng bedd a fether bedd and a bolster.

Itm vii pecis of Verders beyinge in the wardrobe at Sutton that be for hangyngs of Clandon
Place & vij other pecis of verders for hangyng there also of another sorte w' rowndells in the
myds and also ij alter clothes of tawney velvat w' the crucyfyxe of Criste and yo"" armes apon
them for the chapell yn Clandon place.

And besydes all this his cheyne y not herein expressyd nor his apparell but at the tyme of
apresement it must appere and many other smale thyngs whych for lake of tyme as yet cannot
be browghte to lyght but yn as convenyante tyme as may be it shal be truly don as nere as I
can as I wold god shold helpe me &c

M^that the last day of Novemte the xxxiii yere of the reign of oure Sou'eign lord Kyng

Henry the eight that now is is delyu'ed to the hands of S' Rychard Gresshm Knyght Cytezen
and alderman of London by the hands of S^ Xpofer More Knyght by the coinandment of
the Right hon'able Wi^Um Erie of Southampton S"" John Russell Knyght lord admyrale and
the lady Anne Weston wedow executors of the testament of S"^ Rychard Weston Knyghte the
s6m in angells aft^ the new rate of CCLV''. XVI* Vl^ and also a cheyne of fyne gold w' a
crosse weying XLVIII ounc^ lakyng a angell aft' XVI' the ownce wych amowntythe to the

APPENDIX IV 213

sum of a CVIl" XIP VI"* Sum of all CCCLXIII" V wherof is deducted for the Kyngs

subsydie IX'' and so remaynethe in S'' Rychard gresshms hands CCCLIIIl'' V wych sum

the seyd S' Rychard Gresshm hathe bownde hymself by his Bill under his sygn and his seale
safly to be kept and redelyu'ed to the seyd executors when so eu' they shall desyre hym to
do it as by the seyd Bill more att large it dothe appere &c.

" whych Bill is delyu'd by me the seid S' Xpofer More to the hands of the seid Lady
Weston." in a different hand}

"and for the sum of CCCLIIIl*' as the sertyship of the person or bonder to the forseyd apparently in the ^
execut' & payd yerely as long as it shold remayne in their hands ou' and above the seid writing of S' W™.
siii of CCCLIIIl'' vz for eu^y yere for eu'y C' as for the time whereof ys. S' Xpofer C.K.

GLOSSARY

Arrys, arras/ Brydgys, Bruges/ cosshyn, cushion; cute, quilt; gorgeatt, neck-piece;
flower de luce, Jleur de lys ; Gredems, gridirons ; paned, damasced or ornamented ; paunces,
pansies; roose, rose; say, serge; spleatts, splents, artn-pieces ; sellats, sallets, helmets;
skockyn, escutc/teon, coat of arms ; tester, canopy ; tyche, bed-case; trussing bed, folding bed;
verder, verdure, landscape in tapestry.

APPENDIX V

WILL OF SIR HENRY WESTON

1589

IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. The sixteenthe dale of November in the thirtithe yere
of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Ladie Elizabeth by the Grace of God Queene of England
Fraunce and Irelande Defender of the Faithe &c. I HENRIE WESTON of Sutton in the
Pishe of Wookinge in the Countie of Surrie Knighte beinge in helthe and of good and pfecte
memorie laude and praiz be unto AUmightie God therefor and knowinge that I am naturally
borne and ordained to die and to passe from this mutable worlde and transitorie life and
thearefore mindinge to put in order as well my goodes and chattels as my lands tenements
and hereditaments to the intente thear should be noe strife for the same after my decease doe
thearefore first of all after thankes given to AUmightie God for His great benifitts and blessings
bestowed uppon me desier and pray my wiefe children frends and all others to be contented
with this my last Will and Testamente without anie trouble busines or vexacon of anie of
them againste the other for anie of my goods or landes as theie will answer for the same
before the judgemente Seate of AUmightie God whoe is the Redeemer of all good psonns and
a sevear Judge and revenger of all those that be evell And to avoid all occasions of strife and
variance in this behalf I doe revoke and renounce all former Willes and Testamentes by me
heeretofore made by worde writinge or otherwise and make and ordaine this to be my verie
laste Will and Testamente concerning as well my goods and chattells as my landes tenementes
and hereditamentes in manner and forme followinge that is to saye First I commend my Soule
to AUmightie God and to His Sonn Jesus Christe my Saviour and Redeemer and to the Hollie
Ghoste three psones and one God most humblie beseechinge the moste hollie and blessed
Trinitie to have mercie on my Soule and to pdonn and forgive my Sinnes and offenses that I
male after this mutable lief arise with the Electe and have the lief and fruicon of the God

APPENDIX V 215

head by the deathe and passion of our Lorde and Saviour Jesus Christe And I will that my
bodie be buried in the Chappell adioyninge to the pishe Churche of the HoUie Trinitie in
Guldeford ats Gildforde in the Countie of Surrey accordinge to my degree and callinge Item
I doe give and bequeathe unto the poore people inhabitinge at the time of my decease in the
saide pishe of the Hollie Trinitie in Gildford afore saide The somm of tenn pounds of good
and lawfull monie of Englande Yf I fortune to be buried in the same Chappell otherwise I doe
give and will the said somm of tenn poundes to the poore people inhabiting at the time of my
decease in the pishe whear my bodie shall happenn to be buried Item I doe give and bequeath
unto the poore people inhabitinge at the time of my death in the pishe of Wookinge aforesaid
the somme of five poundes of good and lawefuU monie of Englande Item I do give and
bequeathe to the poore people inhabitinge in the Parish of West Clandon in the said Countie
of Surrey the somm of fortie shillinges of good and lawfull monie of England Item I doe
give to the poore people inhabitinge in the Parish of Marrowe in the saide Countie of Surrey
at the time of my decease the somm of fortie shillinges of good and lawfull monie of Eng-
lande Item I do give to the poore people inhabitinge at the time of my decease in the pish
of Sende in the saide Countie of Surrey the somme of twentie shillings of good and lawfull
money of Englande Item I doe give unto the poore people inhabitinge within Parishe of
Ockham in the County of Surrey at the time of my decease the sume of twentie shillinges of
lawfull monie of Englande All v/<^^ said severall sommes of money I will shall be paide and
distributed by the discrecon of my Executrix and Overseers of this my laste Will and Testa-
mente To the saide poore people of the saide soever Parishes unto whome I have given the
same as afore saide att the time or uppon the dale of my buriall Item I give to my wel
beloved wief sixe hundred sheepe goinge usually upon the Downes and two teame of oxenn
with their furnitur and twoe cartes with their furnitur And fower geldinges and mares twentie
milch kyne twentie bullockes of twelve moneths old to be taken at Clandon Marrowe Coddun-
hill and Sutton within my Parkes or without at the choice of my wief or her assignes And one
double gelding with a pillion and pillion clothe of velvett with the furniture and one nagg for
her maide with a side sadell and the furniture withall and one coach w* was my Lady my
Mothers with all the furnitur there with belonginge And twoe coach horses or geldinges six
feather beds and bolsters furnished wherof one of these bedds to be the greate downe bedd
and bolster of fustian ■w<^^ is at Sutton w^^ the bed stedd and linnen quilt and fustians and
pillowes and the tester of Crimson sattenn ymbrodered with tinsell And the greatest best red
redd silk quilt that I have and the reste of the six beddes and bed steeds furnished to be
taken of my bedds and bed steeds w* are at Purforde whereof the one of them to be the bed
that I nowe lie on with the Canopie and all the furnitur" as it standes w'^ all the hangings
of my Chamber wheare I lie And all the hangings w^h are called the Egiptians containinge
seaven peeces Item I doe give and bequeath to my said wel beloved wief the one halfe of
my plate and the Jugges of Ivorie bounde with ribbes of silver and the one halfe of all my
linnen to be devided by twoe indifferent psonns the one chosen by my Executor and the other
by my wief Item I give to my wief all the trunckes and coffers in my chamber as theie stande
Item I give more to my wief my iron cheste but nothing that is in it Item I give to my saide
wel beloved wief the testorie of clothe of golde with the curteines there unto belonginge And
the yellowe silke bedd quilt Also I give to my wief all the whole furnitur of that Chamber
whear that bedd standes being called and known by the name of my lord of Leicesters
chamber being in Purforde Also I give to my wel beloved wief twoe long windowe cuissons

2i6 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

of yellowe clothe of golde and one longe cuission of wroughte crimson vellett Item I give
more to my wief the litell feild bed stead and the testorne of crane colored sattenn
ymbroidered w'^' velvett and stitched uppon with red silke with all the whole furniture
belonging to that bed and bed stead w'^^ the curteans of russett sarcenett Provided alwaies
that these twoe bedds afore named with the furnitures be noe pte of the six beddes w'i> their
furniture vi<^^ afore given her Item I give to my said wief twoe large cuissions of needle worke
w<:'' have been used for her coach Item that I will that all suche implements of houshold
being nowe at my house at Clandon shall remaine still in that house duringe my wives
naturall life And my saide wief to have the use of them or her assignes duringe her lief Item
I will that yf Richarde Weston my sonn or Jane Weston my daughter or either of them or
their assignes will not suffer my wife quietlie to enioye take and carrie away to suche places
and places as my wief shall think beste all suche goodes and cattells as I have given her by
this my laste Will and Testament without molestinge or troublinge of her or doe with holde
anie pte of suche cattell or goodes from her w'^'' I have given my said wief by this my last
Will and Testament then I will that all suche giftes and legacies and other benefitts as either
the said Richarde Weston or Jane Weston should have had of my gifte by this my last Will
and Testament shall be voide and of none effecte And all such giftes and legacies as I had
given them by this my laste Will and Testament shall remaine to my said loveing wief Pro-
vided allwaies for the better performannc of theas my giftes and legacies givenn to my wieff
I will that the saide Richarde Weston my sonne and Jane Weston my daughter shall stande
bounde severallie to my wief in such bonds and with suche sufficient suerties as my wief shall
well like of for her better assurancs for the delivering of those legacies w^h I have given her
Item I will that the saide Richarde Weston my sonn and Jane Weston my daughter nor
anie of the saide Richarde and Jane shall enter receive or take into their possessions or
theire assignes any pte of my goodes or cattells to claime them or take them as their owne
by this my gifte by this my last Will and Testamente before theie have laide in suche suffi-
cient bonds as afore named and suche as my wief shall like of as afore rehersed And if the
saide Richard Weston and Jane Weston my children refuse soe to doe then I give to my wief
all suche goodes and catell as the said Richarde my sonn and Jane Weston my daughter
should have had yf they doe not pforme my will in all pointes to my wiefe according to my
true good meaning to her Item I doe give and bequeath to William Lee Roger Jeanie and
Roberte Westebrooke my olde servauntes the somme of three poundes six shillings and eighte
pence a peece to be paide unto them within one yeere nexte after my decease Also I doe
give unto everie other of my servinge men at the tyme of my decease the somm of tenn
shillinges a peece And to everie other of my servaunts in husbandrie at that time
the somm of six shillinges and eighte pence a peece the saide severall sommes
of monie to be paide and delivered to my saide servantes within one yeare after my decease
Item I do give unto everie of my maiden servantes at the saide time of my decease the somme
of six shillinges and eight pence a peece to be paide unto them within one yeer after my
decease Item I do give unto Richarde Weston my sonn all my catell come and haie remaininge
and beinge at Sutton and Coddishill alias Codesden Hill at the time of my decease and all
my householde remaininge and beinge at Sutton house afore saide at the time of my decease
other than suche as I have before herein given and bequeathed togeather with all my hameys
and fower geldings three of my beste mares and my white stoned horse Item I doe give unto
my nephewe Thomas Kellwaie the somm of fortie pounds of good and lawefuU monie of

APPENDIX V 217

Englande to be paide unto him w'^in one yeer after my decease Item I doe give unto my wel
beloved bretherene S' Henrye Knyvett Knighte and Thomas Knyvett Esquier the somm of
twentie poundes a peece to be paide unto them within one yeere after my decease in token of
remembrance hartely desiringe them to take the same in good parte Item I doe give unto my
sister Dakers the somm of tenn pounds in token of remembrance Item I doe give unto Jane
my daughter all the residewe of my householde stuf remaininge and Purforde at the tyme of
my decease And the other halfe of my plate and all my come growing at Purford and Orkeham
at the time of my decease and twentie milche kine twoe teame of Oxen furnished twentie heifords
and younge steeres and all my horses geldinges and coltes other than suche as I have herein
before given and bequeathed together also with all my heie remaininge at Purforde and
Orkeham at the time of my decease and all other my goodes debts and chattells whatsoever
not before herein given nor bequeathed towardes the paimente of my debtes and legacies and
performance of this my laste Will and Testament in all things w':'' Jane I doe ordaine and
make my sole and onlie Executrix of this my laste Will and Testamente And I doe
ordaine and appointe my trustie and wel belovdd frendes Thomas Foster of the Inner Temple
London Esquier and Thomas Cooper Gentleman my Overseers of this my laste Will and
Testamente hartelie desiring them to be aidinge and assistinge to my saide daughter in the
exequcon of this my laste Will and Testamente and to see the same well and trulie pformed
accordinge to my meaninge and as my speciall trust and confidence is in them soe to doe
And I doe give unto the saide Thomas Foster the somm of twentie poundes of good and
lawfull monie of England To the said Thomas Coop the sum of tenn pounds Item I doe give
unto everie of my said twoe brothers my cozen Thomas Kellwaie S'' William Moor Knight
George Moore Esquier my cozen Morgan Esquier Edmunde Sleyfeild my cozen Stoughton
Esquier and my saide Overseers a black mourning ringe and black coates for twoe men a
peece Item I doe give unto the Preacher that shall prech at my buriall the somm of twentie
shillings and a blacke muminge gowne Item I doe give unto everie of my saide serving men
and men servauntes a blacke muminge coat Item I will that all my mannors landes tene-
mentes and hereditaments shall after my decease goe remaine and come to suche persone and
psons and in suche manner and forme and of suche estates and limitacons as by twoe severall
deedes indented of covenanntes and conveyance beringe date the seaventeenthe daie of Sep-
tember last whereof the one is made betweene me of the one pte and Jane Weston my daughter
of the other pte and the other of the saide deedes indented and made between me of the one
pte and Willin Morgan of Chillworth in the saide Countie of Surrey Esquier Edmunde Sley-
feilde of Brookinge in the saide Countie of Surrey Esquier Frauncis Repps of Linn in the
Countie of Norfolk gent' and John Weston the younger of Ockeham in the saide Countie of
Surrey gent' of the other pte I have limited and appointed the same accordinge to the purporte
of the same sev'all deedes indented anie impfection or defaulte of or in the same or either of
them to the contrarie in anie wise notwithstandinge In witnes whereof I have subscribed my
name and sette my scale the daie and yeer first above menconed, HENRIE WESTON.
Sealed delivered and published as the laste Will and Testament of the within named
S'' Henrie Weston in the presence of them whose names are subscribed the daie and yeer
within writtenn. ROGERI SMITHSON per me WALTHERUM BULLOCK, ax mei
GEORGIJ ERSBIE Scr' all dwellinge within Ludgate London.

PROBATUM fuit suprascriptum testamentum apud London coram venti viro Mro Willimo
Lewin legiun Doctore curie Prerogative Cant' Magro Custode sive Comissario Sexto viz die

2 F

2l8

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

Mensis Maij Anno Domini Millimo Quingenmo Nonagesimo Secundo in psona Thome Lovell
Notarij pubci procuris Jane filie del defuncti Et exequutricis in testo suo hfnoi nominate cui
comissa fuit Administracio omium et singulorum bonorum iurium et creditorum eiusdem defuncti
de bene et fidelr administrando eadem nixta iuris in ea parte exigenciam et tenorem dci testa-
menti ad Sancta Dei Evangelia in debita in debita iuris forma iurati

APPENDIX VI

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ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA

p. 9, line 24. — For grandson read nephew.

The relationship is correctly stated in pp. 89, 90, 161, and in the Table, Appendix VI. {c).

P. II, line 17. — See further particulars below as to Sir R. Weston, i645-5a

P. 34, last line of note. — For History of Dorset^ i. ijs, read in. 166.

P. 60^ line 17. — For i8og read isog.

Plate HHH was made by Mr. Hayward from conjecture before the recent excavations which
showed the actual foundations of the gatehouse tower, now removed. These are correctly
shown from existing buried remains in Plate O.

Pp. 106, 107. The account here given on the authority of Manning, who had access to family
papers, may be supplemented by the recent Calendar of the Committee for the Compounding,
164J-60, Rolls Series, 5 vols., 1889-92. The last volume and the index to the whole did
not appear until this work had gone to press. From the records of this Committee, now
for the first time given to the world, it appears that the Westons of Sutton Place were
obstinate delinquents.

William Copley's estates were sequestered in 1650 as a recusant, as were those of his two
daughters, his heirs, married to Sir R. Weston's two sons, also recusants. In 1651 Sir R.
Weston is reported to be a Papist, a recusant, and delinquent.

In June 1651 his whole estate is sequestered as a Papist and delinquent, allowing one-
fifth to his wife and children.

In 1652 an order was made to permit Sir Richard to enjoy two-thirds of his estate, if he
can prove that he has committed no act of delinquency since 1648 ; and this he did in April
of that year. But, 8th July 1652, it is certified that he is dead ; and, his widow refusing the
oath of abjuration, two-thirds of her jointure is to be sequestered.

John Weston, the son, seems to have borne arms for the King, as also did his brother
George, and to have been taken prisoner at Colchester.

Pp. Ill, 112. It seems to be now at last ascertained that the lady on whose behalf Pope
interested himself so fiercely in his youth, and out of whose case he invented the tragic story
on which his famous lines To an Unfortunate Lady were based, was no other than Melior
Gage, the wife of John Weston (2) of Sutton Place. This Mrs. Weston is evidently the
lady to whom one of Pope's letters is addressed (Elwin and Courthope's Pope's Works,
X. 259). See an account of her, vol. v. 132, and in Athenaum, 15th July 1854. Pope, in an
undated letter, addresses the lady in grandiose and devoted language. " Your own guardian
angels cannot be more constant, nor more silent." Pope writes to Caryll, 25th June 171 1 :

2 G

2 26 ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

" I am just informed that the tyrant Qohn Weston] is determined instantly to remove
his daughter from the lady. I wish to God it could be put off by Sir W. G[oring]'s
mediation, for I am heartily afraid it will prove of very ill consequence to her." The child
was Melior Mary, the last descendant of the founder, then aged eight. Pope himself was only
twenty-three when he rushed into this domestic quarrel. Hetells Caryll,2nd August 171 1, that
it was her " ill fate to be cast as a pearl before swine," i.e. John Weston. Pope writes
frequently on Mrs. Weston's behalf, and even quarrelled with his own relations because
they did not take up the lady's part with sufficient eagerness. The youthful poet met the
proverbial fate of those who interfere in quarrels matrimonial. He writes to Caryll in the
year following, 8th November 171 2. "Mr. W[eston] is gloomy upon the matter — the
tyrant meditates revenge ; nay, the distressed dame herself has been taught to suspect I
served her but by halves, and without prudence." Very likely, indeed ! and one cannot
but feel that the distressed dame may have been the more prudent of the two.

But Pope's passion seems to have outlived the lady's coolness. For, five years later,
13th September 17 17, he writes to Martha Blount with this curious outburst of ill-humour.
He speaks of a journey — " having fled from the face (I wish I could say the horned face) of
Moses [in the original it stood — Mr. Weston], who dined that day at my brother's."

The young poet's devotion to the lady must have been one of the few romances of his
life. We can hardly doubt that he had known the husband and wife before the quarrel,
and there is every probability that he had been a visitor at Sutton Place. It is hardly
fanciful to imagine that the author of the Rape of the Lock once meditated couplets in Lady
Weston's Walk, where young Sir Francis once flirted with the beauties of Anne Boleyn's
court, and where Elizabeth may have listened to the flatteries of Raleigh.

It seems clear from a note of Pope's appended to his letter to Mrs. Weston that she was
the original of the Unfortunate Lady. The story of the poem was pure imagination. Mrs.
Weston was separated from her husband, but she returned, and lived in peace. She did
not die abroad, friendless, and by suicide, but in the bosom of her family, by natural
causes, and in her own home. She was, in fact, buried in the family vault in Guildford in
1724, eleven years after Pope's outburst. But when we recall the tragedies that have
befallen the Westons of Sutton Place, there is a new meaning in the curse which the poet
pours out (verses 30-46) —

" On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, —
Thus unlamented pass the proud away."

Certain it is that Melior Mary, daughter and sole heir of John Weston, was the last of her
race. She gave her ancestral estate to another family of Weston : they also are extinct in
the male line.

INDEX

Agriculture, works on, 98-100

at Sutton Place, 99, 105

Sir R. Weston on, 98-102
Anne of Cleves, 59, 83
Aragon, Catherine of, 3, 120, 145, 179
Architecture, debased, 1 1 5

domestic, 122, 133

Gothic, 124, 125

Jacobean, 127, 134

Palladian, 127

Renascence, 125, 128
Arms of Arden, 173

Arundel, 98, 184

Babington, 187

Barrow, 160

Beauchamp, 171

Belknap, 180

Bellasis, 183

Berkeley, 189

Bemers, 1 7 1

Botreaux, 178

Bourchier, 171, 177

Braose, 181

Bray, 173, 179

Byntworth, 187

Camell, 185

Carpenters' Company, 187

Carr, 181

Catherine of Aragon, 1 79

Cecil, 172

Coke, 182

Constable, 158

Copley, 109, 146, 157, 158, 159, 175,
178, 180, 184

Culcheth, 169

De Brotherton, 176, 189

Dennys of Dyrham, 64, 183, 189

De Roos, 172

Dethick, 187

Dister, 117, 157

Dunston, 169

Engaine, 159, 179

Fenwick, 88

Fitzalan, 184

Freke, 173

Fromonde, 169

Gage, 157

Gardiner, 181

Graham, 158

Hambrough Merchants, 185

Harper, I 57

Hastings, 175, 178

Holcroft, 169

Hoo, 159, 175, 178

Howard, 175

Howson, 173

Hussey, 170

Jennings, 169, 171

Kynaston, 181

Lane, i 70

Lascelles, 88

Lawson, 158

Luttrell, 159, 184

Malmayns, 1 70

Maltravers, 184

Manners, 172

Mercers' Company, 188

Merchant Taylors, 188

Mohun, 175

Moleyns, 178

Montalt, 175

Moresby, 88

Mowbray, 176

Neale, 173

Nevill, 157, 172

Nicholson, 169

338

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

Onslow, 171, 174, i8 1
Paulet, 186
Philip II., 183
Pickering, 77, 88
Pigott, 187
Pile, 171

Pillett, 182

Pinchyon, 160

Pound, 173

Ratcliffe, 173

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, 182

Rogers of Brianston, 65

Saint Leger, i 59

Salvin, 117, 158

Scotland, i 59

Shelley, 159, 180

Shirley, 181

Stanley, 174, i77

St. Omer, 184

Strange, 175, 178

Strange ways, 173

Stretley, 170

Tilney, I77

Waldegrave, 158

Wales, 180

Warneford, 173, 177

Warren, 175, 176

Waterton, 159, I7S, '79

Webbe, 160

Welles, 159, i75, I79

Weston, 39, 41, 44, 7°, 1 14, IS 7, 158,
178, 185

White, Bishop, 169

Wickingham, 160

Widville, 175, 184

Winchester, Bishop of, 181

Woolfe, 113, 160

Wright, 158
Arundel, Countess of, 98

Earl of, 98, 184
Arundell, Dorothy, 9, 88-92

Portrait of, 9, 92, 161

Lady, 9, 89

Lord, 89

Sir Thomas, 9, 59, 89
Aubrey, John, 135, 144

Hist, of Surrey, 135, 144

Baker, Sir John, 53, 60
Basset, family of, 20, 121
Beaufort, family of, 24-27

Margaret, 25-27, 165
Bell, the chapel, 120

Bigod, Earl Marshal, 20, 21
Boleyn, Anne, 52, 53, 56, 57, 76

coronation of, 76

execution of, 78-83

Sir Thomas, Earl of Wiltshire, 42, 83

Lord Rochford, 56, 83
Boorde, Andrew, Dyetorie, 131
Boston, Lincolnshire, 35, 67
Bos worth, battle of, 15, 26, 35
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 46
Bray, Sir Reginald, 171
Brianston, Rogers of, 64
Browne, 39, 75
Buckingham, Duke of, 44, 45
Buckler, C. A, xvi., 157, 189
Building, of Henry VIII., 1-4, 120-130

of Sutton Place, 1-4, 120-133
Brussels, tapestries, i 51-156
Bryan, Sir Francis, 76

Calais, 48, 50, 88

Canals, introduced at Sutton, 11, 13, 103

Carew, Sir N., 58, 75

Car rack, the Great, 7 1

Catherine of Aragon, 3, 42, 50, 52, 120,

145, 179
Cavendish, Life of Wohey, 85
Charles I., 106
Charles II., 180
Charles V., Emperor, 28
Chute, Chaloner, 48, 5 5
Civil Wars, 103, 106, 225
Clandon, 11, 13, 54, 84, 98, no, 143,

Appendix III., 204
Clerkenwell, History of 10
Clover, introduced at Sutton, 99, 105
Copley, arms of, 109, 141, 146, 180, 184

family of, 109, Appendix VII., 222

John, 1 10

Mary, 94, 109, in

Sir Roger, 175

Sir Thomas, 10, 94, 109, 158, 159, 175,
Appendix VII., 223

William, no, 161, 223
Crapelet, Lettres de Henry VIII., 84
Cromwell, Oliver, 107, 112

Sir Richard, 32

Thomas, 32, 52, 53, 57, 78

executed, 59
Cross, moline, 141

of St. John, 7 1

Darwin, C, on Worms, 137

INDEX

229

Daunay, Sir W., 67

family of, 34, 67
Dennys, Lady, 62, 64, 189, 204

Sir Walter, 59, 189
Derby, Earls of, 174-178
Despenser, Hugh, 21
Dingley, Sir Thomas, 69, 219
Dinteville, ambassador of Francis I., 80, 85
Dixon, Mr. Hepworth, 85
Domesday Survey, 13, 17, 18

Edward I., 21

Edward II., 21

Edward III., 22

Edward IV., 25

Edward VI., 59, 87

Edward, St., Confessor, 17, 118, 121, 169

Elizabeth, Queen, 9, 56, 88, 92, 161

Embassy to France, 40

to Scotland, 36

to Spain, 36
Escutcheons, armorial, 158-160

Ferdinand, King of Spain, 38, 145
Field of the Cloth of Gold, 4, 43, 124
Fitzwilliam, Sir W., 56, 61
Flower, Bernard, 165, 170, 181
France, 40, 73

art in, i, 4, 5, 125
Francis I. of France, 4, 40, 41, 44, 69, 73
Francis, the name, 73
Froude, Mr., 85

Gage, Viscount, 1 1 1

Elizabeth, in, 225
Gardiner, Bishop, 53, 181
Gatton, manor of, ii, 108, no
Gentleman's Magazine, 132
George III. at Sutton, 115
Glass, painted, 157, 158
Grant of manor. Appendix II., 202
Green, Everard, xviii.
Gresham, Sir R., 62
Grey, family of, 9, 89, 91, Appendix VI.
Guernsey, island of, 35, 37

governorship of, 58
Guildford, i, 3, 11, 13, 14, 58, 105, 204

Hall at Sutton, 145-149

Hampton Court, i, 68, 125, 147, 153

Harrison, Frederick, 118, 145, 150

Sidney, 118, 136, 140, 151

on England, 129

Hartlib, Samuel, 99

Harvell, Edmund, 58

Harvey, William, at Sutton, 98

Hayward, C. F., on Layer Mamey, 124,

126, 130
Henry I., 17
Henry II., 19

Henry VII., 26, 31, 35, 185
Henry VIII., 1-8, 27, 31-36, 124, 161, 179
Herselin of Brussels, 151
Holbein in England, 1 2 5
Holland, family of, 23, 24, Appendix I.
Howard, family of, 10, 89, 91, 176, 193,
Appendix VI., 220

Lord Edmund, 88

Lord, of Effingham, 92, 93
Husee, J., letter of, 82
Hussey, portraits by, 113, 161

Inventory at Sutton, 48, 62, 147, Appendix
IV., 206
at the Vyne, 48
Italian art, 2, 5, 125

Jackson, T. G., A.R.A., xviii.
Joan of Kent, 23
John, King, 20

Kent, Earls of, 22-24

Joan of, 23
Kingston, Sir W., 61, 79

Lady, wife of, 61, 79, Appendix III., 204
Knyvett, Sir Henry, 75, 83

Law, Ernest, on Hampton Court, 125

Layer Mamey Towers, 124

Leander, Father, 163

Lepton, Rev. Chr., 185

Letters, Appendix II., 198
Cromwell to Weston, 57
E. Harvell to T. Starkey, 58
J. Husee to Lord Lisle, 82
Kingston to Cromwell, 79
Lord Sandys to Lord Lisle, 55, 200
of Gontier to Chabot, 69
of Sir Henry Weston, 93
Sir Francis to his family, 80
Sir J. Russell to Lord Lisle, 55, 200
Sir. R. Weston to Cromwell, 54
Sir R. Weston to Wolsey, 49, 50, 198
Sir T. Copley to Weston, 93
Sir W. Weston to Cromwell, 58
to Sir Henry Weston, 93

230

ANNALS OF AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE

Leonardo da Vinci, 124

Lisle, Lord, 55

Locks, canal, 11, 13, 103

Loseley, 18, 61, 62, 93

Loseley, MSS. at, 93, Appendix IV., 206

Lytton of Knebworth, 43

Machyn'S Diary, 92

Maiano, G., 124

Malet, Robert, 15, 17-19

William, 19
Malta, Knights of, 66-71
Manor Field, the, 17, 121
Manor of Clandon, 11, 13, 28, 54, 98, 143

of Gatton, 1 1, 108, no

of Hampton Court, 68

of Loseley, 18, 45

of Sutton, 6, 14-30, 46, 121, 202
Margaret Beaufort, 15, 25, 165
Mamey, Lord, 129
Marvell, Andrew, 82
Mary, Princess, 40, 64
Mary, Queen, 161
Mar)', Queen of Scots, 93
Mary Tudor, Queen of France, 39, 173
Merrow, grant of, 28
Monasteries, dissolution of, 59, 60, 70
More, Sir Christopher, 7, 61, 205, 213

Mr. More-Molyneux, 206

Sir William, 93
Morette, French ambassador, 69
Mortimer, Roger, 22

Nevill, William, of Holt, 1 1 1

Melior, 1 1 1
Noreys, H., 78, 79
Norfolk, Duke of, 79, 83, 90, 175, 176

Onslow, Earl of, 98

family of, 174, i8l

Sir Richard, 1 1, 98, 143
Orlay, Bernard von, 153-155

P.\CE, Richard, 44

Page, Sir Richard, 75

Painted glass at Sutton, 12, 30, 164-190

Patch, the King's fool, 74

Paulet, W., Marquis of Winchester, 186

Pavia, battle of, 48

Pedigree of Weston, 33, 108, 191

Penruddock, Colonel, 1 1 2

Pickering, Anne, 54, 76

family of, 77

Sir Christopher, 76

Pitson, James, 103

Pope, Alexander, 225

Portland, Weston, Earl of, 103, 194

Portraits at Sutton Place, 12, 161

Quadrangle, the, 136-144
Quarries, 183

Raes, Jean, of Brussels, 152
Reformation, the, 52-60
Renascence in Europe, 1-6, 124-128
Rhodes, defence of, 47, 68

knights of, 66-71
Richard I., 20
Richard II., 24

Richard III., 15, 26, 171, 182
Richmond, Countess of, 25-27, 165
Roberts, Sir Nicholas, 47
Rochford, Lord, 56, 83
Rogers, Lady, 62, 64, 204

family of, 64

Sir John, 64
Romano, Giulio, 153
Rose, an emblem, 169, 174, 180, 182
Roses, Wars of, 25, 165
Russell, Sir John, 7, 55, 56, 61, 75, 205

John, R.A., 163

Saint John, Knights of, 34-36, 38, 47, 66-

71
Salvin, F. H., 29, Ii6-ii8, 151, 158, 197
Sands, family of, 38, 63

Anne, 38, 63
Sandys, Lord, 47, 55
Segar, Sir W., 191
Seymour, Jane, badge of, 186

death of, 59

marriage of, 57
Smeaton, Mark, 74, 78
Speering, Francois, 151
Star Chamber, 43
Step gables, 126
Stephen, King, 15, 19
Stevenson, J. J., on architecture, 126, 133
Suffolk, Brandon, Duke of, 46, 89, 221

Grey, Duke of, 89, 221
Sutton, manor of, i, 2, 14-30

Alexander Pope at, 226

always Catholic, 1 7

Cromwell at, 5, 55, 58

Elizabeth at, 9, 29, 92

furniture and stock at, 63

INDEX

231

George III. at, 115
grant of, 6, 28, 46
Henry VIII. at, 27, 29, 55, 56
inventory at, 62, 134, 206
portraits at, 161
William Harvey at, 98
Wolsey at, 5, 27, 29
Sutton Place, 46, 121

canals and locks introduced at, 1 1, 13, 98,

103
fire at, 92
grant of, 202
grasses introduced at, 99
inventory at, 206
turnips introduced at, 99

Tapestries, 150-157
Terra-cotta, 124-130

fireplaces, 149
Trevisano in England, 124
Turkopolier, office of, 48, 67
Turnips introduced at Sutton, 99

ViLLiERS, de Lisle-Adam, 47, 67

Vine Cottage, 17, 121

Vine, The, Hampshire, 47, 55

Waldegrave, Lady Horatia, 1 1 7
Walls of Sutton Place, 142
Wards, Court of, 43, 59
Warren, William of, 20
Webbe, John, 161, 195, 197
Webbe- Weston, J., 114

arms of, 114, 157

family of, 114-119, 158, 195,

J. J., 117, 158

T. M., 117, 158
Wenesi, 17

Westminster Abbey, 26, 165, 170, 181
Weston, Sir R. (i), 5-8, 31-65

death of, 61

his arms, 185

his executors, 7, 56, 61, 204

his will, 61-63, 204

letters by, 49, 50, 54, 198

surrenders treasurership, 60
Weston, Lady Anne, 38, 63
Weston, Sir F., 6-8, 54, 72-86

letter of, 80

will of, 8 1
Weston, Sir H., 9-10, 87-96

his will, 95

letters of, 93
Weston, Sir R. (2), 97

Sir R. (3), II, 13, 97-106

Richard, 1 1 1

Katherine, 64, 2 1 9

Margaret, 64, 183, 189, 219
Weston family, 33-35, 67, 191

arms of, 39, 41, 44, 185, 190
Weston, Earl of Portland, 11, 105

John (i), 108

John (2), III, 225

Melior Mary, 112-114, '61, 226

Sir John, 67

Sir William, 49, 60, 66-7 1
Wey, the river, 8, 12, 13, 103
Will of Sir R. Weston, 61, 204

of Sir F. Weston, 8 1

of Sir H. Weston, 95, 214

of Melior Mary Weston, 114
William, Conqueror, 17-19
Wilson, Mr. J., 99
Windows, see Painted Glass
Wingfield, Sir R., 42, 61, 204
Winston, Charles, 164.
Withers, George, 190
Woking, 17, 27, 165
Wolffe, family of, 113, 195

William, 112, 140
Wolsey, Cardinal, 5, 27, 29, 33-53
Woodstock, Edmund of, 22
Worplesdon, 105

ZucCHERO, Federigo, portrait by, 92, 161

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BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

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